From Briefing.com: 4:36PM Apple beats by $0.39, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (AAPL) 52.83 +4.63 : Reports Q1 (Dec) earnings of $1.78 per share, $0.39 better than the First Call consensus of $1.39; revenues rose 5.8% year/year to $10.17 bln vs the $9.75 bln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.90-1.00 vs. $1.13 consensus; sees Q2 revs of $7.6-8 bln vs. $8.2 bln consensus. Co reports 4.36 mln Q1 iPhones vs ~4.6 mln street expectation, 2.52 mln Macs vs ~2.5 mln street expectation and gross margins of 34.7% vs 31.9% First Call consensus. "Even in these economically challenging times, we are incredibly pleased to report our best quarterly revenue and earnings in Apple historyâEuroÂ?surpassing $10 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time ever," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO.
4:30PM Virage Logic announces restructure (VIRL) 2.54 +0.03 : Co announced a restructure as part of its on-going transformation to become a broad line supplier of highly differentiated standard IP products. The restructure includes the consolidation of two smaller research and development sites into four major R&D centers and closer alignment of sales resources to market opportunities. As a result of the restructure and the anticipated increase in efficiencies, the co expects to realize approximately a 13% reduction in labor expenses. VIRL's restructure will result in the closing of its R&D centers in New Jersey and Minnesota. In addition, the co is consolidating its non-volatile memory development to its Seattle, Washington R&D center that was established as a result of the acquisition of Impinj Inc.'s NVM IP business in June of 2008.
4:30PM Intel announces plans to restructure some of its manufacturing operations and align its manufacturing capacity to current market conditions (INTC) 13.26 +0.40 : The co announces plans to restructure some of its manufacturing operations and align its manufacturing capacity to current market conditions. The company will consolidate and streamline some older capacity without impacting the deployment of new, leading-edge 45-nanometer and 32-nanometer manufacturing capacity. The company plans to close two existing assembly test facilities in Penang, Malaysia and one in Cavite, Philippines, and will halt production at Fab 20, an older 200mm wafer fabrication facility in Hillsboro, Ore. Additionally, wafer production operations will end at the D2 facility in Santa Clara, Calif. The actions at the four sites, when combined with associated support functions, are expected to affect between 5,000 and 6,000 employees worldwide. However, not all employees will leave Intel; some may be offered positions at other facilities. The actions will take place between now and the end of 2009.
4:21PM Action Semi misses by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs below consensus; co authorized buyback of up to 12 mln ADSs (ACTS) 1.48 -0.04 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.01 per share, $0.02 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.03; revenues fell 50.2% year/year to $16.1 mln vs the $15.2 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $8-11 mln vs. $11.58 mln consensus. Co's Board of Directors authorizes additional share repurchase program of up to 12 mln ADSs.
4:13PM F5 Networks reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs in-line (FFIV) 22.00 +0.46 : Reports Q1 (Dec) earnings of $0.40 per share, in-line with the First Call consensus of $0.40; revenues rose 7.4% year/year to $165.6 mln vs the $166.4 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.36-$0.38 vs. $0.37 consensus; sees Q2 revs of $157-$164 mln vs. $162.62 mln consensus. Co states, "As we announced on January 6th, the primary reason for the revenue shortfall was a sudden fall-off in North American sales during the last week of December... Our current analysis indicates that most of these deals were pushed into our second or third quarter of 2009 due to budget constraints. However, several were postponed indefinitely as customers evaluate their expense budgets in light of the continued recession."
4:30 pm : A bit of short-covering helped fuel a relief rally among stocks Wednesday. The S&P 500 closed 4.4% higher, but that still wasn't enough to offset the prior session's 5.3% drop.
Concerted leadership from the financial sector helped drive the rebound. The ascent by financials was partly triggered by the recognition that the sector was looking oversold, having lost more than 35% in the two weeks leading up to the open. Better-than-expected results from Northern Trust (NTRS 57.51, +13.58) and word that insiders were making big purchases at Bank of America (BAC 6.68, +1.58) also provided support.
Northern Trust reported fourth quarter earnings of $1.39 per share, which is $0.47 more than the $0.92 per share consensus estimate. Its shares responded by advancing 31%.
Bank of America saw its stock rebound 31% after regulatory reports revealed company directors purchased the stock in the prior session, which marked a multiyear low. CEO Ken Lewis purchased some 200,000 shares at prices ranging from $5.75 to $6.06 per share.
