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Technology Stocks : Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: etchmeister who wrote (16768)	12/6/2005 12:08:56 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

RESEARCH ALERT-BofA bullish on semis, near-term limited Tue Dec 6, 2005 11:59 AM ET NEW YORK, (Reuters) - Results in line with expectations from key names in the semiconductor sector may not be enough to lift the group much further in the near term after its big advance since late October, Banc of America said in a note Tuesday. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange's semiconductor index is up more than 17 percent since Oct. 28, touching a near 20-month high on Friday before a 1.6 percent pullback in Monday trading. Investors are looking this week for mid-quarter updates from top names in the group including Intel Corp., due out after the close of trading on Thursday, and Texas Instruments Inc. and Xilinx Inc., both due out on Wednesday. Banc of America expects Intel to "tighten the sales around the prior midpoint of $10.5 billion, with a slight potential bias to the upside." Limiting upside, the bank said were "capacity constraints in chipsets at Intel affected microprocessor shipments, especially in October." In October, the world's biggest chipmaker said it expected current-quarter revenue in a range of $10.2 billion to $10.8 billion, the midpoint of which is $10.5 billion. The company also said it expects fourth-quarter gross margin of 63 percent, plus or minus a couple of points, compared with 59.7 percent in the third quarter. Banc of America expects Texas Instruments, the world's top maker of chips used in mobile phones, to narrow its outlook "around the mid-point of prior guidance, with a slight bias to the upside." The bank said upside potential will likely be hurt by lack of on-hand inventory. In October, Texas Instruments forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $3.43 billion to $3.72 billion. The bank expects Xilinx, which makes programmable microchips, on Wednesday to "tighten its expectations for the December quarter towards the high end of its prior guidance." "Order trends at the company have remained solid through the quarter," it said. Xilinx in October forecast revenue for the current quarter would rise 1 percent to 5 percent from the prior period, implying revenue of $402.9 million to $418.9 million. The bank also affirmed its "buy" rating on Altera Corp. after the maker of programmable logic devices on Monday reiterated previous estimates that fourth-quarter sales would be between $286 million and $297 million, compared with $239.9 million a year earlier. (Additional reporting by Daniel Burns)