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To: vinh pham who wrote (554)	3/18/1999 9:10:00 PM
From: Mark Oliver	Respond to of 723

Looks like they beat estimates of .21, but it's also pretty obvious revenues are down 24.4% and the previous year, they had .73 cents in earnings, so the turn around still has some turning to do. I guess anyway you cut it though, this quarter is better than expected and will probably show some advantage to share price. Backlogs are up sequentially, and they will probably have good space for improvement as they build upon the synergies of the new companies. Winning those lawsuits probably won't hurt either. I won't be dialing into the conference call. If you have a chance to post any comment from the conference call, it would be greatly appreciated. Sure hope they start putting their conference calls on to real audio so people like me around the world can hear what they have to say. Regards, Mark

To: vinh pham who wrote (554)	3/19/1999 8:08:00 AM
From: Mark Oliver	Respond to of 723

Chipmaking equipment orders up in February By Reuters Special to CNET News.com March 18, 1999, 9:40 p.m. PT A key measure of the pace of new orders in the North American semiconductor equipment industry strengthened in February as the book-to-bill ratio rose, a trade association said. The North American semiconductor equipment industry posted a book-to-bill ratio--orders vs. shipments--of 1.17 for February, compared with a revised 1.12 in January, the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International said. That means that $117 in orders were received for each $100 worth of products shipped by the makers of equipment used to manufacture computer chips. The ratio, based on three-month moving averages, has climbed sharply from 0.57 in September, to 0.75 in October, 0.84 in November, and 0.96 in December. The February rise in the ratio came as new orders held steady while shipments fell, the group said. "We appear to be seeing some stabilization after four months of steady bookings growth, and this is in line with industry forecasts for 1999," said Stanley Myers, president of the trade group. "There have been no big surprises in either the chip or electronics markets to cause a sudden change in direction for equipment makers," Myers said. "We remain optimistic that a continued strong economy will lead to a more robust upturn by year's end." Three-month average shipments in February 1999 were $820 million, 5 percent below the January level and 40 percent below the February 1998 level of $1.4 billion. Three-month average bookings were flat at $962 million, and 22 percent below the February 1998 level of $1.2 billion. news.com

To: vinh pham who wrote (554)	3/19/1999 8:19:00 AM
From: Mark Oliver	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 723

It's interesting to see some of the high flyers taking a dive on SEC rulings on acquisitions and how they can be written off. It occurs to me that ESI has actually made quite a few acquisitions. I wonder if you, or anyone knows if ESI might be facing SEC scrutiny over their accounting procedures? Here's an example of what I mean relating to Network Associates. Company says it will beat estimates. =Network Associates -3: Co. Has Predicted 4Q Earns 47c/Share Network Associates is not the only company that has been sent an SEC comment letter on accounting matters. The SEC is cracking down on what it perceives as accounting abuses that companies take in order to manage earnings. In-process R&D writedowns by technology companies is one of the areas that the SEC and the Financial Accounting Standards Board have been scrutinizing. Last month, the FASB proposed eliminating up-front R&D writeoffs. The elimination of companies' ability to take up-front R&D writeoffs raises companies' future amortization costs and lowers their future earnings. The SEC's comment letter to Network Associates concerned some $220 million in write-offs in connection with its 1998 acquisitions of Cybermedia Inc. and Magic Solutions Inc. The company had previously said that if it lowers the amount of write-offs associated with those acquisitions, its future earnings could be reduced by 2 cents to 3 cents per quarter while amortization is incurred. Network Associates also has told analysts that it estimated preliminary 1998 fourth-quarter earnings of 47 cents, above the 46 cents consensus estimate. It alsoreported that preliminary fourth-quarter revenue rose 30% to $272 million. - Maria V. Georgianis; (201) 938-5244; maria.georgianis@cor.dowjones.com (END) DOW JONES NEWS 03-18-99 01:17 PM