From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : After digesting the latest dose of data the major equity averages brushed aside some fainthearted selling to extend their climb to new two-year highs. Natural resource plays led the move for the second straight session.
There was little surprise to the initial jobless claims tally for the week ended February 12. Initial claims increased from 385,000 in the prior week to 410,000, which is in stride with the 408,000 initial claims that had been expected, on average, among economists polled by Briefing.com. Continuing claims were essentially unchanged at 3.91 million.
Consumer prices for January featured a 0.4% increase in the headline number and a 0.2% increase in the core number. The consensus among economists polled by Briefing.com had called for a 0.3% increase in total CPI and a 0.1% increase in core CPI. Prior month increases were 0.4% and 0.1%, respectively, for total and core consumer prices.
The Philadelphia Fed Survey for February surged to a seven-year high of 35.9. Economists had generally expected a reading of only 21.0 after it came in at 19.3 in the prior month.
Leading Indicators for January increased by just 0.1%, which is shy of the 0.3% increase that had been widely anticipated. Indicators for December were downwardly revised to reflect a 0.8% increase.
Data did little to provide direction to morning participants, who were initially inclined to sell. It became clear, though, that there was little conviction behind the selling as stocks gradually turned modest losses into modest gains. The move reflected the broad market's bullish bias, which has helped stocks gain 10 times in the 13 sessions traded so far this month.
Materials stocks (+0.9%) and energy stocks (+0.8%) were leaders in the latest move. The two sectors also outperformed in the prior session and are now up 2.0% and 3.1% week to date, respectively.
There wasn't much news out of the materials sector, but energy plays Apache (APA 120.62, +0.11) and Pride International (PDE 40.55, +0.02) settled near the neutral line after the pair had posted quarterly results this morning. Williams Companies (WMB 30.08, +2.32) was a standout in the space after it announced better-than-expected earnings, an increased dividend, and plans to separate into two stand-alone publicly traded companies.
Semiconductors also made strong gains. NVIDIA (NVDA 25.68, +2.30) led the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index to a 1.4% gain following its latest quarterly report and forecast.
Financials failed to follow the broader market's lead this session. Instead, the sector fell to a 0.1% loss after it failed to push into positive territory on only on a few occasions. Regional banks (-1.3%) and diversified banks (-1.1%) weighed on the sector.
Advancing Sectors: Materials (+0.9%), Energy (+0.8%), Consumer Staples (+0.7%), Telecom (+0.3%), Utilities (+0.3%), Health Care (+0.3%), Tech (+0.2%), Industrials (+0.2%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Financial (-0.1%)DJ30 +29.97 NASDAQ +6.02 SP500 +4.11 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1575/1.94 bln/1053 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1868/881 mln/1126
4:11PM Sunpower beats by $0.31, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides FY11 EPS and revs above consensus (SPWRA) 17.43 +0.29 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.36 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.31 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.05; revenues rose 71.0% year/year to $937.1 mln vs the $931.4 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.15-0.21, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.16 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q1 revs of $475-525 mln vs. $488.61 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co issues upside guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $2.00-2.20, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.87 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees FY11 revs of $2.8-2.95 bln vs. $2.78 bln Thomson Reuters consensus.
JA Solar Holdings (JASO) announced that it has developed a new high-power multi-crystalline solar cell with a conversion efficiency of 18.2%, representing a significant breakthrough in multi-crystalline silicon solar cell technology.
7:05AM Anadigics beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus (ANAD) 6.53 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.07 per share, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.06; revenues rose 44.0% year/year to $60.2 mln vs the $58 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of ($0.07)-(0.08), excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.04 Thomson Reuters consensus. "We are seeing indications of greater than normal seasonality in the first quarter of 2011 primarily due to softness in China and through our distribution channels relating to excess inventories, coupled with a continued market correction expected to further impact our Cable and WiMax revenue."
7:04AM Plexus authorizes to repurchase up to $200 mln of its common stock (PLXS) 29.27 : Co announces its Board has approved a new stock repurchase program under which the co is authorized to repurchase up to $200 mln of its common stock. The Board has also authorized the co to fund the stock repurchase program with existing cash and new long-term debt of up to $200 mln. This borrowing transaction is expected to close by the end of the co's fiscal third quarter.
10:49 am NVDA Guides Q1 Revs Above Consensus (NVDA)
NVIDIA (NVDA $24.24 +0.86) reported fourth quarter GAAP earnings of $0.29 per share, including a $37.1 million after tax legal settlement from INTC, vs. the GAAP Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.22; revenues fell 9.8% year/year to $886.4 million vs the $892.2 million consensus.
For the first quarter, the company expects revenues to grow 6% to 8% year-over-year to approx. $939.6 million to $957.3 million versus $888.52 million Thomson Reuters consensus, with GAAP GM of 48.5% to 49.5%.
GAAP gross margin was a record 48.1% compared with 46.5% in the previous quarter and 44.7 percent in the same period a year earlier. "Tegra is positioned center stage in the revolution in super phones and tablets, while Tesla is becoming an essential processor for supercomputing. I have never been more excited about NVIDIA's prospects."
09:59 am NTAP Guides Q4 Below Consensus (NTAP)
NetApp (NTAP $53.13 -5.40) reports third quarter earnings of $0.52 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.50.
Revenues rose 25.3% year-over-year to $1.27 billion versus the $1.28 billion consensus.
For the fourth quarter, the company guided earnings in the range of $0.49 to $0.53, excluding non-recurring items, versus $0.54 Thomson Reuters consensus. Revenues are expected to grow +15-20% year-over-year to $1.36 billion to $1.41 billion versus $1.38 billion Thomson Reuters consensus.
09:54 am RBCN Guides Q1 Above Consensus (RBCN)
Rubicon Tech (RBCN $24.03 +2.92) reports fourth quarter earnings of $0.64 per share, $0.14 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.50.
Revenues rose 247.1% year-over-year to $29.5 million versus the $26.8 million consensus.
For the first quarter, the company guided earnings in the range of $0.62 to $0.65, above the $0.52 Thomson Reuters consensus. On the top line, revenues are expected to be $34 million to $36 million versus $31.30 million Thomson Reuters consensus.
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