Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

• Fed cuts to 2%, likely to stay there. The FOMC announced a much-anticipated 25 BP cut to 2%, and lowered the discount rate to 2.25%. The former decision was endorsed by 8 of the Fed's 10 voting governors; Richard Fisher and Charles Plosser preferred no change. In its statement, the Fed stressed the dual tensions of weak economic activity and credit market stress vs. notable inflationary pressure. Pimco's Bill Gross noted the neutrality of the Fed's statement, which leads many to believe interest rates will stay put at 2% for the foreseeable future.
• GDP et al. Q1 GDP growth was 0.6%, just beating estimates of 0.5%. The six-month rate of growth is at its lowest since 2001. Consumer spending, which accounts for 70% of the economy, rose at an annual pace of just 1%, vs. 2.3% last quarter. ADP's job report said employers added 10,000 workers in April, up from 3,000 in March. The National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago's business activity index came in at 48.3, just up from last month's 48.2.
• Lennar plunges. Lennar (LEN) fell almost 9% amid concerns its joint-venture partner LandSource will file for bankruptcy protection, after S&P said it is likely to do so within the next 2-3 weeks. There are concerns of a spill over from the LandSource project to other joint ventures.
• Continental looking around. Continental Airlines (CAL) is exploring an alliance with American Airlines (AMR) and British Airways (BAIRY.PK), which could lead to it dropping out of its membership in the SkyTeam airline marketing group next year. SkyTeam includes soon-to-be-merged Delta Air Lines (DAL) and Northwest Airlines (NWA). Sources say Continental will be wooed by all three major airline marketing groups. It could remain with SkyTeam if its terms are improved, join British Air and AMR, or move to UAL's (UAUA) Star Alliance.
• Cablevision jumps into fray for Newsday. Sources say Cablevision (CVC) will bid up to $650M for Tribune's Newsday, trumping bids by News Corp. (NWS) and Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman. News Corp. informaly agreed to buy Newsday last month for $580M. Wondering what Cablevision plans to do with a newspaper company? So are many investors. One possibility: Bundling Newsday subscriptions with other services.
• Atom in short supply. Intel (INTC)'s new Diamondville chip, which targets low-cost "Netbook" computers, is in short supply due to heavier-than-expected orders. Intel plans to produce "millions" of the chips, members of its Atom product line, in 2008.
• TV on the go. AT&T (T) will launch a cellphone TV service next week that will compete with a similar offering from Verizon Wireless (VZ) (VOD). A lineup of 150 shows includes CSI and The Daily Show. AT&T also has exclusive rights to CNN News. The shows will be carried on the MediaFLO network, which is owned by Qualcomm (QCOM). Analysts are skeptical about how strong the demand for pint-size TV will be; they say only 5% of consumers are currently willing to pay for it.
• Good memories. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) Labs engineers say a recent discover called "memristor" could allow future memory chips to retain information, unlike today's DRAM. They could ultimately succeed the flash-memory chips used in digital cameras and other devices. The discovery, documented in May's Nature journal, is the first major announcement since HP revamped its labs in March. Memristors will have to compete with the emerging Numonyx technology jointly developed by Intel (INTC) and ST Microelectronics (STM), among others.

