10:37 ET Merrill Lynch Q4 Earnings Preview : In Q4 preview, Steve Milunovich said that firm is not yet convinced technology will outperform this year due to high valuations and the firm's view of a gradual recovery, but notes that it is hard to see a negative fundamental catalyst until the March pre-announcement period
10:33 ET Merrill Lynch Q4 Earnings Preview : Confident that Nokia (NOK) will meet, or exceed, the company's own earnings guidance; Merrill Lynch expects NOK's phone division revenues to be flat yr/yr, margins for the handset division to creep back above 21% again, and network margins to be back above 10% with revenue down 25% yr/yr in that segment... overall, still cautious on sector and maintains its NEUTRAL recommendation on NOK and Ericsson (ERICY)
10:24 ET Merrill Lynch Q4 Earnings Preview : In PC space, said the consumer side saw upside in Q4 but that corporate side remained weak and is expected to remain weak through 1H02; inventories, though, look to be in pretty good shape and expects unit growth of 10.5% in 2002 with the inflection point coming in early Q3... believes DELL, CPQ, GTW and IM have best revenue upside potential while CPQ, GTW and TECD have best EPS upside potential
10:18 ET Merrill Lynch Q4 Earnings Preview : Aggregate revenues of 27 semiconductor companies followed by firm should be down 34% yr/yr and flat sequentially... Joe Osha said Intel's better performance has skewed those forecasts upward; Osha also thinks industry upturn will be more modest than what occurred in 1998, but notes it won't be an effective strategy for investors to wait for a Q1 selloff to buy the semi stocks... separately, Merrill Lynch thinks CY, SNDK, and ATML are at risk for disappointing March qtr. guidance as their checks indicate these companies are, at best, 60% booked for March qtr.
10:04 ET Merrill Lynch on Wireless Group : Merrill Lynch cautious on wireless stocks in a pre-open note, doesn't see them moving out of trading ranges any time soon. Q4 was tough, but that is widely known: subs may come in at lower end of range, growth is slowing, pricing is competitive, marketing costs are high, and economy is weak; previous factors may force consolidation in the industry. Firm expects wireless infrastructure mkt to decline over 5% in 2002, and the handset mkt shipments (sell-in) should grow 14% to 410 mln units.
10:02 ET Economic Data : The ISM non-manufacturing index rose to 54.2% in December from 51.3% in November; this was better than the 50.0% consensus and is yet another report suggesting that the economy was on the mend in December.
11:14 ET RF Micro Device (RFMD) 21.28 -1.50 (-6.6%): Stock comes under pressure in reaction to rumor circulating that co might miss its quarter. However, we are hearing these concerns are possibly tied to a slightly cautious research report issued yesterday by Banc of America Sec. The comment, which was not widely disseminated, discusses RFMD's valuation and the likelihood that RFMD will not deliver much upside to quarterly estimates, but does not imply that co will miss its qtr. The analyst who made the call is said to reiterating these opinions this morning, telling investors that yesterday's comments were taken out of context. Maintains a positive long-term view on the name. |
