From Briefing.com: 8:56AM S&P futures vs fair value: +2.0. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +15.0. The pre-market tone remains positive. From Briefing.com: Relative strength on the Nasdaq can be attributed in part to DELL's upwardly revised guidance last night. The company now sees second quarter earnings of $0.19 per share, which compares favorably with the Multex consensus estimate for earnings of $0.18 per share. On the heels of its guidance, Lehman is out with an upgrade on the shares this morning. The firm has raised DELL to Buy from Market Perform with a target price of $30.
8:27AM Bears Stearns on stocks that could work without an upturn : Andy Neff at Bear Stearns says that investors should focus on computer hardware stocks that do not need an economic upturn to work, as guidance for Q3/2H02 is likely to be cautious; names DELL (continues to move into new mkts with its advantaged model), BRCD (benefiting from corporate interest in SANs as a means to reduce costs), IBM (new CEO making the right moves to position co for upturn), and ADPT (play on emerging iSCSI technology, despite weak near-term biz).
7:56AM Powerwave cut to L-T Buy at JPM -- rev visibility (PWAV) 7.60: JP Morgan downgrades to L-T BUY from Buy following earnings report. Firm cites declining revenue visibility. Resets price target to $9.
7:46AM Advanced Micro downgraded at CSFB (AMD) 9.33: CSFB downgrades to HOLD from Buy based on the belief that profitability of the Flash group is unlikely near-term; believes AMD is shifting its near-term strategy towards pursuing mkt-share at the expense of profitability, and is experiencing problems with MirrorBit that can lead to long-term profitability issues and loss of competitive advantage. Changes FY02 rev/EPS ests to $3.1 bln/($1.17) from $3.0 bln/($1.14) and FY03 to $3.9 bln/($0.53) from $3.5 bln/($0.31), and cuts price target to $10 from $12.
7:38AM Dell Computer upgraded at Lehman (DELL) 23.93: Lehman upgrades to BUY from Mkt Perform after the co guided higher last night (see 5:06 comment); upgrade is based on bottoming IT demand in Q3 and a pickup in 2003, which should drive better margins, EPS, and multiple expansion as DELL gains share. Price target is $30.
6:41AM FEI Company agrees to be acquired by Veeco (FEIC) 22.06: Enters agreement to be acquired by Veeco Instruments (VECO 22.49) for approx. $1 bln in stock. The exchange ratio for the deal is 1.355-to-1, which based on VECO's closing price values FEIC at approx. $30.47 per share. VECO expects the deal to be accretive to 2003 results on a pro forma basis. Each company expects to meet guidance provided for Q2.
finance.yahoo.com
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