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

To: Jack Kunkle who wrote (28443)	2/19/1999 12:19:00 AM
From: Jeffrey D	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Jack, BTB story from Bloomberg. Jeff << Chip-Equipment Makers' Book-to-Bill Ratio Rises in January Chip-Equipment Makers' Book-to-Bill Ratio Rises in January Mountain View, California, Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. semiconductor-equipment book-to-bill ratio, which measures demand for U.S.-made tools used in making computer chips, rose to 1.10 in January as orders climbed for a fourth month. A ratio of 1.10 means that U.S. chip-equipment makers took in $110 in new orders for every $100 of shipments. A ratio higher than 1.00 indicates a growing market. Semiconductor Equipment and Material International, which reports the ratio, increased the December book-to-bill to 0.97, from 0.94, though it revised down orders and shipments for the month. Orders for new equipment are gaining after falling for much of last year, as chipmakers scaled back plans to build new plants amid falling prices and oversupply. The higher book-to-bill means that companies such as Applied Materials Inc., Novellus Systems Inc. and Applied Science & Technology Inc. may be poised for increased sales. January's ratio ''indicates that aggressive activity'' upgrading operations ''should continue to improve equipment industry business levels in 1999,'' SEMI President Stanley Myers said in a statement. January orders rose 10 percent to $957.7 million, according to the SEMI report, from a revised $869.2 million in December. Shipments fell 3 percent to $868 million, from a revised $895.2 million in December. Applied Materials Inc., Novellus Systems Inc. and KLA-Tencor Corp. are the largest makers of ''front-end'' chip equipment. The largest maker of ''back-end'' tools is Teradyne Inc. Front-end tools are used to prepare chips, deposit thin layers of wiring and insulation to build circuits and inspect for defects. Back-end machines test and package chips. Applied Materials's shares fell 1 1/8 to 66 1/4 today. Novellus rose 3/4 to 69 5/8. Applied Science & Technology Inc. fell 1/16 to 14. KLA-Tencor Corp. rose 9/16 to 59 7/16. Teradyne rose 7/8 to 59. The book-to-bill ratio was announced after the close of U.S. markets. >>

To: Jack Kunkle who wrote (28443)	2/19/1999 3:34:00 AM
From: Felix Keung	Respond to of 70976

Even though I believe that AMAT is on the path to recovery, but is it worth 66 dollars even with the revised fiscal 1999 estimate of $1.05. ? Maybe one day Amat will have 3 or 4 dollars of earnings, but when? 2 or 3 years from now? This is a pure momentum play at all, this price level is simply not justified at all.

To: Jack Kunkle who wrote (28443)	2/19/1999 8:40:00 AM
From: Xpiderman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

The Semi equipment Book to Bill Ratio bottomed at 0.57 in last September and moved up handsomely to 1.10 in January. Please visit this site for details: geocities.com