Q3 2009 Earnings Call Transcript

October 22, 2009 5:00 pm ET

COMPETITORS: STABILIZING.

Q2 2009 Earnings Call

July 22, 2009 5:00 pm ET

Yesterday there were a couple of posts about how tech stocks are currently especially attractive because they hold plenty of cash and tend to have little debt. Paul Kedrosky initially caught my eye with his post "Tech Cash is King" which in turn pointed me to a story on Bloomberg by Eric Martin.

I ran a screen last night that looked at both cash and debt. Specifically, I screened for a Price-to-Cash ratio under three, a Debt-to-Equity ratio under three and a Market Cap greater than $2.5 million. Based on these criteria, I obtained a list of 136 stocks.

Q1 2009 Earnings Call

April 22, 2009 5:00 pm ET

• Obama considers mortgage subsidies. Obama is working on a new plan to stem foreclosures using mortgage subsidies. In a major departure from existing programs, the initiative would aim to help homeowners before they fall behind on their payments. Sources say the plan, which is still evolving, would see homes undergo a standardized reappraisal and then homeowners would face a uniform eligibility test. The administration may also lower the threshold for relief eligibility; currently, loans are reworked if borrowers spend more than 38% of their gross income on mortgage payments.
• Weeding out the failed banks. A growing body of research by economists and finance experts suggests some of the country's largest banks are essentially insolvent and the banking system will need significantly more aid. Without a cure for the problem of bad assets, the credit crisis dragging down the economy will continue. The answer, according to these economists and experts, is a much larger and more direct government role than the one outlined by Treasury this week. Instead of a private-public investment fund, the government needs to roll up its sleeves, get rid of the weakest banks, sell off bad assets and pour money into the surviving banks. The researchers point to the success of similar plans in Japan and Sweden, and in the U.S. during the savings and loan crisis.
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Q4 2008 Earnings Call

February 12, 2009 5:00 pm ET

The Telecom ETF (IYZ) is looking very strong here, and is nearing a major technical breakout of the upper trend-line resistance of a lower highs pattern, with MACD climbing.

Q3 2008 Earnings Call

October 23, 2008 5:00 pm ET

“Connecting Everything” is a perfect company slogan for a company which has been doing just that. Broadcom (BRCM), a semiconductor company based in Irvine, CA, has had explosive growth recently. Many of its products are regarded as parts of the wireless and multi-face future. Its low-cost, high-speed multi-functioning “system-on-a-chip” semiconductors and the software that combines voice, video, data, and multimedia applications are best-of-breed in the industry.

In addition, Broadcom has contracts with other highly regarded computer companies such as Apple (AAPL), Alcatel (ALU), Cisco (CSCO), Dell (DELL), EchoStar (SATS), HP (HPQ), IBM (IBM), LG, Nintendo (NTDOY.PK), Nokia (NOK), Nortel Networks (NT), Pace, Samsung and many others. Although they have a lot of contracts with these big name companies, they also do a lot of business with smaller companies. In 2007, the leading five customers accounted for about 40% of total revenue.

