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Monday, January 26, 2015 8:21:26 PM
From Briefing.com: Monday was literally the calm before the storm. The stock market meandered its way through trading, processing the Greek election results that went in favor of the anti-austerity, and left wing, Syriza party, and the specter of a massive snowstorm due to hit the Northeast, beginning Monday evening.
The storm is expected to dump up to two feet of snow, and perhaps more, on major population centers that include New York City, Boston, and Hartford. The major exchanges have indicated they will be open for trading on Tuesday, yet participation is expected to be light as governors from the states in the affected region have urged people to stay home if possible.
The week began with modest gains for each of the major indices, although the S&P 500 information technology sector (-0.4%) did not contribute to the effort that saw the S&P 500 gain 0.3%. That was owed partly to a disappointing showing from Seagate Technology (STX 59.06, -4.92, -7.7%) following its quarterly results and outlook and some hesitation ahead of Microsoft's (MSFT 47.01, -0.17, -0.4%) report after Monday's close.
In an otherwise slow day of corporate news, some of the more notable sector news items included the following:
Seagate Technology (STX 59.06, -4.92, -7.7%) reported Q2 (Dec) non-GAAP earnings of $1.35 per share, in-line with expectations. Revenues rose 4.8% year/year to $3.7 bln. The company said on its conference call that pricing has been competitive, but that it believes it's a temporary issue and that it has not partaken in the price erosion. Sees march quarter revenue of "at least" $3.45 bln. Notes that it is generally optimistic about the 2015 outlook, tempered somewhat by the instability of the European business environment and commodity volatility. Says it would be more aggressive with its buyback program with the stock sub-60 and that it does not believe it will disappoint anyone with its capital return.
Western Digital (WDC 100.98, -5.12, -4.8%) dropped 4.8% in response to the results from peer company Seagate Technology. Western Digital is scheduled to report its quarterly results after the close on Tuesday, January 27.
IBM (IBM 156.36, +0.49, +0.3%) has been subject to recent speculation that it is on the cusp of laying off potentially more than 100,000 of its employees. That speculation was dismissed as baseless by the company, which reminded everyone it recently took a $600 million charge for a workforce rebalancing that will affect several thousand people.
EMC (EMC 28.33, -0.37, -1.3%) has moved the date it will publish fourth-quarter and full-year 2014 financial results by one day from January 28, 2015, to January 29, 2015, due to the expected winter storm
Microsoft (MSFT 47.01, -0.17, -0.4%): after Monday's close, the company reported Q2 (Dec) GAAP earnings of $0.71 per share, in-line with expectations on an 8.0% year/year increase in revenue to $26.47 bln that was slightly above expectations. The EPS figure include $0.06 in unfavorable items ($0.02 from restructuring/integration and $0.04 from an IRS tax adjustment). Devices and Consumer revenue grew 8% to $12.9 billion. Commercial revenue grew 5% to $13.3 billion. Separately, Microsoft announced its intention to complete the existing $40 bln share repurchase authorization by Dec 31, 2016. Shares of MSFT were trading 3.0% lower in after-hours action as of this post.
Texas Instruments (TXN 55.05, -0.01, -0.02%): after Monday's close, the company reported Q4 (Dec) GAAP earnings of $0.69 per share, in-line with analysts' average expectation. EPS included a $0.05 loss for a Federal Tax Credit and a $0.02 loss on a sale of assets. The quarter was in-line with the company's guidance of $0.64-0.74. Revenues rose 8.0% year/year to $3.27 bln, which was also in-line with estimates. For Q1, Texas Instruments sees EPS of $0.57-0.67 and revenues of $3.07-3.33 bln. The midpoint of its EPS estimate is in-line with expectations. TXN shares were down 0.5% in after-hours action. Some other developments outside the S&P 500 information technology sector included the following:
A Bloomberg real M&A column cited Atmel (ATML 8.61, +0.14, +1.7%) and Freescale (FSL 26.18, +0.19, +0.7%) as feasible takeover targets for Samsung Electronics.
AT&T (T 33.18, -0.19, -0.6%) has entered into an agreement with NII Holdings (NIHDQ) to acquire its wireless business in Mexico for US$1.875 bln, less the outstanding net debt of the business at closing, in a transaction pursuant to Section 363 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Under terms of the agreement, AT&T will acquire companies, which operate under the name Nextel Mexico, holding all of NII's wireless properties in Mexico, including spectrum licenses, network assets, retail stores and ~3 million subscribers. AT&T expects the transaction to close in mid- 2015.
Analyst Action:
Yahoo! (YHOO 49.44, +0.49, +1.0%): FBR Capital lowers its target to $56 from $60 based on Alibaba's (BABA 103.99, +0.88, +0.9%) lower stock price since they last published.
Electronic Arts (EA 49.47, -0.32, -0.6%): downgraded to Buy from Strong Buy at Needham, target raised to $51 from $49... target raised to $55 from $45 at Credit Suisse; Outperform... target raised to $48 from $41 at MKM Partners; Neutral
Alliance Data (ADS 300.65, +2.11, +0.7%): target raised to $341 from $330 at Deutsche Bank; Buy
VeriSign (VRSN 55.81, -1.00, -1.8%) downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse
Take-Two (TTWO 30.50, +0.64, +2.1%) target lowered to $31 from $34 at Credit Suisse; Neutral... Take-Two target raised to $35 from $30 at MKM Partners; Buy
Upcoming earnings reports on Tuesday:
Before the open: Corning (GLW 23.91, +0.06, +0.3%), Lexmark (LXK 40.02, +1.50, +3.9%)
After the close: Apple (AAPL 113.10, +0.12, +0.1%), Applied Micro (AMCC 6.22, +0.30, +5.1%), AT&T (T 33.18, -0.19, -0.6%), Electronic Arts (EA 49.47, -0.32, -0.6%), Freescale Semi (FSL 26.18, +0.19, +0.7%), Juniper Networks (JNPR 22.15, +0.14, +0.6%), VMware (VMW 82.46, -0.52, -0.6%), Western Digital (WDC 100.98, -5.12, -4.8%) and Yahoo! (YHOO 49.44, +0.49, +1.0%).
