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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Duker who wrote (29820)	4/29/1999 4:08:00 PM
From: William Griffin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

It looks like Sound View is fly in the ointment today Chip Equip Stks Drag Down Tech Sector NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Technology stocks were dragged down Thursday by investor concerns that the chip equipment sector would be hurt by a continued depression of memory chip prices. The concerns were sparked by a research note from Soundview Technology analyst Michael O'Brien who said the continued price decline of dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM, chips has made him more cautious about capital equipment companies including Teradyne Inc. (TER). He removed Teradyne from his focus list. Teradyne shares recently were down 11%. The technology-laden Nasdaq Composite Index was down 44, or 1.7%, after dropping 2% Wednesday. Meanwhile the the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 8 at 10853, after rising 13.74 to a second straight record close Wednesday. The Dow Jones Index of computer stocks was off 1,4% and the software index was off 0.7%. Meanwhile the semiconductor index was off 2.3%. The broader Dow Jones Equity Market Index was off 0.6%. SoundView's O'Brien questions expectations that spending on memory chips will be very aggressive toward the end of 1999 into 2000. Tom Newman, Teradyne's spokesman, told Dow Jones that memory chips accounted for only about 18% of the company's total revenues in 1998. Memory chip prices have been depressed for several years, and other market sources said they did not know of any new information that came out Thursday about memory chip pricing other than the SoundView note. The largest U.S. maker of DRAM chips, Micron Technology Inc. (MU) was off 2.9% at 37 1/4. The largest chip maker, Intel Corp. (INTC), was off 1.8% at 60 1/16. Meanwhile shares of other chip equipment makers such as Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT), Kulicke & Soffa Industries (KLIC) and Novellus Systems Inc. (NVLS) fell sharply in comparison to the chipmakers. Merrill Lynch Global Securities analyst Mark FitzGerald said Applied Materials' stock is the victim of investors concerned about chip-equipment makers' exposure to the DRAM business. Some investors believe chip-equipment stocks are at the bottom of the food chain, FitzGerald said. "If their customers start having problems, it's only a matter of time before they do," he added. Some industry observers pointed out that the chip-equipment sector seems to be on a comeback. They note that the chip equipment book-to-bill ratio was a strong 1.30 for March. Appplied Materials recently traded at 51 3/4, down 2 7/16, o 4.4%, on volume of almost 27.9 million shares versus average daily volume of 9.4 million shares. The company was also among the most active Thursday in options trading. Kulicke & Soffa Industries recently traded at 23 3/4, down 4 3/8, or 15.6%, on volume of 881,800 shares versus average daily volume of more than 568,000. Earlier Thursday, the company reported a second-quarter loss that exceeded analysts' expectations. Novellus Systems recently traded at 49 3/8, down 2 1/8, or 4.1%, on volume of 2.1 million shares versus average daily volume of 1.8 million. Teradyne recently traded at 49 5/16, down 4 11/16, or 8.7%, on volume of 3.5 million versus average daily volume of 1.2 million. - Heesun Wee; 201-938-5392

To: Duker who wrote (29820)	4/29/1999 4:13:00 PM
From: William Griffin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Options Report: America Online, Applied Materials Active By Gaston F. Ceron NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Options traders spent Thursday making moves in the options of such technology-related companies as America Online Inc. and Applied Materials Inc. The latest surge in interest in America Online, a frequent visitor to the most active options contract tables, was triggered by Wednesday's earnings report from Amazon.com Inc. Although the electronic commerce company posted a narrower first-quarter loss than had been expected, Amazon.com also warned investors that operating losses are expected to widen. This, said one options trader who specializes in America Online, prompted a flurry of activity in the Internet sector in the options market. America Online's May 150 calls, for example, were the most heavily traded equity contracts on the Chicago Board Options Exchange. Its May 130 puts were also active. The May 150 calls were recently down 2 1/4 to 8 1/8 at the CBOE, on volume of 5,196 contracts, compared with open interest of 32,433. The May 130 puts were up 2 3/8 to 7 7/8 on volume of 2,215 contracts, compared with open interest of 10,372. The stock was down 4, or 2.8%, to 139. Amazon.com's options also saw action, although not as busily as America Online. The most active Amazon.com contracts were the May 200 calls, recently trading at 6 3/8, down 8, on volume of 1,887 contracts, compared with open interest of 4,937 contracts, at the American Stock Exchange. The stock fell 25 1/4, or 13%, to 168 1/4. Applied Materials Inc. was another technology play that caught the attention of options traders. The chip-equipment company's stock fell 8.1% Wednesday and gave up another 5.4% Thursday, recently trading at 51 1/4, down 2 15/16, in heavy volume. In the options market, investors mostly bought the company's May 50, May 55, May 60 and May 65 calls. Volatility has risen in the past few days, and it's unclear what's driving the options trading, said Paul Foster, the options strategist at 1010WallStreet.com, an Internet trading advisory service. Other chip equipment stocks are also down Thursday, but aren't as busy in the options market as Applied Materials.