The Hong Kong division of Alibaba may go private as part of a refinancing and a buyback of Yahoo!’s (NASDAQ: YHOO) shares. (Reuters)

Financial backers of Greece say they are concerned about whether a deal to lend the company more money will hold. (Reuters)

Economists concerned about the U.S. economy a few months ago change their opinions. (Reuters)

A fall off in investment bank activity hurts Barclays (NYSE: BCS) earnings. (Reuters)

China’s imports fall, raising demand concerns. (Reuters)

The new CEO of Sony (NYSE: SNE) will try to marry hardware and software for many of the firm’s products, just as he did with the PS3. (Reuters)

The head of Xstrata is under pressure to get a better deal for a Glencore merger. (Reuters)

A new settlement between banks and the government could help one million homeowners. (WSJ)

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) to launch a home entertainment system as it moves into the hardware space as Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has. (WSJ)

An insider trading bill is broadly supported by Congress members. (WSJ)

Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) expands its use of web-based software products. (WSJ)

The FDA will speed the approval of biosimilar drug treatments. (WSJ)

An Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) reorganization could cost 1,800 jobs. (WSJ)

Weekly unemployment benefits numbers improve steadily. (WSJ)

Greek unemployment rises to 20.9%. (WSJ)

The head of the European Central Bank pushes banks to take inexpensive loans to stabilize eurozone financials. (WSJ)

Canada will allow uranium exports to China. (WSJ)

A Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS) and Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA) partnership to marry physical games with online ones. (WSJ)

Southern Co.’s (NYSE: SO) plan to build a reactor in Georgia receives NRC approval. (WSJ)

Apple’s market cap passes that of Google and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) combined. (WSJ)

New research suggests the education gap between rich and poor has widened. (NYT)

German officials are worried that the ECB has cut lending standards too much. (FT)

Douglas A. McIntyre

24/7 Wall St. has compiled detailed earnings previews for the following companies: Novellus Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS); Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA); ADTRAN Inc. (NASDAQ: ADTN); Host Hotels and Resorts Inc. (NYSE: HST); Pepsico Inc. (NYSE: PEP); Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG); J. B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (NASDAQ: JBHT); J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM); Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY); and Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT).

Some of these companies will not really seem on the surface to be sector-movers or market-moving companies, but these have been selected because they are the first ones of their peer groups to be reporting earnings. 

We have created a detailed earnings preview for each with consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters and added color in on each for investors to see what exactly is worth consideration this earnings season.  We have also added in recent price history and named where to look for additonal action (or fallout).

Monday, October 10

Novellus Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) is the first chip equipment player to report for this earnings season.  it has been a few weeks since we have had earnings reports or guidance in the sector so we will be paying close attention since so many companies that are chip equipment customers have talked down their numbers in recent weeks.  Our belief is that expectations are very low for the quarter ahead. Estimates are $0.68 EPS and $311.9 million in revenue; next quarter estimates are $0.50 EPS and $278.5 million in revenue.  With shares hovering around $30.00 on Friday, the 52-week range is $25.26 to $41.82 and shares were above $36 in early July.  After Novellus reports, we would be watching the following: Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT), KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC), and Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ: LRCX).

Tuesday, October 11

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) has already talked down aluminum prices and we have already seen slowing demand out of China talked about by many sectors.  Alcoa keeps maintaining that it can double its business by 2020 and we do not expect that to be changed by management even if it guides lower expectations ahead.  Estimates are $0.23 EPS and $6.24 billion in revenue; next quarter estimates are $0.23 EPS and $6.11 billion in revenue. At $9.80 on Friday, the 52-week range is $8.45 to $19.47 and this one was above $16 at the start of July.  There are many metals stocks to watch, some in aluminum and some in other metals: Century Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ: CENX), Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (NYSE: RS); Kaiser Aluminum Corporation (NASDAQ: KALU); Titanium Metals Corporation (NYSE: TIE); and Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE).

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.

Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: AEIS) Raised to Buy and $19 target at BofA/ML.
American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE: AWK) Reiterated Buy but raised target to $30 at BofA/ML.
Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Avago Technologies Limited (NASDAQ: AVGO) Reiterated Buy and $35 target at Gleacher & Co.
CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) Cut to Sell at S&P Equity Research (late-Tuesday call); Reiterated Buy with $48 target at Argus.
Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) Raised to Hold at Citigroup.
Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) Started as Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) Cut to Neutral as the Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) Raised to Buy at KeyBanc.
Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Schlumberger Limited (NYSE: SLB) Started as Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) Raised to Buy and $7 target at Argus.
Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) Raised to Hold at Canaccord Genuity.
The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) named as Bull of the Day with Outperform and $48 target at Zacks.

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

JON C. OGG

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE: AB) Cut to Neutral and $26 target at BofA/ML.
Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) Raised target to $15 at BofA/ML.
ARM Holdings plc (NASDAQ: ARMH) Reiterated Neutral on overvaluations at BNP Paribas.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) Reiterated Buy at Argus.
EMBRAER (NYSE: ERJ) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Hasbro Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
IAC/InterActiveCorp. (NASDAQ: IACI) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Reiterated Outperform and $28 target but raised estimates at Credit Suisse; Reiterated Buy at Argus; Maintained Buy with $27 target at Gleacher & Co.; Maintained Buy at Gabelli & Co.
KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) Raised target to $48 at BofA/ML.
Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) Maintained Buy on weakness at Argus.
Novellus Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) Raised target to $38 at BofA/ML.
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) Reiterated Outperform but Raised target to $189 at Credit Suisse.
Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY) Cut to Sell at S&P Equity Research (late-Thursday call).
TD AMERITRADE Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: AMTD) Cut to Market Perform at BMO.
Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Inc. (NASDAQ: VSEA) Raised to Neutral with $45 target at BofA/ML.

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

JON C. OGG

GM may launch its IPO next month and set auto finance deals with several financial firms. (WSJ)

Providence Equity Partners is in talks to buy Hasbro (NYSE: HAS). (WSJ).

Walmart (NYSE: WMT) may open its first store in NYC (NYPost)

Douglas A. McIntyre

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ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT) Raised to Buy at ING.
BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Started as Buy at Stern Agee.
Blue Coat Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: BCSI) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Hasbro Inc. (NYSE: HAS) Started as Conviction Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Logitech International SA (NASDAQ: LOGI) Raised to Hold at RBS.
National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE: NBG) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
NutriSystem Inc. (NASDAQ: NTRI) Raised to Buy at Lazard.
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Sapient Corp. (NASDAQ: SAPE) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Sonoco Products Co. (NYSE: SON) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Stryker Corporation (NYSE: SYK) Raised to Outperform at Bernstein.

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

In this issue you will see detailed previews, coming expectations. relevant price and trading ranges, chart data, and other color for each situation where applicable.

Adobe Systems Inc. (NYSE: ADBE) is set to report earnings Tuesday afternoon, and because of its recent Omniture acquisition we would note that analysts often get their estimates wrong for a couple quarters during a merger.  Thomson Reuters has estimates of $0.37 EPS and $827.4 million revenues.  For the quarter ahead, those estimates are $0.41 EPS and $858.62 million in revenues.  At $34.67 it has a 52-week trading range of $20.39 to $38.20.  At about 17.8-times a blended 2010 to 2011 forward earnings the multiple here is one to watch.

Aixtron Aktiengesellschaft (NASDAQ: AIXG), a LED stock (German chip gear maker of deposition systems based on compound, silicon or organic semiconductor materials) which saw nearly a 400% move last year, was the #1 spot on the IBD 100 from Investor’s Business Daily this weekend.  This is despite a 2.9% drop on Friday to $33.70.  The 52-week trading range is $4.79 to $38.34 and this one trades about 461,000 shares per day.  Frankly, this is an odd choice considering a ‘gap and crap’ pattern and considering a three-day losing streak.  My quick take is that the stock broke under a near term support level and it looks like it will take a strong market for the stock to bounce.  We’ll see, it is IBD and they have done this for some time.  Next support level looks to be around $32.90.

