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

To: Gottfried who wrote (51200)	2/22/2011 9:39:35 PM
From: Ian@SI	1 Recommendation Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95622

Haven't seen you post today. Hope all is well. Ian. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ SEMI book-to-bill slips 2/22/2011 6:34 PM EST SAN JOSE, Calif. – North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted a book-to-bill ratio of 0.85 in January, down from 0.90 in December, according to SEMI. A book-to-bill of 0.85 means that $85 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month. The SEMI book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving averages of worldwide bookings and billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers. “Orders declined slightly in the January book-to-bill report, although they remain well above January 2010 orders,” said Stanley Myers, president and CEO of SEMI, in a statement. “Industry spending remains solid at the start of the year and we are encouraged by the strength in capital expenditure plans announced over the past month.” The three-month average of worldwide bookings in January 2011 was $1.54 billion. The bookings figure is 2.9 percent less than the final December 2010 level of $1.58 billion, and is 30.3 percent above the $1.18 billion in orders posted in January 2010. The three-month average of worldwide billings in January 2011 was $1.80 billion. The billings figure is 2.5 percent more than the final December 2010 level of $1.76 billion, and is 88 percent more than the January 2010 billings level of $957.6 million. Despite the falling book-to-bill ratio, analysts are still upbeat. ''The semi equipment debate now turns to the increased capital intensity thesis and whether 2011 or 2012 is the peak,'' said C.J. Muse, an analyst with Barclays Capital, in a new report. ''We continue to see positive trends for semi equipment extending into 2012, led by an ongoing foundry arms race supported by increased capital intensity at the next nodes, NAND likely edging higher, and DRAM re-accelerating into 2012 as well.'' ''Foundries in general had a strong January thanks to a sizzling demand for ICs used in smart phones and tablet PCs. TSMC’s sales for January beat the slow seasonality of Q1, jumping 2 percent sequentially and 18 percent from a year ago,'' according to VLSI Research Inc.. ''Their utilization rate in January was hovering at 95 percent and the company anticipates running at full capacity in Q2. Memory orders remain skittish, mainly due to the uncertainty in the DRAM market.''