EVERYTHING pre-market from Briefing.com -->
09:19 ET Opening Indications : S&P futures +7, or 3 pts above fair value; Nasdaq 100 pre-market indicator +44.
09:16 ET Agile Software (AGIL) 20.95: Wit SoundView reiterates Strong Buy rating and conservative near-term price target of $25 after
checks for the April qtr indicate that forward fundamentals for the company, in terms of customer spending intentions and closure rates,
remain intact and strong. Continues to view significant appreciation remaining in the stock.
09:11 ET Valspar Corp (VAL) 31.02: Goldman Sachs initiates coverage with a BUY rating and $40 target. Earnings difficulties stemming
from high raw material costs, dilution from a major acquisition, and poor demand in some markets should abate over the next 12 months.
09:10 ET Cree (CREE) 23.03: Company introduces a new MegaBright blue light emitting diode (LED). The brightness level is increased
two times over Cree's existing UltraBright devices and matches the highest brightness of competing sapphire-based devices.
09:08 ET Valero Energy (VLO) 42.70: Prudential upgrades to STRONG BUY from Hold. UBS Warburg upgrades to HOLD from
Reduce after VLO agreed to acquire Ultramar Diamond (UDS) last night. UDS shareholders will receive 1.228 VLO shares or $55 in
cash. Prudential also upgrades UDS to STRONG BUY from Hold with a $54 target.
08:58 ET IBM (IBM) 115.90: Bear Stearns' Ripple Effect sounds cautious on IBM ahead of Thursday analyst meeting due to a tough PC
environment and disappointing new services signing in Q1; Bear maintains BUY rating but sees upside narrowing and shifting to a "market
call."
08:57 ET Marriott Intl (MAR) 45.55: Following yesterday's analyst meeting, Robertson Stephens is out cautious on MAR saying that
earnings ests. will be coming down citing weak trends in leisure and business travel; sees very little upside over next six months but maintains
LT ATTRACTIVE; thinks current risk/reward ratio is unattractive, with about two points of upside and eight points of downside risk.
08:55 ET Gapping Up : Shares of eMachines (EEEE) double in pre-market on news that company has hired CSFB to assist the company
in evaluating strategic alternatives, including a possible sale... Priceline.com (PCLN +10%) lifts on management reorganization... Ciena
(CIEN +9%) rallies in response to Tycom deal announcement... Morgan Stanley upgrade sparks rally in Cisco (CSCO +6%).
08:52 ET Vicinity (VCNT) 2.01: JP Morgan downgrades to MKT PERFORM from Buy as restructuring efforts will likely require at least
12 months to reignite revenue growth
08:49 ET Prof. Detailing (PDII) 75.20: Prudential downgrades to HOLD from Accumulate. Says while PDII delivered a solid 1Q01 as
expected, believe that Q2 risks outweigh the rewards. Valuation analysis suggests that the stock is fairly valued at $72.
08:46 ET Motorola (MOT) 16.40: USB Piper Jaffray upgrades to BUY from Neutral; firm says benefits from restructuring should begin to
pay off in 2H01 and MOT trades at a discount to peers.
08:46 ET Opening Indications : S&P futures +5.7, or 1.7 pts above fair value; Nasdaq 100 pre-market indicator +38. No movement in
the indications over the past half hour, but still maintaining a positive tone ahead of this afternoon's key Cisco report.
08:44 ET Amazon.com (AMZN) 16.92: Prudential reiterates SELL rating and $9 price target. Analyst has become increasingly concerned
that Amazon's customer base is turning out to be far less loyal than once assumed, and as a result, may not be so "valuable" after all.
08:38 ET Carter-Wallace, Inc. (CAR) 22.56: Enters definitive agreements for the sale of the company in a two-step transaction in which
stockholders will receive $20.30 per share, subject to a closing tax adjustment.
08:38 ET USB Piper Jaffray Initiates Wireless: : Firm starts Nokia (NOK) with a BUY rating and a price target of $40; starts Ericsson
(ERICY) with a BUY rating and a price target of $10; starts Qualcomm (QCOM) with a BUY rating and a price target of $75.