Q2 2008 Earnings Call Transcript

July 23, 2008 5:00 pm ET

• Patent peace. Qualcomm and Nokia put an end to their patent battles - a move that could benefit both companies. Financial terms weren't disclosed, but the companies described it as a 15-year agreement that includes Nokia making an up-front payment, and paying ongoing royalties - which implies NOK may now become a QCOM customer. "This is a landmark deal," Lehman's Timothy Luke said. "This removes a ton of uncertainty from the industry." He estimates NOK should owe QCOM about $600M for 2008 alone. In early pre-market trading, QCOM is up 20.5%; NOK is up 1%.
• Amazon profit surges; margins shrink. Online retail giant Amazon.com (AMZN) said its 2Q profit doubled as revenue jumped 41% (see below). It also raised its sales forecast for the year. Analysts say aggressive discounting and free-shipping helped lure cash-strapped shoppers. CFO Tom Szkutak said gross margins were constrained by lower prices and by its product mix; it sees full-year operating margin of 5.7%, down from a previous forecast of 5.8%. Sales of books, music and movies rose 31% to $2.41B; electronics and other general merchandise revenue rose 58% to $1.53B. (Earnings call transcript)
• State budgets slashed. States, facing a $40B shortfall, are slashing spending and cutting jobs. The gap is more than triple last year's; the State Budget Update report (.pdf) says it stems from broad U.S. economic weakness, and that its repercussions may be felt straight through to 2010.
• Microsoft online chief goes, Ballmer talks tough. Kevin Johnson, head of Microsoft's (MSFT) online unit and in charge of MSFT's Yahoo (YHOO) bid, resigned. He will take over as CEO of Juniper Networks (JNPR), sources say. The move reflects CEO Steve Ballmer's "deep dissatisfaction" with MSFT's online presence. In an internal memo yesterday, he vowed to "out-innovate" Google (GOOG) in search by upping the ante in R&D and through acquisitions. "This is a long-term battle for our company."
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• GE Health buys Vital Signs. GE (GE) is acquiring Vital Signs (VITL) for $74.50/share ($860M). Vital Signs is a global provider of medical products for areas such as anesthesia, respiratory, sleep therapy and emergency medicine. "This acquisition is consistent with GE's strategy to invest in high-technology, innovative businesses that deliver top-line growth, earnings expansion and expanded margins," GE Healthcare CEO John Dineen said.
• Goldman raises $10B for LBO debt fund. Goldman Sachs (GS) has created a $10B fund to invest in senior leveraged buyout [LBO] debt. GS already has a $20B fund that invests in 'mezzanine' debt - which is second in line to collect behind senior. The two funds enable Goldman to finance sizeable deals without needing to recruit outsiders.
• Intel introduces SoCs. Intel (INTC) unveiled its first attempt at multifunction chips. The so-called SoCs (systems on a chip) can be used in various devices including cars, Tvs, robots, as well as security and communications hardware. Competitors in the space include ARM Holdings (ARMH), MIPS Technologies (MIPS), IBM (IBM) and Freescale Semiconductor (FSL).
• The Fed's Beige Book was downbeat, but held few surprises. Consumer spending was reported as mixed, weak, or slowing. Rebate checks boosted sales for some items - especially electronics. Manufacturing activity slowed, although export demand remained high. Both residential and commercial real estate markets were sluggish.

