Higher Opening
Stocks appear set to open higher
Wednesday on the heals of a nice rally the day before.
United Auto
(
UAG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported Q1
earnings of 40 cents a share, beating analysts’ consensus by a nickel according to
a survey taken by Multex. Revenues came in at $1.6 billion, up 19% from the same
quarter a year ago. Analysts’ consensus was for $1.57 billion.
Sun Microsystems
(
SUNW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said it
will hold a teleconference beginning at 9:00 AM EST with regard to an
organizational announcement. You can access the conference by calling
800-230-1096, or watch the audiocast at https://www.sun.com/webcasts/call-050102/index.html.
UBS Warburg downgraded Digene Corp
(
DIGE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
from Buy to Hold due to the pending acquisition of Cytec
(
CYTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating). The firm
also lowered its price target on DIGE from $42 to $32.
Goldman Sachs downgraded Rayonier Inc
(
RYN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) from Recommended List to Market Outperform based on valuation.
Search engine site Google.com said it
has won a deal with AOL Time Warner
(
AOL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beating out
Overture Services
(
OVER |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
for a pay-per-click ad market.
Credit Suisse First Boston lowered its
rating on DDI Corp
(
DDIC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) from Strong Buy to Hold after the company
reported Q1 numbers which were in line with estimates, but lowered guidance for
Q2.
Morgan Stanley upped its rating on Eli
Lilly
(
LLY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) from Underweight to Equal Weight. The firm said it is more
comfortable with the risk/reward LLY has to offer.
Credit Suisse First Boston upgraded
Chevron Texaco
(
CVX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) from Hold to Buy and raised their price target to $100
from $85.
Lehman Brothers lowered its estimates
for Oracle Corp
(
ORCL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating). The firm cut Q4 earnings estimates from 13 cents to
11 cents and 2003 estimates from 46 cents to 41 cents.