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Technology Stocks : Semi Equipment Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gottfried who wrote (55834)	3/27/2012 8:15:34 PM
From: Return to Sender	2 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95640

From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Stocks spent most of the session slogging along the flat line in a sideways chop, but a late bout of selling dropped the major equity averages into the red and left them to settle at session lows. An absence of headlines and trading catalysts made for a rather mixed open, but the broad market did manage to muster enough of a gain to set an incrementally improved multi-year high before backing down amid a lack of leadership. Market participants opted to apply pressure to stocks with the release of the Conference Board's latest Consumer Confidence Index, which declined to 70.2 from an upwardly revised 71.6 for the prior month, even though the decline was on the order of what had been widely anticipated. Selling failed to gain momentum, but participants weren't willing to do anything more than provide enough support to keep stocks near the neutral line, or at least until the final hour. Strength among Tech stocks had helped the Nasdaq stay in positive territory for nearly the entire session. However, it broke below the neutral line in the final minutes of trade as the Tech sector traded lower alongside the rest of the market. Tech still eked out a 0.1% gain so that the sector stands alongside Utilities and Health Care as the only sector to score a gain. Utilities and Health Care booked gains of 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively. Resuming the weak price action displayed during trade last week, Energy stocks were a drag today. The sector suffered a 0.9% loss, which came even though oil prices were able to overcome a mid-session slip to settle with a 0.2% gain just above $107.30 per barrel. Walgreen Co. (WAG 34.80, +0.43) was a strong performer in the face of broad market listlessness. The stock scored its gain on the back of an upside earnings surprise, which is also what helped Lennar (LEN 27.63, +1.23). Education services provider Apollo Group (APOL 39.54, -3.66) also announced better-than-expected earnings, but the company's cautious outlook was enough of a reason for traders to cut down the stock. The stock market's late slide stoked volatility expectations, such that the Volatility Index spiked more than 9% to close out the day comfortably above 15. That helped Treasuries reclaim some of their gains and settle near session highs. Treasuries were treated positively following results from an auction of 2-year Notes. The offering drew a bid-to-cover of 3.69, dollar demand of $129.2 billion, an indirect bidder rate of 34.1%. For comparison, the prior auction drew a bid-to-cover ratio of 3.54, dollar demand of $123.9 billion, and an indirect bidder rate of 35.7%, while an average of the past six auctions drew a bid-to-cover ratio of 3.70, dollar demand of $129.6 billion, and an indirect bidder rate of 34.7%. The dollar ended the day with a gain of about 0.2% after it had spent the better part of the session plodding along near the unchanged mark. Most of the greenback's gain is owed to a downturn by the euro, which settled the session at about $1.332. Advancing Sectors: Utilities +0.4%, Health Care +0.3%, Tech +0.1% Declining Sectors: Materials -0.2%, Consumer Staples -0.2%, Consumer Discretionary -0.2%, Industrials -0.2%, Energy -0.9%, Telecom -0.9%, Financials -1.0%DJ30 -43.90 NASDAQ -2.22 NQ100 +0.2% R2K -0.7% SP400 -0.4% SP500 -3.99 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 945/1.65 bln/1581 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1243/730 mln/1736 4:07PM EXFO misses by $0.06, misses on revs; guides Q3 EPS below consensus, revs in-line (EXFO) 7.28 -0.06 : Reports Q2 (Feb) earnings of $0.02 per share, $0.06 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.08; revenues fell 7.1% year/year to $66.9 mln vs the $68.61 mln consensus. Bookings reached $60.6 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2012 compared to US$57.6 million in the same period last year and US$71.4 million in the first quarter of 2012. The company's book-to-bill ratio was 0.91 in the second quarter of 2012 and 0.99 at the mid-way mark of fiscal 2012. Gross margin amounted to 64.7% of sales in the second quarter of fiscal 2012 compared to 61.4% in the second quarter of 2011 and 64.8% in the first quarter of 2012. Co issues mixed guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.05-0.09, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.10 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $68-73 mln vs. $72.26 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. 2Micro International (OIIM) was issued 24 claims under a U.S. patent for its Conversion Circuit Systems invention. 4:06PM Synnex beats by $0.11, misses on revs; guides Q2 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (SNX) 43.64 -0.25 : Reports Q1 (Feb) earnings of $1.02 per share, $0.11 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.91; revenues fell 1.6% year/year to $2.46 bln vs the $2.54 bln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.87-0.91 vs. $0.94 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $2.45-2.55 bln vs. $2.59 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. 12:16 pm Technology sector trading higher today with market The tech sector is trading higher today, just ahead of gains in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing slight relative strength in the tech space with the Philly Semi Index trading 0.2% higher. MU (+4.0%) is a notable leader in the chip index, while STM (-4.3%) is showing weakness. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 0.1% higher, while the the QQQ is 0.3% higher and the NASDAQ is trading 0.2% higher on the session. Among tech bellwethers, AAPL (+1.1%) is showing notable strength today. In earnings this morning, recent IPO EPAM (+7.1%) posted quarterly beat and issued upside guidance. In news last night, OPXT (+46.9%) and OCLR (-8.8%) agreed to a merger. Among notable analyst upgrades this morning, Oppenheimer upgraded DANG (+7.5%) to Outperform. While in downgrades, STM (-4.5%) was downgraded to Hold at Societe Generale. SNX (-0.2%) is the notable name in tech scheduled to report results today after the close.

