From Briefing.com: 8:30AM Soundview raises targets for semi stocks : In addition to their AMD upgrade (7:28), Soundview says INTC's preannouncement provides further evidence of broad-based semiconductor recovery and raises targets for the following semi stocks: LSI (to $14 from $12), CREE ($15 from $11), TXN ($27 from $24), ATYT ($18 from $14), NVDA ($19 from $16), CY ($18 from $11), ALTR ($24 from $19), XLNX ($29 from $27), FCS ($21 from $16), NVLS ($45 from $39), KLAC (to $69 from $57), AMAT ($27 from $22), LRCX ($39 from $27). Firm also initiates coverage of ASML with an Outperform rating and $27 target, calling the co its top pick due to its mkt leadership, above-avg mkt growth, and enticing valuation.
8:21AM Western Digital settles with Cirrus Logic, charge to Q4 (WDC) 9.25: Co announces the settlement of its litigation with Cirrus Logic (CRUS 5.31). Co will make a one-time payment to of $45 mln in a charge to be reflected in Q4 (Jun 03). On July 24, co reported Q4 and full year EPS of $0.23 and $0.97. After taking into account the litigation settlement, EPS will be adjusted to $0.15 and $0.89, respectively
8:04AM Intel: several firms raising price targets (INTC) 27.39: -- Update -- First Albany raising tgt to $32 from $27, saying they believe INTC is seeing the benefit from an improving global economy. Bear Sterans raising tgt to $31 from $28, noting they expect gross margin improvement to continue in 2004. Fulcrum raising price tgt to $37 from $30, as firm has shifted their horizon out 6months as investors are beginning to price in a more sustainable sector recovery. Lastly, Prudential raising its prict tgt to $34 from $32, saying co will benefit from 1) higher value notebook PCs cannibalizing desktop PCs, 2) ongoing replacement cycle, c) penetration into the Asia mkt, and 4) new high-end server MPU's that will expand the addressable mkt.
7:28AM Advanced Micro upgraded at Soundview (AMD) 9.91: Soundview upgrades to Outperform from Neutral and raises their target to $13 from $7; firm says the risk/reward for AMD is quite good given that the Athlon 64 launch will likely be reasonably successful and will garner some design win momentum in Sept, and that high-density NOR flash (30% of sales) will likely see a shortage by the end of 2003.
7:22AM Semtech inks supply deal with Samsung SDI (SMTC) 18.70: Co announces a formal development agreement with Samsung SDI to supply a proprietary power management solution to drive the technology behind Samsung SDI's new ultra fine, high-speed liquid crystal displays. Semtech's highly integrated power management IC will provide functions necessary to obtain color clarity and backlight in the UFS-LCD high-end displays.
7:20AM PeopleSoft upgraded at BofA (PSFT) 16.75: Banc of America upgrades to Buy from Neutral and raises their target to $23 from $16; firm cites upcoming catalysts such as the co's analyst meeting on Sept 4 and its user meeting during the week of Sept 15; firm believes investors will be positively surprised by detailed integration plans and product roadmaps, which should raise investor confidence in the PSFT-JDEC merger synergies considerably (particularly on the rev side) and tend to reverse the great skepticism that the merger met with initially on Wall Street.
7:18AM McDATA annouces acquisitions of Nishan Systems and Sanera Systems (MCDT) 12.44: -- Update -- McDATA announces acquisitions of Nishan Systems and Sanera Systems. Under terms of the agreements, McDATA will acquire all outstanding shares of Nishan Systems for $83 mln in cash and Sanera for $102 mln in cash. McDATA will also provide approx 1.5-1.7 mln shares of Class B common stock and approx $8 mln in cash to fund employee retention programs
7:17AM Level 3 extends deal with SBC (LVLT) 4.54: Co announces that SBC has extended an existing agreement with Level 3 for dial-up Internet access service. The original contract, announced in January 2002, has been extended by two years and now runs through the end of 2006. The agreement also includes an increased revenue commitment of approximately $11 million from SBC over the contract's duration.
7:13AM McDATA beats by $0.03, ex items, issues Q3 guidance (MCDT) 12.44: Reports Q2 (Jul) non-GAAP diluted earnings of $0.10 per share, excluding non-cash charges related to amortization of deferred compensation and intangible assets, $0.03 better than the Reuters Research consensus of $0.07; revenues rose 38.4% year/year to $107.0 mln vs the $108.78 mln consensus.Co also guides Q3, sees EPS of $0.05-0.07 (ex items), vs R.R. consensus of $0.07, and revenues of $105-110 mln vs estimate of $112.85 mln.
6:45AM Intel CEO says too early to suggest total turnaround (INTC) 27.39: Reuters reports that CEO Craig Barrett told a news conference in Taipei that it is "too early to suggest it is a total turnaround." This statement was made after INTC raised guidance on Friday. Intel's CFO expressed similar sentiment on Friday by also declining to call a definitive recovery in the struggling microchip industry, noting that sales of communications chips remained soft.
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