Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : FLSH - M-FLASH SYSTEMS DISK PIONEERS -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Omer Shvili who wrote (438)	6/26/1998 8:00:00 PM
From: Bennett Zimmerman	Respond to of 923

Omer, I agree with you -- if M-Systems scores a major contract this year. Do you have any indication that they are close to that goal. The company has been predicting such a win for several quarters now. The sacrifice of short term goals (with pre-announcement several weeks ago) is a very risky move. The sales and marketing chief (or Chuck if you will) is obviously setting the priorities right now. Unfortunately, if there isn't a sign that it will happen THIS YEAR (and hopefully in 3Q) then it is hard to get fund managers to hold a position. Thanks BZ

To: Omer Shvili who wrote (438)	6/30/1998 7:56:00 PM
From: limtex	Respond to of 923

Omer - Great post. but WHY?? Do you know anbything that tyhe market doesn't??? L

To: Omer Shvili who wrote (438)	6/30/1998 8:32:00 PM
From: Ariella	Respond to of 923

Dear Omer -- in the face of this release today, there's still no worry about FLSHF? Todah, Ariella <<Atmel to Fire 650 as Flash-Memory Chip Sales Fall San Jose, California, June 30 (Bloomberg) -- Atmel Corp., one of the largest makers of specialty memory chips, said it will fire 650 employees, or 10 percent of its workforce, to cut costs in the face of slumping semiconductor sales. The company also said it will make no money on a per-share basis in the second quarter because of slowing sales. Atmel said it will take a pretax charge of $70 million to pay for the job cuts, and expects the restructuring to generate pretax savings of $30 million a quarter. Atmel is one of many semiconductor companies to cut workers as chip prices tumble, joining Motorola Inc., Texas Instruments Inc. and Intel Corp. Semiconductor sales are slowing because of weaker-than-expected personal-computer sales and the economic crisis in Asia, one of the world's biggest chip markets and where a quarter of the world's PCs are sold. A lot of companies are feeling the pinch and Atmel simply has to adjust,'' said Hans Mosesmann, an analyst at Prudential Securities, who rates Atmel ''buy.'' Atmel was expected to earn 21 cents a diluted share in the second quarter, according to First Call Corp. It earned $27.4 million, or 28 cents a diluted share, on revenue of $224.9 million, in the year-ago quarter. Flash Atmel stock has declined 51 percent in the past 12 months, compared with a 28 percent rise in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, composed of 16 chipmakers, has slipped 19 percent in the same time period, reflecting the broad industry slowdown. Particularly hard hit was Atmel's flash-memory business, where it competes with Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Intel Corp., two of the biggest makers of those chips. Flash-memory chips, used in mobile phones and PCs, retain data even after a device's power is turned off. San Jose, California-based Atmel said pricing pressure has returned to the flash-memory market. Less than a year ago, Intel, the world's largest computer-chip maker, blamed falling prices in the flash-memory business for earnings that were weaker than expected. Atmel gets 20 percent to 25 percent of its revenue from the sale of flash memory. It also makes other types of chips called application-specific integrated circuits, or ASICs, programmable logic devices and microcontrollers. Because of its broad product line, the company also competes with heavy hitters such as Lucent Technologies Inc., International Business Machines Corp. and LSI Logic Corp. Industry conditions will remain difficult in the near- term,'' Atmel President George Perlegos said in a statement. Atmel's profit has fallen at least 50 percent in each of the last two quarters, hurt by a tough chip market. That market is now in its third consecutive year of slowing growth, the first time that's ever happened in the history of the industry. Atmel had $958.3 million in revenue last year. Atmel shares fell 5/8 to 13 5/8 before they were halted late today pending the news. 18:30:06 06/30/1998 (Bloomberg news)>> .