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From Briefing.com: 4:34PM Apple beats by $3.79, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS, revs above consensus (AAPL) 420.41 -7.00 : Reports Q1 (Dec) earnings of $13.87 per share, $3.79 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $10.08; revenues rose 73.3% year/year to $46.33 bln vs the $39.04 bln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of ~$8.50 vs. $8.00 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of ~$32.5 bln vs. $31.94 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Apple reports 37.4 mln iPhones sold in Q1 vs Street est of ~30 mln; 15.43 mln iPads sold in Q1 vs Street est of ~14 mln; Q1 gross margins of 44.7% vs Street est of 40.7% and 40% guidance. "Apple's momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline... We are very happy to have generated over $17.5 bln in cash flow from operations during the December quarter."

6:07PM NVIDIA fell as much as 5.6% to $14.10 after lowering guidance (see 18:01 comment); now at $14.50 (NVDA) 14.94 +0.33 :

6:01PM NVIDIA lowers Q4 revs guidance to $950 mln plus or minus 1%, which equates to ~$940.5- $959.5 mln vs. $1.06 bln CIQ Estimate, down from $1.066 bln plus or minus 2%, which equates to ~$1.045-1.087 bln (NVDA) 14.94 +0.33 : Co lowers Q4 revs guidance. The global disk-drive shortage caused by the flooding in Thailand had more impact on the mainstream GPU segment than anticipated. Shipments by some PC OEMs were reduced. And the higher prices of disk-drives constrained some PC OEMs' ability to include a GPU in their systems. Additionally, the Tegra 2 mobile business declined more rapidly than expected, ahead of devices based on the Tegra 3 processor ramping into production in Q1 of calendar-year 2012. No conference call will be held in conjunction with this business update. Additional commentary pertaining toQ4 will be available when NVIDIA reports financial results on Feb. 15, 2012.

4:18PM Altera beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs below consensus (ALTR) 40.12 +0.44 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.45 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.42; revenues fell 17.6% year/year to $457.8 mln vs the $446.25 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs declining 5-9% sequentially, which equates to ~$416.6-434.9 mln vs. $454.58 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:06PM AXT agreed with the Administrative Commission of Tianjin Economy and Technology Development Zone to establish second manufacturing facility in Tianjin, China; co has committed $12.5 mln investment in construction (AXTI) 5.17 +0.18 :

4:03PM RF Micro Device misses by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (RFMD) 4.85 -0.24 : Reports Q3 (Dec) earnings of $0.02 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.03; revenues fell 19.2% year/year to $225.4 mln vs the $225.04 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.00 to ($0.02) vs. $0.03 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $185 mln vs. $204.48 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. "During the December quarter, RFMD's market share gains in smartphones were offset by less than forecasted demand from manufacturers of handsets in China. Despite this, RFMD was able to generate cash flow from operations of approximately $46 million and free cash flow of approximately $38 million. In the March 2012 quarter, we currently expect sequential improvement in gross margin, and we anticipate RFMD's gross margin will return to historical levels as revenue growth resumes."

4:30 pm : The broad market was sold in the early going, but it managed to pare its loss by session's end. The effort was sluggish and generally without leadership.

Disappointment and frustration related to ongoing wrangling between Greece and its creditors sent stocks lower immediately after the open, but the major averages were able to find support before losses became too great. Stocks spent the next couple of hours working their way up from those early lows, but momentum eventually slowed so that stocks were left to drift sideways into the close.

The action was similar to that of the euro, which was able to fully recover from an early loss, but failed to generate enough momentum to move into positive territory.

Tech had appeared to be a source of leadership as it fought its way up to a modest gain, but its efforts were checked. The largest sector by market weight spent the rest of the day dancing along the neutral line before it eked out a narrow gain. Texas Instruments (TXN 32.54, -0.65) was a heavy drag, despite a better-than-expected earnings report. Western Digital (WDC 36.88, +2.17) was among the session's best performers overall following an upside earnings surprise of its own.

Market participants also had varied responses to better-than-expected results from blue chips Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 65.00, +0.00), DuPont (DD 49.41, +0.06), and McDonald's (MCD 98.75, -2.20). Fellow Dow components Travelers (TRV 58.00, -2.29) and Verizon (VZ 37.79, -0.61) both traded lower after they posted earnings that came short of what had been widely expected.

