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Technology Stocks : Speedfam [SFAM] Lovers Unite ! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Robert Schling who wrote (3094)	7/3/1998 6:23:00 PM
From: My Father's Son	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3736

Robert, I think you are mistaken. Any increase in inventory, planned or unplanned, does not "prop up" earnings. DMM

To: Robert Schling who wrote (3094)	7/4/1998 1:44:00 PM
From: SemiBull	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3736

<<"In addition, one-time charges were taken for special customer service allowances, which relate to the increasing complexity of the Company's CMP products and the current competitive environment, plus other miscellaneous one-time costs". Properly decoded this should read: We have technical problems with our machines, and customers are renegotiating pricing because of AMAT's attractive proposals...>> I think your conclusion decoding SFAM's one-time charge - "We have technical problems with our machines, and customers are renegotiating pricing because of AMAT's attractive proposals" - is a bit much. If SFAM has to give away a machine, has to make special provisions for Samsung, etc., to compete with AMAT's free machines, than so be it over the short term. AMAT's numbers will not be glowing this Q either. The whole sector is in a downturn, and for a pure CMP play issues like these will get much more exposure than with AMAT which won't need disclose because of the materiality standard of the SEC. Just one man's spin.....SemiBull

To: Robert Schling who wrote (3094)	7/6/1998 11:32:00 AM
From: Q.	Respond to of 3736

Agreed that <<"In addition, one-time charges were taken for special customer service allowances, which relate to the increasing complexity of the Company's CMP products and the current competitive environment, plus other miscellaneous one-time costs". >> is a wishy washy statement that is unclear but can't be good. I don't know what they really mean, but it is pretty clear that it doesn't mean that their machines are working better than expected or that they are beating up on Applied.