Earnings: Wednesday After Close

• Akamai (AKAM): Q1 EPS of $0.41 beats consensus of $0.39. Revenue of $187M vs. consensus of $188.2M. Shares: -0.3%.
• Allegheny Energy (AYE): Q1 EPS of $0.80 beats consensus of $0.78. Revenue of $875M vs. consensus of $951M. Shares: -1%.
• Allied Waste Industries (AW): Q1 EPS of $0.17 in line. Revenue of $1.5B in line. Shares: +1.9%.
• Ashford Hospitality (AHT): Adjusted FFO of $0.29 misses consensus of $0.32. Revenue of $314.5M vs. consensus of $301M. Shares: -1%.
• Atmel (ATML): Q1 EPS of $0.03 beats consensus of $0.01. Revenue of $411M vs. consensus of $404M. Shares: flat.
• Cabot (CBT): FQ2 EPS of $0.36 misses consensus of $0.41. Revenue of $786M vs. consensus of $728M. Shares: -0.15%.
• Centex (CTX): FQ4 EPS of -$7.34 misses consensus of -$2.43. Revenue of $2.31M vs. consensus of $2.2B. Shares: -3.8%.
• Duke Realty (DRE): FFO of $0.58 misses consensus of $0.62. Revenue of $243M vs. consensus of $203M. Sees full-year FFO of $2.60-2.90, better than consensus of $2.69. Shares: -0.4%.
• Fiserv (FISV): EPS of $0.78 beats consensus of $0.76. Revenue of $1.31B vs. consensus of $1.26B. Sees 2008 EPS of $3.28-3.40, short of consensus of $3.41. Shares: +0.7%.
• iRobot (IRBT): EPS of -$0.16 in line. Revenue of $57M vs. consensus of $55M. Lowers full-year EPS guidance to $0.12-0.17 from $0.18-0.23 vs. consensus of $0.23. Lowers full-year revenue guidance to $295-305M from $300-310M vs. consensus of $298M. Shares -10.5%.
• Itron (ITRI): Q1 EPS of $0.82 beats consensus of $0.70. Revenue of $478M vs. consensus of $454M. Sees full-year EPS of $3.25-3.45 vs. consensus of $3.36, and full-year revenue of $1.88-1.93B vs. consensus of $1.89B. Shares: +4.4%.
• JDS Uniphase (JDSU): FQ3 EPS of $0.14 in line. Revenue of $384M vs. consensus of $394M. Sees Q4 revenue of $381-403M, short of consensus of $406M. Shares: -10.1%.
• Las Vegas Sands (LVS): Q1 EPS of $0.07 misses consensus of $0.36. Revenue of $1.08B vs. consensus $1.24B. Shares: -8.55%.
• Murphy Oil (MUR): Q1 EPS of $2.14 beats consensus of $1.94. Revenue of $6.53B vs. consensus of $6.23B. Shares: -1%.
• Prudential Financial (PRU): Q1 EPS of $1.62 misses consensus of $1.82. Sees full-year EPS of $7.50-7.80, short of consensus of $7.77. Shares: -2.4%.
• Shutterfly (SFLY): EPS of -$0.15 in line. Revenue of $34.3M vs. consensus of $35.6M. Sees Q2 revenue of $35-38M vs. consensus of $39.8M, and EPS of -$0.19 to -$0.24 vs. consensus of -$0.15. Sees full-year EPS of $0.30-0.50 vs. consensus of $0.44, and revenue of $225-245M vs. consensus of $252M. Shares: +2.7%
• Starbucks (SBUX): FQ2 EPS of $0.15 in line. Revenue of $2.5B in line. Sees full-year EPS of less than $0.87 vs. consensus of $0.85, and full-year revenue growth of 13%-14%. Shares: -0.7%.
• Sunoco (SUN): Q1 EPS of -$0.50 misses consensus of -$0.41. Revenue of $12.81B vs. consensus of $6.28B. Shares: +0.2%.
• Symantec (SYMC): FQ4 EPS of $0.36 beats consensus of $0.34. Revenue of $1.55B in line. Sees FQ1 EPS of $0.34-0.36, better than consensus of $0.31, and revenue of $1.555-1.595B vs. consensus of $1.5B. Shares: +3.7%
• Trinity Industries (TRN): Q1 EPS of $0.81 beats consensus of $0.73. Revenue of $899M vs. consensus of $828.5M. Sees Q2 EPS of $0.85-0.90, better than consensus of $0.86. Sees full-year EPS of $3.20-3.45, short of consensus of $3.37. Shares: +3.95%.
• Unum Group (UNM): Q1 EPS of $0.59 beats consensus of $0.57. Revenue of $2.54B vs. consensus of $2.65B. Shares: +2%.