Shares of Bank of New York Mellon (BK 23.00, +4.24) registered strong gains after disclosing quarterly results that outshined State Street's (STT 17.07, +2.18) latest results, which were announced yesterday. Concerns regarding increased risks at State Street led Moody's to downgrade State Street's credit rating.
U.S. Bancorp (USB 16.09, +0.75) posted earnings of $0.15 per share, which failed to meet the $0.22 per share that Wall Street forecast. The stock traded in the red for much of the session, but managed to close with a gain.
U.S. Bancorp indicated during its conference call that earnings should be able to more than cover its dividend. However, if conditions become increasingly impaired, the company indicated it will not preserve the dividend.
Citigroup (C 3.67, +0.87), meanwhile, cut its quarterly dividend to $0.01 per share in connection with receiving TARP funds. The quarterly dividend was $0.16 per share.
Financials finished the session 14.6% higher. Their leadership helped rebuff a midmorning selling effort that took the broader market back to the neutral line.
IBM (IBM 91.42, +9.44) provided leadership to all three major indices. IBM reported fourth quarter earnings of $3.28 per share, which is $0.25 better than the consensus estimate of $3.03 per share. IBM also expects 2009 earnings to be at least $9.20 per share, which is more than the $8.75 per share that Wall Street forecast.
IBM's strength helped the tech sector, which is the largest in the S&P 500, advance 5.4% this session.
Health care, currently the second largest sector in the S&P 500, advanced 2.2% with help from Abbott Labs (ABT 52.32, +3.12). Abbott reported in-line quarterly results and reaffirmed its outlook, which is also in-line with expectations.
All 10 economic sectors finished higher. Whether the bounce is sustainable will only be seen in time. Many market participants believe that the broader market will not begin staging a sustainable rally until financials stabilize. DJ30 +279.01 NASDAQ +66.21 NQ100 +4.3% R2K +5.3% SP400 +4.6% SP500 +35.02 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 693/2037/2.11 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 632/2462/1.74 bln
9:01AM Ultra Clean Holdings to manufacture products for FEI Company (UCTT) 1.48 : The co and FEI Company (FEIC) announce they have signed a Global Supplier Agreement under which Ultra Clean will provide hosted manufacturing services in the FEI Hillsboro, Oregon facility. It is also anticipated that Ultra Clean's Asia operations will be utilized to produce some FEI sub-assemblies. The two companies are targeting the first quarter of 2009 for transfer of current product lines to Ultra Clean Technology operations.
7:51AM SEMI says North American semiconductor equipment industry posts December 2008 book-to-bill ratio of 0.93 : North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $668.7 million in orders in December 2008 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.93 according to the December 2008 Book-to-Bill Report published by SEMI. The bookings figure is about 15% less than the final November 2008 level of $783.8 million, and about 42% less than the $1.16 billion in orders posted in December 2007. The three-month average of worldwide billings in December 2008 was $722.6 million. The billings figure is about 10%less than the final November 2008 level of $806.8 million, and about 47% less than the December 2007 billings level of $1.36 billion. "Bookings continue to reflect the uncertainty in the economic environment, and are approaching levels last seen in early 2002," said Dan Tracy, senior director of Industry Research and Statistics at SEMI. "We expect bookings to remain at low levels until end market demand for semiconductors picks up."
08:14 am IBM (IBM)
IBM (IBM 81.98) reported another quarter of solid earnings and issued an outlook for 2009 that exceeds current estimates.
For the quarter, IBM reported earnings of $3.28 per share, well ahead of the First Call consensus that called for earnings of $3.03 per share. Earnings were up 17% year-over-year.
Revenues of $27 billion were a bit behind the consensus of $28.15 billion. Revenue, down 6% year-over-year, was impacted by a stronger dollar as it only decreased 1% when adjusted for currency changes.
IBM saw revenues slip across all geographic regions with year-over-year declines of 2% in the Americas, 12% in Europe/Middle East/Africa and 1% in Asia-Pacific. Adjusting for currency, revenues in the Americas grew 2% year-over-year, were up 1% in Europe/Middle East/Africa, and grew 1% in Asia-Pacific.
Gross margins improved to 47.9% from 44.9% in the prior year.
IBM ended 2008 with $12.9 billion of cash on hand and generated free cash flow of $14.3 billion, up $1.9 billion year-over-year, excluding Global Financing receivables.
Looking ahead, IBM said it expects full year 2009 earnings of $9.20 per share, ahead of the current First Call consensus of $8.75. |
