24/7 Wall St.

24/7 Wall St.

Key Tech Upgrades & Downgrades (AMCC, CTXS, SCOR, EBAY, FFIV, GRMN, LSI, MFE, MCHP, OMTR, SONS, SYMC, THQI, WDC)

Below are some of the key upgrades and downgrades from Wall Street analysts seen in the technology sectors this morning:

• Applied Micro (AMCC) raised estimates at Goldman Sachs.
• Citrix Systems (CTXS) raised estimates at Goldman Sachs.
• comScore (SCOR) started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
• eBay (EBAY) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Citigroup (thanks for that timely call Citi, they might get the most useless call of the week).
• F5 Networks (FFIV) raised to Outperform at Baird.
• Garmin (GRMN) raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
• LSI (LSI) raised estimates at Goldman Sachs.
• McAfee (MFE) raised to Buy at Citigroup; raised to Outperform at Bear Stearns.
• Microchip Tech (MCHP) raised to Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
• Omniture (OMTR) started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
• Sonus Networks (SONS) raised to Buy at Cantor Fitzgerald.
• Symantec (SYMC) raised estimates at Goldman Sachs.
• THQ Inc. (THQI) downgraded to Sell at Broadpoint.
• Western Digital (WDC) raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank; estimates raised at Goldman Sachs.

Pre-Market Stock News (January 24, 2008)

We are full blown into earnings season now. These are not all of the stocks in the news, but this is a good portion of the news in individual stocks for traders to review this morning:

• Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NLY) priced its secondary of 51,000,000 shares of common stock at $19.25 per share.
• AT&T (T) $0.71 EPS vs. $0.71 estimate; new share buyback plan of up to 400 million shares.
• Becton Dickinson (BDX) $1.07 EPS vs $1.04 estimate; raised guidance before charges.
• Cabot Micro (CCMP) $0.51 EPS vs $0.47 estimate.
• Cubist Pharmaceuticals (CBST) shares rose another 7% to $21.72 after beating earnings and raising guidance.
• Danaher (DHR) $1.12 EPS vs. $1.12 estimate.
• DuPont (DD) noted as strong value without earnings risk according to Cramer on CNBC's Mad Money.
• eBay (EBAY) shares fell over 5% after beating earnings but lowering guidance; Meg Whitman retires as CEO but stays on board.
• F5 Networks (FFIV) shares rose almost 20% after beating earnings.
• Ford (F) -$0.20 EPS vs. -$0.19 estimates; CEO will be on CNBC at 12:15 PM EST.
• IBM (IBM) noted as strong value without earnings risk according to Cramer on CNBC's Mad Money.
• Lennar (LEN) -$0.42 EPS vs, -$1.61 est.; but losses were before -$7.50 per shares in charges; sees 2008 continuing weakness.
• Lockheed Martin (LMT) $1.89 EPS vs. $1.69 estimate; sees 2008 EPS $7.05 to $7.25 vs. prior guidance $6.19 to $7.15 and vs. $7.29 estimate.
• Microsoft (MSFT) reports earnings after the close today with estimates at $0.46 EPS on revenues of $15.94 Billion.
• Napster (NAPS) msic rental service is now available to NTT DoCoMo subscribers.
• Netflix (NFLX) earnings were above plan and guidance was too; shares indicated up slightly.
• Nokia (NOK) announced its market share rose to 40% and posted a 57% gain in earnings overseas.
• Plexus Corp. (PLXS) raised guidance to $0.46 to $0.51 EPS on revenues of $440 million to $460 million, compared to estimates of $0.42 & almost $430 million;shares rose 8.3% to $21.50 in after-hours trading.
• Polycom (PLCM) posted $0.42 EPS on revenues of $263.3 million vs. estimates of $0.39 & $252.5 million; shares rose some 7.7% to $24.00.
• Potash (POT) announced it would repurchase up to 5% of its outstanding shares.
• Qualcomm (QCOM) posted $0.46 EPS and non-GAAP EPS at $0.52 EPS on $2.44 Billion in revenues. Estimates were $0.53 EPS on revenues of $2.41 Billion, 6% to $38.90 after-hours.
• Symantec (SYMC) beat earnings; raised guidance; shares rose 8.5% at $16.55.
• THQ (THQI) traded down 8% after disclosing net profit drops on charges from discontinued titles.
• Trimble Navigation (TRMB) shares rose 15% at $27.45 after raising current guidance and reaffirming 2008 revenues.
• Western Digital (WDC) $1.35 EPS vs. $1.04 estimate; sees next quarter $0.85 to $0.91 EPS & $2 Billion revenues vs. estimates of $0.80 & $1.9 Billion; shares rose by almost 7%.
• World Acceptance (WRLD) $0.54 EPS vs. $0.46 estimates.
• Xerox (XRX) $0.41 EPS vs $0.41 estimate; sees next quarter $0.25 to $0.28 vs. $0.28 estimate; sees 2008 $1.31 to $1.35 EPS versus $1.31 estimates.