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Technology Stocks : Micron Only Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tech101 who wrote (53777)	2/9/2007 7:02:55 PM
From: etchmeister	Respond to of 53903

Hynix also said during a conference call that it expected a weak NAND flash market in the first half of 2007, with prices forecast to drop by 34-35 percent in the first quarter after dropping by 11 percent in the fourth and 24 percent in the third. NAND chip shipments are only expected to grow by a single digit. Basically Micron reiterated what Hinicks ( number 2) said 10 days ago and today Micron VP opens his mouth and the market crashes Mr. Market seems to be kind of slow - perhaps slower than anticipated...Oh well Hynix Q4 shines on brisk DRAM sales Tue Jan 30, 10:20 PM Click to enlarge photo By Marie-France Han and Rhee So-eui SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor Inc. said fourth-quarter profit rose 35 percent to a record high, beating estimates, on strong sales of computer memory chips, but forecast steep falls in chip prices. Hynix forecast a 30 percent fall in prices of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips this year, while NAND flash memory chips, used in digital cameras and music players, should drop by a third in the first quarter alone. "The results were quite impressive, but the problem is the first quarter," said Kim Yung-min, fund manager at SH Asset Management. "DRAM chip prices are dropping sharply and this means results could fall below expectations. It won't be easy for Hynix to reach its targets in the first quarter." DRAM chips, used mostly in personal computers, notched strong price and shipment growth in the fourth quarter ahead of the launch of Microsoft Corp.'s much-awaited Windows Vista operating system, which finally made its debut on Tuesday. The strength of the DRAM business helped Hynix weather a double-digit price drop for NAND chips, which are languishing in the absence of a clear new hit product such as Apple's iPod music player. While Hynix predicted steep price drops for NAND memory in the first half of this year, it also said new orders linked to music phones should come from the middle of the second quarter. Hynix, the world's second-biggest memory chip maker, reported a 1.02 trillion won ($1.08 billion) net profit in the quarter to December 31, well above a 678 billion won consensus forecast of 17 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates. The figure compared with 751 billion won a year earlier, when Hynix booked $463 million in tax-related gains, and 384 billion in the third quarter. Shares in Hynix, with a market capitalization of around $15.5 billion, rose 1.1 percent to 32,150 won at 0045 GMT, against a flat broader market . Its shares fell 2.3 percent in the fourth quarter, trailing the KOSPI's 4.6 percent rise, mainly on fears about weak results in the first quarter of 2007. For 2007, Hynix, which competes with bigger rival Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. , is expected to post a net profit of 2.05 trillion won according to Reuters Estimates, from 2.01 trillion in 2006. Sales in the quarter were 2.66 trillion won, against expectations of 2.28 trillion won and last year's 1.74 trillion. Operating profit came in at 881 billion won, more than the 632 billion expected. Bigger rival Samsung has forecast DRAM chip prices to drop by a "high-single-digit" percent in the first quarter and NAND prices to fall by "less than 10 percent." Hynix said it expected the DRAM market to show stable growth in 2007, with DRAM shipment growth exceeding 20 percent in the first quarter after rising by 31 percent in the fourth. It said average DRAM chip price rose 9 percent in the fourth quarter after rising by 9 percent in the third. The company also said it benefited from the smooth rampup of its Chinese joint venture with STMicroelectronics , which turned profitable. Hynix also said during a conference call that it expected a weak NAND flash market in the first half of 2007, with prices forecast to drop by 34-35 percent in the first quarter after dropping by 11 percent in the fourth and 24 percent in the third. NAND chip shipments are only expected to grow by a single digit. But the company sees demand recovering in the second half, helped by new NAND-heavy applications such as music phones. (see Samsung's "i-phone killer") Analysts concurred that a turnaround should take place sometime in the second quarter. "Price declines should slow as the first half unfolds, and by April or May we should see a rebound in demand," said Jay Kim, an analyst at Hyundai Securities.