From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : Equities built on their Tuesday gains, turning in their best two-day stretch since mid-December. During that two-day swing, the S&P 500 jumped from its lowest level of the year to a fresh record close of 1848.38. Stocks spent the entire session in positive territory after receiving an opening boost from the World Bank hiking its 2014 global GDP growth forecast to 3.2% from 3.0%.
Seven of ten sectors finished in the green with cyclical groups driving the advance. Financials (+1.2%) and technology (+1.2%) displayed early strength and their outperformance lasted into the close.
The financial sector was buoyed by its top components after Bank of America (BAC 17.15, +0.38) beat on earnings and revenue. The stock jumped 2.4% while JPMorgan Chase (JPM 59.49, +1.75) and Wells Fargo (WFC 46.40, +0.81), both of which turned in satisfactory reports on Tuesday, gained 3.0% and 1.8%, respectively.
Elsewhere, the tech sector was underpinned by some of its most influential members. Apple (AAPL 557.36, +10.97) did some heavy lifting, climbing 2.0% amid upbeat commentary surrounding its upcoming iPhone launch in China. Chipmakers also displayed strength after Intel (INTC 26.67, +0.16) received an upgrade for the second day in a row. The stock gained 0.6% while the PHLX Semiconductor Index rose 0.9%.
Outside of the two largest sectors, gains in other areas were much more subdued. Industrials (+0.7%) and materials (+0.7%) outperformed while the remaining cyclical groups-consumer discretionary (+0.2%) and energy (-0.3%)-lagged.
Notably, the discretionary sector was pressured by homebuilders and retailers. The iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 24.31, -0.05) and SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 84.02, -0.29) both slipped 0.3% with the retail ETF extending its 2014 loss to 4.6%.
On the countercyclical side, telecom services (+1.5%) outperformed while consumer staples (unch), health care (-0.1%), and utilities (-0.2%) lagged.
Treasuries posted modest losses as the 10-yr yield ticked up one basis point to 2.88%.
Participation was a bit below average as 704 million shares changed hands at the NYSE.
Also of note, the Federal Reserve released its January Beige Book, but true to form, the report was essentially ignored by the market. The report indicated that during the six weeks of 2013, the twelve Fed Districts observed a continued expansion of economic activity. Nine districts characterized the expansion as 'moderate' while Boston and Philadelphia Districts described the pace as 'modest.' For its part, the Kansas City region saw little change in activity.
With regard to manufacturing, nearly all districts reported steady growth in the sector but Kansas City saw a decline in production and shipments.
Lastly, prices were largely unchanged across all regions. However, Kansas City was singled out again in this section for observing a rise in some raw material prices.
Today's economic news included three data points:
December PPI increased 0.4% while the Briefing.com consensus expected an uptick of 0.3%. Energy prices were a main contributor, increasing 1.6%. Most of the gain in energy costs was a result of a 2.2% increase in gasoline prices. Food prices fell 0.6% due to a 13.4% decrease in vegetable prices. Excluding food and energy, core prices unexpectedly spiked in December. Prices increased 0.3%, the largest monthly jump since rising 0.5% in July 2012. The consensus forecast called for a more modest uptick of 0.1%.
The Empire Manufacturing Survey for January jumped to 12.5 from 1.0 while the Briefing.com consensus expected the survey to improve to 3.5.
The weekly MBA Mortgage Application Index jumped 11.9% to follow last week's 4.2% decline.
Tomorrow, weekly initial claims and December CPI will be released at 8:30 ET while Net long-term TIC flows for November will be announced at 9:00 ET. The January Philadelphia Fed survey and the January NAHB Housing Market Index will both be released at 10:00 ET.
Nasdaq +0.9% YTD
Russell 2000 +0.7% YTD
S&P 500 0.0% YTD
DJIA -0.6% YTD
4:06PM JDS Uniphase issues 305,824 restricted stock units in connection with acquisition of Network Instruments (JDSU) 12.06 -0.02 :
These restricted stock unit awards were approved by the co Board of Directors on January 13, 2014, with a grant date of January 15, 2014.
Pursuant to such approval, co awarded restricted stock units covering a total of 305,824 shares of co common stock to 89 employees.
