09:19 ET BMC Software (BMC) 24.92: Salomon Smith Barney initiates coverage with a BUY rating and $32 price target; believes rate of decline of the mainframe has slowed due to a resurgence of centralized computing. IT buyers have indicated renewed interest in centralized model on the mainframe because of manageability, lower total cost of ownership, and the potential of Linux to run Web apps on mainframe.
09:14 ET Oak Tech (OAKT) 10.66: Needham initiates coverage with a BUY rating and $15 target; believe the historical trend of contracting revenues has reversed itself with changes to the executive management team over the last two years.
09:13 ET SkillSoft (SKIL) 29.33: Files registration with the SEC for the proposed offering of 2.8 mln shares of common stock, of which 800,000 will be sold by existing shareholders.
09:07 ET Gapping Up/Down : QXLC +44% (Microsoft alliance)... TIVO +25% (earnings, upgrades)... KANA +18.5% (issues financial guidance incorporating BBSW acquisition)... SILI +12.5% (parent company commences tender offer)... FIBR +9% (momo stock continues multi-session move)... DITC -27% (warning, downgrade)... BLUE -19% (reportedly denying IBM takeover rumor)... ADCT -12.5% (warning, downgrade)... XOXO -7% (Morgan downgrade).
09:03 ET TiVo (TIVO) 8.50: After a 72% gain yesterday on news of a patent win, TIVO continues to run this morning; trading at 10.75 in the pre-market. Thomas Weisel upgraded the stock to BUY from Market Perform this morning based on the patent win.
08:59 ET Siliconix (SILI) 32.85: Vishay Intertechnology (VSH 25.81) commences an offer to exchange 1.5 shares of common stock for each share of common stock of Siliconix that it does not already own. Siliconix is a publicly traded subsidiary of Vishay. Based on Vishay's closing price, deal valued at approx. $38.72 per SILI share.
08:58 ET Oracle Corp (ORCL) 17.30: JP Morgan says its field checks are not turning up much good news for Oracle, cuts Q4 estimates to $0.13 and $3.28 bln from $0.15 and $3.60 bln; says that stock downside could be to the $13-14 range and cuts price target to $21 from $23.
08:54 ET Pru On Integrated Oils : Prudential upgrades Chevron (CHV) and Texaco (TX) to STRONG BUY from Hold based on valuation; downgrades Phillips (P) to HOLD on valuation. Analyst bullish on group, says the average stock is 5% below target price and has 20% upside potential.
08:53 ET Sanmina (SANM) 33.20: DB Alex. Brown downgrades contract manufacturer to MKT PERFORM from Buy.
08:45 ET Lowe's Cos (LOW) 71.76: Retailer declares a 2-for-1 stock split, payable June 29. Also announces an increase in its quarterly cash dividend to 4 cents per share (pre-split).
08:45 ET Sun Microsystems (SUNW) 21.46: Bear Stearns Ripple Effect says that SUNW probably will not talk down numbers at next week's mid-qtr update, but will instead be vague as there is a lack of visibility.
08:42 ET eBay (EBAY) 63.26: SG Cowen initiates coverage with a "sister-kissing" BUY rating; likes EBAY's monopoly position and business model, but concerned that valuation is too extreme for the operational transition EBAY has underway and the aggregate risks such a hyper-growth story inevitably faces.
08:38 ET Semtech Corp (SMTC) 27.01: Banc of America Sec upgrades to BUY from Mkt Perform; stock has declined over last two sessions, pullback provides an opportunity for long-term growth investors to begin accumulating. Core power management business continues to track very well, new design wins could provide upside to estimates.
08:34 ET XO Comms (XOXO) 3.78: Morgan Stanley downgrades XOXO to NEUTRAL from Strong Buy; says new business plan is feasible but requires a leap of faith that investors are unlikely to make in the near-term.
08:33 ET Clinical Laboratories : CIBC World Markets initiates coverage of Laboratory Corp. (LH) and AmeriPath (PATH) with BUY ratings, and Quest Diagnostics (DGX) with a HOLD. Calls the group one of the purest plays on advances in genetic-based medical research and a diversified play on the genomic revolution since they benefit regardless of which biopharma successfully introduces a new drug. For DGX, says operating margins are well below the industry average and stock is fairly valued.
