Market Currents

• Tuesday, December 8, 2009

• 14:49 PM At Cisco's (CSCO) analyst day, CEO John Chambers says he's "more comfortable than ever" with Cisco's long-term revenue growth forecast of 12-17%, skeptics be damned. Touting Cisco's new management structure, which disperses power across many managers, Chambers noted that during 45 days in October and November, Cisco acquired four companies, struck a strategic partnership with EMC and VMWare (VMW), and "we didn't break a sweat ... well, maybe a little sweat." Comment!

• Tuesday, November 24, 2009

• 16:17 PM [[EMC]] lowers GAAP EPS guidance, to $0.16 from $0.21 for the fourth quarter, and to $0.50 from $0.55 for the full year, taking a restructuring charge of $100M. Shares -2.2% AH. 1 Comment

• Wednesday, November 4, 2009

• 10:46 AM STEC (STEC -31%) takes a beating despite a better than expected Q3 bottom line, after the flash memory storage products maker warned its top customer, EMC (EMC), would carry its 2009 inventory into 2010. Still, with 50% short interest and the stock more than halved from its peak, some smell a buying opportunity. 4 Comments

• Tuesday, November 3, 2009

• 11:05 AM Cisco Systems (CSCO -0.3%), EMC (EMC -0.5%) and VMware (VMW +0.7%) unveil a cloud-computing JV - Acadia - that will sell cloud infrastructure solutions based on EMC's storage equipment, Cisco's servers and networking gear, and VMWare's virtualization software. Cisco CEO John Chambers calls the move "an entirely new and unique approach to the data center that improves utilization, power consumption and security of information." (PR & video) 1 Comment

• Thursday, October 22, 2009

• 08:16 AM EMC (EMC): Q3 EPS of $0.23 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $3.52B (-5.3%) vs. $3.45B. Says customers are signaling more comfort spending their IT budgets. Shares +1.5% premarket. (PR) Comment!
• 00:05 AM Notable pre-market earnings: AUO, BDK, BG, BMY, CBE, CELG, CHKP, CIT, CNX, DAL, DHR, DO, DOW, EMC, ERIC, ESV, ETR, FITB, GR, HBAN, HOT, HSY, JBLU, JNS, KMB, LCC, LH, LM, MCD, MJN, MMM, MRK, NCR, NIHD, NUE, NVS, NYT, ORI, OXY, PDS, PLD, PM, PNC, POT, R, RAI, RGC, RS, RTN, RX, SGP, STI, SY, T, TASR, TIN, TMO, TRA, TRV, UNP, UPS, XRX, ZMH Comment!

• Monday, September 14, 2009

• 11:12 AM Intel (INTC) shares down 0.9% after announcing an executive reshuffling: Pat Gelsinger, who headed the core chip business, heads to EMC (EMC -0.3%) to lead storage products. Gelsinger joins CFO David Goulden and services head Howard Elias among possible successors to EMC CEO Joseph Tucci, which should dampen speculation that EMC was a takeover target. Comment!

• Thursday, September 3, 2009

• 07:37 AM Cisco (CSCO) and EMC Corp. (EMC) are reportedly in talks to create a JV, code-named Alpine, that would provide tech services to large businesses. The move is part of an effort by both firms to branch out in the increasingly competitive tech sector. 1 Comment

• Thursday, July 23, 2009

• 09:06 AM Premarket gainers: MEDX +89%. F +10%. FITB +10%. ARM +9%. SAY +9%. VMW +9%. ANN +7%. TMO +6%. EMC +5%. ABB +5%. LCC +5%. SLT +4%.
  Losers: CTIC -17%. MCO -11%. CIT -9%. EDR -4%. Comment!
• 09:03 AM Premarket gainers: MEDX +89%. F +10%. FITB +10%. ARM +9%. SAY +9%. VMW +9%. ANN +7%. TMO +6%. EMC +5%. ABB +5%. LCC +5%. SLT +4%.
  Losers: CTIC -17%. MCO -11%. CIT -9%. EDR -4%. Comment!
• 07:29 AM EMC (EMC): Q2 EPS of $0.18 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $3.3B (-11%) vs. $3.2B. Sees FY '09 EPS of $0.82 vs. &0.78 consensus. Shares +4.8% premarket. (PR) Comment!
• 00:05 AM Notable earnings before Thursday's open: ALXN, BG, BLL, BMY, CBE, CELG, CLS, CME, DHR, DO, ECA, EMC, ESI, ESV, F, FITB, FLIR, GR, HBAN, HOT, HSY, IGT, JBLU, KMB, LCC, LLL, MMM, NCR, NEM, NIHD, NOC, NUE, NYT, OMC, ORI, OXY, PLD, PM, PNC, POT, R, RAI, RS, RTN, RX, SIAL, SPNC, T, TIN, TMO, TRA, UNP, UPS, WYE, XRX, ZMH Comment!

• Wednesday, July 8, 2009

• 16:37 PM In the immediate wake of NetApp (NTAP) throwing in their hand, Data Domain (DDUP) definitively agrees to be acquired by EMC (EMC) for $33.50/share. After hours: NTAP +4.4%, DDUP -1.4% to $33.44. Comment!
• 16:13 PM NetApp (NTAP) declines to raise its bid for Data Domain (DDUP) and says it has terminated its merger agreement with the company, leaving [[EMC]]'s unsolicited offer for $33.50/share as the high bid. Comment!

• Monday, July 6, 2009

• 14:46 PM With EMC's fresh raise in the bid for Data Domain (DDUP +2.9%), 24/7 Wall Street asks: Why are [[EMC]] (+0.6%) and NetApp (NTAP -1.4%) fighting over this company, what do they expect to get, and why does Symantec (SYMC) have a stake in the outcome? Comment!
• 08:14 AM EMC (EMC) raises its offer for Data Domain (DDUP) to $33.50/share, or roughly $2.1B. Premarket: EMC +0.6%, DDUP +2.9%. (previously) Comment!