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Strategies & Market Trends : Market Gems:Stocks w/Strong Earnings and High Tech. Rank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jenna who wrote (31699)	4/7/1999 9:50:00 PM
From: puborectalis	Respond to of 120523

Love COVD and NVLS,HELX,AMAT and other semi-equips...read this.......... April 7, 1999 6:25 P.M. EST Market Digest: Closing Bell Edition By Cintra Scott and Monica Rivituso and Rebecca Thomas and Karyn McCormack Chip Equipment SYM LAST PRICE P/E 52-WK HI 52-WK LO NET CHG. % CHG. (AMAT) 64.75 431.7 71.63 21.56 -3.188 -4.692 (ASML) 49.63 0.0 49.13 12.94 1.375 2.850 (CMOS) 23.50 38.5 32.06 9.31 1.500 6.818 (KLAC) 53.25 190.2 65.00 20.75 -1.000 -1.843 (NVLS) 61.44 40.7 75.50 20.88 -0.375 -0.607 (SVGI) 12.75 -12.8 21.38 6.63 -0.281 -2.158 Quote As Of 04/07 6:30PM Chip-equipment stocks got caught in the tech downdraft Wednesday. But Merrill Lynch says that after a tough 18 months, the chip-equipment sector is poised for a sharp recovery that could last until 2000 or 2001. "Next year, we could see some 30% year-over-year growth in the industry," says analyst Mark FitzGerald. But it all depends on PC sales, he warns. "Clearly, what we have to have is strong PC unit demand out there. The semiconductor capital equipment industry should be viewed as a derivative play to the PC industry," FitzGerald says. He explained that 60% of all semiconductor equipment business comes from companies like Intel (INTC) that make chips for PCs. Memory chips, known as DRAMs, also account for a large portion of chip-equipment makers' business, FitzGerald says. In the next few months, DRAM prices and PC demand should improve, FitzGerald predicts. Among the strongest players in the sector are makers of die shrink technology, which involves reducing chip sizes in order to fit more easily on a wafer (thereby improving the productivity of a system), FitzGerald says. SmartMoney pick ASM Lithography is the leader in this business. On the other hand, he warns, a lot of chip equipment has been sold at deep discounts during the past three months. "The strongest technology franchises such as Applied Materials and KLA-Tencor are the least susceptible to discounting," FitzGerald said in a report Wednesday. MR