Now we have further news coming from Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) that is adding to gains.  After shares were already up almost 6% at $35.30 on Wednesday, the stock is up almost 7% in the after-hours session at $37.85 and that will mark a new 52-week high if it holds up.   The company noted that while revenues fell 10% to $511.1 million on earnings of $0.47, the consensus target was only $498.3 million and $0.37 EPS.  Xilinx is offering guidance of 2% to 6% revenue growth.

There are some other secondary plays out there on this.  When investors trade up in Xilinx, they often trade up Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR).  When investors trade up in Linear Tech, they often trade up in Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM) as well.  All are higher in the after-hours session and Altera was up almost 10% at $40.72 and Maxim rose by 6.1% today to $27.56.

Get ready for Intel to report earnings on Thursday after the close (estimates are $0.61 EPS on $13.72 billion in sales).  If it reverses or lightens up on the severity of its revenue guidance offered in December, then going from $25.39 to above $25.92 would not hard to fathom.  Anything above that would mark a 52-week high and analysts have a consensus price target objective of $26.58.

It is important to keep in mind that in many cases these “higher guidance” calls are barely higher and it is off of declining sales.  Still, in the end investors want improvements and growth and sometimes mediocrity wins the day.  If these all hit new 52-week highs, the cheer will be simple enough: “Chips Ahoy!”

JON C. OGG

Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE: BZH) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
BHP Billiton Limited (NYSE: BHP) Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
General Growth Properties (NYSE: GGP) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Linear Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: LLTC) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Logitech International SA (NASDAQ: LOGI) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE: MTH) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Panera Bread Co. (NASDAQ: PNRA) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) Raised to Sector Outperform at CIBC.
Ryland Group Inc. (NYSE: RYL) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE: SF) Raised to Buy with $37 target at Goldman Sachs.
Tesla Motors, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) Raised to Buy at Wunderlich.
U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) Raised to Positive at Susquehanna.

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Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) Raised to Neutral with $57.00 price target objective by Goldman Sachs.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was given an outrageous prediction as a possibility of a 50% correction by Saxo Bank.
CAI International Inc. (NYSE: CAP) named as the value stock of the day at Zacks Investment Research.
Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Enduro Royalty Trust (NYSE: NDRO) Started as Outperform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.
InterMune Inc. (NASDAQ: ITMN) maintained Outperform at Credit Suisse after yesterday’s weakness but the report noted “We would NOT be buyers on weakness right now.” Also on InterMune, Canaccord Genuity reiterated a Buy rating but lowered its price target to $23.00 per share.
Linear Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: LLTC) Raised to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer.
LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE: M) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
Meritor, Inc. (NASDAQ: MTOR) Maintained as Underperform and named the Bear of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Ocwen Financial Corp. (NYSE: OCN) Started as Buy with a $16.50 price target objective at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) Cut to Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets; maintained Hold at Needham; maintained Neutral at Credit Suisse; Lower target by Deutsche Bank; maintained Hold and lowered target to $15 at Canaccord Genuity.
Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE: SCCO) resumed with an Equal Weight rating and a $35.00 price target objective at Morgan Stanley.

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Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) Raised to Outperform at BMO Capital Markets.
AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) Maintained as Buy with a price target of $381 by Argus.
Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP (NYSE: BWP) Started as Neutral at JPMorgan.
Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) Raised to Overweight with $82 price target at Morgan Stanley.
Bally Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: BYI) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (NYSE: EPB) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
E I DuPont de Nemours & Co. (NYSE: DD), or DuPont, Cut to Neutral at Citigroup; Lowered estimates for DuPont at Credit Suisse.
Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW) Raised to Buy with $75 target at Canaccord Genuity.
Kindred Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE: KND) is already a strong buy but was named as the value stock of the day by Zacks Investment Research.
Lennar Corporation (NYSE: LEN) Cut to Hold at KeyBanc.
Linear Technology (NASDAQ: LLTC) Reiterated Underperform and named Bear of the Day by Zacks Investment Research.
MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NYSE: PCS) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Pall Corporation (NYSE: PLL) on Focus List and raised price target to $68 at Credit Suisse.
PNM Resources, Inc. (NYSE: PNM) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
PS Business Parks (NYSE: PSB) reiterated Outperform and named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) Reiterated Buy with $84 price target objective by Argus.
Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) Cut to Hold at KeyBanc.

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JON C. OGG

Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN) Raised to Buy at Argus.
Carrizo Oil & Gas (NASDAQ: CRZO) is named as a top small cap idea with multiple ways to win and with a “valuation too tepid” and firm reiterated a Buy rating and gave a new target of $49.00 by Canaccord Genuity.
DENTSPLY International (NASDAQ: XRAY) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. (NASDAQ: DWA) Cut to Average at Caris & Co.
Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) Raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup.
IAMGOLD Corp (NYSE: IAG) Started as Outperform with $25.00 price target objective at Credit Suisse.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Linear Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: LLTC) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ONXX) Cut to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Seagate Technology PLC (NYSE: STX) Raised to Buy at Argus.
Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE: SIG) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.
VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) named as aggressive growth stock of the day at Zacks.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) maintained Buy with an $18.00 price target objective at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

In the field of satellite imaging, Canaccord Genuity cut its ambitions due to austerity cuts: DigitalGlobe (NYSE: DGI) was maintained at Buy but the target was cut to $23.50; GeoEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOY) was maintained as Hold and the target wass lowered to $22.00 per share.