08:32 ET Economic Data : US Q1 Productivity fell 0.1% vs the 1.1% improvement expected by economists. Equity futures experience
modest pullback on the news.
08:32 ET CIBC Starts Oil Companies : CIBC World Markets initiates coverage of integrated oils; in order of preference, likes BUY
rated BP, RD and XOM. Starts CHV with a HOLD.
08:28 ET American Express (AXP) 43.23: Morgan Stanley downgrades to NEUTRAL from Outperform citing unfavorable risk/reward
dynamics; sees Credit Card industry deteriorating fundamentally with unemployment at 4.5% and higher bankruptcy filings.
08:27 ET Avaya (AV) 15.58: CIBC World Markets initiates coverage with a BUY rating and a $23 price target; says AV's core strength
in voice systems positions them to become a leading provider of next-gen communications and eBusiness solutions for the enterprise market.
08:24 ET CarMax Group (KMX) 10.98: Company expects to report Q1 earnings of $0.21-$0.23, compared to yr-ago EPS of $0.13.
Based on a First Call survey of 1 analyst, KMX was expected to earn $0.15 for the qtr. Pegs first-half earnings of $0.42-$0.46 vs earlier
expectations of $0.33-$0.35.
08:22 ET Hollywood Casino (HWD) 11.01: Bear Stearns downgrades to ATTRACTIVE from Buy as a result of a slower-than-expected
ramp-up of the company's Shreveport property as well as an increasingly competitive environment in the market. Target price is $12-13.
08:22 ET Biogen (BGEN) 56.24: -- Update -- Serono (SRA) will host a conference call at 9:00 AM Eastern time to discuss the results of
its MS drug competitive to Biogen's Avonex; dial in number is 412.858.4600.
08:20 ET Williams Cos (WMB) 39.28: Bear Stearns downgrades to ATTRACTIVE from Buy. Sees reduced upside potential in shares
following bid for Barrett Resources (BRR). Approval of deal and quick closing appear likely. Price paid appears to be nearly full. Price
target cut to $50 from $55-60 range.
08:14 ET Microsoft (MSFT) 71.38: Thomas Weisel Partners reiterates STRONG BUY; expects introduction of new enterprise licensing
contracts; if adopted by enterprise customers, TWP believes these changes will transform MSFT into an enterprise software vendor and
away from PC software.
08:13 ET Biogen (BGEN) 56.24: -- Update -- Merrill Lynch says Serono's MS drug results exceeded firm's expectations. Feels that data
support a US launch of the product in early '02, well in advance of the May 2003 expiration of Avonex's orphan drug status. News is clearly
negative for Biogen and firm anticipates its '02 numbers coming under pressure. Maintaining estimates for now... BGEN shares fall to $53.50
in pre-market.
08:13 ET United Rentals (URI) 22.10: Goldman Sachs initiates coverage with a RECOMMENDED LIST rating and a $30 price target.
URI should generate 15% EPS growth through rising rental penetration, modest market-share gains and operating leverage.
08:09 ET BJ's Wholesale (BJ) 44.07: Lehman Bros initiates coverage with a BUY rating and $55 price target. BJ's can continue to
generate a minimum 17% EPS growth through a combination of club expansion, membership increases and sales productivity.
08:07 ET Rambus (RMBS) 13.50: In note out this morning on Intel, Robertson Stephens says it expects company to relegate
Rambus-compatible Pentium 4 to the relatively low-volume workstation and gamer segments of the market, which could result in an
inventory writedown in the coming qtrs. Firm believes that Intel's decision to only offer Rambus DRAM for the P4 family continues to haunt
company, and that plans to remedy issue could be costly for Intel.
07:57 ET CIENA Corp (CIEN) 55.28: Announces that TyCom Ltd. (TCM) to deploy CIENA's intelligent optical switching and transport
systems in its Global Network. The 2-yr agreement includes initial orders valued at more than $150 mln.
