Stronger Opening
Stocks appear set to open higher
Tuesday as earnings continue to be reported.
Checkpoint Software
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PowerRating)
reported a Q4 net of 30 cents a share, beating analysts’ estimates by a penny.
Revenues, however, fell 13% from the same quarter a year ago to $122.53.
Analysts
were expecting the company’s revenues to come in at $123.15.
Tyco International
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TYC |
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PowerRating) posted Q1
net earnings of 74 cents a share, beating estimates by 2 cents and outpacing the
earnings for the same quarter a year ago of 63 cents.
Natus Medical’s
(
BABY |
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PowerRating) lockup
expires today.
Vodafone
(
VOD |
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PowerRating) said it will sell
its remaining stake in Atecs Mannesmann to Siemens AG
(
SI |
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PowerRating) for $3.27 billion.
Utility company Avista
(
AVA |
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PowerRating) said
that Jon Eliassen, the company’s chief financial officer, will retire in April
2003.
ABN Amro downgraded Anadarko Petroleum
(
APC |
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PowerRating)
from Add to Hold after the company said Q4 estimates would be significantly
below analysts’ estimates.
Morgan Stanley lowered its rating on
Dollar General
(
DG |
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PowerRating) from Outperform to Neutral due to unexpected lower earnings.
Robertson Stephens downgraded E*Trade
(
ET |
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PowerRating) from Strong Buy to Buy due to valuation, but increased its price target
on the stock from $13 to $15.
Priority Healthcare
(
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downgraded by Goldman Sachs from Market Outperform to Market Perform.
Goldman Sachs upgraded Henry Schein
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HSIC |
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PowerRating)
from Market Outperform to Trading Buy due to its valuations.
UAL Corp
(
UAL |
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PowerRating) was upgraded by
Credit Suisse First Boston from Hold to Buy, citing a more positive outlook for
the Airline group.
Linear Technology
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LLTC |
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PowerRating) was
downgraded by Merrill Lynch analyst Joe Osha from Strong Buy to Near Term Buy.
December retail sales fell 0.1%, which
was better
than expected. Ex-autos also fell 0.1%, as expected.