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ER Friday, March 8

Pandora leads tech gains; Facebook slips(9:47 am ET)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Pandora Media Inc. led a solid gain for tech stocks Friday morning. Pandora (P: news, chart, profile) jumped more than 24% after the online radio firm issued a better-than-expected forecast for the current quarter, and said CEO Joe Kennedy planned to step down once a replacement is found. The Nasdaq Composite (COMP: news, chart, profile) rose by 0.3% to 3,241 while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX: news, chart, profile) fell by a fraction. Facebook (FB: news, chart, profile) was among the morning's decliners, falling about 1.5% after s strong gain the previous session that was propelled by changes the company announced for its News Feed tool. Texas Instruments (TXN: news, chart, profile) shares slipped after the chip maker raised the bottom end of its guidance range for the current quarter.

Skullcandy crashes on forecast, downgrades(9:41 am ET)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Skullcandy (SKUL: news, chart, profile) shares crashed more than 16% to $5.59 in early trades on Friday after the headphone maker projected a loss for the first quarter and warned of a sales decline for the full year as it works to revamp its business. The warning caused at least four brokers, including Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, Piper Jaffray, Raymond James and D.A. Davidson, to downgrade Skullcandy to sell ratings while three others lowered their ratings to neutral. Robert Ohmes of BofA cited "a lack of earnings visibility and expected earnings uncertainty over the next two years" as the reason for his downgrade. The disclosures were made as part of Skullcandy's fourth-quarter earnings report on Thursday afternoon.
Thursday, March 7

Skullcandy shares sink as losses predicted(5:29 pm ET)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Skullcandy Inc. (SKUL: news, chart, profile) saw its shares quickly turn into the red Thursday afternoon after the headphone maker warned in its fourth-quarter earnings call that it would lose money in the current period as it works to revive its business. The stock had previously jumped nearly 9% after sales for the fourth quarter came in higher than expected. The shares were last trading down more than 6% after the company predicted a loss in the range of 25-30 cents per share for the current period; analysts had been expecting earnings of 5 cents a share for the quarter.

Workday shares slip from big run following results(4:50 pm ET)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Shares of Workday Inc. (WDAY: news, chart, profile) slipped nearly 3% in after-hours trades Thursday after the provider of cloud-based enterprise software services reported fourth-quarter results that included a forecast that was slightly below Wall Street's expectations. The stock had surged by 28% since mid-February before the results were announced. For the period ended Jan. 31, Workday reported a net loss of $30.9 million, or 19 cents a share, compared to a net loss of $23.6 million, or 77 cents a share, for the same period last year. Net losses on a non-GAAP basis were 16 cents a share for the recent quarter. Revenue jumped 89% to $81.5 million. Analysts were looking for an adjusted loss of 21 cents per share on revenue of $78.2 million, according to consensus estimates from FactSet. The company projected a revenue range of $83 million to $87 million for the current quarter; the midpoint of that forecast was slightly below Wall Street's target of $86.1 million.

Skullcandy shares jump as sales beat targets(4:29 pm ET)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Skullcandy Inc. reported higher-than-expected sales for the fourth quarter on Thursday afternoon, sending the headphone maker's shares jumping nearly 9% in after-hours trades. For the period ended Dec. 31, Skullcandy (SKUL: news, chart, profile) reported net income of $11.4 million, or 41 cents per share, compared to net income of $12.3 million, or 44 cents per share, for the same period the previous year. Adjusted earnings came in at 47 cents per share - in line with Wall Street's projections. Sales grew 21% to $101 million, beating the consensus forecast of $98.4 million, according to FactSet.

Pandora's loss grows, but sales rise 54%(4:12 pm ET)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Pandora Media Inc. (P: news, chart, profile) on Thursday reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss of $14.6 million, or 9 cents a share, on revenue of $125.1 million. During the same period a year ago, the Internet radio company lost $8.2 million, or 5 cents a share, on sales of $81.3 million. Excluding one-time items, Pandora would have lost 4 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast Pandora to lose 5 cents a share on $122.8 million in revenue. Pandora also forecast a first-quarter loss, excluding one-time items, of 10 cents to 13 cents a share, on sales in a range of $120 million to $125 million. Pandora's shares climbed as much as 17% in after-hours trading following the release of the company's results and outlook.

