Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) completely blew its targets away last night, even better than the best bulls expected; After-hours we saw a 5.9% gain of $22+ at $398.10 and pre-market trading with just over an hour is still up about 5.35% at $397.02.

Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD) is lower on fears that its longstanding hopes of being acquired by Dell could be fading.  Dell announced the acquisition of private Force 10 Networks to get into networking and that usurps the need for Brocade.  At least that is the theory.  Shares are down 3.5% at $6.07 in the pre-market.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG) is taking a breather after having risen and risen after reporting soft earnings. Shares were down 4.7% at $318.00 last night but an analyst upgrade this morning has shares down only about 3% at $323.50 this morning.

Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ: CTAS) managed to beat earnings and its also gave guidance that meets or beats estimates.  Shares were up more than 7% at $33.08 in the after-hours and now we have shares up 10% at $34.00 in the pre-market.

Citi Trends, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTRN) lowered guidance and sees much wider losses than expected.  The trend is lower, with shares down about 19% at $12.90 this morning but volume is thin and this one trades about 155,000 shares a day is all.

CSX Corporation (NYSE: CSX) is up more than last night’s 1.6% gain as shares pre-market are up 2.6% at $26.15 after beating estimates and backing its prior earnings guidance.

E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC) is soaring after holder (and near-controller) Citadel is calling for a shareholder meeting to maximize shareholder value after dissatisfaction with results.  Shares are up 7.5% at $13.92 in pre-market trading after the filing.

Fortinet Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT) sounded good on the surface after it grew revenues 35%, grew billings 22% and grew earnings 88%… Shares were getting smacked down 21% at $21.25 in the after-hours session, but the stock is now down “only” 17% at $22.16 in pre-market trading as traders may be bottom fishing.

Government Properties Income Trust (NYSE: GOV) filed to sell some 5 million shares of common stock in the REIT to cut debt under its revolving credit facility and for general business purposes.  Shares are down 3.4% at $25.47 in the pre-market session.

We have covered brief moves on the news and then added in the moves with color.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) just blew out earnings so much that it is not even worth noting how great the quarter was.  Massive, and with some $76 billion in cash.  Shares were up 0.8% at $376.85 and the stock is now at an all-time again in after-hours on a 5.9% gain of $22+ at $398.10.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG) has risen and risen, but we are seeing give-backs with a bit of Montezuma’s Revenge tonight… Shares are down 4.7% at $318.00 in the after-hours on what appears to be soft earnings.

Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ: CTAS) beat earnings and gave guidance that meets or beats estimates.  Shares closed up 1.4% at $30.86 but the stock is up more than 7% at $33.08 in the after-hours.

Cirrus Logic Inc. (NASDAQ: CRUS) is rising on Apple and it was up 5.8% to $17.14 in normal trading and up another 5% at $18.03 in the after-hours.

CSX Corporation (NYSE: CSX) is up 1.6% at $25.90 in the after-hours after just beating estimates and backing prior guidance.

Fortinet Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT) grew revenues 35%, grew billings 22% and grew earnings 88%, but shares are getting smacked.  After almost a 1% gain today shares are down 21% at $21.25 in the after-hours session.  Ouch.

Government Properties Income Trust (NYSE: GOV) did not report earnings but it said it was selling 5 million shares of common stock in the REIT after the close to reduce amounts outstanding under its revolving credit facility and for general business purposes.  Shares are down over 3% at $25.56 in the after-hours session.

Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) is selling more DaVinci robotic systems.  It was up 3.5% at $374.90 before earnings.  Revenue was up 21% to $426 million and earnings were $2.91 EPS, sending shares up another 6% or $23+ to $397.80 in the after-hours.

Riverbed Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) should change its name on Wednesday to River-Dead… Shares closed up 6.7% at $41.40 but the after hours session has shares down a massive 25% at $30.90 after missing revenue estimates and after announcing two acquisitions.  The company saw softness in the EMEA region.  It has also traded more than 3 million shares since the closing bell.  This marks a severe blow when you consider how much it has gained.

VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW) rose 5.2% to $106.02, a new year high today.  Shares are up more than 6.5% more at $112.90 after beating earnings and revenues and giving solid guidance.  Earnings almost tripled.  This news also has majority owner and former parent EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) up 2% at $27.95 after the close.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) closed up 1.2% at $14.59 but shares are soft after a revenue miss and on light guidance.  The good news is that Carol Bartz continues to trim costs.  The bad news is that costs are not translating to higher revenues.  The stock is down 1.65% at $14.35 after the close on more than 1.4 million shares since the 4PM bell.

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JON C. OGG

Some companies to watch around the jobs data are Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ: CTAS), Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX), Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NYSE: ADP), and Manpower Inc. (NYSE: MAN).  So far the market is taking a wait and see attitude, but if there is going to be a major employment turn then those are some of the go-to names to watch.

The Challenger Job-Cut Report showed earlier this morning that fewer layoffs are being announced and noted, “in fact the fewest since June 2000 according to Challenger’s count which fell to 32,004 in December vs November’s 48,711.”

Another piece of data came out this morning from TrimTabs Investment Research.  TrimTabs projected that the economy added 135,000 jobs in December. That would be the third consecutive month of job growth.  TrimTabs noted on a longer-term basis that its believes the economy will “remain in a slow growth mode as the expiration of the “Making Worth Pay” tax credit and rising gas prices will offset the stimulus of the payroll tax cut.”

All of this acts as a preliminary jobless claims prediction (due Thursday) and acts a prediction mechanism for predicting unemployment and non-farm payrolls data due on Friday.

Bloomberg has estimates of 412,000 in weekly jobless claims due Thursday versus a preliminary figure last week of 388,000.  Bloomberg also has Friday’s figures on unemployment projected to be 9.7% (versus 9.8% in November) and it has December’s non-farm payrolls figures projected as being 140,000 (against 39,000 in November).

