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Technology Stocks : Atmel - the trend is about to change -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Lamb who wrote (7426)	11/26/1997 3:26:00 PM
From: hpeace	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 13565

hot news NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Shares of memory and logic device manufacturer Atmel Corp. fell Wednesday after a Deutsche Morgan Grenfell analyst who follows the company said bookings in November had slowed and warned that pricing pressures and certain start-up costs are hurting margins. Atmel officials didn't immediately return phone calls seeking comment. Deutsche Morgan's Scott Nirenberski said Atmel's November bookings have slowed slightly from the $95 million to $97 million level seen in October. Provided that December's bookings don't slow, Atmel should be able to book $300 million for the fourth quarter, the analyst said. He also warned that pricing pressures in non-volatile memory products, as well as costs associated with the ramp-up of Atmel's fab facility in France, are affecting the company's fourth-quarter margins. These issues may endanger Nirenberski's 35-cent earnings-per-share estimate for the quarter by one to two cents, the analyst said. Nirenberski went on to say that even though the company may have some flexibility in its operating expense, easing some of these pressures, "there is clearly more risk to (fourth quarter earnings) than 30 days ago." Among other issues, Nirenberski said he expects the recent Asian financial jitters to impact growth in 1998. He added that the company has yet to experience any slowdowns as a result of the region's troubles. The analyst chose to keep his buy rating unchanged, saying that the risks to the current quarter are largely reflected at the stock's current valuation. But he cut his 12-month target price on Atmel shares to $30 from $42. At midafternoon, Atmel (ATML) was trading at $22, down $1.875, on Nasdaq volume of 3.5 million. Average daily volume on the shares is about 2.1 million.