09:21 ET Gapping Down : IMNR -43% (study result fail to meet endpoint)... XXIA -22% (cut profit forecast for Q2)... PHCC -4.5% (downgrade); Also weakening are NXTV -10.4% and IDTI -6.5%.
09:20 ET ONI Systems (ONIS) 31.04: Last last night, company announced a multi-million dollar contract with Dynegy Global Communications. Stock trading up to 32.50 pre-market.
09:18 ET StorageNetworks (STOR) 17.15: Robertson Stephens reiterates BUY rating; says recent discussions with mgmt suggest the company is making good progress toward achieving Robbie's June qtr sales and loss per share targets of $33.2 mln and $0.36; says visibility also remains good, a function of the sales model utilizing long-term contracts.
09:07 ET Gapping Up : Semiconductor sector strong in pre-market action in wake of NVLS (+4.2%) upgrade; KLAC (+6.8%) and AMAT (+2.2%). Also on the move are JNPR (+4.8%), RBAK (+7.2%) and BRCD (+5%).
09:00 ET Robbie on Software : Robertson Stephens says that issues affecting applications companies are both cyclical and secular; in addition to economic woes, Robbie sees near-term saturation in the software market, slowing adoption rates, and a lull in product cycles. Firm sees significant risks to current estimates; favorites in the group are ITWO, SEBL, SAP, PSFT, and ORCL, but investors must have a 12-24 month horizon and tolerance for 30-40% downside risk.
08:52 ET Sapient (SAPE) 9.57: CSFB reduces revenue estimates by $10M each in FY01 and FY02 to $365M and $390M; cuts FY01 EPS to ($0.15) from ($0.12); believes stock is ahead of itself and that there are currently too many variables affecting predictability.
09:14 ET Merrill Strategy : Merrill Lynch Global Tech Strategist Steve Milunovich remains cautious on techs, believing that the tech and telecom workout will be longer than most expect; conclusions are: 1) be cautious with tech weighting, 2) underweight communications stocks, 3) the semi turn may be gradual, 4) infrastructure software that optimizes Internet investment makes sense, (5) be wary of vendors dependent on consumer spending (PCs, PDAs, cell phones).
08:36 ET Employment Report : Employment data are a non-event; the numbers were certainly not as bad as April's but they are volatile from month to month and still suggest a significant recession risk. Have seen some improvement in opening indications as worst fears aren't realized: S&P futures 3.2 pts below fair value and Nasdaq 100 pre-market indicator +2.
08:32 ET Employment Report : Nonfarm payrolls fell 19K in May, close to the consensus of -25K and April revised slightly higher to -182K from -223K; unemployment rate fell a tenth to 4.4% vs 4.6% consensus; hourly earnings rose 0.3% - in line with consensus. Numbers offer few surprises and will have little market impact.
08:27 ET Redback Ntwrks (RBAK) 14.44: Morgan Stanley ups price target to $25 from $20; says that stock has discounted negative news and that positive news flow is likely with: SMS business recovering as DSL deployments continue, Smart Edge driving margins up by Q4, and increased company visibility at Supercomm next week; Morgan sees 75% upside potential vs 15% downside.
08:08 ET Immune Response (IMNR) 4.90: Announced that an independent Data Safety Monitoring Board has evaluated the results from a phase II clinical trial of Remune on HIV patients; results indicated that the study did not meet the primary endpoint and revealed no significant difference between the control group and the Remune group.
08:03 ET Robbie on Semis : Robertson Stephens says that motherboard demand is stabilizing after a freefall in early May and that order rates for AMD (AMD) and Intel (INTC) processors have picked up over the last week or two. Robbie notes, however, that DRAM pricing continues to freefall with bellwether 128M SDRAM hitting new lows daily over the last couple weeks.
07:56 ET Novellus (NVLS) 47.90: Merrill Lynch upgrades to a NT ACCUMULATE from Neutral; says that while visibility for the second half has decreased and 300mm conviction is slipping, the clear strength of Novellus' position on new technologies and the likelihood orders could stabilize by year-end implies a greater than 3 to 1 reward to risk profile.
07:53 ET In the Media : The latest Business Week suggests that Informix (IFMX 4.70) may be undervalued at 2x sales; also says ImClone's (IMCL 49.65) cancer drug has potential for $1 bln in annual sales. The Wall St Journal Heard on the Street column questions Calpine's (CPN 49.30) accounting for its potential losses related to PG&E's bankruptcy.
07:03 ET FuelCell Energy (FCEL) 73.97: Last night reported a Q2 loss of $0.32 a share which is $0.04 higher than the First Call consensus; revenues rose 31.5% to $6.49 mln from a year-ago of $4.94 mln. Also announced that it will split its shares 2-for-1. |
