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From Briefing.com: 5:29PM Swing Trader: HSY, PH, PLMO, CYBX : -- Technical -- A relatively quite trading session after Wednesday's upward trend. Market Breadth was mixed with Advancers and Decliners about equal and New Highs/New Lows mixed as well. The SPY formed a Doji candlestick today, which after Wednesday's long white candlestick suggests indecision ahead of tomorrow's job data. Generally speaking, you'll want to see if today's high or low is taken out and then trade in that direction. Resistance for the SPY still lies at 118.57/118.73, followed by its 50-day sma (119.39). If things turn ugly, you'll want to watch the 200-day ema (116.16) and sma (115.42) for potential support areas...(continued)

4:25PM Nanophase Tech announces 3 new foreign patents (NANX) : Co announces it has been issued three new foreign patents for Siloxane Star-Graft Polymers, one in each of Great Britain, France, and Germany, which covers one of the co's fundamental nanoparticle coating technologies.

4:21PM MCI confirms receipt of revised Qwest bid (MCIP) : -- Update -- Co confirms it received a revised proposal from Qwest Communications to acquire the co. The revised offer comprises $13.50 in cash (excluding MCIP's March 15 dividend payment of $0.40 per share) and 3.373 Q shares (subject to adjustment under a collar which fixes the value of the Q shares at $14.00 provided Q's share price is between $3.32-$4.15) per MCIP share. MCIP's Board of Directors will review the revised proposal and respond accordingly.

4:04PM Transmeta names new President & CEO; announces agreement with Sony (TMTA) 0.91 +0.06: Co promotes Arthur L. Swift to President and C.E.O., effective immediately.... Co also announces that it has entered into a strategic alliance with Sony. Transmeta will provide engineering services to the Sony Group to accelerate and expand its adoption of Transmeta's LongRun2 technologies in products such as Cell derivatives, and engage strategic technology collaboration in other engineering areas.

Close Dow -37.17 at 10503.76, S&P -0.82 at 1180.69, Nasdaq -6.44 at 1999.23: Stocks failed to extend the market's best performance in 2005, as the indices closed out Q1 in the same fashion as it began - to the downside... But selling activity was limited, as reflected in the less than 0.1% decline on the S&P and modest losses on both the Dow and Nasdaq, as it appears investors will wait for tomorrow's employment report to dictate whether or not yesterday's rally is sustainable...
With regards to today's market action, higher oil prices, some negative corporate news and apprehension ahead of Friday's payrolls data discouraged buyers from fully embracing today's decent economic data and falling bond yields... Crude oil futures surged 2.5% to $55.40/bbl ($+1.41) after a Goldman Sachs analyst said, "oil markets may have entered the early stages of a 'super spike' period" and subsequently raised the upper end of his multi-year estimates range from $80/bbl to $105/bbl... Worries about inadequate refining capacity and a weaker dollar also assisted in the commodity's gains, preventing buyers from jumping back into the market to extend widespread gains...

Meanwhile, with the market closely watching economic reports - especially the March employment report - today's relatively encouraging data did not provide enough of a boost to attract buyers, as breadth figures were mixed all day and industry leadership finished in split fashion... Feb personal income was up 0.3% (consensus 0.4%) while personal spending was up 0.5% (consensus 0.5%), both decent from an economic standpoint... But investors focused more on one of Fed Chairman Greenspan's favorites - the core PCE deflator, which rose 0.2% but did not rise as high as many had expected (+0.3%) and checked in below January's gain of 0.3%, easing inflation fears...

Another report on the radar was the March Chicago PMI, which unexpectedly surged 6.5 points to 69.2 (consensus 60.5) - a new 17-year high... But the report took a back seat to tomorrow's national ISM survey, which will provide a more general measure of manufacturing conditions... Health Care (-0.7%), the worst performing economic sector, lost ground after the Dept. of Justice subpoenaed three medical device makers - Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 67.16 -0.89), Stryker (SYK 44.64 -2.79) and Biomet (BMET 36.30 -2.73) - regarding certain consulting contracts with orthopedic surgeons...

