Also on the upside for the longer term, Kaminis noted, Coherent is expected to benefit from the proliferation of optical components that the communications industry will need to increase bandwidth. Like other companies among the Top 10, Cymer believes it can outperform the industry, and guided analysts to expect up to 15 percent revenue growth this year. But Wall Street wasn't totally convinced, in part because of Cymer's forecast that revenue in the first half would be flat compared with the quarter. Nonetheless, the high points weren't enough to shake the impact of the slowdown. But, unlike Lam, Novellus' 2001 EPS estimate was not cut by Goldman Sachs.
Management continues to see an ongoing shift from aluminum to copper interconnect.
We continue to believe that Novellus has a very strong integrated product offering in its Damascus suite.