CSCO call, very tempting but I will wait for a little more, AKAM call look interesting too
Cisco Systems Inc. and Akamai Technologies Inc. led stocks lower Thursday after both companies issued weak earnings forecasts for the current quarter, raising concerns about business and technology spending.
Cisco, the world's largest networking equipment maker, fell 13 percent in early trading, the most of any of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones industrial average. The company said late Wednesday that its fourth-quarter income fell 18 percent because of lower sales to government agencies, a problem that could worsen over the next few quarters.
"Cisco is stumbling," said Rob Lutts, president and chief investment officer of Cabot Money Management. "When you're No. 1, it's hard to stay there." Lutts said the weak results reflect Cisco's struggle to stay competitive, not necessarily weakness in the technology industry overall.
Akamai Technologies fell 16 percent after the company said competitors are forcing it to offer lower prices for its Web streaming services. Akamai was the weakest stock in the Standard & Poor's 500 index of large U.S. companies.
Whole Foods Market Inc. rose 13 percent in after the natural foods grocer reported a 79 percent increase in first quarter net income. It had the biggest gain of any stock in the S&P 500.
Sprint Nextel Corp. also rose 4 percent after the company increased its subscribers under contract for the first time in about four years.
In midday trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 40, or 0.3 percent, to 12,199. Cisco's fall made up 22 points of that decline.
The S&P 500 fell a point, or 0.1 percent, at 1,319. The Nasdaq composite fell less than a point to 2,789.
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