Hedge Fund Live's  Instablog

Advancers:

FSLR +6.5%: Renewables, waste management rise on Japan.

CLH +4.2%; SPWRA +3.8%; SOLR +2.6%; WFR +1.3%

MDSO +3%; 4Q earnings beat

NFLX +1.1; raised to buy at Goldman

Delcliners:

ALV -6.3%. Japan OEM exposure: JP Morgan 

CCJ -14%. Nuclear sentiment; DNN -21%, USU-11%, SHAW – 8%, AVL-9.7%

RIG -5.8%. Oil drops below $98-bbl; SDRL -5.1%

SLW-6.6%. Gold, silver drop. EXK-14%, AG-12%, PZG-11%

TMT Analyst Commentary

LED Industry checks are positive for Cree, Rubicon, Oppenheimer analyst Yair Reiner said.

Checks show LED BLU demand re-emerging, LED general lighting has strong momentum in Europe/N. America and parts of Asia, are positives for CREE, Reiner said

Sapphire prices holding up well, potential for price hike in seasonally strong 3Q are positives for RBCN, Reiner said

CREE short interest 19% of float, RBCN short interst 38%: Data Explorers

RBCN up 19% YTD, CREE down 27%

Veeco Instruments is undervalued by as much as 20%-25% and cash on pace to be $20-share of net cash by year end, JPMorgan analyst Chris Blansett said.

VECO valuation by cash is better than traditional earnings- based, Blansett said

JPMorgan rates VECO overweight, PT $75; 12 buys, 6 holds, 1 sell, avg. PT $56.50: Bloomberg Data

Short interest 31% of float, down from Sept. 16 high of 46%: Data Explorers

VECO up 11% YTD; trading above 50-, 10-DMAs, below 20-DMA

Citi Sees Chip Supplies Tightening; Watch TXN, FSL, MXIM, XLNX 

Citi says Japan quake will hurt semiconductor supply more than demand, with country accounting for est. 30% supply, 11% consumption.

Texas Instruments said after close it expects “some” loss of 1Q rev., more in 2Q, after substantial damage to plant in Miho, Japan (plant accounted for ~10% TXN 2010 rev.); Citi sees other cos. making similar announcements

Separately, Freescale Semi’s Sendai plant has ceased ops

MXIM, XLNX may also see production disruptions, Macquarie said in note yesterday

Gleacher says in long-term some chipmakers such as TXN may benefit as disruptions spur higher prices, more orders

In Europe, disruptions at competitors could boost ASML, Infineon, STMicroelectronics: Citi