From Briefing.com: Investors took profit at the open bell following Wednesday's strong gains. Thursday's mixed economic data proved insufficient to overcome ongoing valuation concerns to keep investors in buying mood. Jobless claims fell an unexpected 6K last week to 363K, retail sales declined 0.3% vs. consensus expectations for no change, led by a 3.9% drop in auto sales, and business inventories rose 0.3%, in-line with expectations.
The Dow (DJI 10694.07 -43.63) fell 0.41%, the S&P (SPX 1152.11 -5.65) shed 0.49% and the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC 2073.61 -16.05) dropped 0.77%. Large cap semiconductor shares traded higher for most of the morning session before following the broader market into negative territory. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX 518.78 -8.03) ultimately gave up 1.52% with decliners outnumbering advancers 17:1. The Briefing.com Tech Index (BTI) slipped 0.5%. Decliners led advancers 1.8:1. Decliners lost 2.3% and advancers gained 2.8%.
Today's movers: Quovadx (QVDX 6.66 +0.66) rose 11% after posting improved results and guiding above consensus. Sonus (SONS 5.39 -1.30) dropped 19% after announcing employees may have tampered with the company's books.
Looking ahead to Friday, there are no earnings of note. Trading is likely to center around Analog Devices (ADI 48.99 -1.00), Dell (DELL 33.57 -0.12) and Nvidia (NVDA 23.52 -0.73). ADI posted results ahead of expectations and guided above consensus. DELL posted in-line results and guided on par with consensus. NVDA beat expectations but guided below consensus.--Ping Yu, Briefing.com
6:18PM Thursday After Hours prices levels vs. 4 pm ET: A fairly listless trade in the after hours, where the S&P futures, at 1151, are flat with fair value, and the Nasdaq 100 futures, at 1502, are 1 point below fair value. A few earnings warnings tonight have squashed widespread buying interest in the night's trade.
The below table lists the more notable news items, and the ensuing reaction from the stocks.
After Hours Mover % Change Move Reason for Move
Analog Devices (ADI) +5% Analog semiconductor manufacturer exceeds the Q1 (Jan) Reuters Research consensus EPS and revenue estimates after already having issued a better than expected outlook on Nov 18; Company again puts out guidance above the Street's forecasts - says Q2 (Apr) EPS should be $0.34-0.35 on revenues of $650-665 mln; Competitors LLTC and MXIM trade higher as well
Dell Computer (DELL) +1% Computer systems maker beats the Q4 (Jan) consensus EPS estimate by a penny on revenues that rose 18% to $11.51 bln; Puts its Q1 (Apr) outlook in line with the market's expectation; Stock initially drifts lower in the extended session, and then moves slightly higher
Imclone (00C0) +31% Biotech issue spikes after the Nasdaq re-opens it for trading at 16:20 ET; Stock was halted after falling 27% in 5 minutes time, just prior to the FDA's announcement of Erbitux's approval for cancer in combination with a standard chemotherapy; Nasdaq is now investigating those trades right before the announcement as 684,420 shares changed hands
Nvidia (NVDA) -6% Fabless semiconductor name comes in light on revenues in its Q4 (Jan) report and warns for sales in Q1 (Apr); On its call, Nvidia puts revenues at flat to down 5% sequentially and gross margins at 30% or more; Cites Xbox sales that should not improve (or even decline) in Q1 for the softness, Stock fell 3% in the regular session
UPS (UPS) unch Package delivery company increases it quarterly dividend to $0.28 from $0.25 per share for an annual dividend yield of 1.6%; Company cited its performance in FY03 and its strong outlook for FY04 as the reason; Second time UPS has increased its dividend in a year
Tomorrow, several economic reports are due out, with the most notable being the December Trade Balance and the preliminary figure for the February University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment number. For the consensus estimates on these reports, be sure to visit Briefing.com's Economic Calendar.
