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Technology Stocks : Cymer (CYMI) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elroy Jetson who wrote (11757)	12/20/1997 11:17:00 AM
From: Cymeed	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 25960

<<But I'm being very cautious here as the market is increasingly dangerous with a growing realization that many companies will not make their earnings, >> Elroy, JMO, I found most of the earning warnings are from large cap stocks and glamerous companies such as Nike, MMM, Coms, Intel. In those cases, peope's expectations are just too high. You can't expect a company to grow earnings 30% forever. But I agree with you, the market place is a dangerous one right now. All of the means that companies used to boost earnings in the past are exhausted, such as layoffs (lean) and outsourcing. The great part of earning increase during the last few years was from cost-cutting, not from revenue growth. But we can't cut cost forever. With problems in Asia etc and the ultimate slow down in U.S. economy, the earning picture for the majority of U.S. companies is not pretty. In the semi equip sector, expectations were high too. Some might experience disappoints in the middle or late of 1998. But I just keep thinking Cymi is different. Currently, many companies delayed their conversion because 0.25um tools are not available. That means Cymi and its stepper customers just can't produce enough steppers to satisfy a industry wide conversion. So it is a supply issue, it is not a demand or market being soft issue. One good sign I saw in this scenrio is 40% of AMAT's equipment sold during the recent quarter was for 0.25 technology. You know, the conversion from 0.50 to 0.35 was extremely fast, it only took months for the majority of the world's fabs to finish such a conversion. How can Cymi and its stepper customers produce so many tools to support this giant semi industry for such a huge conversion ? So my thought is, despite possible disappointment from other semi equip companies, Cymi's case is different. Obviously, the stock market has not seen the difference between Cymi and other semi equip companies. The short sellers can only see Cymi's "problems" and "order pushout." But time will tell. Just my opinion only.

To: Elroy Jetson who wrote (11757)	12/20/1997 1:19:00 PM
From: BillyG	Respond to of 25960

In case anyone doubts whether Wall Street Inc. will screw you on the NASDAQ.................. biz.yahoo.com Settlement soon in brokerage firm lawsuits-sources WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Settlement of a class-action lawsuit charging 31 brokerage firms with price-fixing may be resolved before the year's end, industry sources said Friday. Resolution of the lawsuit against the Wall Street firms, could result in the largest antitrust settlement in a civil suit, the sources said. ''They took a lot of money from a lot of people,'' said Robert Skirnick, an attorney for the plaintiffs. Four firms contacted -- Merrill Lynch [NYSE:DJM - news] & Co, Bear Stearns Cos, Goldman Sachs & Co and the former Smith Barney Inc, now part of Travelers Group Inc [NYSE:TRV - news] -- refused to comment on the litigation. Attorneys for some of the defendants did not return calls. Attorneys on both sides of the case are under court orders not to discuss details, said Skirnick, partner with Meredith, Cohen, Greenfogel & Skirnick, a New York law firm. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of people who bought and sold securities on the Nasdaq electronic stock market with the complaint alleging the Nasdaq market makers conspired to widen the spreads between the bid and the ask price. The suit was filed on behalf of Nasdaq buyers and sellers for a small number of stocks, but subsequently expanded to 1,659 Nasdaq national market stocks that were the subject of the alleged price-fix. Of 37 firms accused in the class action lawsuit, six have settled for a total about $100 million, said Robert Skirnick one of the counselors for the plaintiffs. The six are: Jefferies Group Inc [NYSE:JEF - news], Sherwood Securities, Kidder Peabody & Co., Cantor Fitzgerald LP, Montgomery Securities Inc, a unit of NationsBank Corp (NYSE:NB - news) and Herzog, Heine Geduld Inc, said Skirnick, In July, 1996, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit in New York federal court, alleging that Wall Street brokerage firms violated antitrust laws by engaging in anti-competitive activities and a proposed civil settlement resolving the case. The settlement against 24 firms on charges of price fixing required the firms to tape and monitor part of their Nasdaq traders' conversations, with the Justice Department being able to listen in on those conversations. But it was William Christie, a professor at Vanderbilt University, one of two academics who presented a landmark study in 1994, that led to the Justice investigation into the pricing activities on Nasdaq. Microsoft gets the press, while the real humping is happening on Wall Street.........