MARKET CURRENTS
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MARKET CURRENTS
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Today - Wednesday, May 23
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5:11 PM More on NetApp's FQ4: No explanation is provided for the soft FQ1 guidance in the earnings release. The guidance is another indication (I, II) of a tough IT spending environment, though the possibility of additional market share losses to EMC and others is also strong. Sales & marketing expenses only rose 3% Y/Y, but R&D expenses rose 26%. NTAP -22.1% AH. EMC -3.6%. STEC -1.2%. Earnings call starts at 5:30 PM ET (webcast). (PR) Comment!
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4:46 PM In tandem with its market-pleasing FQ1 report, H-P has announced its expected restructuring plan. The company plans to cut 27K jobs (8% of its workforce), a little above expectations, and says it will achieve $3B-$3.5B in annual cost savings by the end of FY14. The company expects to record a $1.7B pre-tax charge in FY12 related to the move (expect most of these costs to be excluded from non-GAAP EPS). HPQ +5.8% AH. (previous) Comment!
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4:36 PM More on Valence Technology (VLNC): FQ4 misses on all counts as total revenue declines 4.3% Y/Y. Operating losses increased to $9.6M, compared to a loss of $9.0M in the year ago period. Gross margin also fell to 17% compared to 21% last year. Comment!
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4:32 PM More on H-P's FQ2: PC division sales flat Y/Y, much better than Dell's numbers and a big improvement from FQ1's 15% drop. Enterprise hardware -6% (-10% in FQ1) as server declines offset modest networking/storage increases. Software +22% Y/Y (+30% in FQ1), though Autonomy saw a significant license revenue drop. Printing -10% (-7% in FQ1) as mobile/Internet photo sharing take a toll. Services -1% (+1% in FQ1). $350M in shares repurchased. HPQ +5.7% AH. Earnings call just started. (PR) Comment!
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4:19 PM More on Pandora's FQ1: The company expects FQ2 revenue of $99M-$101M and EPS of -$0.03 to -$0.05 vs. a consensus of $99.9M and -$0.03. However, it's guiding for FY13 revenue of $420M-$427M and EPS of -$0.07 to -$0.11, above a consensus of $415.9M and -$0.17. Listener hours +14% Q/Q and +92% Y/Y to 3.09B. Active users +10% Q/Q and +53% Y/Y to 51.9M. 5.95% share of U.S. radio listening, up from 5.55% in FQ4, 3.11% in year-ago period. P +8.8% AH. (PR) Comment!
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4:10 PM Hewlett-Packard (HPQ): FQ2 EPS of $0.98 beats by $0.07. Revenue of $30.69B (-3% Y/Y) beats by $770M. Expects FQ3 EPS of $0.94-$0.97, below $1.02 consensus. Expects FY12 EPS of $4.05-$4.10, above $4.03 consensus. Shares +7.1% AH. (PR) 2 Comments
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3:54 PM The ITC judge who in April declared Microsoft's (MSFT) Xbox 360 to be infringing 4 Motorola Mobility (GOOG) patents has now ruled the 360 should face a U.S. import and sales ban. However, the ruling can only be enforced following a review by the full commission, and Microsoft has its own ITC victory as a card to play in the dispute. Motorola has asked for a 2.25% royalty on sales of the 360 and other Microsoft products. 1 Comment
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2:58 PM Zynga (ZNGA -1.8%) plans to announce an advertising deal with DreamWorks (DWA +2.1%) later today, according to CNBC. All eyes will be on Draw Something to see if the game lands a chunk of the ad revenue after costing the company a pretty penny to acquire. Comment!
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2:46 PM Though it didn't come cheap, UBS and Nomura are praising SAP's (SAP -0.7%) $4.3B acquisition (I, II) of Ariba (ARBA). The former notes the kind of B2B transactions handled by Ariba's network cover 63% of all trade, and the latter argues the deal will help SAP achieve its goal of obtaining €2B in cloud revenue in 2015. Smaller Ariba rival SciQuest (SQI +6.2%) is rallying for the second straight day. Comment!
