Tag Archive | "afternoon"

Nokia: Gleacher, ThinkEquity Cut Numbers; Look To MMI, RIMM

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Estimates are starting to trickle in for what Nokia’s (NOK) cut in forecast this morning actually translates into. Gleacher & Co.’s Stephen Patel and Brian Marshall estimate that Q2′s sales will now be $13.7 billion, down from last quarter’s $14.1 billion, yielding EPS of 3 cents. That’s down from a prior estimate of $14.6 billion in revenue and 16 cents EPS.

Patel and Marshall maintain a Neutral rating on NOK and a $6.50 price target.

Patel and Marshall cut their year outlook to $57 billion in revenue from a prior $61.7 billion, and to 37 cents in EPS from a prior 76 cents. They cut their 2012 outlook as well, to $58.5 billion from $62.5 billion previously estimated, and to 46 cents in EPS from 78 cents.

Certainly, at 37 cents this year, or 46 cents next year, Nokia shares look more expensive, even after the drop today, at 19 times or 15 times projected earnings, versus the 9 times they would be trading at using the prior estimates. However, that’s not including the cash per share Nokia holds.

The analysts express concern the Windows-based unit won’t be sufficient to lift the stock: “We remain concerned that [Windows Phone 7] industry sales remain below 2mil units/quarter and that NOK’s scale will not be enough to offset a faster than expected drop-off in Symbian phone sales, which are still about 50% of revenue and roughly 20mil units/quarter.”

With even cheaper shares to be had in Research in Motion (RIMM), and Motorola Mobility (MMI), there’s not much support for Nokia stock, in their view: “Competitors RIMM and MMI trade at around 6x and 7x CY12 EPS excluding cash, which would put NOK at ~$5.50/share based on 6.5x our CY12E EPS plus ~$2.40/share cash, though NOK has typically traded at a premium. Our $6.50 target is based on 8.5x CY12 EPS plus cash.”

Nokia shares are down $1.22, or 15%, at $6.97, perhaps having reached a level of support for the moment.

Update: Mark McKechnie of ThinkEquity reiterates a Hold rating this afternoon and a $7 price target. He cut his Q2 estimate to $13.4 billion in revenue and a penny in EPS, from a prior $14.2 billio and 13 cents in EPS. For the full year, he cut his revenue estimate to $56.5 billion and 28 cents EPS, from a prior $59.9 billion and 60 cents EPS.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

TIVO FYQ1 Beats; Q2 View Higher; Churn Rises

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TiVo (TIVO) this afternoon reported fiscal Q1 revenue ahead of estimates, and forecast the current quarter higher as well.

Revenue in the three months ended in April  fell 10% to $38.8 million, yielding EPS of $1.04. Excluding a $175.7 million payment, as part of the company’s settlement with Dish Network (DISH) and Echostar (SATS), announced May 2nd, the company would have had an operating loss of $36 million, versus the reported $139 million operating profit, or roughly 27 cents per share.

Analysts, on average, had been expecting $37.2 million and a net loss of 30 cents.

Net income of $139 million was the highest quarterly profit in the company’s history, TiVo said.

For the current quarter, the company sees revenue of $46 million to $48 million, ahead of the $42.75 million average estimate of analysts. Net loss is expected in a range of $25 million to $27 million, with adjusted Ebitda of $14 million to $16 million.

TiVo’s subscriber gross additions were 27,000 in the quarter, down from 33,000 a year earlier.  On a net basis, the company lost 88,000 subscribers, better than the year-earlier 96,000-subscriber drop. The company ended the quarter with 1.96 million subscribers, down from 2.51 million a year earlier. Average churn in the quarter rose from 2% a year earlier to 2.3%.

TiVo shares are up 5 cents, or half a point, at $9.46 in late trading, after rising by just as much during the regular session.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

Applied FYQ2 Beats; Q3 View Weak On ‘Economic Conditions

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Semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials (AMAT) this afternoon reported fiscal Q2 revenue and earnings ahead of estimates but forecast the current quarter’s results to fall to a level less than expected.

Revenue in the three months ended in April rose 24%, year over year, to $2.86 billion, and were up 6% from Q1′s level, yielding EPS, on a non-GAAP basis, of 38 cents.

Analysts on average were expecting $2.77 billion and 37 cents.

For the current quarter, the company said revenue will fall 3% to 10%, which would be about  $2.57 billion to $2.77 billion. EPS is expected in a range of 31 cents to 37 cents.

Analysts have been modeling $2.79 billion and 37 cents.

