For the first time since 2001, no high-tech equipment market will be immune to the great recession.

Stocks that are lesser known offer many of the best investment opportunities as people fail to accurately price the security, and lack of Analyst coverage on the Street does not pin any valuation price target.

However, simple valuation metrics compared to industry and market averages allow any investor to find disconnects to take advantage of as a longer term investment.

by Brenon Daly

With Data Domain (DDUP) off the market, we did a bit of blue-sky thinking about which company might find itself snapped up in a similar scenario. Our pick? Riverbed Technology (RVBD). We’re not suggesting that the vendor is in play by any means, but hear us out on this one.

By Ucilia Wang

Back in March, Ascent Solar (ASTI) announced that it had begun regular production of its copper-indium-gallium-selenide panels on a 1.5-megawatt pilot line.

F1Q10 Earnings Call

July 8, 2009 4:30 pm ET

Last week (7.2.09), XLNX lowered its guidance to -5.5% below Street expectations. A press release stated that the shortfall was due to "supply constraints on certain Virtex-5 devices that are in high demand." We noted that the high demand was consistent with recent data, esp surrounding China 3G infrastructure, and also noted that the Virtex-5 was manufactured at the 65nm node, which only accounted for 11% of UMC's revs. We reasoned that 65nm was a mature process, and thus yield issues were unlikely. This morning, a DigiTimes article, citing UMC's CFO Chi Tung Liu, confirms this.

Thus we reiterate our positive stance on several names:

An impressive quarter is now in the books. The second quarter of 2009 saw the S&P 500 rally almost 16 percent, its best quarterly return since 1998. Of course, this is on the heels of the sharpest market downturn in 80 years. Despite the rally, which took stocks deserving and undeserving alike from cheap valuations, there are still some bargains to be had.

Case in point is one of the most dominant companies on the planet – Intel (INTC). Intel is the leading semiconductor chip maker, with a global market share of approximately 80 percent. The company manufactures microprocessors, chipsets, flash memory and motherboards for computing and communications products under two business segments: the Digital Enterprise Group and the Mobility Group.

By Guy Adami

Tuesday morning Bank of America/Merrill Lynch upgraded Intel (INTC) to a "buy" rating, saying the chipmaker is starting to see a definite improvement in demand, which will drive margins higher in the semiconductor industry in general.

The future of Hoku Scientific, Inc.'s (HOKU) ambitious 4,000 MT poly-silicon project at Pocatello, Idaho looks hazy at the moment. Resilience and out-of-the-box thinking are what HOKU needs to sail through with empty pockets.

The fate of the $390 million polysilicon project is in the doldrums purely due to a scarcity of funds. However, the management is still optimistic about continuing with the project. Earlier, the company had estimated that the plant will be operational in the second half of 2009 and will achieve full capacity in 2010.

By Eric Wesoff

While Suntech (STP), Kyocera (KYO), Sharp (SHCAY.PK), Samsung, First Solar (FSLR), SunPower (SPWRA), and the others jockey for leadership position in the solar panel market, SMA Solar (SMTGF.PK) has quietly become the dominant force in the $2 billion dollar PV inverter market.

But the biggest news is that the Rambus case at the ITC (vs. Nvidia, Hewlett Packard and about ten others) is scheduled to start in late August and the antitrust case against Samsung, Hynix and Micron (MU) is scheduled to start in late September.

By David Russell

Sigma Designs (SIGM) is down more than 13 percent from its recent high, allowing one trader to take profits and maintain a bet against the semiconductor company.

For those who are still searching for "green shoots", there was some good news from the semiconductor sector Friday.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) announced Friday that May semiconductor revenues worldwide were up 5.4% over April. That's the good news. The bad news is that revenues are still down over 23% on a year-over-year basis.

According to the research group Gartner, the outlook for the semiconductor equipment industry is showing signs of improvement, as it appears that capital equipment spending bottomed out in the second quarter of 2009. Most semiconductor companies spent the first half of 2009 working through the high levels of inventory built up in the last six months of 2008.

Capital spending remains a major concern; it is expected to be down around 40% – 45% in 2009 and not expected to return to normal levels anytime before 2011. In fact, Gartner had earlier predicted that chip sales won't return to 2008 levels until 2013 as the industry struggle through the global downturn. The economy might show bleak signs of recovery, but the road is long and slow before demand and spending return to normalcy.

By: Chris.McKhann

Marvel (MRVL) shares trading near all-time highs, but there is some bearish option action.

The Chinese stimulus package announced in November last year has started impacting demand for consumer electronics products. Statistics released by the Chinese government indicate a 15.2% increase in May retail sales, the highest in four months. This, in turn, is pushing up demand for semiconductors used in cell phones, TVs and other electronic gadgets. During the course of the past one month, the top four foundries have turned more optimistic, citing higher Chinese demand and strength in consumer and computing markets.

Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (TSM) (Analyst Report), the largest semiconductor foundry, went back on its decision to cut capex spending in 2009. The company raised its capex estimate from $1.5 billion to $1.9 billion, similar to 2008 levels. It also decided to increase R&D headcount by 360 and design technology headcount by another 90. While the company's profitability could look like a positive in comparison to peers, TSMC continues to suffer the impact of a stronger Taiwanese dollar. This impacts profitability and makes it less competitive. Considering the given situation, one does wonder whether the headcount additions were not the result of last month's labor unrest rather than management's immediate plans to make R&D investments.

By David Russell

Options activity surged in Cavium Networks (CAVM) Tuesday as traders bet on a big move by the chipmaker.

By Ucilia Wang

Wells Fargo (WFC) has agreed to finance up to $100 million of solar energy projects to be built and maintained by SunPower (SPWRA).