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Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Humblefrank who wrote (44738)	1/10/1998 8:38:00 PM
From: Diamond Jim	Respond to of 186894

FPalardy, "I feel Intel will beat estimates" I hope you feel correctly, I think to break out of the range they need to beat estimates and talk up Merced and say how Asia is under control as far as how it concerns Intel. Question is can that possibly be true ? Can't ask for a remedy all at once but a well thought out plan could help. I for one am happy that Intel is going after the lower cost PC market as well. Isn't that why the Fort Worth facility changed directions or is it on hold all together ? Earnings expected is ?? .90 or better is good ?? jim

To: Humblefrank who wrote (44738)	1/10/1998 9:45:00 PM
From: Ibexx	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

Earnings preview for semiconductor industry: from Reuters ____ Computer chip makers had a lackluster fourth quarter (With chart) By Therese Poletti SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The financial turmoil in Asia and excess capacity have taken the shine off computer chip makers' normally robust fourth-quarter profits, and many companies have warned already of disappointing results. Semiconductor manufacturers' earnings reports will begin to flow next week, with Motorola Inc. leading the pack Monday and then semiconductor giant Intel Corp. and rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. both reporting after the market closes Tuesday. "Expect another round of generally uninspiring financial results," said John Lazlo, a PaineWebber Inc. chip analyst. Lazlo and other Wall Street analysts said they did not have any expectations for upside surprises in the group. Some said they expected more cautionary comments from industry executives about further negative effects from the Asian currency crisis. "I'm more concerned about the outlook that is conveyed for the first quarter than I am about the December quarter," Drew Peck, a Cowen & Co. analyst said. "By now, we have heard all the disasters pre-announced. The other companies are likely to meet expectations or fall short slightly." Just this week, Atmel Corp., a maker of programmable logic and programmable memory chips, said it would report flat fourth-quarter revenues, take a $160 million charge for inventory write-downs and report a net loss, due mostly to an inability of some Asian customers to get credit for purchases. In mid-December, Cypress Semiconductor Corp. said it would miss analysts' estimates for the quarter, due to lower orders from its foundry customers and problems getting its SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) chip fabrication plant up to volume production fast enough. Also last month, Lattice Semiconductor Corp. said its fiscal third-quarter earnings would fall below analysts'expectations because the company would not be able to ship $3.5million of product to Korean customers. Lattice's sole Korean distributor was declared insolvent in December. Analysts said Advanced Micro Devices, Intel's biggest rival in the PC microprocessor arena, would report a loss, because shipments of its K6 processor did not meet its target of two million units during the quarter and revenues from otherproducts were flat. The company, which makes clones of Intel processors, faces pressures as Intel has been sharply cutting prices. AMD also is trying to switch to a new manufacturing technology. However, all eyes will be on Intel, the world's largest semiconductor maker, looking especially for any forecast and any word on its plans for capital spending. "The fourth quarter was clearly a challenging environment," Mark Edelstone, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, said. "I expect Intel will be in line with expectations." Ashok Kumar, an analyst at Loewenbaum & Co. Inc., said he believes Intel has an inventory glut, especially of notebook processors, and would continue to cut prices to move its products. The popularity of products like the sub-$1,000 PC is also pressuring chip makers to develop even lower-cost chips. "For the semiconductor group, this quarter you will start seeing the beginning of the softness in Asia," Kumar said. "The outlook will be muted because there are more gray skies than anything else." Sharply declining memory chip prices have also pressured companies like Texas Instruments Inc. and Micron Technology Inc., but Texas Instrument's earnings will be boosted by strong sales of its digital signal processor family. The following in a chart of earnings estimates, as compiled by First Call, of some major U.S. chip companies. COMPANY CONSENSUS YEAR AGO DATE Advanced Micro loss $0.13/shr loss $0.15 Jan. 13 Atmel Corp. profit $0.30 profit $0.53 Jan. 15 Cypress Semi profit $0.01 profit $0.02 Jan. 21 Intel Corp. profit $0.90 profit $1.07 Jan. 13 Lattice Semi profit $0.58 profit $0.49 Jan. 13 LSI Logic profit $0.22 profit $0.23 Jan. 22 Micron Tech loss $0.13 profit $0.18 Mar. 16 Motorola Inc. profit $0.68 profit $0.39 Jan. 12 Texas Instruments profit $0.60 profit $0.25 Jan. 21 LSCC.O CY.N ATML.O MOT.N AMD.N INTC.O TXN.N MU.N LSI.N REUTERS Rtr 17:22 01-09-98 _____ Ibexx