From Briefing.com: 5:54PM Linear Technology's Board of Directors authorizes the co to purchase up to 20 mln shares of its common stock (LLTC) 30.73 +0.41 :
4:32PM Ultratech Receives multiple orders for its AP300 advanced-packaging lithograph tool (UTEK) 14.99 +1.21 : Co announces that it received multiple orders from one of the largest memory manufacturers in the world for its AP300 advanced-packaging lithography tool. Building on the success of its AP300 installed base, this customer will use UTEK's lithography systems to expand capacity for advanced-packaging applications, such as chip stacking. The AP300 is built on UTEK's customizable Unity Platform, which provides cost-of-ownership benefits, operational flexibility and technology extendibility for advanced packaging. UTEK's AP300 systems will be delivered to the customer's manufacturing facility in Asia.
4:09PM Lam Research beats by $0.20, beats on revs (LRCX) 31.59 +0.85 : Reports Q4 (Jun) earnings of $0.60 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.20 better than the First Call consensus of $0.40; revenues fell 7.8% year/year to $566.2 mln vs the $549 mln consensus. Ongoing gross margin for the June 2008 quarter was $247.3 mln or 43.7% compared to ongoing gross margin of $293.6 mln, or 47.8%, for the March 2008 quarter. The sequential decline was primarily due to unfavorable customer and product mix, factory utilization levels, and inclusion of a full quarter of SEZ results. "During this period of continued reductions in wafer fab equipment investment, Lam Research is leveraging its flexible business model to reduce expenses while utilizing our strong cash generation capability to allow for continued strong investments in R&D activities, both in etch and adjacent new markets, that offer the opportunity for significant long-term revenue and earnings expansion... The largest of those new opportunities is in single-wafer clean, where we continue to make significant investments. We have created a new organization for all of our clean products by integrating SEZ together with our C3 linear clean technology and 2300 Coronus plasma bevel clean divisions. We expect the investments in our family of clean products will provide us an excellent opportunity to grow our business in a market that we expect to double in size over the next few years,"
4:07PM Silicon Storage reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS below consensus, revs in-line (SSTI) 3.37 +0.03 : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.09 per share, in-line with the First Call consensus of ($0.09); revenues rose 3.2% year/year to $83.7 mln vs the $80 mln consensus. Co issues guidance for Q3, sees EPS of ($0.05)-($0.10) vs. ($0.02) consensus; sees Q3 revs of $87-95 mln vs. $93.55 mln consensus. As SSTI enters the seasonally stronger second half of the year it expects revenue to grow sequentially, somewhat offset by softness in the macroeconomic environment.
4:06PM TTM Tech reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q3 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (TTMI) 12.81 : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.22 per share, in-line with the First Call consensus of $0.22; revenues rose 6.8% year/year to $173 mln vs the $174.2 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.19-$0.25 vs. $0.27 consensus; sees Q3 revs of $163-171 mln vs. $178.13 mln consensus.
4:03PM RF Micro Device beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs in-line (RFMD) : Reports Q1 (Jun) earnings of $0.03 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the First Call consensus of $0.01; revenues rose 13.7% year/year to $240.5 mln vs the $236.9 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.05 vs. $0.05 consensus; sees Q2 revs of $250-260 mln vs. $254.91 mln consensus. "RFMD's new strategy and diversification efforts are already paying dividends -- one quarter ahead of our original estimates, driven by exceptional teamwork and steady execution by the entire RFMD team. We gained share in cellular RF components, with front end revenue increasing 10% sequentially, and our performance in MPG easily exceeded our revised revenue target of 20% sequential revenue growth..."
4:02PM Integrated Device beats by $0.02, beats on revs (IDTI) 10.38 +0.42 : Reports Q1 (Jun) earnings of $0.23 per share, $0.02 better than the First Call consensus of $0.21; revenues fell 5.4% year/year to $188.2 mln vs the $184.3 mln consensus.
4:15 pm : The stock market rallied on Tuesday, lifted by a drop in oil prices, several better-than-expected quarterly earnings reports, an increase in consumer confidence, and speculation that the latest capital raise from a major financial firm is a sign that the worst is over for Wall Street.
Stocks finished the day at session highs following a late-day surge in buying interest, led by financials. Nine of ten sectors posted a gain. Defensive investments underperformed on a relative basis, with healthcare (+0.7%), telecom (+0.6%), and utilities (+0.4%) trailing the broader market. Likewise, the 10-year Treasury note slipped 15 ticks.
In an effort to reduce its risk exposure and shore up its balance sheet, Merrill Lynch (MER 26.32, +1.99) is selling $30.6 billion worth of U.S. ABS CDOs for only $0.22 on the dollar, or $6.7 billion. The assets were valued at $11.1 billion at the end of the second quarter, meaning the sale will result in a $4.4 billion pretax write-down. Merrill has taken $51.8 billion in write-downs and credit losses since the credit market turmoil began last year -- second only to Citigroup's (C 18.46, +1.03) $54.6 billion.
