12:45 ET Mid-Day Movers : Land's End (LE 34.40 +4.21) reports Q1 earnings of $0.20, 18 cents above consensus... Black Box
(BBOX 62.06 +7.28) exceeds quarterly estimates and raises guidance... XM Satellite Radio (XMSR 11.10 +2.77) announces successful
rocket launch... Harmonic (HLIT 7.64 +1.75) solution selected by Cox for Midwest cable upgrades.
12:25 ET Imclone Sys (IMCL) 40.26 +2.16 (+5.7%): In the spotlight again today amid rumors that BMY is targeting company as an
acquisition candidate; hearing from one reliable buy-side source that a deal seems very unlikely... IMCL shares have been active over the
past week following a "60 Minutes" segment on company's C-225 cancer treatment.
12:24 ET EMC Corp (EMC) 42.10 +1.10: Hearing that Reuters headline states that EMC sees a firming in corporate IT budgets.
12:07 ET ONI Systems (ONIS) 35.51 +0.05 (+0.1%): At Wit SoundView Photonics Conference, company CEO denies rumor that he is
leaving; says enthusiastic about relationship with Finisar (FNSR).
11:45 ET Aether Systems (AETH) 15.86 -1.09 (-6.4%): -- Update -- Salomon Smith Barney issues intraday downgrade to
OUTPERFORM from Buy.
11:42 ET Nasdaq Composite : -- Technical -- Recovers off support in the 2140 area and breaches initial resistance at 2165/2168. While
currently having difficulty sustaining the momentum, the extent of the bounce implies that the shorter term bias remains neutral. If the market
stabilizes near current levels and then reaches a new session high it could potentially be considered the initial move of a developing positive
breakout. Important intraday support for this scenario is at 2155/2150.
11:29 ET Conexant (CNXT) 10.17 -1.03 (-9.2%): -- Update -- In its 10Q filed yesterday, company revealed that a $475 mln credit
facility was terminated as Conexant was not in compliance with covenants due to its recent operating losses. CNXT had $439 mln in cash as
of March 31 and hadn't drawn on the facility since June 1999, but the fact that negotiations to save the facility failed may be a concern.
11:27 ET Market Action : Have seen the Dow Industrials (+2) rally into positive territory in response to slightly more bullish earnings
guidance provided by Dow Component General Electric (GE 50.16 +0.68). While company still not saying that it will meet consensus of
$1.47 for the yr, expectation that results will be "solidly above $1.45" suggests to investors that this qtr is going well and that company has
some visibility. Plus, there is not a lot of distance between $1.47 and "solidly above $1.45."
11:20 ET General Electric (GE) 49.50 +0.02 (+0.04%): Company says still on track to deliver record earnings with the range of
estimates revised to "solidly above $1.45." First Call consensus is $1.47. Cites global diversity, service growth, and digitization
transformation as reducing GE's sensitivity to business cycles.
11:14 ET ADC Telecom (ADCT) 9.07 +0.23 (+2.6%): -- Technical -- Impressive bounce follows opening dip with ADCT working past
its 50 day simple ma (8.9) amid modestly strong volume. Sustained posture above here and secondary floor at 8.6 suggests further gains.
Next resistances are at 9.45 (April high) and 9.62 (bottom of Mid-March range) with the top of the March 28 gap at 10.18.
11:12 ET Peregrine Sys. (PRGN) 28 +1.72 (+6.5%): Stock said to be receiving a shot-in-the-arm from bullish (yet mixed) CSFB report
released before the open and positive technicals; CSFB believes that PRGN is just beginning to leverage this core competency to build B2B
applications; finds valuation attractive, but feels near-term economic concerns and related IT spending standstills will continue to weigh
heavily on stock and the software group as a whole.
11:01 ET Sector Watch: Oil Service : -- Technical -- Still within week long trading range but has edged back above its 20/50/100/200
simple ma once again. Sustained posture above 122 leaves the index positioned for an upside extension. On an individual issue basis, SLB
has breached its 50 day ma (62.5), NBR is testing its 20/50 day ma (55.5) while HAL and RIG are both vacillating near their 200 day ma at
42 and 50.6, respectively.
10:58 ET Siemens AG (SI) 73 -1.75 (-2.3%): Company predicts that worldwide mobile phone sales will be closer to 400 mln units in
2001 than the 450-500 mln currently being forecast by many in the industry, including Nokia (NOK 31.71 -1.54). Siemens blames cutbacks
in telecom subsidy programs for the weaker outlook.
10:32 ET Brocade Comms (BRCD) 43.94 -2.50 (-5.4%): -- Update -- Technical -- Eyeing the bottom of its week long trading range
and the bottom of the May 02 gap at 43. Ability to hold above encouraging intraday but run back through 45.75/46 needed to improve the
short term tone. A breach, coupled with the weakening indicators, leave the door open to further losses with only minor barriers in front of
the 40/38 support zone.
10:19 ET i2 Technologies (ITWO) 20.75 -1.65 (-7.4%): Enters alliance with Sun Microsystems and iPlanet (a Sun-Netscape alliance)
designed to help advance the development and adoption of next-generation CRM solutions. The solutions developed under alliance are
intended to enable iPlanet and i2 software to be interoperable on the Sun platform and will be a key deployment of the Sun ONE
architecture.
10:11 ET Harmonic (HLIT) 6.65 +0.76 (+12.9%): Announced before the open that Cox Communications (COX) has selected a suite of
Harmonic fiber optic solutions to support multiple system upgrades throughout Oklahoma and Kansas.
10:08 ET Inverness Medical (IMA) 35.91 halted: -- Update -- Company announces that it is in advanced talks with Johnson & Johnson
regarding a definitive agreement whereby JNJ would acquire IMA, excluding certain businesses, in a stock-for-stock deal valuing IMA at
$35 per share, plus an interest in the new company. |
