MARCH 2, 2005
Advice from Standard and Poors
WORD ON THE STREET

UBS Upgrades MEMC
Analyst Stephen Chin says silicon wafer supplies are tight and should drive greater demand for the manufacturer's products

UBS Financial upgrades MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR ) to buy from neutral.


Analyst Stephen Chin says he sees 300mm wafers (which have higher prices and margins) growing to 20% of shipments in 2006 from 12% in 2004. He sees higher-margin epitaxial/prime wafers growing to 70% of 300mm sales from about 60%.

He says his checks suggest polysilicon and raw material used to make silicon wafers, are in tight supply -- MEMC has its own polysilicon plants, which should drive share gains over those who lack these operations or long-term agreements with suppliers.

He raises $1.02 2005 earnings per share estimate to $1.10 and $1.06 2006 earnings per share to $1.34 on an improved outlook. He raises his $14 target to $17.




All of the views expressed in this research report accurately reflect the research analyst's personal views regarding any and all of the subject securities or issuers. No part of analyst compensation was, is or will be, directly or indirectly related to the specific recommendations or views expressed in this research report.
Standard & Poor's Regulatory Disclosure

Any advice, analysis, or recommendations contained in articles labeled "Insight from Standard & Poor's" reflect the views of Standard & Poor's, which operates separately from and independently of BusinessWeek Online. It is possible that BWOL may from time to time publish information that is not consistent with advice, analysis, or recommendations that are published by Standard & Poor's. Standard & Poor's and BusinessWeek Online are each units of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.


Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.XML

Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed.

Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video.

To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here.

Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page

Back to Top


  MARKET INFO
DJIA 0 0.00
S&P 500 0 0.00
Nasdaq 0 0.00

Portfolio Service Update

Stock Lookup

Enter name or ticker



Media Kit | Special Sections | MarketPlace | Knowledge Centers
Bloomberg L.P.