4:15 pm : The stock market began the new week on a quiet note with the Dow (unch), Nasdaq (+0.3%), and S&P 500 (+0.3%) settling near their flat lines. The small-cap Russell 2000 (+1.0%) outperformed, but the action took place against the backdrop of anemic trading volume as the East Coast braced for Winter Storm Juno.
Because of the incoming storm, a State of Emergency was already declared in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, while the New York Stock Exchange announced plans to open and operate as usual on Tuesday. The NYSE operated as usual today, but that did not stop some participants from sitting the session out. Intraday volume was light, but a surge in late-afternoon activity brought the final tally (780 million) relatively close to the 50-day average (803 million).
The intraday lack of trading activity masked the fact that the weekend featured an important election in Greece. As expected, the anti-bailout Syriza party came away victorious, and despite failing to secure absolute majority, the party was able to form a coalition with Independent Greeks-a party that also opposes EU bailouts. So far, Syriza officials have been very careful when discussing the future of Greece with Yanis Varoufakis, who is expected to be named finance minister, saying a euro exit is not in the plans and that talks of a 'Grexit' should not be sensationalized.
Equity futures retreated at the Sunday open while the euro tested the 1.1100 level before bouncing into the 1.1250 area where it spent the bulk of the day. Similarly, equity futures erased the bulk of their losses ahead of the cash open.
The S&P 500 dipped below its 50-day moving average (2,047) in the early going, but the index found itself back above that level shortly thereafter. The S&P 500 returned to its flat line by 11:00 ET and traded within six points of that level for the remainder of the session.
Five of ten sectors registered gains with energy (+1.4%) holding the lead throughout the day. The sector narrowed its January decline to 1.8% while crude oil fell 1.0% to $45.12/bbl. Crude traded higher intraday after OPEC secretary general said prices could reach $200/bbl if producers choose not to increase supply, but selling into the pit close pressured the energy component into negative territory.
Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, financials (+0.5%) and consumer discretionary (+0.6%) outperformed while technology (-0.4%) struggled throughout the day. Notably, the discretionary sector received support from homebuilders after D.R. Horton (DHI 24.38, +1.28) reported better than expected results. The stock surged 5.5% while the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 25.34, +0.52) gained 2.1%.
It wasn't all sunshine for discretionary shares as Mattel (MAT 26.64, -1.40) lost 5.0% after issuing cautious guidance and announcing the resignation of its Chief Executive Officer.
Also of note, the technology sector spent the day behind other groups due to relative weakness among heavily-weighted components like Google (GOOGL 536.72, -5.23), Oracle (ORCL 43.90, -0.29), Intel (INTC 35.80, -0.64), and Microsoft (MSFT 47.01, -0.17).
Over on the countercyclical side, health care (+0.5%) ended in the green while consumer staples (unch), telecom services (-0.4%), and utilities (unch) lagged throughout the session.
Treasuries registered modest losses with the 10-yr yield climbing two basis points to 1.82%.
Tomorrow, Durable Orders for December (Briefing.com consensus 0.5%) will be reported at 8:30 ET while the November Case-Shiller 20-city Index (consensus 4.3%) will be released at 9:00 ET. The Consumer Confidence report for January (consensus 96.0) will cross at 10:00 ET, alongside New Home Sales for December (consensus 450,000).
Nasdaq Composite +0.8% YTD
S&P 500 -0.1% YTD
Russell 2000 -0.3% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.8% YTD
DJ30 +6.10 NASDAQ +13.88 SP500 +5.27 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1850/1.58 bln/1041 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2136/779.7 mln/952 3:40 pm :
Mar WTI crude oil rose as high as $46.35/barrel, but lost all of those gains in the last two hours of trading and fell into negative territory
Mar crude finished up the day $0.39 lower to $45.17/barrel
Natural gas futures were in the red all day with the Mar contract closing $0.10 lower at $2.88/MMBtu
Copper climbed higher all day and finished $0.04 higher at $2.54, easily off its $2.42/lb LoD
Precious metals were weak today as well with Feb gold losing $13 to $1279.40/oz and Mar silver declining $0.32 at $17.98/oz
4:35 pm Texas Instruments reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line (TXN) : Reports Q4 (Dec) GAAP earnings of $0.69 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.69. EPS includes a $0.05 loss for a Federal Tax Credit and a $0.02 loss on a sale of assets. This is in line with co's guidance of $0.64-0.74; revenues rose 8.0% year/year to $3.27 bln vs the $3.27 bln consensus. Gross Margins were 58.0%, in line with street expectations. Free cash flow for the year was up 18 percent from a year ago to $3.5 billion or 27 percent of revenue.
Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.57-0.67 vs. $0.62 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $3.07-3.33 bln vs. $3.19 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
4:18 pm Aehr Test Systems announces order for FOX(TM)-XP Multi-Wafer System evaluation (AEHR) : Co announced a purchase order from a leading IC manufacturer for a custom FOX Multi-Wafer Test System WaferPak Contactor and evaluation activities, with the customer evaluation plan including milestones for providing the WaferPak contactor, developing test plans and supporting correlation studies over the next two quarters.
4:17 pm Microsoft reports EPS in-line, revs in-line (MSFT) : Reports Q2 (Dec) GAAP earnings of $0.71 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.71; revenues rose 8.0% year/year to $26.47 bln vs the $26.27 bln consensus. EPS include $0.06 in unfavorable items ($0.02 from restructuring/integration and $0.04 from an IRS tax adjustment).
Devices and Consumer revenue grew 8% to $12.9 billion, with the following business highlights:Surface revenue of $1.1 billion, up 24%, driven by Surface Pro 3 and accessoriesOffice 365 Home and Personal subscribers increased to over 9.2 million, up 30% sequentially over prior quarterSearch advertising revenue grew 23%, with Bing U.S. market share at 19.7%, up 150 basis points over prior yearXbox console sales totaled 6.6 million units, with strong holiday season performancePhone Hardware revenue of $2.3 billion, with 10.5 million Lumia units sold driven by growth in affordable smartphonesWindows OEM Pro revenue declined 13%; revenue was impacted by the business PC market and Pro mix returning to pre-Windows XP end of support levels and by new lower-priced licenses for devices sold to academic customersWindows OEM non-Pro revenue declined 13%, with license growth from opening price point devicesCommercial revenue grew 5% to $13.3 billion, with the following business highlights:Commercial cloud revenue grew 114% driven by Office 365, Azure and Dynamic CRM Online, and is now on an annualized revenue run rate of $5.5 billionOffice Commercial products and services revenue declined 1%; transactional revenue was impacted by the continued transition to Office 365 and declines in commercial PCs following the XP refresh cycleServer products and services revenue grew 9%, with double-digit growth of SQL Server and System CenterWindows volume licensing revenue increased by 3%, with annuity revenue growth partially offset by declining transactional revenue.Co also announced its intention to complete the existing $40 bln share repurchase authorization by Dec 31, 2016.
