In the past 10 years, the fundamental shift from corporate IT to consumer demand is very important to consider when looking at the semiconductor industry. This has created a different playing field. There are more products that use semi components (MP3, cell phone, automobile, smart houses). Seasonal demand is now an issue, such as the Christmas and Chinese New Year. Finally the potential exists for more commoditized products and ASP erosion.

Firms that will out-perform in a slightly negative GDP environment include:

* Firms with the strongest balance sheets, such as Intel (

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In the past 10 years, the fundamental shift from corporate IT to consumer demand is very important to consider when looking at the semiconductor industry. This has created a different playing field. There are more products that use semi components (MP3, cell phone, automobile, smart houses). Seasonal demand is now an issue, such as the Christmas and Chinese New Year. Finally the potential exists for more commoditized products and ASP erosion.Firms that will out-perform in a slightly negative GDP environment include:* Firms with the strongest balance sheets, such as Intel (INTC)* Companies that make specialized semiconductors (e.g. chips used in dentist X-rays) * Firms that sell products that are technology driven rather than capacity driven* Companies that are gaining market share because of superior technology, a la Varian (VSEA)* Firms that sell products associated with regulations such as power ...

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (CDNS), headquartered in San Jose, California, is a leading provider of electronic design automation (EDA) software that chipmakers use to design their integrated circuit (IC) components. Its solutions are used for designing semiconductors, networking and telecommunications equipment, computer systems, consumer electronics, and a host of other electronics-based products.

Cadence appears to be in big trouble as the company's CEO resigned unexpectedly amid mounting financial problems and disappointing results. The company reported lower-than-expected Q308 results hurt by restructuring charges and lower product revenues. Moreover, Cadence has again lowered its guidance for the full year of 2008.

We have lost confidence in the company's ability to survive in the market and show healthy fundamentals. Cadence has been losing share to Synopsys, Inc. (SNPS) and is struggling through a downturn in the semiconductor cycle. Cadence also withdrew its bid for Mentor Graphics earlier in the year, further dimming its

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Synopsys, Inc. (SNPS) is benefiting from increasing complexity of semiconductors, faster design cycles demanded by consumer electronics, and more challenging shrink cycles all of which help drive demand for its software. The company is gaining traction through new products, acquisitions, and efficient business execution.However, Synopsys is currently facing an industry-wide weakness rather than a company-specific issue, due to which the company provided a cautious outlook for 2009.We therefore maintain a Hold rating on SNPS shares and have cut our six-month target price to $16.00.Anita Mohata contributed to this report.Read the full analyst report on SNPS "SNPS" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

Value Investors - Beware The Value Traps

by Louis Basenese, Advisory Panelist Associate Investment Director, The Oxford Club Wednesday, December 3, 2008: Issue #895

Value investors, consider this your warning… With thousands of stocks down 50% (or more), investors are salivating over the bargains. But for every true deal, there are at least three “value traps” - stocks destined to languish at depressed levels indefinitely. Or worse, get cheaper still.

Think Kmart here. In late 2001, it became the poster child for value investors. They argued it was dirt cheap based on countless metrics like book value and sales. And it was destined for a historic turnaround.

Sure enough, the stock went from the bargain bin to the trash heap, as the company filed bankruptcy in early 2002. So before you

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Last week, I told you that McDonald’s is a great example of a company with strong fundamentals and continued dividend strength. Yesterday, we saw more proof: The company said global same-store sales gained 8.2%. And even as most other restaurants posted weak U.S. results, McDonald’s watched same-store sales gain 5.3% here in the States. That’s great news for anyone holding the shares! Now today, I want to talk about some more companies that are bastions of dividends. And the place where I’m finding them may surprise you … Tech Stocks Keep Jumping to the Top of My Dividend Lists! Remember that table from “Yes, You Can Still Find Solid, Reliable, Fat Dividends?” It showed some of the companies that changed their dividend policies in September. Just in case you ...

CIRCOR is seeing big profits in the worldwide valve business as revenues jumped 25% in the second quarter. The company has surprised on earnings 3 out of the last 4 quarters by an average of 4.25%. CIRCOR's forward P/E is 12.78.

Company Description

CIRCOR International, Inc. (CIR) manufactures valves and related products for fluid-control systems. The company operates several manufacturing facilities in the United States, Canada, Europe and the PeopleÂ’s Republic of China.

Its customers include a large variety of industries across all aspects of the global economy including general industrial, food processing, aerospace, marine, compressed natural gas, oil and natural gas exploration, petrochemicals, semiconductors and textiles.

The company, a Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy), has two segments: Instrumentation and Thermal Fluid Controls Products Group and Energy Products Group.

The Instrumentation Group manufactures valves, fittings and controls for hydraulic, pneumatic, cryogenic and steam applications. The Energy Group

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Yesterday, Monday, September 22, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped over 370 points, following a previous tumultuous week for the stock market. Yet on that same day, numerous stocks were up, with many up over 10% for the day. Unless it is short covering, there may be something positive behind the stock's movement. The following stocks were all up over 10%. They all have market caps over $500 million, and PE ratios below 20.Synutra International, Inc. (SYUT) produces dairy based nutritional products in China. The stock was up 25.7% . The stock has a PE of 16 .Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited (FFH) is in the property and casualty insurance and reinsurance business. The stock was up 25.5% . The stock has a PE of 3 . United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) manufactures fabricates semiconductors and integrated circuits in Taiwan. The stock was up 14.4% . ...

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are excellent trading vehicles that allow investors to easily play whole sectors, indexes, or individual commodities. ETFs may be structured like mutual funds, but are bought and sold like stocks.

Inverse ETFs enable one to place a bearish bet, effectively going “short” without having to borrow shares, as you would with stocks. Another advantage of inverse ETFs is that the downside risk of going long on the “short” is finite, meaning you can only lose your initial investment. The potential loss from shorting a stock is theoretically unlimited.

Leveraged ETFs are designed to replicate twice the expected gain or loss of the underlying commodity, index, or basket of equities. Large moves in the markets like those of the past few days create opportunities for leveraged ETFs to realize massive gains. FXP, for example, returns approximately twice the inverse (i.e., double short) of the China FXI index, and gained 26.3%

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Elron Electronic Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: ELRN) is a high-technology holding company directly involved in facilitating the long-term performance of their group companies. Elron seeks out potential technologies, initiates strategic partnerships, attains financing, and recruits the best possible management teams to help improve their invested companies. Their current group of companies consists of a diverse range of publicly-traded and privately held companies that operate primarily in the fields of medical devices, information and communications technology, semiconductors, and clean technology.

Since their inception in 1968, Elron has been overseeing growth of hi-tech ventures in diverse fields and stages, generating an impressive record of IPOs, M&As and re-structuring deals. During the early 90’s, Elron was one of the Internet pioneers in Israel, expanding into information technologies and communications by the end of the decade. Landmark companies founded during the 90’s include 013 NetVision, Israel’s largest Internet service provider

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