Semi Equip: Oppenheimer Downgrades KLIC, RTEC, TER, VRGY

Oppenheimer analyst Gary Hsueh this morning cut his ratings on Kulicke & Soffa (KLIC), Verigy (VRGY) and Rudolph Technology (RTEC) to Underperform from Perform, while reducing Teradyne (TER) to Perform from Outperform. All four stocks are trading lower this morning.

Hsueh says that after a recent trip to Asia, he has turned more cautious on the semiconductor test and assembly sector, asserting that his checks find demand has “weakened much more broadly for Q4″ that he had previously expected. “Capex is fluid, lead times for back-end assembly/test equipment are short, and
semi chip fundamentals appear to be a slippery slope,” he writes. “Capex can be cut just as easily as it was raised. Nowhere is this more immediate than at the back-end.”

He also cut estimates for all four companies.

• For KLIC, he now sees FY September 2010 EPS of $2.04, down from $2.05; for FY 2011, $1.33, down from $1.70.
• For VRGY, he maintains his October 2010 estimate of 43 cents, but he cuts FY 2011 to 28 cents from $1.14.
• For RTEC, he trims his 2010 forecast to 80 cents, from 81 cents, but cuts 2011 to 37 cents, from $1.19.
• For TER, he cuts 2010 to $2.05, from $2.46; for 2011, he goes to $1.25, from $1.56.

In today’s trading:

• KLIC is down 28 cents, or 5%, to $5.38.
• VRGY is down 21 cents, or 2.7%, to $7.68.
• RTEC is down 21 cents, or 2.7%, to $7.67.
• TER is down 27 cents, or 2.7%, to $9.78.