From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : Equity indices took a bit of a breather on Wednesday after the S&P 500 surged nearly 4.5% in the six sessions since February 3. The benchmark index shed less than a point while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2%.
Overall, the session was very quiet as the key averages respected narrow ranges. The S&P 500 spent the bulk of the trading day near its flat line while the Nasdaq (+0.2%) outperformed.
Similar to the major averages, most individual sectors never deviated too far from their unchanged levels. The largest S&P 500 sector, technology (+0.3%), finished in the lead thanks to chipmakers. Intel (INTC 24.55, +0.08) added 0.3% while the broader PHLX Semiconductor Index rose 0.9%.
Outside of technology, consumer discretionary (+0.1%) and industrials (+0.2%) were the only other advancers among cyclical groups. Defense contractors outperformed (PHLX Defense Index +0.5%) while Deere (DE 86.90, -0.56) fell 0.6% despite beating on earnings and revenue.
Also of note, two of yesterday's leaders-energy (-0.4%) and materials (-0.3%)-finished among today's laggards. However, the pair still fared a bit better than the consumer staples sector, which lost 0.5% as tobacco names lagged after Lorillard (LO 47.47, -2.48) reported disappointing earnings.
Other countercyclical groups were little changed with telecom services (+0.3%) ending modestly higher while health care (-0.1%) and utilities (-0.1%) finished in the red.
Treasuries posted their third day of losses as the 10-yr yield rose three basis points to 2.76%. Interestingly, the retreat in one safe-haven asset was accompanied by an increase in another. Gold futures saw their fourth day of gains, climbing 0.4% to $1294.90/ozt.
Today's participation was well below average as less than 630 million shares changed hands at the NYSE.
Economic data was limited to just two reports:
The weekly MBA Mortgage Index slipped 2.0% to follow last week's uptick of 0.4%.
January Treasury Budget showed a deficit of $10.40 billion, which followed the prior month's surplus of $2.90 billion. The Briefing.com consensus expected the deficit to hit $10.00 billion.
Among overseas news of note, Italian Prime Minster Enrico Letta held a press conference amid increasing calls for his resignation, making way for the leader of the Democratic Party, Matteo Renzi. In his remarks, Mr. Letta asked for 'clarity,' saying, 'He who wants to replace me must be clear about his intentions.' Even though the political future of Italy remains uncertain, Italian stocks appeared unconcerned with the situation as the MIB gained 1.3%.
Tomorrow, weekly initial claims and January retail sales will be reported at 8:30 ET while the December Business Inventories report will cross the wires at 10:00 ET. Also of note, Fed Chair Janet Yellen was scheduled to appear before the Senate Banking Committee for the second part of the semiannual testimony on monetary policy, but the hearing has been postponed due to weather.
Nasdaq Composite +0.6% YTD
S&P 500 -1.6% YTD
Russell 2000 -2.5% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -3.7% YTD
DJ30 -30.83 NASDAQ +10.24 SP500 -0.49 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1389/1.90 bln/1198 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1727/628.0 mln/1315
3:30 pm :
Precious metals traded higher despite a slightly stronger dollar index. Apr gold rose for a fourth consecutive session, advancing to a three month session high of $1296.40 per ounce in early afternoon pit trade. It settled with a 0.4% gain at $1294.90 per ounce.
Mar silver rose to a session high of $20.39 per ounce in morning action. It eventually settled at $20.33 per ounce, booking a gain of 0.9%.
Mar crude oil traded in positive territory but pulled back from its session high of $101.38 per barrel following inventory data that showed a build of 3.267 mln barrels for the week ending Feb 7. Consensus called for a smaller build of 2.6-3.0 mln barrels. The energy component trended lower for the remainder of the session and settled with a 0.4% gain at $100.38 per barrel.
Mar natural gas rose to a session high of $5.01 per MMBtu in morning action after trading as low as $4.78 per MMBtu earlier in the session. However, prices reversed in the last hour of floor trade, leaving natural gas to settle just 0.4% higher at $4.83 per MMBtu.
4:55PM Cisco Systems CEO, on call, guides Q3 non-GAAP gross margins to 61-62%, which they expect at to be most likely at the low end, EPS of $0.47-0.49 vs $0.48 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. (CSCO) 22.85 +0.14 :
Chamber discussed geographic regions; says China declined 1%; Europe is stablizing - US federal declined 16%
4:10PM Cisco Systems beats by $0.01, beats on revs; raises quarterly dividend 11.8% to $0.19/share (CSCO) 22.85 +0.14 : Reports Q2 (Jan) earnings of $0.47 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.46; revenues fell 7.8% year/year to $11.15 bln vs the $11.03 bln consensus.
