| First Things First: In the week ending March 23, 2007, the RF to Light 100 rose 2.3%, YTD + 4.0% at 2557. NASDAQ + 3.2%, YTD + 1.4% at 2449. While Ericsson’s revenues increased 17% at fiscal year end (stock up 9%), Motorola’s stock dropped 5% on grim outlook. Silicon wafer maker MEMC Electronic’s stock jumped 16% after a Merrill Lynch analyst lifted his price target to $ 73 based on strong silicon wafer demand. MEMC is one of the top 6 most expensive stocks in my charts but their shares are only shorted 2.5%. In the News: Hints that the Federal Reserve was not longer biased towards raising interest rates sparked a strong rally leaving Wall Street and European markets with their best weekly gains in 4 years. Here is interesting US Government financial data: GDP: 13-14,000,000,000,000 (that's trillion)
2008 budget: 2.9 trillion
Entitlements (primarily Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid): 55% (up from 22% only 20 years ago)
Interest on the debt: 9%
Military in Homeland security: 18%
All other government functions: 18%
Cost of the Iraq war over four years: 490 billion
Unfunded Social Security liabilities: 17 trillion (staggering)
Unfunded Medicare and Medicaid liabilities: 70 trillion (a whole lot more staggering-utterly unsustainable)
Entitlements are killing us. Only $.18 out of every tax dollar is available for the traditional nonmilitary functions of government, and that percentage continues to shrink. If you wonder why our infrastructure seems to be gradually crumbling or why we are trying to fight a major war on the cheap, the above percentages and the gargantuan amount of the unfunded liabilities make it all pretty clear.
PIS (personal investment system): Within 5 year low: EXITED: Powerwave
Within 2 year low: EXITED: Flextronics, EDO
Within 5 year high: EXITED: Atheros
Within 2 year high: JOINED: Ericsson Market Oversold Indicator: Market Overbought Indicator: Top Five: | Last Week: | MEMC (+16%), EDO (12%), Amkor (10%), Sirenza (9%), Ericsson (9%) | | Year to Date: | MEMC (+63%), Anadigics (45%), Harmonic (43%), Amkor (38%), Avici (29%) | Bottom Five: | Last Week: | Jabil (-14%), Nortel (-11%), Skyworks (-10%), Bookham (-7%), Broadcom (-6%) | | Year to Date: | Bookham (-46%), Rogers (-22%), Conexant (-18%), Skyworks (-17%), Avaya (-15%) | | |
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 For the week of March 26th  Microsoft Excel Document
Approx. 1MB .ZIP File; Broadband Connection Highly Recommended
The RF to Light 100 is an abstract of the RF to Light 100 Pulse of the Industry Report, produced by industry veteran Gunter Vorlop. The full report includes extensive economic data covering 100 public companies operating in markets that include space & defense, communications services, network systems, RF semiconductors, RF components and F/O components. It includes 12 spreadsheets with charts that are updated weekly, providing financial insight into the microwave industry for investors and corporate managers. Sign up:
To sign up for email notifications when the latest Pulse is available for download, click here >> DISCLAIMER: Views and data expressed herein are solely those of Mr. Vorlop and not of his employer, Presidio Components Inc. nor those of Microwave Journal. | |  |  |  |
| By Sectors: | | Space & Defense: | +2%,YTD +6%
| | Communic. Services: | +3%, YTD +1%
| | Network Systems : | +1%, YTD 0%
| | RF Semiconductors: | +2%, YTD +13%
| | RF Components: | +4%, YTD +2%
| | F/O Components: | +4%, YTD -1%
| | Miscell.: | +2%, YTD +1% | |
