From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Although Apple was a strong performer following news of its dividend and share repurchase plan, Financials were the primary drivers behind the broad market's move to a new multi-year high. Momentum slowed in late afternoon action, however.
Early trade was largely lackluster amid a lack of actionable headlines and general weakness among Europe's major bourses. Market participants were also slow to take encouragement from news that heavyweight Apple (AAPL 601.10, +15.53) plans to open its coffers, currently stuffed with close to $100 billion in cash, to help fund a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share starting in the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2012 and a $10 billion share repurchase program commencing in fiscal 2013. A positive response to the news helped the stock settle above $600, extending the torrid run that has made it the largest company by market cap -- shares are now up nearly 50% year to date.
Financials finished the day with a 0.6% gain, which is less than half of what it had achieved at its session high. The sector's run higher helped lift the S&P 500 above 1412 for the first time since mid-2008. However, when Financials faltered in afternoon trade the broad market followed suit to finish shy of its session high.
Bank stocks were the primary source of the swing. They initially climbed higher without much regard for the weakness displayed by bank stocks listed on Europe's major bourses this morning. Their upward push took the KBW Bank Index to a gain greater than 1.5%, which came as a strong follow-up to its near 7% weekly gain, but then profit taking undercut the move. The KBW Bank Index ended the day with a more moderate gain of about 0.5%.
The Dow barely finished the day with a gain. Home Depot (HD 48.83, -0.22) hampered it during the day. The stock's weakness came alongside a disappointing monthly Housing Market Index reading from the NAHB.
Utilities suffered the only loss among the major sectors. They finished the day at session lows with a 0.5% loss. The defensive-oriented sector is now down nearly 4% year to date. No other sector is in the red in 2012.
The dollar endured some more selling, extending its decline from the near two-month high that it set last week. By session's end it was quoted with a loss of about 0.4% against a basket of major foreign currencies. The dollar's downturn helped support the commodity complex, such that the CRB Index booked a 0.5% gain.
Treasuries encountered more selling. The action lifted the yield on the benchmark 10-year Note closer to 2.40% before easing back as the stock market drifted lower in afternoon trade.
Advancing Sectors: Tech +0.8%, Energy +0.6%, Financials +0.6%, Materials +0.5%, Consumer Discretionary +0.5%, Industrials +0.1%, Telecom +0.1%, Consumer Staples +0.1%
Unchanged: Health Care
Declining Sectors: Utilities -0.5%DJ30 +6.51 NASDAQ +23.06 NQ100 +0.8% R2K +0.9% SP400 +0.2% SP500 +5.58 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1659/1.54 bln/901 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1884/721 mln/1106
4:38PM Ixia reaffirms 2012 Q1 revs guidance of $82-85 mln vs $83.6 mln Capital One IQ Consensus Est; announces CEO transition and appointment of Victor Alston as Chief Operating Officer (XXIA) 13.57 +0.91 : Co announced that Victor Alston has been appointed as Ixia's Chief Operating Officer and will stand for election to the Board of Directors at the Company's annual meeting of shareholders scheduled to be held on May 10, 2012. In addition, the Company announced that Atul Bhatnagar, the Co's President and CEO, will be leaving the Company effective as of the date of the annual meeting and will not stand for reelection to the Board. Ixia also announced that Mr. Alston will succeed Mr. Bhatnagar as President and CEO following Mr. Bhatnagar's departure from the Co. "The Co's sales activity for the first quarter of 2012 is tracking in accordance with expectations, and we expect our revenues for the current quarter to be in line with our previously stated guidance of $82 million to $85 million."
11:51AM Semiconductor Hldrs ETF edge above Feb peak (SMH) 35.59 +0.31 : Noted earlier that Semi SMH was displaying relative strength. The recent upside extension not only took out its morning peak but also exceeded its Feb high of 35.49 allowing it to set a new nine month high of 35.62 -- TSM +2%, TXN +1.8%, BRCM +2.3%, ASML +1%, AMAT +0.7%, ARMH +1.3%, ADI +1%, INTC -0.2%.
8:01AM Broadcom granted permanent injunction against Emulex (ELX) in patent infringement suit (BRCM) 37.81 : Co announced that the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California issued a decision granting Broadcom's request for a permanent injunction against certain products of Emulex Corporation (ELX) previously found to infringe two Broadcom patents. The permanent injunction will prohibit Emulex from importing, manufacturing, using and selling the enjoined products in the United States and from assisting others in doing the same. The injunction is subject to a "sunset" period. For the '150 patent, the sunset started on October 12, 2011 and will run until April 12, 2013. For the '691 patent, the sunset started on Dec 16, 2011 and will run until June 16, 2013. During the sunset period, Emulex will be permitted to continue certain sales of enjoined products, but only for use in customer devices for which the customer had placed a firm order for production quantities of affected Emulex products prior to the start of the sunset period. During the sunset period, Emulex will be required to pay Broadcom a royalty of 9 percent on those sales. Emulex also will be prohibited from competing for new design-wins with the enjoined products.
NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXPI) announced that China-based Ningbo Baishi Electric is the world's first CFL manufacturer to pass Stage 5 of the EU Ecodesign requirements for non-directional household lamps, which go into effect onSeptember 1, 2013.