Merrill also raised $8.55 billion in a common stock offering at $22.50 per share, making the sale dilutive to existing shareholders. Merrill's stock fell 9.5% to a 10-year low shortly after the open, only to rebound and finish the day 8.2% higher. Merrill's stock dropped nearly 12% during the previous session on no specific news item, so the market may have already been pricing in some of the latest write-down and capital raising news.
The financial sector ended the session with a massive 7.5% gain, as traders speculated that the Merrill news indicated better times are ahead for financial firms. The sector also benefited from some short-covering, and a bit of a rebound trade following its 12% loss over the previous three sessions. Strength was broad-based, as only one of the 88 S&P 500 financial stocks posted a loss -- insurer XL Capital (XL 18.05, -0.32), which announced a dilutive capital raise.
Crude prices fell 2.3% to $121.87 per barrel as the dollar rose 0.9%. This sparked buying interest in consumer discretionary (+3.3%), retailers (+4.1%) and airlines (+11.4%). Conversely, the energy sector (-0.8%) posted a loss.
Earnings reports were mostly better than expected. Some of the bigger names that topped earnings estimates included Amgen (AMGN 62.22, +1.74), Colgate-Palmolive (CL 74.23, +5.67), U.S. Steel (X 165.42, +20.09), Valero Energy (VLO 33.30, +1.49) and Waste Management (WMI 35.92, +0.85).
In economic news, the Conference Board said that July consumer confidence rose roughly 2% month-over-month to 51.9 -- the first gain in six months. The increase in confidence came as oil prices retreated from record highs and the stock market rebounded from its July 15 low. Rising confidence levels are a plus for the stock market, although the survey only has weak correlation with actual spending, so Briefing.com does not put too much stock in the report.
Despite Tuesday's massive 2.4% advance, the Dow is only up 0.2% this week, as it had a lot of ground to make up after falling 239 points on Monday. DJ30 +266.48 NASDAQ +55.40 NQ100 +2.4% R2K +2.7% SP400 +2.1% SP500 +28.83 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1997/2.31 bln/837 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2461/1.40 bln/696
9:10AM Trina Solar signs sales contract with Enel (TSL) 25.63 : Co announces that it has entered into a sales agreement with Enel.si, a subsidiary of Enel SpA, Italy's largest power company. Under terms of the two-year agreement, TSL will supply Enel with a total of 17 megawatts (MW) of PV modules starting in 2008, which includes 15 MW of scheduled delivery for 2009 at fixed prices.
8:05AM Suntech Power signs 30MW supply agreement with Enel.si (STP) 32.71 : Co announces it has signed a two-year agreement with Enel.si, a subsidiary of Enel, to supply 30MW of PV modules in late 2008 and 2009.
8:03AM Vishay reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides Q3 revs above consensus (VSH) 8.42 : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.23 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the First Call consensus of $0.23; revenues rose 8.2% year/year to $774.4 mln vs the $741.2 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $750-770 mln vs. $739.65 mln consensus.
7:11AM Entegris misses by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides Q3 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (ENTG) 6.42 : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.04 per share, $0.02 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.06; revenues fell 3.6% year/year to $147.9 mln vs the $148 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.03-$0.05 vs. $0.08 consensus; sees Q3 revs of $140-$146 vs. $150.00 mln consensus.
09:53 am Zoran: . Lazard Capital downgrades ZRAN to Hold from Buy saying in 2Q results, DTV and converter boxes did very well with the DTV segment up 34% QoQ. However, they underestimated the negative impact that the DVD segment would have on the 2H. Because ZRAN is a seasonal stock that generally peaks in 3Q, and mgmt does not expect a recovery in the market until 2009, the firm does not see any near-term catalysts and recommend that investors wait for a better entry point
09:53 am Zoran: . Target $13.5. Needham downgrades ZRAN to Buy from Strong Buy and sets target price at $13.50 as the weak consumer electronics environment prompted management to guide cautiously for 2H08 and results in the firm's meaningful cut to their revenue and earnings estimates. However, they see good value in ZRAN shares at current levels and expect ZRAN's strong position in multiple consumer IC markets to attract renewed investor interest when consumer electronics demand recovers.
09:52 am Trident Microsystems: . Needham downgrades TRID to Hold from Buy due to a weak DTV environment, slower than expected adoption of its digital SoCs, a fierce competitive environment and a continued declined in its S.V.P video processor product family, TRID guided for a significant decline in F1Q09 and FY09 results.
09:51 am Trident Microsystems: . Target $5 to $4. Stanford Research downgrades TRID to Hold from Buy based on weak guidance, share loss at key customer, difficult macro environment, increasing competition and resignation of VP of Sales.
09:50 am SanDisk: . Target $20.5 to $11. Caris & Company downgrades SNDK to Below Average from Above Average and lowers their tgt to $11 from $20.50 following recent round of industry channel checks, worsening macroeconomic outlook, and Samsung's announcement that it will not reduce its CapEx and bit growth plans for NAND in 2008E. They now believe that the over-supply of NAND will not trough in Q3 but continue through 2H08E resulting in greater than previously expected inventory write downs and lower product gross margin and revenue for SNDK. |
