MARKET CURRENTS
real-time news and commentary for investors
MARKET CURRENTS
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Today - Wednesday, May 23
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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) 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) 1 Comment
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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," 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) 13 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. Comment!
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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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