KLA-Tencor and the Fate of the Semiconductor Capital Equipment Sector

KLA-Tencor (KLAC) is the world leader in yield management and process control solutions for semiconductor manufacturing and related industries. We have been discussing the changes and consolidation attempts in the EDA and ATE industries so far, both in the semiconductor infrastructure category. Another industry that suffers some of their conditions is the semiconductor manufacturing equipment sector. >>>

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MercadoLibre’s Price Target

I haven’t written about MercadoLibre in a while … yesterday, Eric Savitz reported over at Barron’s that Mercado’s CEO Marcos Galperin terminated an over 1.7 million shares stock sale plan, which sent the stock up $4.44, or 16.6%, to $31.23. >>>

Energy Recovery Shakes Up Dead IPO Market

Energy Recovery Inc, the clean-tech shining star, went public last week nearly 15 years after setting up shop in 1993. It will trade under the ticker ERII. >>>

Amkor Worth a Look

Amkor Technology (AMKR) provides semiconductor packaging and test services. Their products range from the traditional, “off-the-shelf” leadframe configurations to leading-edge chip scale, flip chip and system-in-package (SiP) solutions incorporating highly customized designs. The company is of interest because of the surge in SiP, Multi-chip Modules (MCM) and 3D designs in general that are bringing about the revolution in electronics miniaturization. >>>

Paychex Looks Cheap

Paychex (NASDAQ: PAYX) reported its Q4 and fiscal year 2008 results on June 26. Net income in 2008 grew 12% to $576 million or $1.56 EPS, and revenue grew 10% to cross the $2 billion milestone. It took Paychex over 30 years to get to the first billion and only five years to reach the second. >>>

Micron on Shaky Ground

Micron Technology Inc (NYSE: MU) reported its third quarter results on June 26. Revenue was up 10% to $1.5 billion, driven by higher sales of DRAM and NAND flash products and beating analyst estimates of $1.47 billion. Net loss was $236 million, or $0.30 per diluted share. This compares with net loss of $777 million, or $1.01 per diluted share, last quarter and $225 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, last year. Analysts had estimated loss of $0.28 per share. Gross margin was 3.2%, down from 8.2% last year but was a marked improvement over negative margins in the earlier quarter. >>>

RIM Misses Estimates; Palm’s Revenue Also Down

The market was stunned last week as RIM missed analyst estimates by a slight margin. Its stock has plummeted to $117 from a 52-week high of $148.13 on June 19, providing a great opportunity to buy. In this post we look at RIM’s and Palm’s recent earnings reports.
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Alibaba Enters India

Alibaba.com (HKSE: 1688), China’s leading B2B e-commerce company, announced its first quarter results early last month. Revenue for the quarter increased 53.2% to RMB680 million (~ $99 million) and EPS rose 118.6% to HK$6.47 (~ $0.93) for the year. >>>

Accenture Beats Expectations, Adjusts Strategy

Accenture (ACN) reported their Q3 earnings yesterday, and they don’t seem to be finding current economic conditions a challenge. >>>

Teradyne: Strong Results, But No Design-Test Bridge

Continuing my coverage of the ATE industry, in this post I discuss Teradyne, the leading supplier of Automatic Test Equipment. Teradyne (TER) is a global leader in electronics testing and inspection solutions and is the world’s largest supplier of semiconductor test equipment for logic, RF, analog, power, mixed-signal, and memory technologies. >>>