4:10 pm Rambus beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 revs below consensus; guides FY15 revs below consensus; announced 20 mln share repurchase program (RMBS) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.07 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.06; revenues fell 1.9% year/year to $72 mln vs the $72.47 mln consensus.
Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $70-75 mln vs. $76.55 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues downside guidance for FY15, sees FY15 revs of $300-315 mln vs. $316.57 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co also announced that its Board of Directors has approved a new share repurchase program authorizing the repurchase of up to 20 million shares.
4:09 pm Sanmina beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs in-line (SANM) :
Reports Q1 (Dec) earnings of $0.61 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.57; revenues rose 15.4% year/year to $1.67 bln vs the $1.68 bln consensus.
Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.50-0.55, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.52 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $1.575-1.625 bln vs. $1.61 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
"Revenue for the first quarter was in line with our expectations and up 15 percent year over year. We executed well and delivered solid operating margin in spite of a challenging mix of business. Our outlook for the second quarter is slightly down sequentially primarily due to seasonality, and we believe demand will improve in the second half of the year. We remain optimistic in our ability to drive profitable growth in fiscal 2015."
4:05 pm Pericom Semi beats by $0.08, rev just below estimates; guides Q3 revs below consensus; initiates $0.06 quarterly dividend (PSEM) : Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.22 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.08 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.14; revenues rose 4.1% year/year to $33.3 mln vs the $33.64 mln consensus.
Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $31.5-33.5 mln vs. $33.83 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. non-GAAP gross margins are expected to be ~ 45.0%.
The Company announced today that Pericom's Board of Directors has approved the initiation of quarterly cash dividends, commencing with a dividend of $0.06 per share of common stock for the quarter ended December 27, 2014. The payment of this dividend will be made on February 24, 2015 to shareholders of record on February 10, 2015.
4:35 pm Texas Instruments reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line (TXN) : Reports Q4 (Dec) GAAP earnings of $0.69 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.69. EPS includes a $0.05 loss for a Federal Tax Credit and a $0.02 loss on a sale of assets. This is in line with co's guidance of $0.64-0.74; revenues rose 8.0% year/year to $3.27 bln vs the $3.27 bln consensus. Gross Margins were 58.0%, in line with street expectations. Free cash flow for the year was up 18 percent from a year ago to $3.5 billion or 27 percent of revenue.
Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.57-0.67 vs. $0.62 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $3.07-3.33 bln vs. $3.19 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
4:18 pm Aehr Test Systems announces order for FOX(TM)-XP Multi-Wafer System evaluation (AEHR) : Co announced a purchase order from a leading IC manufacturer for a custom FOX Multi-Wafer Test System WaferPak Contactor and evaluation activities, with the customer evaluation plan including milestones for providing the WaferPak contactor, developing test plans and supporting correlation studies over the next two quarters.
4:17 pm Microsoft reports EPS in-line, revs in-line (MSFT) : Reports Q2 (Dec) GAAP earnings of $0.71 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.71; revenues rose 8.0% year/year to $26.47 bln vs the $26.27 bln consensus. EPS include $0.06 in unfavorable items ($0.02 from restructuring/integration and $0.04 from an IRS tax adjustment).
Devices and Consumer revenue grew 8% to $12.9 billion, with the following business highlights:Surface revenue of $1.1 billion, up 24%, driven by Surface Pro 3 and accessoriesOffice 365 Home and Personal subscribers increased to over 9.2 million, up 30% sequentially over prior quarterSearch advertising revenue grew 23%, with Bing U.S. market share at 19.7%, up 150 basis points over prior yearXbox console sales totaled 6.6 million units, with strong holiday season performancePhone Hardware revenue of $2.3 billion, with 10.5 million Lumia units sold driven by growth in affordable smartphonesWindows OEM Pro revenue declined 13%; revenue was impacted by the business PC market and Pro mix returning to pre-Windows XP end of support levels and by new lower-priced licenses for devices sold to academic customersWindows OEM non-Pro revenue declined 13%, with license growth from opening price point devicesCommercial revenue grew 5% to $13.3 billion, with the following business highlights:Commercial cloud revenue grew 114% driven by Office 365, Azure and Dynamic CRM Online, and is now on an annualized revenue run rate of $5.5 billionOffice Commercial products and services revenue declined 1%; transactional revenue was impacted by the continued transition to Office 365 and declines in commercial PCs following the XP refresh cycleServer products and services revenue grew 9%, with double-digit growth of SQL Server and System CenterWindows volume licensing revenue increased by 3%, with annuity revenue growth partially offset by declining transactional revenue.Co also announced its intention to complete the existing $40 bln share repurchase authorization by Dec 31, 2016.
4:16 pm Closing Market Summary: Energy Sector Paces Quiet Advance (:WRAPX) : The stock market began the new week on a quiet note with the Dow (unch), Nasdaq (+0.3%), and S&P 500 (+0.3%) settling near their flat lines. The small-cap Russell 2000 (+1.0%) outperformed, but the action took place against the backdrop of anemic trading volume as the East Coast braced for Winter Storm Juno.
Because of the incoming storm, a State of Emergency was already declared in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, while the New York Stock Exchange announced plans to open and operate as usual on Tuesday. The NYSE operated as usual today, but that did not stop some participants from sitting the session out. Intraday volume was light, but a surge in late-afternoon activity brought the final tally (780 million) relatively close to the 50-day average (803 million).
The intraday lack of trading activity masked the fact that the weekend featured an important election in Greece. As expected, the anti-bailout Syriza party came away victorious, and despite failing to secure absolute majority, the party was able to form a coalition with Independent Greeks-a party that also opposes EU bailouts. So far, Syriza officials have been very careful when discussing the future of Greece with Yanis Varoufakis, who is expected to be named finance minister, saying a euro exit is not in the plans and that talks of a 'Grexit' should not be sensationalized.
