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 : Vitesse Semiconductor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Beltropolis Boy who wrote (2075)	12/3/1998 11:05:00 PM
From: A. Edwards	Respond to of 4710

Better Outlook for Chipmakers: Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of Altera Corp. and Xilinx Inc., rival makers of chips for communications devices, rose amid optimism that they and other semiconductor companies will see improved sales and reduced costs. Altera rose 1 5/16 to 54 3/8, earlier touching a 52-week high of 58 3/4. Xilinx climbed 3/8 to 56 13/16 after touching a record 61 1/4. Both companies are based in San Jose, California. Prudential Securities analyst Hans Mosesmann boosted his rating on Xilinx and raised his price target on Altera, citing strong demand for chips used in networking devices and optimism for sales in the first and second quarters, which are seasonally strong for programmable logic chips. Xilinx and Altera both make the chips, which are used in communications gear like switches. ''There is a lot of pent-up demand for their products,'' said Timothy Kellis, an Adams Harkness & Hill analyst. Altera and Xilinx have been guiding estimates up anyway, he said. ''The feeling is that the semiconductor sector has bottomed out.'' He rates both companies' shares ''attractive.'' Mosesmann raised his rating on Xilinx to ''accumulate'' from ''hold.'' He boosted his expectations for Altera shares to $65 from $50 and held his rating at ''accumulate.'' Semiconductors ''Both Xilinx and Altera also said they had very good Novembers and semiconductors in general are seeing a confluence'' of good news, said Maria Quillard, Xilinx director of investor relations. On Tuesday, Xilinx Chief Executive Willem Roelandts told selected analysts and investors at a Credit Suisse First Boston technology conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, that under the right circumstances products made by Xilinx, Altera and other programmable chip makers could see growth rates of 30 percent to 40 percent, Quillard said. ''But that won't be happening next year,'' Quillard added. Daniel Niles, a BancBoston Robertson Stephens analyst, reiterated his ''buy'' rating on Altera, while BancBoston RS analyst Elias Moosa reiterated his ''buy'' rating on Xilinx. Niles said Altera and Xilinx lead his ''best picks'' for midcap stocks and that both companies have ''the best potential for accelerated earnings growth powered by new sets of products.'' He also has ''strong buy'' ratings on chip makers Intel Corp., Texas Instruments Inc. and Micron Technology Inc. Intel, Others Intel, the world's largest computer-chip maker, has seen its shares surge in the past month as consumers began to ramp up their purchases of new PCs, even though the U.S. economy is slowing. Intel today fell 4 1/16 to 109 1/2 after earlier reaching an all-time high of 117 1/8. Other chipmakers also rose today, some to 52-week or all- time highs. Memory-chip maker Micron rose 5/8 to 46 3/8 after earlier touching a 52-week high of 50. Credit Suisse First Boston Inc. analyst G. Scott Nirenberski raised his rating to ''strong buy'' from ''buy.'' Lattice Semiconductor Corp., another maker of PLDs, rose 5 9/16 to 41 1/2. Texas Instruments Inc. rose 2 3/8 to 81 1/8. Vitesse Semiconductor Corp., which designs and makes high- speed chips for telecommunications companies such as Lucent Technologies Inc. and cell-phone maker Ericsson AB, saw its shares rise 4 11/32 to 41 11/16, after touching a record 46 3/8. Analog Devices Inc., which makes chips that turn analog information such as pressure, sound and temperature into digital data, rose 3 1/8 to 27 1/4. David Wu, an ABN AMRO analyst, raised his rating on Analog to ''buy'' from ''hold.''