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From Briefing.com: A week ago, the S&P 500 was down 3.2% year-to-date. With the gains it has logged over the last four sessions, including the substantive gain on Thursday, it is now up 0.2% year-to-date.

The calendar may have changed, yet some things have remained the same, namely the resilience to selling efforts and the bullish response to accommodative action from the world's leading central banks.

On Thursday, the ECB lit the tinder that stoked the market's bullish fire. It did so with an announcement that it will be buying EUR 60 billion per month in public and private-sector securities, beginning in March, and continuing through September 2016. The ECB left open the possibility for purchases to continue even later than September 2016, having said its asset purchase program will be conducted until it sees a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation which is consistent with its aim of achieving inflation rates below, but close The euro (1.135 against the dollar) got clobbered in the wake of the announcement, which was regarded as more robust than expected. The US stock market for its part saw some seesaw trading just after the open, yet it soon found its stride and operated on a glide path that took the S&P 500 north of 2060.

The S&P 500 information technology sector (+2.0%), led by Apple (AAPL 112.39, +2.84, +2.6%), played an instrumental role in the advance, trailing only the financial sector (+2.5%) in Thursday's trading.

Some of the more notable news items for sector components included the following:

Intuit (INTU 88.79, +2.39, +2.8%) reaffirmed guidance for FY15 (Jul), saying it sees EPS of $2.45-2.50 and FY15 (Jul) revenues of $4.3-4.4 bln

Yahoo! (YHOO 48.88, +0.70, +1.5%): Bloomberg M&A column discussed that YHOO could be a takeover target following Alibaba (BABA 104.00, +0.71, +0.7%) stake sale

Corning (GLW 23.72, +0.43, +1.9%) announced that it has acquired assets of NovaSol, a provider of advanced hyperspectral imaging systems. The terms of the agreement are not being disclosed.

eBay (EBAY 57.15, +3.76, +7.1%) reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.90 per share, slightly ahead of expectations. Revenues rose 8.6% year/year to $4.92 bln. For Q1, sees EPS of $0.68-0.71, excluding non-recurring items, and revenues of $4.35-4.45 bln, both of which are below analysts' average expectation. For FY15, it sees EPS of $3.05-3.15 and revenues of $18.6-19.1 bln, both of which are below analysts' average expectation. Separately, the company announced that it plans to reduce its workforce globally during the first quarter by ~2,400 positions, which a represents about 7% of its total workforce. eBay also said it will be exploring strategic options for eBay Enterprise, including a sale or IPO, and that it has entered into a standstill agreement with investor Carl Icahn, the company's largest active shareholder. In addition to certain corporate governance provisions to be adopted by PayPal as an independent company at the time of its spin-off from eBay Inc., the agreement also appoints Icahn Capital executive Jonathan Christodoro to eBay Inc.'s current Board of Directors.

Xilinx (XLNX 38.96, -2.55, -6.3%) reported Q3 (Dec) earnings of $0.62 per share, excluding non-recurring items, slightly ahead of expectations. Revenues rose 1.2% year/year to $594 mln, which was below estimates. For its fourth quarter, Xilinx sees revenues of approximately $558-582 mln, which is well below analysts' average expectation.

F5 Networks (FFIV 113.40, -12.55, -10.0%) reported Q1 (Dec) earnings of $1.55 per share, excluding non-recurring items, above expectations. Revenues rose 13.8% year/year to $462.8 mln. Management stated, "In addition to the seasonal softness we normally experience in the first quarter of a new fiscal year, product sales during the quarter reflected a marked decrease in the number of deals greater than $1 million." That resulted in slower than expected revenue growth for the quarter, the company said, yet it thinks it should see a resumption of the recent trend toward larger deals in the second quarter. For Q2, FFIV expects EPS of $1.48-1.51, excluding non-recurring items, and revenues of $465-475 mln. FFIV also announced that its board of directors had authorized an additional $750 million for the company's common stock share repurchase program.

