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Technology Stocks : Ultratech Stepper -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Demosthenes who wrote (2911)12/11/1998 8:46:00 AM
From: Thomas Babb  Respond to of 3696
 
Thanks Demosthenes...much value.



To: Demosthenes who wrote (2911)12/11/1998 9:45:00 AM
From: Jeffrey D  Respond to of 3696
 
Demo, well I am impressed. Thanks for your hard work on this. Hope you don't mind me reposting it on the Brinker thread. Jeff



To: Demosthenes who wrote (2911)12/11/1998 5:20:00 PM
From: Justa Werkenstiff  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 3696
 
D: Thanks for the information. I listened to the PLAB call the other day. Ultrabeam is still in beta testing and Yomazzo stated he had little idea if it would go into production soon. He said they were always cautious in evaluating a new tool. I think it is important to understand that the Ultrabeam will be used to compliment the ETEC machine as PLAB sees that Ultrabeam has some advantages over ETEC machine in some mask applications. I wonder why nobody else has taken delivery of at least a beta Ultrabeam with a possible mask shortage on the horizon and I wonder who will take delivery of those four machines. DPMI should take one, but when?



To: Demosthenes who wrote (2911)12/11/1998 8:50:00 PM
From: Demosthenes  Respond to of 3696
 
All,

There is one point that I forgot to mention regarding my conversation with UTEK.

Late last summer UTEK told me they were planning a joint press release with PLAB focusing on the success of Ubeam. They said that release would be coming out in September. Well, on Tuesday this week Laura said that due to several factors (including not enough continual production using Ubeam) that release had been postponed. It's still in the wings and will be issued at some later date.

Rgds, D



To: Demosthenes who wrote (2911)1/28/1999 12:17:00 PM
From: MrGreenJeans  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 3696
 
Goodbye Utek!

I sold off all Utek holdings this morning for the following reasons:

Approximately one month ago Demosthenes called the investor relations department and was told the following:

They are on track to break even for Q4 and seem to be excited about being able to prove something to the Street after the fiasco of the last 2 Q's.

This morning Utek reports a decrease in earnings of anywhere from -27 cents to -70 cents per share depending on how you do the accounting. Funny, two to three weeks before the end of the quarter which they are forecasting to be breakeven and they are not even close. One would think that with two to three weeks before the end of the quarter they would have a better idea of what their earnings would be. This indicates to me that management has no idea what is going on inside the company. Making a forecast nowhere close to the reality.

They expect 60% sales growth in 99 over 98.

This goal should not be so hard. Sales were so dismal in 1998 that this goal should be easily met. The financials, by some measures, are getting progressively worse.

I mentioned that AZ's credibility was questionable after he called the "bottom" for UTEK 2 Q's in a row (and pissed a lot of us off). She said that she is aware of that and that they think Q398 was definitely the bottom and that it would be up from there with a possible breakeven for Q498. (3 weeks to go).

Art, not even close.

I am disturbed that to date the demand for their new products approaches zero. I am disturbed that Plab has not issued a recommendation on ultrabeam? which was due out in September 1998. I am disturbed that during the conference call Art Z. is talking about more new products. Seems to me like Utek is promising a lot while delivering very little to customers or investors. Over the past couple of years the investment in Utek has been a total zero. (For the record I made a few hundred dollars in this investment only because I wrote covered calls.)

Hey, contact me when they finally start to deliver their new products but don't contact me if they are only talking the talk-hey, you know what they say talk is cheap.

My investment conclusion is easy: If this company is for real, when they start shipping Ultrabeam and P-Gild, there will be plenty of time to invest in this company and make real money until then...

ADIOS, UTEK!



To: Demosthenes who wrote (2911)3/13/1999 12:46:00 PM
From: Demosthenes  Read Replies (3) | Respond to of 3696
 
All,

I spoke with IR at UTEK in late November and then posted the notes on December 10. I spoke with them again about a week and a half ago. My notes are as follows, in alternating order for the sake of comparison.

Then:

<<The ISI acquisition has allowed the development of what has recently been named the Ultratech XLS 9800, a DD litho for .25 microns. One of these will ship in Q199 for $2mil. Further development in 99 will take it to .18 microns.>>

Now:

The XLS 9800 will ship in Q2. Software is extrodinary and the key selling point. Expect to ship 6 of these in 99 for $2.1 million each.

Then:

<<4 Ultrabeams will ship in 99 for a price of $6.8mil each.>>

Now:

2-3 Ubeams will ship in 99 for a price of $6.8mil each. They have now built a Ubeam from the "ground up," meaning that the design is no longer dependent on the exact configuration of the original Lepton design.

Then:

<<4 P-Gild machines will ship in 99 for a price of $4.3mil each.>>

Now:

3-4 P-Gild machines will ship in 99. The first ones will price at $3.4mil each and then go to $4.2mil each.

Then:

<<They are on track to break even for Q4 and seem to be excited about being able to prove something to the Street after the fiasco of the last 2 Q's.>> Also then: <<I mentioned that AZ's credibility was questionable after he called the "bottom" for UTEK 2 Q's in a row (and pissed a lot of us off). She said that she is aware of that and that they think Q398 was definitely the bottom and that it would be up from
there with a possible breakeven for Q498. (3 weeks to go).>>

Now:

They are on track to beat the loss estimate for Q1 of .12 to .14 cents and then go profitable in Q2.

Now:

They abandoned the 160K sq ft ISI building they were sharing with Wang because of security reasons. They just took over the old Drytech building (60k sq ft-half clean room) that Lam abandoned. AZ built the Drytech building many moons ago whan at General Signal, so I guess he's come full circle geographically.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last week I also spoke to Mike McCarthy at IR with PLAB. He said that they continue to test the Ubeam and that it is cleary superior for some applications. He also confirmed Justa's report that business had not picked up as quickly as they anticipated.

Best Rgds, D