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

To: Jacob Snyder who wrote (53693)	9/13/2011 3:02:01 PM
From: Donald Wennerstrom	2 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95520

S&P has as of yesterday afternoon, upgraded AMAT from Buy to Strong Buy(5 star). 12 Month Target price set at $14.00. The stock is selling at about $11.00 a share today, up a little over 1 percent. 09/12/11 02:47 pm ET ... S&P UPGRADES OPINION ON SHARES OF APPLIED MATERIALS TO STRONG BUY FROM BUY (AMAT 10.76*****): Our upgrade reflects valuation and our belief that orders across all of AMAT's major business segments will witness a cyclical trough in early FY 12 (Oct.).We forecast rising DRAM and flat panel display orders in FY 12, as customers have refrained from major purchases and orders remain at historically low levels.We think a recent plunge in selling prices for solar modules will enhance project returns and improve the excess industry supply scenario.We see an additional catalyst being potential revenue and cost synergies upon the expected Varian (VSEA 61.50, Hold) deal close. /A. Zino-CFA AMAT closes it FY11 year in Oct, but the short synopsis below from FY10, while a little old, gives the diversification of the company at that time. CORPORATE OVERVIEW. At the end of FY 10 (Oct.), Applied Materials (AMAT) was the worldwide leader in the manufacturing of semiconductor capital equipment. AMAT divides its business into four segments: Silicon Systems Group, Applied Global Services, Display, and Energy and Environmental Solutions. The Silicon Systems Group, which accounted for 55% of FY 10 sales (39% in FY 09), is focused on developing and selling equipment for use in the front end of the semiconductor fabrication process. The silicon segment includes semiconductor capital equipment for etch, rapid thermal processing, deposition, chemical mechanical planarization, and metrology and inspection. AMAT's equipment in the silicon segment addresses most of the primary steps in chip fabrication. The Applied Global Services segment, which represented 20% (28%) of FY 10 sales, provides solutions to optimize and increase productivity at customers fabs (semiconductor fabrication facilities). The segment includes products and services to improve the efficiency and reduce operating costs at semiconductor, display and solar customer factories. Applied Global Services products consist of spares, services, certain earlier generation products, and remanufactured equipment. The Display segment, which comprised for 9% (10%) of FY 10 sales, develops equipment for the fabrication of flat panel displays. The segment develops equipment for manufacturing Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD's) for TVs, personal computers and other video-enabled devices. The Display segment also includes the design and manufacture of differentiated stand-alone equipment for the Applied SunFab Thin Film Line. The Energy and Environmental Solutions segment accounted for 16% (23%) of sales in FY 10, and includes products targeting the solar photovoltaic (PV) cell market and energy efficient glass. AMAT offers manufacturing solutions for both wafer-based crystalline silicon (c-Si) and glass-based thin film applications to enable customers to increase the conversion efficiency and yields of PV devices. Sales by geographic region in FY 10 were as follows: Taiwan 29% (21% in FY 09), Korea 19% (13%), China 16% (13%), North America 12% (19%), Europe 10% (15%), Japan 8% (14%), and Southeast Asia 6% (5%).