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Showing posts from October 18, 2009

Semiconductor Conundrum

By Rick Walter Last weekend I worked on a new semiconductor portfolio because I thought that although the price to earnings ratio of many of the companies in the industry are still too high (P/E's of companies in this industry typically runs very high), there still may be an opportunity to take a position in the industry and make some money. Although knowing what companies to buy in this industry may be the ultimate conundrum. This sector is ferociously competitive and over the years even the best companies, such as AMD , Rambus and Novellus Sys have succumbed to the price pressures of the competitiveness in the market. Of course, most of the pressures in this market have stemmed from the relentless drive of Asian chip manufacturers quest to completely dominate the market through a combination of foreign currency exchange rate manipulation of the Renmimbi (Yuan) and cheap labor. Their domination of the markets has also been helped by a global market with an insatiable demand for