From Briefing.com: 8:32AM Advanced Micro announces extension of exchange offer of its 8.125% senior notes due 2017 for registered notes (AMD) 7.61 :
8:31AM Apple says white models of of its new iPhone 4 have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than they originally expected (AAPL) 259.27 : As a result, co says that they will not be available until later this year. The availability of the "more popular" iPhone 4 black models is not affected.
8:21AM ARM Holdings: Microsoft (MSFT) licenses ARM Architecture (ARMH) 14.39 : The cos announced that they have signed a new licensing agreement for the ARM(R) architecture. The agreement extends the collaborative relationship between the two companies. Since 1997 Microsoft and ARM have worked together on software and devices across the embedded, consumer and mobile spaces, enabling many companies to deliver user experiences on a broad portfolio of ARM-based products.
7:05AM Celestica reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs in-line (CLS) 9.07 : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.21 per share, in-line with the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.21; revenues rose 13.1% year/year to $1.59 bln vs the $1.57 bln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.20-$0.24 vs. $0.24 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q3 revs of $1.55-$1.65 bln vs. $1.69 bln Thomson Reuters consensus.
7:02AM Celestica to expand healthcare capabilities through acquisition of Allied Panels; terms not disclosed (CLS) 9.06 +0.34 : Co announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Allied Panels Entwicklungs-und Produktions GmbH. The acquisition of will significantly expand co's capabilities in the healthcare diagnostics and imaging market.
From Briefing.com yesterday: 4:30 pm : A sharp rebound sent the S&P 500 back above its 50-day moving average, but the benchmark index couldn't quite make it to 1100, which marks a formidable point of resistance.
Stocks booked steep losses in the prior session as uncertainty undermined trade, but a rebound began to take shape in early morning futures trade as Europe's major bourses rallied amid a stronger-than-expected eurozone PMI reading and retail spending numbers for the United Kingdom. The euro also responded positively; it retraced its prior session slide to settle 1.1% higher against the greenback on Thursday.
In contrast to recent sessions, market participants appeared to cheer the latest round of earnings results, which featured more than 100 reports and were generally better-than-expected.
Some of the strongest gains were made by industrial plays, like Union Pacific (UNP 72.40, +3.28) and UPS (UPS 63.15, +3.14). Both bested expectations for the bottom line, but UPS complemented its report with an increased outlook.
Fellow industrial issues and Dow components 3M (MMM 84.75, +2.45) and Caterpillar (CAT 68.00, +1.13) also reported better-than-expected bottom line results. 3M also issued upside guidance, while CAT raised its forecast so that it is in step with what Wall Street has forecast.
Among other blue chips, AT&T (T 25.51, +0.59) posted an upside surprise and raised its outlook, but and Travelers (TRV 49.29, -0.58) came short of the consensus earnings estimate and even cut its forecast.
A battery of regional banks was also out with earnings. SunTrust Banks (STI 24.58, +2.16), Fifth Third (FITB 12.43, +1.15), KeyCorp (KEY 7.95, +0.41), PNC Bank (PNC 59.78, +1.24), and Huntington Banc (HBAN 5.85, +0.18) each beat, but BB&T Corp (BBT 25.34, -0.57) was a let down.
Banks will likely remain in close focus tomorrow, when results from a series of stress tests on European banks will be released.
Health care stocks generally lagged throughout the session, even though both Eli Lilly (LLY 35.15, +0.20) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY 24.93, +0.18) beat earnings expectations.
Nonetheless, all 10 major sectors advanced. Most had heady gains. That helped the S&P 500 sprint past its 50-day moving average, but stocks struggled to push the move to within reach of the 1100 line.
Once again, trading volume wasn't very impressive. It came short of 1.2 billion shares on the NYSE, which has averaged almost 1.4 billion shares per session during the past 50 trading days.
Fed Chairman Bernanke triggered selling in the prior session, when he spoke of unusual uncertainty in the economy before the Senate Banking Committee, but his comments to the House Financial Services Committee today had no real impact on trade since they were consistent with what he had already stated. Interestingly enough, his comments generally reflected what had already been indicated by the minutes from the latest FOMC meeting.
Keeping a focus on the economy, the latest initial jobless claims count climbed 37,000 week-over-week to 464,000, which is more than the 445,000 initial claims that had been widely expected. Continuing claims dropped 223,000 week-over-week to just below 4.49 million, but that is likely due to the expiration of jobless benefits. To help support unemployed workers, the House approved today a bill to extend jobless benefits.