Coach (COH 67.97, +3.73) shares climbed aggressively to an all-time high after it announced earnings that exceeded what Wall Street had estimated. The stock helped give the consumer discretionary sector a 0.4% gain, which is better than what any other sector accomplished.

Although the Fed began its two-day meeting today, there weren't any economic releases. That may have weighed on participation, which was especially poor today -- less than 750 million shares were traded on the NYSE.

An auction of 2-year Notes drew a bid-to-cover ratio of 3.75, dollar demand of $131.3 billion, and an indirect bidder participation rate of 32.9%. For comparison, an average of the past six auctions results in a bid-to-cover ratio of 3.58, dollar demand of $125.4 billion, and an indirect bidder rate of 33.1%.

Advancing Sectors: Consumer Discretionary +0.4%, Health Care +0.1%, Tech +0.1%, Industrials +0.1%
Unchanged: Materials
Declining Sectors: Financial -0.2%, Energy -0.3%, Consumer Staples -0.4%, Utilities -0.8%, Telecom -1.3%DJ30 -33.07 NASDAQ +2.47 NQ100 -0.1% R2K +0.7% SP400 +0.4% SP500 -1.37 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1491/1.65 bln/1000 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1619/742 mln/1376

7:34AM Verizon misses by $0.01, reports revs in-line (VZ) 38.40 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.52 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.53; revenues rose 7.7% year/year to $28.44 bln vs the $28.4 bln consensus. "Verizon finished 2011 very strong, both in terms of revenue growth and by delivering an 18.2 percent total return to our shareholders for the full year, and the company has great momentum for 2012... Verizon Wireless produced particularly strong growth in the fourth quarter. While that diluted wireless margins in the short term, it is good news for revenue and margin growth over the long term, particularly given our leadership in the rapidly developing 4G LTE ecosystem."

6:53AM EMC beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides FY12 EPS in-line, revs in-line (EMC) 23.44 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.49 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.46; revenues rose 14.0% year/year to $5.57 bln vs the $5.49 bln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY12, sees EPS of $1.70, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.71 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY12 revs of $22 bln vs. $22.02 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. EMC expects to repurchase $700 mln of the co's common stock in 2012. "We expect to grow over two times faster than our estimate of IT spending growth [FY12]."

Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC) announced the immediate availability of Low Power, High Speed, and Mini Package additions to the LatticeECP3 FPGA family.

1:23AM Semtech Plans to Acquire Gennum Corp for ~$494 mln; expected to be accretive by more than $0.20 in FY13 (SMTC) 26.89 : Co and Gennum Corp, announce they have entered into a definitive arrangement agreement for Semtech to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Gennum for a total consideration of ~CAD500 mln (~$494 mln). Co estimates that the acquisition will result in at least $15 mln in annual synergies, which Semtech expects will be achieved in full in Semtech's fiscal year 2014. Management expects that the acquisition will be accretive to non-GAAP earnings per share by more than 20 cents in fiscal year 2013 and more than 40 cents in fiscal year 2014. Management believes the acquisition of Gennum will extend co's leading portfolio of infrastructure products to the metro, access and enterprise computing markets and will enable Semtech to provide its customers with more platforms to differentiate their own high-speed voice, video and data transmission products.

09:32 am Western Digital upgraded to Buy at Needham;: . Needham upgrades WDC to Buy from Hold and sets target of $41 as a majority of the concerns leading to its November downgrade have been alleviated (mainly the profitability/cash burn of the company post-flood). Firm's concerns around the complexity of closing the HGST on time were well-founded in November. Bottomline, the unique supply/demand situation in the HDD industry today, combined with the pending consolidation, create a tide that will continue to lift all boats including WDC.

Western Digital (WDC $36.99 +2.29) reported second quarter earnings of $1.51 per share, excluding charges and expenses related to the Thailand flooding and the planned acquisition of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, $0.80 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.71, while revenues fell 19.4% year/year to $2 billion versus the $1.84 billion consensus. "We have made substantial progress in restoring WD's manufacturing capabilities in the aftermath of the historic flooding in Thailand, and this is reflected in our second quarter financial results and in the resumption of our operations there. While much work remains to be done over the next several quarters to reach our pre-flood manufacturing capabilities, the progress thus far is significantly ahead of our original expectations and is a tribute to the dedicated and effective actions of our employees, contractors and Thai government agencies, the efforts of our supply partners and the support of our customers. We are grateful to all involved in this extraordinary effort."