07:55 ET Opening Indications : S&P futures +6.5, or 2.5 pts above fair value; Nasdaq 100 futures +41, or 40 pts above fair value. An
already positive bias gets an additional boost by the Morgan Stanley upgrade of Cisco.
07:54 ET Bernstein Bearish on Euro Wireless Stks : Sanford Bernstein downgrading British Telecom to UNDERPERFORM and
Orange to MKT PERFORM on view that the Euro wireless markets will slow sooner than anticipated and fall short of expectations this yr.
Recent ARPU and penetration data, together with a new analysis of competitive dynamics, suggests that problems with European wireless
market growth are arriving up to a yr earlier than expected... Firm also reiterates Underperform ratings on Vodafone and KPN.
07:44 ET Cisco Systems (CSCO) 19.25: -- Update -- Morgan Stanley issued mixed comments on CSCO last week (stock price at the
time $17.80), noting that a recent CIO survey indicated stabilization in the N. American enterprise networking market, but that the firm
would be unable to justify valuation at higher prices. Morgan now able to justify CSCO valuation based on a model that uses a more
aggressive growth rate in the first two years of the rebound... CSCO shares surges to $20.80 in pre-market.
07:34 ET Cisco Systems (CSCO) 19.25: Morgan Stanley analyst Chris Stix upgrades to OUTPERFORM from Neutral noting that the
stock typically moves 6 months ahead of the fundamentals. For the results to be released this evening, expects revenues to post in-line with
$4.7 bln preannouncement and EPS in the range of $0.01-$0.03; expects guidance for Q4 to be unchanged.
07:33 ET Dell Computer (DELL) 25.91: -- Update -- UBS Warburg cutting estimates after computer maker reiterated Q1 guidance and
announced 3K-4K in workforce reductions. Firm views headcount reduction as Dell's desire to maintain a pricing advantage in response to
recent actions by competitors. Firm reducing FY02 view to $0.68 from $0.74 as it does not believe we are at the bottom of this intense
price competition.
07:22 ET Opening Indications : This morning's fair value figures -- S&P 500 fair value: 1268; closed 4 pts below fair value. Nasdaq 100
fair value: 1904; closed 1 pt below fair value. Current indications: S&P 500 futures are +4.5, or 0.5 pts above fair value. Nasdaq 100 is
+35, or 34 pts above fair value... Futures have surged over the past 10 minutes amid reports that a major brokerage firm is upgrading Cisco
ahead of its earnings report this evening.
07:16 ET Biogen (BGEN) 56.24: Issue sheds 2 pts in pre-market in reaction to positive clinical trials of Serono's rival multiple sclerosis
drug. Serono, Europe's largest biotech company, reported that patients treated with its MS drug, Rebif, had a 90% greater chance of
avoiding a relapse than if they took Biogen's Avonex. Patients treated with Avonex also had 50% more new lesions in the brain than those
treated with Rebif.
07:07 ET Maxygen (MAXY) 15.15: Posts a Q1 loss of $0.17 a share, a dime narrower than consensus, vs a yr-ago loss of $0.03.
Revenues increased 28% to $6.9 mln.
06:59 ET Medarex (MEDX) 24.09: Biopharmaceutical company reports a Q1 profit of $0.04 a share, 7 cents above consensus, vs a
yr-ago loss of $0.06. Revenues increased 318% to $8.9 mln. Although the company had a profitable Q1, it does not anticipate that it will be
consistently profitable for the foreseeable future.
06:49 ET priceline.com (PCLN) 5.30: Company announced that Chairman Richard S. Braddock will reassume the CEO post, effective
immediately and that COO Jeffery H. Boyd has been named President of the company. Mr. Braddock served as CEO of priceline.com
from July 1998 to May 2000. He will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board... PCLN shares rose 10% in after hours trading.
06:42 ET S&P 500 Changes : Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG) will replace Adaptec (ADPT) in the S&P 500 Index after the close of trading
May 11. Adaptec, which is in the process of spinning off its Roxio Inc software unit, will move into the S&P SmallCap 600.