Ciena leads techs; Facebook rises ahead of event(9:46 am ET)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Sharp gains by Ciena Corp. (CIEN: news, chart, profile) following the network equipment maker's better-than-expected results led tech stocks higher on Thursday morning. Ciena shares were up more than 13% in early trades, with peer stock JDS Uniphase (JDSU: news, chart, profile) jumping more than 5%. The Nasdaq Composite (COMP: news, chart, profile) made a fractional gain while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX: news, chart, profile) rose by 0.6%. Facebook (FB: news, chart, profile) shares rose by a fraction ahead of planned event at the social network's Silicon Valley headquarters to show off changes to its News Feed. Apple (AAPL: news, chart, profile) shares ticked down about 0.7% in early trades.
Wednesday, March 6

Fresh Market hits 52-week low on weak outlook(10:04 am ET)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Fresh Market (TFM: news, chart, profile) shares tumbled 12% to $37.60 Wednesday morning, extending their three-month decline and hitting a 52-week low, after the specialty grocer missed Wall Street's fourth-quarter targets on several fronts. North Carolina-based Fresh Market reported a sudden slowdown in sales during the fourth quarter and issued a tepid 2013 forecast. Comparable store sales for the quarter grew 1.9%, below the 4.2% growth analysts polled by FactSet had forecast. Operating profit margin and earnings also came in below estimates. For fiscal 2013, Fresh Market projected a profit between $1.51 and $1.58 a share and comparable store sales growth of 2% to 4%. Analysts were looking for earnings of $1.68 a share and sales growth at existing stores of 4.7%. Fresh Market shares are down 25% since early December.

Staples net off; adjusted profit beats; payout up(6:27 am ET)
TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Staples Inc., (SPLS: news, chart, profile) the Framingham, Mass., office-supplies retailer, reported a drop in fiscal-fourth-quarter net income and a stronger-than-expected advance in adjusted profit, and it lifted the quarterly dividend 9%. For the period ended Feb. 2, Staples earned $78.1 million, or 12 cents a share, compared with $283.6 million, or 41 cents, in the year-earlier quarter. Adjusted earnings from continuing operations were 46 cents a share versus 41 cents. Sales advanced 3% to $6.57 billion from $6.37 billion. A survey of analysts by FactSet produced consensus estimates of profit of 45 cents a share on sales of $6.71 billion. Chairman and Chief Executive Ron Sargent said in a Wednesday statement that the company managed costs well in a "challenging sales environment." Staples declared a dividend of 12 cents a share, up from 11 cents, payable April 18 to holders of record March 29.
Monday, March 4

HSBC shares fall over 2% as it posts lower profit(4:12 am ET)
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Shares of HSBC (HBC: news, chart, profile) fell over 2% in London on Monday after the investment bank reported a 2012 net profit of $14.02 billion, down from $16.8 billion a year earlier. Adjusted earnings came to $20.6 billion, down 6% from a year earlier. Analysts polled by Reuters were looking for a full-year profit of $22.7 billion. Revenue rose 7% to $63.5 billion. HSBC said it posted a record year in its commercial banking division and also raised its final dividend of the year 29% to 18 cents a share.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/markets/earningswatch.asp


On Monday, the S&P 500 settled with a gain of 0.5% despite spending the majority of the day in negative territory. The first session of the week began amid cautious trade resulting from news out of China where officials announced steps to curtail the rapid rise in the country's housing prices. The news contributed to a slightly lower open for the U.S. session, which lacked any notable economic data. Similarly, earnings reaction was rather muted with only a handful of names reporting their quarterly results. Apple (AAPL 431.72, +1.14) lost 2.4%, and its shares filled the gap which resulted from the company's January 2012 earnings report.

Tuesday began with all eyes turned to the Dow Jones Industrial Average after the blue chip index ended Monday's session just 37 points below its all-time closing high. However, the anticipation was promptly removed after the bell when equities jumped higher and the Dow marked its fresh all-time best at 14,286.37. Elsewhere, the Dow Jones Transportation Average marked an all-time high of its own. The bellwether complex settled higher by 1.5% thanks to outperformance from freight carriers and shipping services. Con-way (CNW 36.64, +1.03) and FedEx (FDX 107.80, +0.84) finished with respective gains of 3.9% and 2.0%.

Wednesday's session began on a positive note, but the initial strength was unable to hold throughout the day. The Dow managed to settle near its highs while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished near their lows. Consumer discretionary shares underperformed and Staples (SPLS 12.96, +0.20) fell 7.2% after its quarterly report beat on earnings and missed on revenue. Meanwhile, the broader SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 69.51, +0.65) slid 0.4%.

On Thursday, the major averages ended the session on a higher note after spending the day in a narrow range. The Nasdaq settled as the top performing index with a gain of 0.3%. Several networking-related names outperformed after Ciena (CIEN 17.15, -0.38) reported first quarter earnings well ahead of its Capital IQ consensus estimate. The Dow Jones Transportation Average extended its decline since marking fresh highs, and ended the session down nearly 2.0% from the all-time best notched at Wednesday's open.

http://finance.yahoo.com/marketupdate/update







J. C. Penney (JCP) 10% owner Vornado Realty Trust (VNO) sold 10 mln shares at $16.03 on 3/4, worth ~$160 mln
Starbucks (SBUX) CEO sold 1.0 mln shares at $56.65-57.35 on 3/5-3/6, worth ~$57.2 mln