CEO Mike Splinter said, “Near-term economic conditions have tempered our growth expectations,” but added that, “our outlook for the year remains strong driven by our customers’ plans to invest in the advanced technologies needed to meet growing demand for mobile devices and consumer electronics.”

Applied shares are down 32 cents, or 2%, at $13.39 in late trading.

Applied is in the process of acquiring equipment maker Varian Semiconductor (VSEA).

Applied’s conference call with analysts is coming up at 4:30 pm, Eastern, and you can the Webcast here.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

Applied FYQ2 Beats; Q3 View Weak On ‘Economic Conditions

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Semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials (AMAT) this afternoon reported fiscal Q2 revenue and earnings ahead of estimates but forecast the current quarter’s results to fall to a level less than expected.

Revenue in the three months ended in April rose 24%, year over year, to $2.86 billion, and were up 6% from Q1′s level, yielding EPS, on a non-GAAP basis, of 38 cents.

Analysts on average were expecting $2.77 billion and 37 cents.

For the current quarter, the company said revenue will fall 3% to 10%, which would be about  $2.57 billion to $2.77 billion. EPS is expected in a range of 31 cents to 37 cents.

Analysts have been modeling $2.79 billion and 37 cents.

CEO Mike Splinter said, “Near-term economic conditions have tempered our growth expectations,” but added that, “our outlook for the year remains strong driven by our customers’ plans to invest in the advanced technologies needed to meet growing demand for mobile devices and consumer electronics.”

Applied shares are down 32 cents, or 2%, at $13.39 in late trading.

Applied is in the process of acquiring equipment maker Varian Semiconductor (VSEA).

Applied’s conference call with analysts is coming up at 4:30 pm, Eastern, and you can the Webcast here.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

GT Solar Jumps 12%: FYQ4 Crushes Estimates, Raises Year View

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Shares of solar energy technology provider GT Solar (SOLR) are up $1.38, or almost 12%, at $12.80 after the company this afternoon reported fiscal Q4 results well ahead of estimates, and also raised its forecast for the current year to a level well ahead of consensus.

Q4′s revenue rose 39% to $271 million, beating the average $224 million estimate, yielding EPS of 41 cents a share, compared to the expected 34 cents.

Gross profit as a percentage of sales rose from 37.5% a year earlier to 43%, the company said, while operating profit margin edged up from 28.4% a year earlier to 30.5%.

GT Solar said it ended the quarter with a backlog of $1.19 billion, and deferred revenue of $446 million.

CEO Tom Gutierrez remarked, ““GT’s overall business outlook remains strong. We booked over $230 million of new business in the fourth quarter, bringing total net bookings for the year to over $1.1 billion […] The healthy pace of business has continued into the new fiscal year with an additional $722 million of orders booked so far in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012.”

For the current year, the company projects revenue of $1 billion to $1.1 billion, and EPS of $1.55 to $1.85, up from a prior $850 million to $1 billion, and $1.25 per share to $1.50 per share. Analysts have been modeling $966 million and $1.45.

GT will hold a conference call with analysts tomorrow morning at 8 am, Eastern.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

Sony: Macqaurie Sees Sell-Off Overdone

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Following a revision in Sony’s (SNE) fully-year results this morning and drop in the stock, Macquarie Equities Research analyst Jeff Loff this afternoon writes that the stock has “overcompensated” for the disappointment, and that there’s 5% upside in the shares.

However, he maintains a Neutral rating on the shares, writing that he’s waiting for a cut in Street estimates for the current fiscal year ending next March, and looking to gain greater confidence in how the company may do in 2013.

Loff notes a 23% decline in Sony’s stock since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and a loss of $8.1 billion in market capitalization, the stock has an “undemanding” valuation of 2.8 times projected 2013 Ebitda, and trades at just 0.7 times book value, again using 2013 estimates.

Loff thinks the total cost to Sony of the break-in to its online entertainment systems will probably be about 117 billion yen, using as a model for his estimate the 2006 break-in suffered by TJ Max (TJX). Of that, 75 billion yen is expected to be the amount for lost video game revenue due to the system outage sparked by the break-in.

Sony may end up taking a charge for the break-in costs in the June quarter, he thinks.

Loff cut his 2012 revenue and operating profit estimates to 7 trillion yen and 204 billion yen, from a prior 7.1 trillion and 237 billion, based on an expectation of 10% lower video game hardware and software sales than he previously estimated, though that might be too conservative, he concedes.

Sony shares today are down 32 cents, or 1%, at $26.73, having recouped much of its losses today.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

Moto Mobility: ThinkEquity, Macquarie Start At Buy

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Motorola Mobility (MMI) received two votes of confidence today as regards its undervalued prospects in smartphones and its opportunity for financial improvement.