Earnings: Thursday Before Open

• 3M Company (MMM): Q2 EPS of $1.39 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $6.74B (+9.7%) in-line. [PR]
• AmerisourceBergen (ABC): FQ3 EPS of $0.73 beats by $0.07. Revenue of $17.51B (+14.5%) in-line. [PR]
• AutoNation (AN): Q2 EPS of $0.29 misses by $0.01. Revenue of $3.91B (-12.7%) vs. $4.09B. Shares +0.1%. "In the second quarter, the industry encountered $4.00 per gln gasoline on top of the continued housing depression and credit crisis, resulting in a significant challenge as consumers are either postponing the purchase of vehicles or they are purchasing smaller vehicles that are more economical both at the time of purchase and at the pump." [PR]
• Ashland (ASH): FQ3 EPS of $1.03 beats by $0.17. Revenue of $2.2B (+11%) vs. $2.13B. Shares [PR]
• AU Optronics (AUO): Q2 EPS of $0.84 beats by $0.27. Revenue of $4.06B (+25.7%) in-line. [PR]
• Belden (BDC): Q2 EPS of $0.97 beats by $0.07. Revenue of $556B (+1.2%) vs. $573B. [PR]
• Bristol-Myers (BMY): Q2 EPS of $0.43 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $5.2B vs. $5.09B. Shares +0.5%. [PR]
• Bunge (BG): Q2 EPS of $5.45 beats by $2.18. Revenue of $14.37B (+73.1%) vs. $13.25B. Sees full-year EPS of $11.60-11.90 vs. $9.16. "Looking to the second half of the year, fertilizer fundamentals should remain strong." [PR]
• Canon (CAJ): Q2 profit fell 13% to $1B. Sales fell 1.9% to $10.26B. Weak results were mainly due to the strong yen vs. the weak dollar. [AP]
• Celgene (CELG): Q2 EPS of $0.37 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $571.5M (+64.3%) vs. $539M. Shares +2.1%. [PR]
• Cooper Industries (CBE): Q2 EPS of $0.97 beats by $0.06. Revenue of $1.72B (+17.8%) in-line. [PR]
• Credit Suisse (CS): Net profit fell to 1.22B francs from 3.19B - roughly doubling analyst expectations. It attracted 17.4B francs in new assets. CS says the outlook remains difficult. Shares were up 5.5% in Zurich. [WSJ]
• Daimler (DAI): Q2 EPS of €1.40 beats by €0.07. Revenue of €25.38B (+9%) vs. €24.12B. Shares [PR]
• Diamond Offshore Drilling (DO): Q2 EPS of $2.99 beats by $0.22. Revenue of $954M (+47.1%) vs. $926M. [PR]
• Dow Chemical (DOW): Q2 EPS of $0.81 misses by $0.04. Revenue of $16.38B (+23.5%) vs. $14.89B. [PR]
• Elan (ELN): Q2 EPS of -$0.15 misses by $0.02. Revenue of $246M (+30.3%) vs. $250M. [PR]
• Eli Lilly (LLY): Q2 EPS of $0.99 misses by $0.01. Revenue of $5.15B (+11.2%) vs. $5.03B. Shares +0.3%. [PR]
• EnCana (ECA): Q2 EPS of $1.96 beats by $0.12. Revenue of $7.32B (+30.4%) vs. $5.95B. [PR]
• Ford (F): Q2 EPS of -$0.62 misses by $0.35. Revenue of $38.6B (-12.7%). [PR]
