UPDATE: DA Davidson Upgrades Entegris to Buy

DA Davidson raises its price target on Entegris

to Buy from Neutral and ups its price target $1 to $12 on better expectations for wafer starts growth. DA Davidson says, "Our channel checks indicate that Q1 wafer starts at the leading Taiwanese foundry TSMC (TSM -$14.49) accelerated, and are now expected to be up close to 8%-10% sequentially compared to the previous expectation of up 5%. Similarly, the second leading Taiwanese foundry UMC (UMC - $2.58) had guided for a marginal increase in wafer starts on its Q4:CY11 conference call, but now may see wafer starts up more than 5% in Q1. Positive trends are also extending into Q2, as wafer starts at the Taiwanese foundries are now expected to grow by close to 10% sequentially. With 64% of revenues from unit driven businesses in the most recent quarter, we expect improving wafer starts to bode well for ENTG's business." ENTG closed at $9.11 a share on Thursday.