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From Briefing.com: 4:16PM AXT misses by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs above consensus (AXTI) 5.10 +0.09 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.08 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.09; revenues fell 21.2% year/year to $21.2 mln vs the $21.34 mln consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.07-0.11 vs. $0.09 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $21-24 mln vs. $20.90 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:13PM Rubicon Tech misses by $0.04, misses on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (RBCN) 12.17 -0.21 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.04 per share, $0.04 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.08; revenues fell 34.2% year/year to $19.4 mln vs the $21.13 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of ($0.14) - ($0.10) vs. $0.13 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $8-12 mln vs. $24.62 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. The co also believes that as pricing and utilization improve we will gradually move back to their targeted gross margin of over 40 percent. Co also says "We expect capacity utilization among the LED chip makers to continue to improve throughout the first half of this year, looking beyond the first half of 2012, the outlook for sapphire substrates is for very strong growth, as LEDs gain momentum in the general lighting market, where LED penetration presently is only in the single digits, and as LED penetration into the auto market continues and the backlighting market strengthens. Rubicon continues to be the market leader in terms of capability and cost, and we are well positioned for the market rebound.. "

4:13PM Marvell beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line (MRVL) 16.05 +0.05 : Reports Q4 (Jan) earnings of $0.21 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.18; revenues fell 17.5% year/year to $743 mln vs the $740.2 mln consensus. Non-GAAP gross margin for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 was 54.5 percent, compared to 56.8 percent for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 and 59.4 percent for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011. Non-GAAP gross margin for fiscal year 2012 was 57 percent compared to 59.7 percent for fiscal year 2011.

4:07PM Univ Elec beats by $0.04, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides FY12 EPS in-line, revs above consensus (UEIC) 19.66 +0.68 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.40 per share, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.36; revenues rose 14.7% year/year to $117.6 mln vs the $116.22 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.19-0.25 vs. $0.23 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $104-110 mln vs. $109.74 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues mixed guidance for FY12, sees EPS of $1.65-1.85 vs. $1.74 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY12 revs of $500-520 mln vs. $496.16 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:30 pm : After an early slip stocks battled back to book solid gains. The effort resulted in a multi-month closing high for the S&P 500 and a multi-year closing high for the Dow.

Stocks were without leadership in the early going as market participants had an underwhelming response to news that initial weekly jobless claims remain near four-year lows. The latest tally totaled 351,000, which is unchanged week over week, and generally on par with the 355,000 initial claims that had been broadly expected.

Overnight news that the European Union expects eurozone GDP for 2012 to decline by 0.3% instead of expand by 0.5%, as had been previously projected, seemed to undermine sentiment, but only seemed to delay a rally by the euro. By session's end the euro was sporting a 0.9% gain at $1.337.

Although the initial inclination among traders was to sell, buyers were quick to step back in with a bid. Momentum petered out when the S&P 500 came in contact with its weekly closing high, but a late lift took the broad market measure to its best close in nearly 10 months and within a fraction of its best close since 2008.

Financials were the session's top performers, although the sector had a relatively sluggish start. Diversified financial services plays and brokerage issues led the sector's advance in a strong follow-up to a weak performance in the prior session. Collectively, financials climbed 1.0% for the day.

Shares of struggling retailer Sears (SHLD 61.80, +9.72) surged as many traders cheered the company's strategy in spite of a deep earnings miss, contributing to the Nasdaq's outperformance. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 27.05, -1.89), Kohl's (KSS 49.11, -3.08), and Target (TGT 54.50, +1.53) all posted upside earnings surprises, but each issued downside guidance.

Even though the latest weekly oil inventory report's bigger-than-expected build of 1.63 million barrels was regarded as a bearish cue, oil prices extended their upward trend by climbing 1.4% to set a new multi-month closing high of $107.89 per barrel. The energy component's climb comes in conjunction with geopolitical concerns in Iran.

A strong auction of 7-year Notes brought Treasuries into closer focus today. The sale drew a bid-to-cover ratio of 3.11, dollar demand of $90.2 billion, and an indirect bidder participation rate of 41.8%. For comparison, an average of the past six auctions results in a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.83, dollar demand of $82.1 billion, and an indirect bidder rate of 34.9%. The benchmark 10-year Note briefly saw its yield dip below 2.00% before inching back up to that mark by session's end.

Advancing Sectors: Financials +1.0%, Telecom +0.7%, Consumer Discretionary +0.5%, Consumer Staples +0.5%, Energy +0.5%, Tech +0.5%, Industrials +0.1%, Materials +0.1%, Health Care +0.1%
Declining Sectors: Utilities -0.2%DJ30 +46.02 NASDAQ +23.81 NQ100 +0.6% R2K +1.8% SP400 +0.9% SP500 +5.80 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1818/1.73 bln/735 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2164/763 mln/843

Cisco (CSCO) and NetApp (NTAP) are announcing the availability of a Cisco Validated Design for the FlexPod shared infrastructure and Microsoft (MSFT) private cloud.