SanDisk (SNDK 78.90, -1.54, -1.9%) reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.30 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which was ahead of expectations. Revenues fell 0.6% year/year to $1.74 bln. Its gross margin was 45%. SandDisk said it was disappointed with its fourth quarter results, which were impacted primarily by supply constraints. SanDisk anticipates the first half of the year will be challenging and that growth won't be seen until the latter half of 2015. The company is forecasting first quarter revenues to be between $1.40 billion and $1.45 billion. The midpoint is roughly 6% below the revenue generated by SanDisk in the same period a year ago.The company's revenue guidance for the full year is pegged between $6.5 billion and $6.8 billion, the midpoint of which is up just 0.3% from FY14 revenues of $6.63 billion.

Oracle (ORCL 44.05, +0.56, +1.3%) announced a strategy for reducing customer costs and increasing value with a new generation of engineered systems, including Oracle's new Virtual Compute Appliance X5, Oracle FS1 Series Flash Storage System, and sixth-generation Oracle Exadata Database Machine X5. Oracle CTO Larry Ellison said, "We're going to compete for that core data center business [and that] With some of Oracle's engineered systems and appliances, you can pay 50 percent less, BUT you have to be willing to take TWICE the performance." Some notable items for technology companies outside of the S&P 500 information technology sector included the following: to, 2.0%.

Cypress Semi (CY 14.82, +0.66, +4.7%) guided for Q1 adjusted EPS $0.08-0.10 and sales to be -2 to -5% quarter-over-quarter to $175-180 mln. Was noted that Q1 will be another soft mobile quarter, should be bottom for handsets; and that industrial, auto and consumer mix is higher year-over-year. CY added that the

Spansion (CODE 35.66, +1.59, +4.7%) merger is on schedule. It has received approval from US and Germany, and is waiting on approval in Japan, which it expects within a week or two. Cypress is projecting the deal to close mid-March to mid-April.

Spansion (CODE 35.66, +1.59, +4.7%) reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.30 per share, excluding non-recurring items, that were in-line with expectations. Revenues fell 1.3% year/year to $309.5 mln. For Q1, Spansion sees revenues of $270-310 mln.

Fairchild Semi (FCS 16.15, -0.53, -3.2%) reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.10 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which was below analysts' average expectation. Revenues fell 1.3% year/year to $336.6 mln, also below expectations. Fairchild reported fourth quarter adjusted gross margin of 32.4 percent, down 290 basis points from the prior quarter and 110 basis points higher than the fourth quarter of 2013. For Q1, it sees revenues of $340-360 mln and expects adjusted gross margin to be 31.0 to 32.0 percent due primarily to lower factory loadings from the prior quarter and the resumption of some payroll related taxes.

Verizon (VZ 47.80, -0.45, -0.9%) reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.71 per share, excluding $1.25 net in charges, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.71; revenues rose 6.8% year/year to $33.19 bln vs the $32.68 bln consensus. Sees FY15 revenue growth of at least +4% to at least ~$132.2 bln, which is above analysts' current expectations. Capital spending is expected to be between $17.5 bln and $18.0 bln. Analyst Actions:

Amphenol (APH 54.76, +0.83, +1.5%): target raised to $60 from $53 at Deutsche Bank; Buy

SanDisk (SNDK 78.90, -1.54, -1.9%): downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James; target lowered to $90 from $120... downgraded to Neutral from Buy at B. Riley & Co.... downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Wedbush... target lowered to $90 from $100 at Deutsche Bank; Buy... Cowen lowers target to $85 from $95... RBC Capital Mkts lowers target to $96 from $111... Stifel lowers target to $90 from $100.

Xilinx (XLNX 38.96, -2.55, -6.1%): target lowered to $40 from $43 at Deutsche Bank; Hold... FBR Capital Maintains Outperform rating but lower price target, from $53 to $50.