Cisco is also announcing that earlier today its Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.19 per common share, a two-cent increase over the previous quarter's dividend, to be paid on April 23, 2014 to all shareholders of record as of the close of business on April 3, 2014. Future dividends will be subject to Board approval.
4:31PM SunEdison and United Renewable Energy are working together to create new solar opportunities in Georgia (SUNE) 13.72 -0.48 : Co and United Renewable Energy are working together to create new solar opportunities in Georgia. Leveraging the Georgia Power Advanced Solar Initiative, the two companies are currently collaborating on projects totaling ~ 1.3 megawatts (MW) with plans to do more. A ~600 kilowatt (kW) solar power plant is scheduled to interconnect this week on land that was once an underutilized pasture. Separately, a ~700 kW power plant for the county development authority in Stephens County, Georgia is under construction and expected to be operational in March 2014.
4:25PM NVIDIA beats by $0.08, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs in-line (NVDA) 16.83 +0.58 : Reports Q4 (Jan) earnings of $0.32 per share, $0.08 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.24; revenues rose 3.3% year/year to $1.14 bln vs the $1.05 bln consensus. Quarterly GAAP gross margin of 54.1 percent; non-GAAP gross margin of 53.8 percent.
Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $1.050 bln, plus or minus 2%. vs. $1 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. GAAP and non-GAAP gross margins are expected to be approximately 54.2 percent and 54.5 percent, respectively.
4:23PM Applied Materials beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs in-line (AMAT) 17.91 +0.13 : Reports Q1 (Jan) earnings of $0.23 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.22; revenues rose 39.2% year/year to $2.19 bln vs the $2.13 bln consensus.
Co issues guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.25-0.29 vs. $0.27 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of +3-10% to ~$2.26-2.41 bln vs. $2.32 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
"In our first fiscal quarter, Applied Materials delivered earnings near the high end of our guidance range, while demonstrating momentum in revenue, orders and market share...This performance reflects healthy investment by our semiconductor and display customers and major technology trends that are playing to our strengths in precision materials engineering."
Guidance Details: Applied's second quarter non-GAAP adjusted diluted EPS outlook excludes known charges related to completed acquisitions and integration costs of 3 cents. The company's second quarter business outlook does not exclude other non-GAAP adjustments that may arise subsequent to this release.
*Initial incorrect guidance calculation has been corrected.
4:13PM Cadence Design acquires high speed interface IP assets of TranSwitch, further expanding IP portfolio for mobile/consumer market; financial terms not disclosed (CDNS) 14.58 +0.16 :
The acquisition has been completed and is not expected to have a material impact on co's balance sheet or first quarter or fiscal 2014 results of operations.
4:12PM SunPower beats by $0.19, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs above consensus; guides FY14 EPS in-line, revs below consensus (SPWR) 31.62 +0.50 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.47 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.19 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.28; revenues fell 3.4% year/year to $758 mln vs the $681.76 mln consensus.
Co issues mixed guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.25-0.40, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.25 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of $650-700 mln, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $603.02 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees gross margins in the range of 18-20%.
Co issues mixed guidance for FY14, sees EPS of $1.00-1.30, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.18 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY14 revs of $2.4-2.6 bln, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $2.64 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees gross margin in the range of 19-21%.
12:10PM Notable movers of interest (SCANX) : The following are some of today's most notable movers of interest, categorized by market capitalization (large cap over $10 billion and mid cap between $2-10 billion) and ranked by % change (all stocks over 100K average daily volume).
