Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[MONYMAN3]

CREE - for those that are interested--- Just got off their conference call, and it was pretty bullish. They have already booked 80% of the March qtr already. Gross Margins for next qtr will be in the low to mid 40% range (41% reported for the last qtr) with EPS guidance at .13-.14 vs. prior estimates of .08 (Zacks). They have been capacity restrained but hope to ease that a bit next quarter with added yields and the result of their capex spending of the last 6 months. Revenues for the qtr just reported were up 16% sequentually and 38% yoy. Earnings were up 140% yoy. Business was especially driven by cell phone handsets (46% of revs) and auto (27% of revs). CREE was free cash flow positive for the 1st time with a FCF of 7mm during the reported qtr. For the fiscal 2003 year they gave a range of 10-30mm FCF. From what they hear from their customers (Samsung and NOK named) about 40% of cell phones will be produced with color screens this year.
They intimated that the price difference between gray and color screens was not that great and that color of course would be the
screen of choice with consumers. Average selling prices were actually up 3% in the qtr. Their net profit margin came in at 16% which was the highest in 5 qtrs. DSOs were 55 days.
Thats about all I can remember. Double check before you trade it.http://my.zacks.com/reports/reports.php3?ticker=CREE&type=100
for reference. Rob