Varian Semi: Soleil Upgrades; Stifel Ups Ests, Target

Varian Semiconductor (VSEA) shares are trading sharply higher today after a pair of bullish analyst notes on the semiconductor equipment company.

• Soleil analyst Nikolay Tishchenko lifted his rating on the stock to Buy from Hold, while increasing his price target to $30, from $24. He writes in a research note that the upgrade reflects signs of improvement in the memory market and a 135% sequential quarterly increase in orders reported July 9 by Tokyo Electron.


• Stifel Nicolaus analyst Patrick Ho repeated his Buy rating, while increasing his target to $31, from $28. He says the company is “particularly leveraged to a recovery in the memory market,” with high exposure to Samsung, Hynix, Micron (MU) and Toshiba. And he says Varian should be “one of the key beneficiaries in the next upcycle.” Ho raised his September 2010 EPS estimate to 58 cents, from 32 cents. For FY 2009, he continues to see a loss of 43 cents a share.

VSEA today is up $1.63, or 6.3%, to $27.42.