Earnings: Thursday Before Open

• Adobe (ADBE): Sees full-year EPS of $1.86-1.92 vs. consensus of $1.89, and full-year revenue growth of about 13%.
• Burger King (BKC): FQ3 EPS of $0.30 beats consensus of $0.27. Revenue of $594M vs. consensus of $580M. Sees full-year EPS of $1.33-1.35, better than consensus of $1.32.
• Cardinal Health (CAH): FQ3 EPS of $1.08 beats consensus of $1.01. Revenue of $22.9B vs. $23.42 consensus.
• CIGNA (CI): Q1 EPS of $0.94 misses consensus of $0.96. Revenue of $4.57B in-line. Full-year EPS guidance of $4.05-4.25 falls short of $4.25 consensus.
• CVS Corp. (CVS): Q1 EPS of $0.55 in-line. Revenue of $21.33B in line.
• Dominion Resources (D): Q1 EPS of $1.00 beats consensus of $0.89. Revenue of $4.39B vs. consensus of $4.08B. Sees Q2 EPS of $0.47-0.52, lower than consensus of $0.54.
• Eastman Kodak (EK): Q1 EPS of -$0.39 vs. consensus of -$0.04 (not comparable). Revenue of $2.09B vs. consensus of $2.03B. Sees full-year revenue of $10.3-10.5B vs. consensus of $10.2B.
• Herbalife (HLF): Q1 EPS of $0.93 beats consensus of $0.80. Revenue of $604M vs. consensus of $581M. Sees Q2 EPS of $0.89-0.92, better than consensus of $0.83. Raises full-year EPS guidance to $3.52-3.57 vs. consensus of $3.32.
• Noble Energy (NBL): Q1 EPS of $2.05 beats consensus of $1.71. Revenue of $1.02B vs. consensus of $0.89B.
• Nymex (NMX): EPS of $0.83 just beats consensus of $0.82. Revenue of $209M in-line.
• Revlon (REV): Q1 EPS of $0.00 beats consensus of -$0.01. Revenue of $320M in line.
• Sepracor (SEPR): Q1 EPS of $0.53 beats consensus of $0.47. Revenue of $321M vs. consensus of $335M.
• Tyco Electronics (TEL): FQ2 EPS of $0.67 beats consensus of $0.61. Revenue of $3.66B in line. Sees FQ3 EPS of $0.66-0.68, better than consensus of $0.63. Sees full-year EPS of $2.60-2.66, better than consensus of $2.53.
• Tyco International (TYC): FQ2 EPS of $0.67 beats consensus of $0.57. Revenue of $4.87B vs. consensus of $4.94B. Full-year EPS guidance of $2.65-2.75, better than consensus of $2.67.
• Williams Companies (WMB): Q1 EPS of $0.57 beats consensus of $0.52. Williams increased its consolidated segment profit for 2008.
• Wyndham Worldwide (WYN): Q1 EPS of $0.35 beats consensus of $0.33. Revenue of $1.01B vs. consensus of $1.04B.
• Xcel Energy (XEL): Q1 EPS of $0.35 beats consensus of $0.31. Revenue of $3.03B vs. $2.84B consensus.

Get Wall Street Breakfast by email -- it's free and takes only seconds to sign up.

Comments

[Camille]

The green and red color coding on the seeking alpha earnings announcements makes it eay to create a watch list of compnaies that have beats earnings. I like to check back with these companies in a few days ater the announcement volatility settles down. This site also provides an excellent quick overview of current company news and earnings before the market opens.

[Mazel Tov]

Rabbi Hoffman, I would be lost without your information! Mazel Mazel Good things!

[rev watcher]

Been watching Revlon plunge!!! This news is good, but doesn't it just sceam - It's time for another company to BUY Revlon? Why is nobody interested?

[mgr1929]

love your wrap ups

[nukldrager]

Many thanks to Seeking Alpha!