As for housing, existing home sales for June fell 5.1% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 5.37 million units. That is a better rate than the 5.09 million units that had been widely expected. News that total months supply climbed to 8.9 from 8.3 was disregarded.
Leading indicators for June got little attention. They reportedly slipped 0.2%, which is slightly less severe than the 0.4% decline that had been widely expected.
Advancing Sectors: Financials (+3.1%), Industrials (+3.1%), Consumer Discretionary (+3.1%), Tech (+2.7%), Materials (+2.3%), Energy (+2.2%), Telecom (+2.0%), Utilities (+1.6%), Consumer Staples (+0.9%), Health Care (+0.5%)
Declining Sectors: (None) DJ30 +201.77 NASDAQ +58.56 NQ100 +2.5% R2K +3.7% SP400 +2.9% SP500 +24.08 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2206/2.27 bln/432 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2673/1.18 bln/396
4:34PM Skyworks beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (SWKS) 18.05 +0.84 : Reports Q3 (Jun) earnings of $0.32 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.30; revenues rose 44.0% year/year to $275.4 mln vs the $269.4 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.37, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.34 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q4 revs of $300 mln vs. $287.49 mln Thomson Reuters consensus.
4:32PM Cymer beats by $0.17, beats on revs; guides Q3 revs in-line (CYMI) 33.76 +1.51 : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.70 per share, $0.17 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.53; revenues rose 111.4% year/year to $131.9 mln vs the $117.9 mln consensus. Co reports gross margins of 53%. Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $132-$138 mln vs. $132.45 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co sees Q3 gross margins of 51%.
4:30PM Microsemi beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs above consensus (MSCC) 15.36 +0.27 : Reports Q3 (Jun) earnings of $0.30 per share, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.29; revenues rose 27.1% year/year to $136 mln vs the $130.3 mln consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.33-$0.35 vs. $0.33 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q4 revs growing 7-9% sequentially, which equates to approx $145.5-148.2 mln vs. $139.98 mln Thomson Reuters consensus.
4:21PM Microsoft beats by $0.05, beats on revs (MSFT) 25.84 +0.75 : Reports Q4 (Jun) earnings of $0.51 per share, $0.05 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.46; revenues rose 22.5% year/year to $16.04 bln vs the $15.27 bln consensus. Co reported Q4 Gross Margins of 80.23% vs 80.55% Consensus, Co says "We saw strong sales execution across all of our businesses, particularly in the enterprise with Windows 7 and Office 2010." The co updated their operating expense guidance of $26.9 billion to $27.3 billion for the full year ending June 30, 2011 vs the previous guidance of $26.1-26.3 bln.
4:17PM QLogic beats by $0.01, misses on revs (QLGC) : Reports Q1 (Jun) earnings of $0.30 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.29; revenues rose 16.1% year/year to $142.6 mln vs the $144.1 mln consensus.
4:11PM SanDisk beats by $0.18, beats on revs; announces retirement of CEO (SNDK) 43.10 +0.98 : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $1.08 per share, $0.18 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.90; revenues rose 61.5% year/year to $1.18 bln vs the $1.16 bln consensus. Sandisk reports Q2 gross margin of 47% vs. the 43.6% Thomson Reuters consensus. Average price per gigabyte sold declined 18% on a year-over-year basis and declined 8% sequentially. Separately today, SanDisk announced that Dr. Eli Harari, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, will retire from his current positions on December 31, 2010. As part of the succession planning process, the Board of Directors appointed Sanjay Mehrotra, currently SanDisk's President and Chief Operating Officer, as the new Chief Executive Officer of the company, effective January 1, 2011. Mr. Mehrotra was appointed to the Company's Board of Directors effective July 21, 2010. The Board also appointed Michael Marks, a member of the SanDisk Board since 2003, to the role of Chairman effective January 1, 2011.
4:11PM Rambus misses by $0.04, reports revs in-line (RMBS) 18.99 +0.69 : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.11 per share, $0.04 worse than the Thomson Reuters consensus of ($0.07); revenues rose 57.2% year/year to $38.9 mln vs the $39.1 mln consensus.
