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Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tony Viola who wrote (77192)	3/24/1999 8:06:00 PM
From: Scumbria	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 186894

Tony, and he probably also appreciates Intel's vastly superior process technology and manufacturing, vis a vis those other guys. In the last National conference call, Brian Halla stated that National's manufacturing costs "were probably lower than the competition". Scumbria

To: Tony Viola who wrote (77192)	3/24/1999 8:19:00 PM
From: Fred Fahmy	Respond to of 186894

Tony, Re: "Who is to benefit from all of this? Surprisingly, that other technology bellwether, Intel (INTC), may be in a good position to clean up. Although competitors AMD (AMD) and National Semiconductor (NSM) are winning market share on the low end, the sheer volume of cheap PCs being sold means more sales for all three chipmakers. In addition, Intel has cut costs significantly over the past 18 months, so that it is far more able to remain profitable even if its product mix favors cheap PCs. " This was a decent article but it still misses much of the bigger picture. "The sheer volume of cheap PCs being sold means more sales for all three chipmakers".....but more importantly, it means more sales of high end Intel chips. People are buying these cheap PC's because everyone wants access to the internet. More cheap PC's means more infrastructure to support more users. The ever increasing infrastructure required to support on-line research, banking, trading, travel/reservation services, commerce, mail, entertainment, etc. etc. is made up of lots and lots of high margin Intel CPU's. Intel investors should view cheap PC's (including those based on AMD or Cyrix CPU's) as a catalyst for increased high end CPU sales. FF

To: Tony Viola who wrote (77192)	3/24/1999 9:26:00 PM
From: Paul Engel	Respond to of 186894

Tony - Re: " This guy recognizes Intel's cost cutting over the last 18 months as paying off, and he probably also appreciates Intel's vastly superior process technology and manufacturing, vis a vis those other guys. " Yep - he looks for a logical conclusion - and he found one. Re: "I didn't answer your question about my positions or lack of same in Dell. I have none. Going short always seemed like getting in front of a train with Dell, and conversely, I never could get myself to buy a boxmaker stock with a high PE. " Can't say that I blame you, although I have owned both in the past. I like Dell, but as someone once said, it is "Priced for Perfection". One slip up - like last earnings report - and WHAMO ! Paul

To: Tony Viola who wrote (77192)	3/24/1999 11:04:00 PM
From: Paul Fiondella	Respond to of 186894

MU beats estimates --- good news for INTC Micron posts profit as chip revenues jump Reuters Story - March 24, 1999 22:04 BOISE, Idaho, March 24 (Reuters) - Memory chip giant Micron Technology Inc. posted its first quarterly profit in more than a year Wednesday, beating the expectations of industry analysts as revenues surged. Micron said revenues for its fiscal second quarter rose 34 percent to $1.03 billion from $763 million in the comparable year-earlier period as pricing for the key computer components stabilized and the Boise-based company gained production efficiencies. As a result, the company posted net income of $22 million, or 8 cents a share for the quarter ended March 4, compared with a loss of $51 million, or 24 cents a share, a year earlier. The profit was the first for Micron since the first quarter of fiscal 1998. The net income reported in the latest quarter included a writedown of 3 cents a share to account for the sale of Micron's flat-panel display business. On average analysts had expected a net loss of 1 cent a share, according to First Call, although individual analyst's estimates had ranged widely from a loss of 18 cents a share to a profit of 10 cents. Micron, along with other semiconductor makers, has seen prices drop steadily due to industry overcapacity, Asian economic weakness and dramatic price cuts by personal computer makers, by far the biggest customers for the memory chips. The more stable pricing environment has allowed Micron to profit from the constantly improving efficiency of its plants. Altogether the company produced 75 percent more computer memory in the second quarter than it did just three months earlier. Micron's direct revenues from sales of personal computer systems fell 22 percent from the year-earlier period to $309.5 million. ================================= So there you have the whole story. Their box business is down 22% year over year but their chip business is up 75% quarter to quarter. I would argue this data shows the box manufacturers are under more pricing pressure than the chip manufacturers --- exactly the opposite of what the Street assumes in driving down INTC's price. The INTC firesale is over.