From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The S&P 500 settled lower by 0.4% to register its third consecutive decline. The benchmark index fell to its lows during the first hour of action before spending the remainder of the session in a slow climb.
Stocks sold off at the open after Asian indices endured a downbeat session with Japan's Nikkei falling 4.0% as dollar/yen continued its recent weakness. The pair fell below 97.00 into the Asian close and additional selling during the U.S. session pressured it into the 96.50 area.
The relative strength of most countercyclical sectors helped the benchmark index erase about half of its losses during the afternoon. Health care and telecom services ended little changed while utilities registered a modest gain of 0.5%. For its part, the consumer staples sector (-0.5%) lagged.
Although the S&P was able to trim its losses, the index could not regain its flat line as the underperformance of influential cyclical sectors weighed. Financials and discretionary shares both lost near 0.8%. In addition, the industrial sector outperformed with a loss of 0.2%, but transportation companies lagged notably.
The Dow Jones Transportation Average fell 0.7% as trucking companies led to the downside. CH Robinson (CHRW 56.31, -3.27) tumbled 5.5% after missing on earnings and revenue. Peer YRC Worldwide (YRCW 23.52, -5.06) also endured a rough session after it too reported disappointing results.
Elsewhere, most major bank shares registered losses and Bank of America (BAC 14.53, -0.11) slid 0.8% after the Department of Justice filed a pair of lawsuits alleging the bank has engaged in investor fraud when selling $850 million in residential mortgage-backed securities.
Also of note, the discretionary sector displayed broad weakness with notable losses among home builders and retailers. The iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 21.41, -0.49) slumped 2.2% and the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 80.78, -1.19) lost 1.5%.
Treasuries registered modest gains and the benchmark 10-yr yield fell five basis points to 2.60%.
So far, this week has featured two light-volume sessions and today was not much different. With 629 million shares traded on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, today's final tally came up short of the 50-day average, which sits near 763 million.
Today's economic news was limited to just two data points. The weekly MBA Mortgage Index ticked up 0.2% to follow seven consecutive contractionary readings, including last week's decline of 3.7%.
Separately, June consumer credit increased by $13.8 billion, which follows the prior month's increase of $17.5 billion, and is higher than the $16.0 billion that had been broadly expected among economists polled by Briefing.com.
Tomorrow, weekly initial claims will be reported at 8:30 ET.
The U.S. Treasury will auction $16 billion in 30-yr bonds.DJ30 -48.07 NASDAQ -11.76 SP500 -6.46 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 817/1.62 bln/1663 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 903/628.8 mln/2098
3:30 pm :
Sep crude oil declined for a fourth consecutive session as investors reacted to inventory data that showed a draw of 1.32 mln barrels when a draw of 1.2-1.5 bln was expected. The energy component slipped to a session low of $104.16 per barrel after trading as high as $105.53 per barrel. It eventually settled with a 0.9% loss at $104.37 per barrel.
Sep natural gas spent its entire session in negative territory. It retreated from its session high of $3.29 per MMBtu and settled 2.1% lower at $3.25 per MMBtu, just above its session low of $3.24 per MMBtu.
Dec gold erased early morning losses as it gained support from a weaker dollar index. The yellow metal came off its session low of $1275.10 per ounce and climbed as high as $1289.00 per ounce. It booked a 0.2% gain as it settled at $1284.70 per ounce.
Sep silver spent afternoon pit trade chopping around near the unchanged level after trading as low as $19.24 per ounce earlier in the session. It eventually settled with a 0.1% loss at $19.50 per ounce.
4:32PM TriQuint Semi acquires CAP Wireless and its Spatium technology; terms not disclosed (TQNT) 7.68 -0.25 :
4:32PM Novatel Wireless misses by $0.09, misses on revs; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs in-line (NVTL) 3.61 -0.46 : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.20 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.09 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.11); revenues fell 11.1% year/year to $91.12 mln vs the $93.23 mln consensus.
Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of ($0.14)-(0.02), excluding non-recurring items, vs. ($0.08) Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $90-100 mln vs. $94.83 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co sees Q3 non-GAAP gross margin of 21-22%.
4:20PM Rubicon Tech misses by $0.05, misses on revs; guides Q3 EPS below consensus (RBCN) 9.18 -0.22 : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.26 per share, $0.05 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.21); revenues fell 38.2% year/year to $10.5 mln vs the $10.8 mln consensus.
Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of ($0.24) - ($0.20) vs. ($0.11) Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
"We saw stronger demand for two- and four-inch core from the LED market in the second quarter. Orders were up significantly and pricing for these products increased by approximately 10 percent. This is the first time in two years that sapphire pricing has increased." Changes in market pricing are usually reflected in the Company's financial results in the following quarter due to the lead time on customer orders, therefore, changes in market pricing in the second quarter will be reflected in third quarter financial performance. The Company reported that demand for two- and four-inch core remains robust and that pricing has continued to rise in the third quarter."
Wind River, a subsidiary of Intel (INTC), is working with PATEO to deliver iOS device connectivity for Android-based in-vehicle infotainment systems.
Peregrine Semiconductor (PSMI) and LG Electronics teamed up to develop the high-performance antenna tuning design solution in the LG Optimus G Pro smartphone that was recently introduced to the Korean market.
Ciena (CIEN) is collaborating with CANARIE, Internet2 and StarLight to build the industry's first network that unites all of the key packet, optical and software building blocks required to demonstrate and prove the benefits of software-defined, multi-layer wide area networks.