• Goodrich (GR): Q2 EPS of $1.44 beats by $0.36. Revenue of $1.85B (+17.3%) in-line. Sees full-year EPS of $4.80-4.95 vs. $4.51. [PR]
• Invitrogen (IVGN): Q2 EPS of $0.73 beats by $0.16. Revenue of $368M (+14.3%) vs. $353M. Shares +3.1%. [PR]
• Kimberly-Clark (KMB): Q2 EPS of $1.03 in-line. Revenue of $5.01B (+11.2%) in-line. [PR]
• Kinetic Concepts (KCI): Q2 EPS of $0.98 beats by $0.05. Revenue of $462M (+16.5%) vs. $447M. [PR]
• L-3 Communications (LLL): Q2 EPS of $1.67 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $3.72B (+9.2%) vs. $3.66B. Shares +0.2%. [PR]
• Laboratory Corp. (LH): Q2 EPS of $1.24 in-line. Revenue of $1.15B (+10%) in-line. [PR]
• Lee Enterprises (LEE): FQ3 EPS of $0.28 misses by $0.02. Revenue of $256M (-8.3%) vs. $264M. [PR]
• Level 3 Communications (LVLT): Q2 EPS of -$0.08 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $1.09B (+3.6%) in-line. Shares +5.3%. [PR]
• Medco Health Solutions (MHS): Q2 EPS of $0.56 beats by $0.02. [PR]
• National City (NCC): Q2 EPS of -$2.45 (-$1.8B) vs. consensus of -$0.26. Provisions for loan losses rose to $1.59B from $145M a year ago and $1.39B in Q1. [PR]
• Occidental Petroleum (OXY): Q2 EPS of $2.79 beats by $0.08. Revenue of $7.1B vs. $6.77B. Shares +5.8%. [PR]
• Petro-Canada (PCZ): Q2 EPS of C$2.38 misses by $0.15. [PR]
• Potash (POT): Q2 EPS of $2.82 beats by $0.21. Revenue of $2.62B (+93.7%) vs. $2.55B. [PR]
• Qualcomm (QCOM): Sees Q4 EPS of $0.49-0.51 vs. $0.54 and revenue of $2.5-2.7B vs. $2.71. [PR]
• RadioShack (RSH): Q2 EPS of $0.35 beats by $0.09. Revenue of $995M (+6.4%) vs. $908.5M. Announces $200M buyback. [PR]
• Raytheon (RTN): Q2 EPS of $1.00 beats by $0.07. Revenue of $5.87B (+11.2%) vs. $5.63B. Sees full-year EPS of $3.80-3.95 vs. $3.92. [PR]
• Snap-On (SNA): Q2 EPS of $1.15 beats by $0.09. Revenue of $766B (+7.6%) vs. $757B. [PR]
• Southwest Airlines (LUV): Q2 EPS of $0.16 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $2.87B (+11.1%) in-line. [PR]
• Suncor Energy (SU): Q2 EPS of $0.88 beats by $0.17. [PR]
• Smith International (SII): Q2 EPS of $0.91 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $2.49B (+18%) vs. $2.38B. [PR]
• Starwood Hotels (HOT): Q2 EPS of $0.56 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $1.57B (+0.1%) vs. $1.49B. Sees Q3 EPS of $0.52-0.57 vs. $0.66 and full-year EPS of $2.17-2.32 vs. $2.44. [PR]
• TASER International (TASR): Q2 EPS of -$0.02 misses by $0.03. Revenue of $21.1M (-18.4%) vs. $27.2M. Shares -12.1%. [PR]
• Union Pacific (UNP): Q2 EPS of $1.02 beats by $0.10. Revenue of $4.57B (+12.9%) in-line. Shares +1.8%. [PR]
• Xerox (XRX): Q2 EPS of $0.24 in-line. Revenue of $4.53B (+7.77%) in-line. [PR]