F5 Networks (FFIV 113.40, -12.55, -10.0%): upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Buckingham Research... target lowered to $140 from $150 at Deutsche Bank; Buy... target lowered to $128 from $140 at Piper Jaffray; Overweight

eBay (EBAY 57.15, +3.76, +7.1%): upgraded to Equal-Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley... target raised to $59 from $52 at Susquehanna; Neutral... target cut to $47 from $49 at Evercore ISI; SellVeriSign (VRSN 56.20, -0.17, -0.3%): downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan

Cisco Systems (CSCO 28.50, +0.66, +2.4%): target raised to $33 from $26 at Piper Jaffray; Overweight

ADTRAN (ADTN 22.85, -0.20, -0.9%): target raised to $25 from $23 at Needham; Buy

SAP AG (SAP 64.35, +0.27, +0.4%): removed from Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs, tgt lowered to $85 from $105

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU 3.45, +0.18, +5.5%): upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs -- Added to Conviction Buy List

Nokia (NOK 7.87, +0.16, +2.1%): reinstated with a Buy at Goldman Sachs5:09 pm KLA-Tencor: During call, guides for 3Q15 revenue of $685-762 mln vs. $790.97 mln CapIQ Consensus, guides for EPS of $0.63-$0.87 vs. $0.97 CapIQ Consensus (KLAC) :

4:20 pm KLA-Tencor beats by $0.16, beats on revs (KLAC) : Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.68 per share, $0.16 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate o f $0.52; revenues fell 4.1% year/year to $676 mln vs the $664.08 mln consensus.

"We are pleased with the Company's performance in the second quarter... Continued market leadership and good execution led to revenue growth and strong gross margins in the period."

5:02 pm Rambus and Tezzaron announce they have signed an agreement to incorporate Rambus oxide-resistive memory technology to forthcoming Tezzaron devices (RMBS) :

4:20 pm : The major averages registered their fourth consecutive advance on Thursday with the S&P 500 (+1.5%) reclaiming its 50-day moving average (2046/2047). The benchmark index erased its January loss while the Russell 2000 (+2.0%) displayed relative strength throughout the day.

This week has featured action from several major central banks and that extravaganza was topped off today when the European Central Bank announced the highly-anticipated launch of a quantitative easing program.

Prior to the U.S. open, ECB President Mario Draghi revealed plans to purchase investment-grade corporate and government debt in the amount of EUR60 billion per month. According to Mr. Draghi, the program will continue through September 2016 and will be deployed 'decentrally,' meaning national central banks will participate in the risk sharing. When asked about the program's limits, Mr. Draghi said the take-up is limited to 25.0% of a given issue. The announcement boosted European debt (Italy 10-yr yield -14 bps to 1.55%) and weighed on the euro, sending the single currency lower by nearly 300 pips to 1.1340 against the dollar.

The resulting greenback strength pushed the Dollar Index (94.28, +1.37) above the 94.00 level for the first time since September 2003. In turn, this was a headwind for dollar-denominated commodities, and especially crude oil, which also had to contend with a larger than expected inventory build. The energy component fell 2.9% to $46.38/bbl while the energy sector (+0.6%) registered a modest gain after spending the first half of the session in negative territory.

Similar to energy, the materials sector (+1.3%) underperformed while the remaining cyclical groups finished ahead of the broader market.

The financial sector (+2.5%) settled in the lead, but the spike could not lift the group off the bottom of the January leaderboard. The sector narrowed its month-to-date loss to 2.9% while Dow components American Express (AXP 84.37, -3.30) and Travelers (TRV 108.17, +3.16) headed in opposite direction following earnings. American Express lost 3.8% after the company beat top-line estimates and announced plans to cut 4,000 jobs whereas Travelers rallied 3.0% in reaction to better than expected earnings.

Financials were followed by discretionary shares (+1.9%) with the group enjoying broad support. Online commerce names Amazon.com (AMZN 310.32, +13.07) and eBay (EBAY 57.14, +3.77) posted respective gains of 4.4% and 7.1% after eBay reported a one-cent beat and announced plans for a 7.0% reduction of the company's workforce. It is also worth mentioning the company agreed to appoint an Icahn Capital executive to its Board of Directors.

Elsewhere, the top-weighted tech sector (+2.0%) displayed broad strength while the PHLX Semiconductor Index (+0.6%) struggled to keep pace due to disappointing guidance from Xilinx (XLNX 38.96, -2.55) and SanDisk (SNDK 78.90, -1.54). The pair lost 6.1% and 1.9%, respectively.