Equity futures retreated at the Sunday open while the euro tested the 1.1100 level before bouncing into the 1.1250 area where it spent the bulk of the day. Similarly, equity futures erased the bulk of their losses ahead of the cash open.
The S&P 500 dipped below its 50-day moving average (2,047) in the early going, but the index found itself back above that level shortly thereafter. The S&P 500 returned to its flat line by 11:00 ET and traded within six points of that level for the remainder of the session.
Five of ten sectors registered gains with energy (+1.4%) holding the lead throughout the day. The sector narrowed its January decline to 1.8% while crude oil fell 1.0% to $45.12/bbl. Crude traded higher intraday after OPEC secretary general said prices could reach $200/bbl if producers choose not to increase supply, but selling into the pit close pressured the energy component into negative territory.
Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, financials (+0.5%) and consumer discretionary (+0.6%) outperformed while technology (-0.4%) struggled throughout the day. Notably, the discretionary sector received support from homebuilders after D.R. Horton (DHI 24.38, +1.28) reported better than expected results. The stock surged 5.5% while the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 25.34, +0.52) gained 2.1%.
It wasn't all sunshine for discretionary shares as Mattel (MAT 26.64, -1.40) lost 5.0% after issuing cautious guidance and announcing the resignation of its Chief Executive Officer.
Also of note, the technology sector spent the day behind other groups due to relative weakness among heavily-weighted components like Google (GOOGL 536.72, -5.23), Oracle (ORCL 43.90, -0.29), Intel (INTC 35.80, -0.64), and Microsoft (MSFT 47.01, -0.17).
Over on the countercyclical side, health care (+0.5%) ended in the green while consumer staples (unch), telecom services (-0.4%), and utilities (unch) lagged throughout the session.
Treasuries registered modest losses with the 10-yr yield climbing two basis points to 1.82%.
Tomorrow, Durable Orders for December (Briefing.com consensus 0.5%) will be reported at 8:30 ET while the November Case-Shiller 20-city Index (consensus 4.3%) will be released at 9:00 ET. The Consumer Confidence report for January (consensus 96.0) will cross at 10:00 ET, alongside New Home Sales for December (consensus 450,000).
Nasdaq Composite +0.8% YTD
S&P 500 -0.1% YTD
Russell 2000 -0.3% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.8% YTD
4:10 pm Rambus beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 revs below consensus; guides FY15 revs below consensus; announced 20 mln share repurchase program (RMBS) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.07 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.06; revenues fell 1.9% year/year to $72 mln vs the $72.47 mln consensus.
Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $70-75 mln vs. $76.55 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues downside guidance for FY15, sees FY15 revs of $300-315 mln vs. $316.57 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co also announced that its Board of Directors has approved a new share repurchase program authorizing the repurchase of up to 20 million shares.
4:09 pm Sanmina beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs in-line (SANM) :
Reports Q1 (Dec) earnings of $0.61 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.57; revenues rose 15.4% year/year to $1.67 bln vs the $1.68 bln consensus.
Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.50-0.55, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.52 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $1.575-1.625 bln vs. $1.61 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
"Revenue for the first quarter was in line with our expectations and up 15 percent year over year. We executed well and delivered solid operating margin in spite of a challenging mix of business. Our outlook for the second quarter is slightly down sequentially primarily due to seasonality, and we believe demand will improve in the second half of the year. We remain optimistic in our ability to drive profitable growth in fiscal 2015."
4:05 pm Pericom Semi beats by $0.08, rev just below estimates; guides Q3 revs below consensus; initiates $0.06 quarterly dividend (PSEM) : Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.22 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.08 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.14; revenues rose 4.1% year/year to $33.3 mln vs the $33.64 mln consensus.
Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $31.5-33.5 mln vs. $33.83 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. non-GAAP gross margins are expected to be ~ 45.0%.
The Company announced today that Pericom's Board of Directors has approved the initiation of quarterly cash dividends, commencing with a dividend of $0.06 per share of common stock for the quarter ended December 27, 2014. The payment of this dividend will be made on February 24, 2015 to shareholders of record on February 10, 2015.
1:08 pm 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
MPEL (24.49 +6.66%): Upgraded to Buy from Hold at Union Gaming.
ETE (58.03 +7.44%): Regency Energy Partners LP Comm (RGP) and Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) entered into a definitive merger agreement valued at $18 bln; Energy Transfer Equity, owns the general partner and 100% of the incentive distribution rights of both Regency and ETP; ETE also approved an increase in its quarterly dividend.
HCA (72.87 +6.16%): The co will replace Safeway (SWY) in the S&P 500 after the close of trading today.
Large Cap Losers
STX (58.13 -9.14%): Reported Q2 (Dec) non-GAAP earnings of $1.35 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.35; revenues rose 4.8% year/year to $3.7 bln vs the $3.74 bln consensus; gross margin 28.2%; Sees MarQ revenue of 'at least' $3.45 bln, Capital IQ consensus $3.59 bln.
GWW (235.97 -4.07%): Misses Q4 consensus estimates by $0.03, reported revs in-line; lowered FY15 guidance on FX and Canadian macro environment.
RCI (36.51 -3.36%): Downgraded to Hold from Buy at Canaccord Genuity.
Mid Cap Gainers
MWV (51.87 +15.16%): Announced that they have entered into a definitive combination agreement with Rock-Tenn (RKT) to create a leading global provider of consumer and corrugated packaging in a transaction with a combined equity value of $16 bln.
SEMG (69.7 +8.8%): Sandell Asset Management releases letter to the Board SemGroup; Believes intrinsic value of shares to be up to $104/share in a takeout.
DXCM (61.78 +6.63%): Announced that it has received FDA approval for its Dexcom G4 Platinum Continuous Glucose Monitoring System with Share.
Mid Cap Losers
NBG (1.54 -8.33%): Weakness in several Greek stocks following the election of anti-austerity party Syriza.
BKD (34 -7.38%): Announced it sees Q4 CFFO at $0.53 vs $0.67 Capital IQ Consensus Est; Co lowered 2015 CFFO prelim excluding items, to $2.60 to $2.75, replacing its previously announced preliminary range of $2.95 to $3.10 vs $3.05 Consensus.