Earnings: Wednesday After Close

• AFLAC (AFL): EPS of $1.01 in-line. Revenue of $4.34B (+15.2%) in-line. -4%. [PR]
• Allstate (ALL): Q2 EPS of $1.24 misses by $0.05. Revenue of $7.42B (-21.5%) vs. $8.8B. Shares [PR]
• Amazon.com (AMZN): EPS of $0.37 beats by $0.11 (some analysts say it missed by $0.02 - see comments). Revenue of $4.06B (+40.8%) vs. $3.96B. +7%. [PR]
• Amdocs (DOX): EPS of $0.71 beats by $0.06. Revenue of $194M (-9.1%) vs. $185M. +2.5%. [PR]
• Ameriprise Financial (AMP): EPS of $1.01 beats by $0.14. Revenue of $2.02B (-8.9%) vs. $2.09B. [PR]
• Baidu.com (BIDU): Q2 EPS of $1.11 beats by $0.13. Revenue of $117M (+124.2%) vs. $112.5M. Shares +13%. [PR]
• Cabot (CBT): FQ3 EPS of $0.52 beats by $0.14. Revenue of $840M (+29.4%) vs. $801M. [PR]
• Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG): EPS of $0.74 misses by $0.01. Revenue of $341M (+24.3%) vs. $344M. -4.7%. [PR]
• Citrix Systems (CTXS): EPS of $0.38 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $392M (+17.2%) vs. $387M. -0.6%. [PR]
• F5 Networks (FFIV): EPS of $0.23 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $166M (+25.1%) vs. $161M. -3.2%. [PR]
• Fidelity National Financial (FNF): EPS of $0.03 misses by $0.10. Revenue of $1.18B (-21.1%) vs. $1.09B. [PR]
• Intersil (ISIL): EPS of $0.39 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $216 (+21.3%) in-line. [PR]
• LSI Logic (LSI): EPS of $0.13 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $692M (+3.3%) vs. $665M. +11%. [PR]
• McKesson (MCK): EPS of $0.83 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $26.7B (+8.9%) vs. $26.03B. Sees 2009 EPS of $4.00-4.15 vs. $3.83. +2.5%. [PR]
• MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR): EPS of $0.92 misses by $0.08. Revenue of $531M (+6%) vs. $558M. Sees full-year EPS of $4.00-4.30 vs. $4.30. -13%. [PR]
• Netgear (NTGR): EPS of $0.41 beats by $0.06. Revenue of $204M (+24.5%) vs. $196M. [PR]
• Newfield Exploration (NFX): Q2 EPS of $1.06 beats by $0.08. Revenue of $691M (+31.4%) vs. $538M. [PR]
• Noble (NE): Q2 EPS of $1.40 beats by $0.09. Revenue of $813M (+12%) vs. $835M. [PR]
• NutriSystem (NTRI): EPS of $0.71 beats by $0.06. Revenue of $194M vs. $185M. +9%. [PR]
• Pulte Homes (PHM): Q2 EPS of $-0.63 beats by $0.06. Revenue of $1.63B (-19.6%) vs. $1.56B. Shares +7%. [PR]
• Qualcomm (QCOM): FQ3 EPS of $0.55 in-line. Revenue of $2.76B (+18.6%) in-line. [PR]
• Robert Half International (RHI): EPS of $0.48 beats by $0.06. Revenue of $1.22B (+6.6%) in-line. [PR]
• SLM (SLM): Q2 EPS of $0.27. Student loans +12% to $2.7B. "Our funding costs have been extraordinarily high throughout 2008. Recent spread narrowing is encouraging because our earnings potential in 2008 and beyond is largely dependent on future funding costs." [PR]
• Skechers (SKX): EPS of $0.31 misses by $0.03. Revenue of $355M (+0.7%) vs. $360M. -4.5%. [PR]
• Sybase (SY): EPS of $0.49 beats by $0.06. Revenue of $283M (+15.4%) vs. $262M. -0.5%. [PR]
• Teradyne (TER): Q2 EPS of $0.16 misses by $0.01. Revenue of $318M (+6.9%) in-line. [PR]
• Terex (TEX): EPS of $2.32 beats by $0.32. Revenue of $2.94B (+25.3%) vs. $2.76B. +10%. [PR]
• Tupperware (TUP): Q2 EPS of $0.75 beats by $0.08. Revenue of $584M (+18.4%) vs. $573M. [PR]

