RECAP & STOCKS TO WATCH FOR THURSDAY, 1-25-01
The major indices churned within a tight range today as traders and investors digested another batch of earnings reports, and displayed some caution ahead of Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan’s speech on fiscal policy before the Senate Budge Committee on Thursday. Biotechs again were strong, along with the Internet and software sectors.
The Nasdaq Composite tacked on another 18 to close at 2,859. Volume was 2.5 billion shares, with 93 new highs compared to 13 new lows. Blue chips consolidated as the Dow gave up 2 points, to finish at 10,646. Volume on the Big Board was 1.2 billion shares with 133 stocks making new highs compared to 6 new lows.
From a technical standpoint, the Nasdaq Composite is possibly forming an “evening star,” indicating a short-term reversal. The pattern would be completed with a lower opening and close on Thursday. Support on the Nasdaq Composite stands at 2,700-2,680, with resistance at 3,000. Support on the Semiconductor Index (SOX) stands at 650, with resistance in the 750-780 area. The SOX has formed a bullish flag formation, extending its gains on Wednesday.
The Nasdaq Composite on a daily basis: tradewindsonline.net
Earnings Spotlight: The focus on earnings continues this week as the following companies are due to report: Celera Genomics (CRA), BroadVision (BVSN), Corvis (CORV), E.piphany (EPNY), Excite@Home (ATHM), Gilead Sciences (GILD), JDS Uniphase (JDSU), PMC-Sierra (PMCS), Qualcomm (QCOM), and Sapient (SAPE) on Thursday, and Level 3 Comms (LVLT) and Ericsson (ERICY) on Friday.
Veritas Software (VRTS): Reports Q4 earnings of $0.19 a share, $0.02 better than the First Call consensus of $0.17, vs year-ago earnings of $0.12. Revenue of $370.1 mln, represented an increase of 64% over last year's fourth quarter revenue of $226.2 million.
Corning Inc (GLW): Reports Q4 earnings of $0.34 a share, $0.06 better than the First Call consensus of $0.28, vs year-ago earnings of $0.17. Revenues rose 52.2% to $2.08 bln (vs consensus of $2.05 bln) from a year-ago of $1.37 bln. Company sounded more cautious about future citing "some softness due to ongoing issues with capital availability" but only widens guidance range for Q1 to $0.28-0.31 from $0.29-0.30. Revenue guidance of $1.9-2.0 bln is consistent with current $1.95 bln consensus.
SDL Inc (SDLI): Reports Q4 earnings of $0.53 a share, $0.04 better than the First Call consensus of $0.49, vs year-ago earnings of $0.17. Revenues rose 199.3% to $175.60 mln (vs consensus $171 mln) from a year-ago of $58.68 mln.
Akamai Tech (AKAM): Reports Q4 loss of $0.61 a share, $0.07 better than the First Call consensus of ($0.68). Revenue was over $37 mln (vs estimate of $35.7 mln), up 37% from third quarter and up almost 1,300% from same period the year before.
Foundry Networks (FDRY): Reports Q4 earnings of $0.17 a share, $0.05 better than the First Call consensus of $0.12, vs year-ago earnings of $0.12. Revenues rose 90.6% to $105.11 mln (vs $103 mln consensus) from a year-ago of $55.14 mln. Company sees Q1 revenues of $100-110 mln, consistent with street estimates of $105 mln. Report was better than had been projected in company's December pre-announcement. Company also announced a 5 mln share buyback program.
SanDisk Corp (SNDK): Reports Q4 earnings of $0.41 a share, $0.04 better than the First Call consensus of $0.37, vs year-ago earnings of $0.15. Revenues rose 114.6% to $177.66 mln (vs est. of $202.5 mln) from a year-ago of $82.77 mln. Company warns for Q1, expecting Q1 product revenues 15% - 20% below the just completed quarter, and EPS approximately in line with Q1 results of a year ago (Q1 last year was $0.21, current Q1 estimate is $0.33).
Amgen (AMGN): Reports Q4 earnings of $0.24 a share, $0.01 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.25, vs year-ago earnings of $0.26. Revenues rose 2.6% to $951.40 mln from a year-ago of $926.90 mln. Epogen sales of $533 mln were bit better than expected, but Neupogen sales of $311 mln were a little light. Amgen also reported that the first trial of ARANESP in treating oncology patients with anemia was successful.
Kana Comms (KANA): Reports Q4 loss of $0.37 a share, $0.17 worse than the First Call consensus of ($0.20). Revenues rose 557.0% to $42.43 mln (vs est of $46.51 mln) from a year-ago of $6.46 mln.
Read-Rite (RDRT): Reports Q1 earnings of $0.11 a share, $0.08 better than the First Call consensus of $0.03. Revenues rose 65.9% to $189.96 mln (in line) from a year-ago of $114.49 mln. The company is targeting flat to modest revenue growth for Q2 and EPS of of $0.11 to $0.14, better than current Zacks estimate of $0.05.
VeriSign (VRSN): Reports Q4 earnings of $0.21 a share, $0.10 better than the First Call consensus of $0.11, vs year-ago earnings of $0.04. Revenues rose 613.1% to $197.35 mln (vs estimate of $188.4 mln) from a year-ago of $27.68 mln. Company issues upside preannouncement for Q1, seeing EPS of $0.13-0.14 vs. current EPS estimate of $0.12. Company sees $0.55-0.60 EPS for year vs. current estimate of $0.55.
Exodus Comms (EXDS): Reports Q4 loss of $0.13 a share, $0.03 better than the First Call consensus of ($0.16). Revenues rose 176.6% to $280.39 mln (vs $276 mln consensus) from a year-ago of $101.39 mln. Company guides 2001 revenue estimates higher to $2.0-2.3 bln from prior guidance of $1.8 bln, but gross margins are guided sharply lower to 29-32% from 36-39% Also, Q1 EPS is also guided lower as a result to a loss of $0.26-0.27 from the current consensus of ($0.17), citing dot-com weakness.
Immunex Corp (IMNX): Reports Q4 earnings of $0.09 a share, $0.01 better than the First Call consensus of $0.08, vs year-ago earnings of $0.03. Revenues rose 54.1% to $250.67 mln from a year-ago of $162.65 mln. Q4 sales of ENBREL totaled $194.1 million, a gain of 65% over the same period in 1999 and 13% over Q3 of 2000.
McDATA (MCDT): Reports Q4 earnings of $0.11 a share, in line with the First Call consensus of $0.11, vs year-ago earnings of $0.02. Revenues rose 103.9% to $78.33 mln (vs consensus of $75 mln) from a year-ago of $38.41 mln. |