Texas Instruments (TXN $33.05 -0.14) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.48 per share, excluding $0.23 in charges, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ consensus of $0.39, while revenues fell 3.0% year/year to $3.42 billion versus the $3.26 billion consensus. The company issued guidance for the first quarter with EPS of $0.26-0.34, may not be comparable to the $0.39 consensus, EPS will be negatively impacted by about 9 cents from $170 million of total acquisition-related charges that will include about $150 million of acquisition charges and, additionally, about $20 million included in cost of revenue; restructuring charges will negatively impact EPS by about 1 cent. The company sees first quarter revenues of $3.02-3.28 billion versus the $3.22 billion consensus Estimate. Baseband revenue is expected to decline from $279 million in the fourth quarter to about $75 million in the first quarter, and range from $50 million to $100 million in each remaining quarter of 2012. In addition to financial results, TI also announced plans to close two older semiconductor manufacturing facilities in Hiji, Japan, and Houston, Texas, over the course of the next 18 months. Production from these sites will be moved to other more advanced TI facilities. "Revenue in the fourth quarter was higher than expected across all our major product lines, reinforcing our belief that we're at the bottom of this downturn. I'm pleased to say that despite the downturn and the lower factory utilization that came with it, cash flow from operations was strong and well above levels as compared with similar points in prior downturns."

11:00 am Verizon Wireless Down 2% Following Earnings Results (VZ)
Earlier this morning, Verizon (VZ $37.52 -0.88) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.52 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.53; revenues rose 7.7% year/year to $28.44 bln vs the $28.4 bln consensus. "Verizon finished 2011 very strong, both in terms of revenue growth and by delivering an 18.2 percent total return to our shareholders for the full year, and the company has great momentum for 2012... Verizon Wireless produced particularly strong growth in the fourth quarter. While that diluted wireless margins in the short term, it is good news for revenue and margin growth over the long term, particularly given our leadership in the rapidly developing 4G LTE ecosystem."

10:50 am Polycom up 16% On Earnings/Guidance Results (PLCM)
After the close yesterday, Polycom (PLCM $21.37 +2.95) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.41 per share, $0.12 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.29; revenues rose 19.7% year/year to $407 mln vs the $400.81 mln consensus.

"2011 closed strong with full-year revenues of $1.5 billion, driven by particular strength in sales of the Polycom RealPresence Platform and broad geographic growth... Enabled by Polycom's innovations, we experienced unprecedented demand for our secure, interoperable, unified collaboration solutions by both enterprise and service provider customers. Leveraging our industry-leading technology and powerful network of strategic partners, Polycom's cloud, mobility, and software-driven infrastructure strategy is beginning to yield and we look forward to another year of solid growth in 2012."

Polycom issues guidance on earnings call: Sees Q1 revs down 2% from Q4, which equates to $398.9 mln vs $397.82 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees non-GAAP operating margin of 18.0%.

10:43 am Texas Instruments Down Modestly On Earnings Results (TXN)
Late yesterday, Texas Instruments (TXN $32.99 -0.20) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.48 per share, excluding $0.23 in charges, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.39; revenues fell 3.0% year/year to $3.42 bln vs the $3.26 bln consensus.

For the first quarter, the company issued first quarter earnings guidance of $0.26 to $0.34, which may not be comparable to $0.39 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, EPS will be negatively impacted by about 9 cents from $170 mln of total acquisition-related charges that will include about $150 mln of acquisition charges and, additionally, about $20 million included in cost of revenue; restructuring charges will negatively impact EPS by about 1 cent.

On the too line, the company sees revenues of $3.02 billion to $3.28 billion versus the $3.22 billion Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Baseband revenue is expected to decline from $279 million in the fourth quarter to about $75 million in the first quarter, and range from $50 million to $100 million in each remaining quarter of 2012. In addition to financial results, TI also announced plans to close two older semiconductor manufacturing facilities in Hiji, Japan, and Houston, Texas, over the course of the next 18 months. Production from these sites will be moved to other more advanced TI facilities. "Revenue in the fourth quarter was higher than expected across all our major product lines, reinforcing our belief that we're at the bottom of this downturn. I'm pleased to say that despite the downturn and the lower factory utilization that came with it, cash flow from operations was strong and well above levels as compared with similar points in prior downturns."