Revenue was in line with estimates at $1.71 billion.  For 2012 Cognizant forecasts $7.34 billion in revenue and profits of $3.36 per share, and that is actually under the Thomson Reuters targets of $7.54 billion in sales  and $3.45 per share in earnings.

Today’s news should not be a surprise to most investors,  Indian IT-outsourcing outfits such as Wipro Ltd. (NYSE: WIT) and Infosys Ltd. (NASDAQ: INFY) as sector leaders.  Now it is Cognizant’s turn for the drop in shares and this one is down over 15% a $59.09 and the 8 million shares traded early this morning is nearly 300% above its normal trading volume.

Wipro shares are down 1% at $9.33 and Infosys shares are down 1.2% at $45.09 in New York trading of the ADRs.

Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC) remains ‘challenged’ with its shares at $27.00 versus a 52-week range of $22.80 to $45.14.

JON C. OGG

The standout research calls this last week were in the following stocks: ABB Ltd. (NYSE: ABB); Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ALSN); Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN); Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL); CafePress Inc. (NASDAQ: PRSS); Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG); Demandware, Inc. (NYSE: DWRE); Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES); Infosys Ltd. (NASDAQ: INFY); McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD); SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK); Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT); Zynga, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA); Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX); Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC); Banco Santander (NYSE: STD); and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (NYSE: BBVA).

We have outlined a summary of each call and added in color on each to show why (and if) the analysts made calls worth watching.

ABB Ltd. (NYSE: ABB) is about to see a drop due to its ex-dividend date and we saw two simultaneous downgrades after an acquisition strategy was outlined this last week.  On Thursday ABB shares were downgraded to Neutral at JPMorgan and they were also removed from he coveted Conviction Buy List but maintained as a ‘Buy’ over at Goldman Sachs.  This one lost about 5% from earlier in the week by the time Friday’s close came around.

Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ALSN) saw its quiet period end on Tuesday.  Shares recovered on Friday due to stronger numbers elsewhere but the stock had been weak after the coverage started.  We saw the following initiations: Started as Outperform at Baird; Started as Neutral at Citigroup; Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse; Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs; Started as Neutral at J.P. Morgan; and Started as Hold at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was a Johnny Come-Lately call where several analysts decided all at once that they had to upgrade the online retail giant after it blew out its earnings:  Raised to Buy at BofA/ML; Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs; Raised to Buy at Nomura; Raised to Buy at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) blew the door off the hinges this last week with earnings.  While it was already rated and effective buy rating, the new street-high official target is $1,111 and that will make it the first company worth more than $1 trillion by market cap if it comes true.  This newest street-high call came from Topeka Capital Markets’ Brian White this last Wednesday.

CafePress Inc. (NASDAQ: PRSS) saw its quiet period end this last week and these are the calls we saw for analyst initiations: Started as Buy at Janney; Started as Outperform at Raymond James; and Started as Overweight at J.P. Morgan.  The initiations being positive did not help the shares.

ABB Ltd. (NYSE: ABB) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.

Air Products & Chemicals Inc. (NYSE: APD) Raised to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) Raised to Buy on weakness at UBS.

ConcoPhillips (NYSE: COP) Raised to Neutral at Macquarie.

General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) Cut to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.

Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE: HOG) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.

Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan; Cut to Equal-weight at Barclays; Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Infosys Ltd. (NASDAQ: INFY) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.

ManpowerGroup (NYSE: MAN) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Marriott International (NYSE: MAR) Raised to Buy at Argus.

SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) maintained Hold at Argus.

The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TRV) Raised to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: WPI) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.

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JON C. OGG

Where the story gets cautious is in the April to June forecast, where Wipro now expects a 1% revenue decline, which was given a caveat that revenues might grow by 1% or so on an “at-best” guess. The company is reiterating what Infosys said in that its clients are cautious in a volatile environment. There is also the aspect that outsourcing of jobs is now less popular than it was as this is an election year in the United States. The woes in Europe are also a key issue. Today’s news is likely to be a blow to the turnaround efforts made by the company after restructuring its software outsourcing efforts over the past year.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. gave a stronger forecast earlier this week, but the love is not being shared. Infosys Ltd. (NASDAQ: INFY) already set the tone and Wipro is following Infosys rather than Tata.

The Bombay Stock Exchange’s IT Index fell over 8% after the Infosys report and gained almost 5% after the Tata report, but today’s news from Wipro took out another 2% on the index as IT shares fell in India. Wipro shares were down almost 8% in local trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

We have yet to see local trading in New York for Wipro’s ADRs but these closed at $10.33 on Tuesday and the 52-week trading range is $8.63 to $14.65.

Another name to watch in this sector is Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation (NASDAQ: CTSH) with a $22 billion or so market cap. It offers IT consulting and outsourcing and is based in Teaneck, N.J., but it could be considered as the “American-Indian Indian outsourcing outfit.” Cognizant is set to report earnings on May 7, 2012, and at $72.39 as of Tuesday’s close it has traded in a range of $53.54 to $83.48 over the past 52-week period.

