07:55 ET CryoLife upgraded at Piper Jaffray (CRY) 7.26: USB Piper Jaffray upgrades to Outperform from Underperform based on the resolution of its FDA orthopedic tissue issues.
07:51 ET Sonic Solutions CD burning technology licensed by AOL (SNIC) 4.10: Announces that it has signed a licensing agreement that allows AOL to incorporate Sonic's CD-audio, CD-ROM and DVD-ROM burning technologies into its interactive and web-based applications and services. MusicNet on AOL a premium music subscription service, which launched today, will include the Sonic AuthorScript software developer's kit for CD and DVD burning.
07:48 ET Wall Street settlement in danger of unraveling - USA Today : USA Today reports that the $1.5 bln Wall Street conflict of interest settlement is in danger of unraveling, as at least two key states -- New Jersey and Massachusetts -- are threatening to abandon a coalition of state and federal securities regulators as talks stall over the final wording of the agreement; the dozen banks involved in the talks are fighting to limit evidentiary findings against them in final documents, fearing potential liability to billions of dollars in shareholder class-action lawsuits and arbitration cases.
07:48 ET Tiffany & Co beats by $0.01, issues in line 2003 guidance (TIF) 22.29: Reports Q4 (Jan) earnings of $0.60 per share, $0.01 better than the Multex consensus of $0.59; revenues rose 9.4% year/year to $619.0 mln vs the $614.2 mln consensus. For 2003, co sees EPS of $1.33-$1.38 (consensus $1.36).
07:44 ET American Pharm beats by $0.04 (APPX) 22.03: Reports Q4 net of $0.38 a share, $0.04 better than the Multex consensus, vs yr-ago EPS of $0.12. Sales rose 51% to $84 mln.
07:39 ET American Wdmrk beats by $0.18; guides Q4 above consensus (AMWD) 35.00: Reports Q3 net of $0.80 a share, $0.18 better than the Multex consensus and above downward guidance of $0.60-$0.65 issued just one month ago. Co says that it experienced reduced cycle times between shipment and receipt by customers, which accounted for approx one quarter of the net sales increase of 10%. For Q4, co now sees EPS of $0.90-$0.95 (consensus $0.84).
07:29 ET Priority Hlthcare added to Current Investment at Goldman Sachs; target $32 (PHCC) 21.76: Goldman Sachs' Current Investment List represents its most timely stock recommendations for total return over the next 12 months.
07:27 ET Principal Fincl cut to In-Line from Outperform at Goldman Sachs -- valuation (PFG) 27.57:
07:26 ET Hewlett-Packard cut to In-Line from Outperform at Goldman after revenue shortfall (HPQ) 18.18: Goldman Sachs says that although EPS topped consensus, co's qtr was far from clean. Firm cites items including the restatement of segment revs/earnings, a significant top-line shortfall, and notably weak cash flow from ops. Goldman is reducing its CY03 est to $1.29 from $1.34 and rev est to $73.7 bln from $75.5 bln. Firm sees little that will get new investors excited about the stock at this pt.
07:25 ET Bush to seek up to $95 bln to cover cost of Iraq war - WSJ :
07:20 ET Tellabs upped to In-Line from Underperform at Goldman Sachs -- valuation (TLAB) 5.82: The upgrade is based on valuation, as shares have fallen 32% since Nov 4 and are now near fair value. While stock may still have potential for 5-10% more downside, the downside is not sufficient for firm to maintain an Underperform rating.
07:20 ET Ahold faces audit probes by U.S. regulators (AHO) 3.44: The Wall Street Journal reports that AHO's problems deepened as the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan and the SEC opened investigations into accounting irregularities at the co.
07:16 ET Oracle upped to Outperform at Bernstein; target $15 (ORCL) 11.94: The upgrade from Mkt Perform is based on increasing expectations for an in line second-half of FY03 and above consensus projections for the first-half of FY04 driven by improving dynamics in the co's core database franchise.
07:13 ET Microsoft upped to Buy at Deutsche; target $30 (MSFT) 24.19: The upgrade is on a trading basis. Firm believes that most of the negative news specific to the stock is factored in -- including cautious guidance by management, sluggish IT environment, the Linux threat, and the pending European antitrust suit; thinks that investor with a 12-month horizon should look at the stock here, as risk/reward is now skewed to the upside. Price target $30.
07:12 ET News Corp, Liberty Media end joint offer for Hughes (GMH) 9.70: The Wall Street Journal reports that NWS and L are no longer working together to take control of GMH, with NWS going it alone and L considering an independent bid for the parent of satellite broadcaster DirecTV.
07:09 ET Morgan Stanley included in SEC's IPO probe (MWD) 36.17: The Wall Street Journal reports that the SEC has signaled to MWD that it may file civil charges alleging the co issued shares to investors based partly on their commitments to buy additional stock after trading began.
07:02 ET Netease.com beats by $0.02 (NTES) 14.85: Reports Q4 net of $0.16 per ADS (diluted), $0.02 better than the Multex consensus. Revs rose to 29% sequentially to $11.6 mln.
06:57 ET S&P futures vs fair value: -1.8. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -8.0.
06:47 ET European Markets FTSE...3583.5...-37.00...-1.0%. DAX...2472.61...-12.89...-0.5%.
06:47 ET Asian Markets Nikkei...8356.81...-3.68...-0.0%. Hang Seng...9116.28...-32.20...-0.3%. |
