All the news that's fit to print...
09:17 ET Chip Equipment Stocks: Analysts piling into semiconductor equipment stocks. As we stated earlier this week, bottom in orders has not be reached, but analysts have gotten behind these stocks during each of the past three earnings seasons. See Novellus chart as example (Jan, May, July key periods). This morning, BB Robertson Stephens pushing the group with upgrade of KLAC, AMAT, ETEC, ASMLF. Firm reiterates "buy" on TER. DLJ upgrading Dupont Photomasks (DPMI) from "market perform" to "buy."
09:06 ET Gateway Inc. (GTW) 49 3/4: Direct marketer of PCs posted Q3 net of $0.51 a share; 4 cents ahead of the First Call mean estimate, vs year-ago loss $0.68 a share; reaffirms '98 and '99 projections; Bear Stearns upgrades from "neutral" to "buy."
09:01 ET Charles Schwab (SCH) 44: Discount broker raises quarterly dividend by 5% to 4.2 cents per share; declares 3-for-2 stock split.
08:59 ET Adaptec Inc (ADPT) 14: DLJ upgrades issue from "neutral" to "outperform" after supplier of bandwidth management solutions reported Q2 operating net of $0.00 a share, 2 cents above analysts' mean estimate of a $0.02 loss; ADPT reported a $0.52 profit in the prior yr period. ADPT indicated 1 pt higher; issue trades at 17 times next yr's mean estimate, vs projected 20% long-term growth rate; 52-week range 7 7/8 to 52. Chart
08:54 ET Inktomi Corp (INKT) 90 9/16 +7 9/16: After climbing 7 9/16 yesterday in advance of earnings, INKT shares indicated 3 pts lower this morning. The developer of scalable software applications designed for use by Internet infrastructure and media companies reported a Q4 loss of $0.28 a share, 5 cents narrower than analysts expected. However, company also filed to sell 3 mln shares, of which, 2.7 mln will be sold by shareholders. Company also announced the early release of 1.1 mln restricted shares. (Press Releases)
08:49 ET Nokia Corp. (NOK/A) 86 1/4: Issue trading 6% higher in Europe after cell phone maker reported a 50% increase in Q3 earnings and reported that Asian demand has been robust. News also assisting Ericsson (ERICY) ADRs, which are indicated 1 1/8 higher in U.S. trading.
08:44 ET CDNow Inc. (CDNW) 9 7/16: Online music retailer and N2K Inc. (NTKI 5 1/2) agree to merge; new company to be initially to be called CDnow/N2K Inc; N2K shareholders will receive 0.83 shares of common stock in the new company. Both companies report quarterly results. NTKI indicated 1 1/8 higher, while CDNW flat in pre-market. See Press Releases
08:35 ET Market Indication: Broader market indicated slightly lower. Currently level of S&P futures suggest Dow retreat of 10-15 pts at the open --- Overseas markets mixed: France -0.9%, Germany +0.08%, London -0.2%, Japan -1%, Hong Kong +1.7% --- Cell phone stocks trading higher in Europe after Nokia (NOK/A) reported demand from Asia has been very strong --- N2K Inc/CDNow officially announce merger --- Gateway beats estimates, backs '98 and '99 projections.
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