Wall St. likes financial statements that give it deep insights into a company’s operations, especially its liabilities. It likes boards that make sure shareholders get as complete a picture as possible of a firm’s balance sheet and details of its P&L, cash-flow, and other critical financial measurements.

24/7 Wall St. asked Audit Integrity to put together a list of companies traded on US exchanges with market caps of more than $3 billion that do particularly poorly in the areas  of corporate governance, detailed disclosure of high-risk events including M&A and restructurings, revenue and expense recognition, and asset and liability valuation.

Based on the Audit Integrity model, 24/7 created a list of the twenty companies that Wall St. can trust the least.  Among the companies that the analysis flagged are Altria (NYSE:MO), Chevron (NYSE:CVX), Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS), GE (NYSE:GE), Blackstone (NYSE:BX), Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT),  Wells Fargo (NYSE:WMT), and Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW)

The list:

Methodology:  The Audit Integrity Accounting and Governance Risk (AGR®) rating is a forensic measurement of the transparency and reliability of a corporation’s financial reporting and governance practices. The focus of AGR analysis is on identifying the measures associated with fraud, and quantifying those risks for interested stakeholders to company stock prices, securities litigation, and major restatement probabilities.

Audit Integrity applies over 100 accounting and governance metrics to a company’s publicly-filed information. The resulting calculation produces the AGR, a percentile score ranging from 0 to 100, with corresponding ratings from Very Aggressive to Conservative.

Companies rated Very Aggressive or Aggressive have proven to be much more likely to face class action litigation and financial restatements, and to suffer severe equity loss. Conversely, those companies that have been consistently rated Conservative are considered the most trustworthy.

AGR significantly improves the predibility of traditional risk models.

The AGR and its underlying metrics are used by regulators, auditors, insurance companies, investment managers, and corporations, and are often incorporated in reporting by major financial media.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Trench Fantasy Ambassador Ronnie Lott visited Chris Myers’ Show on Fox Sports Radio on Friday talking about Trench Fantasy, the  Hall of Fame, Brett Favre, Michael Vick and many other hot topics.

Listen now.

Lawrence Taylor reinvented the linebacker postion, thanks to him, there is a distinction in the NFL between pre-LT and post-LT. In his retirement he has done many different things, including Dancing With the Stars but the one thing he doesn’t do is his former profession. When not describing his golf game as similar to the Unabomber, LT explained in an interview with KLAC in Los Angeles that:

I don’t really mess with football anymore. That’s an era of my life that has passed. A lot of the guys will sit there and live football. Every Sunday they’re glued to the TV watching football. I don’t watch football. I’d rather watch two people fuck. Now look, I don’t really watch football. I am very appreciative of all the fan love and all the people that remember the things you have done. But that’s not what turns me on in the morning.

Now there’s a man who knows what he likes…

[Sports Radio Interviews]

These are the top analyst upgrades and positive research calls from Wall Street this Monday morning with about two hours until the market opens:

Franklin Resources (BEN) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
KLA-Tencor (KLAC), Novellus Systems (NVLS) and Lam Research (LRCX) were all three Raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Nordstrom (JWN) Raised to Neutral and off Conviction Sell List at Goldman Sachs.
Oshkosh (OSK) Raised to Buy at KeyBanc.
Seagate Tech (STX) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill.
Western Digital (WDC) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill.
Sprint (S) Raised to Buy at Auriga.

JON C. OGG

CLICK HERE for Photo Gallery from AM570 KLAC

Aaron Corp Interview from WeAreSC radio show
Pete Carroll Interview from the PMS show

Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Carol Bartz this afternoon told analysts on a post-earnings report conference call that she has no comment on reports that the company is holding talks about a potential partnership with Microsoft (MSFT).[More..]


In the quarter ending December 2008, MSFT reported earnings per share ($0.47) fell short of analysts

As long as silicon chips continue to pack more power into less space, the industry will need improved inspection devices to assist with quality control. Or at least that’s what KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) is counting on.  And now it appears that KLA expects solar and photovoltaic to be a new engine of growth.

The company revealed a new inspection device today that offers “optical in-line dual sided inspection of photovoltaic (PV) wafers and cells.” At any other time, such a device would stand a good chance of being an instant success.  However, given today’s economic troubles and the reluctance of many solar cell makers to spend on capital equipment, the new device could be in for a rough ride.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) is facing a short-term outlook that “has never looked more difficult,” according to its CEO. MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. (NYSE:WFR) projected a first quarter 2009 revenue drop of as much as 50% from the fourth quarter of 2008. Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) last month essentially said its former up-and-coming  growth engine of solar operations was going to be dark for new orders this year.

