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

To: trilobyte who wrote (18942)	5/17/2006 11:30:38 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

Applied Materials Could Outperform Three To Five Years Out Kate DuBose Tomassi, 05.17.06, 11:02 AM ET On Tuesday, Applied Materials reported solid fiscal second-quarter pro-forma earnings of 26 cents per share, beating the consensus estimate of 23 cents. Revenue for the quarter was $2.25 billion, up 21% year-over-year. "Applied Materials has one of the more dynamic strategies within the semi-equipment sector," wrote Banc of America Securities analyst Mark FitzGerald in a report Wednesday. The analyst said Applied Material's focus outside of itstraditional markets could contribute to out performance relative to other front-end semi-equipment makers three to five years out. FitzGerald said he expects Applied Materials (nasdaq: AMAT - news - people ) stock to reach peak earnings in the next nine to 12 months, assuming the company's historical order pattern holds. Fitzgerald raised his fiscal 2006 earnings-per-share estimate to $1.11 from $1. Chin raised his 2006 estimate to $1.01 from 92 cents per share. The Banc of America Securities analyst raised the target price on Applied Materials shares to $18.90 from $17.85 and maintained a "neutral" rating on the stock, while the UBS analyst maintained a $20 price target and also maintained a "neutral" rating on the shares. UBS analyst Stephen Chin characterized Applied Material's quarter as solid, but he also said that "we continue to lack conviction on the second half of 2006 order growth from the foundry customers and look for a more attractive entry point before warming to the stock." Banc of America's top stock picks in the semiconductor capital equipment sector are ASML Holding (nasdaq: ASML - news - people ), rated "buy" with a target price of $26.80, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (nyse: TSM - news - people ), rated "buy" with a target price of $13. The firm's least favorite stock in the category is Semiconductor Manufacturing International (nyse: SMI - news - people ), rated "sell" with a $6.10 target price.

To: trilobyte who wrote (18942)	5/17/2006 11:48:10 AM
From: etchmeister	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 25522

the analysts are trying to artificially make the stock price cyclical. If necessary they will create their own cycle - absolutely no doubt in my mind; global IC sales do not follow the cyclical pattern anymore for several years; there are many different segment within IC's that don't run in synch. A month ago or so BofA downgraded because NAND flash was rolling over; a couple days ago Samsung was fairly upbeat about flash (though even more about DRAM) and guess what today contract pricing with one exception jumped nicely. Last year we were told memory would cause the next leg down; though NAND flash contracted 8% in Q1 2006 it was up 60% on a year to year comparision. Mode Item High Low High Change Low Change History Chip NAND 16Gb 2Gx8 39.00 34.00 Up ( 8.33%) Up ( 3.03%) Chip NAND 8Gb 1024Mx8 20.00 16.00 Up ( 5.26%) Up ( 6.67%) Chip NAND 4Gb 512Mx8 10.00 8.00 Stable ( 0.00%) Up ( 12.68%) Chip NAND 2Gb 256Mx8 6.00 5.00 Stable ( 0.00%) Stable ( 0.00%) SLC NAND 16Gb 2Gx8 SLC 39.00 37.00 Up ( 8.33%) Up ( 5.71%) SLC NAND 8Gb 1024Mx8 SLC 20.00 18.50 Up ( 5.26%) Up ( 8.82%) MLC NAND 16Gb 2Gx8 MLC 35.00 34.00 Up ( 2.94%) Up ( 3.03%) MLC NAND 8Gb 1024Mx8 MLC 18.00 16.00 Up ( 5.88%) Up ( 6.67%) dramexchange.com