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

To: Jeffrey D who wrote (26434)	11/18/1998 11:23:00 AM
From: MrGreenJeans	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Pump It Up! Appliedtells suppliers to gear up--analyst NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Advest analyst Timothy Summers said Wednesday that Applied Materials Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT - news), the world's largest maker of semiconductor equipment, has been telling its suppliers to get ready to ramp up production. ''More important than yesterday's earnings announcement is what we have recently heard from AMAT's suppliers,'' he said in a research note. He said that within the last two weeks, AMAT has told several key component suppliers to prepare for an increase in business from AMAT, as much as 8 percent on a sequential quarterly basis. ''Even though AMAT has the ability to turn on and off its supply chain quickly, this is the first time we have heard any good news out of our supplier contacts regarding their AMAT business in several quarters,'' he said. Applied Materials came out with fiscal fourth quarter earnings after the close on Tuesday that beat Wall Street forecasts. Excluding charges, Applied said its earnings fell to $26.4 million, or 7 cents a share, for the fiscal fourth quarter ended Oct. 25, from $187.3 million, or 49 cents a share, a year ago. The results topped analyst expectations of 2 cents a share, according to research firm First Call Corp. Shares of Applied Materials started the session higher but quickly shed the losses. The stock was trading off 5/8 to 36-3/4, with the shares among the most active on the Nasdaq. Summers raised the stock's rating to strong buy from market perform. Shares of AMAT rallied 72 percent over the past month. Applied Materials officials were not immediately available for comment.

To: Jeffrey D who wrote (26434)	11/18/1998 1:42:00 PM
From: Tony Viola	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 70976

Jeff, >>>"Speaking of Morgan, did you see him on CNBC this morning? I believe, in his own conservative way, he said the bottom has been reached and that due to new technology the DRAM glut was of little concern to him.<<< I saw him, and I agree that he was conservatively, or cautiously positive. Some who listened to the CC said he was noncommital about next year but I didn't think that described the CNBC clip. Mark Haines had obviously been pumped with the buzzy stuff to ask him, WRT what technologies might help propel AMAT faster off the bottom, everywhere from 0.18 micron to Silicon Germanium (SiGe), and copper and 300 mm in between. I think Morgan said 0.18 would be significant for them (should be). He didn't comment on SiGe, said it was kind of early for copper, agreeing with Haines' Intel like comments that it would get quite prominent for 0.12, but probably not for 0.18. I know that IBM and Motorola are talking 0.18 and copper. He said 300 mm was a disappointment, so far, and that spending had been cut back on it at Applied (obviously it had to be also put on the back burner by struggling semi companies). However, he said that if a customer wanted to try to go there, Applied could accommodate. That must be the case, and more so, for copper. Morgan said a couple of times that Applied had the most complete "end to end" (my words) equipment solutions for their customers. This is obvious, but it was used in the context of why they could pull out of the morass (my word) better than anyone. Again, a show of confidence on his part. My first time to see, hear Morgan and I was impressed. He obviously is a chairman/CEO with a strong technical background, and seems quite good all around, in a conservative way, as you say. Tony