From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Action this session was choppy and trade was both listless and thin, but stocks still put together a broad-based gain in the face of a strong rebound by the dollar.
The greenback bounced back from its 0.9% loss in the previous session to book a 1.0% gain against competing currencies this session. It had traded with strength for the entire session, but its gains were extended after the latest FOMC meeting minutes indicated that the Fed raised its 2010 GDP forecast to 3.2% from 3.0%. Despite the improved forecast, officials continue to believe that economic conditions warrant exceptionally low interest rates.
Despite the greenback's gain, stocks were able to add to their advance from the previous session. The follow-through was helped by strong overseas gains and kept intact by better-than-expected housing start numbers for January and in-line building permit numbers. Industrial production for January increased at a stronger-than-expected clip, while capacity utilization was in step with the consensus call.
Though earnings have generally been a nonfactor for determining the stock market's movements during recent weeks, strong results and an upbeat forecast from Deere & Co. (DE 56.48, +2.70) helped keep the mood among participants positive. As for the stock itself, it made its best single-session percentage gain in six months.
While DE's move was enviable, the stock lacked the leadership to attract a flood of market participants. In turn, trading volume this session barely broke 1 billion shares on the NYSE. Nonetheless, broad-market investors are likely pleased that stocks were able to advance in broad-based fashion for the second straight session.
Advancing Sectors: Health Care (+0.8%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.8%), Consumer Staples (+0.7%), Industrials (+0.6%), Tech (+0.4%), Financial (+0.4%), Telecom (+0.3%), Materials (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Energy (-0.4%), Utilities (-0.3%)DJ30 +40.43 NASDAQ +12.10 NQ100 +0.5% R2K +0.6% SP400 +0.6% SP500 +4.64 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1565/2.06 bln/1063 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2049/1.02 bln/978
4:30PM O2Micro issued patent for voltage reference circuit (OIIM) 5.77 -0.11 :
4:30PM GT Solar and Jiangxi announces new order totalling $20 mln (SOLR) 5.75 -0.12 : Co industry, and Jiangxi Sornid Hi-Tech Co., Ltd. today jointly announced that they signed a new contract totaling more than $20 million for GT Solar's market-leading GT-DSS450(TM) ingot growth furnaces and ancillary equipment and services. The order was booked in GT Solar's current fourth fiscal quarter and revenue is expected to be recognized in subsequent periods. "We are seeing an increase in bookings for our GT-DSS450 furnaces in China as customers begin to add new production capacity to position themselves for the next phase of growth in the worldwide solar industry," said Tom Gutierrez, GT Solar's president and chief executive officer.
4:29PM NVIDIA beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs above consensus (NVDA) 17.84 +0.17 : Reports Q4 (Jan) earnings of $0.23 per share, $0.03 better than the First Call consensus of $0.20; revenues rose 104.2% year/year to $982.5 mln vs the $957.2 mln consensus. NVDA reports Q4 gross margins of 44.7% vs 41.7% consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs flat vs. Q4, or $982.5 mln vs. $931.19 mln consensus. NVIDIA sees Q1 GAAP gross margin of 44-45%, may not compare to the non-GAAP gross margin consensus of 41.4%. Co states, "While the yield of chips made using the latest 40nm process has improved significantly, demand continues to exceed our constrained supply. Looking ahead this year, we are excited to raise the bar again with our next-generation Fermi GPU architecture; our Tegra mobile processor will enable a new class of amazing mobile devices like tablets; and our 3D Vision glasses and accompanying technology will bring a whole new dimension to personal computing."
4:14PM Applied Materials reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS and revs above consensus; guides FY10 revs above consensus (AMAT) 12.99 +0.04 : Reports Q1 (Jan) earnings of $0.13 per share, in-line with the First Call consensus of $0.13; revenues rose 39.1% year/year to $1.85 bln vs the $1.75 bln consensus. AMAT reports Q1 gross margins of 38.5% vs 38.4% consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.17-0.22 vs. $0.15 consensus; sees Q2 revs up 15-25, or roughly $2.13-2.31 vs. $1.78 bln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for FY10, sees FY10 revs up greater than 50%, which calculates out to greater than $7.52 bln, vs. $7.33 bln consensus -- this is up from prior outlook of more than 30% rev growth. "Applied posted solid first quarter results led by robust sales in our semiconductor equipment business... With global demand improving in our customers' end markets, we are raising our full-year revenue target to reflect higher anticipated demand in our semiconductor, LCD display and crystalline silicon solar businesses... Applied enters its second quarter with considerable momentum, and we are off to an excellent start for the year."
