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To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (44680)	3/26/2008 2:56:08 PM
From: Johnny Canuck	Respond to of 68420

8:17AM Oppenheimer again cuts estimates on Citigroup, banks (C, BAC, JPM, WB) by John Spence BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- Oppenheimer & Co. analysts led by Meredith Whitney cut their first-quarter profit forecasts for U.S. banks on average by 84%, led by Citigroup Inc. (C). Whitney increased her first-quarter loss estimate for Citigroup by four times, and expects the company to post a full-year loss of 15 cents a share. She also slashed her outlooks on Bank of America Corp. (BAC), J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Wachovia Corp. (WB) to reflect expected write-downs related to mortgages and collateralized debt obligations. "Despite cutting estimates for financials by over 30 times since November, we are confident this will not be our last reduction in 2008," Whitney wrote in a research note. "Rather as key mark-to-market indices trend lower, the housing market worsens, and the U.S. consumer comes under increasing pressure, we anticipate further downside to both estimates and stock prices."

To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (44680)	3/26/2008 3:23:20 PM
From: Return to Sender	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 68420

I own some AMAT, ASYT, CAMD, CC, CCUR, CMOS, DSPG, FSII, JBL, KLIC, LTXX, MXIM.PK, PLAB, RTEC, SNDK, TTMI, UTSI, and VSH. finance.yahoo.com I am down on most of what I have bought but these are generally longer term positions. I expect them to be higher next year if not by later this year. RtS

To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (44680)	3/26/2008 3:42:09 PM
From: Johnny Canuck	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 68420

Rambus Wins Hynix Patent Case, Shares Rise 31 Percent (Update1) By Joel Rosenblatt March 26 (Bloomberg) -- Rambus Inc., the designer of chips for Sony Corp.'s PlayStation video-game console, won the final phase of its patent suit against Hynix Semiconductor Inc., the first step toward collecting royalties from other manufacturers. Rambus rose $5.86, or 31 percent, to $24.47 in Nasdaq Stock Market Trading at 3:03 p.m. after the verdict. Jurors in federal court in San Jose, California, agreed with Rambus in rejecting claims by Hynix, the world's second- largest memory-chip maker, Micron Technology Inc. and Nanya Technology Corp. that Rambus illegally used information obtained at industry meetings in the 1990s to get its patents. Analyst Michael Cohen of Pacific American Securities had said the verdict is a first step in Rambus gaining leverage to pursue settlements that apply to the chip-makers global sales, and its collection of royalties of $700 million to $11.7 billion over the next 13 years. Cohen predicted the manufacturers will appeal the verdict. Seven-Year Lawsuit The verdict concludes a seven-year patent infringement lawsuit against Hynix. It allows Rambus to collect a $133.4 million award against Hynix in 2006 after a jury found it infringed Rambus's patents. It also allows Rambus to seek an order barring Hynix from selling its chips, and permits it to pursue infringement claims against Micron, Nanya, and Seoul- based Samsung Electronics Co., the largest memory-chip manufacturer. The verdict applies to U.S. sales and may encourage settlements that apply to the manufacturers' global sales, said Cohen, who has a ``buy'' recommendation on Rambus and owns 500 shares. Cohen's $11.7 billion top estimate is based on settlements with all manufacturers on global sales at a running royalty rate of 4.25 percent on chips of the most recent memory types. In a trial that started Feb. 4, William Price, Allen Ruby and other lawyers for the manufacturers argued Rambus violated federal antitrust laws by ensnaring them in a ``patent trap'' to control the memory industry. The chip-makers claimed Los Altos, California-based Rambus participated in standards-setting meetings of the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council and then secretly and illegally used council information to amend its patents covering dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, as the chipmakers spent millions of dollars adopting the standard and manufacturing their chips. The case is Hynix Semiconductor Inc. v. Rambus Inc., 00-cv-20905, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose). [Harry: Long legal case. It is hard to tell what the true revenue stream will be. I would imagine this will be tied up in court for many more years. While I agree that their patents cover core technology that is hard to design around, there is incredible pressure from the memory industry to get RMBS's patents put aside to facilitate the health of the industry. ]