Robertson Stephens Daily Growth Stock Update.

Business Editors

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 12, 2000

INTERNET

Raising Estimates

Infosys Technologies Limited (NASDAQ:INFY) F2001 EP ADS: $0.64 from $0.53 Long-Term Attractive Steven Birer, eServices

"Infosys reported fourth quarter results of $63.6 million, beating our estimate of $53.0 million by 19.4 percent and marking 21.8 percent sequential top-line growth," said Birer. "Much of the revenue upside was contributed by continued momentum in the company's emerging Internet and eCommerce area. We are raising our estimates to reflect the strength of the recent quarter and the current business outlook."

TECHNOLOGY

Raising Estimates

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) F2000E EPS: $2.22 from $2.15 F2001E EPS: $2.90 from $2.83 Strong Buy Sue Billat, Semiconductor Equipment/Foundries

"We believe that the industry bellwether, Applied Materials, is on track to meet our new second quarter fiscal 2000 earnings-per-share estimate of $0.56," said Billat. "In our opinion, Applied is well positioned to benefit from Intel's announcement of a 20 percent upward revision in capital spending for calendar year 2000 to $6 billion. In addition, we believe that Applied has established traction in its process diagnostics and control (PDC) division, achieving the first milestone of becoming the number one supplier of SEM defect review stations."

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) F2000E EPS: $1.28 from $1.27 Strong Buy Sue Billat, Semiconductor Equipment/Foundries

"We anticipate strong earnings and bookings from Lam when the company reports March quarter results and, accordingly, expect it to comfortably meet and potentially exceed our new $0.36 earnings-per-share estimate," said Billat. "In addition, we believe that investor concerns stemming from Lam's recent implementation of a new manufacturing execution system are overblown and do not expect it to weigh adversely on the company's fiscal third quarter performance."

KLA-Tencor Corp. (NASDAQ:KLAC) F2000E EPS: $1.13 from $1.10 Strong Buy Sue Billat, Semiconductor Equipment/Foundries

"We believe that KLA-Tencor's business is on track to meet our earnings-per-share estimate of $0.33 for the fiscal third quarter," said Billat. "We expect the company to show strong March quarter bookings and, in our opinion, a positive outlook as new fabs tend to front load purchases of process monitoring equipment."

Novellus Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVLS) 2000E EPS: $1.68 from $1.65 Strong Buy Sue Billat, Semiconductor Equipment/Foundries

"We expect Novellus to show strong first quarter 2000 revenues, earnings and bookings, driven mainly by the continued industry-wide capacity buying," said Billat. "We are, accordingly, looking for the company to report in-line or comfortably ahead of our new first quarter 2000 $0.40 earnings-per-share estimate."

Teradyne, Inc. (NYSE:TER) 2000E EPS: $2.40 from $2.30 Strong Buy Sue Billat, Semiconductor Equipment/Foundries

"We believe the strong fourth quarter business levels continued to build in the first quarter, and we are raising our March quarter earnings-per-share estimate to $0.53, from $0.48, accordingly," said Billat. "As the world's leader in test equipment, Teradyne is well-positioned to benefit from the capacity constraints that are prevailing throughout in the semiconductor industry, in our opinion."

Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEIS) 2000E EPS: $1.64 from $1.62 Buy Sue Billat, Semiconductor Equipment/Foundries

"Advanced Energy continues to leverage its strong position at leading equipment company customers such as Applied Materials, Lam Research, and Novellus, in our view," said Billat. "In addition, we believe that investor concerns stemming from Lam Research's implementation of a new manufacturing execution system are overblown."

Applied Science and Technology (NASDAQ:ASTX) F2000E EPS; $1.08 from $1.07 Buy Sue Billat, Semiconductor Equipment/Foundries

"We expect Applied Science and Technology to meet or exceed our fiscal third quarter expectations of $0.27, driven by strong demand in its core semiconductor OEM business from customers such as Applied Materials and Lam Research," said Billat. "In addition, we believe the company is seeing further interest in its under bump metallurgy systems for flip chip packaging applications."

Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLIC) F2000E EPS: $3.05 from $3.02 Buy Sue Billat, Semiconductor Equipment/Foundries

"We expect K&S to meet our $0.69 estimate for the March quarter," said Billat. "Capacity constraints continue to prevail in the back end, which, in our view, should continue to drive demand for the company's wirebonders that, in turn, should sustain steady sequential booking and revenue growth going forward."

Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. (NYSE:TSM) 2000E EPS: $0.88 from $0.85 Buy Sue Billat, Semiconductor Equipment/Foundries

"We expect Taiwan Semiconductor to meet and possibly exceed our $0.18 earnings-per-share estimate for the first quarter of 2000," said Billat. "As the world's largest foundry, we believe Taiwan Semiconductor is able to command preferred equipment deliveries, a huge positive given the capacity constraints prevailing throughout the industry, in our view. We also believe that the company is very well-positioned to benefit from the growing outsourcing trends while its leading-edge capabilities make it very attractive to fabless customers."

Dupont Photomasks Inc. (NASDAQ:DPMI) F2000E EPS: $1.36 from $1.35 Long-Term Attractive Sue Billat, Semiconductor Equipment/Foundries

"We believe that the photomask industry is on the cusp of a turnaround with significant sector growth not likely to resume for another quarter or two," said Billat. "Accordingly, we anticipate modest sequential growth in DPI's fiscal third quarter results and expect the company to report in-line with our revised $0.30 earnings-per-share estimate."

RESTAURANTS

Raising Estimates

Ruby Tuesday, Inc. (NYSE:RI) F2000E EPS: $1.39 from $1.37 F2001E EPS: $1.68 from $1.64 Buy F. Fitzhugh Taylor, Restaurants

"Ruby Tuesday reported third quarter earnings-per-share of $0.43, an increase of 22 percent over last year and beating our and the consensus estimate of $0.42," said Taylor. "At 13 times our calendar year earnings-per-share estimate of $1.52, we believe Ruby Tuesday remains very attractive given the earnings visibility and upside potential."

Robertson Stephens maintains a market in the shares of Advanced Energy, Applied Materials, Lam Research, Applied Science and Technology, Intel, KLA-Tencor, Kulicke and Soffa, Novellus Systems, Dupont Photomasks, and Infosys Technologies and has been a managing or comanaging underwriter for or has privately placed securities of Advanced Energy, Applied Science and Technology, Kulicke and Soffa, Taiwan Semiconductor, and Infosys Technologies within the past three years.

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