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Pastimes : The Justa & Lars Honors Bob Brinker Investment Club -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lars who wrote (1750)	10/22/1998 5:55:00 PM
From: Lars	Respond to of 15132

* UTEK * News excerpt: ULTRATECH STEPPER INC. (UTEK) The third quarter was not good news for investors in this designer and manufacturer of photolithography equipment used in the fabrication of integrated circuits as the company posted a larger loss than projected. Even excluding the special charges related to inventory write-offs, reserves for lease receivables and a work force reduction, Ultratech Stepper still managed to lose more than projected by Wall Street as the continuing weak trend in the semiconductor market, specifically in Asia, continued to wreck havoc with operating results. In the latest period, UTEK reported a loss of $0.34 a share, significantly below the mean loss estimate of $0.08 a share, and a reversal of fortune from a year-ago when it earned $0.25 a share. Net sales for the period plummeted by 66% from year-ago to $12.36 million and where also down 45% on a sequential basis. As might be anticipated, gross profit margins fell from 52.3% as a percentage of net sales to 11.6% in the latest period. And with the semiconductor and disk-drive capacity issues prevailing for at least another quarter, if not a good part of next year, and Asia showing little signs of making a bottom, weak demand for photolithography equipment is expected to remain in place. The company has taken steps to cut its losses by reducing staff, but without increased shipments of its equipment, it will be hard pressed to improve results. It is possible that this quarter represents the bottom in sales, but it certainly needs a major upturn in the semiconductor and storage memory businesses for results to improve in the upcoming year.