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Technology Stocks : Kulicke and Soffa -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Carmine Cammarosano who wrote (2719)	3/10/1998 11:44:00 AM
From: Smilodon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5482

KLIC at these levels is a good buy. I spoke with the company at the Montgomery tech conference in January. The guidance they are giving analysts has Korea sales going to 0. They expect sales to be flat with increased profitability due to the higher margins in their new products. As far as the semi-cap market, the backend test and assembly business has actually seen underinvestment relative to other semi-cap areas in the last year or so. Consequently, they are a little less likely to have a significant downturn. As evidence of this, test and assembly was the only semi-cap sector to have a positive book to bill in Q1. I don't know if KLIC will miss this quarter. But I do know the company is intentionally giving analysts conservative guidance. Many investors at Montgomery were skeptical about KLIC's forecast. They countered that someone will buy assembly equipment, even if Korea doesn't. Once the chips are made, you must package them. The recent run up in KLIC started during the conference. I don't think it was a coincidence. I think the odds of beating analyst estimates are good. They seem to be trying to set up that scenario. On the other hand macro factors are the main driver. I think KLIC has less risk than other semi-cap and a little more upside potential. If you are willing to buy now and ignore the stock for a few years, I think you will do very well. JMHO