06:35 ET Intel (INTC) 31.16: WSJ reports that chip maker plans to continue building its communications business by maintaining an
aggressive acquisition strategy. CEO Craig Barrett told the paper that Intel is looking at smaller companies with key pieces of technology.
06:16 ET U.S. Markets : S&P futures trading at 1262.20, 5.8 points below fair value, Nasdaq 100 futures trading at 1904.50, 0.5 points
over fair value. The 30-year bond down a tick at 5.671%. The rest of the curve is higher, while the dollar is stronger against both the yen
and the euro.
06:15 ET European Markets : FTSE -0.16%, DAX -0.46% -- European stocks modestly lower on concerns surrounding eurozone
growth. Also a negative was the decision by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter to lower its recommendation on European stocks to "neutral" from
"overweight", suggesting that recent gains don’t fit well with a deteriorating earnings outlook. Market internals fairly even. Autos under
pressure, metals and mining hit by downgrades and disappointing earnings. Biotech Serono boosted by favorable multiple sclerosis tests,
while the FTSE outperforms on comments from Lehman Brothers that the UK is a good place to be.
06:15 ET Asian Markets : Nikkei -1.65%, Hang Seng -0.44% -- Asian stocks lower with Japan hit by disappointment surrounding the
likely delay of a plan to purchase excess shareholdings of Japanese banks. Banking stocks underperform, with Mizuho, the largest bank by
assets, losing 7.5%, while UFJ Holdings plunged 10%. NTT DoCoMo also was hit hard by press reports that it plans to cut rates.
Elsewhere, Korea’s Kospi lost 0.9% following a 5-day rise, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was led lower by HSBC on the back of
yesterday’s JP Morgan Chase downgrade in the US.
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BEFORE THE OPEN (Updated throughout the hour)******
Terra Lycos (TRLY) 8.63: Company announces it will reduce its workforce by approximately 15% in an effort to leverage the
synergies derived from the merger between Terra and Lycos; see press release.
Amazon.com (AMZN) 16.92: Prudential reiterates SELL rating and price target of $9 as firm has become increasingly concerned that
Amazon's customer base is turning out to be far less loyal than once assumed, and as a result, may not be so "valuable" after all;
says company added 3 million new customers in 1Q'01, but firm estimates it lost 2.3 million active customers in the same period.
Williams Cos (WMB) 39.28: Bear Stearns downgrades to ATTRACTIVE from BUY as firm sees reduced upside potential in shares
following bid for Barrett Resources (BRR); says approval of deal and quick closing appear likely; price paid appears to be nearly full;
lowers price target to $50 from $55-60 range.
CarMax Group (KMX) 10.98: Company issues upside preannouncement for Q1; expects $0.21-0.23 vs current First Call EPS
estimate of $0.15, reflecting above plan sales growth through the first two months of the quarter. "With ongoing strong sales growth in used
cars and renewed sales growth in new cars, we now anticipate first quarter comparable store sales percentage growth in the mid-twenties,"
said management; see press release.
Maxygen (MAXY) 15.15: Reports Q1 loss of $0.17 a share, $0.10 better than the First Call consensus of ($0.27); revenues rose
28.0% to $6.93 mln from a year-ago of $5.41 mln; revenue increase was a result of additional strategic alliances; see press release.
MetLife (MET) 29.23: Reports Q1 earnings of $0.49 a share, $0.02 better than the First Call consensus of $0.47, vs year-ago
earnings of $0.48; revenues rose 5.1% to $8.12 bln from a year-ago of $7.72 bln. "We continued to benefit from our diverse business mix
as demonstrated by the performance of our Institutional segment, which partially offset weakness in our Individual annuity business and
Auto & Home segment driven by poor equity market performance and adverse weather, respectively," said CEO; see press release.
Motorola (MOT) 16.40: USB Piper Jaffray upgrades to BUY from NEUTRAL; firm says restructuring benefits should begin to pay off
in second half 2001; also cites MOT's discount to comparables.
