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

To: sixty2nds who wrote (29058)	3/6/2006 8:11:21 AM
From: Gottfried	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95790

>AMAT to Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer and $18 tgt, based on view the stock is the best hedge in a sector downturn< damning with faint praise :)

To: sixty2nds who wrote (29058)	3/6/2006 3:35:27 PM
From: Donald Wennerstrom	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95790

Texas Instruments calls in demand before update March 06, 2006 14:59:00 (ET) CHICAGO, March 6 (Reuters) - Some options investors are hoping for good news in the mid-quarterly update from Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN,Trade), after Intel Corp.'s (INTC,Trade) downward revenue forecast revision last week, according to several market watchers. Texas Instruments, the world's top supplier of chips for mobile phones, is scheduled to present its mid-quarter update after the close on Monday. "The report may give the bulls something to feast on," said Jon Najarian, co-founder of Web financial-information site insideoptions.com. With TI shares trading around $32 on the New York Stock Exchange, Najarian noticed his computer model on Monday had picked up a steady buying of calls that give the right to acquire TI shares at $32.50 each by mid-March. During the first half of Monday's session, more than 12,000 March 32.5 contracts had changed hands in the U.S. options market, versus roughly 1,400 puts traded in that same strike. In total, call activity has been running high, with more than 20,000 calls and 7,600 puts traded in Texas Instruments late on Monday in the U.S. options market, indicating a bullish bias ahead of the report, several option market participants said. The recent spurt in call volume indicates investors are positioning themselves for positive news, said Herb Kurlan, president of Vtrader LLC, an online options, equity and futures trading firm based in San Francisco. Monday's brisk call activity comes on top of a spurt in call volume on Friday, when more than 26,000 of the March 32.5 calls changed hands in the U.S. options market and open interest rose to 43,319 contracts from 25,971. The increase in volume was accompanied by an increase in projected volatility of Texas Instruments options that expire this month, analysts said. Texas Instruments' March implied volatility -- the anticipated volatility of a stock as indicated by its option prices -- stood at about 40 percent, compared with 30 percent for the longer-dated options. "It appears that the market is pricing in the prospect for a bit more volatility in TXN in the short term, which is probably related to the mid-quarter update," said Frederic Ruffy, an analyst at California-based Optionetics, an investment education and analysis firm. There seems to be some uncertainty regarding whether Intel's disappointing forecast is due more to loss of market share or to a slowdown in the industry, Ruffy said. Ruffy added that any new information from semiconductor companies could help investors make better sense of the trends in the sector and, for that reason, Texas Instruments' update could carry a bit more weight than usual. And in turn the interest in their options has stepped up. In a research report to clients last week, Goldman Sachs option strategists Maria Grant and John Marshall wrote that Texas Instruments options appear reasonable to buy for directional investors ahead of the update. "Texas Instruments options look particularly inexpensive, especially since we estimate that TXN options imply only a plus or minus 2 percent move on the event." Grant and Marshall suggested investors with a negative view could buy puts, which provide downside exposure with much less risk than shorting shares or betting that the stock will decrease in value. Investors often use options to manage the risk of owning stocks through buying a put, or the right to sell the security at a specific price and time. A call conveys the right to buy the security. Shares of Texas Instruments slipped 19 cents to $32.10 on the NYSE in afternoon trading.