The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 17 points to 12,845.20 (-0.13%), the NASDAQ fell almost 4 points (-0.13%) to 2,901.99, and the S&P 500 fell -0.04% or less than 1 point to 1,344.33.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) raised to ‘buy’ at BofA/ML; Weyerhaeuser Co. (NYSE: WY) cut to ‘sell’ at UBS; Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) raised to ‘outperform’ at RBS; Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) raised to ‘outperform’ at Piper Jaffray; and Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS-A) cut to ‘neutral’ at Credit Suisse.

Earnings reports since markets closed last week have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Integrated Device Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: IDTI) is down -0.98% at $6.60; McKesson Corp. (NYSE: MCK) is up 1.71% at $82.18; Plum Creek Timber Co. Inc. (NYSE: PCL) is up 0.32% at $39.81; Changyou.com Ltd. (NASDAQ: CYOU) is down -12.43% at $25.50; Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) is down -5.8% at $84.90; Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) is down -4.3% at $27.65; Loews Corp. (NYSE: L) is down -0.85% at $38.28; and Sysco Corp. (NYSE: SYY) is down -4% at $29.66.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

SureWest Communications (NASDAQ: SURW) is up more than 44% at $22.50 after posting a new 52-week high of $22.69 earlier. The telecom provider has agreed to be acquired by Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CNSL) for about $341 million, or $23/share.

O’Charley’s Inc. (NASDAQ: CHUX) is up nearly 42% at $9.81 after posting a new 52-week high of $9.88. The company has agreed to be acquired by Fidelity National Financial Inc. (NYSE: FNF) for $221 million, about $9.85/share.

Sohu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: SOHU) is down nearly -15% at $53.61. The Chinese internet company posted solid earnings, but its Q1 forecast was below expectations.

Great Basin Gold Ltd. (AMEX: GBG) is down -11% at $1.05. The junior gold miner reported preliminary results today that were worse than expected and lowered first quarter production estimates.

Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) is up about 17.6% at $16.66. The drug maker is getting a boost from a negative report on a prostate cancer drug treatment that would compete with Dendreon’s Provenge.

Stay tuned for Tuesday. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke testifies before Senate Budget Committee. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 11:30 a.m. – 4- and 52-week Treasury bill auction
• 3:00 p.m. – Consumer credit report

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Paul Ausick

2012 Picks in Semiconductors from analyst Bobby Burleson:

Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI) reiterated Buy with $38 price target; Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: IDTI) reiterated Buy with $7.00 price target.

“While we remain concerned about near-term softness in PCs and communications and acknowledge the potential for another number cut, we believe the worst cuts are behind us. Heading into 2012, we like names with broad-end market exposure and low PC exposure like Analog Devices and Integrated Device Technology.”

2012 Picks in Communications Technology from analyst T. Michael Walkley:

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) reiterated Buy with $560 price target; QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) maintained Buy with $74.00 price target; and Sierra Wireless, Inc. (NASDAQ: SWIR) with a $9.00 price target.

“While we anticipate global handset units will increase by 7% YoY in 2012 to 1.72B units, we anticipate much faster growth trends for the smartphone  market. In fact, we are modeling 481M smartphone units in 2011 ramping to 650M units in 2012, or 35% YoY growth.”

2012 Picks in New Media & Location Technology from analyst Jeff Rath:

Trimble Navigation Limited (NASDAQ: TRMB); Velti PLC (NASDAQ: VELT); KIT Digital, Inc. (NASDAQ: KITD); and Rovi Corporation (NASDAQ: ROVI).

“We fully expect the US Pay-TV service provider eco-system to undergo an accelerating change as cable providers roll out more robust OTT/Hybrid video offerings in response to growing competitive pressures, and in an attempt to stem ongoing losses of its core video subscribers.”

2012 Picks in Enterprise Software from analyst Richard Davis:

Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) and Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN).

