Ahead Of The Bell: Lam Research Upgraded

NEW YORK (AP) — A Credit Suisse analyst upgraded Lam Research Corp., saying the semiconductor-equipment maker will benefit from improved capital spending among chip makers as the economy gets better.

Satya Kumar said Lam should outgrow the industry by 2010 simply because it is not tied to Intel Corp., which won't "meaningfully" increase its capital spending relative to overall industry spending.

In a client note on Thursday, Kumar upgraded Lam to "Outperform" from "Neutral" and raised his target price to $41 from $23. The shares closed Thursday at $34.61. It climbed to $35.24, up 63 cents, in premarket trading on Friday.

Kumar said the Fremont, Calif., company will likely gain market share with core customers, such as consumer-electronics maker Samsung.