MAT (26.9 -4.07%): Issued downside guidance for Q4 (Dec), sees EPS of $0.52, excluding non-recurring items vs. $0.96 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 (Dec) revs of $1.99 bln vs. $2.13 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; CEO Bryan Stockton resigns.
The storm is expected to dump up to two feet of snow, and perhaps more, on major population centers that include New York City, Boston, and Hartford. The major exchanges have indicated they will be open for trading on Tuesday, yet participation is expected to be light as governors from the states in the affected region have urged people to stay home if possible.
The week began with modest gains for each of the major indices, although the S&P 500 information technology sector (-0.4%) did not contribute to the effort that saw the S&P 500 gain 0.3%. That was owed partly to a disappointing showing from Seagate Technology (STX 59.06, -4.92, -7.7%) following its quarterly results and outlook and some hesitation ahead of Microsoft's (MSFT 47.01, -0.17, -0.4%) report after Monday's close.
In an otherwise slow day of corporate news, some of the more notable sector news items included the following:
Seagate Technology (STX 59.06, -4.92, -7.7%) reported Q2 (Dec) non-GAAP earnings of $1.35 per share, in-line with expectations. Revenues rose 4.8% year/year to $3.7 bln. The company said on its conference call that pricing has been competitive, but that it believes it's a temporary issue and that it has not partaken in the price erosion. Sees march quarter revenue of "at least" $3.45 bln. Notes that it is generally optimistic about the 2015 outlook, tempered somewhat by the instability of the European business environment and commodity volatility. Says it would be more aggressive with its buyback program with the stock sub-60 and that it does not believe it will disappoint anyone with its capital return.
Western Digital (WDC 100.98, -5.12, -4.8%) dropped 4.8% in response to the results from peer company Seagate Technology. Western Digital is scheduled to report its quarterly results after the close on Tuesday, January 27.
IBM (IBM 156.36, +0.49, +0.3%) has been subject to recent speculation that it is on the cusp of laying off potentially more than 100,000 of its employees. That speculation was dismissed as baseless by the company, which reminded everyone it recently took a $600 million charge for a workforce rebalancing that will affect several thousand people.
EMC (EMC 28.33, -0.37, -1.3%) has moved the date it will publish fourth-quarter and full-year 2014 financial results by one day from January 28, 2015, to January 29, 2015, due to the expected winter storm
Microsoft (MSFT 47.01, -0.17, -0.4%): after Monday's close, the company reported Q2 (Dec) GAAP earnings of $0.71 per share, in-line with expectations on an 8.0% year/year increase in revenue to $26.47 bln that was slightly above expectations. The EPS figure include $0.06 in unfavorable items ($0.02 from restructuring/integration and $0.04 from an IRS tax adjustment). Devices and Consumer revenue grew 8% to $12.9 billion. Commercial revenue grew 5% to $13.3 billion. Separately, Microsoft announced its intention to complete the existing $40 bln share repurchase authorization by Dec 31, 2016. Shares of MSFT were trading 3.0% lower in after-hours action as of this post.
Texas Instruments (TXN 55.05, -0.01, -0.02%): after Monday's close, the company reported Q4 (Dec) GAAP earnings of $0.69 per share, in-line with analysts' average expectation. EPS included a $0.05 loss for a Federal Tax Credit and a $0.02 loss on a sale of assets. The quarter was in-line with the company's guidance of $0.64-0.74. Revenues rose 8.0% year/year to $3.27 bln, which was also in-line with estimates. For Q1, Texas Instruments sees EPS of $0.57-0.67 and revenues of $3.07-3.33 bln. The midpoint of its EPS estimate is in-line with expectations. TXN shares were down 0.5% in after-hours action. Some other developments outside the S&P 500 information technology sector included the following:
A Bloomberg real M&A column cited Atmel (ATML 8.61, +0.14, +1.7%) and Freescale (FSL 26.18, +0.19, +0.7%) as feasible takeover targets for Samsung Electronics.
AT&T (T 33.18, -0.19, -0.6%) has entered into an agreement with NII Holdings (NIHDQ) to acquire its wireless business in Mexico for US$1.875 bln, less the outstanding net debt of the business at closing, in a transaction pursuant to Section 363 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Under terms of the agreement, AT&T will acquire companies, which operate under the name Nextel Mexico, holding all of NII's wireless properties in Mexico, including spectrum licenses, network assets, retail stores and ~3 million subscribers. AT&T expects the transaction to close in mid- 2015.
Analyst Action:
Yahoo! (YHOO 49.44, +0.49, +1.0%): FBR Capital lowers its target to $56 from $60 based on Alibaba's (BABA 103.99, +0.88, +0.9%) lower stock price since they last published.
Electronic Arts (EA 49.47, -0.32, -0.6%): downgraded to Buy from Strong Buy at Needham, target raised to $51 from $49... target raised to $55 from $45 at Credit Suisse; Outperform... target raised to $48 from $41 at MKM Partners; Neutral
Alliance Data (ADS 300.65, +2.11, +0.7%): target raised to $341 from $330 at Deutsche Bank; Buy
VeriSign (VRSN 55.81, -1.00, -1.8%) downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse
Take-Two (TTWO 30.50, +0.64, +2.1%) target lowered to $31 from $34 at Credit Suisse; Neutral... Take-Two target raised to $35 from $30 at MKM Partners; Buy
Upcoming earnings reports on Tuesday:
Before the open: Corning (GLW 23.91, +0.06, +0.3%), Lexmark (LXK 40.02, +1.50, +3.9%)
After the close: Apple (AAPL 113.10, +0.12, +0.1%), Applied Micro (AMCC 6.22, +0.30, +5.1%), AT&T (T 33.18, -0.19, -0.6%), Electronic Arts (EA 49.47, -0.32, -0.6%), Freescale Semi (FSL 26.18, +0.19, +0.7%), Juniper Networks (JNPR 22.15, +0.14, +0.6%), VMware (VMW 82.46, -0.52, -0.6%), Western Digital (WDC 100.98, -5.12, -4.8%) and Yahoo! (YHOO 49.44, +0.49, +1.0%).
4:15 pm : The stock market began the new week on a quiet note with the Dow (unch), Nasdaq (+0.3%), and S&P 500 (+0.3%) settling near their flat lines. The small-cap Russell 2000 (+1.0%) outperformed, but the action took place against the backdrop of anemic trading volume as the East Coast braced for Winter Storm Juno.