Also of note, the industrial sector (+1.6%) finished just ahead of the broader market, but transport stocks soared following better than expected results from Alaska Air (ALK 67.94, +2.96), Southwest Airlines (LUV 45.35, +3.52), JB Hunt (JBHT 84.23, +2.19), and Union Pacific (UNP 119.83, +5.43). The Dow Jones Transportation Average spiked 2.9% to erase its January decline.

Unlike the six cyclical sectors, defensively-oriented groups spent the day behind the market. Telecom services (-0.6%) and utilities (-0.4%) could not stay out of the red while consumer staples (+1.1%) and health care (+1.3%) ended in the green.

Treasuries finished with slim losses that sent the 10-yr yield higher by a basis point to 1.88%.

Today's participation was ahead of average with roughly 871 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data was limited to Initial Claims and the FHFA Housing Market Index:


The initial claims level declined to 307,000 from an upwardly revised 317,000 (from 316,000) while the Briefing.com consensus expected a decline to 302,000
This was the first time since July 2014 that the initial claims level exceeded 300,000 for three consecutive weeks
As with last week, the Department of Labor reported that there were no special factors impacting the initial claims level
Continuing claims increased to 2.443 million from an upwardly revised 2.428 million (from 2.424 million)
The FHFA Housing Price Index for November rose 0.8%, which followed an increase of 0.6% in October

Tomorrow's data will be limited to Existing Home Sales for December (Briefing.com consensus 5.10 million) and December Leading Indicators (consensus 0.5%). Both reports will be released at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +0.3% YTD
S&P 500 +0.2% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.1% YTD
Russell 2000 -1.2% YTD

DJ30 +259.70 NASDAQ +82.98 SP500 +31.03 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2159/1.85 bln/769 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2447/871.0 mln/663 3:40 pm :

WTI crude oil prices gave back today's gains to finish the day at a loss
Mar crude oil ended the day $1.40 lower at $46.38/barrel
Natural gas futures fell today, which was helped by the weekly storage data that was released earlier this morning
Feb nat gas ended the day $0.14 lower at $2.84/MMBtu
Precious metals posted a modest gains with Feb gold rising $8.20 to $1301.50/oz and Mar silver gaining $0.17 to $18.36/oz

4:18 pm Skyworks beats by $0.07, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS and rev above consensus (SWKS) : Reports Q1 (Dec) earnings of $1.26 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.07 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.19; revenues rose 59.4% year/year to $805.5 mln vs the $774.09 mln consensus.

Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $1.12, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.04 Capital IQ Consensus; sees Q2 revs of $750 mln vs. $707.26 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

"We have created a unique business model, combining the strong growth of connectivity and the Internet of Things with the financial returns of a diversified analog company. Our increasing market reach, expanding content opportunities and new product launches are enabling us to outperform normal March quarter seasonal trends."

4:17 pm Altera beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 revs below consensus (ALTR) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.36 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.35; revenues rose 5.6% year/year to $479.9 mln vs the $480.52 mln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs flat to down 4% sequentially, which equates to ~$460.7-$479.9 mln vs. $486.41 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:05 pm Maxim Integrated beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs in-line (MXIM) : Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.33 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.30; revenues fell 8.6% year/year to $566.8 mln vs the $560.44 mln consensus.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.32-0.38, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.33 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $565-605 mln vs. $569.52 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

12:40 pm Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (197) outpacing new lows (103) (:SCANX) :

Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAL, ACC, ACT, ADC, AEP, AET, AGN, AGU, ALGT, ALK, ALL, ANTM, APTS, APU, ARE, ATO, AVA, AWK, AXL, BCR, BMR, BNDX, BRP, BXP, CCI, CDK, CERN, CEV, CHD, CHL, CHSP, CI, CLNY, CLX, CMS, CNC, COKE, CPB, CPT, CSG, CTSH, CVS, CXW, CYN, DAL, DDR, DFT, DGX, DLR, DNP, DPS, DRH, DTE, DUK, EA, ED, EFX, EIX, ENH, EPR, FAF, FCHI, FE, FICO, FRT, G, GAS, GEO, GGP, GPK, GXP, HDB, HNT, HQH, HQL, HR, HSP, HTA, HTD, HUM, IBN, ICCC, IDT, IFF, IGR, IIF, IIM, INDY, INFY, IRC, ITC, JAH, JBLU, JFC, JNS, JRS, K, KEYS, KIM, KR, KRC, KRFT, LFC, LFUS, LG, LNT, LTC, LUV, MNP, MNST, MO, MRCY, NCA, NEU, NEV, NJR, NKX, NMZ, NOC, NRF, NRO, NSP, NTES, NUV, NVCN, NWE, NXQ, O, OCR, OCUL, OGS, OHI, OPK, ORRF, PCG, PCYC, PDT, PEG, PENN, PF, PKG, PLD, PMO, PNW, POR, PSA, PZC, RAI, RFI, RIF, RIT, RJET, RKT, RLGT, RMD, RNP, ROIC, RPT, RQI, SAM, SCG, SCSS, SO, SPG, SRC, SSS, STON, SWKS, TA, TCO, TDG, TE, TEG, TR, UAL, UFI, UHT, UIL, UNH, UPS, UTG, UVE, VCV, VGM, VISI, VRTX, WEC, WEN, WGL, WM, WR, WRI, WSM, WSTC, WYN, XEL, YORW

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AETI, AIMC, AIXG, AMSC, APTO, ASCMA, AXPW, BRDR, BXE, CBLI, CERE, CHOP, CLD, CLSN, CNTF, CPSS, DRWI, ECOM, ECYT, EGLE, ELON, ENRJ, EVEP, EVGN, EYES, FMY, FOR, FRPT, FTGC, GAI, GFY, GIGM, GNCA, GRVY, GSOL, HDY, HEAR, HEB, HEES, HSGX, HWCC, IGOV, IMI, IVAN, KBH, KBIO, LALT, LDR, LOCM, LOJN, LTBR, MCP, MHR, MIXT, MRC, MRIN, MVC, NCTY, NES, NSPH, NVFY, NWY, OCLS, ONTY, OPWR, PANL, PGI, PIM, PPT, RGSE, RMP, RY, RYI, SBLK, SFY, SNTA, SOL, STRL, SVVC, SZYM, TCBI, TCPC, TENX, TESS, TGB, TGC, THR, THRX, TISA, TRC, TRCH, TRIV, TRT, TWIN, TZOO, UPI, UPLD, VRTS, VVUS, WHX, WRES, XOMA, ZINC

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: FXI, IHF, IYR, PIN, URE, UUP, XLP, XLU

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: BAL, BWX, DBA, FXB, FXE

11:54 am Notable movers of interest (:SCANX) : The following are some of today's most notable movers of interest, categorized by market capitalization (large cap over $10 billion and mid cap between $2-10 billion) and ranked by % change (all stocks over 100K average daily volume).

Large Cap Gainers

LUV (44.08 +5.38%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.59 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.55; revenues rose 4.5% year/year to $4.63 bln vs the $4.59 bln consensus.
KEY (13.01 +5.52%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.28 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.26; revenues rose 3.5% year/year to $1.08 bln vs the $1.04 bln consensus.
UAL (71.49 +3.29%): Reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.20 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.21; revenues fell 0.2% year/year to $9.31 bln vs the $9.31 bln consensus; guided Q1 margin for 5-7%.

Large Cap Losers

DFS (56.41 -7.28%): Missed Q4 consensus estimates by $0.11, missed on revs.
XLNX (39.08 -5.85%): Beat Q3 consensus estimates by $0.01, missed on revs; guided Q4 revs below consensus; downgraded to Hold at Drexel Hamilton.
SNDK (77.38 -3.8%): Beat Q3 consensus estimates by $0.03, reported revs in-line with lowered guidance from last week; Issued Q1 & FY15 rev guidance below consensus; downgraded to Neutral at Wedbush, B.Riley & Co.

Mid Cap Gainers

CYN (88.25 +18.35%): To be acquired by Royal Bank of Canada (RY) for $93.80/share in cash and stock.
JNS (17.99 +10.5%): Reported Q4 results that beat consensus estimates by $0.03, beat on revs; fixed income long-term net inflows totaled $2.8 bln.
BBRY (10.62 +6.97%): Reports out that Samsung (SSNLF) is still actively considering a purchase of BlackBerry.