4:12PM Analog Devices beats by $0.05, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (ADI) 28.38 -0.22 : Reports Q1 (Jan) earnings of $0.43 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the First Call consensus of $0.38; revenues rose 5.5% year/year to $603 mln vs the $575.5 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.48-0.51, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.41 consensus; sees Q2 revs of $635-650 mln vs. $596.63 mln consensus. Gross margin was 61.1% of revenue, compared to 56.3% of revenue in the immediately prior quarter, and 56.4% of revenue in the year-ago period. Gross margin improvements were primarily due to lower manufacturing costs, increased factory utilization, and strong sales of products sold to industrial and communications infrastructure customers. "Order rates from end customers were strong throughout the first quarter of fiscal 2010, increasing 8% sequentially. As a result, the opening backlog for shipment in the second quarter increased substantially. Based on order rates and customer feedback, we expect revenue from industrial and communications infrastructure customers to grow in the second quarter, and revenue from consumer customers to be approximately flat."
4:08PM Axcelis Tech reports Q4 revs of $38.7 mln vs. $42.0 mln a year ago; EPS of ($0.10) vs. ($0.24) a year ago (ACLS) 1.78 +0.06 : "During the downturn we made positive strides in improving our business model and we are now seeing the rewards. In particular we are pleased that we generated cash in the quarter. While we expect this positive trend to continue and we believe we will be cash flow positive in 2010, quarterly cash flows may vary due to timing of shipments, customer buying patterns and investments in working capital. We are experiencing a significant increase in recent order flow and are forecasting sales to be up across all product lines and service programs. These contributions strengthen our foundation for the future, and we look forward to capitalizing on the significant opportunities that lie ahead."
4:08PM Hewlett-Packard beats by $0.04, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS midpoint above consensus, revs above consensus; raises FY10 guidance (HPQ) 50.12 +0.68 : Reports Q1 (Jan) earnings of $1.10 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the First Call consensus of $1.06; revenues rose 8.2% year/year to $31.18 bln vs the $30.01 bln consensus. Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) revenue increased 4% to $6.2 billion. Personal Systems Group (PSG) posted a 26% increase in unit shipments and maintained the leading market share position in PCs worldwide. Enterprise Storage and Servers (ESS) reported total revenue of $4.4 billion, up 11%. Services revenue decreased 1% to $8.7 billion. Guidance: Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $1.03-1.05 vs. $1.03 consensus; sees Q2 revs of $29.4-29.7 bln vs. $29.03 bln consensus. Co raises guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $4.37-4.44 vs. $4.37 consensus; sees FY10 revs of $121.5-122.5 bln vs. $120.03 bln consensus. FY10 guidance is up from prior guidance for EPS and revs of $4.25-4.3 and $118-119 bln... "Solid performance across the business and disciplined execution on our cost initiatives contributed to strong growth in cash flow and EPS," said Cathie Lesjak, HP executive vice president and chief financial officer. "We will continue to invest for growth and leverage our scale and global position to take advantage of an improving demand environment."
Axcelis Technologies (ACLS) announces that a major foundry has selected the IntegraTM dry strip system for its most advanced production facility...
Juniper Networks (JNPR) announces that its SRX Series Services Gateway has been selected by Verizon Wireless to provide added network protection for mobile data users on the Verizon Wireless network... Semtech (SMTC) announces the Defense Supply Center Columbus has qualified Semtech's transient voltage suppressor platform as meeting performance specification sheet MIL-PRF- 19500/516, Revision D to JANS level. This qualifies the parts for use in aerospace and satellite applications... Cypress Semiconductor (CY) announces that Fujitsu Limited has selected the TrueTouch solution from Cypress to implement the water-resistant touchscreen in NTT DOCOMO's new handset... Suntech Power Holdings (STP) recently supplied solar panels for 19 remote schools in Lebanon working with local partner and Lebanese integrator Asaco General Trade & Contracting...
Netlist (NLST) announces that a major OEM has commenced volume consumption of NetVault-NV, a flash memory based non-volatile cache memory subsystem targeting RAID storage applications...
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