4:05PM Plexus beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs in-line (PLXS) 43.14 +1.05 : Reports Q1 (Dec) earnings of $0.61 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.60; revenues rose 0.6% year/year to $533.9 mln vs the $536.73 mln consensus.
Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.57-0.63 vs. $0.61 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $535-565 mln vs. $551.26 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
As anticipated by our guidance, revenues declined approximately 6% from the prior quarter as we were impacted by the full revenue headwind of our previously announced disengagement from Juniper Networks.
2:03PM RF Micro Device teams with NC State on $70 mln DoE Power Electronics Development Award (RFMD) 4.94 +0.05 : Co announced that it will play a key role in developing power electronics to support the next generation of clean energy in the U.S. RFMD is a foundry and product design/development partner to North Carolina State (NC State) University's Next Generation Power Electronics Innovation Institute, which was awarded a 5-year $70 million contract from the Department of Energy to lead next generation power electronics manufacturing. RFMD will offer open foundry services to support the NC State-led program and help accelerate the development of key wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor products including RFMD's Gallium Nitride-(GaN-) based devices needed to increase the reliability and ef?ciency of the next generation power grid.
Large Cap Gainers
MS (31.88 +2.51%): Assumed with a Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette, target $34
BAC (17.18 +2.44%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.03 ($0.29 vs $0.26 estimate), revs rose 14.9% yoy to $21.7 bln vs $21.17 bln estimate; reported Dec default amount net of recoveries of 3.6% vs 3.66% in Nov
CMCSA (54.06 +2.37%): Upgraded to Overweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley
Large Cap Losers
FAST (45.63 -5.36%): Missed quarterly EPS by $0.01 ($0.33 vs $0.34 estimate), revs rose 7.5% yoy to $813.8 mln vs $813.97 mln estimate
REGN (289.08 -3.74%): Downgraded to Market Perform from Market Outperform at BMO Capital Markets
NFLX (325.67 -3.64%): Trading lower on concerns on net neutrality and broadband; initiated with a Neutral at Nomura, target $360
Mid Cap Gainers
MDRX (16.88 +8.76%): Expects 3-year CAGR non-GAAP revs to grow 5-8%, adjusted EBITDA to grow in the 18-22% range
RHI (43.01 +4.80%): Upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Sun Trust Robison Humphrey
MWV (37.19 +4.29%): Sees Q4 EPS of $0.24 ex items (in-line); Upgraded to Buy at Deutsche Bank; upgraded to Buy at BofA/Merrill
Mid Cap Losers
NUS (112.12 -17.85%): China Daily reporting negatively on the company, claiming that the company engages in "brainwashing" and is a pyramid
QIWI (44.44 -17.63%): Seeing reports that Russia is considering a ban on cross-border payments
LKQ (28.49 -11.77%): Mentioned negatively at Prescience Point; defended at Stifel Nicolaus
O2Micro International (OIIM) announced a patent grant for its Power Source Detection topology from the Japanese Patent Office.
Atmel (ATML) announced it is the world's first supplier to be awarded full FIPS 140-2 certification for its AT97SC3204 series of trusted platform modules.
Marvell (MRVL) announced a collaboration with SK Broadband, who has launched B TV Smart, an IPTV set-top-box with Google (GOOG) services in the Korean market. B TV Smart is powered by Marvell's ARMADA 1500 Plus system-on-chip platform.
8:37AM Riverbed Technology raises and guides Q4 EPS and revs; guides Q1 revs above consensus (RVBD) 19.79 : Co issues upside guidance for Q4 (Dec), sees EPS of $0.30-0.31, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.26 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate and above previous guidance of $0.26 -0.27; sees Q4 (Dec) revs of $284-285 mln vs. $273.26 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate and above previous guidance of $270-276 mln
1Q14 guidance
Co issues upside guidance for Q1 (Mar), sees EPS of $0.21-0.23, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.23 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 (Mar) revs of $262-268 mln vs. $258.50 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
Commentary: "...Sales in the fourth quarter exceeded our expectations across all major product lines and geographies, demonstrating strong ongoing demand and the differentiated value that we deliver to customers across our full product portfolio..."