“Software companies – at least firms with next generation architectures – are in great shape. Cloud software accounts for less than 10% of installed code. Barring horrific economic headwinds, the “revolutionaries” on which we focus our coverage are very likely to gain market share at the expense of legacy competitors”

2012 Picks in Internet from analyst Michael Graham:

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) reiterated Buy with $725 price target and Zillow, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z) listed as n attractive acquisition target and the firm has an organic (non-M&A) price target of $32.00 for the stock.

“We believe the underlying drivers will be growth in online advertising, eCommerce, mobile commerce, and social networking adoption.”

These are the picks we have been sent by Canaccord Genuity’s research relations.  The firm has many other picks in technology which did not make the 2012 list.

JON C. OGG

Advance Auto Parts. Inc. (NYSE: AAP) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM) maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus; Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley; Raised to Buy at Gleacher & Co.
Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Integrated Device Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: IDTI) Started as Buy at Wunderlich.
Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) Started as Hold at ThinkEquity.
Kinross Gold Corp. (NYSE: KGC) Cut to Neutral at CRedit Suisse.
National Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NYSE: NOV) Reiterated Buy as Value at Zacks.
NYSE Euronext Inc. (NYSE: NYX) Raised to Buy at Argus.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: TEVA) Reiterated Buy with $58 target at Argus.
Tidewater Inc. (NYSE: TDW) Reiterated Buy with $65 target at Argus.
Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

You are invited to 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

Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: IDTI) met estimates, but missed on revenues after the close.  Shares are trading down 8.2% at $6.16 in the after-hours session.

The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (NYSE: MHP) is surging on news that Jana Partners and the Ontario Teachers are not just going activist… They took a stake and are pushing for the company to bust itself up to enhance value.  Shares are up almost 6% at $43.85 in active trading after the close.

Openwave Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: OPWV) is one that many have already forgotten long ago, but a wider loss and announcing job cuts is not going to help matters.  Shares closed down almost 2% today and shares are down another 6.3% at $2.07 in the after-hours session.

Siliconware Precision Industries Company, Ltd. (NASDAQ: SPIL) fell after reporting almost 2% sequential sales growth that seems to have missed the mark. Shares are down 8.8% at $4.52 after the close.

Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNCR) turned in an 8.5% earnings gain but also announced a patent settlement with Dashwire for cloud management patents; Synchronoss shares are up 6.7% at $30.70 in the after-hours session.

Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (NASDAQ: TXRH) is getting clipped in after-hours trading after posting a penny-lite $0.22 EPS and giving 5% growth guidance on earnings rather 5% to 10% previously along with lower margins.  Shares are down 9.7% at $15.00 in the Monday evening post-close period.

JON C. OGG

The current list of 24/7 Wall St.’s Technology Value List for the Rest of 2011 is in alphabetical order: Activision Blizzard, Inc.  (NASDAQ: ATVI); Amkor Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMKR); Arris Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRS); Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD); Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: IDTI); MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR); PMC-Sierra Inc. (NASDAQ PMCS); SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK); and Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC).

Generally speaking, technology value is under 2-times book value under is now under 12.5-times expected earnings.  Except where otherwise noted, the source for all performance and financial data is Finviz.com.  When you have Cisco, Microsoft, and Intel all trading at dirt-cheap earnings multiples, many investors may think that value and tech are immaterial.  Another issue is that private equity firms generally look at other less capital-intensive businesses with lower R&D expenses.

Only two of these deep value tech picks are repeated from our “Deep Tech Value List from Late 2010″ and the mix there will show some serious wins and some which remain in the value-trap category.  The remaining two value picks and others from that list are higher than late in 2010, but one of those prior value picks is Kulicke & Soffa Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: KLIC) and it has nearly doubled since then despite facing woes around the time.

Activision Blizzard, Inc.  (NASDAQ: ATVI) boasts a price to book value ratio of 1.28 to 1 placing it in the top-tier of these companies.  The company’s $13 billion market cap ranks it first among this group of technology companies.  Its 12.5 forward earnings multiple is makes it richest among these nine companies.  In a recent trading session Activision’s shares closed at $11.38.  Its 52-week price range is $10.16 to $12.46.

