LSI Logic soars on analysts' comments

LSI Logic Corp. (NYSE: LSI) shares stormed up 6 7/16, or 9 percent, to a 52-week high of 79 3/16 Tuesday after a pair of brokerage firms issued positive comments on the chipmaker.

Robertson Stephens analyst Dan Niles reiterated his "strong buy" recommendation on LSI and set a 12-month price target of $90 a share.

"LSI saw a strong fourth quarter and did not see the expected order slowdown in January," Niles said in a research report. "We had been concerned about some inventory build in the fourth quarter, but that does not seem to have been an issue. We believe there's upside to both our revenue and earnings-per-share estimates for the fourth quarter, as well as for fiscal 2000."

Last quarter, LSI easily topped analysts' estimates, earning $55 million, or 35 cents a share, on sales of $540 million.

First Call consensus expects LSI to pocket 43 cents a share in its fourth quarter.

"We also expect LSI to announce soon a CDMA design win at a major Japanese vendor," Niles said. "We believe this phone should not only have voice, but data capability and Internet access."

On Tuesday, Merrill Lynch upgraded LSI from a near-term accumulate rating to a near-term "buy."

Fellow chipmaker Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: CY) said Tuesday that its fourth-quarter earnings will surpass analysts' estimates.

LSI shares fell to a 52-week low of 20 1/8 last January.

Twenty of the 23 analysts tracking the stock maintain either a "buy" or "strong buy" recommendation.