From Briefing.com: 8:48AM HPQ consensus could be aggressive - Prudential 23.35: Prudential says that checks lead them to believe that the Q2 EPS consensus of $0.34 is aggressive, and accordingly cuts their est to $0.33; while demand is tracking about as expected, firm has not seen a hint of upside 2 months into the qtr, and large enterprise is improving at a very gradual pace; also, pricing continues to be aggressive across nearly all segments and this seasonally soft qtr for PCs makes higher unit volume from mkt elasticity unlikely; other sources of margin pressure come from components, notably tight pricing of flat panels and limited availability and increasing price of DRAM. Trims target to $25 from $26.
8:31AM IXYS Corp raises MarQ revenue guidance (SYXI) 9.69: Company now sees Q4 revenues slightly under $54 mln, vs the Reuters Research consensus of $49.5 mln. New guidance is about 6% sequentially higher than revenues of $50 mln in Dec. 2003 qtr. and about 42% higher than revenues of $38 mln in March 2003 qtr.
8:28AM Ramtron International settles FRAM patent dispute with NSM (RMTR) 3.33: Company signs agreement with National Semiconductor Corp. (NSM) to settle their long standing (originated in 1991) patent interference dispute. As consideration for assigned patent applications and cross license provisions, RMTR will pay NSM ten annual payments of $250,000. In addition, the co's have agreed to cross license any and all future patents that may mature from the four applications at no additional cost to either company. RMTR says the settlement does not affect its FRAM product sales or the status of its key foundry supplier.
7:05AM Broadcom acquires Sand Video for $77.5 mln (BRCM) 42.05: Company announces it has acquired privately-held Sand Video, Inc., a leading developer of advanced video compression technology for a broad range of consumer digital video apps. BRCM will pay a total of up to approx $77.5 mln - $70.1 mln in form of 1.666 mln shares of its Class A common stock issued or reserved for future issuance and $7.4 mln in cash consideration -- in exchange for all outstanding shares of Sand Video capital stock.
6:21AM European Summary : European markets showing moderate gains underpinned by gains in defensive healthcare and beverage groups, but the world's top cellphone maker Nokia (NOK) fell for a second day amid a flood of downgrades. Stock fell, shedding 1.5%, after Goldman downgraded to In-Line from Outperform and Smith Barney removed from their Focus List. Also, auto stocks eased as sector leader DaimlerChrysler (DCX) fell ahead of its annual meeting, even though it anticipated a slight increase in earnings this year, and a clear improvement in 2005 and 2006. Ericsson (ERICY), the world's leading maker of mobile phone networks, expects its operating margin later this year to at least remain at the level reached in the first quarter, its chief executive told investors. An appeal hearing in ABB's (ABB) key asbestos case has been set for June 3, the Swiss engineering group said on Wednesday, adding that it was confident its $1.2 bln settlement plan would be confirmed... The dollar backed off previous session's two-week highs on the yen on Wednesday as an upgrade to Japan's foreign currency debt rating boosted the yen in thin, pre-holiday trade. But the U.S. currency held a firmer footing against the euro as recent signs of recovery in the U.S. jobs market buoyed expectations for higher U.S. interest rates before the end of the year, Reuters reporting... UK +0.51%, France +0.42%, Germany +0.42%
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