ASM Lithography Holding N.V. (Nasdaq: *!ASML!*) ($29.88) Buy Sue Billat, Semiconductor Equipment/Foundries "ASM Lithography announced its intention to buy Silicon Valley Group in a stock transaction expected to close in the first half of 2001," said Billat. "The real significance of the merger, we believe, is in speeding the development of next generation lithography equipment given SVG's technological leadership in 157 nm lithography. We believe the merger allows the combined companies to save between $500 million to $1 billion in R&D costs in bringing such tools to the market. We believe the merger is accretive to ASML estimates and we plan to revise the numbers once the deal closes in the first half of 2001. For now, we are maintaining our estimates and reiterating a Buy on ASML."