And little more good news for longs mostly. From Briefing.com: 3:27PM Applied Materials (AMAT) 13.37 -0.19: Unlike the consensus, Soundview is upbeat on the chip maker's Q3 report (on 8/12) and remains comfortable with their $1.3 bln revenue and $0.06 earnings ests. Firm believes AMAT is likely to show an order increase of 10-15% ... for guidance, Soundview believes mgmt will err on the conservative side with a 10% order decline and a 20% decline in guidance not out of the question; maintains their Outperform rating and $25 price target.
2:55PM Thomas Weisel on EXTR, FDRY : CSCO's demonstrated sequential growth in North American enterprise switching supports firm's view that end-demand for sector is outperforming most other sectors in tech, boding well for switching pure-plays Extreme (EXTR 9.42 +0.22) and Foundry (00C0 7.92 +0.27). Both cos reported healthy backlog and order flow entering September quarter; firm is confident in their ability to meet ests for Q302; maintains Buy rating on EXTR; believes co. is the leading contender to become #2 vendor to CSCO; retains Market Perform rating on FDRY; likes strong Q202 results, positive momentum, and large North American exposure (70% of sales), but remains cautious on valuation.
1:50PM Storage Networking : On the heels of strong Q2 results posted by QLGC and MCDT, CSFB expects upcoming earnings announcements from BRCD (on 8/14) and ELX (on 8/8) to reflect growing momentum in SAN deployments. Firm expects ELX to meet or beat their Q4 forecast of $0.16 on $69.8 mln in revenue on the strength of FICON deployments and a benign pricing environment; anticipates BRCD will meet or beat their Q3 forecast of $0.07 on $145.7 mln in revenue driven by strong Silkworm 12000 and workgroup 3200 sales ... CSFB stipulates that they do not expect sustainable near-term progress towards their price targets on BRCD (at $25) and ELX (at $30).
1:41PM Cisco's Implications for Comm ICs : Goldman Sachs believes CSCO's results could cause a mild relief rally in all comm IC stocks with BRCM and MRVL being most levered; firm is encouraged by CSCO's inventory levels (relatively flat seq) with raw materials down to just $38 mln. Goldman continues to favor BRCM and MRVL citing their focus on relatively healthier end mkts with new product cycles; notes CSCO represented 11% of revenues for BRCM in Q2 and grew nearly 20% sequentially.
12:47PM Maxim Integrated (MXIM) 29.83 +0.59: Yesterday, company missed Q4 EPS expectations by a penny and gave largely in-line Q1 revenue guidance. Before open, Prudential reiterated Buy rating and price target of $52, citing solid results in tough environment. Pacific Crest reiterated Buy rating and price target of $45, continuing to view Maxim as a top play in high-performance analog sector. Also, Wedbush Morgan upgraded to BUY from Hold rating with price target of $50, seeing attractive entry price.
12:11PM Cisco Systems (CSCO) 12.73 +0.66: After close yesterday, company topped Q4 estimates by $0.02, and stock is trading up 5.5% on news. Several analyst comments follow as Thomas Weisel reiterated Buy, saying Cisco delivered in challenging environment, continuing to: 1) maintain revenue stability in challenging environment outperforming peers by a wide margin; 2) enhance operating performance; 3) bolster already strong balance sheet with $21.5 bln in cash and investments; and 4) strengthen its market position. Also, Banc of America, Deutsche Securities, and Needham & Co reiterated Buy ratings. On negative note, Dresdner Klnwrt Wass reiterated Hold rating and price target of $12.
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