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2:30 PM The jury presiding over Oracle's (ORCL) patent suit against Google (GOOG) finds Google innocent of all 8 infringement claims. Oracle has been seeking huge damages over Android's use of APIs related to the Java programming language. There's a good chance Oracle will appeal. 1 Comment
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2:19 PM The Angry Birds are flying into Facebook. Angry Birds Friends, the first Facebook (FB) offering for Rovio's absurdly popular franchise, is out of beta and filled to the brim with "social" features such as tournaments. The game, which features in-app purchases, is good news for Facebook Credits, but not for Zynga (ZNGA), which has seen daily users fall for a number of hit games as competition grows. Comment!
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2:04 PM Splunk (SPLK +6.8%) is rallying for the third straight day ahead of this afternoon's FQ1 report. The analyst commentary (I, II) that has followed the machine data software vendor's strong April IPO has largely been positive, in spite of its rich valuation. Comment!
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1:57 PM Alcatel-Lucent (ALU +4.7%), down ~40% since February, outperforms with the help of bullish commentary regarding its 7950 XRS core router line, launched yesterday. Deutsche thinks the products offer "meaningful improvements" over rival offerings, and could take 5%-10% of the U.S. core router market simply by leveraging Alcatel's mobile carrier relationships. Goldman thinks the hardware could cause some headaches for Juniper (JNPR -4.8%). (previous) Comment!
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1:47 PM AMC Networks' (AMCX -0.1%) Mad Men ratings have been soaring, and Netflix (NFLX +3%), which last year struck a costly deal to carry old episodes, is taking credit. The 1.1M viewer increase seen for the debut episode of Season 5 relative to Season 4's average is the result of viewers watching earlier seasons on Netflix, suggests content chief Ted Sarandos. His comments come as many suspect Netflix is hurting ratings for Disney (DIS) and Viacom's (VIA) kids TV shows. 4 Comments
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1:30 PM Though many tech names are selling off following Dell's (DELL -17.8%) FQ1 miss, Apple (AAPL +0.5%) is outperforming again. The iPad is undoubtedly the biggest culprit behind the tablet cannibalization partly blamed for Dell's weak notebook sales, and the fact Dell suggests this trend is also affecting enterprise sales a bit has to be spooking investors. Meanwhile, it's reported a court-suggested meeting between Apple and Samsung's (SSNLF.PK) CEOs "yielded no compromise." 6 Comments
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1:16 PM Morgan Stanley (MS -2.6%) has offered a price adjustment to Facebook (FB +2.5%) investors in the event they overpaid due to order execution problems, Dow Jones reports. The news comes as lawsuits fly, politicians huff and puff, and sources tell the WSJ MS and other underwriters have made a $100M profit through "greenshoe" short positions on Facebook shares (Felix Salmon recently explained the arrangement in detail). 6 Comments
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12:58 PM The FCC is exploring whether online video sites such as Hulu and YouTube (GOOG) should be governed by the same rules as traditional pay-TV providers. Any move in this direction could have huge implications, potentially giving video sites the right to carry channels content owners have been unwilling to license (and thus representing major new competition for traditional providers), while also requiring them to carry less popular content. 2 Comments
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12:41 PM An L.A. Times article about a 2010 game-development contract between Activision (ATVI) and developer Bungie suggest the next Xbox (MSFT) will be called the Xbox 720, and arrive in fall 2013. Past rumors (I, II, III) have suggested the device will sport an ARM-based (ARMH) CPU and AMD graphics processor, and will be accompanied by a low-end model focused on Kinect play. 3 Comments
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12:26 PM Up yesterday after delivering its Q1 report, Chinese browser developer Qihoo 360 (QIHU -7.5%) is now selling off. Though results beat estimates and the company's guidance for Q2 revenue of $72M-$73M is above a $67.3M consensus, investors might be worried about Qihoo's decision to name finance VP Jue Yao the company's co-CFO, alongside existing CFO Alex Xu. Qihoo has been hit by allegations of accounting misdeeds from Citron Research and others. 1 Comment
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12:10 PM Suntech Power (STP -4%) slides after posting a mixed Q1 this morning on a 53% slump in total revenue. Net profit swung to a loss on slumping sales and provisions for U.S. antidumping duties. Looking ahead however, the company sees a reversal in the decline in shipments, forecasting an increase by more than 20% in the current quarter. Comment!
