Pre-Market Report: Stocks on Course for Lower Start

U.S. PRE-MARKET INDICATORS

-Dow Industrial futures down 70 points.

-S&P 500 futures down 10 points.

-Nasdaq 100 futures down 10 points.

-Nasdaq-100 Pre-Market Indicator up 1.63 at 1330.69

GLOBAL SENTIMENT

Nikkei up 0.2%

Hang Seng down 2.7%

FTSE flat

PRE-MARKET SECTOR WATCH

(-,+) Large cap tech: mixed

(-) Chip stocks: lower

(-,+) Small cap stocks: mixed

(+,-) Drug stocks: mixed

(-,+) Software stocks: mixed

(+) Internet stocks: higher

(-) Financial stocks: lower

(+) Auto stocks: higher

(+,-) Airline stocks: mixed

(-) Retail stocks: mostly lower

DOWNSIDE MOVERS

(-) Morgan Stanley (MS) (-7.6%) leading broader financials space lower after earnings miss.

(-) Wells Fargo (WFC) (-3.9%) gained, then fell after reported profit decline that beat Street view.

(-) McDonald's (MCD) (-0.4%) beats with Q1 EPS as revs largely in line.

(-) Ilumina (ILMN) (-6%) Q1 results top year-ago quarter.

(-) GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) (-4.3%) reports improved Q1, hikes dividend.

(-) Freddie Mac (FRE) (-9.3%) down as acting CFO found dead, reports say of possible suicide.

UPSIDE MOVERS

(+) Yahoo! (YHOO) (+2.2%) seeing continued upside reaction to evening earnings beat.

(+) Ford (F) (+7.4%) gets analyst upgrade.

(+) Altria (MO) (+0.4%) adjusted EPS beat by a penny, sales top.

(+) AT&T (T) (+2.8%) beats with Q1 EPS, sales meet.

(+) Boeing (BA) (+4.8%) says Q1 revs about in line, lowers EPS guidance.

(+) Ingersoll-Rand (IR) (+6.7%) meets with Q1 revs, cuts FY EPS guidance, reduces dividend.

(+) SanDisk (SNDK) (+8.3%) sees continued upside reaction to evening earnings beat.

(+) PF Chang's (PFCB) (+17.2%) easily beats with results.

(+) Geron (GERN) (+11.1%) reports positive details on cancer treatment.

(+) Medarex (MEDX) (+5.8%) jumps on study results.

MARKET DIRECTION

Futures have returned to negative territory after mixed trading earlier in the pre-market session. Mostly Dow-listed earnings continue to flow, with mixed results. Technology shares are getting some help from follow-through buying in Yahoo (YHOO) after its evening results. Morgan Stanley (MS) is leading the broader financial space lower after a significant earnings miss on a plunge in revenue.

Higher-volume decliners:

Morgan Stanley (MS) reports a net loss of $0.57 per share vs income of $1.26 per share a year earlier and the Thomson Reuters mean analyst estimate for a loss of $0.08 per share, if comparable. Revenue was $3 billion, down 62% from the year-ago period. The Street looked for $5 billion.

Wells Fargo (WFC) reports Q1 EPS of $0.56, excluding merger and restructuring expenses, vs $0.60 a year earlier and topping the Thomson Reuters mean analyst estimate for $0.41, if comparable. Revenue was $21 billion, topping the Street view for $19.4 billion.

AT&T (T) Q1 EPS were $0.53 vs $0.57 a year earlier, topping the Thomson Reuters analyst mean for $0.48. Q1 revenues were $30.6 billion, just below where they were a year earlier. The Street looked for $31 billion.

Boeing (BA) reports Q1 revs of $16.5 bln, about in line to lower than the Street view of $16.6 bln. EPS was $0.86 per share, a nickel below the Street view. Boeing lowered its 2009 earnings per share guidance to between $4.70 and $5.00 primarily due to the lower price escalation forecasts. The Street view is $4.57 per share. Revenue is seen at $68 to $69 bln, ahead of estimates of $67.8 bln.

Helping to limit the broader market downside:

Yahoo (YHOO) sees continued buying interest after it reported in last evening's extended hours. For the first quarter under new leadership, Q1 non-GAAP EPS of $0.15 vs $0.18 a year earlier. The Thomson Reuters mean was for $0.08. Revenue of $1.2 bln was largely in line with the Street view.

Altria (MO) reports adjusted Q1 earnings from continuing operations of $0.39, up from $0.37 a year earlier and just beating the Thomson Reuters mean analyst estimate for $0.38. Altria's net revenues increased 2.6% to $4.5 billion due primarily to the acquisition of UST. The Street looked for $4 billion. The company sees 2009 adjusted EPS of $1.70 to $1.75. The Street looks for $1.73.

Ford Motor (F) is higher after an analyst upgrade.

A flurry of post-bell earnings are on tap, including: eBay (EBAY), Apple (AAPL), Netgear (NTGR), F5 Networks (FFIV) and more.

Comments

[bmac1:]

Better buy FRE & FNM While you can. its poised to jump!

Apr 23 03:26 PM