Prosperity Skips a Few

Electronic News, July 26, 1999

There were lots of smiling faces when the second quarter earnings came in last week, but a few wallflowers were spotted at the party. Dutch giant Philips Electronics reported sliding revenues and net income partly due to a 6 percent drop in chip sales. Mentor Graphics Corp. and Microsemi Corp. both warned investors that it expects second quarter earnings will fall short of analyst expectations.

Meanwhile, even as chip equipment makers were basking in a surge of orders, a contrarian report issued by The Information Network forecast that bookings may peak in the first quarter of 2000 and then slide before beginning another recovery in 2001.