Because of the incoming storm, a State of Emergency was already declared in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, while the New York Stock Exchange announced plans to open and operate as usual on Tuesday. The NYSE operated as usual today, but that did not stop some participants from sitting the session out. Intraday volume was light, but a surge in late-afternoon activity brought the final tally (780 million) relatively close to the 50-day average (803 million).
The intraday lack of trading activity masked the fact that the weekend featured an important election in Greece. As expected, the anti-bailout Syriza party came away victorious, and despite failing to secure absolute majority, the party was able to form a coalition with Independent Greeks-a party that also opposes EU bailouts. So far, Syriza officials have been very careful when discussing the future of Greece with Yanis Varoufakis, who is expected to be named finance minister, saying a euro exit is not in the plans and that talks of a 'Grexit' should not be sensationalized.
Equity futures retreated at the Sunday open while the euro tested the 1.1100 level before bouncing into the 1.1250 area where it spent the bulk of the day. Similarly, equity futures erased the bulk of their losses ahead of the cash open.
The S&P 500 dipped below its 50-day moving average (2,047) in the early going, but the index found itself back above that level shortly thereafter. The S&P 500 returned to its flat line by 11:00 ET and traded within six points of that level for the remainder of the session.
Five of ten sectors registered gains with energy (+1.4%) holding the lead throughout the day. The sector narrowed its January decline to 1.8% while crude oil fell 1.0% to $45.12/bbl. Crude traded higher intraday after OPEC secretary general said prices could reach $200/bbl if producers choose not to increase supply, but selling into the pit close pressured the energy component into negative territory.
Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, financials (+0.5%) and consumer discretionary (+0.6%) outperformed while technology (-0.4%) struggled throughout the day. Notably, the discretionary sector received support from homebuilders after D.R. Horton (DHI 24.38, +1.28) reported better than expected results. The stock surged 5.5% while the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 25.34, +0.52) gained 2.1%.
It wasn't all sunshine for discretionary shares as Mattel (MAT 26.64, -1.40) lost 5.0% after issuing cautious guidance and announcing the resignation of its Chief Executive Officer.
Also of note, the technology sector spent the day behind other groups due to relative weakness among heavily-weighted components like Google (GOOGL 536.72, -5.23), Oracle (ORCL 43.90, -0.29), Intel (INTC 35.80, -0.64), and Microsoft (MSFT 47.01, -0.17).
Over on the countercyclical side, health care (+0.5%) ended in the green while consumer staples (unch), telecom services (-0.4%), and utilities (unch) lagged throughout the session.
Treasuries registered modest losses with the 10-yr yield climbing two basis points to 1.82%.
Tomorrow, Durable Orders for December (Briefing.com consensus 0.5%) will be reported at 8:30 ET while the November Case-Shiller 20-city Index (consensus 4.3%) will be released at 9:00 ET. The Consumer Confidence report for January (consensus 96.0) will cross at 10:00 ET, alongside New Home Sales for December (consensus 450,000).
Nasdaq Composite +0.8% YTD
S&P 500 -0.1% YTD
Russell 2000 -0.3% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.8% YTD
DJ30 +6.10 NASDAQ +13.88 SP500 +5.27 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1850/1.58 bln/1041 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2136/779.7 mln/952 3:40 pm :
Mar WTI crude oil rose as high as $46.35/barrel, but lost all of those gains in the last two hours of trading and fell into negative territory
Mar crude finished up the day $0.39 lower to $45.17/barrel
Natural gas futures were in the red all day with the Mar contract closing $0.10 lower at $2.88/MMBtu
Copper climbed higher all day and finished $0.04 higher at $2.54, easily off its $2.42/lb LoD
Precious metals were weak today as well with Feb gold losing $13 to $1279.40/oz and Mar silver declining $0.32 at $17.98/oz
4:35 pm Texas Instruments reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line (TXN) : Reports Q4 (Dec) GAAP earnings of $0.69 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.69. EPS includes a $0.05 loss for a Federal Tax Credit and a $0.02 loss on a sale of assets. This is in line with co's guidance of $0.64-0.74; revenues rose 8.0% year/year to $3.27 bln vs the $3.27 bln consensus. Gross Margins were 58.0%, in line with street expectations. Free cash flow for the year was up 18 percent from a year ago to $3.5 billion or 27 percent of revenue.
Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.57-0.67 vs. $0.62 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $3.07-3.33 bln vs. $3.19 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
4:18 pm Aehr Test Systems announces order for FOX(TM)-XP Multi-Wafer System evaluation (AEHR) : Co announced a purchase order from a leading IC manufacturer for a custom FOX Multi-Wafer Test System WaferPak Contactor and evaluation activities, with the customer evaluation plan including milestones for providing the WaferPak contactor, developing test plans and supporting correlation studies over the next two quarters.
4:17 pm Microsoft reports EPS in-line, revs in-line (MSFT) : Reports Q2 (Dec) GAAP earnings of $0.71 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.71; revenues rose 8.0% year/year to $26.47 bln vs the $26.27 bln consensus. EPS include $0.06 in unfavorable items ($0.02 from restructuring/integration and $0.04 from an IRS tax adjustment).
Devices and Consumer revenue grew 8% to $12.9 billion, with the following business highlights:Surface revenue of $1.1 billion, up 24%, driven by Surface Pro 3 and accessoriesOffice 365 Home and Personal subscribers increased to over 9.2 million, up 30% sequentially over prior quarterSearch advertising revenue grew 23%, with Bing U.S. market share at 19.7%, up 150 basis points over prior yearXbox console sales totaled 6.6 million units, with strong holiday season performancePhone Hardware revenue of $2.3 billion, with 10.5 million Lumia units sold driven by growth in affordable smartphonesWindows OEM Pro revenue declined 13%; revenue was impacted by the business PC market and Pro mix returning to pre-Windows XP end of support levels and by new lower-priced licenses for devices sold to academic customersWindows OEM non-Pro revenue declined 13%, with license growth from opening price point devicesCommercial revenue grew 5% to $13.3 billion, with the following business highlights:Commercial cloud revenue grew 114% driven by Office 365, Azure and Dynamic CRM Online, and is now on an annualized revenue run rate of $5.5 billionOffice Commercial products and services revenue declined 1%; transactional revenue was impacted by the continued transition to Office 365 and declines in commercial PCs following the XP refresh cycleServer products and services revenue grew 9%, with double-digit growth of SQL Server and System CenterWindows volume licensing revenue increased by 3%, with annuity revenue growth partially offset by declining transactional revenue.Co also announced its intention to complete the existing $40 bln share repurchase authorization by Dec 31, 2016.