AMD (AMD) announced worldwide availability of its full line of next generation AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series GPUs
Apple (AAPL $595.77 +9.10) announced plans to initiate a dividend and share repurchase program commencing later this year. The company planned to initiate a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share sometime in the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2012, which begins on July 1, 2012. Additionally, the company's Board of Directors has authorized a $10 billion share repurchase program commencing in the Company's fiscal 2013, which begins on September 30, 2012. The repurchase program is expected to be executed over three years, with the primary objective of neutralizing the impact of dilution from future employee equity grants and employee stock purchase programs. "We have used some of our cash to make great investments in our business through increased research and development, acquisitions, new retail store openings, strategic prepayments and capital expenditures in our supply chain, and building out our infrastructure. You'll see more of all of these in the future," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "Even with these investments, we can maintain a war chest for strategic opportunities and have plenty of cash to run our business. So we are going to initiate a dividend and share repurchase program." "Combining dividends, share repurchases, and cash used to net-share-settle vesting RSUs, we anticipate utilizing approximately $45 billion of domestic cash in the first three years of our programs," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. "We are extremely confident in our future and see tremendous opportunities ahead."
LDK Solor (LDK $4.84 -0.06) revised its fourth quarter guidance for revenue to be in the range of $440-450 million (versus the $435.9 million CIQ est), wafer shipments between 215 and 220 megawatts, cells and module shipments between 250-260 MW, in-house polysilicon production between 2,100-2,300 MT and in-house cell production between 130-150 MW. The company previously forecasted fourth quarter revenue to be in the range of $440-520 million with wafer shipments between 200-270 MW, and module shipments between 180-270 MW, in-house polysilicon production between 2,200-2,800 MT, in-house cell production between 220-250 MW. As a result of the rapidly declining market price for wafers and modules during the fourth quarter of 2011, the company expects to incur a write-down of inventories, realize impairment charges on contractual purchase agreements, and therefore, expects gross margin to be negative. In addition, some provisions for accounts receivable and fixed assets may also be required. For fiscal 2012, the company estimates its revenue in the range of $2.0-2.7 billion (versus $2.23 billion CIQ est).
Broadcom (BRCM $38.60 +0.81) announced that the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California issued a decision granting Broadcom's request for a permanent injunction against certain products of Emulex Corporation (ELX) previously found to infringe two Broadcom patents. The permanent injunction will prohibit Emulex from importing, manufacturing, using and selling the enjoined products in the United States and from assisting others in doing the same. The injunction is subject to a "sunset" period. For the '150 patent, the sunset started on October 12, 2011 and will run until April 12, 2013. For the '691 patent, the sunset started on Dec 16, 2011 and will run until June 16, 2013. During the sunset period, Emulex will be permitted to continue certain sales of enjoined products, but only for use in customer devices for which the customer had placed a firm order for production quantities of affected Emulex products prior to the start of the sunset period. During the sunset period, Emulex will be required to pay Broadcom a royalty of 9 percent on those sales. Emulex also will be prohibited from competing for new design-wins with the enjoined products.
Apple (AAPL 595.00 +9.38) target was raised to $700 from $635 at Mizuho. The firm expects the company to initiate a dividend and start buying back its stock. Additionally, given the strong reception to the iPad release and upcoming iPhone product cycle, they are raising our estimates. Their new target reflects strong market position and continued lead over its competition. They are raising iPad shipment assumptions for March to 12.5 mln from 10 mln and for FY12, they now expect co to sell ~62 mln units vs. 52 mln previously.
09:58 am Broadcom shares rise by 2% following news of injunction
Broadcom (BRCM $38.65 +0.84) announced that the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California issued a decision granting Broadcom's request for a permanent injunction against certain products of Emulex Corporation (ELX $10.35 +0.07) previously found to infringe two Broadcom patents. The permanent injunction will prohibit Emulex from importing, manufacturing, using and selling the enjoined products in the United States and from assisting others in doing the same.
The injunction is subject to a "sunset" period. For the '150 patent, the sunset started on October 12, 2011 and will run until April 12, 2013. For the '691 patent, the sunset started on Dec 16, 2011 and will run until June 16, 2013. During the sunset period, Emulex will be permitted to continue certain sales of enjoined products, but only for use in customer devices for which the customer had placed a firm order for production quantities of affected Emulex products prior to the start of the sunset period. During the sunset period, Emulex will be required to pay Broadcom a royalty of 9 percent on those sales. Emulex also will be prohibited from competing for new design-wins with the enjoined products.
09:35 am Apple shares trade higher by 2% following news of dividend and $10 billion share repurchase program
Apple (AAPL $596.75 +11.38) announced plans to initiate a dividend and share repurchase program commencing later this year. The company planned to initiate a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share sometime in the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2012, which begins on July 1, 2012. Additionally, the company's Board of Directors has authorized a $10 billion share repurchase program commencing in the Company's fiscal 2013, which begins on September 30, 2012. The repurchase program is expected to be executed over three years, with the primary objective of neutralizing the impact of dilution from future employee equity grants and employee stock purchase programs.
"We have used some of our cash to make great investments in our business through increased research and development, acquisitions, new retail store openings, strategic prepayments and capital expenditures in our supply chain, and building out our infrastructure. You'll see more of all of these in the future," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "Even with these investments, we can maintain a war chest for strategic opportunities and have plenty of cash to run our business. So we are going to initiate a dividend and share repurchase program." "Combining dividends, share repurchases, and cash used to net-share-settle vesting RSUs, we anticipate utilizing approximately $45 billion of domestic cash in the first three years of our programs," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. "We are extremely confident in our future and see tremendous opportunities ahead."
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