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Technology Stocks : Atmel - the trend is about to change -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mario who wrote (9730)	4/23/1999 5:30:00 PM
From: stockbug	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 13565

If you listened to the conference call could you confirm if anyone from the company said earnings from operations were really only .08. I would like to know if this is true or false, because if this is something the shorts are fabricating trying to drive the price down it is time to fight back.

To: Mario who wrote (9730)	4/23/1999 9:20:00 PM
From: BMcV	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13565

>>I listened to the conf. call and this is what I heard which was extremely difficult when George talked.<< Try deciphering George's accent with a two-year old jumping on your head and a three-year old trashing your living room! With that caveat, here's a couple of numbers I'd add: 1) revenue growth should be 15-20% annually, or 5% each quarter, plus or minus currency fluctuations. 2) they will be spending less on capital equipment than taking in depreciation, which will help cash flow a little. I believe they said about $140 million in cap spending for the rest of the year, but depreciation allowances of $46 million next quarter, increasing to $52 million a quarter in the second half as a new plant in Europe comes on line. 3) CFO Donald X (didn't catch his last name) did indeed say one-time gains added 9 cents to reported earnings and the number from operations was 8 cents. 4) they are going to INCREASE flash business to 25% of revenues, so apparently it really is true that pricing is firming as telecom sucks up supply. I think you have to give management credit for changing over so quickly. They seem to have identified a couple of potentially high-growth markets (smart cards, the Sony consumer product--whatever that is). Donald said he'd try to talk to whoever called, though he did give his phone number awfully quick and didn't repeat it. 408-something. I got the impression that since they now sell into so many markets, with demand and pricing so volatile, that they don't really want to make too many definite statements, which makes sense to me. Their business must be very hard to forecast right now. Who knows when Smart Cards will take off? WHo can say if the Sony thing will be a hit? 20 held great all day. 4 times in April alone we've had more volume than today--all big up days, including yesterday. 17 cents and $30 today would have been nice, but we'll get there.