American Express (AXP) 43.23: Mrgn Stnly downgrades to NEUTRAL from OUTPERFORM; firm cites unfavorable risk/reward
dynamics; sees Credit Card industry deteriorating fundamentally with unemployment at 4.5% and higher bankruptcy filings.
CIBC on Integrated Oils : CIBC World Markets recommend a market weighting for the International Integrated Oils group with a
15-25% total return potential; firm initiates coverage on the following with BUY ratings: Exxon Mobil (XOM) price target $105; BP
Amoco (BP) price target $64; Royal Dutch (RD) price target $70; starts Chevron (CHV) with a HOLD rating.
AOL Latin America (AOLA) 5.20: Reports Q3 loss of $0.29 a share, $0.06 better than the First Call consensus of ($0.35); revenues
rose 396.8% to $12.76 mln from a year-ago of $2.57 mln; company's membership totaled 647,000 as of March 31, 2001, an increase of
198,000; key drivers of subscriber growth this quarter were successful launch of the co-branded America Online Brazil service with Banco
Itau and aggressive marketing in company's core markets; see press release.
CIENA Corp (CIEN) 55.28: Announces comprehensive agreement for TyCom (TCM) to purchase CIENA's optical switching and
transport systems for deployment in the TyCom Global Network; the 2-yr agreement includes initial orders valued at more than $150 mln;
see press release.
Mylan Labs (MYL) 26.52: Reports Q4 earnings of $0.33 a share, $0.02 better than the First Call consensus of $0.31, vs year-ago
earnings of $0.34; revenues rose 15.8% to $248.65 mln from a year-ago of $214.68 mln; renvenues benefited from significant growth in
both generic and brand pharmaceuticals businesses.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) 19.25: Morgan Stanley upgrades to OUTPERFORM from NEUTRAL rating and price target of $25;
firm notes that the stock typically moves 6 months ahead of the fundamentals. As for earnings results to be released after the close today,
firm expects revenues to post in-line with $4.7 bln preannouncement and EPS in the range of $0.01-$0.03; expects guidance for Q4 to be
unchanged.
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09:10 ET: [BRIEFING.COM] Cash market remains poised for a strong opening as as the S&P futures, at 1270, are 2 points above fair
value while the Nasdaq 100 futures, at 1945, are 41 points above fair value....Ciena (CIEN 55.28) is up over $7 in the pre-market after
announcing a deal with TyCom (TCM 16.26) to deploy Ciena's intelligent optical switching and transport systems in its Global Network. The
2-yr agreement includes initial orders valued at more than $150 mln...Dell Computer (DELL 25.91) will be worth watching after the
company said after the bell it expects Q1 to meet guidance, but will cut 3,000-4,000 positions over the next two qtrs. UBS Warburg is
cutting estimates as it does not believe we are at the bottom of this intense price competition....BEA Systems (BEAS 32.89) is another
pre-market leader, up over $3, on positive analyst comments....Overnight, European stocks modestly lower on concerns surrounding
eurozone growth while Asian stocks were lower on news that reforms for Japanese banks will start later than expected.
08:40 ET: [BRIEFING.COM] Cash market is poised for a strong opening as as the S&P futures, at 1269, is 1 point above fair value while
the Nasdaq 100 futures, at 1943, are 39 points above fair value...Cisco (CSCO 19.25) is strong in the pre-market thanks to an upgrade
from Morgan Stanley to Outperform from Neutral noting that the stock typically moves 6 months ahead of the fundamentals. Importantly,
firm expects JulQ guidance to be unchanged. Cisco will be a stock to watch today heading into its earnings release after the bell today...Q1
Productivity just released at -0.1%, lower than consensus of +1.1%. Initial market reaction was lower, but has rebounded....Overnight, the
yen had its biggest decline against the dollar in seven days as a government official said the bailout plan for the banks will be enacted later
than expected. The euro also fell against the dollar as expectations of an ECB rate cut has lessened.
