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Technology Stocks : Semi Equipment Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Donald Wennerstrom who wrote (39821)	8/8/2008 11:57:16 AM
From: Donald Wennerstrom	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95637

Tokyo Electron profit halved, slashes outlook TOKYO, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Japan's Tokyo Electron Ltd 8035.T, the world's No. 2 chip gear maker, posted a 50 percent drop in quarterly profit as client microchip makers reined in spending, and it slashed its outlook to far below the market consensus. Like rivals Novellus (NVLS), which posted a quarterly loss last month, and Lam Research Corp (LRCX), whose quarterly profit fell close to 70 percent, Tokyo Electron is now waiting for makers of computer memory and logic chips to boost spending. But a recovery may be slow in coming, said Yukio Saeki, director of accounting. "The first half of next business year is going to be tough," he said. "We're hoping for a recovery in orders in January-March, but we can't be certain of anything in this climate." Semiconductor equipment makers are hurting as orders from memory makers and foundries drop while chip manufacturers deal with excess inventory, weak prices and fears of slowing demand. Tokyo Electron, which trails Applied Materials Inc (AMAT) in tools used to make microchips, cut its annual outlook by 39 percent to an operating profit of 51 billion yen ($465.2 million), which misses a consensus estimate of 78.8 billion yen by 18 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates. Quarterly orders for chip-making tools totalled 72.7 billion yen, half that of the previous year, while orders for flat panel display equipment grew almost eightfold to 31.9 billion yen. Chip gear orders would grow 20 percent to 30 percent in the current quarter, but that will in part be cancelled out by a drop of several billion yen in orders for tools used to make flat panel displays, Saeki said. Orders for both kinds of machines would improve slightly in October-December, he said. For April-June, Tokyo Electron earned an operating profit of 21.43 billion yen, down from 43.03 billion yen a year earlier. Net profit was 12.85 billion yen, down 51 percent, on sales of 154.83 billion yen, down 27 percent.