Barron’s has two gaming and entertainment picks, GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) and Hasbro Inc. (NYSE: HAS).  GameStop was given an article in Barron’s this weekend calling for the potential of a 40% upside.  The notion was that the used video game is a “lucrative used-video game business gives it an important buttress against competitive big-box retailers.”  GameStop saw its shares rise from under $20 to over $21 on earnings this week.  On Hasbro, Barron’s says, “The maker of iconic toys and games is transforming itself into a global powerhouse with shrewd use of media new and old.”  It noted a Needham analyst who recently downgraded the stock as still having a $45 target, which would be just over 19% upside from Friday’s close.

Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is set to report earnings early Wednesday morning.  An issue to watch is whether consumers are buying lower-priced PCs and flat-panel TVs.  Thomson Reuters has estimates at $1.79 EPS and $16.05 billion revenues.  For the quarter ahead, those estimates are $0.48 EPS and $10.85 billion in revenues. This is also the year-end and Best Buy reaffirmed a $3.00 to $3.15 range of annual earnings.    For whatever it is worth, it might also be worth a look into how much the ‘warranty business’ affected.   At $40.99, the 52-week range is $31.25 to $45.55.

Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) has announced on Friday that it has formally  completed its acquisition of the optical and carrier ethernet assets of Nortel’s ‘Metro Ethernet Networks’ operations for $773.8 million (subject to probable downward adjustment of $62 million).  The company recently completed a $375 million convertible note offering (with a $20.38 per share implied conversion) to help finance the deal.  Ciena got AT&T, C&W, TELUS, EMC, and others to comment on the deal as a sign of endorsement in its “we closed the deal” press release.  Ciena took a lot of heat over doing this deal as it was deemed too large by many and its stock fell from $13 to under $11 in very short order.  Shares are now at $14.93 and despite a 3-day consecutive drop its chart still looks OK and above support around $14.60.

Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (NYSE: LGF) is now the subject of an assault, from Carl Icahn for the rest of the shares he does not own.  His $6.00 tender is a hostile bid.  While the board of directors said they would “review Mr. Icahn’s revised offer and will make its recommendation to shareholders promptly,” the company has been far from eager to sell here and at $6.00 I will be the first to point out that the board will have many shareholders up in arms over this deal at that price.  That is even at the risk of a lower price.  Its $6.03 price compares to under $5.00 back in late-January.  This opened at $6.24 and had a high print of $6.32, but then there was a classic gap & crap chart pattern which took the stock back under $6.00 briefly.  The 52-week range is $4.41 to $7.29; and the old historic trading range on Lions Gate was $8 to $12 from 2005 to 2008.  To add one more facet, Barron’s this weekend wrote “Lions Gate Not a Roaring Buy Despite Icahn Bid.”  Stay tuned.

Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) is on deck for earnings on Thursday afternoon, and as goes Oracle as goes Cisco Corporation (NASDAQ: CSCO) due to the same form of enterprise spending despite the notion that these are in separate categories. Oracle’s stock is within about 3% of its 52-week and multi-year highs. Thomson Reuters has estimates of $0.38 EPS and $6.36 billion in revenues; and those estimates are $0.53 EPS and $9.56 billion in revenues for the quarter we are currently in.  As a reminder, the discrepancy over the figures for the last quarter versus next quarter is the addition of the Sun Microsystems acquisition and we have note that analysts often get their numbers wrong in transition periods of a merger.  If you blend the Fiscal 2010 and 2011 (May-end), Oracle trades at 14.35-times forward earnings per share.  Not expensive, not dirt cheap.

OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: OSIP) only had one small losing day this last week and shares kept putting in new higher-highs.  The company is turning on its press machines in order to help either fend off the Astellas hostile offer for $52.00 per share or to get a higher bid from a rival.  With shares trading at $58.94 and seeing a Friday high of $59.50, what is your guess about getting a higher price or not?  This week may be too soon for a rival to make a bid, but the writing is on the wall.  Using the April 2010 options generates an implied expectation that OSI will go for $61 or higher, although this process may take longer than a month.  Keep this one your radar because this was a $37.00 stock before the Astellas $52.00 per share cash offer was made public.

Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) is one investors have to keep on their watch lists this week.  After earnings it did not just break $5.00.  It got worse.  And it traded 125 million shares or so in the process.  My options pick at Optionszone.com on Palm was “the PALM May 5 Puts at 40 cents” on March 4 as the way to bet for much further downside.  At a $1.48 close-out on Friday, that seems a hell of a return.  One analyst at Canaccord Adams this week gave Palm a ZERO value.  Frankly, Palm will never see ZERO.  It will be taken over before then.  Just keep in mind that Palm may be a “takeunder” rather than a takeover.  Palm is one to watch this coming week based on the new $4.00 price and notion that it went as low as $3.96. I actually went back to my Palm Treo after deciding that I hated the Droid phone and I have no problem with the Palm phones.  But business is business, and the public is going for different smart phones.  Elevation Partners said it is in support of Palm, but the group probably isn’t too happy with co-investor Bono for having a U2 song and video for a Blackberry commercial from Rival Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM).  Ouch! Traders smell blood here.

Somaxon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: SOMX) soared this week after the FDA approved its Silenor as the only treatment of insomnia treatment without all the awful side-effects or “sleep-action” effects like sleep-walking, sleep-eating, sleep-driving, and another rather humorous episode I have been told about that is not suitable for writing about in a financial setting.  It also is supposed to exhibits no addiction issues. Before the FDA approval, this was a $4.00 stock.  It ran to almost $10 before closing at $9.21 on Thursday on a whopping 47 million shares.  Shares then made a second run on Friday with a $9.65 open and a rapid run to over $10.00 before the major selling and major profit taking came into play; and despite trying a mid-afternoon recovery the stock closed only 5 cents above its intra-day lows for an $8.25 close.  On a short-term basis, this is what a cocktail napkin chartist would call a drunkard as it can easily rise and easily fall on no news or on those pesky minute-charts.  Still this is one to watch next week as the dust settles because it has a small market cap of only $195 million.  We compared this to two of the top 100 drugs by name of the top 100 selling drugs out there and there is a huge opportunity for Somaxon.  We’ll let the dust settle this week, but there is a large opportunity here for this company and there are effectively no recent analyst calls on it.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NASDAQ: TEVA) deserves some kudos here.  How many acquirers see their shares rise when they make a fairly large acquisition?  The answer is ‘some, but not most.’  Teva paid roughly $5 billion for German generic drug maker as it outbid Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) to keep its grab on generics and to focus on higher growth markets in Europe.  Its shares did not just rise on Thursday when it was announced, but its shares also rose on Friday when all of the major US index readings finally closed in the red and when the AMEX PHARMACEUTICAL INDEX (DRG) closed down 0.4%.  In fact, it was the second best performer behind Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) on the AMEX PHARMACEUTICAL INDEX on Friday.  Our take is that it may take a while to get there, but Teva seems on track for ambitions of a mega-cap status ($100 billion) versus $55.7 billion today.

Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) is up for earnings on Monday and this will be a true ‘tell’ potentially for what lies ahead for the US and international luxury markets.  Buffett would have ended up being better off as a common holder rather than a creditor per his 2009 investment, but that was made at a time when being a creditor offered more protection.   Thomson Reuters has estimates of $1.13 EPS and $970.93 million revenues.  For the quarter ahead, those estimates are $0.31 EPS and $585.91 million in revenues.  With shares at $47.25, the 52-week range is $19.97 to $48.38.  With Fiscal Jan-2011 estimates at $2.43 EPS this one trades at 19.4-times forward earnings.  The company needs to raise guidance by my take even above what it already gave to hold this share price.

Then there are several other issues to watch in the coming week.  There is the pending healthcare vote, and then the immediate call from President Obama to get financial reform passed right behind it.  Stay tuned, there is a lot coming down the pipe.

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

ARM Holdings (NASDAQ: ARMH) Cut to Hold at UBS.
DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA) Cut to Neutral at Janney Montgomery Scott.
Finisar Corp. (NASDAQ: FNSR) Started as Buy at Auriga.
Green Plains Renewable Energy (NASDAQ: GPRE) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Hasbro Inc. (NYSE: HAS) Cut to Buy at Needham.
IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
JDS Uniphase Corp. (NASDAQ: JDSU) Started as Buy at Auriga.
Legg Mason Inc. (NYSE: LM) Raised to Market Perform at FBR.
RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) Removed from Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy List.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.

