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Technology Stocks : Semi Equipment Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: auriculatus who wrote (28968)	3/1/2006 3:21:04 PM
From: Donald Wennerstrom	Respond to of 95761

Semiconductors Bounce Back By Alexei Oreskovic TheStreet.com Staff Reporter 3/1/2006 1:45 PM EST <<With a handful of financial updates in the pipeline, chipmakers' shares got a boost Wednesday. Texas Instruments (TXN:NYSE - commentary - research - Cramer's Take), which will deliver an update on its current quarter after the bell on Monday, rose nearly 7%, or $1.97, to $31.82 in midday trading. However, it wasn't immediately clear what was driving the surge in TI shares. According to Standard & Poor's semiconductor analyst Tom Smith, Intel's (INTC:Nasdaq - commentary - research - Cramer's Take) recent decision to cease providing midquarter updates may have shifted investors' attention to TI as the main barometer of the semiconductor market. Texas Instruments also made a slew of product announcements in conjunction with its developer conference in Dallas this week. Among them, a high-definition video-conferencing product from LifeSize that incorporates more than 70 analog and digital signal processor chips from TI. The broader Philadephia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index, meanwhile, rose more than 3%. The rally follows a couple of weeks in which chip stocks have been under pressure. A couple of bullish analyst notes released Wednesday also contributed to the gains. Bear Stearns upgraded programmable-logic company Altera (ALTR:Nasdaq - commentary - research - Cramer's Take) on the belief that the company will raise revenue guidance during its midquarter update on Monday. According to Bear Stearns analyst Gurinder Kalra, Altera's first-quarter turns, or quick-turnaround orders received during the quarter, have been stronger than expected, while bookings momentum is accelerating. Demand for chips that go into high-end digital consumer products, flat-panel displays and wireless base stations are driving the incremental upside in the current quarter, wrote Kalra, whose firm has provided noninvestment banking services to Altera within the past 12 months. "We believe that the improved order outlook suggests that the long-awaited acceleration in spending for 3G infrastructure build-outs in U.S. and China is upon us in 2006," wrote Kalra. Investors had recently bid up Altera's stock 6.24%, or $1.25, to $21.29. National Semiconductor (NSM:NYSE - commentary - research - Cramer's Take), which is slated to report its third-quarter results on March 9, also got a boost after Morgan Stanley bumped up its 2006 and 2007 EPS estimates for the company on expectations of positive earnings surprise. The chipmaker's shares rose 4.85%, or $1.36, to $29.41. Morgan Stanley also revised its estimates for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD:NYSE - commentary - research - Cramer's Take), lifting projected 2006 EPS to $1.70 from $1.60 as a result of the company's increased penetration in the enterprise server market. Shares of AMD were up 2.82%, or $1.09, at $39.76.>>