Weakness in shares of Biogen Idec (BIIB 34.51 -3.84), amid confirmation of a third Tysabri-linked nerve disorder, also weighed on the sector... Other economic sectors under pressure were Financial, Consumer Staples, Industrials and Information Technology... The latter succumbed to profit taking in the wake of yesterday's 1.6% surge on the Nasdaq, as Disk Drive (+0.9%) was the only sub-sector finishing higher... Upside Q3 EPS and revenue guidance from Western Digital (WDC 12.73 +1.56) prompted Merrill Lynch to upgrade the disk drive maker to Buy from Neutral...

Pacing the way higher, however, was Energy (+1.5%), benefiting from rising oil prices, while the Materials sector (+0.9%) was also strong amid increased copper price forecasts from Morgan Stanley, short covering in groups like paper, gold and steel and weakness in the dollar... The greenback extended yesterday's losses against both the euro (1.2961) and the yen (107.23) amid an unexpected rise in jobless claims, a better than expected inflation measure and arguably overbought conditions, as the dollar recorded its best quarter since 2001 with a gain of roughly 4.0% in 2005...

Retail (+0.5%) also showed modest strength, aided by speculation that JC Penney (JCP 51.99 +4.09) and Saks (SKS 18.03 +1.48) could be acquired, but Consumer Discretionary still finished relatively flat... Interest-rate sensitive areas like Utility (+1.0%) and Homebuilding (+1.0%) posted solid gains in the wake of falling bond yields... Treasurys closed higher, as yields on the 10-year note (+14/32) fell back through the 4.5% level (4.49%) for the first time since the FOMC's last meeting (Mar. 22), following an unexpected 20K rise in jobless benefits to 350K... The claims data, however, had little impact on equity markets ahead of tomorrow's more significant employment report...

Separately, Feb factory orders rose 0.2%, a bit less than an expected 0.5% gain, but the predictability of the report prevented it from having any influence on market activity...DJTA -0.5, DJUA +1.1, DOT -0.3, Nasdaq 100 -0.6, Russell 2000 -0.3, SOX -0.6, S&P Midcap 400 +0.4, XOI +1.5, NYSE Adv/Dec 1940/1366, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1283/1799

3:13PM Treasuries Rally into Jobs Report on Short Covering : Treasuries close the session higher refusing to give up gains following the 350K initial jobless claims reading and staging a late day rally. The market fell back slightly on Chicago PMI but maintained its bid throughout the session ahead of the much anticipated jobs report tomorrow. The 2-10 curve is slightly steeper on the session at 72.7 basis points. As the quarter comes to an end, the 10-year posts its first quarter decline in three, mostly driven by inflationary expectations and the now infamous "conundrum" comment by Greenspan. On the quarter, the 10-year is lower in price higher in yield, the dollar is stronger, and the Fed raised its benchmark interest rate twice by a quarter of a point each time, things might just be making sense again. Q2 will be getting off to a roaring start tomorrow with nonfarm payrolls (220K est), unemployment rate (5.3% est), hourly earnings (0.2% est), average workweek (33.7 est), U of M sentiment (92.5 est), construction spending (0.6% est), ISM Index (54.9 est), auto sales (5.4M est), and truck sales (7.8M est). Chicago Fed President Moskow (a voting member) will be on CNBC at 8:50ET tomorrow giving his initial reaction to the jobs data. Other Fed officials speaking tomorrow include Boston Fed President Minehan at 12ET and NY Fed President Geithner at 19:30ET. All eyes are on tomorrow's nonfarm reading, please see 14:47 ET comment. The 10-yrs are currently 14/32nds yielding 4.490%.

2:00PM Computer Sciences announces $546.1 mln in previously unannounced federal contracts (CSC) 45.90 +0.21: Co announced today that since Jan. 1, 2005, its Federal Sector business unit has signed 50 previously unannounced contracts and subcontracts valued at approximately $546.1 mln during Q4 of CSC's fiscal year. The quarter ends on April 1, 2005. The agreements cover time periods ranging from six months to 12 years. Civil agencies accounted for 13 awards with a total value of approximately $84 mln. Department of Defense agencies accounted for 47 awards with a total value of more than $462 mln.

12:49PM Best performing stocks in Q1 : Best performing stocks over the past quarter: ABLE +283%, ELTK +261%, BOOM +207%, FORD +199%, GEOI +196%, MS +137%, BDCO +135%, TPE +130%, NSI +127%, DSTI +120%, ORCT +119%, GRU +113%, EDGR +107%, USEG +99%, OTD +99%, CYBX +96%, DHC +98%, INNO +96%, GIGA +95%, SVNX +88%, BASI +86%, MCZ +94%, SNHY +87%, MCX +84%, MVCO +81%, ESLR +63%.

