To: Elroy Jetson who wrote (15035 ) 2/25/1998 3:04:00 PM From: Czechsinthemail Read Replies (1) | Respond to
ETEC SYSTEMS (ETEC) 50 7/8 +2 1/4. Riding the coattails of a positive article in today's Wall Street Journal about semiconductor equipment makers, shares of testing machine manufacturer are trading higher as the issue was selected among one of the favorites. A SoundView Financial analyst made positive comments about the semiconductor equipment sector, and showed a preference for this issue and that of Teradyne (TER 46 3/8 +2 1/2) because its equipment does not require companies to buy a new machines for monitoring chip quality; instead, it allows semiconductor producers to upgrade their lithography equipment. The article has been received constructively by the sector with many equipment maker issues posting sizeable price gains today. The stock is also benefitting from a positive earnings report last night which saw the company beat Wall Street estimates by a penny as the company appears to be showing signs of shacking off the blues that troubled many of these issues late last year. According to ETEC, it earned $0.38 a share in the fiscal 2Q, 9% ahead of year-ago net of $0.35 a share. Revenues in the quarter also increased by 15.8% to $62.17 million, even though the company delayed an ALTA 3500 shipment until the next quarter. Otherwise, ETEC would have had an even more positive quarter. Gross profit margins improved in the quarter to 54.2% of total sales from 47.2% in the year-ago period. The company also said that it continues to experience "strong interest" across geographical markets, although it notes that it has seen "some weakness as Japanese mask makers assess the impact of a retrenching by Japanese semiconductor manufacturers." It also notes the credit difficulties being experienced by Korean customers makes it difficult to generate new orders from that area. Despite this modest caution, however, ETEC remains positive about the outlook for the remainder of the year. This view, couple with the positive newspaper article have certainly help the stock and the sector today.
