From Briefing.com: 8:45AM Semi equip book-to-bill rises to 0.93 : After Friday's close, the North American Semiconductor Equipment Industry reported a monthly book-to-bill ratio of 0.93 for June, up from a revised 0.90 ratio in May. Moors and Cabot's estimate for June was 0.92, so this report appears to be a bit better than expected. However, bookings of $720 mln came in just below revised May 2003 level of $724 mln and 39% below the $1.17 bln in orders reported in the year-ago period.
8:12AM August Tech upgraded at AG Edwards (AUGT) 7.47: AG Edwards upgrades to Buy from Hold based on checks indicating that business should improve significantly as well as mkt share gains. Target is $12.
7:48AM Helix Tech misses by $0.02 (HELX) 14.63: Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.05 per share, $0.02 worse than the Reuters Research consensus of ($0.03); revenues fell 15.4% year/year to $24.6 mln vs the $24.9 mln consensus.
7:27AM DSP Group beats ex items (DSPG) 22.94: Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.26 per share, excluding net $0.07 in ex items, $0.07 better than the Reuters Research consensus of $0.19; revenues rose 20.8% year/year to $38.5 mln vs the $38.0 mln consensus.
7:26AM Genesis Microchip CEO resigns; CFO will take over duties (GNSS) 15.00: Co announces that E. Donegan has resigned as the company's chairman of the board and CEO, effective immediately. The co's CFO will serve as interim CEO until such time as Mr. Donegan's successor is determined. "I strongly disagree with the memorandum opinion recently issued in the litigation between the company and Silicon Image pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. However, in the best interest of the company and its stockholders, I have resigned effective immediately."
7:20AM JP Morgan upgrades select electronics manufacturing stocks : JP Morgan upgrades MOLX, TTMI, and VSH to Overweight from Neutral, and upgrades KEM and PLXS to Neutral from Underweight; despite a continued flat outlook, firm says improving cash flow and earnings across most business sectors and telecom service co's bodes well for stable to improving capex spending, and thinks that improvement in demand and positive earnings revisions for 2004 are highly likely.
7:14AM Barron's suggests Chinese Internet stocks in "over-heated" market : Barron's article questions whether the recent appreciation of Chinese Internet stocks might be another bubble or the real thing. The cos mentioned are SOHU, CHINA, SINA and NTES with all four now having market caps north of $1 bln. Despite these concerns, the article suggests these web portals ad revenues keep on growing at double digit percentage year over year growth. However, these stocks face "significant" risks and suggests the presence of an "overheated market" with a MDB Capital Group analyst recently downgrading his rating on SINA to hold on the basis of valuation.
7:13AM Cymer downgraded at Lehman (CYMI) 35.01: Lehman downgrades to Equal-Weight from Overweight, citing valuation as well as their belief that investors may not have factored in potentially weak 2H03 orders and profits; firm sees a more attractive entry point under $30; cuts target to $30 from $37.
:08AM Motorola downgraded at CSFB; target $7 (MOT) 9.05: CSFB downgrades to Underperform from Neutral based on their belief that the accelerating phone product life cycle will continue to weigh on MOT's mkt share and/or operating margins; firm also thinks that consensus rev and EPS ests for 2003-04 are too aggressive. Target is $7.
7:05AM Yahoo! upgraded at Smith Barney (YHOO) 29.90: Smith Barney upgrades to Outperform from In-Line; firm believes expectations for YHOO's 2H03 results are conservative and see the Overture buy as an important strategic move to help propel growth; under YHOO's ownership, firm thinks Overture will be managed more purposefully to benefit YHOO, the return on overseas investments will be improved, costs will be trimmed, and YHOO's Search will be more differentiated; raises target to $38 from $33.
7:04AM Early Research Calls : Lehman downgrading CYMI to Equal Weight from Overweight; also increasing price tgt on CSCO to $20 from $18... JP Morgan upgrading TTMI, MOLX, VSH to Overweight from Neutral... CS First Boston upgrading FO to Outperform from Neutral; also lowering MOT to Underperform from Neutral with $7 tgt... Deutsche Bank upgrading NBR to Buy from Hold... Smith Barney upgrading YHOO to Outperform from In Line with $38 tgt... JMP Securities upgrading ISIL to Outperform from Mkt Perform with $35 tgt... Wachovia upgrading CFC to Outperform from Mkt Perform.
6:48AM MOT cut to Underperform from Neutral at CSFB :
6:47AM NBR raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche :
6:45AM CYMI cut to Equal Weight from Overweight at Lehman :
6:42AM YHOO upped to Outperform from In Line at Smith Barney :
6:40AM Video game makers contacted by SEC : As reported Friday, video game maker Activision (ATVI) has been contacted by the SEC regarding an investigation of "accounting practices common to the interactive entertainment industry." THQI and AKLM have now also disclosed contact by the SEC with respect to this matter. Also in this space are ERTS, TTWO and ATAR... ATVI shares fell more than 7% in after hours trading Friday.
VIX below 20 and Market Tops? One Month and Six Month Charts: > >
6 Month Charts: > >
Longer term charts of Bull Markets call the whole theory of VIX closes below 20 as indicating market tops into question. However today's close was the lowest close on the VIX in quite a long time as indicated on the chart above. There are additional divergences showing up in this rally that indicate it may be running on borrowed time.
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