4:10 pm Rambus beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 revs below consensus; guides FY15 revs below consensus; announced 20 mln share repurchase program (RMBS) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.07 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.06; revenues fell 1.9% year/year to $72 mln vs the $72.47 mln consensus.
Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $70-75 mln vs. $76.55 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues downside guidance for FY15, sees FY15 revs of $300-315 mln vs. $316.57 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co also announced that its Board of Directors has approved a new share repurchase program authorizing the repurchase of up to 20 million shares.
4:09 pm Sanmina beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs in-line (SANM) :
Reports Q1 (Dec) earnings of $0.61 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.57; revenues rose 15.4% year/year to $1.67 bln vs the $1.68 bln consensus.
Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.50-0.55, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.52 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $1.575-1.625 bln vs. $1.61 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
"Revenue for the first quarter was in line with our expectations and up 15 percent year over year. We executed well and delivered solid operating margin in spite of a challenging mix of business. Our outlook for the second quarter is slightly down sequentially primarily due to seasonality, and we believe demand will improve in the second half of the year. We remain optimistic in our ability to drive profitable growth in fiscal 2015."
4:05 pm Pericom Semi beats by $0.08, rev just below estimates; guides Q3 revs below consensus; initiates $0.06 quarterly dividend (PSEM) : Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.22 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.08 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.14; revenues rose 4.1% year/year to $33.3 mln vs the $33.64 mln consensus.
Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $31.5-33.5 mln vs. $33.83 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. non-GAAP gross margins are expected to be ~ 45.0%.
The Company announced today that Pericom's Board of Directors has approved the initiation of quarterly cash dividends, commencing with a dividend of $0.06 per share of common stock for the quarter ended December 27, 2014. The payment of this dividend will be made on February 24, 2015 to shareholders of record on February 10, 2015.
4:35 pm Texas Instruments reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line (TXN) : Reports Q4 (Dec) GAAP earnings of $0.69 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.69. EPS includes a $0.05 loss for a Federal Tax Credit and a $0.02 loss on a sale of assets. This is in line with co's guidance of $0.64-0.74; revenues rose 8.0% year/year to $3.27 bln vs the $3.27 bln consensus. Gross Margins were 58.0%, in line with street expectations. Free cash flow for the year was up 18 percent from a year ago to $3.5 billion or 27 percent of revenue.
Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.57-0.67 vs. $0.62 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $3.07-3.33 bln vs. $3.19 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
4:18 pm Aehr Test Systems announces order for FOX(TM)-XP Multi-Wafer System evaluation (AEHR) : Co announced a purchase order from a leading IC manufacturer for a custom FOX Multi-Wafer Test System WaferPak Contactor and evaluation activities, with the customer evaluation plan including milestones for providing the WaferPak contactor, developing test plans and supporting correlation studies over the next two quarters.
4:17 pm Microsoft reports EPS in-line, revs in-line (MSFT) : Reports Q2 (Dec) GAAP earnings of $0.71 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.71; revenues rose 8.0% year/year to $26.47 bln vs the $26.27 bln consensus. EPS include $0.06 in unfavorable items ($0.02 from restructuring/integration and $0.04 from an IRS tax adjustment).
Devices and Consumer revenue grew 8% to $12.9 billion, with the following business highlights:Surface revenue of $1.1 billion, up 24%, driven by Surface Pro 3 and accessoriesOffice 365 Home and Personal subscribers increased to over 9.2 million, up 30% sequentially over prior quarterSearch advertising revenue grew 23%, with Bing U.S. market share at 19.7%, up 150 basis points over prior yearXbox console sales totaled 6.6 million units, with strong holiday season performancePhone Hardware revenue of $2.3 billion, with 10.5 million Lumia units sold driven by growth in affordable smartphonesWindows OEM Pro revenue declined 13%; revenue was impacted by the business PC market and Pro mix returning to pre-Windows XP end of support levels and by new lower-priced licenses for devices sold to academic customersWindows OEM non-Pro revenue declined 13%, with license growth from opening price point devicesCommercial revenue grew 5% to $13.3 billion, with the following business highlights:Commercial cloud revenue grew 114% driven by Office 365, Azure and Dynamic CRM Online, and is now on an annualized revenue run rate of $5.5 billionOffice Commercial products and services revenue declined 1%; transactional revenue was impacted by the continued transition to Office 365 and declines in commercial PCs following the XP refresh cycleServer products and services revenue grew 9%, with double-digit growth of SQL Server and System CenterWindows volume licensing revenue increased by 3%, with annuity revenue growth partially offset by declining transactional revenue.Co also announced its intention to complete the existing $40 bln share repurchase authorization by Dec 31, 2016.
4:16 pm Closing Market Summary: Energy Sector Paces Quiet Advance (:WRAPX) : The stock market began the new week on a quiet note with the Dow (unch), Nasdaq (+0.3%), and S&P 500 (+0.3%) settling near their flat lines. The small-cap Russell 2000 (+1.0%) outperformed, but the action took place against the backdrop of anemic trading volume as the East Coast braced for Winter Storm Juno.
Because of the incoming storm, a State of Emergency was already declared in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, while the New York Stock Exchange announced plans to open and operate as usual on Tuesday. The NYSE operated as usual today, but that did not stop some participants from sitting the session out. Intraday volume was light, but a surge in late-afternoon activity brought the final tally (780 million) relatively close to the 50-day average (803 million).
The intraday lack of trading activity masked the fact that the weekend featured an important election in Greece. As expected, the anti-bailout Syriza party came away victorious, and despite failing to secure absolute majority, the party was able to form a coalition with Independent Greeks-a party that also opposes EU bailouts. So far, Syriza officials have been very careful when discussing the future of Greece with Yanis Varoufakis, who is expected to be named finance minister, saying a euro exit is not in the plans and that talks of a 'Grexit' should not be sensationalized.
Equity futures retreated at the Sunday open while the euro tested the 1.1100 level before bouncing into the 1.1250 area where it spent the bulk of the day. Similarly, equity futures erased the bulk of their losses ahead of the cash open.
