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

To: Gottfried who wrote (20633)	9/13/2006 8:32:38 AM
From: matt dillabough	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 25522

TSM Taiwan Semi tgt cut to $11.85; expects wafer shipments to decline in Dec quarter; lowers Y06 and Y07 EPS est - BofA (9.31 ) BofA cuts their tgt on TSM to $11.85 from $12.40 and Y06 and Y07 EPS to $0.79 from $0.82 (consensus $0.78 for Y06 & Y07). Firm says further patience is required after the stock's move off its July lows. Firm now thinks TSM's wafer shipments in the December quarter will decline 3-4% sequentially vs. prior expectations of flat Q/Q, particularly given their channel checks in Taiwan. Firm says Dec rev is now expected to decline 3% Q/Q. Firm says wafer shipments for the following customers likely to decline more than 10% in the Dec quarter- ALTR, ADI, NVDA, and QCOM. Firm says TXN wafer starts to decline in the 5-10% range. Firm says these five customers are among the top ten customers for TSM. Firm says TSM's customers continue to adjust inventories. Firm says investors will now have to wait for June'07 to see evidence of higher wafer shipments Q/Q.

To: Gottfried who wrote (20633)	9/13/2006 11:21:09 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Chip sector ripe for private equity deals-analysts Wed Sep 13, 2006 11:12 AM ET By Sinead Carew NEW YORK, Sept 13 (Reuters) - The bidding war for Freescale Semiconductor Inc. <FSL.N> could fuel private equity interest in microchip companies as the maturing industry posts slower but more consistent growth, analysts said. Two private equity groups are competing to buy Freescale for about $16 billion or more, in what could be the technology sector's largest leveraged buyout, sources said this week. The bids, which follow Philips Electronics NV's <PHG.AS> August agreement to sell 80 percent of its chip unit to private equity firms for $4.35 billion, has analysts placing odds on who the next buyout targets in the sector might be. Merrill Lynch analyst Joseph Osha said in a note to clients his top 10 picks include Intersil Corp. <ISIL.O>, Linear Technology Corp. <LLTC.O>, Silicon Laboratories Inc. <SLAB.O> and Analog Devices Inc. <ADI.N>. "Even with some very conservative leverage and debt payback assumptions ... these companies could be bought for a 20 percent premium to the current price," said Osha, who chose companies with high cash levels relative to market capitalization and low or non-existent dividend yields. Hapoalim Securities analyst Nimal Vallipuram listed power management chipmaker National Semiconductor Corp. <NSM.N> and consumer electronics chipmaker Cirrus Logic Inc. <CRUS.O> as potential targets. "The industry has started to mature. It's a natural evolution that financial buyers will be interested in companies that fit this criteria," said Vallipuram, who cited high cashflow, low volatility and weak valuations as key criteria. Excluding 2001, when chip sales fell by as much as 30 percent during the telecommunications and Internet busts, the sector has become less volatile than in the last 10 years, according to Gartner Research. At the same time, growth slowed to an average annual rate of about 12 percent in the last decade from 17 percent between the mid-60s and the mid-90s, said Gartner, which sees growth slowing to an annual average of about 10 percent from 2006 to 2010. Such forecasts, along with general concerns about high energy prices and uncertain consumer demand, helped push down microchip stocks, making chip companies potentially attractively valued for private investors, analysts said. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange's semiconductor index <.SOXX> has fallen 15 percent since January. For example National Semiconductor, which posted a 40 percent profit rise in the latest quarter, has seen its shares fall almost 20 percent since early May. Shares of Cirrus Logic have fallen about 25 percent in the same timeframe while Silicon Laboratories stock has fallen more than 50 percent since late April. National Semiconductor declined comment and the other companies cited were not immediately available to comment.