From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : A late bid helped the stock market muster a modest gain after it had spent most of the session mired in negative territory.
Today's headlines did little to drive overall trade. Market participants shrugged off news that initial jobless claims for the week ended January 29 totaled 415,000, down from the prior week's tally of 457,000 and less than the 425,000 initial claims had been expected, on average, among economists polled by Briefing.com. The four-week moving average was hardly changed at 430,500.
Nonfarm productivity for the fourth quarter proved surprisingly strong. It increased 2.6%, which is better than the 2.2% increase that had been widely expected. The increase was helped by a 0.6% drop in unit labor costs, which had actually been expected to increase 0.1%.
The ISM nonmanufacturing Composite for January climbed to 59.4, which is not only better than the 57.0 that had been expected, but also the best reading since 2005.
Factory orders for December increased 0.2% after a 1.3% increase in the prior month. Economists had called for a 0.6% decline, on average.
Strong earnings helped a few individual names, but the rest of the market was mostly uninspired by results. Both Visa (V 71.63, -0.46) and MasterCard (MA 245.39, +6.00) posted upside earnings surprises, but their shares diverged. The rest of the financial sector was also mixed; it finished with a fractional gain.
Health care plays swung from a loss of about 1% to a fractional gain. Cardinal Health (CAH 42.31, +0.62) posted an upside surprise of its own, as did Merck (MRK 32.90, -0.92) and CIGNA (CI 42.56, +0.30), but the latter two issued downside guidance.
Retailers rode a sizable batch of stronger-than-expected same-store sales results to a 1.3% gain. BJ's Wholesale (BJ 48.25, +5.24) was one of the best performers, thanks partly to its 2.7% increase in same-store sales results for January, but mostly because the company announced that it will explore strategic alternatives, including selling the company.
Even though there was a barrage of headlines, stocks traded listlessly for most of the session. There was a midmorning flurry of selling that took stocks past the prior session's low, but a rebound took hold once the S&P 500 secured support at the 1295 line. Stocks then spent about three hours drifting sideways along the neutral line before a bit of late buying helped take stocks into positive territory. The move helped the S&P 500 offset its loss in the prior session, but gave the Dow a fractionally improved two-year closing high.
The dollar made its biggest bounce in almost one month by gaining 0.9% against a basket of competing currencies. It had a slow start to the day, but really started to move after European Central Bank (ECB) President Trichet took a relatively dovish stance on inflation following the ECB's decision to leave its benchmark target rate at 1.00%. FOMC Chairman Bernanke stated in a speech today that the recovery has strengthened, but not enough to significantly reduce unemployment.
Advancing Sectors: Consumer Discretionary (+1.2%), Telecom (+0.9%), Consumer Staples (+0.4%), Materials (+0.4%), Utilities (+0.2%), Energy (+0.1%), Health Care (+0.1%), Financial (+0.1%)
Unchanged: Industrials, Tech
Declining Sectors: (None)DJ30 +20.29 NASDAQ +4.32 NQ100 +0.1% R2K -0.3% SP400 -0.3% SP500 +3.07 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1297/1.95 bln/1309 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1606/998 mln/1357
4:18PM Power-One beats by $0.09, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs below consensus; guides FY11 revs below consensus (PWER) 15.35 +0.00 : Reports Q4 (Dec) adjusted earnings of $0.49 per share, $0.09 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.40; revenues rose 157.0% year/year to $366 mln vs the $352.5 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $260-$290 mln vs. $312.95 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co issues downside guidance for FY11, sees FY11 revs of $1.1-$1.3 bln vs. $1.31 bln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co states, "First quarter revenue is expected to be impacted by seasonality, heightened by inclement weather in Europe and a reduction in feed-in-tariffs across multiple markets, as well as excess inverter inventory in the channel..."
4:09PM Power Integrations beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs above consensus (POWI) 37.31 -0.49 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.39 per share, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.38; revenues rose 10.4% year/year to $73 mln vs the $70.2 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $71-77 mln vs. $70.93 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co also sees non-GAAP gross margins of 48% to 49% and non GAAP operating expenses of $22 mln, plus or minus $0.5 mln.
