Kulicke & Soffa warns again, shares tumble

Kulicke & Soffa Industries Inc. (Nasdaq: KLIC) plunged 33 percent in pre-market trading Friday following an announcement that revenues for its first fiscal quarter of 2001 will be lower than expected.

In August, K&S said customer order deferrals would dent results in the fourth quarter and the first quarter of 2001. Thursday night, it announced the problems continue, and will gouge even more out of first quarter results.

Shares were down 4.94 to 9.94 on the Island ECN Friday morning. The stock already took a tumble in September after a warning.

"This week, some of our major assembly customers notified us of additional push-outs of previously booked orders. They are also deferring new orders. As a result... revenues for the first fiscal quarter of 2001 are now expected to be in the range of $140 million to $165 million," said CEO C. Scott Kulicke in a release.

Kulicke added that industry analysts forecast increasing demand for semiconductors in 2001, and the anticipated opening of new fabrication facilities will reaccelerate the demand for the company's back-end equipment later in the year.

Guidance does not include projected revenues from the previously announced tender offer for Cerprobe Corp.