ADP is often off the mark and many feel that the data is incomplete and skewed in any given month.  That being said, this number was so large and so much above estimates that economists are probably changing their estimates now for an even better jobs picture in payrolls and for weekly jobless claims.

This number almost sounds too good to be true.  Now the catch is the pundits questioning whether or not it can be repeated in light of all the retail and temporary workers that will be let go in January after the holidays.

JON C. OGG

JON C. OGG

American Greetings Corp. (NYSE: AM) Cut to Hold at S&P Equity Research.
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) Maintained Neutral but raised target to $55 at BoA/ML; Maintained Buy and raised target to $55 at Argus.
Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ: CTAS) Raised to Buy at S&P Equity Research.
Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: HOV) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML; Maintained underperform and cut estimates at Credit Suisse.
LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Micron Technology Inc. (NYSE: MU) Maintained Outperform but cut target to $10 from $15 at Credit Suisse.
Privatebancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: PVTB) Cut to Market Perform at BMO.
Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) Maintained Neutral but raised target to $43 at Credit Suisse.
Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) Cut to Outperform at Raymond James.

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JON C. OGG

Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX), a payroll services company, is up 1.7% at $26.45 versus a 52-week range of $24.65 to $32.88.

Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NYSE: ADP), another payroll services company, is up 1.55% at $40.31 versus a 52-week range of $26.46 to $45.74.

Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: MWW), the top online destination for those looking for jobs, is up a sharp 5.77% at $12.19 versus a 52-week range of $10.01 to $19.28.

Manpower Inc. (NYSE: MAN), a key recruiting and labor outsource firm, is up 2.7% at $48.09 versus a 52-week range of $39.94 to $63.00.

Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ: CTAS), which is the go-to name for uniforms and other corporate employee services, is trading up 1.8% at $27.15 versus a 52-week range of $23.10 to $30.85.

Korn/Ferry International (NYSE: KFY), an executive recruiting firm, a.k.a. head-hunter, is up 2.8% at $14.74 versus a 52-week range of $12.57 to $18.62.

What is interesting here about this sector is that there is generally an improving environment for companies like these.  There is high demand for good temporary workers and this creates more demand for these services.  The stocks have also underperformed the broad market and many of these are still very close to 52-week lows.

JON C. OGG

Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ACHN) Started as Buy at Roth Capital.
Cintas Corp. (NASDAQ: CTAS) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) Cut to Hold at Soleil.
Gold Fields (NYSE: GFI) Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Harmony Gold (NYSE: HMY) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Meritage Homes Corp. (NYSE: MTH) Started as Buy at Citigroup.
Micron Technology (NYSE: MU) Reiterated Buy, Target raised to $11 rfom $10 at Auriga.
Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Started as Positive at Susquehanna.
Potash Corp. (NYSE: POT) Cut to Reduce at TD.
Randgold Resources (NASDAQ: GOLD) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

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JON C. OGG

After reviewing this data, 24/7 created a list of The Twenty Companies Wall St. Can Trust The Most. The firms are ranked based on their Accounting and Governance Risk scores.

The list represents companies that have practices which should be emulated by every public company that wishes to serve the needs of its shareholders by presenting accurate financial data and providing conservative management of shareholder’s investments.

The Twenty Companies Wall St. Can Trust The Most:

Methodology: The Audit Integrity Accounting and Governance Risk (AGR) rating is a forensic measure of the transparency and reliability of a corporation’s financial reporting and governance practices. The focus of AGR analysis is on identifying the measures most highly associated with fraud, and quantifying those risks for interested stakeholders in relation to company stock price, securities litigation, and major restatement probabilities.

Audit Integrity applies over 100 accounting and governance metrics to a company’s publicly-filed information. The resulting calculation produces the AGR, a percentile score ranging from 0 to 100, with corresponding ratings from Very Aggressive to Conservative.

Companies rated Very Aggressive or Aggressive have proven to be much more likely to face class action litigation and financial restatements, and to suffer severe equity loss. Conversely, those companies that have been consistently rated Conservative have been shown to be the most trustworthy.

AGR significantly improves the predictivity of traditional risk models.

The AGR and its underlying metrics are used by regulators, auditors, insurance companies, investment managers, and corporations, and are often incorporated in reporting by major financial media.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) downgraded to Neutral at RW Baird.
Cintas (CTAS) downgraded to Underperform at RW Baird.
Carnival (CCL) downgraded to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Commercial Metals (CMC) downgraded to Neutral at UBS.
CommScope (CTV) downgraded to Neutral at RW Baird.
Juniper (JNPR) downgraded to Neutral at RW Baird.
Prudential (PRU) downgraded to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
SunTrust (STI) Started as Underperform at Wells Fargo
Tellabs (TLAB) downgraded to Neutral at RW Baird.

JON C. OGG

Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) shares are up roughly 12 percent in premarket trade to $50 on takeover speculation, with rivals including Potash Corp. (NYSE: POT) also seeing some early bids.

CIT Group (CIT) shares are likely to see a volume spike Thursday after newspaper reports suggest that a government bailout might not be cards, and talks reportedly broke down.

Stocks moving on earnings this morning include Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and JP Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM). Others could move include Cintas Corp. (Nasdaq: CTAS), Xilinx Inc. (Nasdaq: XLNX) and Polycom Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM).

Sterlite Industries (NYSE: SLT) may see a volume spike lower after a stock offering that priced at a 6 percent discount.

-The 24/7 Wall St. Team

Cintas (CTAS) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Leap Wireles (LEAP) Cut to Sell at Auriga.
Sara Lee (SLE) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Telecom Italia (TI) Cut to Neutral at UBS.

JON C. OGG