4:08PM JDS Uniphase beats by $0.10, beats on revs; guides Q3 revs above consensus (JDSU) 17.93 +0.01 : Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.29 per share, $0.10 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.19; revenues rose 16.0% year/year to $477.2 mln vs the $438.6 mln consensus. Non-GAAP gross margins were 48.8%. Co issues upside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $440-460 mln vs. $420.84 mln Thomson Reuters consensus.
4:06PM Zoran reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs above consensus (ZRAN) 9.59 -0.19 : Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.31 per share, in-line with the Thomson Reuters consensus of ($0.31); revenues fell 20.5% year/year to $74.2 mln vs the $70.9 mln consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for Q1, sees EPS of (0.39)-(0.35) vs. ($0.28) Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q1 revs of $81-85 mln vs. $77.43 mln Thomson Reuters consensus.
4:03PM Monolithic Power beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 revs below consensus (MPWR) 14.81 +0.02 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.18 per share, $0.04 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.14; revenues rose 1.3% year/year to $47.1 mln vs the $47.4 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $40-44 mln vs. $44.53 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co sees Q1 gross margin is expected to be in a similar range to the prior quarter. Non-GAAP research and development and selling, general and administrative expenses between $16.3 million and $17.3 million. Separately the co also announced an increase to stock repurchase program from $50 mln to $70 mln.
11:05AM Verizon notches new high of 36.45 after repurchase announcement (VZ) 36.35 +0.19 : The initial zone of interest is at yesterday's high, its late Jan recovery high and week plus range top is at 36.48/36.59
11:02AM Verizon announces common stock repurchase authorization for up to 100 million shares (VZ) 36.35 +0.19 : Co announces that its Board of Directors has authorized the corporation to repurchase up to 100 million shares of its common stock. The board also determined that no additional shares may be acquired under a previously approved program to repurchase up to 100 million shares. Under the previous program, which was due to end Feb. 28, 2011, approval remained to purchase ~60 million shares.
9:32AM GT Solar Q3 conf call (SOLR) 11.670 +0.24 : Co sees continued growth for its Sapphire business both in absolute terms and as a percentage of co's revenue. Co expects PV booking to be light and noted that the PV business is becoming more "book and ship". Co expects second half of FY12 to slow down in typical solar cycial fashion... Co says customers are well financed and feeling more confidence. From now until September, co's delivery slots will be "maxed out"... Co is "happy" about the new polysilicon standards in China and co and believes it will drive consolidation in the polysilicon industry.
Rudolph Technologies (RTEC) announced orders for its NSX Series from Avago Technologies (AVGO).
7:08AM Benchmark Elec beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line (BHE) 19.84 : Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.37 per share, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.35; revenues rose 4.5% year/year to $627 mln vs the $609.4 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.30-0.36 vs. $0.33 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q1 revs of $565-605 mln vs. $592.12 mln Thomson Reuters consensus.
2:40AM Valence Tech beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 revs in-line; guides FY11 revs in-line (VLNC) 1.60 : Reports Q3 (Dec) loss of $0.01 per share, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of ($0.02); revenues rose 236.6% year/year to $13.8 mln vs the $13.7 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $13-15 mln vs. $15.04 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY11, sees FY11 revs of $45-47 mln vs. $46.73 mln Thomson Reuters consensus.
07:44 am Cisco Systems tgt raised to $25 at Oppenheimer: . Oppenheimer notes, based on its checks, it believes Cisco's January quarter is tracking ahead of its original disappointing guidance, driven by a solid budget flush with Europe also showing a positive contribution. Its contacts were more constructive on the April quarter, suggesting CSCO is working through the January "air pocket," which is important in restoring investor confidence. While Opco is positive on near-term trends, it's hard to ignore Cisco's recent stock outperformance vs. the market. Thus, it feels expectations already reflect some of Cisco's progress. Tgt to $25 from $23.
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