Stronger Opening For Stocks
Stocks appeared set to open higher
Thursday as earnings "ohs" have changed into earnings "ahs",
thanks to companies like Compaq
(
CPQ |
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PowerRating) and Applied Micro Devices
(
AMD |
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PowerRating).
Semiconductor equipment company
Kulicke & Soffa
(
KLIC |
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PowerRating) posted a loss of 32 cents a share missing
analysts’ estimates of a 20 cent loss.
Network Associates
(
NETA |
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PowerRating) said it
plans to move over to the New York Stock Exchange for trading beginning February
12.
After the close yesterday Yahoo!
(
YHOO |
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PowerRating)
reported a loss of 3 cents a share or $8.7 million for Q4. According to research
firm Thomson Financial/First Call analysts were expecting the company to earn a
penny.
Apple Computer
(
AAPL |
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PowerRating) posted a
net profit of 11 cents a share for Q1 vs. a loss of 58 cents a share for the
same quarter a year ago.
Mercury Computer Systems
(
MRCY |
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PowerRating)
posted a profit of 16 cents a share beating analysts’ estimates of 15 cents
according to a survey taken by Thomson Financial/First Call.
Plexus Corp
(
PLXS |
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News |
PowerRating) posted a net
loss of $2 million or 5 cents on a diluted basis for Q1 vs. a profit of 31 cents
per diluted share or $13.1 million for the same quarter a year ago.
Salomon Smith Barney downgraded
Calpine
(
CPN |
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News |
PowerRating) from Outperform to Neutral and lowered its earnings estimates
on the company from $2.00 to $1.65.
Robertson Stephens reiterated its Buy
rating on Gilead Sciences
(
GILD |
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News |
PowerRating).
UBS Warburg upgraded Advanced Micro
Devices
(
AMD |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) from Hold to Buy after the company beat analysts earnings
estimates. The firm also upped its price target on the company from $17 to $26.
Sonus Networks
(
SONS |
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PowerRating) was
downgraded by JP Morgan from Long Term Buy to Market Perform. The firm also
lowered its estimates on the company from $190 million to $151 million.
ABN Amro downgraded Cubist
Pharmaceuticals
(
CBST |
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News |
PowerRating) from Buy to Hold after CBST announced less than
desirable results in the Phase III testing of the company’s Cidecin.
AMR Corp
(
AMR |
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News |
PowerRating) was downgraded by
Goldman Sachs to Market Perform from Trading Buy citing worries that AMR quest
to profitability will take longer than expected.
Salomon Smith Barney upped its rating
on Siebel Systems
(
SEBL |
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News |
PowerRating) from Outperform to Buy and raised its price target
from $28 to $38.
Symantec
(
SYMC |
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PowerRating) was upgraded by
Lehman Brothers from Market Perform to Buy after the company reported earnings
last night.
Merrill Lynch downgraded Teradyne
(
TER |
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News |
PowerRating)
from Buy to Near Term Neutral due to the large losses the company reported.
Banc of America upgraded Compaq
Computers
(
CPQ |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) from Market Perform to Buy after the company beat analysts’
estimates.
Merrill Lynch upgraded RPM Inc
(
RPM |
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PowerRating)
from Neutral to Near Term Buy after a recent meeting with RPM management. The
firms long term rating on RPM was raised from Buy to Strong Buy.
Housing Starts for December fell 3.4%
less than expected.
Jobless claims for the week of January
12, 2002 fell 14,000 to 384,000.