Bear Cuts Hardware Targets

Bear Stearns hardware analyst Andy Neff Monday morning cut his price targets and earnings estimates for a host of hardware, data storage and imaging stocks he follows, due to the weakening economic outlook.

“While we believe that most companies that we track are likely to meet or exceed December quarter results, recent economic data has highlighted weakness in consumer, which often spreads to the enterprise,” he writes. “Most of the weakness is in the U.S. and Japan, and showing signs of spreading to Western Europe. While Asian/Eastern European demand remains vibrant, growth could also slow in areas that are dependent on U.S. Demand. Moreover, the dialogs we had during CES and in other venues highlight some deceleration (e.g., notebooks PCs.) Put simply: things may not be weak, but conditions clearly are not accelerating.”

Neff did not change any ratings on the stocks he follows, but he chopped estimates and targets for many of stocks. Here’s a summary:

• Adaptec (ADPT): 2008 EPS loss est for ‘08 now 13 cents, versus loss of 12 cents. Also ups ‘09, ‘10 loss estimates.
• Apple (AAPL): Price target to $233, from $249. ‘08 to $5.20 from $5.40; ‘09 to $6.60 from $7.
• Brocade (BRCD): Target to $10.50 from $12.50. ‘08 to 55 cents from 60 cents; ‘09 to 60 cents from 68 cents.
• Dell (DELL): Target to $36 from $40. ‘09 to $1.85 from $2. ‘10 to $2.15 from $2.35.
• EMC (EMC): Target to $31 from $30. CY ‘08 to 75 cents from 81 cents; ‘09 to 95 cents from $1.02.
• Hewlett-Packard (HPQ): Target to $68 form $70; ‘08 to $3.30 from $3.40; ‘09 to $3.75 from $3.90.
• IBM (IBM):Target to $113 from $134; ‘08 to $7.95 from $8.30; ‘09 to $9 from $9.50.
• Lexmark (LXK): ‘08 to $3.10 from $3.40; ‘09 to $2.80 from $3.15.
• Logitech (LOGI): Target to $41 from $43. ‘08 to $1.42 from $1.44. ‘09 to $1.56 from $1.66.
• Network Appliance (NTAP): ‘08 to 84 cents from 87 cents; ‘09 to $1.05 from $1.15.
• Palm (PALM): ‘08 loss to 40 cents fomr 38 cents; ‘09 loss to 22 cents from 14 cents; ‘10 to loss of 1 cent from profit of 11 cents.
• Plantronics (PLT): Target to $29 from $37. ‘08 to $1.37 from $1.42. ‘09 to $1.76 from $2.01. ‘10 to $2 from $2.39.
• Qlogic (QLGC): ‘08 to 75 cents from 74 cents, but ‘09 to 71 cents from 81 cents.
• Research in Motion (RIMM): Target to $150 from $160. ‘09 to $3.50 from $3.75. ‘10 to $4.92 from $5.20.
• Seagate (STX): Target to $36 from $39. ‘08 to $2.70 from $2.60. ‘09 to $3 from $3.25. ‘10 to $3.30 from $3.55.
• Sun Microsystems (JAVA): Target to $27.15 from $29.75. ‘08 to $1.20 from $1.29. ‘09 to $1.35 from $1.50. ‘10 to $1.65 from $1.80.
• Synaptics (SYNA): Target to $65 from $71. ‘08 to $1.72 from $1.75. ‘09 to $2.33 from $2.58. ‘10 to $2.74 from $3.05.
• Western Digital (WDC): Target to $38 from $41. ‘08 to $3.10 from $3.20. ‘09 to $3.25 from $3.55. ‘10 to $3.55 from $3.85.