07:55 ET: [BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures +6.5, or 2.5 pts above fair value; Nasdaq 100 futures +41, or 40 pts above fair value. An
already positive bias gets an additional boost by the Morgan Stanley upgrade of Cisco.
07:25 ET: [BRIEFING.COM] This morning's fair value figures -- S&P 500 fair value: 1268; closed 4 pts below fair value. Nasdaq 100 fair
value: 1904; closed 1 pt below fair value. Current indications: S&P 500 futures are +4.5, or 0.5 pts above fair value. Nasdaq 100 is +35,
or 34 pts above fair value... Futures have surged over the past 10 minutes amid reports that a major brokerage firm is upgrading Cisco
ahead of its earnings report this evening.
06:16 ET: [BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures trading at 1262.20, 5.8 points below fair value, Nasdaq 100 futures trading at 1904.50, 0.5
points over fair value. The 30-year bond down a tick at 5.671%. The rest of the curve is higher, while the dollar is stronger against both the
yen and the euro.
06:15 ET: FTSE -0.16%, DAX -0.46%: [BRIEFING.COM] European stocks modestly lower on concerns surrounding eurozone
growth. Also a negative was the decision by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter to lower its recommendation on European stocks to "neutral" from
"overweight", suggesting that recent gains don’t fit well with a deteriorating earnings outlook. Market internals fairly even. Autos under
pressure, metals and mining hit by downgrades and disappointing earnings. Biotech Serono boosted by favorable multiple sclerosis tests,
while the FTSE outperforms on comments from Lehman Brothers that the UK is a good place to be.
06:14 ET Nikkei -1.65%, Hang Seng -0.44%: [BRIEFING.COM] Asian stocks lower with Japan hit by disappointment surrounding the
likely delay of a plan to purchase excess shareholdings of Japanese banks. Banking stocks underperform, with Mizuho, the largest bank by
assets, losing 7.5%, while UFJ Holdings plunged 10%. NTT DoCoMo also was hit hard by press reports that it plans to cut rates.
Elsewhere, Korea’s Kospi lost 0.9% following a 5-day rise, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was led lower by HSBC on the back of
yesterday’s JP Morgan Chase downgrade in the US.
Close Dow -16.07 at 10935.17, Nasdaq -17.96 at 2173.57, S&P -3.10 at 1263.51: [BRIEFING.COM] It was a somewhat uneventful
day in the markets for a change. The trading activity was trendless in a session marked by low volume and low volatility. Nonetheless, when
all was said and done, each of the major indices closed modestly lower. Whether today's action represents the consolidation of recent gains
or the beginning of a new leg down for the markets remains to be seen... The spot price of crude oil continued to drop today with the per
barrel price down 59 cents (-2.1%) to $27.77. This follows the surprising jump in inventories reported last week which has the markets
focused on the supply side of the market. In light of the inventories data, OPEC looks less likely to increase output anytime soon.
Comments today from Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister indicate the coalition is putting a damper on prior market expectations for increased
production... The major indices continue to face important resistance before making subsequent moves higher. The level to watch on the
Dow is 11,000 as the blue chip index got hit with sell pressure at its intraday high of 10,995 today. For the Nasdaq, have an eye on
2255 which approximates the January low and an important retracement off the January high... Tomorrow, technology bellwhether Cisco
Systems (CSCO -2.0%) will report its third quarter results and the markets will have a watchful eye on the company's forward guidance. In
the past, CSCO has indicated a trough in its business cycle won't be seen for at least another three quarters. Recent outside reports,
however, have indicated signs of stabilization and it's possible the bottom may be closer than CSCO's prior guidance. For a complete list of
what to expect on the corporate earnings front, please visit Briefing.com's Earnings Calendar. DJTA -0.7%... DJUA -1.0%... SOX -1.3%...
XOI +0.4%... BTK -0.9%... Nasdaq 100 -1.5%... S&P Midcap 400 -0.8%... Russell 2000 -0.7%... NYSE Adv/Dec 1457/1596...
Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1802/2022. |