Large Cap Gainers
TRIP (89.87 +6.73%): Reported Q4 EPS of $0.21 (in-line), revs rose 25.6% yoy to $212.7 mln vs $205.41 mln estimate; total traffic in Q4 grew 50% yoy; upgraded to Outperform from Underperform at RBC Capital Markets
DVA (68.4 +6.33%): Reported Q4 EPS of $0.99 (in-line), revs rose 23.6% yoy to $3.06 bln vs $3.04 bln estimate
INCY (69.01 +4.56%): Reported Q4 loss of -$0.26 per share, revs fell 14.7% yoy to $97.1 mln vs $93.61 mln estimate; sees FY14 Jakafi net product revs of $315-335 mln
Large Cap Losers
LO (46.96 -5.99%): Missed quarterly EPS by $0.04 ($0.82 ex items vs $0.86 estimate), revs (excluding excise taxes) rose 3.6% yoy to $1.25 bln vs $1.31 bln estimate; cigarette net sales increased $24 mln, or 1.1%, to $1.689 bln
TRI (34.52 -5.68%): Missed quarterly EPS by $0.03 ($0.49 ex items vs $0.28 estimate), revs rose 0.6% yoy to $3.27 bln vs $3.29 bln estimate; sees FY14 revs of ~$12.7 bln vs $12.84 bln estimate
RCI (39.55 -4.77%): Missed quarterly EPS by C$0.04 (C$0.69 ex items vs C$0.73 estimate), revs fell 0.6% yoy to C$3.24 bln vs C$3.31 bln estimate
Mid Cap Gainers
TRMB (37.15 +13.87%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.07 ($0.43 vs $0.36 estimate), revs rose 16.2% yoy to $599.2 mln vs $567.38 mln estimate; sees Q1 EPS of $0.40-0.43 vs $0.42 estimate, revs of $610-630 mln vs $618.20 mln estimate
SGEN (51.45 +12.83%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.11 (-$0.13 vs -$0.24 estimate), revs rose 5.5% yoy to $67.4 mln vs $59.28 mln estimate; sees FY14 ADCETRIS sales of $155-165 mln
OC (44.75 +12.61%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.16 ($0.44 vs $0.28 estimate), revs rose 10.3% yoy to $1.28 bln vs $1.21 bln estimate
Mid Cap Losers
EEFT (38.98 -11.51%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.06 ($0.63 vs $0.57 estimate), revs rose 6.9% yoy to $375.4 mln vs $384.96 mln estimate; sees Q1 EPS of $0.45 vs $0.45 estimate
FEYE (70.04 -10.21%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.02 (-$0.35 vs -$0.37 estimate), revs rose 80.8% yoy to $57.3 mln vs $56.12 mln estimate; sees Q1 EPS of -$0.56 to -$0.51 vs -$0.37 estimate, revs of $70-72 mln vs $76.5 mln estimate; sees FY14 EPS of -$2.20 to -$2.00 vs -$1.37 estimate, reaffirmed FY14 rev guidance of $400-410 mln vs $406.31 mln estimate
WCG (58.03 -6.73%): Missed quarterly EPS by $0.06 ($1.09 vs $1.15 estimate), sees FY14 EPS of $3.75-4.05 vs $5.03 estimate
11:00AM Violin Memory: GAMEVIL selects Violin Flash Memory Array to deliver premium publishing services to game developers (VMEM) 3.84 -0.17 : Co announced it has been chosen by GAMEVIL, a Korean mobile game publisher, to help deliver premium publishing services to its customers. GAMEVIL'S platform is used to develop and publish hundreds of games on multiple platforms. Using a Violin 6000 Series Flash Memory Array, GAMEVIL was able to increase server performance by an average of seven times, enabling the company to differentiate its publishing services and to further solidify its position as the market leader in the domestic mobile game market.
10:46AM Cadence Design announces that Microsoft utilized four Tensilica processors in the Xbox One audio subsystem, as noted in the Linley Group Microprocessor Report (CDNS) 14.60 +0.18 :
SanDisk (SNDK) announced the SanDisk Extreme PRO SDHC/SDXC UHS-II card.
Synopsys (SNPS), Realtek Semiconductor and United Microelectronics (UMC) announced that their collaboration has resulted in first-pass silicon success of Realtek's RTD2995 UHD Smart TV Controller SoC implemented in UMC's 40LP, the foundry's volume production, low-power 40-nanometer process technology.
STMicroelectronics (STM) has introduced a complete and configurable solution to develop and efficiently control a dimmable, high-brightness LED string (up to 100W) for street-lighting applications.
7:06AM Canadian Solar prices offering of 2,778,000 common shares at $36.00 per common share; also prices concurrent offering of $130 mln in aggregate principal amount of 4.25% convertible senior notes due 2019 (CSIQ) 36.17 :
The Common Shares Offering was upsized from 2,600,000 Common Shares and the Notes Offering was upsized from an aggregate principal amount of $100 million.
The Notes will be convertible into Common Shares at an initial conversion rate of 22.2222 Common Shares per $1,000 principal amount of the Notes (equivalent to an initial conversion price of ~ $45.00 per Common Share), subject to adjustments under certain circumstances.
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