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Technology Stocks : Lam Research (LRCX, NASDAQ): To the Insiders -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Duker who wrote (2693)	4/1/1999 1:23:00 PM
From: Shoibal Datta	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5867

From Bloomberg: Lam Research Rises; Analyst Says Novellus May Buy It (Update1) Lam Research Rises; Analyst Says Novellus May Buy It (Update1) (Adds analyst comments, details. Updates share prices.) Fremont, California, April 1 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of Lam Research Corp., a semiconductor-equipment maker, surged as much as 24 percent after Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Mark Fitzgerald said Novellus Systems Inc. may acquire the company. Lam rose 3 1/2 to 32 1/2 in midday trading of 3.6 million after touching 36 earlier. The stock has gained 88 percent this year. Novellus rose 1 3/4 to 56 7/8. Both Novellus and Lam make equipment used to manufacture semiconductors and their combination would create a stronger competitor to Applied Materials Inc., the No. 1 chip-equipment maker. Novellus equipment deposits thin layers of metal and insulation on silicon wafers while Lam machines etch those layers into microscopic chip wires, processes that could streamlined if the companies teamed up. ''Applied is taking significant market share. By getting together Lam and Novellus can offset some of that competitive advantage,'' Fitzgerald said in an interview. Fitzgerald said Lam could fetch as much as $40 a share. That would value an acquisition at about $1.54 billion, not including $350 million of Lam's convertible debt. Novellus, based in San Jose, California, declined to comment. Lam, based in Fremont, California, was unavailable. Speculation Fitzgerald' said ''a recent sequence of events'' including a share offering by Novellus that raised about $300 million has increased speculation that Novellus may be preparing to buy Lam. ''No one at the company told me anything (about a possible acquisition),'' said Fitzgerald, who said he doesn't have ''an insider'' saying that Novellus is going to buy Lam. Lam Research has been considered a potential takeover target for Novellus for the past five years, analysts said. Lam struggled during a slump in chip-equipment orders last year and cut half of its workforce. ''Novellus has to turn itself into a multiple-tool company like Applied to be competitive,'' said Needham & Co. analyst Theodore O'Neill, who rates both Novellus and Lam ''buy.'' Novellus is likely to make an offer for Lam, though not until the end of the year, Needham & Co.'s O'Neill said. Novellus probably would be hesitant to buy the company until Lam stops losing money, O'Neill said. He estimates that Lam will break even in the second quarter of fiscal 2000, which ends in December. ''You can't know what you're buying yet,'' he said. Acquisitions Lam itself bought OnTrak Systems Inc. for $400 million in stock in August of 1997. Elsewhere in the equipment business, SpeedFam International Inc. agreed to buy Integrated Process Equipment Corp. in November, a transaction expected to be completed this month. The merged company also is considered a possible target for Novellus, which may want to acquire its metal-polishing tools.

To: Duker who wrote (2693)	4/2/1999 10:20:00 AM
From: Duker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5867

Capital equipment sales sank 21% last year, says SEMI A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. Story posted 9 a.m. EST/6 a.m., PST, 4/2/99 MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- The worldwide semiconductor equipment industry suffered a 21% drop in shipments in 1998, according to figures released here by Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI). The total for 1998 was $21.8 billion, down from the $27.6 billion in sales posted in 1997. These totals are reported in the "SEMI Worldwide SEMS Report," compiled from data submitted by members of SEMI and the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan. Silicon wafer manufacturers had one of their worst years, brought on by an oversupply of 200-mm wafers and a delay in the transition to 300-mm wafers. Shipments for the segment were $122 million in 1998, down 62% from the $325 million posted in 1997. On the bright side, the semiconductor mask and reticle manufacturing equipment segment increased in 1998 to $701 million, up 12% from$626 million the year before. Increasingly complex chip designs and longer mask production times helped increase the demand for mask-making capacity. Regionally, the Asian markets bore a larger portion of the industry downturn, reflecting last year's financial crisis. Total semiconductor equipment sales in Korea declined to $1.3 billion, down 51% from $2.6 billion in 1997. Shipments in Japan reached $4.7 billion, down 31% from the $6.8 billion the year before. The rapid growth of the Taiwanese market did carry over somewhat into 1998, with sales reaching $3.3 billion, down 14% from $3.8 billion in 1997. Other regions, while faring better, still felt the effects of the down market. Sales in Europe declined almost 6% to $2.9 billion, while North American shipments fell to $7.6 billion, 17% below the $9.1 billion in sales posted in 1997. "The totals for 1998 confirm what we knew and felt all year: 1998 was a tough year for our industry and all of our members," said Stanley T. Myers, president of SEMI. "The upside is that most segments seemed to hit their low point late in the third quarter and have been steadily improving since. If there's a silver lining, it's that the industry ended 1998 on an up note and now appears to be stabilizing and headed towards recovery."