From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Action was generally lackluster in the broader market this session, but there were a few pockets of strength as participants digested the latest round of earnings results.
Choppy trade took the S&P 500 from a modest gain in the early going down below the psychologically significant 1200 line, but the broad market measure was able to recover into the close to settle with a slight loss.
Industrials were a steady source of strength this session. The sector finished 0.9% higher amid strength in Dow components United Technologies (UTX 76.93, +2.73) and Boeing (BA 74.21, +2.80), along with Lockheed Martin (LMT 86.25, +1.28). Each posted a positive earnings surprise for the latest quarter.
Huntington Bancshares (HBAN 6.59, +0.76) led regional banks 1.7% higher, even as Wells Fargo (WFC 33.01, -0.68) faltered amid disappointment over the lender's top line results.
In a similar vein, Morgan Stanley (MS 31.68, +1.23) moved investment banks markedly higher with its earnings, but Goldman Sachs (GS 158.93, -1.05) failed to follow. Shares of GS were grounded despite a CNBC report that the SEC has a testimony that appears to contradict the fraud charges aimed against Goldman Sachs.
Financials finished with a 0.5% loss, but had been down in excess of 1% at their session low.
Health care stocks were the weakest overall with a 1.8% loss. That slide came even though Stryker (SYK 57.93, -0.52) and St Jude Medical (STJ 41.75, +0.75) posted positive reports. Abbott Labs (ABT 51.78, -1.28) also beat expectations, but led pharmaceutical plays lower. Gilead Sciences (GILD 40.76, -4.31) bested earnings expectations, too, but was hit with an analyst downgrade that imbued the broader biotech space.
Weakness among biotechs undermined the Nasdaq Composite, such that it was unable to finish with more than a modest gain despite a record high for Apple (AAPL 259.22, +14.63). Apple boasted blowout numbers in its latest quarterly report.
Though the Nasdaq Composite was hampered a bit, the Nasdaq 100 was able to outperform with a 0.5% gain. Amazon.com (AMZN 146.43, +2.23) was an additional source of support ahead of its earnings announcement Thursday night.
The S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index managed a 0.4% gain, thanks to help from Tupperware Brand (TUP 53.92, +5.56), which not only posted upside earnings results, but also issued an upside forecast.
Small-caps in the Russell 2000 settled 0.6% higher amid leadership from Cybersource (CYBS 25.72, +6.28), which will be acquired by Visa (V 93.13, -0.92) for $26 per share -- a premium of nearly 34% above its prior session close.
Commodities closed with a collective gain of 0.4%, as measured by the CRB Commodity Index. Its strength was primarily underpinned by gold's 0.8% gain to $1148.80 per ounce and silver's 1.4% climb to $18.08 per ounce in the face of the dollar's 0.2% increase against a basket of foreign currencies.
Oil prices failed to sustain a rebound that followed a selloff induced by a surprise build in weekly oil inventories. It settled with a 0.2% loss at $83.68 per barrel. Natural gas gave up a gain of more than 1% to close 0.5% lower at $3.96 per MMBtu.
Treasuries garnered strong support this session. In turn, the benchmark 10-year Note made its way 15 ticks higher, which took its yield down to 3.75%.
Advancing Sectors: Industrials (+0.9%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.6%), Tech (+0.4%), Utilities (+0.2%), Consumer Staples (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Health Care (-1.8%), Telecom (-0.9%), Financial (-0.5%), Energy (-0.2%), Materials (-0.1%) DJ30 +7.86 NASDAQ +4.30 SP500 -1.23 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1418/2.63 bln/1265 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1741/1.21 bln/1300
6:32PM Teradyne beats by $0.10, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (TER) 12.18 +0.04 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.33 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.10 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.23; revenues rose 173.3% year/year to $329.6 mln vs the $302.7 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.45-0.52 vs. $0.24 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q2 revs of $390-420 mln vs. $314.98 mln Thomson Reuters consensus.
5:03PM Mattson reports 1Q10 net loss of ($0.22) vs. ($0.22) Thomson Reuters consensus; revenue increased 350% y/y to $25.2 mln vs. $23.6 mln consensus (MTSN) 5.32 +0.07 :
4:22PM Lam Research beats by $0.12, beats on revs (LRCX) 39.99 -0.42 : Reports Q3 (Mar) earnings of $0.94 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.12 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.82; revenues rose 29.9% year/year to $632.8 mln vs the $623.8 mln consensus. quarter. Ongoing gross margin for the March 2010 quarter was $292.9 million or 46.3%, compared to ongoing gross margin of $218.5 million, or 44.8%, for the December 2009 quarter. The sequential increase in gross margin was primarily due to improved factory utilization as a result of increased business volume and a more favorable product mix. Ongoing operating expenses for the March 2010 quarter remained essentially flat compared with the December 2009 quarter. "Shipments for the March 2010 quarter represented an all-time high for Lam Research reflecting market share gains in both our etch and clean businesses, supported by strong operational performance of the factory and supply chain".
