No. 1 - The Amazing Chip Stock Breakout

Here how the biggest names in the chip space reacted when Texas Instruments (TXN) said the future of chips was looking much brighter.

Texas Instruments (TXN) up 8 %
Applied Materials (AMAT) up 2 %
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) up 4%
Micron (MU) up 3.5 %
Xilinx (XLNX) up 5%
National Semiconductor (NSM) up 4%
Altera (ALTR) up 8%
LSI Corp. (LSI) up 4%
Linear Technology (LLTC) up 2%
Analog Devices (ADI) up 4.5%



Tim Strazzini explains there were many reasons for the pop today including, a belief that stocks were at their bottom cyclically, analyst upgrades, as well as the Texas Instruments news.

Dylan Ratigan asks if this is a “tell.”

Jeff Macke says what happened today tells him that hedge funds managers felt they didn’t own enough chip stocks.

Eric Bolling wonders if investors might be late to the game and worries about the Semiconductor HOLDRs (SMH).

Tim Strazzini says it’s not late, it’s still early. He sees 20% upside from here over the next 9 months– although he cautions that it won’t happen in a straight line.

Eric comes around and adds MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR) is a great stock because “there’s a chip and a wafer in everything.”

Tim says he likes Taiwan Semiconductors (TSM), as well as SanDisk (SNDK) which he thinks has another $5 or $6 in it. Tim also likes Broadcom (BRCM),National Semiconductor (NSM) and Intel (INTC).

Guy Adami adds that he thinks AMD just got taken along for the ride today. The balance sheet, he says is in trouble.

Questions? Comments? fastmoney@cnbc.com

Trader disclosure:
On APR 24, 2007, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC’s Fast Money were owned by the Fast Money traders:
Strazzini Owns (JBLU), (SNDK), (T)
Bolling Owns (XOM), Gold, Silver, Corn, Natural Gas, Is Short Soybeans