08:31 ET Economic Data : Q1 GDP revised to 1.3% from 2.0%, roughly in line with expectations. This revision pretty much wipes out what had been an upside surprise to the original Q1 GDP figure. Not much market reaction to the report; S&P futures 2.5 below fair value; Nasdaq 100 pre-market indicator -2.
08:29 ET TRICON Global (YUM) 44.65: Salomon Smith Barney upgraded YUM to OUTPERFORM from Neutral and ups its Q2 EPS estimate to $0.73 from $0.70 and FY02 estimate to $3.50 from $3.45; cites quicker than expected recovery at Taco Bell and consistently positive comp sales at KFC.
08:25 ET PeopleSoft (PSFT) 43.18: Lehman Bros making positive comments; says PeopleSoft version 8 is gaining tremendous traction among existing and new customers, instilling confidence in analyst's above consensus estimates. Reiterates STRONG BUY.
08:25 ET LM Ericsson (ERICY) 6.96: Hearing that Bloomberg is reporting that ERICY is interested in buying Lucent's (LU) wireless infrastructure division; unclear if any deal would be part of an Alcatel/Lucent merger or an alternative transaction for Lucent.
08:19 ET Lucent Tech (LU) 9.53: NY Times reporting that talks between Lucent and Alcatel (ALA) are in their final stages with the companies aiming to reach an agreement by next week, but the article still says the deal could be abandoned. The article says that Alcatel will not pay much more than current market value in what it terms a "no-premium" deal.
08:15 ET Netopia (NTPA) 6.20: WR Hambrecht reiterates BUY rating based on anticipated sequential revenue growth in the June qtr, potential for OEM agreement with Alcatel, strengthening Ericsson OEM relationship and upside to June qtr $21 mln revenue estimate. Calls stock dirt cheap and sets $10 price target.
08:12 ET Pru Upgrades Semi Equip : Prudential upgraded the semi equipment group to STRONG BUY from Accumulate, citing some signs of selective end market stabilization which could serve as a precursor to a directional change revenues in August/September. Upgraded the following to STRONG BUY from Accumulate: AMAT (price target 67 from 60), KLAC (69 from 58), and TER (53 from 40). Other ratings left unchanged: NVLS at STRONG BUY (68 from 64), LRCX at ACCUMULATE (36 from 28), KLIC at HOLD (20 from 15).
08:10 ET Ditech Corp (DITC) 16.53: -- Update -- Robertson Stephens downgrades to MKT PERFORM from Buy after management lowers guidance; notes that Qwest appears to have dramatically slowed its deployment of Ditech echo platforms; firm slashes 2002 est. from $0.52 to a loss of $0.62; revenue forecast cut to $65 mln from $132 mln.
08:03 ET Opening Indications : S&P futures at 1293 trade three points under fair value while Nasdaq 100 futures at 2014 trade five points above fair value. Markets mixed following Greenspan comments on additional monetary easing.
08:02 ET Amazon.com (AMZN) 16.75: Company hosting an investor day on June 5. According to Merrill Lynch, AMZN shares typically act well ahead of this; says qtr appears to be on track and that Microsoft catalyst likely to bode well for the stock.
07:59 ET Gartner (IT) 8.97: Announces departure of President William R. McDermott, who is leaving the company to become EVP of Worldwide Sales at Siebel Systems (SEBL).
07:51 ET Business Week Stocks : Business Week reports that analysts are optimistic the FDA will give the nod to Scios' (SCIO) acute congestive heart failure treatment, after initially rejecting it 1999. Lehman Brothers analyst sees drug as a blockbuster. (SCIO shares will be halted today as FDA panel meets to review Natrecor)... Also mentioned this week in the publication are MSC.Software (MNS) and Quest Software (QSFT).