4:22PM Intersil beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (ISIL) 16.75 +0.01 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.22 per share, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.20; revenues rose 60.2% year/year to $189.4 mln vs the $185 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.23-0.26 vs. $0.22 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q2 revs of $200-208 mln vs. $191.43 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. "The industrial and communications end markets continued their strong recoveries, while our computing end market performed better than anticipated due to strength in the worldwide PC business," said Dave Bell, Intersil's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Inventories remain stable at historically low levels and our manufacturing capacity has kept lead times much lower than many of our competitors."
4:04PM Intersil donates 100,000 square-foot wafer fabrication facility to the University of Central Florida (ISIL) 16.74 +0.01 : Co announced that it will donate a high-technology semiconductor wafer fabrication facility and the land it occupies to the University of Central Florida. The gift consists of 100,494 square feet (9,336 square meters) of office space, manufacturing and cleanroom facilities, plus a 5 acre (2 hectare) property. In addition, Intersil will provide utilities and assist with operating expenses during the first three years of UCF's ownership, enabling a turnkey solution for the university. The entire donation is valued at approximately $13 million.
4:17PM Novellus beats by $0.05, beats on revs (NVLS) 26.65 +0.05 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.47 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.42; revenues rose 179.3% year/year to $276.2 mln vs the $265.5 mln consensus. Co said, "There continues to be strong demand for personal computers from both the consumer and corporate sectors. This bodes well for continued capacity expansion in the semiconductor industry. We are very pleased with our strong operating performance this quarter and believe we can continue to improve on all key financial metrics. Looking forward, we expect our business prospects to continue to be good."
4:09PM F5 Networks beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (FFIV) 66.96 +1.00 : Reports Q2 (Mar) earnings of $0.56 per share, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.54; revenues rose 33.7% year/year to $206.1 mln vs the $199.6 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.57-0.59 vs. $0.56 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q3 revs of $214-219 mln vs. $206.93 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. Reflecting both the high number of service maintenance contracts generated by new product sales and the high renewal rate on existing maintenance contracts, deferred revenue increased to $226.5 million, up 7% from the prior quarter and 41 percent from the second quarter a year ago.
4:06PM Qualcomm beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides FY10 EPS in-line, revs in-line (QCOM) 42.63 -0.66 : Reports Q2 (Mar) earnings of $0.59 per share, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.57; revenues rose 8.1% year/year to $2.66 bln vs the $2.63 bln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.51-0.55 vs. $0.55 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q3 revs of $2.5-2.7 bln vs. $2.66 bln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $2.21-2.32 vs. $2.31 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees FY10 revs of $10.4-11.0 bln vs. $10.77 bln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co guides FY10 CDMA-based device average selling price range to approx. $182 - $188. "We delivered strong financial results this quarter, driven by healthy 3G device shipments and greater than expected demand for our chipsets. 3G subscribers have now surpassed 1 billion worldwide and with the 3G auction process underway in India, the 3G footprint continues to expand globally... Calendar year 2010 3G device shipments are progressing in line with our expectations, and although we're continuing to operate in a competitive chipset pricing environment, we're positioned to continue to grow share through new partner engagements and our broad, industry-leading 3G chipset roadmap. Our business is executing well and we are pleased to be raising our earnings guidance for the fiscal year."
8:31AM Evergreen Solar announces the pricing of $165 million of its 13% convertible senior secured notes due 2015 (ESLR) 1.25 : The notes will mature on April 15, 2015 unless earlier converted, repurchased or redeemed. Interest will be payable semi-annually at a rate of 13% per annum on each April 15 and October 15, beginning on October 15, 2010.
(TSM) announced that it has shipped nearly 600,000 8-inch 0.25-micron AEC-Q100 grade 1 qualified embedded flash wafers targeted at a wide variety of automotive applications, accounting for over 720 mln microcontrollers...
American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC) announced that it has received another follow-on order for 30 sets of wind turbine power electronic components from Ulsan, South Korea-based Hyundai Heavy Industries. AMSC expects to complete shipments under this new order by June 30, 2010.
7:09AM EMC beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides FY10 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (EMC) 19.41 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.26 per share, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.24; revenues rose 23.5% year/year to $3.89 bln vs the $3.71 bln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $1.18 vs. $1.14 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees FY10 revs of $16.5 bln vs. $16.04 bln Thomson Reuters consensus. "During the first quarter, we saw customers move forward with increased confidence, focusing not only on cost cutting initiatives, but beginning new innovative projects in their traditional and virtual data center infrastructures. This helped us clearly achieve the 'triple play' we projected last quarter by gaining market share while investing for the future and increasing profitability. Looking ahead, we remain confident that we'll continue to execute on all three of these areas."
7:01AM ATMI beats by $0.05, beats on revs (ATMI) 20.99 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.25 per share, excluding one time tax benefit, $0.05 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.20; revenues rose 128.1% year/year to $85.3 mln vs the $82.2 mln consensus. Co says "We believe our revenues during the quarter grew at a rate greater than the overall market, due to strength in our life sciences products and evidence of some localized SDS(R) inventory stocking, Volume, favorable product mix and continued cost control resulted in an increase in gross margin to 48.9%. We generated $19.5 million in cash from operations. Our business model and strong balance sheet provide us financial and strategic flexibility to take advantage of opportunities in the marketplace. As previously announced, increased research and development investment related to our high productivity development platform will cause quarterly R&D spending to increase by approximately $3 million for the remaining quarters of 2010." |