4:06PM PMC-Sierra beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line (PMCS) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.20 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.19; revenues rose 30.4% year/year to $160.7 mln vs the $159.4 mln consensus.
4:05PM Ixia beats by $0.01, beats on revs (XXIA) 10.48 +0.61 : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.10 per share, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.09; revenues rose 72.1% year/year to $66.1 mln vs the $64 mln consensus
4:03PM Flextronics beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs above consensus (FLEX) 6.56 +0.37 : Reports Q1 (Jun) earnings of $0.19 per share, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.18; revenues rose 13.5% year/year to $6.57 bln vs the $6.39 bln consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.19-0.21 vs. $0.20 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q2 revs of $6.8-7.2 bln vs. $6.75 bln Thomson Reuters consensus.
8:03AM Cypress Semi beats by $0.04, beats on revs (CY) 10.65 : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.24 per share, $0.04 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.20; revenues rose 43.1% year/year to $223 mln vs the $218.6 mln consensus. "Our customers are continuing to provide increased booking visibility into Q3 and Q4...Our book-to-bill at the end of Q2 remained very strong at 1.30, led by our Consumer and Computation Division. All divisions had a book-to-bill above 1.10."
6:46AM Semi Manufacturing and Virage Logic extend partnership to 40 NM ll process technology (SMI) 3.23 : Virage Logic (VIRL), and Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMI) announces the extension of their longstanding partnership to the 40-nanometer low-leakage process technology. Building on the successful partnership that was initially established on the 130nm process technology, Virage Logic and SMIC have collaborated to provide mutual customers with highly differentiated IP on a broad range of SMIC's process technologies including 90nm and 65nm. Under the terms of the new agreement, System-on-Chip designers will have access to Virage Logic's SiWare Memory compilers, SiWare Logic libraries, SiPro MIPI and Intelli DDR IP on SMIC's advanced 40nm LL process.
6:16AM Cabot Micro misses by $0.04, reports revs in-line (CCMP) 32.78 : Reports Q3 (Jun) earnings of $0.43 per share, $0.04 worse than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.47; revenues rose 17.7% year/year to $101.7 mln vs the $101.4 mln consensus.
09:49 am MSFT Tops Q4 Expectations (MSFT)
Microsoft (MSFT 25.61 -0.23) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.51 per share after hours yesterday, $0.05 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.46.
Revenues rose 22.5% year-over-year to $16.04 billion, above the $15.27 billion consensus. The company reported fourth quarter gross margins of 80.23% versus the 80.55% Consensus.
The company said, "We saw strong sales execution across all of our businesses, particularly in the enterprise with Windows 7 and Office 2010."
MSFT updated their operating expense guidance of $26.9 billion to $27.3 billion for the full year ending June 30, 2011 versus the previous guidance of $26.1 billion to $26.3 billion.
07:53 am Microsoft upgraded to Hold at The Benchmark Company: . The Benchmark Company upgrades MSFT to Hold from Sell and sets target price at $32 in the wake of a good quarter with balanced results, partly driven by Windows 7 and partly by a strong Server and Tools division showing, capturing some of the recovering corporate IT spending other companies have seen. Firm says their upgrade is driven mainly by the stock's low valuation, close to multi-year lows on P/E and EV/Revenue, because they continue to worry that long-term strategic issues remain unanswered.
07:46 am Nokia upgraded to Buy at Wunderlich: . Wunderlich upgrades NOK to Buy from Hold following earnings and based on better-than-expected margins and less time risk with the Symbian 3 cycle starting in less than three months. Firm says the 3Q could be worse than expected if the bottom falls completely out of Nokia's smartphone market; they believe this is unlikely as Nokia is already pricing very aggressively and is not competing squarely against the BlackBerry, the fashion of the iPhone, or the Android domain of consumer electronics mavens.
07:44 am QLogic downgraded to Hold at ThinkEquity: . ThinkEquity downgraded QLGC to Hold from Buy following earnings. The firm says a comparison of sequential revenue growth trends of INTC's data center group (proxy for server chips) with QLGC's Host business for the first three quarters of CY10, suggests that the server upgrade cycle may have more of a muted effect on the Fibre Channel Host Adaptor business than they previously anticipated. Considering QLGC may not have a near-term strong demand catalyst that may materially lift numbers beyond their estimates and that at current levels, shares, reflect the company's market leadership, robust financial model, and strong FCF. |