For more detail on these, and other developments, be sure to visit our Stock Market Update and Daily Sector Wrap. -- Heather Smith, Briefing.com
5:15PM NVIDIA guides lower for revs in Apr quarter (NVDA) 23.52 -0.73: -- Update -- On conference call, NVDA guides Q1 (Apr) revenues to flat to down 5% sequentially, to approximately $448-472 mln versus the consensus of $475.9 mln... Says that Xbox revenues should show no improvement, and may decline... Adds that gross margins should be 30% or more.
6:09PM Metrologic Inst beats by $0.05; guide above Q1 consnesus and increase Y04 guidance (MTLG) 24.70 -0.10: Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.23 per share, $0.05 better than the Reuters Research consensus of $0.18; revenues rose 31.8% year/year to $41.7 mln vs the $41.0 mln consensus. Co sees Q1 (Mar) EPS of $0.17-0.18, Reuters consensus is $0.15 and increases it Y04 revenue guidance to $160-167 mln (previously $153-155 mln) and EPS of $0.75-0.80 (previously $0.67-0.73), Reuters consensus is $0.73 and $155 mln, respectively
4:02PM Analog Devices beats by $0.02, guides Q2 above consensus (ADI) 48.90 -1.09: Reports Q1 (Jan) GAAP earnings of $0.30 per diluted share, $0.02 better than the Reuters Research consensus of $0.28; revenues rose 29.5% year/year to $605.4 mln vs the $587.7 mln consensus. Co also guides Q2, sees EPS of $0.34-0.35, vs the R.R. consensus of $0.32, and revenues of $650-665 mln, vs the R.R. estimate of $619.6 mln.
4:02PM Dell Computer beats by $0.01, revs in line (DELL) 33.57 -0.12: -- Update -- Reports Q4 (Jan) earnings of $0.29 per share, $0.01 better than the Reuters Research consensus of $0.28; revenues rose 18.3% year/year to $11.51 bln vs the $11.51 bln consensus. Company sees Q1 EPS of $0.28 vs consensus of $0.28 on revenues of $11.2 bln, consensus $11.2 bln.
1:43PM Rambus confirms European patent ruling (RMBS) 24.25 -5.36: -- Update -- Co announces that the Technical Board of Appeals of the European Patent Office made a ruling at the close of a 3-day hearing revoking RMBS's European patent 0 525 068, which related to one aspect of RMBS's patented technologies called "an access time register". The basis for the ruling was not given, and a written opinion would typically be expected in 4-10 weeks. Co says the ruling does not apply to other European RMBS patents and patent applications, and the co's issued and pending U.S. patents are also not affected.
Intel (INTC) 30.74 -0.25 : The Wall Street Journal reported that Intel is claiming a major breakthrough in using silicon to make optical components, a development that could lead to significant reductions in the price of high-speed data communications. The chip maker said it has fabricated a silicon modulator, which is a device needed to send data down fiber-optic cabling that operates at a speed of one gigahertz. That is roughly 50 times faster than similar devices that have been made from silicon so far.
Rambus (RMBS) 24.35 -5.26 : Co announced that Toshiba has licensed Rambus's PCI Express physical layer cell, part of Rambus's RaSer family of serial link technologies. The PCI Express interconnect standard is expected to serve as the general purpose input/output (I/O) interconnect for a wide variety of future computing, consumer and communication platforms. Co announced that the Technical Board of Appeals of the European Patent Office made a ruling at the close of a 3-day hearing revoking RMBS's European patent 0 525 068, which related to one aspect of RMBS's patented technologies called "an access time register". The basis for the ruling was not given, and a written opinion would typically be expected in 4-10 weeks. Co said the ruling does not apply to other European RMBS patents and patent applications, and the co's issued and pending U.S. patents are also not affected.
Advanced Energy (AEIS) 21.58 -0.72 : After the close, reported Q4 (Dec) loss of $(0.08) per share, $0.05 better than the Reuters Research consensus of $(0.13); revenues rose 30.1% year/year to $74.7 mln vs the $72.1 mln consensus. For Q1, co sees revs and EPS of $95-$100 mln and $0.12-$0.17 vs consensus of $74.7 mln and $0.02.
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