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JON C. OGG

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) Maintained Underperform and cut estimates at Credit Suisse.
Apollo Residential Mortgage, In (NYSE: AMTG) Started as Buy at Stifel Nicolaus; Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
BMC Software Inc. (NYSE: BMC) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Boston Properties Inc. (NYSE: BXP) Reiterated Buy with $120 target at Argus.
Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTXS) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) Reiterated Buy with $28 target at BofA/ML.
Crawford & Co. (NYSE: CRD-B) Started as Outperform at William Blair.
Francesca’s Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: FRAN) Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs; Started as Buy at Jefferies; Started as Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (NYSE: HMC) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Linear Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: LLTC) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Navigant Consulting, Inc. (NYSE: NCI) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Tesoro Corporation (NYSE: TSO) Raised to Outperform at RBC.
Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE: TM) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) Reiterated Buy with $104 target at BofA/ML.

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Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) managed to blow past earnings and guide revenues higher.  All this while margins continue to be overlooked.  Shares were up and are up even more now at all-time highs… The gain is up 6.7% at $228.65 on nearly 3 million shares since the 4PM bell.

Avalon Rare Metals Inc. (AMEX: AVL) is getting squashed after a filing for the sale of 7 million shares of common stock “to complete a bankable feasibility study on the Thor Lake Project and for working capital and general corporate purposes.”  Shares rose 6.9^ today to $6.81 and shares are almost giving it all back with a 6% drop to $6.81 in the after-hours.

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) fell 3.6% today to $69.65 ahead of earnings.  It beat estimates but gave light guidance for 2011 after having seen such a big run before.  Shares are down over 9% at $63.25 right before the closing bell.

Internet HOLDRs (NYSE: HHH) has traded an unusual 13,000 shares and is up 3.3% at $81.98 in the after-hours session.  The reason is simple: the weighting is over 48.5% Amazon.com.

Networking equipment makers be damned!  Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) is down over 13% at $27.04 on more than 3.4 million after-hours shares.  The “little-Cisco” turned in light earnings for the second quarter and guidance for the third quarter looked light as well after blaming deployment timing delays of service provider.

Speaking of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), if things are soft at Juniper the idea is that there is no way things are great before the company has even implemented a turnaround and restructuring yet.  Cisco is down 1.7% at $16.01 on nearly 1 million shares since the 4PM bell.  Elsewhere, CIENA Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) is down 5% at $16.70 after the closing bell.

Keynote Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: KEYN) beat earnings and raised its guidance for sales and earnings in Q3… Shares are up 10% at $24.00, above the 52-week range of $9.00 to $23.75.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) beat estimates, in part from Asian operations, and shares are up 5.4% at $48.75 on more than 1.8 million shares in the after-hours session.

Linear Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: LLTC) may have grown revenues 27% but the focus and emphasis is on light guidance for the next quarter.  Shares are down right at 5% at $29.65 in the after-hours session this evening.

Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOR) managed to turn in above-estimate earnings sales after the close, sending shares up 8.8% at $28.30.  Keep in mind that the 52-week range before this was $9.01 to $28.20.

Tempur Pedic International Inc. (NYSE: TPX) was halted, a fear, but the fear was unwarranted… The company beat earnings, raised guidance, and started a share buyback plan.  Shares closed down 1% today but the after-hours session has shares up 6.4% at $66.02.

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JON C. OGG

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

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) Reiterated Hold at Argus.
Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR)  Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Edison International (NYSE: EIX) Raised to Hold at Citigroup.
Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE: EL) Raised to Outperform as the Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE: FDO) Cut to Equal-weight at Barclays.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) Raised to Buy at KeyBanc.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Cut to Hold at S&P Equity Research (late-Monday call).
Linear Technology Corp. (NASDAQ: LLTC) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Cut To Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Thoratec Corporation (NASDAQ: THOR) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

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JON C. OGG

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) is trading up after Jefferies raised its rating to BUY this morning.  Shares are up 3% at $3.72 in active pre-market trading.

Alkermes, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALKS) is higher after the FDA granted wider approval of its Vivitrol for the treatment of opioid addiction.  Shares are up 2.2% at $16.02.

Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) is higher on reports that it may seek to get up to $5 billion for part of a spectrum sale.  Shares are up 9.6% at $7.40 in the pre-market.

CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) is higher after beating earnings expectations.  Shares are up 4.3% at $59.75 versus a 52-week range of $41.81 to $62.00.

DryShips, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) is trading higher this morning with some transport names and shares are up 2.6% at $4.69 on more than 100,000 shares.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) is trading higher after beating earnings and issuing guidance that was above the estimates at the mid-point. Shares are up 1.3% at $20.02 in active trading.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) posted $1.01 EPS versus estimates of close to $0.90 EPS despite some problems still existing in many areas.  Shares are up 1.5% at $41.01 so far, but we all know bank earnings can go either way throughout the day.

Linear Technology Corp. (NASDAQ: LLTC) had what appears to be light earnings and light guidance ahead.  Shares are down almost 4% at $30.30.  We would watch Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM) on the news as these two are often considered each others closest peers.

MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) is lower on word that Kirk Kerkorian will sell shares now that Las Vegas is recovering.  Shares are down 6.1% at $12.78 on more than 2 million shares.

Netlist Inc. (NASDAQ: NLST) is higher after it was awarded a patent for its proprietary Planar-X technology.  Shares of the cult stock are up 3.2% at $3.51.

Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLAB) may have just been a pre-market trade that was ‘hit at market’ because it still has a wide bid-ask spread.  Shares are listed as being up nearly 7% at $6.20, but most of the prior trades were $6.00 to $6.14.

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JON C. OGG