Maybe the woes in India are actually working in favor of International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM), although its services backlog was down slightly to $139 billion at the end of the first quarter.

JON C. OGG

Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ACHN) Started as Outperform with $11 target at Credit Suisse.

Apple  Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Started as Strong Buy with $800 target at Raymond James (late Monday call).

Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) Reiterated Outperform with $7 target at Credit Suisse.

Celestica Inc. (NYSE: CLS) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) Reiterated Outperform with $48 target at Credit Suisse.

Citi Trends, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTRN) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Cut to Hold at Goldman Sachs.

Hain Celestial Group (NASDAQ: HAIN) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: IDIX) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Infosys Ltd. (NASDAQ: INFY) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Newcastle Investment Corporation (NYSE: NCT) Started as Outperform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) Raised to Buy at SocGen; Cut to Neutral at HSBC.

Teekay Tankers Ltd. (NYSE: TNK) Raised to Neutral with new $5.20 target at BofA/ML.

Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) Started as Neutral at Macquarie.

Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) Reiterated Outperform with $37 target at Credit Suisse.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX) Started as Outperform with $43 target at Credit Suisse.

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JON C. OGG

Ball Corporation (NYSE: BLL) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.

E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. (NYSE: DANG) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Esterline Technologies (NYSE: ESL) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

GeoResources, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOI) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.

Infosys Ltd. (NASDAQ: INFY) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank; Cut to Neutral at Macquarie.

Invesco, Ltd. (NYSE: IVZ) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU) Reiterated Hold at Argus.

Philips Electronics N.V. (NYSE: PHG) Named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Plains All American Pipeline. L.P. (NYSE: PAA) Reinstated as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

UIL Holdings Corp. (NYSE: UIL) Reiterated Hold at Argus.

Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA) Reiterated Buy at Canaccord Genuity.

Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO) Raised to Outperform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. (NYSE: WDR) Raised to Neutral at Citigroup.

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JON C. OGG

In a separate issue to rank last week’s bias, we just featured the strongest stock charts in the S&P 500 Index after a poor week where the S&P fell by -1.9%.  We already showed a tempering of expectations going into earnings season, so the reactions were not really any huge surprise.

Can you derive a true earnings season bias by evaluating the post-earnings reactions of Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA), J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK), Infosys Ltd. (NASDAQ: INFY), Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSTR), Mattress Firm Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: MFRM), and Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC)?  24/7 Wall St. thinks you can find a key trend here that may help investors cover their assets this earnings season. Hopefully this review and analysis will help investors focus on the underlying issues of each major earnings report rather than getting hung up on whether just over 8% GDP growth in China is good enough and whether the PIIGS in Europe are going to keep dragging down Europe and the rest of the world.

Read Also: More Rising Dividends Expected This Earnings Season

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) managed to surprise just about everyone to the upside.  When it had just announced production cuts a week before, the aluminum giant managed to turn in a positive earnings report at $0.10 EPS rather than a loss of -$0.04 EPS expected.  The conference call talked up growth in many key segments and said that China is not as weak as it looks.  Alcoa went from $9.32 before earnings to close at $9.90 the day after and even closed at $10.17 the following day before closing the week out at $9.85.  All in all, Alcoa added 2.3% for the week.

There was a big earnings reaction disappointment from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and from Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC).  These are the two healthiest banks and it really sets up caution for the coming junk-bank earnings from the money center group this coming week.  Both companies beat earnings and talked up their books and finances.  At the end of the day, J.P. Morgan closed down 3.6% and Wells Fargo closed down almost 3.5% after earnings.  We would pay closer attention to the book value analysis for the major financial sector earnings due this week because the sector was a great performer in the first quarter and looks to be treated rather poorly even after good earnings.

The Internet wild card was of course Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and the earnings were clouded by a stock split that is actually a share structure shenanigan giving Larry & Sergei ultimate and complete control of the company.  The focus remains on the decline in pay-per-clicks as well, and shares fell 4% or $26.41 to $624.60 after the earnings report.  This was a drop of less than $8.00 for the whole week.

It should be of little surprise that Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) issued an earnings warning.  We do not even count Nokia as a market indicator any longer and this posted a double-digit drop after warnings and then weakened further the rest of the week.  Shares are down at $4.02 now and at the weakest level in a decade.  Ask yourself this question… Do you even know anyone that still has a Nokia phone?

Infosys Ltd. (NASDAQ: INFY) is supposed to be the king of Indian IT-outsourcing, and the earnings report itself did not look bad.  The problem came from cutting its growth rates by one-third for the coming year and that spooked investors big time with a drop of 13.4% to $49.15 at the end of the week.  Infosys is now within striking distance of a 52-week low of $46.12.

One positive did come from Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSTR) with much higher guidance.  Shares rose 7.3% to $65.78 and the stock put in a new 52-week high of $69.74 before softening up with the weak stock market tape.  The bright side here was no negative reaction from a price hike.  Go figure.  Unfortunately, it was hard to draw any major inference here into other media and movie companies.