7:23AM Trina Solar misses by $0.51, beats on revs; guides Q1, FY12 shipment volume (TSL) 9.76 : Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.93 per share, $0.51 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.42); revenues fell 32.1% year/year to $435.7 mln vs the $348.84 mln consensus; shipments 425 MW. Guidance: For the first quarter of 2012, the co expects its shipment volume for PV modules to be between 400 MW and 430 MW. The co expects its overall gross margin for Q1 will be in the low teens in percentage terms, taking into account wafer and cell requirements outsourced to third party suppliers to meet demand in excess of its internal capacity. Such guidance is based on the average exchange rate between the Euro and U.S. dollar from January 1, 2012 to February 23, 2012. For FY12, the co expects total PV module shipments between 2.0 GW and 2.1 GW, which would represent an increase of 32.5% to 39.1%, respectively, from 2011.

6:58AM LTX-Credence misses by $0.04, misses on revs; guides Q3 EPS, revs below consensus (LTXC) 7.25 : Reports Q2 (Jan) loss of $0.20 per share, $0.04 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.16); revenues fell 54.1% year/year to $24.1 mln vs the $28.11 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of ($0.12)-(0.17), excluding non-recurring items, vs. ($0.07) Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $28-32 mln vs. $35.50 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. "While visibility remains limited, certain customers and segments in our target markets are showing signs of recovery. In particular, semiconductor companies with exposure to the mobility space are adding test capacity."

ARM (ARMH) and MediaTek announced an extension to their long-standing relationship with a new MediaTek license for a broad range of market leading, high-performance ARM Intellectual Property.

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ $26.99 -1.95) reported first quarter earnings of $0.92 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ consensus of $0.87, while revenues fell 7.0% year/year to $30.04 billion versus the $30.75 billion consensus. The company issued downside guidance for the second quarter with EPS of $0.88-0.91, excluding non-recurring items versus the $0.95 consensus. The company reaffirmed guidance for fiscal year 2012 with EPS of at least $4.00, excluding non-recurring items, versus the $4.10 consensus. In the Americas, first quarter revenue was $13.2 billion, down 9% year over year and down 8% when adjusted for the effects of currency. Europe, the Middle East and Africa revenue of $11.7 billion was down 4% year over year and down 5% when adjusted for the effects of currency. Revenue in Asia Pacific was $5.2 billion, representing a 10% decrease year over year and down 12% when adjusted for the effects of currency. Revenue in HP's commercial businesses declined 4% year over year. Revenue in HP's consumer businesses, within PSG and IPG, was collectively down 23% year over year. Co returned $1.0 billion in cash to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases.

Analog Devices (ADI $39.85 +0.03) reported first quarter earnings of $0.46 per share, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.48, while revenues fell 11.1% year/year to $648 million versus the $662.28 million consensus. The company issued downside guidance for the second quarter with EPS of $0.48-0.53 versus the $0.55 consensus and revenues of $655-675 million versus the $683.61 million consensus.

Juniper Networks (JNPR $23.04 -0.75) was downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at FBR Capital and the firm lowered their target to $21 from $25 based on overwhelming evidence of an increasing number of product delays and performance issues in multiple new and existing products, which will respectively diminish Juniper's ability to reaccelerate revenue and earnings growth in 2012.

11:49 am Hewlett-Packard Down 4% On Earnings/Guidance Results (HPQ)
Late yesterday, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ $27.75 -1.19) reported Q1 (Jan) earnings of $0.92 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.87; revenues fell 7.0% year/year to $30.04 bln vs the $30.75 bln consensus.

For the second quarter, the company expects to see earnings of $0.88-0.91, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.95 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co reaffirms guidance for FY12, sees EPS of at least $4.00, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $4.10 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. In the Americas, first quarter revenue was $13.2 billion, down 9% year over year and down 8% when adjusted for the effects of currency.

Europe, the Middle East and Africa revenue of $11.7 billion was down 4% year over year and down 5% when adjusted for the effects of currency. Revenue in Asia Pacific was $5.2 billion, representing a 10% decrease year over year and down 12% when adjusted for the effects of currency. Revenue in HP's commercial businesses declined 4% year over year. Revenue in HP's consumer businesses, within PSG and IPG, was collectively down 23% year over year. Co returned $1.0 billion in cash to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases.

11:29 am S&P Tech Sector Trading Higher And Ahead Of The S&P 500
The tech sector is trading higher today, slightly ahead of a roughly flat broader market. Semiconductors are showing relative weakness in the tech space, however, with the Philly Semi Index trading 0.2% lower. WFR (-3.5%) is a notable laggard in the chip index, while IDCC (+4.3%) is showing strength. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 0.3% higher, while the NASDAQ and the QQQ are 0.7% higher on the session. Among tech bellwethers, IBM (+2.4%) is showing notable strength today, while GOOG (-0.3%) is under pressure.

In earnings, HPQ (-5.5%) reported a mixed Q1 and guided Q2 lower and reaffirmed FY12 guidance. ADI (-0.7%) and MANT (-1.4%) posted quaterly misses and issued downside guidance, while AVGO (+2.8%) and PCS (+9.6%) topped quaterly estimates.

Among rumors, there's a newsletter out today discussing M&A for ASIA (-0.9%).

Among notable analyst upgrades this morning, ERIC (+3.6%) was upgraded to Overweight at JPMorgan and LVLT (+8.9%) was upgraded to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Among downgrades, ITRI (-2.1%) was downgraded to Underperform at BofA/Merrill, JNPR (-2.0%) was downgraded to Mkt Perform at FBR Capital, SINA (-0.5%) was downgraded to Equal Weight at Barclays and MELI (-1.1%) was downgraded to Neutral at JP Morgan.

CRM (+1.4%) and TIVO (+1.5%) are some notable names in tech scheduled to report results today after the close.