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JON C. OGG

We have covered these with an outlook for what lies ahead for each these companies in their dividend rates and as a starting point for other big companies we think will hike their dividends.

Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) continued with its policy of an annual dividend hike.  The new dividend of $0.15 is up from $0.14 per quarter.  We went back to see its policy of dividend hikes, and this has gone on for years.  The yield based on Friday’s price is 1.96%, which some sites are rounding up to 2.00%.  There is more than enough dividend coverage, and as far as whether the dividend hikes will continue… let’s just say that ADM could probably double its dividend in the coming years.  At $30.61, its 52-week trading range is $23.13 to $33.00.

Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP (NYSE: BWP) is another recent distribution increase from late last week.  As a reminder and as with the field of LPs in oil and gas, this is a distribution rather than just an outright dividend.  It may seem odd that a natural gas interstate pipeline sees enough clarity to hike a distribution after the volatility we have seen in the Nat-Gas markets, but this actually just brings the dividend closer to the distribution yields of many oil and gas pipeline LP peers.  This bump from $0.48 to $0.50 per quarter gives an implied yield of 6.9%.  At $28.99, its 52-week range is $19.15 to $31.44.

Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) is an easy dividend hike because its consumer products make it close to recession-proof.  The surprise wasn’t that a dividend hike came, it was by how much.  The bump was 20% to $0.53 per quarter.  We have over a decade of dividend hikes here and this is actually not the highest payout raise.  Also announced was a 40 million share buyback plan, which comes to about 8% of the outstanding shares.  The new yield is 2.67% and at $79.26 it has a 52-week trading range of $54.51 to $87.39.

Hasbro Inc. (NYSE: HAS) has decided that the toy business is likely to hold its own, and that the company can hold its own in a competitive field.  It raised its dividend by a surprising 25% to $0.25 per quarter.  The new effective yield is now 3.25% At $30.80, its 52-week trading range is $21.14 to $32.75.  The company still has more than ample dividend coverage, and this may put pressure on Mattel to bump its annual dividend later this year.

Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY) may have been an obvious dividend hike.  After all the noise that was made over whether it would or could participate in a Cadbury-Kraft deal and after being classified as a dead money stock for years this just made sense. This brings up the issue that the company might not be about to pounce on another opportunity despite the company’s intention to look formergers.  Its quarterly dividend will now be $0.32 per quarter for a 3.45% (3.427% actually).  It had paid $0.298 per quarter over the last ten quarters.  At $37.35, its 52-week trading range is $30.27 to $42.25.  Five years ago this was a $60 stock.

L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LLL) is not a usual stock to visit for dividend hikes in the minds of most investors, at least not on the surface. The defense sector company is into surveillance and reconnaissance systems.  The amount the dividend was raised also seems high as it was a 14% payout boost to $0.40 per quarter from $0.35.  The company has actually been raising its dividend by a handy amount for what is effectively each of the last six years.  After looking at an $8.15 expected earnings per share figure for 2010, there is no reason to believe that the payout growth is going to slow down.  There is also still much room to catch up to some aerospace/defense sector peers.  The new yield is 1.9% based on an $84.24 share price, and the 52-week trading range is $57.12 to $90.36.

Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) may be in a nomans land when it comes to analyzing dividends now that it has spun AOL out of its operations.  But the media giant hiked its dividend by about 13% to $0.2125 per quarter for an annual $0.85 payout.  At $27.03, the yield here is now 3.1%.  We also have an adjusted 52-week trading range of $17.81 to $32.85.  We’ll have to double-check this, but that 3.1% looks like a sector high for dividend yields.

The obvious notion here is that many companies are hiking their payoutd.  This might not be a return to the gold boom days, but companies are lifting their payouts now.  Stay tuned Monday for our new list of large companies we expect to making big dividend hikes this year.  You can also join our free email distribution list that goes out each morning with key analyst calls, day trader alerts, dividend changes, IPOs and secondary offering, Buffett and other guru news, and more.

JON C. OGG