8:35AM Riverbed Technology Board of Directors rejects Elliott's unsolicited proposal to acquire RVBD at $19/share (RVBD) 19.79 : Co announced that its Board of Directors, after consideration with independent legal and financial advisors, has unanimously determined not to pursue the unsolicited proposal from Elliott Management Corporation to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Riverbed common stock for $19.00 per share, as it believes the proposal undervalues the co and is not in the best interests of shareholders.
"Earlier today, we announced favorable preliminary fourth quarter 2013 results and our first quarter 2014 view, which are indicative of the strong early traction we have achieved against our strategy." "While the Board will carefully review any credible offer made to acquire the company, any such offer must deliver value to our shareholders in excess of what we believe will be created as we execute on our growth plans and capitalize on the significant investments we have already made in that regard.
Goldman Sachs is serving as financial advisor to Riverbed and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is serving as legal advisor.
Semtech (SMTC) announced its PCI Express 3.0 PHY IP, part of the Snowbush IP platform, successfully completed the rigorous testing of the PCI-SIG and is now on the PCIe 3.0 Integrators List.
Vitesse Semiconductor (VTSS) introduced its CEServices software, a comprehensive, mature protocol stack for easier provisioning and management.
INTC +1.5% (upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at BMO Capital Mkts),
XLNX +0.1% (upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays)
Xilinx (XLNX) announced that its Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC family enabled Wuhan Maxsine's EP3E servo drives.
HP (HPQ) unveiled two new mobile devices, the 6-inch diagonal HP Slate6 VoiceTab and the 7-inch diagonal HP Slate7 VoiceTab, designed to help the next generation of mobile customers multitask on the go. The HP Slate6 VoiceTab and HP Slate7 VoiceTab are expected to be available in India in February.
4:11AM BlackBerry announces India Enterprises move to Blackberry 10 (BBRY) 8.33 : Co announces the growing adoption of BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 by Indian enterprises across a range of sectors. BlackBerry has a strong market position in India where the Company has seen more than 1,000 Indian enterprises adopting or testing BES10 since its launch in January 2013.
ITC Limited, an Indian conglomerate, has implemented BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 across their various businesses.
Applied Materials (AMD) announced that CECEP Solar Energy Technology Co, a Chinese state-owned company, achieved a key milestone of 18.32% average cell efficiency for its multi-cells.
CyberOptics (CYBE) announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of Laser Design, Inc. (LDI), a 3D metrology company headquartered in Minneapolis. The approximately $3.0 million all-cash transaction is expected to close in February 2014, pending approval by LDI's shareholders. LDI, which will be operated initially as a wholly-owned subsidiary, is forecasted to have a minimal impact on CyberOptics' consolidated bottom line performance in 2014. With revenues of approximately $6.0 million, LDI provides scanning systems and services to the estimated $825 million global 3D scanner and services metrology market.
Linear Tech (LLTC) reported second quarter earnings of $0.44 per share, which is higher than expected, while reports non-GAAP EPS of $0.51 which is higher than expected. revenues rose 9.6% year/year to $334.6 million which is line with estimates. "As we noted last quarter, our December quarter is generally a slower quarter for us as the automotive and industrial markets tend to be weaker. Though automotive continued to grow modestly, the industrial market was down for us and we ended the quarter with total revenues down sequentially 1.7%, in line with the midpoint of our guidance as the quarter generally went as expected. We are encouraged that this decline was modest compared to recent years and that we grew revenues year-over-year by 9.6% over the second quarter of fiscal 2013. In addition, we were able to hold gross margin flat at 75.3% and we managed expenses accordingly to minimize the impact on earnings, which were down 2.9% or one cent per share. Looking ahead, our book-to-bill ratio was slightly positive in the December quarter and we typically see improved bookings momentum in the automotive and industrial markets in the March quarter. Accordingly, we are currently forecasting revenues to grow sequentially by 3% to 6% in our fiscal third quarter." The company Q3 revs up 3-6%, or roughly $344.6-354.6 million which is line with estimates
BlackBerry (BBRY) announces the growing adoption of BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 by Indian enterprises across a range of sectors. BlackBerry has a strong market position in India where the Company has seen more than 1,000 Indian enterprises adopting or testing BES10 since its launch in January 2013. ITC Limited, an Indian conglomerate, has implemented BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 across their various businesses.
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