11:23AM F5 Networks under pressure today, breaking under this week's low at 50.27 (FFIV) 50.22 -2.34: -- Technical --

9:28AM Gapping Down : ELN -57% (also multiple downgrades) and BIIB -9.4% are under pressure after another case of PML was found among patients treated with Tysabri.... Justice Dept issues subpoenas to medical device makers, Baird also downgrades all three: BMET -8.5%, SYK -7.2%, JNJ -1.5%... ZMH -9.2% (speculation that co may also receive a subpoena; Baird downgrade; Morgan Stanley downgrade)... Other News: SSTI -10% (guides lower), TRMM -10% (reports Q4), WMGI -6.3% (Baird downgrade), MNDO -6.2% (guides lower), UTSI -2.9% (delays 10-K), ANTP -2.2% (profit taking from 18% move yesterday), GOOG -1.4% (files 10-K; 2005 capex may be higher than expected - UBS)... Under $3: CNR -11.5%.

9:15AM Gapping Up : JCP +10% (speculation that an LBO is in the works; also see recent Briefing.com Survey comment), PCTY +17% (announces special committee to explore strategic alternatives; Nancy Pedot steps down as CEO), TKR +13% (guides higher), WDC +13% (guides MarQ higher; Merrill upgrade; up in sympathy: STX +3.6%), NYER +10%, JRJC +7% (announces US$10 mln stock repurchase program), MAGS +6.6% (signs $6.1 mln framework agreement with Israeli Ministry of defence), SUP +6%, ENWV +5.6% (signs development agreement for Homeland Security system), SHPGY +5.2% (BIIB/ELN news is good for SHPGY and SRA +4.4%), ENTG +4.3% (Merrill upgrade), CVTX +4.1% (Needham upgrade), TZOO +3.3% (extension of yesterday's 25% move), BOOM +1.9% (extension of yesterday's 6.3% move).... Under $3: BKHM +30% (amends agreement with Nortel), ARTX +6% (reports Q4).

6:19AM UTStarcom delays filing (UTSI) 11.84: Company delays filing of its Y04 10k as well as restated Y03 10k beyond the March 31, 2005 extended due date for Y04 10-K. Delay "is due to the Company's need to finalize its required review procedures and enable management to finalize its assessment of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2004 as required under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002". UTSI expects to file both 10k's on or before April 15, 2005.

11:52AM Fiserv (FISV) $40.01 0.50 (1.27%) Fiserv is up this morning, partly due to an interesting report on the company from Legg Mason. The report draws parallels between Fiserv and the recently acquired SunGard Data Systems (SDS), which announced on Monday that it would be acquired for almost $11 billion by a consortium of private equity firms. The premium paid for SunGard amounted to approximately a 44% premium over the price of SDS before the firm announced on March 21 that they were in discussions regarding an acquisition.

The Legg Mason report compares the valuation metrics of SunGard before their acquisition was announced to the valuation of Fiserv currently. On almost every metric, from market cap, forward PE, revenue growth rates, operating margins, and free cash flow, the two firms were valued almost at identical levels. The deduction, therefore, is that Fiserv could command the same type of premium that SunGard was able to get, if someone were to acquire Fiserv now. Legg Mason calculates that an acquisition of Fiserv at the same valuation metrics as SDS received would imply a share price of $49. Legg Mason set their own price target at $46, based on fundamental growth primarily, not an acquisition, but they use it to underscore the latent unrealized value in the company.

This idea is clearly held by more people than Legg Mason, as FISV has risen sharply since Monday's SDS announcement, from the roughly $38 level of the week before. At $40, it is at the level FISV started the year at, but is currently below both the $46 target and $49 acquisition "value" set by Legg Mason.

Might someone actually acquire Fiserv? The company provides automated systems and services that process financial transactions. While SunGard also provides systems and service for automating financial transactions, Fiserv's offerings are focused on smaller banks and credit unions and insurance claims processing. SunGard's market is larger financial institutions, with more focus on investment transactions, account management, and trade settlements. Both companies offer software products as well as service bureau style back-office processing. The main difference between the two companies, however, is that SunGard is primarily product focused, while Fiserv is primarily service focused.

