Chip Stocks Offer Mixed Reaction to Analysts' Attention Today

Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan's testimony before Congress didn't seem to matter as much as the other voices weighing in on semiconductor stocks today.

The

Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index

rose during

Greenspan's speech , then settled down and stayed close to flat. The SOX, which has lost 12.4% during the month, had lately turned down slightly.

Chip stocks' attention was primarily directed elsewhere, including the inventory concerns from

Cisco's

(CSCO) - Get Report

earnings report last week and a handful of analysts' actions.

Applied Micro Circuits

(AMCC)

was up $1.50, or 3.2%, to $44.69. Applied was a top pick of

UBS Warburg

analyst David Wong, who said this morning that the chipmaker was on track to meet quarter-to-quarter growth estimates of the high teens to 20%. Wong also said

Vitesse Semiconductor

(VTSS)

looked as if it will also hit its growth estimates for the March quarter. In recent trading, Vitesse was down 75 cents, or 1.2%, to $60.12.

Analog Devices

(ADI) - Get Report

, which makes integrated circuits that translate sounds into digital signals and back again and are widely used in telecommunications, was downgraded by

Merrill Lynch

. Analyst Joe Osha said that Analog likely will see a decline in revenue for the April quarter rather than the flat growth it estimated. Osha cut the rating to hold from accumulate. Analog was trading down 3 cents, or 0.06%, to $48.07.

Texas Instruments

(TXN) - Get Report

, another chipmaker with strong telecom business, was downgraded by

Credit Suisse First Boston

analyst

Charlie Glavin.

Glavin cut his rating on TI to hold from accumulate on concerns that the company had spent to increase chipmaking capacity, without any certainty that revenues would increase. Still, TI was up 8 cents, or 0.3%, to $37.78.

Broadcom

also was downgraded by Glavin to hold from accumulate. Glavin wrote that he was concerned about continuing high inventories in the cable-modem chips. Furthermore, Broadcom's inclusion in Internet appliances is offset by uncertainty over their popularity with consumers. In recent trading, Broadcom was down $3.06, or 3.8%, to $77.38.

Intel

(SYMBOL)

, also downgraded to hold by Glavin, sank in recent trading, down 88 cents, or 2.5%, to $33.69. Glavin mentioned that the chip giant's' margins would be hurt by the relatively expensive-to-produce Pentium 4, a continuing price war with

Advanced Micro Devices

(AMD) - Get Report

, its unexpectedly high capital expenditure plans for the year and murky PC demand.