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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BillyG who wrote (24411)	10/25/1997 6:03:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

I heard chip making equipment was/will be weak........................ Read the first two articles on NEC too.......................... satellite.nikkei.co.jp Orders For Chip-Making Devices Surge 137.5% In Aug TOKYO (Nikkei)-Japanese manufacturers of semiconductor production equipment received orders totaling 132.95 billion yen in August from domestic and overseas users, for a 137.5% jump and the seventh consecutive monthly rise year on year, the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan reported Thursday. Orders for wafer processors rose 150%, for assembling machines 240%, and for testing devices 120%. Sales of semiconductor production machines increased 4.9% to 105.42 billion yen, the first year-on-year rise in five months. Sales of wafer processors declined 7.3%, but those of assembling and testing machines surged more than 40% each. Total orders in the Japanese market in August, which includes orders placed by domestic users with both Japanese and overseas manufacturers, increased 79.4% to 57.83 billion yen, while sales fell 16.7% to 57.89 billion yen.

To: BillyG who wrote (24411)	10/26/1997 9:33:00 AM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

Creative reports record earnings for fourth straight quarter............... web3.asia1.com.sg <Picture> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ By Tammy Tan CREATIVE Technology has more than tripled first-quarter net earnings to a record US$51.6 million (S$82 million) -- its fourth record quarter in a row. The sterling performance boosted its share price in Singapore by more than 10 per cent yesterday. The stock, which was suspended in the morning, started the afternoon session by hitting an intra-day high of $39.10 before closing at $39, up $3.60 from the previous day. The record earnings for the quarter to end-September exceeded analysts' expectations, and led many stockbroking houses to readjust their full-year forecasts upwards. According to the latest Estimate Directory, Creative is expected to report net earnings of US$238 million for the year ended June 30, 1998, compared to last year's net profit of US$167 million. One analyst said: "This is really exciting. Things are moving along. In a market which has been hit by bad news after bad news, this is really refreshing." Kay Hian associate director Stephen Chan said he was increasing his full-year forecast upwards from US$210 million to US$245 million. He was encouraged by the fact that Creative chief executive officer Sim Wong Hoo was "more positive than he ever sounded in the past". During a teleconference from the US -- where Creative is listed on Nasdaq -- Mr Sim said his company was in its "best position ever" with four straight quarters of record profits and five consecutive quarters of improved gross profit margins. For the three months just ended, Creative's net earnings rose 252 per cent from the US$14.7 million recorded in the same quarter last year. Gross margins improved to 32.9 per cent from 31.4 per cent in the preceding quarter. It is likely to stay in this region because of strong sales and cost controls. Revenue for the period edged up to US$287.8 million from US$284 million in the same quarter last year. The group also booked an extraordinary gain of US$18.5 million arising from the sale of part of its investment in 3Dlabs Inc. Creative's cash position doubled in the last year to US$463 million, making it one of the top few cash-rich companies in Singapore. The group was also looking at "very exciting orders" for its second-generation digital video disc (DVD) drives as well as new orders from its US customers, Mr Sim said. "I think the DVD industry will take off this Christmas season." He said South-east Asia's currency crisis had hurt Creative's sales "significantly, although there is not much impact on our overall results because some of our costs have fallen". Sales to Asia, which includes Japan and Australia, made up 24 per cent, down from 29 per cent in the same quarter last year. "Sales to the region have gone down significantly but we are working on a case-bycase basis with our distributors to try and solve the problem," he said. "On the whole, however, there is very little impact because our costs in Malaysia and Singapore have gone down."

To: BillyG who wrote (24411)	10/28/1997 3:09:00 AM
From: Peter V	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

>>Off topic<< BillyG, I was looking at your MCRE and CYMI picks. Been checking out CYMI for a little while now, what do you think is a good entry point, assuming this stupid market drops down again? I'm a little concerned that if we do have any kind of slowdown in the Chinese market for computers, that CYMI could get hurt. Faced with this market agnst, MCRE seems like a better play, but their negative numbers make me a bit concerned as well. I have been looking at MUEI. It's a lot bigger than the two companies you mentioned, but its balance sheet looks pretty good, and it's been beaten down as of late. Small float for number of shares shows management confidence. Like CYMI though, it depends on computer sales for revenue. Don't have a position, but maybe. Thinking hard about options. Don't have a lot of loose cash, but would like to leverage what I think (hope desperately) is a somewhat unjustified market drop (even though some stocks, like RMBS, seem out of sight at the moment, still impressed how it's holding up here, thought we'd see 30-40 by now). Been lurking over at the tech options thread for ideas, nothing jumps out at me yet but I'm looking hard for the right play. Of course the safest (and ultimately cheapest) options are deep in the money, but they require that loose cash .... Maybe the CUBE May 30's? Let's hope the bounce back is dramatic as the drop!