For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 16, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), ASML Holding N.V. (ASML), Applied Materials (AMAT), KLA Tencor (KLAC) and Lam Research (LRCX).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

Goldman Beats Zacks Estimate

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s (GS) third quarter 2009 (ended Sept. 25, 2009) earnings of $5.25 per share were significantly ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.13.

Results reflected strong performance in the trading operations, which offset the decrease in

...

ASML Holding N.V. (ASML) was the first of the capital equipment companies to report third quarter results. Judging from the 100.7% increase in revenue to €555.3 million, we feel more optimistic about Applied Materials (AMAT), KLA Tencor (KLAC), Lam Research (LRCX) and Tokyo Electron, the other big players in the space. Although the year-over-year decline of 20.3% indicates that sales are still quite weak, performance is still significantly better than the 67.2% and 80.0% year-over-year declines in the preceding two quarters. The strengthening markets are not so much a reflection of a recovery, according to management, as they are a result of new product introductions, leading to increased demand from memory and foundry customers in Asia.  Revenue increase in the last quarter was driven by increases in both average selling ...

(Gold is the August contract on the NY Mercantile Exchange. Silver, copper and oil are the September contracts.)

NEW YORK - Wall Street ended modestly lower on Wednesday as the market consolidated recent gains, largely shrugging off a plunge in Chinese shares and weaker-than-expected data from the US factory sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 26 points, 0.29 per cent, to 9070.72. The Nasdaq composite dipped 7.75 points, 0.39 per cent, to 1967.76 and the broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 drifted down 4.47 points, or 0.46 per cent, to a close of 975.15.

LONDON - European stock markets, resisting a slide on Wall Street, advanced, drawing strength from corporate earnings results. The London FTSE 100 index gained 18.69, or 0.41 per cent, to close at 4547.53 points.

FRANKFURT - Pharmaceutical group Bayer surged 5.44 per cent to 42.23 euros after reporting results that beat expectations. Despite a third

...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - April 6, 2009 - Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Rackable Systems (RACK), Silicon Graphics (SGIC), Applied Materials (AMAT), ASML Holding N.V. (ASML) and Kimco Realty (KIM).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=4579.

Here are highlights from Friday's Analyst Blog:

RACK to Acquire SGIC

RACK to Acquire SGIC (RACK $3.99, Zacks recommendation: Hold, target price $4.50) has announced that it will acquire Silicon Graphics (SGIC) for about $25 million, plus the assumption of certain liabilities (amount not disclosed).

RACK will

...

Market research firm VLSI Research recently compiled its list of the top semiconductor equipment suppliers. Applied Materials (AMAT) once again held the top spot. Maybe more interesting though was the leap ASML Holding N.V. (ASML) had as it overtook Tokyo Electron (TEL) for the second spot. The main reason was lithography.

Immersion lithography permits the ion beam to be more precisely controlled during the formation process, resulting in smaller design geometries or line resolutions. This is accomplished by using water rather than "dry" air between the wafer and hyper-NA (numerical aperture) lenses, thus improving the depth of focus and the extension of wavelengths to lower nodes. Because of the lenses, the same light sources used in 193nm lithography systems can be used down to the 45nm node.

Maskless lithography is an alternative to using costly masks that take time to design and manufacture. The company outsources the

...