Today's Markets

• Asia Thursday was a mixed bag. Nikkei +2.2% to 13,603. Hang Seng -0.2% to 23,088. Shanghai +2.55% to 2,910. BSE -1.1% to 14,777.
• In Europe, markets are lower at midday. London -0.4%. Paris -0.8%. Frankfurt -0.7%.
• Futures have inched down overnight. Dow -0.44%. S&P -0.43%. Nasdaq +0.05%. Crude +0.14% to $124.65. Gold +0.22% to $925.

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Here is my initial list of replacement candidates for the third quarter 2008 portfolio reshaping:

AA ACMR ACS ACXM ADP AEM AEO AET AFFM AHL AIB AINV ALL AME AN APA ARP ATWO AVID AVZA AXS AYR BAGL BCPC BDK BGC BHI BJS BKS BLL BP BRO BRS BSET CAM CBI CBK CCK CCRT CDNS CFI CKH CMI COG COLM COMS CPB CRDN CROX CSCO CSL CTB DD DELL DFG DLM DRYS DUK DVN EGLE ENH EP ETP FAST FCX FDRY FITB FLEX FLXS FRPT FRZ FSR FTEK FTO GFF GHM GIL GMT GNK HAIN HAL HAR HAST HCC HCN HCP HELE HK HLYS HNT HNZ HOC HON HRS HRZ HTH INFS IPSU IR IRE ISCA ISYS IVN JCI JNX JOSB KCI KEY KMX KOF LMC LPX LRCX LSTR LZB MAN MAS MCRL MGIC MHK MHP MI MKSI MOT MPS MPWR MWA/A MXGL MYE NBR NBTY NFX NG NM NRG NSHA NTGR NVS NWLIA OC OCR ODP OIS OKE OMAB ONNN ORI OSK OXY PAYX PBI PBY PCZ PHX PKD PKI PPC PPG PRE PRU PTEN PVA PWR PXP PZZA RCII RDC RDK ROP RS RTN SAFM SCX SENEB SFY SGIC SGY SI SII SJM SKM SKX SLB SLGN SNDK SNG SNX SNY SPSS STZ SVR SVU SWN TECUA TEX THOR TLK TMS TPX TRMA TRN TRV TSC TSO TTC TXT UNF UNT URI USU VE VLGEA VLTR VZ WAG WDC WFT WGOV WNC WRB WTI WTIU WTM WY XEL Y ZNT ZZ

Each day, Wall Street is flooded with stock research offering a multitude of conflicting investment opinions. As such, TickerMine is not in the business of providing more opinions. We believe that accurate raw data points can be used to gain insight in to the stock selection and valuation process.

