MEMC Electronic (WFR) Sinks On Weak Results/Guidance, Two Analysts Turn Bullish

Shares of MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR) are down 20% today after the company missed Q2 Wall Street views on the top and bottom-line and gave muted guidance.

After the close, MEMC reports Q2 EPS of $0.92, 8 cents lower than the analyst estimate of $1.00. Revenues for the quarter were $531.4 million, versus the consensus of $558 million. MEMC said it encountered unanticipated events towards the tail end of the quarter, which led to the shortfall.

MEMC said it sees Q3 sales of $560-$620 million, versus the consensus of $616 million. FY08 EPS are expected to be $4.00-$4.30, versus the consensus of $4.30 and revs of $2.25-$2.35 billion, versus $2.36 billion.

Too lighten the blow to shareholders, MEMC also announced a $500 million increase to their share buyback program.

Despite the earnings miss, two Wall Street firms, Citi and JPMoragn, upgraded the stock to Buy today.

Citigroup said they think this is finally the peak in the bad news, and said the sell-off creates an excellent buying chance. Citi said three things changed that finally make this stock a buy "1) silane (an inherently difficult process to ramp and one in which very few companies around the world have deep expertise) is no longer the capacity bottleneck, 2) capacity to significantly beat is in the ground, and 3) valuation leaves significant margin for error."

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