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12:03 PM Though Ross Levinsohn is still officially Yahoo's (YHOO) "interim CEO," he has been instructed to run the company as if he's the permanent CEO, sources tell BI. This isn't too surprising, given chairman Fred Amoroso reportedly wants Levinsohn to stay on, and Yahoo's board hasn't yet formed a CEO search committee (and they seem to love forming committees). Also, Dan Loeb appears to be a Levinsohn fan. (previous) Comment!
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11:57 AM Trina Solar (TSL +0.6%) hovers in the green despite missing Q1 estimates earlier this morning. Profit swung to a wider-than-expected loss as margins were squeezed, falling to 5.8% from 27.5% as lower selling costs and provisions for anti- dumping duties hit bottom line performance. Comment!
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11:55 AM While Dell (DELL -17.5%) crashes in part due to the weak PC sales mentioned in its FQ1 report, Chinese rival Lenovo (LNVGY.PK) has reported another strong quarter. FQ4 sales rose 54% Y/Y to $7.5B, and PC shipments grew 44%. Moreover, Lenovo's PC sales within developed markets surged 85% to $3.4B, the result of both an acquisition and share gains. Dell admitted on its earnings call that in addition to tablet cannibalization, price competition was hurting its PC sales. Comment!
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11:39 AM Trying to stoke a weak Android tablet market, Nvidia (NVDA) has introduced a reference platform called Kai, which it boasts can enable $199 tablets running on its quad-core Tegra 3 chips. Interestingly, it was reported in March that Google (GOOG) has decided not to use the Tegra 3 in its upcoming Nexus tablet out of a desire to bring the tablet's price down to the $149-$199 range. Comment!
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11:29 AM Apple (AAPL) single-handedly bought $23B worth of chips last year, estimates IHS' Dale Ford, and he sees its purchases growing to $27B in 2012 and $29B in 2013 (ed: those figures might be conservative, given revenue growth forecasts). That helps put into numbers the huge impact Apple's earnings reports have on chip stocks. Rival/top component supplier Samsung (SSNLF.PK) bought $15B in chips last year, and H-P (HPQ) bought slightly less. Comment!
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11:03 AM Cash-rich Seagate (STX -2.2%) is acquiring French external hard drive/low-end storage vendor LaCie for $186M. Seagate declares the companies' offerings to be "highly complementary" (in spite of moderate overlap), and touts LaCie's ability to bolster its European and Japanese presence. Seagate might also be interested in the potential to boost LaCie's margins by having the company rely on Seagate's hard drives. Comment!
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10:46 AM More on Cree: Wunderlich's Theodore O'Neill suggests the company is the First Solar (FSLR) of the LED world. He notes both Cree and First Solar rely on exotic materials few others in in their respective industries use, and argues each company's competitive edge is withering as the materials typically used by rivals - polysilicon for First Solar's competitors, sapphire for Cree's - get cheaper. Meanwhile, Digitimes reports LED prices have stabilized in Q2 thanks to strong demand. (also) 1 Comment
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10:39 AM Cree (CREE -5.1%) adds to the losses seen yesterday on news of CFO John Kurtzweil's plans to leave for Extreme Networks (EXTR -2.1%). Not helping is a downbeat assessment from Canaccord, which views the move as a "momentum killer" that while drive Cree shares lower over the near-term. The firm speculates Kurtzweil's departure is linked to a shift in Cree's business model to selling LED lighting fixtures instead of LED chips. Comment!
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10:28 AM For whom the Dell tolls: As the IT giant's FQ1 miss and commentary lead to a tech selloff, PC-related names get hit harder than most, no doubt thanks to the 10% drop seen in Dell's (DELL -15.8%) notebook sales. Rival H-P (HPQ -4.4%), due to report this afternoon, is among the biggest losers. Also selling off: INTC -3.1%. MSFT -3.2%. AMD -3.1%. LOGI -3.3%. (more on DELL) 3 Comments
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10:12 AM "What we’re working on now feels like the most important and the best work we’ve done," newly knighted Apple (AAPL) design chief Jony Ive cryptically tells The Telegraph. Rumors abound regarding a bigger iPhone, smaller iPad, and Apple TV set. Ive also evangelizes about Apple's philosophy: "What preoccupies us is that sense of care ... what our products will not speak to is trying to respond to some corporate or competitive agenda." (previous) 16 Comments
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10:02 AM More on the class-action suit against Facebook and Morgan Stanley: The firm handling the suit previously won $7B from Enron. Its complaint alleges remarks made in Facebook's S-1 about its ad outlook were "untrue statements" in light of reports an exec told analysts to lower their forecasts. Particularly incriminating, if true, are reports institutional demand fell due to the disclosure. That would make Facebook's situation the polar opposite of what may have recently happened with Groupon. 4 Comments
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9:46 AM More on Dell: Though lowering its PT, Stifel tries to make a bull case for the company. It views a growing mix shift to non-PC enterprise solutions (now 31.4% of revenue) as a positive, as well as its guidance for stable FQ2 gross margins. Overall, it sees "an improved/cleaner 2H2012 story" driving shares higher. Also of note: Dell, which has a market cap of $22.9B now has $8.2B in net cash and investments. (transcript) Comment!