Linksys Wireless-G is Best-Selling Wi-Fi Router for Electronics Retailers

Cisco (CSCO) has decided to use price as a competitive weapon in the market for residential and small office/home office networking hardware, RBC Capital’s Mark Sue asserts this morning. And he thinks that’s causing some problems for Netgear (NTGR).

“Unit growth for wireless [802.11]N devices, residential routers and other SOHO networking gear remains strong,” Sue writes.

Below we highlight the biggest winners and losers so far this earnings season (4/7-present). These are the 25 best and worst performing stocks on the first trading day following their earnings reports. For stocks reporting in the morning, we use that day's trading, while we use the following day for stocks reporting after the close.

As shown below, ANAD, YRCW, OSTK and CLS all had one-day gains of more than 30% in response to their earnings reports. After the stock suffered a big decline following its last quarterly report, Google (GOOG) made the best list this quarter with its gain of 19.99% on April 18th.

NetGear, Inc. (NTGR)

Q1 2008 Earnings Call Transcript

• Microsoft talks tough. On its FQ3 earnings call, Microsoft (MSFT) rehashed its threat to wage a proxy war to take over buyout target Yahoo (YHOO), but also sent a clear signal that it may just walk away. "The strongest argument that I’ve heard on why we should increase our bid, simply that we can afford to, is not one that I favor. We’ve yet to see tangible evidence that our bid substantially undervalues the company. In fact we see the opposite. Yahoo continues to lose search share and profitability continues to decline year-on-year... Unless we make progress with Yahoo towards an agreement by this weekend, we will reconsider our alternatives..." including, "taking the offer to Yahoo shareholders or to withdraw our proposal and focus on other opportunities both organic and inorganic," VP Chris Liddell said.
• U.S. new home sales (.pdf) fell 8.5% in March to 526K, the lowest since 1991, falling short of 580K consensus. February's reading was revised lower to 575K from 590K. Inventory climbed to 11 months from 10.2 months, the highest reading in 30 years. The median new-home price is down 13.3% from a year ago to $227,600. Durable goods orders (.pdf) dipped 0.3%, but much-watched orders of civilian capital goods excluding aircraft were flat, rebounding from a 2% drop last month. New unemployment claims fell by 33K last week to a two-month low of 342K, surprising economists who were expecting 375K.
• Merrill/TPG talk. Merrill Lynch (MER) and private-equity group TPG are discussing closer ties, including a possible capital injection. TPG offered Merrill as much as $3B last fall, but wanted to nominate a board member and meet with management frequently; Merrill ended up raising capital from a group led by Temasek of Singapore and the Kuwait Investment Authority.
• Genentech sheds $200M lawsuit. Genentech's (DNA) Q1 earnings increased by $190M to $980M after the California Supreme Court reversed a $200M punitive damages ruling awarded to the City of Hope for a breach of contract related to unpaid drug royalties. Genentech still has to pay the $300M judgement for breach of contract.
• Yahoo opens up, partners with CNET. Yahoo (YHOO) announced a previously outlined move to open its portal to third-party developers, which will enhance Yahoo with social-networking functionality. CNET (CNET) and Yahoo also announced a three-year partnership in which CNET will become Yahoo's major provider of tech news, and the two will sell ads on each others sites.
• Delta/Northwest merger gets friendly reception. Lawmakers were quite receptive to the pending merger of Delta (DAL) and Northwest (NWA), but said other potential mergers (i.e. UAL/CAL and AMR/LCC?) worried them more.
• Honda hanky panky? Japan's tax bureau accuses Honda (HMC) of evading $1.3B in taxes.
• Sun scoops up chip designer. Sun (JAVA) is buying Montalvo Systems' assets, which designed but never produced an energy-efficient multicore CPU that would rival those of Intel (INTC) and AMD (AMD). Venture capitalists sunk more than $73M into Montalvo, which is thought to have sold for a paltry $5M.
• AOL traffic jumps 15%. Traffic to AOL sites grew by 15% in Q1 to 56.5M unique visitors. AOL went free in 2006. With its content garnering more eyeballs, all AOL needs to do is to figure out how to boost its lagging ad revenues.
• Investors eye RBS insurance business. A private-equity consortium is considering a bid for Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) insurance assets, including Direct Line and Churchill, which it put up for sale this week. They could go for up to £10B.
• Essar Steel looks like it will bid on Esmark's (ESMK) Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel, joining Russian steelmaker Severstal.
• 3G BlackBerry delay. Sources say Research In Motion (RIMM) may delay the launch of its much-anticipated 3G BlackBerry it is developing for AT&T (T) from June to August.
• NTT DoCoMo (NTT) said it will repurchase 2.1% ($1.4B) of its outstanding shares.
• DryShips takes control of Ocean Rig. DryShips (DRYS) bought another 28.5M shares of Ocean Rig ASA, giving it a 66.67% stake in Ocean Rig and effective control of the company. Shares gained 2.2% in AH trading.

