To: Mason Barge who wrote (5800 ) 6/11/1998 12:19:00 PM From: Paul Dieterich Read Replies (1) | Respond to
Aetrium is down 3 3/8 today to about 8 now.AETRIUM INC. (ATRM) 11 1/2 CLOSED. The semiconductor equipment sector continues to encounter demand problems stemming from the Asian crisis. Last night, this electromechanical handling and test equipment maker said that Q2 results will be well off the mark. Aetrium expects to report a break-even quarter compared to market expectations of a $0.23 a share profit. The downturn in Asia has had a much larger impact on the semiconductor sector than previously anticipated and will have a more lasting effect as conditions are not expected to improve anytime soon. Accordingly, Aetrium plans to restructure its product line offerings, reduce costs, and cut its work force in order to address the slowdown in the sector. To do this, the company plans to take a $6 million charge against Q2 earnings, as well as another charge of $12.5 million for the acquisition of WEB Technology. However, excluding these charges, Aetrium expects to report a break-even quarter, with revenues of about $17 million. These numbers are significantly below Wall Street expectations and are also down on a sequential basis. In Q1, Aetrium had earnings of $0.27 a share on revenues of $20.48 million. In the year-ago Q2 period, it earned $0.18 on revenues of $14.92 million. As might be expected, this earnings warning should have a downward impact on the stock. But, the stock is already down from its high of $28 1/4 reached last October before the Asian problem grew into a crisis. Hence, the downside is somewhat limited, but don't expect any rebound in this issue any time soon as demand is still very much in hibernation.