Another bright spot came from Mattress Firm Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: MFRM) with higher earnings guidance and an acquisition which will boost its market share in the mattress sales segment.  Shares hit a new post-IPO and all-time high of $45.96 and this one gained almost 13% for the week.  Unfortunately it is going to be hard to draw much pin-action here for other retail names.

Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC) put a hex on its turnaround story as this key contract in the U.K. is still held up and is not finalized for better or worse.  The earnings warning turned a value stock back into a value trap.  CSC closed down almost 8% for the week at $27.02 and it is a weak stock that got weaker.

Read Also: Four Top IPOs to Watch This Coming Week

So, the vote is in if you just look at the broad market reaction on each and filter out all of the other noise.  The long and short of the matter is that if you look at the core economy companies here and filter out the few bright spots, Wall Street is not really wanting to pay up for what appear to be decent earnings.  After a huge first quarter, it seems as though the bias is leaning toward only rewarding companies which really exceed expectations.  Now we know what to be braced for going into the coming week as the real earnings season floodgates open wide.

You are invited to join or free daily email list to hear about upcoming earnings trends, market trends, IPOs, market rumors, M&A, private equity, and also to get our daily feature stories delivered right to your inbox each morning.

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JON C. OGG

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down nearly 137 points to 12,849.59 (-1.05%), the NASDAQ fell more than 44 points (-1.45%) to 3,011.33, and the S&P 500 fell -1.25% or more than 17 points to 1,370.26.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) reiterated as ‘buy’ and target price raised to $770 at BofA/ML; Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) cut to ‘equal-weight’ at Barclays (our coverage here); VMWare Inc. (NYSE: VMW) started as ‘overweight’ at Piper Jaffray; Edison International (NYSE: EIX) raised to ‘outperform’ at Wells Fargo; and Cloud Peak Energy Corp. (NYSE: CLD) cut to ‘neutral’ at Credit Suisse (more coverage here).

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is down -3.9% at $625.38 (more coverage here); JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is down -3.5% at $43.26 (more coverage here); Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) is down -3.3% at $32.90 (more coverage here); and iGate Corp. (NASDAQ: IGTE) is up 10.5% at $18.97 after posting a new 52-week high earlier today of $19.64.

Our preview of the top earnings reports due next week is available here. Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) are among the major reports we’re waiting for.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Good Times Restaurants Inc. (NASDAQ: GTIM) is up 98.2% at $2.18 after posting a new 52-week high today of $3.14. The small restaurant chain hired a consultant to help it review its strategic options, one of which would be more acquisitions.

Infosys Ltd. (NASDAQ: INFY) is down -13.6% at $49.08. The business outsourcing firm issued a forecast that was short of analysts’ expectations. More coverage here.

The Talbots Inc. (NYSE: TLB) is down -16.3% at $2.62. The troubled retailer forecast lower-than-expected first-quarter revenues and put itself up for sale last year.

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

• 8:30 a.m. – Retail sales
• 9:00 a.m. – Treasury International Capital (TIC) data
• 10:00 a.m. – Business Inventories
• 10:00 a.m. – Housing market index
• 11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6-month bill auction

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Paul Ausick

For the quarter which just ended, Infosys profit rose about 27% to $449 million on an adjusted basis and the results were more or less in-line with estimates in India.  The company also ended the quarter with about $4.1 billion in cash on a converted basis.

Some hope may be on the way as better clarity comes into play in the next couple of months, but the news is clearly being taken as a negative with slower growth rates coming. Some of the issues around the company’s weak forecast are the outsourcing of jobs argument in America ahead of the election, a slow environment in Europe, and a slowing global growth story.  Close to 75% of Infosys’ business is derived from the U.S. and Europe.

The stock is paying a steep price for having a disappointment today as shares are indicated down 14% at $48.88 after closing at $56.77 on Thursday.  The 52-week trading range is $46.12 to $68.52.  Wipro Ltd. (NYSE: WIT) is lower as well with an indicated drop of about 2.6% to $10.49.

JON C. OGG

Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Charter Communications (NASDAQ: CHTR) Maintained Outperform but raised target to $74 from $60 at Credit Suisse.
Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) Started as Perform at Oppenheimer.
Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) Maintained Neutral but cut target to $13 at Credit Suisse.
FreightCar America, Inc. (NASDAQ: RAIL) named as Value Stock of the Day at Zacks.
Genuine Parts Co. (NYSE: GPC) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ: GMCR) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NYSE: HST) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Infosys Limited (NASDAQ: INFY) Cut to Neutral at Janney.
Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM) Cut to Hold at TD.
Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) Cut to Underperform at Oppenheimer.
priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN) Reiterated Outperform and raised target to $790 from $710 at Credit Suisse.
Tata Motors Ltd. (NYSE: TTM) Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
USG Corporation (NYSE: USG) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Willis Group Holdings, Plc (NYSE: WSH) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.

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JON C. OGG