Earnings: Thursday After Hours

• Altria Group (MO): Q1 EPS of $0.37 in line. Revenue of $4.41B vs. consensus of $3.83B. Shares fell 1.8%.
• AmeriCredit (ACF): FQ3 EPS of $0.31 beats consensus of $0.21. Revenue of $639M vs. consensus of $630M. Shares climbed 6.8%.
• Amgen (AMGN): Q1 EPS of $1.12 beats consensus of $1.04. Revenue of $3.61B in line. Sees 2008 EPS of $4.00-4.30 vs. consensus of $4.18, and 2008 revenue of $14.2B-14.6B vs. consensus of $14.51B. Shares gained 0.2%.
• American Express (AXP): Q1 EPS of $0.84 beats consensus of $0.81. Revenue of $7.19B in line. Shares gained 4.54%.
• Baidu.com (BIDU): Q1 EPS of $0.67 beats consensus of $0.60. Revenue of $81.9M vs. consensus of $75.39M. Sees Q2 revenue of $111-114M vs. consensus of $101M. Shares gained 2.2%.
• Chartered Semiconductor (CHRT): Q1 EPS flat beats consensus of -$0.01. Revenue of $388M vs. consensus of $368M.
• Cheesecake Factory (CAKE): Q1 EPS of $0.21 in line. Revenue of $393.8M vs. consensus of $396.3M. Shares gained 0.6%.
• Chubb (CB): Q1 operating EPS of $1.65 vs. consensus of $1.54. Shares fell 2.3%.
• CNet Networks (CNET): Q1 EPS of -$0.04 in line. Revenue of $91M vs. consensus of $94M. Sees Q2 EPS flat vs. consensus of $0.01, and revenue of $100-104M vs. consensus of $103M. Sees 2008 EPS of $0.03-0.04 vs consensus of $0.07, and revenue of $440-460M vs. consensus of $444M. Shares gained 1.2%.
• Genworth Financial (GNW): Q1 EPS of $0.56 misses consensus of $0.63. Revenue of $2.75B vs. consensus of $3.01B. Sees 2008 EPS of $2.25-2.65 vs. consensus of $2.64. Shares fell 4.3%.
• Ingram Micro (IM): Q1 EPS of $0.37 misses consensus of $0.39. Revenue of $8.58B vs. consensus of $8.87B. Sees Q2 EPS of $0.34-0.37 vs. consensus of $0.37, and revenue of $8.5-8.75B vs. consensus of $8.56B. Shares fell 1.6%.
• Interactive Brokers (IBKR): Q1 EPS of $0.66 beats consensus of $0.50. Revenue of $529M vs. consensus of $436M. Shares gained 6.75%.
• KLA-Tencor (KLAC): FQ3 EPS of $0.67 beats consensus of $0.63. Revenue of $602M vs. consensus of $586M. Shares gained 0.8%.
• McAfee (MFE): Q1 EPS of $0.43 misses consensus of $0.45. Revenue of $370M vs. consensus of $352M. Sees Q2 EPS of $0.42-0.47 vs. consensus of $0.37, and Q2 revenue of $360-375M vs. consensus of $352M. Sees 2008 EPS of $1.85-1.95 vs. consensus of $1.93 and revenue of $1.435-1.535B vs. consensus of $1.48B. Shares fell 1.7%.
• MEMC (WFR): Q1 EPS of $0.84 misses consensus of $0.85. Revenue of $501M in line. Sees Q2 revenue of $540-570M vs. consensus of $566M. Shares fell 3.65%.
• Microsoft (MSFT): FQ3 EPS of $0.47 beats consensus of $0.44. Revenue of $14.45B vs consensus $14.5B. Sees Q4 EPS of $0.45-0.48, lower than consensus of $0.48, and revenue of $15.5-15.8B vs. consensus of $15.56B. Sees 2008 EPS of $2.13-2.19, better than consensus of $1.87, and revenue of $66.9-68B vs. consensus of $60.18B. Shares fell 5%.
• NetGear (NTGR): Q1 EPS of $0.39 misses consensus of $0.43. Revenue of $198M vs. consensus of $204M. Sees Q2 revenue of $195M-200M in-line. Shares fell 11.1%.
• Rackable Systems (RACK): Q1 EPS of $0.06 misses consensus (1 estimate) of $0.27. Shares fell 2.1%.
• Rambus (RMBS): Q1 EPS of -$0.12 misses consensus of -$0.06. Revenue of $40M in line. Shares fell 2.4%.
• Riverbed Technology (RVBD): Q1 EPS of $0.11 beats consensus of $0.10. Revenue of $73M vs. consensus $74M. Shares gained 1.7%.
• Synaptics (SYNA): FQ3 EPS of $0.35 in-line. Revenue of $79M vs. consensus of $78M. Sees FQ4 revenue of $90-95M vs. consensus of $88M. Shares fell 8.4%.
• Vale (RIO): Q1 EPS of $0.41 misses consensus of $0.52. Revenue of $8.05B vs. consensus of $8.74B. Shares fell 5%
• Western Digital (WDC): FQ3 EPS of $1.23 beats consensus of $1.09. FQ3 revenue of $2.1B vs. consensus of $2.05B.
• YRC Worldwide (YRCW): Q1 EPS -$0.81 not comparable to consensus of -$0.25. Revenue of $2.23B in line. Sees Q2 EPS of $0.30-0.40, better than consensus of $0.33.

Earnings: Friday Morning

• Ericsson (ERIC): Q1 net income of 2.6B kronor ($446M) misses consensus of 2.89B. Sales of 44.2B kronor beat consensus of 42.3B. Net profits fell 55%, but shares soared 22% after the company maintained its 2008 outlook and said cost-cutting measures are on track.
• Honda Motor (HMC): Net profit fell 86% to ¥25.43B ($243.7M), its worst drop in 10 years. Sales fell 1% to ¥3.056T. Operating profit fell 33% to ¥168.84B. Analysts said Honda's forecast represents a worse-case scenario. "The company booked all of its losses now as it expects a difficult year," a Mizuho executive said, but added, "The stronger yen and higher incentives in the U.S. will hurt them this year."

Today's Markets

• Asia Friday: Nikkei +2.38% to 13,863. Hang Seng -0.64% to 25,517. Shanghai -0.71% to 3,558. BSE Sensex +2.25% to 17,098.
• In Europe, markets are broadly higher at midday. FTSE +0.28% to 6,068. CAC +1.09% to 4,983. DAX +1.11% to 6,897.
• U.S. futures are up at 6:50 AM. Dow +0.48% to 12,893. S&P +0.52% to 1,393. Nasdaq +0.4% to 1,928.
• Gold is down 0.18% to $888. Oil is up 1.44% to $119.17 a barrel.