The driving trend in the financial industry is the automation of transaction processing. This trend is far from over, as many financial institutions still have labor-intensive operations. Fiserv's entire existence has been driven by the advantage clients see in hiring Fiserv instead of upgrading their own operations. Fiserv's valuable asset, therefore, as a possible acquisition target, is its entrenched position as an outsourced processor for more than 13,000 companies. SunGard was purchased because the investors clearly see how greater efficiencies can be achieved through automation in the coming years. Fiserv can benefit from those efficiencies by automating themselves for lower costs, while still charging the same fees to clients who won't leave. How much more profitable can it become? All it takes for Fiserv to be an acquisition target is someone at another buyout firm or a competitor with capital to start working a spreadsheet - and compare the possible returns versus the investment capital. That's probably happening at this very moment. - Robert V. Green
10:56AM eBay (EBAY) 37.20, -0.49: Would you believe that eBay handles more trading volume and transactions than the NASDAQ stock exchange? eBay has become the marketplace on the web worldwide and there appears to be no stopping its reach. As of the end of 2004, it had over 56 mln active users worldwide, up 36% y/y. That's equivalent to the entire population of Shanghai, Tokyo, Mumbai, Moscow, Mexico City, and New York City combined.

eBay is the most popular retail-shopping site on the net with local sites across the globe - a leader in almost a $2 tln addressable global market. Shares have stabilized after suffering downside pressure on the expectations that Q1 ASPs and conversion rates have bottomed and continue to improve. For some background here, eBay's revenue model is driven by average selling prices or ASPs. eBay's final value fees are based on a percentage of an auction's closing value, thus higher prices benefit its top line.

Share weakness was due to a drop in selling activity after the company raised prices, prompting a protest by sellers. Price changes in the past were easier to put through as the number of new sellers outpaced existing ones. Even though this dynamic has changed, sellers typically return to the site as profits are higher versus other venues. eBay increased promotional activity in order to entice sellers back. Getting past this hurdle is essential in share performance, which is likely to remain volatile until positive trends emerge. The pickup in activity is likely to accelerate growth into Q2, which is seasonally a weak quarter. Goldman Sachs forecasts Q1 US transaction revenue of 14% y/y - the fourth consecutive quarter of deceleration 24%, 29%, 32%, and 39%, respectively. The company reports on April 20th, which most analysts are expecting to come in-line with an incremental drop in operating margins. Seasonally speaking, Q3 and Q4 are strong due to back-to-school and holiday shopping, respectively.

The US is critical to its revenue and profit growth profile even though as a percentage of total revenue, it has declined from 75% four years ago to 41% today. eBay as a worldwide brand continues to gain traction. As such, international expansion is the key to growth over the longer-term. International revenue growth over the same time period was 168% and 121% - over 2x that of the US. The expansiveness of its reach and the ease of use attracts new users to its site. International transactions accounted for 15% of total revenues in 2001, but by the end of FY04 this number reached 37%. It's already a leading auction site in majority of international markets. It's already made headway into growth markets with a trading platform in India called Baazee.com and Each Net in China. Considering the size of the Chinese market, it offers considerable growth opportunities although execution will be critical. eBay's clearly committed to the challenge, budgeting $100 mln in capex this year.

The San Jose-based company will be able to drive growth through category expansion (from collectibles to mainstream products), geographies, and pricing formats. Due to the complexity of the business, it enjoys high barriers to entry. The company's success has been its consistent execution of its business model. It has virtually no inventory, a diversified revenue stream, and high margins that could hit 40%. Adding new categories beyond collectibles, global expansion, and integration of PayPal platform all drives up the incremental revenue for the company.

Using Reuters Estimates consensus, earnings are expected to rise 26% in FY05 and 32% in FY06, on revenue growth of 33% and 25%, respectively. Margins have continued to expand each year, from 24% in FY01 to 35% in FY04. The stock is currently trading at 23.2x cash flow per share vs. the sector average of 20x. Internet stocks typically do carry a richer valuation, so on a price to earnings multiple it trades at 59.9x current earnings and 47.2x forward. The continual shift from offline to online will drive growth for eBay as it expands its trading platform and efficiency worldwide. The key risks to watch are core US and intl transaction revenue trends, competition, progress in China, fixed price vs. auction mix, technical outages, and seasonality of earnings. ---Kimberly DuBord, Briefing.com

9:20AM Sanders Morris Harris Group (SMHG) 17.89: When looking at the brokers, its sometimes hard to get past the big boys like Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs, but there are other stories out there. On of those is Sanders Morris Harris Group. It is a Houston based broker that has been growing through acquisition .