Activision is no buyout candidate by our take.  The company has an incredible console and PC game line-up and it clearly wins in the MMORPG genre.  Perhaps its biggest competition and threat today is “freemium” games that are sold to iPhone and iPad users or which are social-networking oriented games.  It is even possible that Zynga is going to be valued more than Activision’s $13+ billion market capitalization.  Activision has a consensus Thomson Reuters analyst price target above $14.00, a price not seen since before the tech sector and economy went into the tank of the recession.  If Zynga’s market cap is magically going to be $15 to $20 billion with about one-quarter of the revenues, the true largest gaming stock is going to look like deep value.

Amkor Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMKR) is in the unloved and somewhat boring space of semiconductor packaging and test services.  As with many value stocks, it is probably cheap for a reason.  Its shares are trading at a price to book value of 1.56 to 1 a middle-of-the-pack number among these companies.  The company’s $1.2 billion market cap places it among the smallest of these companies.  Its forward PE multiple at less than 6 is virtually the “leanest” and best among these companies.  Amkor recently closed at $6.10.  Its 52-week trading range is $5.05 to $8.49.

What is interesting is that the Thomson Reuters consensus price is $9.50, implying upside of more than 50%.  It has effectively been trying to refinance its debt at lower rates, which will make its debt level less burdensome ahead.  Fortunately, this company carries almost no value in goodwill and intangibles.  Amkor was at point in 2007 worth some $16.00 per share and the company might be able use its interest savings for dividend payments.  There has been consolidation in its space for bolt-on acquisitions.

Arris Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRS) is an equipment-maker for the broadband communications sector, and that means it sits in a peer group that is subject to good hits and bad misses.  The company boasts a price to book ratio of about 1.41, placing it in the top-tier of these companies.  The company’s $1.4 billion market cap places it in the lower tier of these companies.  Its forward earnings multiple in excess of about 12 ranks it among the richer companies on this list, but still cheap against many peers.  In a recent trading session Arris Group’s shares closed at $11.27.  ts 52-week trading range is $8.16  to $14.49.

Arris offers no real yield as a safety net for income-oriented value investors.  The company has very manageable debt and more than $620 million in cash.  Arris is in the middle of a long-term range in the stock and offers no real dividend.  There is value when it comes to traditional screens here, but historically it seems to be somewhere around Par for investors.

Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD) is one that is in the ripe spot for consolidation in networking and storage.  It boast a price to book ratio of under 1.4 and many investors and some analysts consider this one to be bait for consolidation.  Its market cap is about $3 billion.  The company’s forward earnings multiple in excess of 11.5 ranks it among the richer companies on this list.  Brocade shares posted a closing price of $6.25 in a recent session.  The 52-week price range is $4.64 to $7.30.

One analyst recently laid out the case that Brocade should be acquired by Dell.  Thomson Reuters used to have a consensus price target much higher and this one was worth $10.00 back in 2007.  Arguably it is the poor-man’s Cisco, and that is keeping it from being a high premium stock right now.

Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS) is not a price mover after the close but it was today after an IBD move.  Shares closed up 2% at $19.13, but the trading volume was over 3X at over 20 million shares.  We have seen prints for 7.3 million shares, some of which may be clean-up prints.  The price change is listed as only 0.1% at $19.15 but that takes the cake for a most active in hours trading.

Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: IDTI) closed up 3.1% at $5.63 and shares are up almost 4% more at $5.85 on about 100,000 shares in the after-hours session after the company announced a new $255 million share buyback against a $914 million market cap.

Legg Mason, Inc. (NYSE: LM) was hit after earnings showed a 4% drop in net income.  Shares closed up 3.4% at $30.08, but the stock is lower by 3.3% at $29.10 on over 70,000 shares since the closing bell.

Mindspeed Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MSPD) is getting drummed in the after-hours trading session.  Revenues grew 8% to $43.3 million and non-GAAP was $0.18 EPS versus $0.15 last quarter… It expects Q4 revenue growth of 1% to 6% to $43.7 to $45.9 million.   Shares are down almost 3.5% at $8.50 on over 20,000 shares in the after-hours.

Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) beat its earnings estimates but guidance on revenue was light for next quarter.  This closed up 1.5% at $33.36 but shares are down 4.4% at $31.90 on more than 20,000 shares since the close.

Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS) was already active in options today and shares closed up over 3% at $19.59.    There have been over 125,000 shares since the closing bell and the stock is up 6% at $20.70 ahead of the NVIDIA ruling.

Sanmina-SCI Corporation (NASDAQ: SANM) closed up 4.6% at $15.86 ahead of the EMS company’s earnings announcement: the company posted a profit on a mixed fanfare in the quarter and its guidance is mostly in-line.  Shares are selling off because this one recovered so much against its trading lows by exponential amounts.  Shares are down 6.3% at $14.85 on about 50,000 shares since the 4:00 PM Close.

Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: UCTT) said that Q2 revenue was $105.9 million, up 7.5% from Q1 but up 355.4% from the same period a year ago.  This one is up 10.05% at $10.40 on more than 30,000 shares in the after-hours trading session.

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO) closed up 4.6% at $44.69 before earnings and after its halt was lifted the stock is up another 4% at $46.47 on over 250,000 shares.  The company beat earnings estimates and raised guidance, but keep in mind that the 52-week range is $14.06 to $54.50.

Zoran Corporation (NASDAQ: ZRAN) was down 0.1% before earnings but the stock is down 9.3% at $8.86 on almost 100,000 shares since it re-opened after a halt.  Q2 was mixed, but Q3 guidance is failing to live up to expectations.  This one is becoming a serial-disappointment.

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

Barclays (BCS) Raised to Overweight at HSBC.
Integrated Device Tech (IDTI) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Jones Apparel (JNY) Raised to Buy at Lazard.
Netease.com (NTES) Started as Outperform at Bernstein.
Portland General Electric (POR) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Sequenom (SQNM) Started as Buy at Auriga.
Trimble Navigation (TRMB) Raised to Buy at Needham.
Uranium Energy Corp. (UEC) Raised to Sector Perform at RBC.

JON C. OGG

The more important stock in the chip space today is Broadcom Corp.(NASDAQ: BRCM).  First Call has estimates at $0.27 EPS and $1.07billion in revenues.  Estimates for next quarter are $0.17 EPS and$953.14 million in revenues.  We would expect that Broadcom gets a bitmore conservative in its outlook and in the degree it willing to go outon a limb just like its peers have.  First Call has estimates nextquarter as $0.17 EPS and $953.14 million.  Analysts have already backedoff of forward numbers, so the bar is already set low here.  Shares are down 5.5% at $17.30 early in the afternoon, and the 52-weektrading range is $12.98 to $29.91.  A lot of how the reaction will beis likely to key off of how the company signals its own slow down aheadlike its peers are seeing.  Unless Marvell, Qualcomm, TexasInstruments, and other big players have all been sandbagging themselvesjust to avoid the appearance of opulence, then you know that cautionwill likely prevail.

Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS) is going to be a very hard one to judge,because traders are going to have to listen to what the company saysabout its recent lawsuit loss and then try to plug in the negatives onhow it will affect earnings in the quarters ahead.  Top top it off,this active and volatile stock has a very limited analyst followingbehind it.  In fact, First Call has no big name firms in the stock.  Itis just a question of how wide losses will be.  This one got killedrecently, and at $9.06 its is in the lower reaches of its $4.95 to$26.41 over the last 52-week trading range.

Integrated Device Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: IDTI) has lost much of itsimportance or at least lost how it impacts the sector.  But it is alsoone of the under the radar players that is expected to remainprofitable.  The maker of mixed-signal semiconductor solutions for thecommunications, computing, and consumer industries is expected to postearnings of $0.14 EPS on $166.6 million in revenues.  For next quarterthe estimates are $0.09 EPS on $148.2 million in revenues.  With sharesdown 6% at $5.48 today, its 52-week trading range is $4.17 to $12.70.

KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) on the chip equipment and cap-exside of the chip business is almost impossible to get excited aboutwhen you have listened to what every company in the world has saidabout R&D and Cap-ex spending ahead.  First Call has estimates at-$0.01 EPS and $415.6 million in revenues.  And for next quarter,consensus is -$0.07 EPS and $347 million.  The estimates forFiscal-June-2009 are only $0.21 EPS and $1.64 billion in revenues.  Sothe only question is this… "Analysts gone so negative, so whathappens if they ac tually post a profit?"….  As $18.98 this is downabout 60% from last year’s high.

Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM) has also been cut in justabout half from last year.  The maker of linear and mixed-signalintegrated circuits is expected to post $0.04 EPS on almost $410million in revenues.  Next quarter estimates are $0.06 EPS and $367.3million in revenues.  This one is deemed as an interchangeable stockwith Linear Tech (NASDAQ: LLTC) as far as traders are concerned.

Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) is an interesting one here in thespecialized semiconductor products for various embedded controlapplications.  First Call has estimates at $0.22 EPS on $188.88 millionin revenues.  For the next quarter, targets are $0.17 EPS and $174.5million in revenues.  What is interesting is that this one was raisedat Barclays to an Overweight just in the last day.  So any upside thatis less bad for the coming quarter might be greeted with cheer.  At$18.33, this is at the lower part of the $16.23 to $38.37 range of thelast 52-weeks.

PMC-Sierra Inc. (NASDAQ: PMCS) has also fallen from the importancescale over the years and is only a fraction of the value in the verylate-1990′s.  Estimates for the communications chip provider are $0.08EPS and $119.65 million in revenues.

Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Inc. (NASDAQ: VSEA) is beinghit rather hard today with an 11% drop to $18.98.  It too has been cutin more than half this last year.  It is in the semiconductorprocessing equipment used for fabricating integrated circuits.  FirstCall sees a loss at -$0.12 on $107.9 million for this last quarter.  Itis expected to be even lower for the quarter ahead with earnings (well,losses) at -$0.15 EPS on $90.9 million in revenues. 

Keep in mind that some of these estimates may have changed at the lastminute.  All EPS projections are on a non-GAAP basis.  We also did notinclude the "layoff expectations" from each company, but the sad partis that you have to know more layoffs in the sector are coming.  It hasalmost become cool for companies to cut workers, cap-ex, R&D, andcost structures.  Of course hard times call for hard measures, but youget the idea.

Today should mark the apex of chip earnings for this earnings season.

Jon C. Ogg
January 29, 2009

• Comverge (COMV) started as Buy at Jefferies.
• Salesforce.com (CRM) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
• Visa (V) started as Outperform at William Blair.

• Broadcom (BRCM) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
• Grey Wolf (GW) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
• Integrated Device Tech (IDTI) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
• Marvell Tech (MRVL) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
• Quest Energy Partners, L.P. (QELP) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
• SunTrust Banks (STI) Re-initiated as Sell at Citigroup.

Jon C. Ogg
August 26, 2008

• Capstone Turbine Corp. (NASDAQ: CPST) started as Buy at Broadpoint Capital.
• Check Point Software (NASDAQ: CHKP) raised to Overweight at Lehman Brothers.
• Comp Vale Do Rio (NYSE: RIO) started as Overweight at Lehman Brothers.
• Corinthian Colleges (NASDAQ: COCO) Raised to Overweight from Equalweight at Lehman Brothers.
• Entergy (NYSE: ETR) Cut to Neutral from Buy at Banc Of America.
• General Motors (NYSE: GM) downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
• Integrated Device Tech (NASDAQ: IDTI) Raised to Neutral from Underperform at Merrill Lynch.
• MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) Cut to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.
• PG&E (NYSE: PCG) Cut to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.
• Tenneco (NYSE: TEN) and Lear Corp. (NYSE: LEA) were both downgraded at Goldman Sachs.

Jon C. Ogg
June 26, 2008