CIEN +3.3% (following FNSR guidance)
EVault, a Seagate (STX) co, announced that a new strategic partnership with Hitachi Data Systems allows Hitachi TrueNorth partners to deliver cloud-based backup services by leveraging EVault SaaS and EVault Endpoint Protection in select Asia Pacific countries.
Microsoft (MSFT) announced that Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance is deploying ~ 30,000 Windows 8 tablets as new sales devices for its sales personnel under close cooperation between Fujitsu (FJTSY) and Microsoft Japan Co. This is Japan's largest and one of the world's largest deployments of Windows 8 tablets this year.
6:36AM Advanced Semi reported July 2013 revs of NT$17.53 bln, up 11.8% y/y, up 5.6% sequentially (ASX) 4.02 :
6:24AM SunEdison misses by $0.06, beats on revs (SUNE) 9.73 : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.19 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.13); non-gaap revenues fell 47.3% year/year to $491.6 mln vs the $438.1 mln consensus.
Solar Energy recognized non-GAAP revenue related to 51 MW of solar energy systems, interconnected 22 MW and ended the quarter with 200 MW under construction.
"Business conditions in the second quarter remained challenging, but I am optimistic regarding our prospects for growth through the remainder of this year and into next...Although the semiconductor wafer market continues to be in an extended downturn, our second quarter Solar Materials performance improved. Solar Energy posted sequentially higher non-GAAP sales, pipeline and backlog, and remains well positioned to capture a disproportionate share of the solar market going forward. We remain committed to maintaining a healthy balance sheet, achieving profitability and generating strong returns for our shareholders,"
Solar Energy ended the 2013 second quarter with a project pipeline of 2.9 GW, up 218 MW compared to the prior quarter and unchanged from the year ago period. Backlog at June 30, 2013 was 1.0 GW, an increase of 119 MW compared to the prior quarter.
Q3 Guidance Metrics: Semiconductor Materials revenue between $230 mln and $250 mln. Solar energy systems total non-GAAP sales volume in the range of 60 MW to 100 MW Solar energy systems. MW retained on the balance sheet between 0 MW and 10 MW Fully developed solar energy systems average project pricing between $3.25/watt and $3.50/watt.
FY13 Guidance Metrics: Semiconductor Materials revenue between $940 mln and $980 mln. Solar energy systems total non-GAAP sales volume in the range of 430 MW to 500 MW. Solar energy systems MW retained on the balance sheet between 50 MW and 100 MW Total solar energy systems average project pricing between $3.10/watt and $3.40/watt.
07:57 am First Solar shares fall 7% following miss on EPS
First Solar (FSLR $43.35 -3.40) reported second quarter earnings of $0.39 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which missed expectations, while revenues fell 45.7% year/year to $520 which also missed expectations. The sequential decrease in net sales is primarily attributable to lower systems business project revenues as well as lower module-only sales volume to third-parties.
Compared to the second quarter of 2012, the decrease in net sales is primarily attributable to lower systems business project revenue as initial revenue recognition for AVSR and the sale of Silver State North were both achieved in the second quarter of 2012, partially offset by higher sales volume to third-party module-only customers in the second quarter of 2013. As a previously highlighted possibility, the Company did not complete the sale of the ABW projects in the second quarter of 2013 and such sale is expected to occur in the second half of this year. The company issued guidance for fiscal year 2013 with EPS of $3.75-4.25 which is line with expectations, with revenues of $3.6-3.8 which is below expectations.
Raises operating expense to $390-410 million from $380-400 million. Maintains Operating Cash FLow of $800 million to $1 billion. Maintains CaqEx of $350-400 million. he Company also announced the acquisition of all of GE's (NYSE: GE) cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar intellectual property and entered into a technology collaboration agreement with GE, with the intent to advance thin-film solar cells and modules. Under the agreement, First Solar acquired GE's CdTe solar intellectual property, setting a course for advancement of photovoltaic (PV) thin-film solar technology and GE received 1.75 million shares of First Solar stock.
Other Key Points:
Production was 389 MW up 5% q/q, 5% y/y Capacity Utilization 75%. up 12% y/y
Conversion Efficiency 13.0% up +0.1% q/q and y/y Cost Per Watt $0.67 down $0.02 q/q and $0.05 y/y
Gross Profit 27.0% up 460 bps q/q and 150 bps y/y
Net cash provided by operating activities $222 million compared to $66 million in Q1 and $156 million in prior year
Free Cash Flow $168 million compared to $20 million in Q1 and $148 million in prior year
Inventories steady at$133 million Lowering of EPS guidance due to GE IP acquisition
07:53 am Nuance shares fall 6% following in line revenues
Nuance Communications (NUAN $18.15 -0.18) reported third quarter earnings of $0.34 per share, excluding non-recurring items which was better than expected, while adjusted revenues rose 9.5% year/year to $490.8 million which is in line with expectations.
07:51 am Finisar shares soar 17% following higher than expected guidance
Finisar (FNSR $22.40 +3.27) issued guidance for the first quarter with EPS of $0.30 to $0.31, excluding non-recurring items, which is higher than expected, exceeding the previously estimated range of $0.22 to $0.26; sees first quarter revenues of $266 million which is ahead of consensus compared to guidance of $245 to $260 million. The revenue results are preliminary and subject to adjustment. However, in the absence of material adjustment, first quarter revenues will set a new record for the Company and will be the fourth consecutive quarter of sequential revenue growth. The growth in revenue came primarily from increased sales of 10G, 40G and 100G Ethernet transceivers for datacom applications. Approximately $2 million of the revenue growth over the prior quarter was from products for telecom applications. As a result of these higher than expected revenues, a favorable product mix and increased operating leverage, the Company expects non-GAAP gross margin to be 34.5% to 35%.
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