Neither of these statements bodes well for a new, high-priced piece of capital equipment, no matter how good it is.  Still, KLA-Tencor shares are up about 3% at $16.50 this morning.

Paul Ausick
March 4, 2009

Gartner said today it expects chip sales to drop by 24 percent in 2009 — an unwelcome revision to its previous forecast of a 16 percent drop issued in December. Back in November, when the sky started falling, it had expected (hoped for?) a slim 1 percent growth rate for 2009. Now, the research firm expects semiconductor revenue to reach $194.5 billion in 2009.

In its worst-case scenario, Gartner expects the industry to fall 33 percent from 2008’s sales of $256.4 billion. That would shave $85 billion from the industry — or more than twice Intel’s (s INTC) sales last year. Given the difficulty Gartner is having predicting such an uncertain market — something echoed by industry executives — the worst case seems plausible.

”We believe that the financial crisis has reset the semiconductor market,” said Bryan Lewis, research vice president at Gartner, in a statement. ”After the 2001 recession, in which semiconductor sales plummeted by a record 32.5 percent, semiconductor sales took about four years to get back to 2000 levels.

This is bad news for the semiconductor companies, but worse for the businesses that provide equipment for chipmakers, such as Applied Materials (s AMAT), KLA-Tencor (s KLAC), Novellus (s NVLS) and Tokyo Electron. While investment into fabrication plants isn’t going to stop, the recession, overcapacity in certain markets and the potential for a wafer upgrade could push some of these companies to the brink.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) is making a huge gamble on high- paying jobs and manufacturing.  It isn’t cuts.  Intel plans expansions for the inevitable recovery ahead.  $7 billion worth.

The company plans to spend $7 billion over the next two years to build advanced manufacturing facilities.  The good news is that these builds are in the United States rather than China, Mexico, or elsewhere.

This will lead its 32 nanometer manufacturing technology that will be used to build faster, smaller chips that consume less energy.  Intel believes these chips will become the basic building blocks of the digital world.  It also looks like its largest investment in company history for a new manufacturing process.

The investment will be made at existing manufacturing sites in Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico.  If you read into what the company is saying, it really has a “US-Centric” feel to it.  This is part of a total Intel workforce of more than 45,000 in the U.S., where the company says accounts for more than 75% of its sales overseas, carries out roughly 75% of its semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S., and about 75% of its R&D spending and capital investments are also made in the U.S.

“Westmere” is the family codename of the chips and will initially be used in desktop and mobile mainstream systems that combine high-performance micro-architecture with graphics capability integrated into the processor.  The start of the roll-out is slated for 2009 and then into 2010.

Here is where we take issue.  First off, we commend the company having the foresight to plan for when growth does inevitably return.  But there is an issue of the timing.  If the “growth resumes from a much lower yardstick” as it signaled before, then this may just be to keep competitors from getting an extra leg up.  That would either be Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) or take aim at NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA).  Intel killed AMD in the past.  It was able to leap-frog the lesser company after AMD initially surpassed it in the dual-core arena.  That AMD advantage didn’t last long.  Either way, this sounds like it could come at a large expense at a time when pinching pennies is “the new cool.”

But this is a win for semiconductor cap-ex and equipment makers. Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) reports earnings today.  Shares popped, but then dropped.  We are also seeing a mixed bag in shares of Novellus Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) and KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC).

We hope the company is getting some extra tax credits or at least some state subsidies for this.  Otherwise this is going to just bite into margins over the next two years.  Consumers are buying more and more of these cheap PC’s and netbooks, and that is going to be a hard habit to break for much of the country (and world).

Jon C. Ogg
February 10, 2009

For those who have felt that this earnings season was one of the more dismal moments for technology, today should mostly mark the end for the semiconductor companies and related stocks.  Not entirely, but mostly.  On deck after the close are Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM), Integrated Device Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: IDTI), KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC), Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM), Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHP), PMC-Sierra Inc. (NASDAQ: PMCS), Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS), and Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Inc. (NASDAQ: VSEA).

The more important stock in the chip space today is Broadcom Corp.(NASDAQ: BRCM).  First Call has estimates at $0.27 EPS and $1.07billion in revenues.  Estimates for next quarter are $0.17 EPS and$953.14 million in revenues.  We would expect that Broadcom gets a bitmore conservative in its outlook and in the degree it willing to go outon a limb just like its peers have.  First Call has estimates nextquarter as $0.17 EPS and $953.14 million.  Analysts have already backedoff of forward numbers, so the bar is already set low here.  Shares are down 5.5% at $17.30 early in the afternoon, and the 52-weektrading range is $12.98 to $29.91.  A lot of how the reaction will beis likely to key off of how the company signals its own slow down aheadlike its peers are seeing.  Unless Marvell, Qualcomm, TexasInstruments, and other big players have all been sandbagging themselvesjust to avoid the appearance of opulence, then you know that cautionwill likely prevail.

Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS) is going to be a very hard one to judge,because traders are going to have to listen to what the company saysabout its recent lawsuit loss and then try to plug in the negatives onhow it will affect earnings in the quarters ahead.  Top top it off,this active and volatile stock has a very limited analyst followingbehind it.  In fact, First Call has no big name firms in the stock.  Itis just a question of how wide losses will be.  This one got killedrecently, and at $9.06 its is in the lower reaches of its $4.95 to$26.41 over the last 52-week trading range.

Integrated Device Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: IDTI) has lost much of itsimportance or at least lost how it impacts the sector.  But it is alsoone of the under the radar players that is expected to remainprofitable.  The maker of mixed-signal semiconductor solutions for thecommunications, computing, and consumer industries is expected to postearnings of $0.14 EPS on $166.6 million in revenues.  For next quarterthe estimates are $0.09 EPS on $148.2 million in revenues.  With sharesdown 6% at $5.48 today, its 52-week trading range is $4.17 to $12.70.

KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) on the chip equipment and cap-exside of the chip business is almost impossible to get excited aboutwhen you have listened to what every company in the world has saidabout R&D and Cap-ex spending ahead.  First Call has estimates at-$0.01 EPS and $415.6 million in revenues.  And for next quarter,consensus is -$0.07 EPS and $347 million.  The estimates forFiscal-June-2009 are only $0.21 EPS and $1.64 billion in revenues.  Sothe only question is this… "Analysts gone so negative, so whathappens if they ac tually post a profit?"….  As $18.98 this is downabout 60% from last year’s high.

Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM) has also been cut in justabout half from last year.  The maker of linear and mixed-signalintegrated circuits is expected to post $0.04 EPS on almost $410million in revenues.  Next quarter estimates are $0.06 EPS and $367.3million in revenues.  This one is deemed as an interchangeable stockwith Linear Tech (NASDAQ: LLTC) as far as traders are concerned.

Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) is an interesting one here in thespecialized semiconductor products for various embedded controlapplications.  First Call has estimates at $0.22 EPS on $188.88 millionin revenues.  For the next quarter, targets are $0.17 EPS and $174.5million in revenues.  What is interesting is that this one was raisedat Barclays to an Overweight just in the last day.  So any upside thatis less bad for the coming quarter might be greeted with cheer.  At$18.33, this is at the lower part of the $16.23 to $38.37 range of thelast 52-weeks.

PMC-Sierra Inc. (NASDAQ: PMCS) has also fallen from the importancescale over the years and is only a fraction of the value in the verylate-1990’s.  Estimates for the communications chip provider are $0.08EPS and $119.65 million in revenues.

Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Inc. (NASDAQ: VSEA) is beinghit rather hard today with an 11% drop to $18.98.  It too has been cutin more than half this last year.  It is in the semiconductorprocessing equipment used for fabricating integrated circuits.  FirstCall sees a loss at -$0.12 on $107.9 million for this last quarter.  Itis expected to be even lower for the quarter ahead with earnings (well,losses) at -$0.15 EPS on $90.9 million in revenues. 

Keep in mind that some of these estimates may have changed at the lastminute.  All EPS projections are on a non-GAAP basis.  We also did notinclude the "layoff expectations" from each company, but the sad partis that you have to know more layoffs in the sector are coming.  It hasalmost become cool for companies to cut workers, cap-ex, R&D, andcost structures.  Of course hard times call for hard measures, but youget the idea.

Today should mark the apex of chip earnings for this earnings season.

Jon C. Ogg
January 29, 2009

This morning was a shocker on just how many analyst downgrades and very negative calls were out from Wall Street analysts.  The sad part is this is only part of the onslaught that we are still seeing.