07:42 ET Wal-Mart (WMT) 52.89: Washington Post reports that federal regulators yesterday sued the retailer for failing to report serious safety hazards associated with home exercise equipment sold in its stores. The government is seeking a fine of $4.5 mln from Wal-Mart and the same amount from the manufacturer, Icon Health & Fitness.
07:36 ET Redback Ntwrks (RBAK) 16.22: Enters agreement to acquire designer of next generation metro optical products, Merlin Systems, for $57 million in common stock.
07:23 ET Opening Indications : This morning's fair value figures -- S&P 500 fair value: 1296; closed 1 pt below fair value. Nasdaq 100 fair value: 2009; closed 3 pts below fair value. Current indications: S&P 500 futures are -1.5, or 2.5 pts below fair value. Nasdaq 100 is -3, or 6 pts below fair value... Markets quite going into holiday weekend, except for a spike in the Nasdaq futures about 10 min ago on news of Prudential upgrades in the semiconductor equipment sector; contract has quickly given back gains.
07:13 ET After Hours News : PictureTel (PCTL) being acquired by Polycom (PLCM) for $6.42 per share in cash/stock...Kana Comms (KANA) gave financial guidance incorporating BBSW acquisition (rose 18% in after hours)... Ditech Comm (DITC) missed qtr by $0.01 and warned for Q2/Q3 (down 19% in after hours)... ADC Telecom (ADCT) reported $0.03 shortfall and warned for Q3 (off 9.5% in after hours).
07:02 ET Finova Group (FNV) 1.93: Issue surged more than a point in after hours trading on reports that General Electric' (GE) finance unit, in conjunction with Goldman Sachs, has put together a $7 bln bankruptcy restructuring package. WSJ reported 3 week ago that GE would present a counteroffer to the $6 billion bailout deal Finova struck recently with Berkadia LLC, a joint venture of Berkshire Hathaway and Leucadia National.
06:51 ET Procom Tech (PRCM) 12.07: Announces sale of 3.8 mln shares of common stock at a per share price of $9.00.
06:47 ET Advanced Micro (AMD) 31.95: Transmeta Corp (TMTA) licenses AMD's x86-64 technology and AMD's HyperTransport interconnect technology for their future x86 processors and technology initiatives.
06:39 ET Rambus (RMBS) 12.33: EBN Online reporting that Rambus has lost another patent infringement case; this time to Micron (MU) in Italy. EBN says the details are sketchy, but that it appears the Italian judge dismissed the case for reasons similar to those cited in the Rambus/Infineon (IFX) case, in which the judge ruled that Infineon's SDRAM does not use the same multiplexed bus described in Rambus patents.
06:33 ET QXL ricardo (QXLC) 2.23: European online auctioneer announces that QXL services will be featured via Microsoft's soon-to-be launched Windows XP operating system as well as through Microsoft's instant messaging service.
06:17 ET U.S. Markets : S&P futures trading at 1293, 3.0 points below fair value, Nasdaq 100 futures trading at 2008, 1.0 points below fair value. The 30-year bond is up 10 ticks at 5.820% as Fed Chairman Greenspan hinted of more easing to come. The dollar is outperforming both the yen and the euro.
06:16 ET European Markets : FTSE -0.34%, DAX -0.33% -- European stocks lower. Growth concerns weigh a bit following comments from Fed Chairman Greenspan who said that the US economy remained at risk of slowing more substantially. Cyclicals such as Lafarge and ICI underperforming. Technology also under pressure with Alcatel hit by investor concern surrounding the benefits of a takeover of Lucent. Energy outperforming once again despite yesterday’s plunge in oil.
06:16 ET Asian Markets : Nikkei -0.93%, Hang Seng -0.41% -- Asian stocks lower with Japan down for the fourth straight session. Nikkei hit by concerns over the banking sector’s ability to get rid of bad loans. Technology also under pressure on the back of a report which revealed that chipmaking equipment sales fell for the first time in 21 months in April. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also closed lower, with property shares dragged by growth concerns. Growth concerns also weighed on Taiwan, amid expectations that Q1 GDP released after the close would hit 25 year lows (it did). Korea bucked the regional trend on reports of program buying. |
