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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Katherine Derbyshire who wrote (19412)	5/13/1998 6:31:00 PM
From: jtechkid	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

good news-hewlett packard will miss the street by 13cents because asia among other things. this is good news since i can't remember when HWP made estimates but the stock at a 52 week high. good luck.

To: Katherine Derbyshire who wrote (19412)	5/13/1998 7:36:00 PM
From: Sonki	Respond to of 70976

from briefing. APPLIED MATERIALS INC. (AMAT) 39 3/8 +1 7/16. Shares of semiconductor wafer equipment manufacturer are performing rather well today, considering that the outlook remains rather cloudy. While the company managed to match Wall Street expectations with its Q2 results last night, it cautioned that circumstances in Asia are not particularly good and does not expect any major turn around in capital spending conditions anytime soon as the semiconductor sector continues to be hampered by an oversupply in the DRAM market. Revenues in the period rose 31% from a year-ago to $1.176 billion, but fell 10% sequentially. Likewise, gross margins from a year-ago improved to 47.1% from 46%, but fell sequentially from Q1 level of 48.1% of total sales. The numbers are certainly in keeping with the turmoil in the semiconductor sector and the best one could have hoped for considering the reduced spending schedules for the sector. And while the outlook for a continuation of the spending trend is not too surprising, what has helped the stock today is the fact that Wall Street has remained supportive. For the most, Wall Street continues to view the stock favorably, shaving earnings estimates for the next couple of fiscal years, in keeping with the guidance the company provided, yet maintaining positive views about the stock going forward. In fact, most Wall Street firms are positive that a turnaround in the semiconductor sector will occur sooner rather than later and are continuing to recommend the stock. Only BA Robertson Stephens has downgraded AMAT, and they went from a "strong buy" to a "buy." Considering the slowing business activity in the US and Taiwanese markets, the way Wall Street has lined up behind the stock must be considered a major win for the stock.

To: Katherine Derbyshire who wrote (19412)	5/13/1998 7:58:00 PM
From: shane forbes	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Katherine: Very nice article - thanks a bunch. One quick question. RE: Yet, while capital expenditures are dropping, they are still expected to exceed 25% of global IC sales in 1998 With global IC sales around $150 billion or so, 25% of this is around $38 billion. Now I thought cap. spending was supposed to be around $25 billion this year. So what am I missing - even if the 150 is not quite correct it is reasonably close. (Perhaps the $24 billion in only US - but that seems too high.) Shane.