A quick look at the last few press releases from the broker shows that they have been acquiring stakes in a number of companies. In late January, the company acquired a 20% stake in Chicago based Astor Asset Management. Astor has a unique strategy of using Exchange Traded Funds (ETF's) to manage the funds of its clients. Sanders also purchased 50% of Select Sports Group, a Houston based sports management firm that caters to athletes. The broker also purchased 69% of Charlotte Capital.

Clearly the expansion is an effort to increase the amount of assets under management. That is a key metric for any broker. Brokers want to have the amount of assets under management increasing as they generally charge a fee based on the percentage of money that they manage. Sanders Morris now manages in excess of $7 billion. There are other aspects of the business, not just money management that are growing as well.

Revenues for 2004 were $121 million, up from $103 million in 2003. There were strong results in both investment banking and trading. The balance sheet is reasonably strong, as the company has seen some consistent growth in the number of total assets. The cash position has been somewhat volatile, however. One of the most important measures for the investment banks, the one that is regarded as the main measure of value for the business, is price-to-book. At 2.3x for Sanders Morris, that is well above Southwest Securities, AG Edwards and even Morgan Stanley.

Much like its competitors such as Southwest Securities, the company has seen its fair share of M&A business, but being based in Houston, energy had been the name of the game early on. The firm has since expanded operations beyond the oil field, and now offers a well rounded platform of expertise.

While the liquidity (trading averages only 17,000 shares per day over the last three months) may scare some away, the growth has been undeniable. Not only has the company moved to acquire more assets, they are growing revenues at a rate that is somewhat rare among the brokers. As a result of this revenue growth, the firm trades at a healthy multiple. As the firm continues to expand its reach and operation, investors should become more willing to accept its relatively rich valuation and limited liquidity.

9:02AM Page One - Trading Range Continues : Stock futures suggest an up open. This follows the impressive gains yesterday. The market remains decidedly range bound, however, as good earnings growth and decent valuation are encountering concerns over rising inflation and interest rates.

The key news item this morning is that the February core PCE rose 0.2%. This is an inflation measure in the personal consumption expenditure (PCE) data that is released monthly and is a base for consumer spending in the GDP figures. The data is not often closely followed, as it lags other spending measures such as retail sales, auto sales, and data from chain stores. This month, however, it was closely watched. Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan is known to follow it because it is a more comprehensive figure than CPI or most other inflation measures. It has implications for Fed policy.

The 0.2% increase for February is an ambiguous reading. A 0.3% increase in the January data had raised warning flags, but the measure had been up an average of only 0.1% the six months before that. So, while it is not quite as bad as feared, it may also be signalling a firmer trend. There was not a big market reaction.

The top line measures of a 0.3% increase in personal income and a 0.5% gain in spending for February were both pretty much as expected. There was also a jump in new claims for unemployment to 350,000 for the week ended March 25, but these numbers are volatile and the March payroll numbers tomorrow morning will be far more important.

There isn't much corporate news this morning. The Wall Street Journal is reporting the Qwest is going to raise its bid for MCI again. Johnson & Johnson has received a Department of Justice subpoena regarding certain consulting contracts. Western Digital raised earnings and revenue guidance for this quarter.

The rally yesterday was impressive. Most press reports suggested it was due to a drop in oil prices. That doesn't make much sense though, as oil ended down only 24 cents, and is up a similar amount this morning. It is still right at $54 a barrel. There may have been some quarter-end buying by money managers looking to report winners on their quarterly balance sheets. Or, there may simply have been some latent demand that burst through. As Briefing.com's Big Picture column discusses this morning, the focus has shifted from the positive to the negative this year. The recent emphasis on the negatives may have been overdone. It is still very much a trading range market. Neither the bulls nor bears are likely to hold sway for long periods. Dick Green, Briefing.com

http://finance.yahoo.com/mp?u