To: Gottfried who wrote (55834)	3/27/2012 9:53:26 PM
From: Sam	2 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95640

OT--futuristic musings Personal cloud to replace PCs, says Gartner Julien Happich 3/24/2012 3:21 PM EDT eetimes.com The reign of the personal computer as the sole corporate access device is coming to a close, and by 2014, the personal cloud will replace the personal computer at the center of users' digital lives, according to research from Gartner. Gartner analysts said the personal cloud will begin a new era that will provide users with a new level of flexibility with the devices they use for daily activities, while leveraging the strengths of each device, ultimately enabling new levels of user satisfaction and productivity. However, it will require enterprises to fundamentally rethink how they deliver applications and services to users. "Major trends in client computing have shifted the market away from a focus on personal computers to a broader device perspective that includes smartphones, tablets and other consumer devices," said Steve Kleynhans, research vice president at Gartner. "Emerging cloud services will become the glue that connects the web of devices that users choose to access during the different aspects of their daily life." The past two years have been a whirlwind in the client computing space, leaving many enterprises asking what comes next and what the environment will look like in five years. "Many call this era the post-PC era, but it isn't really about being 'after' the PC, but rather about a new style of personal computing that frees individuals to use computing in fundamentally new ways to improve multiple aspects of their work and personal lives," Mr. Kleynhans said. Several driving forces are combining to create this new era. These megatrends have roots that extend back through the past decade but are aligning in a new way. Megatrend no. 1: Consumerization — you ain't seen nothing yet Gartner has discussed the consumerization of IT for the better part of a decade, and has seen the impact of it across various aspects of the corporate IT world. However, much of this has simply been a precursor to the major wave that is starting to take hold across all aspects of information technology as several key factors come together: Users are more technologically savvy and have very different expectations of technology. The Internet and social media have empowered and emboldened users. The rise of powerful, affordable mobile devices changes the equation for users. Users have become innovators. Through the democratization of technology, users of all types and status within organizations can now have similar technology available to them. Megatrend no. 2: Virtualization — changing how the game is played Virtualization has improved flexibility and increased the options for how IT organizations can implement client environments. Virtualization has, to some extent, freed applications from the peculiarities of individual devices, operating systems or even processor architectures. Virtualization provides a way to move the legacy of applications and processes developed in the PC era forward into the new emerging world. This provides low-power devices access to much-greater processing power, thus expanding their utility and increasing the reach of processor-intensive applications. Megatrend no. 3: "app-ification" — from applications to apps When the way that applications are designed, delivered and consumed by users changes, it has a dramatic impact on all other aspects of the market. These changes will have a profound impact on how applications are written and managed in corporate environments. They also raise the prospect of greater cross-platform portability as small user experience (UX) apps are used to adjust a server- or cloud-resident application to the unique characteristics of a specific device or scenario. One application can now be exposed in multiple ways and used in varying situations by the user. Megatrend no. 4: The ever-available self-service cloud The advent of the cloud for servicing individual users opens a whole new level of opportunity. Every user can now have a scalable and nearly infinite set of resources available for whatever they need to do. The impacts for IT infrastructures are stunning, but when this is applied to the individual, there are some specific benefits that emerge. Users' digital activities are far more self-directed than ever before. Users demand to make their own choices about applications, services and content, selecting from a nearly limitless collection on the Internet. This encourages a culture of self-service that users expect in all aspects of their digital experience. Users can now store their virtual workspace or digital personality online. Megatrend no. 5: The mobility shift — wherever and whenever you want Today, mobile devices combined with the cloud can fulfill most computing tasks, and any tradeoffs are outweighed in the minds of the user by the convenience and flexibility provided by the mobile devices. The emergence of more-natural user interface experiences is making mobility practical. Touch- and gesture-based user experiences, coupled with speech and contextual awareness, are enabling rich interaction with devices and a much greater level of freedom. At any point in time, and depending on the scenario, any given device will take on the role of the user's primary device — the one at the center of the user's constellation of devices. "The combination of these megatrends, coupled with advances in new enabling technologies, is ushering in the era of the personal cloud," said Mr. Kleynhans. "In this new world, the specifics of devices will become less important for the organization to worry about. Users will use a collection of devices, with the PC remaining one of many options, but no one device will be the primary hub. Rather, the personal cloud will take on that role. Access to the cloud and the content stored or shared in the cloud will be managed and secured, rather than solely focusing on the device itself." Visit Gartner at http://www.gartner.com/. This article originally appeared on EE Times Europe.