Business Corpus: Semiconductor Equipment Stocks Whacked On Micron, KLA-Tencor CommentsSemiconductor equipment stocks tumbled on Thursday after memory chip maker Micron Technology and chip gear supplier KLA-Tencor gave cautious statements to already skittish chip investors. The post Semiconductor Equipment Stocks Whacked On Micron, KLA-Tencor Comments appeared first on Investor's Business Daily.

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Semiconductor equipment stocks tumbled on Thursday after memory chip maker Micron Technology (MU) and chip gear supplier KLA-Tencor (KLAC) gave cautious statements to already skittish chip investors.

Micron and KLA-Tencor were among the companies presenting at the Citi Global Technology Conference in New York City.

Micron Chief Financial Officer Dave Zinsner said capital equipment spending requirements are higher now given changes in the memory chip industry. But Micron is being careful not to "get ahead of its skis" with its spending, financial news site the Fly reported.

Meanwhile, Baird analyst Tristan Gerra slashed his price target on Micron to 75 from 100. He kept his outperform rating on valuation.

Memory Chip Markets Worsening

"DRAM (chip) pricing is likely peaking in calendar Q3, while Nand (chip) oversupply has worsened recently," he said in a note to clients. Gerra said he doesn't expect declining Nand chip prices to stabilize until the second half of 2019.

Morgan Stanley analyst Shawn Kim told clients that memory chip markets have deteriorated in recent weeks, CNBC reported.

Also Thursday, KLA-Tencor Chief Financial Officer Bren Higgins gave an incrementally more negative appraisal of the chip gear market in remarks at the Citi conference.

MarketWatch reported Higgins saying that while the company still sees the September quarter as the "trough" for shipments, it sees a "modestly weaker" rebound in the December quarter.

Big Plunges

Micron stock fell 8.6%, near 45.30, in afternoon trading on the stock market today. KLA-Tencor shares plunged 10%, near 106.90.

Other stocks down hard on Thursday included chip gear vendors Applied Materials (AMAT), Lam Research (LRCX), Advanced Energy Industries (AEIS) and Ichor Holdings (ICHR).

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, known as SOX, fell 2.4% in afternoon trading Thursday.

IBD's semiconductor equipment industry group slid 5.5%. It is on a path to its worst single-day performance since late April.

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