RECAP & STOCKS TO WATCH FOR WEDNESDAY, 12- 13-00
Today, as Wall Street focused attention on 9 Supreme Court Justices, the tech stocks took a much- needed breather. The overextended chip sector, on the heels of an earnings warning by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and a downgrade of TriQuint Semiconductor (TQNT), led the pullback as the SOX, which posted an 18% gain in 2 days, gave back 6.2% today. The day started with positive momentum, but as the day wore on and it became apparent we wouldn’t hear anything from the Court, traders eased up on positions. Sun Microsystems (SUNW), the most actively traded stock on the Nasdaq, was ganged up on by various analysts expressing concerns over the company’s growth prospects, despite the company denying rumors about accounting problems.
The Nasdaq Composite finished with an 83- point gain to loss at 2,931. Volume was an anemic 1.9 billion shares, with 59 stocks making new highs compared to 153 new lows. Blue chips diverged from the Nasdaq, as the Dow finished with a 42-point gain at 10,768. Volume on the Big Board was 1 billion shares, with 140 stocks making new highs compared to 68 new lows.
This week’s economic reports start on Wed., with the Retail Sales report. The PPI follows on Thur., along with Business Inventories, which will be closely watched after Cisco’s inventory concerns. The highlight of the week is the CPI report on Friday, which is expected to remain steady at 0.2% (excluding food and energy). Once again, all of these reports could be overshadowed by “Indecision 2000.”
The Nasdaq is in a short -term overbought condition, and needs another day of consolidation for a continuation of the uptrend.
Chart of the Nasdaq Composite on a daily basis: tradewindsonline.net
Earnings Spotlight: Oracle Corp. (ORCL) heads the list of earnings reports this week. The tech heavyweight is scheduled to report on Thursday. Other companies reporting on Thur. include CMGI, Inc. (CMGI), Adobe Systems (ADBE), Red Hat (RHAT), Verity (VRTY), and Biomet (BMET).
S&P 500 Changes: Fluor Corp. (FLR) replaces Massey Energy Co. (MEE) in benchmark index after the close of trading on Dec. 21.
RadiSys (RSYS): Company warns for Q4; sees Q4 revenues of about $83 mln, vs prior expectations of $90.7 mln; EPS is expected to be between $0.20 and $0.24, vs the consensus First Call mean of $0.41. Revenue and earnings for the first quarter ending March 31, 2001 are expected to be approximately flat with Q4 2000.
Net2Phone (NTOP): Reports Q1 loss of $0.25 a share, $0.05 better than the Zacks consensus of ($0.30). Revenues were $30.8 mln for the quarter, up 135% from the $13.1 mln posted in Q1 last year.
Compaq (CPQ): Company warns for Q4; sees revenues of $11.2-11.4 bln (8-10% below expectations) and EPS of $0.28-0.30, vs expectations of $0.36.
Actel Corp (ACTL): Company announced that it has reduced revenue guidance for Q4. Company expects revenues to be in line with Q3. Zacks EPS consensus estimate for Q4 is $0.49. |
