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Technology Stocks : Ultratech Stepper -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: David Aegis who wrote (2292)	3/30/1998 7:49:00 PM
From: Kevin Firth	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3696

Federal Filings Business News (not UTEK) said first- and second-quarter net income and sales may be less than the fourth quarter of 1997. Federal Filings Business News is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co. Inc. Ultratek Stepper Sees 1Q, 2Q Sales, Net Below Yr-Ago WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Ultratech Stepper Inc. (UTEK) expects to report lower net sales and net income through at least the first two quarters of 1998 compared to year-ago periods. Ultratech may also report first- and second-quarter net income and sales less than the fourth quarter of 1997, Federal Filings Business News said. Lower net sales relative to the fourth quarter may result in losses due to the company's current level of operating expenses. A consensus of five analysts surveyed by First Call predicts Ultratech will earn 13 cents a share in both the first and second quarters. For the year-ago first quarter, Ultratech reported income of $7 million, or 33 cents a share, before a charge, on sales of $39 million. For the year-ago second quarter, Ultratech reported income of $5.7 million, or 27 cents a share, on sales of $38 million. For the year-ago fourth quarter, Ultratech reported income of $4.3 million, or 20 cents a share, before a charge, on sales of $34 million. Ultratech said its sales have suffered from lower capital capacity spending levels in the semiconductor industry, particularly in Asia, and it continues to experience shipment delays and purchase order restructurings by several of its customers. The company recently experienced a significant downturn in orders from thin film head customers due to excess capacity, which will result in lower sales due to cancellations, delays and deferrals of customer orders. Ultratech expects its gross margin to be "significantly" lower in 1998 than the 52.7% reported in 1997. Gross margin was 54.2% in 1996. Increased competition from Canon Inc., Nikon Inc. and ASM Lithography Ltd., combined with the generally weak conditions of its markets "will make it difficult to maintain current margins." The company also cited capacity additions for expected volume production of several new products, which resulted in the purchase of significant levels of inventory to support manufacturing requirements, hiring of additional personnel and purchase of significant levels of plant and equipment. Ultratech makes photolithography tools used to make semiconductors and thin film heads for disk drives.