Mid Cap Losers

FFIV (110.01 -12.66%): Beat Q1 consensus estimates by $0.06, reported revs in-line; guided Q2 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus; announced additional $750 mln share repurchase; Downgraded at Stifel.
SLM (8.84 -8.82%): Reported Q4 (Dec) core earnings of $0.03 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.05; net interest income rose 23.3% year/year to $150.7 mln vs the $152.0 mln consensus.
DLB (38.2 -9.18%): Beat Q1 consensus estimates by $0.03, missed on revs; guided MarQ EPS below consensus, revs in-line; guided FY15 revs in-line.

8:03 am Cypress Semi misses by $0.01, reports revs in-line (CY) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.13 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.14; revenues rose 9.7% year/year to $184.1 mln vs the $182.65 mln consensus.

Non-GAAP consolidated gross margin for the fourth quarter was 52.4%, down 1.1 percentage points from the previous quarter, primarily due to product and customer mix.Excluding Emerging Technologies Division, core semiconductor gross margin was 54.6%. Net inventory at the end of the fourth quarter was $88.2 mln, down 0.6% from the third quarter.

7:34 am Fairchild Semi misses by $0.05, misses on revs; guides Q1 revs in-line (FCS) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.10 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.15; revenues fell 1.3% year/year to $336.6 mln vs the $350.17 mln consensus. Fairchild reported fourth quarter adjusted gross margin of 32.4 percent, down 290 basis points from the prior quarter and 110 basis points higher than the fourth quarter of 2013.

Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $340-360 mln vs. $351.38 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Expect adjusted gross margin to be 31.0 to 32.0 percent due primarily to lower factory loadings from the prior quarter and the resumption of some payroll related taxes. Anticipate R&D and SG&A spending to be $94 to $96 million due primarily to the resumption of FICA and other payroll related taxes

7:31 am SunEdison priced ts offering of $400 mln aggregate principal amount of 2.375% convertible senior notes due 2022 (SUNE) : The notes will bear interest at a rate of 2.375% per year, payable semiannually in arrears on April 15 and October 15 of each year, or, if any such day is not a business day, the immediately following business day, beginning on October 15, 2015. The notes will mature on April 15, 2022, unless earlier converted or purchased.

7:10 am Verizon reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides FY15 revs above consensus (VZ) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.71 per share, excluding $1.25 net in charges, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.71; revenues rose 6.8% year/year to $33.19 bln vs the $32.68 bln consensus.

Co preannounced some qualitative metrics on January 6.Wireless: Total revs were $23.4 bln in fourth-quarter 2014, up 11.0 % year over year. Service revenues in the quarter totaled $18.2 bln, up 2.8 % year over year. Retail service revenues grew 2.6 % year over year, to $17.4 bln.Verizon Wireless added 2.1 mln retail net connections, including 2.0 mln retail postpaid connections, in the fourth quarter. These additions exclude acquisitions and adjustments. At the end of the year, the co had 108.2 mln retail connections. This includes 102.1 mln retail postpaid connections, a 5.5 % increase year over year. Verizon Wireless had 35.6 mln retail postpaid accounts at the end of the fourth quarter, up 1.5 % compared with fourth-quarter 2013, and 2.87 connections per account, up 4.0 % year over year. During Q4, retail postpaid device activations were up nearly 34 % over the same period in 2013. About three-quarters of phone activations in the quarter were customer upgrades. ~9.8 % of the retail postpaid base upgraded devices, and 93 % of these upgrades were 4G smartphones. The company added a net of 672,000 postpaid phones, as 4G smartphone additions of 1.5 mln were offset by net declines in basic and 3G smartphones.Co issues upside guidance for FY15, sees FY15 rev growth of at least +4% to at least ~$132.2 bln vs. $129.82 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
Sustained profitability with a consolidated adjusted EBITDA margin at a level consistent with full-year 2014 performance. Strong free cash flow generation with consolidated capital spending of between $17.5 bln and $18.0 blnhttp://finance.yahoo.com/news/inplay-briefing-com-055139997.html