The S&P 500 dipped below its 50-day moving average (2,047) in the early going, but the index found itself back above that level shortly thereafter. The S&P 500 returned to its flat line by 11:00 ET and traded within six points of that level for the remainder of the session.
Five of ten sectors registered gains with energy (+1.4%) holding the lead throughout the day. The sector narrowed its January decline to 1.8% while crude oil fell 1.0% to $45.12/bbl. Crude traded higher intraday after OPEC secretary general said prices could reach $200/bbl if producers choose not to increase supply, but selling into the pit close pressured the energy component into negative territory.
Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, financials (+0.5%) and consumer discretionary (+0.6%) outperformed while technology (-0.4%) struggled throughout the day. Notably, the discretionary sector received support from homebuilders after D.R. Horton (DHI 24.38, +1.28) reported better than expected results. The stock surged 5.5% while the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 25.34, +0.52) gained 2.1%.
It wasn't all sunshine for discretionary shares as Mattel (MAT 26.64, -1.40) lost 5.0% after issuing cautious guidance and announcing the resignation of its Chief Executive Officer.
Also of note, the technology sector spent the day behind other groups due to relative weakness among heavily-weighted components like Google (GOOGL 536.72, -5.23), Oracle (ORCL 43.90, -0.29), Intel (INTC 35.80, -0.64), and Microsoft (MSFT 47.01, -0.17).
Over on the countercyclical side, health care (+0.5%) ended in the green while consumer staples (unch), telecom services (-0.4%), and utilities (unch) lagged throughout the session.
Treasuries registered modest losses with the 10-yr yield climbing two basis points to 1.82%.
Tomorrow, Durable Orders for December (Briefing.com consensus 0.5%) will be reported at 8:30 ET while the November Case-Shiller 20-city Index (consensus 4.3%) will be released at 9:00 ET. The Consumer Confidence report for January (consensus 96.0) will cross at 10:00 ET, alongside New Home Sales for December (consensus 450,000).
Nasdaq Composite +0.8% YTD
S&P 500 -0.1% YTD
Russell 2000 -0.3% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.8% YTD
4:10 pm Rambus beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 revs below consensus; guides FY15 revs below consensus; announced 20 mln share repurchase program (RMBS) : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.07 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.06; revenues fell 1.9% year/year to $72 mln vs the $72.47 mln consensus.
Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $70-75 mln vs. $76.55 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues downside guidance for FY15, sees FY15 revs of $300-315 mln vs. $316.57 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co also announced that its Board of Directors has approved a new share repurchase program authorizing the repurchase of up to 20 million shares.
4:09 pm Sanmina beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs in-line (SANM) :
Reports Q1 (Dec) earnings of $0.61 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.57; revenues rose 15.4% year/year to $1.67 bln vs the $1.68 bln consensus.
Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.50-0.55, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.52 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $1.575-1.625 bln vs. $1.61 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
"Revenue for the first quarter was in line with our expectations and up 15 percent year over year. We executed well and delivered solid operating margin in spite of a challenging mix of business. Our outlook for the second quarter is slightly down sequentially primarily due to seasonality, and we believe demand will improve in the second half of the year. We remain optimistic in our ability to drive profitable growth in fiscal 2015."
4:05 pm Pericom Semi beats by $0.08, rev just below estimates; guides Q3 revs below consensus; initiates $0.06 quarterly dividend (PSEM) : Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.22 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.08 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.14; revenues rose 4.1% year/year to $33.3 mln vs the $33.64 mln consensus.
Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $31.5-33.5 mln vs. $33.83 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. non-GAAP gross margins are expected to be ~ 45.0%.
The Company announced today that Pericom's Board of Directors has approved the initiation of quarterly cash dividends, commencing with a dividend of $0.06 per share of common stock for the quarter ended December 27, 2014. The payment of this dividend will be made on February 24, 2015 to shareholders of record on February 10, 2015.
1:08 pm 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
MPEL (24.49 +6.66%): Upgraded to Buy from Hold at Union Gaming.
ETE (58.03 +7.44%): Regency Energy Partners LP Comm (RGP) and Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) entered into a definitive merger agreement valued at $18 bln; Energy Transfer Equity, owns the general partner and 100% of the incentive distribution rights of both Regency and ETP; ETE also approved an increase in its quarterly dividend.
HCA (72.87 +6.16%): The co will replace Safeway (SWY) in the S&P 500 after the close of trading today.
Large Cap Losers
STX (58.13 -9.14%): Reported Q2 (Dec) non-GAAP earnings of $1.35 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.35; revenues rose 4.8% year/year to $3.7 bln vs the $3.74 bln consensus; gross margin 28.2%; Sees MarQ revenue of 'at least' $3.45 bln, Capital IQ consensus $3.59 bln.
GWW (235.97 -4.07%): Misses Q4 consensus estimates by $0.03, reported revs in-line; lowered FY15 guidance on FX and Canadian macro environment.
RCI (36.51 -3.36%): Downgraded to Hold from Buy at Canaccord Genuity.
Mid Cap Gainers
MWV (51.87 +15.16%): Announced that they have entered into a definitive combination agreement with Rock-Tenn (RKT) to create a leading global provider of consumer and corrugated packaging in a transaction with a combined equity value of $16 bln.
SEMG (69.7 +8.8%): Sandell Asset Management releases letter to the Board SemGroup; Believes intrinsic value of shares to be up to $104/share in a takeout.
DXCM (61.78 +6.63%): Announced that it has received FDA approval for its Dexcom G4 Platinum Continuous Glucose Monitoring System with Share.
Mid Cap Losers
NBG (1.54 -8.33%): Weakness in several Greek stocks following the election of anti-austerity party Syriza.
BKD (34 -7.38%): Announced it sees Q4 CFFO at $0.53 vs $0.67 Capital IQ Consensus Est; Co lowered 2015 CFFO prelim excluding items, to $2.60 to $2.75, replacing its previously announced preliminary range of $2.95 to $3.10 vs $3.05 Consensus.
MAT (26.9 -4.07%): Issued downside guidance for Q4 (Dec), sees EPS of $0.52, excluding non-recurring items vs. $0.96 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 (Dec) revs of $1.99 bln vs. $2.13 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; CEO Bryan Stockton resigns.
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