From Briefing.com:
8:48AM NVIDIA estimates upped at Merrill Lynch (NVDA) 65.47: Merrill Lynch ups its Jan 2002 qtr estimate to $0.34 from $0.30 and Jan 2003 year estimate to $1.46 from $1.28; both numbers are above Multex consensus estimates of $0.32 and $1.35; says company is doing better than expected in the laptop, integrated chipset, and Xbox markets; sets price target of $85.
8:48AM Transmeta trades up on Barron's story (TMTA) 3.47: Stock rises 12% in pre-market in reaction to favorable mention in Barron's. Bill Baker of GARP Research thinks co is turning the corner. He points to an Oct industry gathering, the Microprocessor Forum, where co showed tests of its TM5800 chip against Intel's ultra-low-power Pentium. In battery-powered notebook PCs, Transmeta said that its chip used half the power, yet performed between 25% and 96% better on software benchmarks.
8:28AM Wachovia upgrades NOK, RFMD, AHAA : Wachovia Securities says its Global Handset Buyer Sentiment Index shows a dramatic rebound in demand for replacement handsets in late December, the first sign of global improvement in at least 6 mos; firm upgrades Nokia (NOK) to STRONG BUY from Buy; RF Micro (RFMD) to STRONG BUY from Mkt Perform; Alpha (AHAA) to BUY from Mkt Perform.
8:27AM Genesis Microchip is SG Cowen's Bottom Line Action Idea (GNSS) 56.17: SG Cowen sees stock as undervalued at 33x annualized earnings given that it is the leader in flat panel display mkt and should see continuing rapid growth; increases FY03 est to $1.72 from $1.35 and maintains Strong Buy rating.
7:39AM Intersil upgraded by Merrill Lynch (ISIL) 27.98: Merrill Lynch upgrades to Near-Term BUY from Neutral due to attractive valuation and leadership position in WLAN and analog power mgmt chip industries; co is the only "one-stop shop" in WLAN chipsets and is the sole supplier to CSCO, which provides them a significant advantage vs the competition.
7:01AM Texas Instruments upped at CSFB ahead of earnings (TXN) 27.45: CSFB upgrades to BUY from Hold based on the expectation that TXN's gross margin will expand from the current mid-20% to high 40% over the next two years (TXN stock has historically risen in sync with margin expansion). Firm also believes that co will see a bottom either in Q4 or Q1 as macro conditions improve. Price target is $35. Co reports today after the close.
7:00AM Micron asked to pay-up for Hynix (MU) 32.50: South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor wants nearly $2 bln more for its core assets than the $3 bln Micron is offering, reports Reuters. "No agreement has been reached and there are no further discussions planned at this time," stated Micron's spokesman.
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