Moto shares are up 23 cents, or 1%, this afternoon, at $24.18.

Macquarie Equities Research analyst Kevin Smitheon started coverage of the stock at Outperform, with a $29 price target, writing that the handset business, valued at just $2 per share currently, could add a lot to the stock price if things go well.

Smitheon estiamtes that most of the share price — $21 — is tied to the “steady” home set-top box business, the company’s $10.57 per share in cash, its net operating losses that shield future profits, and its patent portfolio. Moreover, the set-top business could be sold, if the company chose to.

In handsets, Smitheon poo-poos worries about how Motorola will differentiate from other vendors of phones based on Google‘s (GOOG) “Android” operating system.

We think MOTOBLUR [the user interface Moto builds on top of and Webtop software [the desktop running on its Atrix "lapdock" companion device], along with external keyboards, displays and docking stations, will provide MMI with a unique user experience now, and especially once its LTE devices are launched in Q3. Unlike several larger handset vendors, we believe MMI is on the cutting edge of the technology adoption cycle. MMI‟s issues are scale and execution, not innovation and leadership.

In a somewhat different vein, ThinkEquity’s Mark McKechnie started coverage today with a Buy rating and a $30 price target, arguing Moto is “a value play on Android smartphones and tablets.”

At the moment, “the stock is depressed due to the Verizon [Communications (VZ)] iPhone, the challenging positioning of the XOOM tablet versus the iPad2, and the Bionic delay,” writes McKechnie.

“At $25, the EV is just $3.9B or 0.3x CY12E sales. We view the stock as attractive based on our view of $2.50-plus of longer-term EPS power.”

The key is an increasing share of Android phones, which could lift the handset division from an operating profit of 2.7% that he currently projects to as much as 5% operating profit margin. That would generate $2.05 per share in profit on an annual basis. Currently, McKechnie models handsets making just 67 cents in profit next calendar year, and the entire company making just $1.50 per share, so an expansion of the handset margin would obviously have a substantial impact on the profit picture for Moto.

McKechnie also started coverage today of Moto competitor Research in Motion (RIMM), with a Hold rating.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

Intuit Slips: FYQ3 Beats, Q4 View Light

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Shares of Intuit (INTU) are down $1.90, or 3%, at $54 $2, or almost 4%, at $$53.90, after the company this afternoon reported fiscal Q3 revenue and EPS ahead of analysts’ estimates, but forecast the current quarter’s revenue slightly below what analysts have been projecting.

Q3 revenue was up 15%, year over year, at $1.85 billion, beating the average $1.82 billion estimate. EPS of $2.33 was 5 cents better than expected.

FOr the current quarter, the company sees revenue of $567 million to $587 million, below the average $587 million estimate, and EPS in a range of 2 cents profit to 2 cents per share in losses.Analysts have been modeling a 1-cent loss for Q4.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

Aruba Up 6% On FYQ3 Beat

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Shares of wireless networking equipment vendor Aruba Networks (ARUN) this afternoon are up $1.41, or 4%, at $34.10 $2.16, or almost 6%, at $34.86 in late trading after the company reported fiscal Q3 revenue and earnings per share that topped estimates.

Q3 revenue rose 53%, year over year, to $106 million, yielding EPS of 16 cents per share, excluding some costs. Analysts had been modeling $98 million in revenue and 15 cents EPS.

The company said demand was “strong” in all geographic areas in the quarter.

Aruba’s conference call with analysts is coming up at 5 pm, Eastern, and you can catch it here.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

Autodesk FYQ1 Beats; Year View Tops Estimates

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Shares of Autodesk (ADSK) are up 15 cents at $44.54 after the company this afternoon reported fiscal Q1 revenue and earnings ahead of estimates, forecast the current quarter’s EPS a bit on the light side, but also projected full-year revenue slightly above estimates.

Q1 revenue rose 11%, year over year, to $528 million, yielding EPS of 40 cents. Analysts had been expecting $523 million and 37 cents.

The company’s sales in the Americas rose 13%, year over year, while Asia-Pac was up 15%, and 11% excluding currency effects. Europe, the Middle East and Africa revenue was up 8%, but would have been a 10% increase excluding currency effects.

For the current quarter, the company sees revenue of $530 million to $545 million. which is better than the $528 million the Street has been looking for. EPS is expected in a range of 37 cents to 41 cents, below the average 40-cent estimate.

For the full year, Autodesk sees revenue of $2.19 billion, better than the consensus $2.17 billion.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily