The earnings previews are for the following: Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM); Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML); Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO); Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC); Enbridge Inc. (NYSE: ENB); Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN); Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE: IM); IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (NYSE: ICE); Level 3 Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT); Moody’s Corporation (NYSE: MCO); News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA); PAA Natural Gas Storage L.P. (NYSE: PNG); Plains All American Pipeline L.P. (NYSE: PAA); Prudential Financial Inc. (NYSE: PRU); Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE: RL); Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI); Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S); Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX); Vical Inc. (NASDAQ: VICL); Visa Inc. (NYSE: V); and Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM).

We have compiled earnings preview on each company using Thomson Reuters consensus estimates and added color on each if applicable.  Some are market moving, some are sector moving, and some are just interesting for traders to watch around the earnings reports.

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) has estimates of $0.40 EPS and $311.26 million in revenues.

Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML) has estimates of $0.09 EPS and $401.5 million in revenues.    Growth is gone, but it still screens as value.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) has estimates of $0.43 EPS and $11.23 billion in revenues.  Preliminary preview notes are available.

Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC) has estimates of $0.58 EPS and $3.98 billion in revenues.  As a reminder, CSC has warned on earnings.  This one shows up as a value stock in all sorts of investor screens but it is a value trap.

In the firm’s equity income allocations, the firm is selling 100% of its allocation in American Electric Power Co. (NYSE: AEP) at $41.14 and is adding in Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE: WMB) at $28.22.

As far as growth and income, Argus is recommending to buy CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) at $23.32 and Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) at $79.00; and it is recommending that the model portfolio sell all of its positions in Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) at $97.17 and Weyerhaeuser Co. (NYSE: WY) at $19.18.

Finally, in mid-cap growth the firm’s model portfolio is buying VeriFone Systems Inc. (NYSE: PAY) at $37.12 and buying MDU Resources Group Inc. (NYSE: MDU) at $21.50.  It is selling 100% of its position in IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (NYSE: ICE) at $113.13.  Another selling stock, but only by 20% of its allocation is Hain Celestial Group Inc. (NASDAQ: HAIN).

Speaking of model portfolios, here were the 5 most undervalued DJIA stocks and the 5 least attractive DJIA stocks based upon consensus targets.  Here are the top 4 DJIA stock picks from Jim Cramer for 2012.

Also, we made a lot of changes this year to the 24/7 Wall St. 2012 Model Dividend Portfolio.

JON C. OGG

The company issued a one sentence press release this morning saying, “MF Global today confirmed that the New York Federal Reserve has suspended MF Global’s designation as a primary dealer.”

• UPDATE: After 10:15 AM EST reports were coming out that MF Global is filing for Chapter 11 under bankruptcy protection. 

Now there are reports that MF Global traders are not being allowed to access the CME trading floor by CME Group Inc. (NYSE: CME) and additional reports that IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) is only allowing close-out transactions to be made by MF Global traders.

This is unfortunately one of those situations where a company is dying on the vine.  If financial firms cannot transact business, they are out of business.

Former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine was shown over the weekend to be instrumental in the bets that have brought the firm down.  Killing a big public financial company won’t be a great thing for what was otherwise a great career.

JON C. OGG

NYSE Euronext, Inc. (NYSE: NYX), in the proposed deal with Deutsche Bourse, is down almost 7% at $26.97.  Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ), which has Nordic exposure, is down 3.4% at $22.81.

CME Group Inc. (NYSE: CME) is down 3.4% at $251.80 and the IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) is down 5.3% at $110.15.

What the transaction tax would be is still not known other than something to coordinate greater Euro-zone cooperation.  It really is a silly idea and a proposal of this sort hurts markets rather than helps them.

This has been proposed numerous times by politicians in the United States, but these moves are almost always shot down.  The reason is simple: it is a taxation of incentive.  The government gets to make money off of financial transactions whether investors win or lose.  That is nothing short of an incentive tax.  This is an idea crafted by people with the last name Dumas.

If you want to know why we feel so strongly about the notion of a transaction tax it, is simple. Imagine if the government suddenly started increasing the cost of opening a new business or suddenly started taxing a business ahead of time before it ever made a dime or sells a product.  That is taxing theoretical gains that not only are not even on paper… The theoretical gains are not even underway yet.

This is a move that hurts far more than any help it brings.  Let us hope a moment of Eureka occurs and they say “Do over!” between now and September.  At least maybe they can clarify this into something tangible rather than just having an unexpected outlier comment out there like how they left it.  Really, how stupid can politicians be?

JON C. OGG

Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI) Reiterated Buy and Raised target to $53 at Gleacher & Co.
Apache Corporation (NYSE: APA) Reiterated Buy at BofA/ML.
Dana Holding Corporation (NYSE: DAN) Reiterated Strong Buy as Value at Zacks.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) Raised estimates but Maintained Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Excel Maritime Carriers (NYSE: EXM) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Franklin Resources Inc. (NYSE: BEN) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE: GIL) Started as Buy at BofA/ML.
Goldcorp (NYSE: GG) Raised to Overweight at HSBC.
Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan; Cut to Hold at Brean Murray.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Reiterated Outperform and Focus List at Credit Suisse; Maintained Buy with $28 target at Gleacher & Co.
IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (NYSE: ICE) Reiterated Buy and Raised estimate at Argus.
KB Home (NYSE: KBH) Raised to Neutral at UBS.
Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. (NYSE: QIHU) Started as Buy with $33 target at UBS.
Research-in-Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) Raised to Market Perform at Bernstein.
Simon Property Group Inc. (NYSE: SPG) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $125 at Argus.
Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD) Raised to Buy at S&P Equity Research.

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

Strategic investors (and owners) are affiliates of the following: Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) via Bank of America Merrill Lynch; Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) via Citi; Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS); Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB); GETCO, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) via J.P.Morgan; Lime Brokerage; Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS); Tradebot Systems; and WEDBUSH.

The terms have not been set other than that the firm plans to raise up to $100 million in the sale of common shares.  Don’t look for this to trade to NYSE or NASDAQ as its primary listing.  The firm plans to list its Class A common stock on BZX under the symbol “BATS.”

The company has listed Morgan Stanley, Citi, and Credit Suisse as its lead underwriters for the offering.

BATS develops and operates electronic markets for the trading of listed cash equity securities in the United States and Europe and listed equity options in the United States.

For the first quarter of 2011, it claimed to have 10.8% share of the U.S. equity market and a 2.1% share of the U.S. equity options market; in Europe that was 6.2% share of European trading in the securities available for trading on BATS Europe.  The company is also acquiring Chi-X Europe as a multilateral trading facility and that had a 17.0% share of European trading in the securities available for trading on Chi-X Europe.

Pro forma revenues were $899.9 million for 2009 with operating income of $18.8 million and net income of $11.4 million.

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.

The full IPO filing with the SEC is here.

JON C. OGG

It will be interesting to see what regulations are and are not applied at NYSE Euronext, Inc. (NYSE: NYX), NASDAQ OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ), IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), CME Group Inc. (NYSE: CME), and CBOE Holdings, Inc. (CBOE).  Perhaps the only police there will be themselves and each other.

FINRA has not issued any public announcement on its regulatory operations, however FINRA is not a federally funded government agency and would therefore not be under the same shutdown rules.  I placed a call into the media relations and the official answer is that FINRA is not funded by the government so it would not be closed down.  FINRA regulates the brokerage firms, regional offices, and registered representatives who sell and trade in securities. 

As a reminder, government workers are supposed to be forbidden to show up for work and are supposedly forbidden from work operations in remote offices and even from home.  How many government workers will honor that is something which we won’t address.  The markets could find themselves without the market police monitoring the situation.  The financial markets have historically wanted to be SROs, or self-regulating organizations, but even most market participants will probably agree that self-regulation without oversight would have allowed the financial meltdown to get even worse.

So, the SEC has outlined its “SEC Functions During the Federal Government Shutdown” if this comes to pass.  The full details are here.  It has outlined the following:

• The SEC will have only an extremely limited number of staff members available to respond to emergency situations involving the safety of human life or the protection of property, including law enforcement. Certain Commission systems will be operating under modified conditions.
• EDGAR will remain fully functional, but the Divisions of Corporation Finance, Investment Management, and Trading and Markets, and the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations will be unable to process filings, provide interpretive advice, issue no-action letters or conduct any other normal Division and Office activities.
• The IARD system will remain fully functional and will continue to accept filings but the Compliance Inspections and Examinations department will not be available.
• The CRD system will remain fully functional and continue to accept filings and the Transfer Agent Registration System will also continue to accept filings; but the Division of Trading and Markets and the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations will not be able available.
• The EFFS system for SRO proposed rule changes will remain functional but a day that the SEC is not open for regular business is not a “business day.”
• The Division of Enforcement will have only a limited number of staff on duty to perform critical functions even if staff will attempt to respond to allegations of ongoing fraud and misconduct.
• Investor Complaints via the Office of Investor Education and Advocacy will have a limited number of staff on duty to review investor complaints but will be unable to respond to complaints, questions, or requests for information.
• Comment Letters and Public Input can be submitted but there will only be “an extremely limited number of staff members on duty.”
• The Public Reference Room would be closed.
• Mail Delivery will have a limited number of staff on duty to process incoming mail from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday to take in mail and accept packages from couriers, but processing delays are expected. 
• In emergency situations, you will be able to reach an extremely limited number of SEC staff to respond to emergency situations.

The SEC’s full plan and contact data is here. 

We apologize if this is a bit dry, but if we are going to cover the financial markets at a time when the markets’ policemen are not watching we want you to know what the rules of the game will be.

JON C. OGG

The move would have left Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) holding the bag as the odd man out.  It turns out that there are no such plans or at least they are refusing to admit to it.  The report was from a French reporting agency and one of two things happened.  Either the news was wrong or the NYSE decided to float that rumor out there to see what the reaction would be.

What may be driving the shares all higher is that Deutsche Boerse appears to not want to raise its offering price.  That keeps the NYSE flag here if the deal can get approved.

We have pondered something here before and pondered it again.  It was going to be awful to see a great brand like the NYSE suddenly be swallowed up by a foreign company.  Now, there may be yet another merger of exchanges.

These same exchanges have claimed that there are effectively no real barriers to entry for potential rivals.  The public and many investment professionals would probably disagree that there are no barriers to entry to compete in the world of financial futures, stocks, options, and derivatives.

Maybe there was something, even if NYSE has refuted the report.  NYSE shares are up 1.3% at $39.50 and NASDAQ shares are up 3.4% at $28.94 today.  Even ICE shares are up 1.5% at $121.66 today.  The beat goes on.

JON C. OGG

There has been quite a bit of public scrutiny in the German deal.  Imagine America’s great stock exchange and the name behind capitalism coming mostly under what is perceived as German ownership.  This new merger offer will likely have antitrust issues and will require a long review process due to the size and scale. 

NASDAQ and ICE are calling their new offer a premium of 19% more than what the Deutsche Boerse offer is.  A price of $42.50 per share in cash and stock is the determined value set by NASDAQ and ICE.  As far as size in total, it comes to some $11.3 billion based on the closing share prices on March 31, 2011.  The new offer is also said to represent a 27% premium over NYSE Euronext’s unaffected stock price on February 8, 2011 (the day before the merger first surfaced). 

Here are the terms of the proposal.  NYSE Euronext stockholders are being offered $14.24 per share in cash.  The stock component is 0.4069 shares of NASDAQ OMX common stock and 0.1436 shares of ICE common stock per NYSE Euronext share.  The ultimate price depends upon where NASDAQ and ICE shares trade this morning and hereafter, but the tally comes to $42.50 per NYSE share based on yesterday’s closing prices of NASDAQ and ICE.

As an American it has felt almost shameful that a brand as powerful as the New York Stock Exchange could end up in what is perceived as foreign ownership.  As a market observer, it is impossible to not think that the mix of futures, stocks, and options that a Trifecta NYSE-NASDAQ-ICE exchange will have extreme power over market participants.  The exchanges claim that there are very few barriers to entry and that new private and semi-private exchanges take away the business all the time.  From an outsider’s view that is not as clear.

Let’s not forget about CME Group Inc. (NYSE: CME).  The CME is the combined Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade.  Recent comments would not lead us to believe that the CME will step in for a rival bid.  While there are other exchanges, this new NYSE-NASDAQ-ICE would make market participants choose from two giant powerful exchanges and a bunch of smaller exchanges and smaller trading platforms.

Pick your poison… Antitrust issues or losing a great brand to a foreign owner. 

JON C. OGG

Congress added another stop gap budget bill to take the federal government’s funding through April 8 (Reuters)

Brent crude rose above $110 after the announcement of a Libyan no-fly zone (Reuters)

A G7 intervention drop down the value of the yen (Reuters)

iSuppli said there could be s shortage of parts for the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPad 2 (Reuters)

A new New York Times (NYSE: NYT) pay wall may cause the paper to lose readers (Reuters)

The Association of American Publishers says e-book sales rose 115% in January (Reuters)

Groupon is not likely to be worth the $25 billion it was rumored to target with an IPO (Reuters)

An alliance between Nasdaq OMX (NASDAQ: NDAQ) and Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) to buy NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) has slowed (Reuters)

The Hay Group reported that executive bonuses rose sharply last year (WSJ)

Honda (NYSE: HMC) said it was not sure when it could restart its plants in Japan (WSJ)

EMC Corp.’s RSA security division said it was hit by cyber attacks (WSJ)

The Federal Reserve will end its significant oversight of some banks which began during the credit crisis (WSJ)

Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) is in conflict with some carriers about a mobile payment system (WSJ)

GE (NYSE: GE) has increased its help to operators of the damaged plant in Japan (WSJ)

Consumer prices rose rapidly last month (WSJ)

Michigan has approved a plan which allows it more control over troubled cities (WSJ)

Research In Motion will offer a service to manage e-mail for corporations and their IT groups (WSJ)

General Mills will buy a large portion of Yoplait (WSJ)

Nike (NYSE: NKE) will raise prices by over 5% to offset costs (WSJ)

Pepsi (NYSE: PEP) will may a push to overcome a surge by Coke (NYSE: KO) in the US (WSJ)

The New York Times set its new pay wall (WSJ)

The FDIC sued several former executives of Washington Mutual (WSJ)

Supply disruptions due to the Japan quake could cause stagflation (WSJ)

The EU has not set specifics for its bank stress tests (WSJ)

State attorneys general are still working with banks to settle charges of mortgage foreclosure fraud (WSJ)

Indonesia will continue plans to build nuclear plants (NYT)

The former CEO of Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) will leave the Goldman Sachs board after only a year (FT)

The Japan crisis may affect some IPOs (FT)

Japan GDP trouble and high oil prices may not derail the global recovery (Bloomberg)

Oil prices may cause inflation in India (Bloomberg)

Home prices continue to rise in China (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre