The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 46 points to 12,625.19 (0.37%), the NASDAQ rose more than 18 points (0.67%) to 2,788.33, and the S&P 500 rose 0.5% or more than 6 points to 1,314.52.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) started as ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse; Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) started as ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse; Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) maintained ‘sell’ at Argus; Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) maintained as ‘buy’ with target price of $130 but lowered estimates at Argus; and Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (NYSE: APD) cut to ‘neutral’ at JPMorgan.

Earnings reports since markets closed yesterday have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Ebay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) is up nearly 4% at $31.55; Sealy Corp. Inc. (NYSE: ZZ) is down nearly -18% at $1.51; Blackrock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) is down -0.75% at $186.39; Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) is up 2.65% at $6.98; Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc. (NYSE: FCS) is down -3.51% at $14.02; Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX) is down -0.22% at $44.37; Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is up 5.42% at $18.29; and Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) is up 3.33% at $9.32.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

8×8 Inc. (NASDAQ: EGHT) is up more than 26% at $4.30. The telecom services company reported much better-than-expected earnings for its third fiscal quarter.

Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) is down more than -15% at $8.32. The solar panel maker is falling following Germany’s announcement that it will begin lowering its solar subsidies.

JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) is down nearly -15% at $$1.80. This Chinese solar panel maker is suffering from the German subsidy cut as well.

Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) is down -14% at $3.18. Another Chinese solar maker hit by the cuts to German subsidies. The list could go on, but you get the idea.

Stay tuned for Friday. We have noted the following event on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 10:00 a.m. – Existing home sales

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Paul Ausick

Many of Apple’s suppliers are well-known, but the list includes Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD), Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: CY), Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM), Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc. (NYSE: FCS), Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX), Jabil Circuit Inc. (NYSE: JBL), Vishay Intertechnology Inc. (NYSE: VSH), TriQuint Semiconductor Inc. (NASDAQ: TQNT), SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK), ON Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: ONNN), and Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM).

The report is based on 229 audits, of which 14 were specialized environmental audits and 27 process safety audits. Apple found 6 current cases of suppliers hiring underage workers and 13 historical cases of child labor violations. About these violations, the company said:

In each case, the facility had insufficient controls to verify age or detect false documentation. We found no instances of intentional hiring of underage labor. We required the suppliers to support the young workers’ return to school and to improve their management systems—such as labor recruitment practices and age verification procedures—to prevent recurrences.

Chinese environmental groups last year charged that 27 of Apple’s suppliers were dumping toxic gases and heavy metal sludges into the country’s land and air. The company’s audits revealed that 112 supplier facilities were not properly storing, moving, or handling hazardous chemicals correctly; 69 facilities were illegally dumping or failing to recycle hazardous waste; and 52 facilities failed to label hazardous materials. Apple also reported that 58 facilities failed to monitor and control air emissions.

Apple had come under increasing pressure to name its suppliers and to hold them to a higher standard following suicide attempts by 18 workers and 14 deaths at China’s Foxconn facility in 2010.

Paul Ausick

We have included some color on each if applicable and included Thomson Reuters estimates and price performance metrics.

Alcoa, Inc. (NYSE: AA) is out with earnings Monday after the close, and it is the first DJIA component and the one company that investors, traders, and speculators often try to use as a bogey for determining the strength of earnings season.  At a minimum, the company may be used as a tool to judge how other metals companies are doing. Thomson Reuters has consensus estimates of $0.27 EPS and $6.30 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.35 EPS and $6.29 billion in revenues.  Shares are around $18.00 in Friday afternoon trading and shares were trading at $16.49 about 90-days ago.

Wednesday morning we get to see financial powerhouse JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM).  Jamie Dimon and friends will set the tone of how banking and financial firms are doing and how they see the current environment.  Thomson Reuters has consensus estimates of $1.16 EPS and $25.6 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $1.17 EPS and $25.22 billion in revenues.  Shares are around $47.00 in Friday afternoon trading and shares were trading around $44.00 about 90-days ago.

DragonWave Inc. (NASDAQ: DRWI) is after the close of trading on Wednesday, and this one is sometimes used as a proxy for how Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) and Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) are doing.  That being said, we’ll leave it there for you to decide how tied these are. Thomson Reuters has consensus estimates for DragonWave of -$0.16 EPS and $15.14 million in revenues; next quarter estimates are -$0.07 EPS and $23.88 million in revenues.  Shares are around $8.37 in Friday afternoon trading and shares were trading at $8.06 about 90-days ago.

Thursday morning comes data-security leader Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP). Thomson Reuters has consensus estimates of $0.62 EPS and $276.71 million in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.65 EPS and $293.17 million in revenues.  Shares are around $51.70 in Friday afternoon trading and shares were trading around $47.00 about 90-days ago.

Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc. (NYSE: FCS) reports Thursday morning. After the TI-NSM merger, investors will be paying closer attention than before. Thomson Reuters has consensus estimates of $0.36 EPS and $413.25 million in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.39 EPS and $422.76 million in revenues.  Shares are around $19.00 in Friday afternoon trading and shares were trading at $16.00 about 90-days ago.

Hasbro Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) is due Thursday morning and it is probably safe to assume that investors will of course bet watching Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) on the news ahead of its earnings due Friday… Thomson Reuters has consensus estimates of $0.17 EPS and $661.69 million in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.38 EPS and $842.07 million in revenues.  Shares are around $47.35 in Friday afternoon trading and shares were trading at $46.00 about 90-days ago.

SUPERVALU Inc. (NYSE: SVU) is no market mover, but it has been cut in half over the last year and remains a giant turnaround stock for many investors.  Thomson Reuters has consensus estimates of $0.34 EPS and $8.75 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.32 EPS and $11.35 billion in revenues.  Shares are around $9.33 in Friday afternoon trading and shares were trading at $8.91 about 90-days ago before challenging the $7.00 mark thereafter.

The all-cash merger comes to about $6.5 billion.  For National Semiconductor holders that will translate to a buyout price of $25.00 per share.  Both companies have approved the deal at the Board of Directors level and if this deal was reflected in National Semiconductor stock then we’d ask about why National Semi was down on the day.  National Semi shares closed down 1.1% at $14.07 in regular trading and its 52-week trading range is $11.84 to $16.00.  Some may wonder if Texas Instruments is having to overpay for this one or not.  The last time National Semi shares were at $25.00 was back in 2007.

This deal is likely to eliminate the cloud that has hung over semiconductor shares.  We showed some technical analysis just on Friday showing how the Semiconductor HOLDRs (NYSE: SMH) ETF was acting extremely poor ahead of earnings season.  The secondary beneficiary here is perhaps Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI) with its $11.5 billion market cap as its shares closed down 1.7% at $38.50 in regular trading  and rose above $40.50 in the after-hours market.

One rumor or guess which has been in the market for about as long as memory serves is a Altera-Xilinx merger.  Altera Corporation had a $13.6 billion market cap at the close and its shares are up 2.8% at $43.72 in the after-hours session.  Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) had a $8.3 billion market cap at the close and its shares are indicated up more than 1% at $32.35 in the after-hours session.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) is up by 2% at $11.42 in the after-hours session versus a 52-week trading range of $6.36 to $11.95.  Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc. (NYSE: FCS) is up 5% at $18.60 in the after-hours and its closing market cap was $2.23 billion.  Linear Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: LLTC) is up 3.7% at $34.30 in the after-hours session and its closing market cap was about $7.5 billion.

The TI-National Semi merger aims to combine two of the industry giants in analog semiconductors for the world of electronic systems.  TI has larger scale and a larger portfolio, National Semi is likely to be much more profitable inside TI than on its own.

TI and National Semi are both halted after the close, but this merger here will either drive other mergers or it will at least drive traders to speculating on which other mergers could be seen.  We’d like to congratulate both companies on keeping this one secret.  Most chips had been weak and remained weak even today ahead of the merger, and we did not even see any unusual options trading in National Semiconductor throughout the trading day.

JON C. OGG

A-Power Energy Generation Systems (NASDAQ: APWR) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: STD) Cut to Hold at RBS.
Blackrock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: BMRN) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Bucyrus International (NASDAQ: BUCY) Cut To Neutral From Buy By Goldman Sachs
Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc. (NYSE: FCS) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Leap Wireless International (NASDAQ: LEAP) Cut to Underweight at Piper Jaffray
Legg Mason, Inc. (NYSE: LM) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) Cut to Reduce at Nomura.
NetLogic Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: NETL) Started as Buy at Gleacher.
Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) Started as Neutral at Nomura.
Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE: SWX) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Stabucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) Maintained Neutral but raised target to $35 at BofA/ML.
Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP) Raised to Buy at Auriga.
Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) Cut to Sell at Axiom.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) Maintained Neutral but target lowered to 2.40(EUR) at Goldman Sachs; Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
American Electric Power Co., Inc. (NYSE: AEP) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARNA) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Boyd Gaming Corp. (NYSE: BYD) Raised to Hold at Jefferies.
China Mobile Limited (NYSE: CHL) Started as Neutral at JPMorgan.
China Unicom Hong Kong Limited (NYSE: CHU) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Coventry Health Care Inc. (NYSE: CVH) Raised to Outperform at Leerink Swann.
The J.M. Smucker Company (NYSE: SJM) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc. (NYSE: FCS) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Genzyme Corporation (NASDAQ: GENZ) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) Cut to Underperform at Macquarie.
Micron Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) Cut to Neutral at Baird; Reiterated Buy at Auriga.
STMicroelectronics NV (NYSE: STM) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Texas Instrumenst Inc. (NYSE: TXN) Cut to Neutral at Baird.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

We have compiled Thomson Reuters figures for the consensus estimates and appropriate performance data where needed.  We based the comparisons for the June 30 close to see how these have performed in the latest quarter and we also looked for that big inflection date of March 9 to see how much these have rallied from the height of the market panic selling.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) reports Tuesday after the close and is the first of the tech giants to report.  Estimates are $0.27 EPS and $9.02 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.34 EPS on $9.5 billion in revenues.  Since the end of June this stock is up 22.5% and since the March 7 close this is up 63%.

