Roundup: Chip stocks smokin'
Semiconductor stocks continued their torrid pace Tuesday after analysts upgraded and raised earnings estimates on several leading companies.
Rambus Inc. (Nasdaq: RMBS) made the most noise, flying up 50, or 21 percent, to 291 after CFO Gary Harmon told analysts at the Robertson Stephens technology conference that Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) is committed to its chip technology.
Intel shares were up 1 5/16 to 113 11/16.
Harmon said the transition from SDRAM to RDRAM is currently under way and that one of its key customers, Sony, will release PlayStation 2 later this week in Japan.
Integrated Silicon Solutions Inc. (Nasdaq: ISSI) moved up 2 1/2, or 10 percent, to a 52-week high of 27 5/8 after Wit SoundView analyst Scott Randall raised his price target to $35 a share from $22 a share and reiterated his "buy" recommendation.
Randall also boosted his fiscal 2000 and fiscal 2001 earnings estimates from 40 cents to 42 cents and from $1.08 to $1.10 a share, respectively.
Altera Corp. (Nasdaq: ALTR) shot up 7, or 10 percent, to 78 1/2 after Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown analyst Erika Klauer resumed coverage of the stock with a "strong buy" rating and set a 12-month price target of $90 a share.
Chase H&Q placed Altera on its "buy-focus" list and Salomon Smith Barney raised its 12-month price target from $80 a share to $100.
Fellow programmable logic device maker Xilinx Inc. (Nasdaq: XLNX) picked up 7 15/16, or 11 percent, to 78 3/16.
Micron Technology Inc. (NYSE: MU) gained 12 1/16, or 15 percent, to 90 1/8 after Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown resumed coverage of the memory-chip maker with a "buy" recommendation and set a price target of $95 a whack.
"Arguably the world's leading DRAM producer, Micron should benefit from continued growth in demand for its DRAM, SRAM and flash memory products," analyst Erika Klauer wrote in a research note.
LSI Logic Inc. (NYSE: LSI) shares moved up 5 5/16, or 9 percent, to a 52-week high of 63 5/8 and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) tacked on 1 7/8 to 39 5/8.>