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Up strongly yesterday as markets rallied and TSMC set a 2016 capex budget of $9B-$10B (up from 2015 capex of $8.12B), a slew of chip equipment makers are seeing big losses amid a 3.3% Nasdaq drop after Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) used its Q4 report to disclose its 2016 capex budget has been cut by $500M to $9.5B (+/- $500M). That's still up by $2.2B at the midpoint from 2015's $7.3B, but lower than the $10.1B-$11B spent annually from 2011-2014.
- On Intel's earnings call (transcript), CEO Brian Krzanich indicated the budget cut is related to logic (i.e. CPU) capex, and insisted no specific major factor was responsible. "As we went from the investor meeting into the actual firm forecast for 2016, the team has just sharpened down all the numbers and went through it in more detail."
- Major decliners: Applied Materials (AMAT -4.3%), Lam Research (LRCX -6.5%), KLA-Tencor (KLAC -3.8%), ASML (ASML -6.3%), MKS Instruments (MKSI -3.9%), Ultratech (UTEK -4.9%), Teradyne (TER -3.1%), Advantest (ATE -4.6%), and Ultra Clean (UCTT -5.2%).
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Stifel's Patrick Ho argues the selloff is a buying opportunity. "[W]e have already seen positive preannouncements with two of our names (Ultra Clean, Axcelis) and we expect more upside surprise than those on the downside ... We believe 3D NAND momentum continues to build while there has been some initial buying for 10nm logic (Intel) and foundry (TSMC). We maintain our industry thesis that 3D NAND spending will be the largest incremental driver for spending in 2016, with upside potential from the foundries in 2H16 related to 10nm investments." He likes Applied, Lam, Teradyne, and MKS.
- Credit Suisse's Farhan Ahmad notes Applied, ASML, and Lam have relatively low Intel exposure, and that a Korea Times report indicates DRAM/NAND flash maker SK Hynix's capex might increase in 2016. On the other hand, he's worried current expectations for EUV system shipments (important for ASML) are too optimistic.
- Samsung (OTC:SSNLF), another top-3 chip equipment buyer, reports after the Jan. 21 close. Citi's Atif Malik sees Samsung cutting capex due to lower DRAM-related spending. "We think Samsung moderating memory spend, particularly DRAM, would improve memory supply-demand balance and sustainability of memory equipment spend in C16."