Linear Technology Corp. (NASDAQ: LLTC) is also reporting on Tuesday, but this is likely to get buried in coverage by Intel.  Estimates are $0.24 EPS on $215.87 million in revenues.  Next quarter estimates are $0.26 EPS and $222.7 million in revenues.  Shares are up 20% since June 30 and are up 35% from the March 9 close.

ADTRAN, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADTN) is on deck Wednesday morning with estimates pegged at $0.32 EPS and $126.37 million in revenues.  Next quarter estimates are $0.29 EPS on $122.3 million in revenues.  Shares are up 16% since June 30 and up right at 80% from the March 9 close.

Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) is set for Wednesday afternoon, with estimates at $0.22 EPS and $412.8 million in revenues, and estimates for the next quarter are $0.23 EPS and $422.5 million in revenues.  Xilinx is up 14% from June 30 and up about 36% since the March 9 close.

International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) is also on deck Thursday and is expected to post $2.38 EPS and $23.37 billion in revenues.  Estimates for next quarter are $3.38 EPS and $26.68 billion in revenues.  The backlog is paramount and was listed as $132 billion at actual rates on June 30 compared with$126 billion on March 31.  Since the end of June this is up 20% and since the March 9 close this is up 51%.

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is also on deck after the close Thursday.  This will be buried by IBM in the reporting and will likely take a backseat to Intel this week.  The company’s never ending losses have not kept it from rallying too.  Estimates are -$0.42 EPS and $1.25 billion in revenues, and next quarter estimates are -$0.31 EPS and $1.34 billion in revenues.  This one has bounced over 200% from lows and is still expected to keep losing money.

Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. (NYSE: FCS) is on deck Thursday morning and those estimates are $0.07 EPS on $321.86 million in revenues.  Fairchild shares are up 30% since the June 30 close, but are up over 200% from the March close.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is the other biggie expected to post earnings on Thursday afternoon.  The king of web search is expected to post earnings of $5.37 EPS and revenues of $4.21 billion.  Google does not offer guidance, and keep in mind that the focus revenue figure is the ‘ex-TAC’ figure.  Since the end of June this is up 22.5% and since the March 9 close this is up 78%.

We have two overseas tech players reporting in the coming week.  ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ: ASML) is one we have tentatively on the books for Wednesday morning, but this is an overseas report and estimates are harder to parse out on this one.   Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) is always a hard one to call because it is based overseas.  We have NOK estimates as being $0.18 EPS on $14.17 billion in revenues, but we would stress that the estimates on ADRs are always complicated by the conversions to US dollars.  They will be released Thursday morning while most of us are still sleeping.  Nokia has been left behind during the market rally of the latest quarter.  Shares are up less than 1% since June 30, but shares are up over 70% from the March 9 closing bell.

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JON C. OGG
OCTOBER 10, 2009

Arris (ARRS) Started as Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
Ashland (ASH) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Fairchild Semi (FCS) Raised to Buy at UBS.
GameStop (GME) Started as Buy at Needham.
ON Semiconductor (ONNN) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Raytheon (RTN) Started as Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
Riverbed Technology (RVBD) Started as Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
Vodafone (VOD) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

JON C. OGG

Chip and tech stocks on 52-week lows: AMAT, AMD, ADTN, ARRS, ATML, BBND, CHRT, FCS, FEIC, IDTI, IM, KLAC, KLIC, LRCX, LSCC, LSI, MCRL, MRVL, MU, NSM, STM, TER, XLNX

Financial Giants on 52-Week lows: BAC, BBT, BSC, CYN, DFG, EFX, FIC, FITB, FHN, MCO, NCC, PNSN, SNV, SBP, WFC, ZION.

We kept the REIT’s and the usual suspects in retail off the list that have been here day in and day out (although many hit new 52-week lows).  Here is the huge list of others 52-week lows:

• Automatic Data (ADP), Cardinal Health (CAH), Career Education (CECO), Diebold (NYSE: DBD), EchoStar (DISH), Superior Offshore (DEEP), Dow Chemical (DOW), Eastman Kodak (EK), Emmis (EMMS), Ford (F), Fortune Brands (FO), General Motors (GM), Hasbro (HAS), Helen of Troy (HELE), Interpublic (IPG), Mattel (MAT), McClatchy (MNI), Media General (MEG), Nortel Networks (NT), Owens Corning (OC), Paychex (OPAYX), PHH Corp. (PHH), Playboy (PLA), Radio Shack (RSH), Rite Aid (RAD), Sherwin Williams (SHW), Sprint Nextel (S), Starbucks (SBUX), Starwood Hotels (HOT), Sun Microsystems (JAVA), Symantec (SYMC), Travelzoo (TZOO), VF Corp (VFC), Warner Music Group (WMG), Waste Management (WMI), Weight Watchers (WTW), Wendy’s (WEN)

Imagine how large this list would have been if retailers and REIT’s were included.
Jon C. Ogg
January 2, 2008

Jon C. Ogg
June 18, 2007