Seeking Alpha: Waiting For The Next Pullback At FEI Company

Writing about FEI Company (FEIC) is a mixed blessing in some respects. While I really like what this leading microscopy company is doing, the nearly 400% appreciation in the stock over the past three years easily lends itself to "If you're so smart, why didn't you own it?" catcalls from the peanut gallery.

Putting that aside, I continue to be very bullish on the company's business prospects in the coming years. Not only is the company rolling new products with enhanced capabilities that could significant expand its addressable revenue potential, but management isn't losing sight of its operating responsibilities in the pursuit of more growth. Although FEI Company is more cyclical than some investors may like from a growth company and it doesn't look particularly cheap at first glance, this is a stock that I'd keep an eye on in the hopes of adding shares on a pullback.

Please continue here:
Waiting For The Next Pullback At FEI Company

Seeking Alpha: CVD Equipment - Certain Risks And Potentially Significant Returns

I'm a fan of so-called repurposed technologies - technologies that were developed for one industry or application and are then introduced into new areas. In that sense, I'm intrigued by CVD Equipment's (CVV) attempts to bring chemical vapor deposition, a technique/technology long used in semiconductor manufacturing, into areas like solar power, LEDs, med-tech and nanotechnology. While the technologies are different, it's a basic approach that has worked for other companies like FEI Company (FEIC).

Unfortunately, while the basic concept of applying very thin layers of active materials to surfaces holds significant potential in many different end markets, there are many ways to skin a cat and CVD's tiny revenue base suggests that the company hasn't really made major commercial inroads yet. Applications in carbon nanotubes, nanowire, and graphene likewise hold huge theoretical potential, but there are many miles to go before it becomes anything like commonplace or commercial in scale.

Please read more here:
CVD Equipment - Certain Risks And Potentially Significant Returns

Investopedia: FEI Still A Big Play On The Very Small

The big upswing in the market has swept up many high-quality names and taken a lot of value with it, including the shares of nanoscale microscopy specialist FEI (Nasdaq:FEIC). Fast-growing new markets and a recovery in the semiconductor industry offer significant long-term revenue generation opportunities, but order patterns can be lumpy. While not an obvious bargain today, these shares are nevertheless worth watching by investors looking for an analytical instruments company with broad industry exposure.

Please continue here:
http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2013/FEI-Still-A-Big-Play-On-The-Very-Small-FEIC-DHR-WAT-TMO0211.aspx

Investopedia: Agilent Still A Name Worth Owning

Even for companies with a solid record of performance, macro and sector worries can dominate the story to a large extent. That would seem to be the case with Agilent (NYSE:A), as worries about the recovery in electronic test and measurement and the health of the life sciences market weigh down the shares of what is otherwise a very interesting and well-run company. Although Agilent may not be the best pick for investors who want to make a fast buck, investors with a long-term inclination should take a deep dive into this story.

Continue reading here:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2012/Agilent-Still-A-Name-Worth-Owning--A-DHR-WAT-ILMN0516.aspx

Investopedia: Forget Nano, FEI Is Real

Like all fads, the craze for everything "nano" pushed up a lot of junk stocks and produced few real companies before investors moved on to the next new new thing. While FEI Company (Nasdaq:FEIC) has gotten attention for its nano credibility, investors would probably do well to see this more as an analytical technologies company like Waters (NYSE:WAT), Thermo Fisher (NYSE:TMO) or Agilent (NYSE:A) than a hot next-generation tech story.

While the company does still have a large footprint in the cyclical electronics sector, the company is finding more and more applications for its technologies in sectors like natural resources and life sciences. Moreover, as the company continues to drive down the costs of its own technology, electron microscopy adoption could grow at an accelerating rate, as it has happened before with many other analytical technologies.

Read more here:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2012/Forget-Nano-FEI-Is-Real-FEIC-WAT-TMO-A0410.aspx

Investopedia: Agilent Goes Three For Three

It is interesting to see that however sophisticated the markets get (or market participants think they are), there are still plenty of oddities. For a decent stretch of time, Agilent (NYSE:A) was undervalued. Then it began moving on no particular news and not only made up the valuation gap but perhaps overshot it a bit. Individual investors can look at this in one of two ways: Take heart from the fact that the "professionals" leave plenty of fat opportunities on the table for retail investors, or despair that the market is less about finding and assessing value and more like a casino full of hyperactive traders with attention deficits. 

The Quarter That Was
Agilent reported a very solid beginning to its fiscal year. While revenue was a bit light relative to expectations, that seems to be solely a byproduct of some revenue recognition adjustments tied to the acquisition of Varian. All in all, revenue rose more than 25% from last year (though down 4% sequentially). Organic growth was led by measurement and test business (up 31%), with both chemical analysis and life sciences chipping in high single-digit growth as well.

Profitability was a little bit of good and bad news, more heavily weighted toward "good". Gross margin slipped almost a point from last year, but moderate growth in SG&A and R&D spending allowed the company to deliver nearly three full points of operating margin improvement. Although gross margin is important, there is still a "settling in" process going on with the company's acquisitions and divestitures, so this quarter's decline really does not seem like anything to worry about at this point. (For more, see R&D Spending An Profitability: What's The Link?)


Please continue to the full text:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2011/Agilent-Goes-Three-For-Three-A-JDSU-DHR-LCRY-INTC-FEIC-BRKR0217.aspx