Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : ASML Holding NV -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: niek who wrote (1332)	1/17/2007 1:01:45 PM
From: etchmeister	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 43529

Congrats - looks like your endurance paid off We Downgrade ASML Holding As The Stock Is Within Our Price Target; We Move To Sidelines - Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Comments Wednesday, Friedman, Billings, Ramsey downgraded ASML Holding N.V. (ASML) shares to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target of $27. The brokerage estimates 2006 EPS of $1.41 and 2007 EPS of $1.70, for the company. Analyst Mehdi Hossein noted that the stock is within 8% of Friedman's price target. The analyst believes the current strong backlog could potentially provide some upside to its 2006 fourth quarter and 2007 first quarter estimates. But Hossein believes most of the good news has already been baked into the stock. That said, the analyst still believes the company is on track to gain further market share against competitors. The analyst, however, has also become increasingly concerned about the timing of volume orders for Immersion tools, particularly by Flash customers. And he believes any push-out here would wipe out the majority of the expected upside to calendar 2007 estimates. Concluding, the brokerage said it is simply moving to the sidelines for now until it has visibility on the timing of volume orders for Immersion tools. Currently, the stock is down six cents and trading at $24.97.

To: niek who wrote (1332)	1/26/2007 11:00:11 AM
From: etchmeister	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 43529

Chartered foresees flat 1Q; preps aggressive capacity expansion (BTW: TSMC projects 2.6 to 2.8 billion; they spent 2.4 billion in 2006; CHRT is really going after leading edge ) Latest news Esther Lam, DigiTimes.com, Taipei [Friday 26 January 2007] Although guiding a weak first quarter outlook in 2007, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing has revised up its expansion plan at Fab 7 and aims to boost target monthly capacity to 45,000 12-inch wafers. 4Q 2006 performance recap Chartered's fourth quarter 2006 revenues were US$339 million, down 7.6% on year and 4.6% on quarter, primarily due to weakness in the consumer sector and, to a significantly lesser extent, the communications sector, partially offset by strength in the computer sector. Gross profits slipped by four percentage points on year and 6.7 percentage points on quarter to 20%. Chartered explained the drop to higher costs per wafer resulting from lower production volumes over which the fixed costs are allocated and lower revenues resulting from lower shipments. Net income totaled US$6.4 million in the fourth quarter 2006, compared to a net income of US$26.5 million a year previous and US$23.9 million in the third quarter. Chartered: Operation overview, 4Q06 4Q05 4Q06 Change Total wafers shipped (in 8-inch equivalent) 345.8 322.9 (6.62%) Total capacity 435.9 461.7 5.9% Utilization 79% 74% (5pp) Source: company Flattish 1Q07 outlook Moving forward to the first quarter of 2007, Chartered said it is experiencing some impact from anticipated seasonality as well as customers continuing with an ongoing inventory correction. The pure-play foundry is seeing consumer and PC sector demand continue a downward trend due to seasonality. As a major foundry partner of Microsoft's Xbox 360 game console, the foundry expects demand is going to decline as well. Among all applications, Chartered foresees demand from the communication sector will grow slightly, mainly from wireless broadband and handset business ramps. Chartered guidance, 1Q07 (US$m) 4Q06 1Q07 Change Revenues US$339m US$324m, +/-$6m (3-6%) ASP US$1,135 US$1,063, +/-$20 (5-8%) Utilization rate (%) 70% 70%, +/-3% NA Gross profit (loss) US$67.7m US$70m, +/-US$6m NA Net income (loss) US$6.4m US$6m, +/-US$5m NA Source: company Revises up Fab 3 expansion Although the near term outlook seems to be cloudy, Chartered has revised up its expansion goal at Fab 7 to 45,000 12-inch wafers per month. For the first two phases at Fab 7, Chartered also targets to house a total of 39,000 wafer fabrication capacity, up from the originally planned 30,000 wafers. The company said the additional capacity will be mainly utilized on cutting edge technologies production including 0.13-micron to 65nm. Chartered says it will take a total of seven years to complete the revised capacity expansion plan. Although planning the aggressive expansion, the foundry also stressed that the capacity plan is subject to changes from market demand, technology and product mix, etc. Chartered currently plans to start ground preparation and construction in the fourth quarter of 2007 but a schedule for concrete equipment move in has not yet been made. Planned capacity for 2007 as a whole will be 1.96 million 8-inch equivalent wafers in 2007, up from 1.78 million units in 2006. Of the total planned capacity in 2007, 355,000 8-inch equivalent wafers will employ 90nm and below processes production, up from 195,000 wafers last year. Up to the fourth quarter of 2006, 0.13-micron and below processes production accounted for 26% of the company's revenues. Chartered says it aims to boost the ratio to 58% in the first quarter of 2007 with 90nm and below processes to contribute 29% of total revenues.