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

To: Donald Wennerstrom who wrote (30473)	5/16/2006 6:04:01 PM
From: Donald Wennerstrom	Respond to of 95500

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Hewlett-Packard Co. shares rose more than 3% in Tuesday's after-hours session after it posted a sizeable jump in quarterly profit, while Applied Materials Inc. edged down following its financial results. The Nasdaq-100 After Hours Indicator, which tracks the evening action of the index's leading stocks, lost 0.38 points at 1,623.31. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ ) shares rose 3.5% to $32.20. The computing and printing reported a 51% rise in its second-quarter profit on stronger sales at its personal-computer and printing and imaging divisions. Excluding charges and one-time items, H-P earned $1.6 billion, or 54 cents a share, to beat the estimates of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call, who forecast a profit of 49 cents a share. See full story. Shares of Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) lost 2% to last trade at $17.50, though the world's largest maker of chip equipment reported its fiscal second-quarter profit and revenue ahead of analyst expectations. Its profit rose to $413 million, or 26 cents a share, up from net income of $305 million, or 18 cents a share, in the year ago period. Pro forma income was $453.3 million, or 29 cents a share. Analysts had expected earnings of 23 cents a share. Sales at Applied Materials surged 21% to $2.25 billion, and Wall Street forecast sales of $2.14 billion. New orders surged 60% to $2.49 billion in the quarter ended April 30. At the same time, shares of LTX Corp. (LTXX) rocketed up 24% to $7.20. The semiconductor component maker said fiscal third-quarter net earnings were $8.14 million, or 13 cents a share. Last year, LTX lost $45.7 million, or 75 cents a share. Revenue during the quarter more than doubled to $56.3 million from $25.5 million. Analysts had forecast a per-share profit of 9 cents on revenue of $52.7 million. LTX forecast a fiscal fourth-quarter per-share profit of 22 cents to 24 cents on revenue of $68 million to $70 million. Analysts are looking for a per-share profit of 11 cents on revenue of $57.1 million.