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[Alfred E. Neuman]

8:29am 10/25/04

Smith Barney gets bullish on chips; upgrades 15 stocks

($SOX, TXN, ALTR, IDTI, FSL, ADI, FCS, IRF, MCRL, NSM, STM, UMC, SPIL, STTS)

By Susan Lerner
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Smith Barney got bullish on the chip sector Monday, boosting its recommendation on 15 stocks in the group around the globe. "While potentially early, given the continuing onslaught of negative news in the current environment, evidence is mounting to suggest sustainable appreciation in semiconductor stocks is likely, tilting the balnace of risk/reward in favor of investors being overweight the sector as we head into 2005," analyst Glen Yeung wrote in a research note. The broker noted that semiconductor stocks historically outperform in periods of stabilization like that envisioned for 2005, adding that "atypically swift corrective action by (the) industry is accelerating the bottoming process."

Among the stocks targeted for upgrades were Texas Instruments (TXN) , Altera (ALTR) , Integrated Device Technology (IDTI) , Analog Devices (ADI) and International Rectifier (IRF) -- all of which were boosted to "buy" from "hold."