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9:45 AM Microsoft (MSFT) and WPP (WPPGY) agree a 3-year deal that will allow them to place and sell online ads for the brands and Internet publishers they work. The aim is to better match the supply and demand of ad inventory, with Microsoft partners AOL and Yahoo (YHOO) also set to benefit, especially in gaining access to premium ads. Comment!
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9:35 AM Sell-side commentary on Dell (DELL -14.1%) is predictably bleak following its huge FQ1 miss (I, II) and admission it's suffering from tablet cannibalization, soft enterprise demand, Asian competition, and sales issues, among other things. Deutsche is downgrading shares to Neutral, while Brean Murray voices concerns about the impact of Dell's sales problems on its efforts to lower its PC exposure. Sterne Agee, which upgraded Dell last week, wishes it kept its Underperform rating. (transcript) Comment!
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9:20 AM A day after archrival SAP spent $4.3B on Ariba, Oracle (ORCL) is reportedly spending over $300M to buy Vitrue, developer of a cloud-based social media marketing platfrorm. Vitrue, which competes with Constant Contact (CTCT) and Bazaarvoice (BV), complements the cloud customer support solutions Oracle obtained through its purchase of RightNow. Of course, the effectiveness of social media marketing has become a hot-button subject lately. Comment!
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9:10 AM Facebook (FB), CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and the IPO underwriters face a class-action suit by shareholders over accusations they concealed from investors "a severe and pronounced reduction" in the company's revenue growth forecasts. 19 Comments
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8:41 AM Recon Technology (RCON) +67.3% premarket on news it signed a contract to provide China National Petroleum with Emerson PCS & SIS systems in its South Yolotan Gas Field Project located in Turkmenistan. The total contract value exceeds $3M. Comment!
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8:38 AM Needham wades into the carnage that has been Facebook's (FB) IPO and initiates coverage with a buy rating and a price target of $40 a share vs. yesterday's close of $31. "With over 900M monthly users, we believe Facebook is an option on the World" is the cheese-filled explanation. Facebook is enjoying a bit of a bounce premarket and is +2%. 3 Comments
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8:32 AM An MKS Instruments (MKSI) employee has been arrested on charges he smuggled equipment into China that could be used to enrich uranium and produce weapons-grade uranium. MKS says it is cooperating with U.S. authorities, but the disruption could adversely affect its Shanghai sales office. MKSI -3.3% premarket. Comment!
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8:24 AM Amidst the commotion over what the sell-side told favored clients ahead of the Facebook IPO, Jeff Matthews points out the company's revenue growth (publicly available) has been sliding sharply for over a year. Maybe a bigger warning sign, Zynga - the equivalent of a hot-dog vendor in Yankee Stadium (FB is The Stadium) - is slowing at an even sharper rate. "People wanted to buy Facebook, no matter what." 3 Comments
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7:48 AM Following Dell's (DELL) poor showing yesterday, the attention now switches to H-P (HPQ), which is due to release its FQ2 earnings after the bell. Analysts forecast that EPS fell to $0.91 from $1.24 and that revenue declined 5.4% to $29.9B. H-P is also expected to unveil a restructuring plan that will include laying off over 25K workers. Comment!
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4:13 AM Sony (SNE) and Samsung (SSNLF.PK) are trying to force retailers to rein in discounts on televisions, a move that could not only save profit margins at two of the world's largest TV makers but also help retail chains like Best Buy (BBY) and Target (TGT) remain competitive against online discounters. Comment!
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