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Strategies & Market Trends : The Thread Formerly Known as No Rest For The Wicked -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JeffA who wrote (37285)	5/7/1999 8:49:00 AM
From: Tim Luke	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 90042

goodmorning all: nxtl...per market is 33 1/2 x 33 3/4...i will hold my shares and wait for it to bottom today and then average down....keeep in mind the position this company is in, the reason they didn't accept wcom's offer is because they know they can get more and it will happen soon.... coms: still cranking out great news...printing 26 right now. this is a must hold for me and we should be a sure in buying before the close. good luck today tim

To: JeffA who wrote (37285)	5/7/1999 8:54:00 AM
From: D.Austin	Respond to of 90042

A mention of COMS Analog Devices: Chipping in with DSP's Semiconductor company Analog Devices (NYSE:ADI - news) is making significant strides in building its digital signal processor (DSP) chip business. DSP is one of the healthier areas of the semiconductor industry, with applications such as networking and wireless phones driving strong demand. Computer networking giant Ascend Communications recently chose DSPs from Analog Devices for its voice over IP gateway processors. Earlier this year Intel (Nasdaq:INTC - news) announced it would work with Analog Devices to develop DSP chips for handheld computing devices. The pact with Intel is a valuable endorsement of Analog Device's DSP technology and should help ADI compete with much larger rivals for this fast-growing area of the chip market. Even before the Intel deal, Analog Devices was staking out a nice position in certain segments of the DSP market. The digital chip business was an effort to create a second engine of growth to compliment the company's core business of analog integrated circuits (hence the company name). Analog chips are used to process "real world" signals such as images, light, sound, pressure and temperature. Digital chips perform computational functions by processing electronic pulses represented by 1's and O's. DSP and analog ICs are among the fastest-growing segments of the semiconductor market. Demand for both is being driven by their use in digital consumer and communication products such as high-speed modems, digital wireless phones, game controllers and motor control. Handheld computing devices, the market which Intel and Analog Devices plan to target, is extremely hot thanks to the proliferation of 3Com's (Nasdaq:COMS - news) PalmPilot and expectations for 1999 to be the year of the Internet device--i.e., non-PC products that access the Internet. Analog Devices faces some heavyweight competition in DSP's. Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN - news) dominates the DSP market at large, while Lucent (NYSE:LU - news) and Motorola (NYSE:MOT - news) are teamed up and IBM (NYSE:IBM - news) is also active in the field. Analog Devices has picked its spots, rather than try to compete across the entire spectrum of applications, and so far it's done well. Analog's first quarter 1999 DSP sales were up 6% sequentially after a 24% gain in the prior quarter. Generally its DSP business has outpaced the overall DSP market, and industry experts predict the DSP market can sustain a 25%-30% annual growth rate for the next several years. As mentioned earlier, the market for DSP's is fast-growing but highly competitive. By comparison the analog chip market is not growing quite as fast, but it is very attractive for its high margins and relatively low capital costs. Analog design and process engineering talent is scarce, creating effective barriers to entry that limit competition. The few other companies in the analog and mixed-signal space such as Maxim Integrated Products (Nasdaq:MXIM - news) and Linear Technology (Nasdaq:LLTC - news) are thriving, reflecting healthy conditions for this market segment. Analog Devices suffered through difficult times in 1998, as did most chip makers, but the company has emerged leaner and meaner. Cost cutting efforts last year give the company impressive earnings leverage as the dual revenue engines of analog and digital chips rev up again. Analysts expect Analog Devices to deliver earnings of $1.02 per share in Fiscal Year (Oct.) 1999, a 23% increase from FY98, and the consensus jumps to $1.48 for FY2000, which would be a 45.5% gain. The stock plunged from a high near $40 last year to as low as $12 in October. The stock has climbed back to $37 5/8 currently.