• ASML (NASDAQ: ASML) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
• Chipotle (NYSE: CMG) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• FormFactor (NASDAQ: FORM) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
• GFI Group (NASDAQ: GFIG) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
• IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
• KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ: KLAC) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
• McCormick & Schmick’s (NASDAQ: MSSR) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Melco Crown (NASDAQ: MPEL) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Morton’s Restaurant Group (NYSE: MRG) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Peet’s Coffee & Tea (NASDAQ: PEET) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Premier Exhibitions (NASDAQ: PRXI) Cut to Neutral at Merriman Curhan Ford.
• Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
• Royal Gold (NASDAQ: RGLD) Cut to Sector Underperform at CIBC.
• Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) Cut to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs (added details).
• Teck (NYSE: TCK) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
• Teradyne (NYSE: TER) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
• UDR Inc. (NYSE: UDR) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
• Vornado (NYSE: VNO) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Jon C. Ogg
January 8, 2009

These are some of the top pre-market analyst downgrades and cautious calls we have seen this Thursday morning:

• Accenture (ACN) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
• Adobe Systems (ADBE) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
• Amdocs (DOX) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
• Corel (CORL) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Ctrip.com (CTRP) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
• IAC/Interactive (IACI) Cut to Equal-Weight at Barclays.
• Intersil (ISIL) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
• KLA-Tencor (KLAC) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
• Sapient (SAPE) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
• Smurfit-Stone (SSCC) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Jon C. Ogg
December 4, 2008

These are some of the early analyst upgrades or positive calls we are seeing this Wednesday in early pre-market hours:

• Dollar Tree (DLTR) Raised to Buy at S&P.
• Hutchinson Telecom (HTX) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
• KLA-Tencor (KLAC) Raised to Overweight at HSBC.
• O’Reilly Automotive (ORLY) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
• Tessera Technologies (TSRA) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
• Yamana Gold (AUY) Raised to Outperform at RBC.

JON C. OGG
August 20, 2008

These are some of the top UPGRADES we are seeing from Wall Street analysts this Thursday morning:

• Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) Started as Buy at Banc of America.
• BP plc (NYSE: BP) raised to Overweight from Neutral at HSBC Securities.
• Eagle Test Systems (NASDAQ: EGLT) started as Buy at Banc of America.
• KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ: KLAC) Started as Buy at Banc of America.
• Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
• PetroQuest Energy (NYSE: PQ) Raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
• Priceline.com (NASDAQ: PCLN) started as Buy at Stanford Research.

Jon C. Ogg
July 10, 2008

In conjunction with the micro-chunking of my paper on the next generation of semiconductor design I’ve compiled a list of the top semiconductor companies based on their market capitalization at the end of 2007.

I have not included vertically integrated companies like: Samsung, Toshiba, IBM, Hitachi, Sharp, Philips/NXP, etc. I’ve also excluded companies not listed in the West like: Renesas, Hynix, and Freescale. Based on how poor the memory market has been and typically is I’m not sure Renesas and Hynix would make the list and Freescale’s market share has been dropping so they would not be in the top 20.

These are the top analyst calls that 247WallSt.com is focusing on this Monday morning:

• Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) Raised to Overweight from Market Weight at Thomas Weisel.
• Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) Cut To Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
• BMC Software (NYSE: BMC) Cut to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.
• Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ: COLM) Cut to Sell From Hold at Citigroup.
• ComScore(NASDAQ: SCOR) Raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.
• KLA Tencor (NASDAQ: KLAC) Raised to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.
• Novellus Systems (NASDAQ: NVLS) Raised to Equal-weight from Underweight By Lehman.
• TJX (NYSE: TJX) Cut to Hold from Buy at Citigroup.
• Sonic (NASDAQ: SONC) Started as Overweight at Lehman Brothers.
• Temple-Inland (NYSE: TIN) Raised to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.

Jon C. Ogg
April 7, 2008

This was a massive list of lows today.  Not all closed on lows, but the list was chopped down greatly just to accommodate the size of it.  If you look at the list, there are no brokerage firms listed nor anymajor banks.  The major banks weren’t hitting the list but mostbrokerage firms were.  You can thank a firm called Bare Spurns for that. Here goes the eulogy:

• Advance America (NYSE: AEA).. down over 10%, no real news released; financial exposure, although they are probably getting more and more pay day loans now. $6.08 at 3:30, old low $6.08.
• Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU)… down almost 5% at $5.29, although late day got back above that $5.27 year low.
• Borders Group (NYSE: BGP)… down another 6% ahead of earnings next week. The people that still buy books may be headed to the used book stores in tough times.  Maybe even the library.
• Brightpoint (NASDSAQ: CELL)… day in and day out this one has been getting hit.
• Build-a-Bear Workshop (NYSE: BBW)… now it can be even more opportunistic after ending strategic review and adding a larger buyback plan.
• Cenveo (NYSE: CVO)… down 14% after earnings.
• Denny’s (NASDAQ: DENN)… under $3.00 now… stock cheaper than the Grand Slam breakfast?  Maybe people can’t afford $3.00 breakfasts.
• Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI)… after earnings people still wary of newspaper operations.
• General Motors (NYSE: GM)… flirting with 5-year lows.
• Infosys Tech (NASDAQ: INFY)… This didn’t close under the old $33.80 low of the year, but was there intraday.  Maybe outsourcing is peaking.
• Intuit (NYSE: INTU)… had no news, that pre-tax season trade getting cheaper and cheaper.
• KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ: KLAC) hit hard again after downgrade already shaved off almost 10% earlier in wee.  Down 4.4% at $36.40 with 15 minutes to close.
• Nortel Networks (NYSE: NT) at $6.34 at 3:45… High is $27.71.  What more can you say? It’s always on the list.
• Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA) down over 3.5% at $9.50 with 15 minutes to close. What ever happened to that merger they were supposed to be in?
• Nxstage Medical (NASDAQ: NXTM)… are kidney dialysis treatments economically sensitive?
• PDL Biopharma (NASDAQ: PDLI).. so much for that buyout hope, that’s already been called off.  Almost under a $1 Billion market cap.
• Pfizer (NYSE: PFE)… a true surprise to see this one here again.  Will it bust $20? Shares down 3% at $20.55 with 10 minutes to close.
• Qwest Communications (NYSE: Q)…. now under $5.00.
• Savvis Inc. (NASDAQ: SVVS)… down more than 5% to under the old $15.14 low. Doing IT, bandwidth, storage, network infrastructure, not as great when you have huge exposure to financial institutions.
• Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE)… just when it was getting its act back together… $41.81 right before close; old 52-week low was $42.10.
• Sothebys (NYSE: BID)… down more than half from highs.  Wall Street’s "Even the rich are bitching!" must apply to high-end auctioneers too.
• Time Warner (NYSE: TWX)….. now under $14.00.

Jon C. Ogg
March 14, 2008

Progenics Pharmaceuticals (PGNX) Clinical trials fail. Drops to $4.33 from 52-week high of $27.59.

Divx Inc (DIVX) Bad 2008 forecast. Shares sell off to $6.12 from 52-week high of $23.76.

Immucor (BLUD) Buy-out of smaller company kills share price. Down to $17.30 from 52-week high of $39.96.

KLA-Tencor (KLAC) Shares downgraded. Slips to $37.75 from 52-week high of $62.67.

Humana (HUM) Cuts forecasts. Dives to $33.45 from 52-week of $88.10.

AMR Corporation (AMR) Airline stocks downgraded as oil price goes up. Plunges to $9.13 from 52-week high of $34.25.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Below are the top calls that 247WallSt.com is focusing on in pre-market trading this Wednesday:

• Cal Dive International (NYSE: DVR) Raised To Overweight at JP Morgan.
• Genomic Health (NASDAQ: GHDX) Cut To Neutral at JP Morgan.
• KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ: KLAC) cut to Underperform at Oppenheimer.
• Kroger (NYSE: KR) cut to Underweight at at JPMorgan.
• Liberty Capital (NASDAQ: LCAPA) cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) cut to Underperform at Morgan Keegan.
• Nokia (NYSE: NOK) raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
• Permian Basin (NYSE: PBT) cut to Hold at Citigroup.
• Thornburg Mortgage (NYSE: TMA) Raised to Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.
• UBS (NYSE: UBS) cut to Underperform at KBW.

Jon C. Ogg
March 12, 2008

KLA-Tencor Corporation (Nasdaq:KLAC) has announced that Jeffrey Hall, its CFO, will resign effective March 31, 2008.  Normally we look further into CFO resignations since they are the final ones who "sign off on the books" but this reasoning has been disclosed as "to pursue an opportunity closer to his mid-western hometown."

The board of directors has also appointed John Kispert, KLA-Tencor’s president and chief operating officer, as the interim chief financial officer, effective March 31, 2008. Kispert will also retain his duties as president and chief operating officer. It also appointed Virendra Kirloskar, its vice president and corporate controller of KLA-Tencor, as chief accounting officer, effective March 31, 2008.

Besides an obvious slowing chip market, this doesn’t look like anything ominous that would need to be thoroughly questioned.  It looks like he joining Express Scripts (NASDAQ: ESRX) as its CFO.  Shares closed down 0.9% at $41.63 in normal trading, and shares are down almost 1% more at $41.22 in after-hours trading.  KLA’s 52-week trading range is $39.86 to $62.67.

Jon C. Ogg
March 3, 2008