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More Evidence Of Semiconductor Recovery (LLTC, INTC, TXN, XLNX, ALTR, MXIM)

Administrator — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:36:00 +0000

Semiconductor investors have had to endure a lot of pain and a lot of volatility, but things may be on the mend. Analog chip players were higher throughout the trading day after Linear Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: LLTC) gave guidance that offered far more hope than what investors had been expecting just a few weeks ago when Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) warned about a large revenue shortfall. Linear shares rose 11.5% to $33.32 on Wednesday. Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) rose 8.5% to $33.72 on the news and guidance from Linear Tech today.

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

Filed under: Consumer Electronics, Earnings, PC Companies, Semiconductor, Technology Companies Tagged: ALTR, INTC, LLTC, MXIM, TXN, XLNX

August’s New Massive Stock Buybacks… Over $30 Billion (LOW, CVS, CELG, COV, INTU, DISCA, HRS, LMT, RSG, LOW, ABC, MXIM, ANR, AVT, JAH, LUV, STJ, ECL, IPG, FRX, ACE, CLF, CTSH, KBR, NWL, VRX, AKAM, AOL, DLB, URBN, ACM, CHTR, MYGN, PFG, HSIC)

Administrator — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:00:52 +0000

The pace of stock buyback announcements in the month of August was almost unbelievable. The pace was stronger at the start of the month when earnings were still coming in droves, but the number of newly announced buyback plans and the extended or expanded buyback plans remained high throughout the entire month. Many companies announce share buybacks and never spend much on the actual plan. Today, these companies are by and large actually living up to their promises. These are The August Buyback Kings….

We would normally group these alphabetically, but not today. We grouped these in order of size and then we used an alphabetic order when it came to the same size of a buyback announcement. The first group is the billions of dollars.

We then grouped the stocks by size again from the under $1 billion down to $500 million, and then we grouped the buybacks of under $500 million down to $200 million. Usually we would cut the list off at buybacks of the $100 million and higher but the list was already too big so we cut the Buyback Kings off at $200 million for August. Lastly, we have a chart at the very end tallying it all up…. Some $28.7 billion for just the $200 million and higher in new or expanded buyback announcements. There were literally dozens of other buybacks that were closer to the $100 million mark and many more that were less than that.

The $1 billion and higher alone which were announced in August were as follows: Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW); CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS); Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG); Covidien plc (NYSE: COV); Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU); Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA); Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS); and Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT).

Filed under: Dividend, Shareholder Issues, Stock Buybacks Tagged: ABC, ACE, ACM, AKAM, ANR, AOL, AVT, CELG, CHTR, CLF, COV, CSCO, CTSH, CVS, CVX, DISCA, DLB, ECL, FRX, HRS, INTU, IPG, JAH, KBR, LMT, LOW, LUV, MXIM, MYGN, NWL, NWSA, PFG, RSG, STJ, URBN, VRX, XOM

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ACOR, BP, ED, FICO, BEN, GPS, IRBT, KMP, LDK, LTD, ERIC, MXIM, MRGE, MOS, OVTI, PNK)

Administrator — Mon, 23 May 2011 12:22:30 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Monday morning.

Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACOR) Raised to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
BP plc (NYSE: BP) Raised to Buy at Soc-Gen.
Consolidated Edison Inc. (NYSE: ED) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Fair Isaac Corp. (NYSE: FICO) Raised to Hold at Argus.
Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE: BEN) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) Raised to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ: IRBT) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (NYSE: KMP) Started as Buy at Janney Capital.
LDK Solar Co. Inc. (NYSE: LDK) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Limited Brands, Inc. (NYSE: LTD) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs; Reiterated Buy at Argus.
LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Merge Healthcare (NASDAQ: MRGE) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan; Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
OmniVision Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: OVTI) Reiterated Buy with $45 target at Gleacher & Co.
Pinnacle Entertainment (NYSE: PNK) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

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

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ACOR, BEN, BP, ED, ERIC, FICO, GPS, IRBT, KMP, LDK, LTD, MOS, MRGE, MXIM, OVTI, PNK

Dividend Watch: Which Tech Player Will Have the Best Dividend? (INTC, MSFT, MXIM, ISIL, MCHP, DLR)

Administrator — Wed, 11 May 2011 15:17:22 +0000

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) was already one of the highest dividend yields in the technology sector. Intel just again raised its dividend for the second time over the last six months. This latest hike was a 16% increase to $0.21 per quarter or $0.84 on an annualized basis.

When Intel raised its dividend back in November of 2010, it was by 15%. This will have some ramifications for other chip stocks which have a high payout as well. Dividends are generally not lowered, so a new dividend hike today is meant to be a signal that Intel will be able to both afford all of its future capital spending needs and will be able to have enough gross income left over to pay this dividend and even to repurchase shares of its common stock for the foreseeable future.

Even after a more than 2% gain to $23.50 today, Intel’s new dividend yield will jump up to 3.55% on an annualized basis. We want to compare this dividend today to that of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM), Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ: ISIL), Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHP), and even for Digital Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: DLR).

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) currently pays 2.50%. With the $8.5 billion cash acquisition of Skype, we would not be looking for a massive hike to its payout. We also now believe that Microsoft may choose to make acquisitions rather than to opt for that rumored huge one-time dividend.

Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM) has a dividend yield of 3.00% dividend yield, Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ: ISIL) pays a 3.1% dividend yield, and Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHP) pays a 3.4% dividend yield. These were all higher yields in prior reference but that is because shares have appreciated after earnings season now.

Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) already took its $0.16 per share per quarter dividend up to $0.19 per share per quarter. The annualized payout comes to $0.76 and shares have risen to $35.75 since its dividend hike reaction when shares trading at $32.10. That yield then was 2.35% but now it is only about 2.1%.

Perhaps the best of the best dividend is in technology’s landlord of the cloud and the internet. This is seen in the real-estate investment trust of Digital Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: DLR). The REIT is far from a chip company but it is a meant to represent a pure-play on renting office space to software, information technology, real technology, and data center companies. Its yield at the most recent $0.68 per quarter or $2.72 per year would be about 4.45% based upon a $61.00 share price. When we highlighted this REIT in mid-February, the share price was around $55.80.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Dividend, Semiconductor, Shareholder Issues, Technology Companies Tagged: DLR, INTC, ISIL, MCHP, MSFT, MXIM

Daily Dividend: Xilinx Highlights High Yield Tech Dividends (XLNX, ALTR, INTC, MXIM, ISIL, MCHP, DLR)

Administrator — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 15:01:58 +0000

Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) had a business update this morning that at least showed a reaffirmed guidance. Many analysts will be focusing on the highlights for the semiconductor segment, but we are focusing on the dividend hike that was seen this morning. More importantly, this signals how the only real safe dividends out there for technology investors are limited mostly to chip stocks.

Xilinx took its $0.16 per share per quarter dividend up to $0.19 per share per quarter this morning. The annualized payout comes to $0.76 and with a share price of $32.10 it generates a dividend yield for investors of about 2.35%. That might not sound like much on the surface but it is a high-yield for a technology stock. This may actually put the heat on Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) as the company’s closest similar company due to its paltry 0.6% dividend yield. What is interesting is that Altera is up considerably more than Xilinx over the last one-year and six-months, but not over the last quarter.

Some other chip stocks with relatively high dividends are as follows:

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) actually has a 3.5% dividend yield.

Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM) pays a 3.3% dividend yield

Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ: ISIL) pays a 4.1% dividend yield

Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHP) pays a 3.9% dividend yield.

The biggest dividend and perhaps safest dividend of all in technology is one that many have sort of overlooked as it is technically ‘technology’s landlord’ in the form of a REIT. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR) currently pays a 4.8% dividend yield.

Most investors think that they cannot find high dividend yields in technology. That is still mostly true, but not in semiconductor-related businesses.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Dividend, Semiconductor, Technology Companies Tagged: ALTR, DLR, INTC, ISIL, MCHP, MXIM, XLNX

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (NLY, ERII, HUM, JNPR, LEAP, MRVL, MXIM, RCRC, BEE, OKS, UDRL)

Administrator — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 13:51:08 +0000

These are some of this Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades seen from Wall Street research calls:

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE: NLY) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Energy Recovery, Inc. (NASDAQ: ERII) Raised estimates at Janney Capital Markets.
Humana, Inc. (NYSE: HUM) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Dat Zacks Investment Research.
Juniper Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR) Reiterated Buy at Jefferies.
Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) Raised to Neutral at Zacks Investment Research.
Marvell Technology Group (NASDAQ: MRVL) Reiterated Buy at Janney Capital Markets.
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM) Reiterated Buy and $32 target at Gleacher & Co.
RC2 Corporation (NASDAQ: RCRC) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
Strategic Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: BEE) Started as Buy at BofA/ML.
ONEOK Partners (NYSE: OKS) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Union Drilling Inc. (NASDAQ: UDRL) Raised to Buy at Gabelli & Co.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: BEE, ERII, HUM, JNPR, LEAP, MRVL, MXIM, NLY, OKS, RCRC, UDRL

Grabbing For High Dividends in Tech (DLR, MXIM, ISIL, MCHP, INTC, MSFT)

Administrator — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:25:42 +0000

Investors love dividends and they love technology stocks. By and large it is hard to find very high dividend payout in technology. There are several chip stocks which pay over 3% in current dividend yields but they are few and far between. There is at least one way that technology investors can try to participate in some growth and still collect nearly 4% in income. What about the technology landlord? Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR) is a real estate investment trust that caters to technology companies.

The REIT pays roughly a 3.9% dividend yield. At $55.80, its 52-week range is $47.42 to $64.17 and it has a market cap of right about $5 billion. Throughout the recession, Digital Realty (or Digital REIT by our abbreviation) has managed to grow the dividend. The current rate has been $0.53 per quarter. Thomson Reuters has estimates of $3.29 looking back at 2010 and $3.85 EPS for 2011. As a REIT, it pays out 90% of income to owners. Analysts have a consensus price target of $62.35.

The company claims to have the world’s largest wholesale data centers. Companies range from large technology companies to financial providers who need their technology managed. It operates more than 95 properties consisting of 16.7 million rentable square feet throughout America, Europe, and the Pacific Rim.

The higher yields out there in technology are still low compared to utilities and what used to be paid out in banks and financials before the credit crunch. A few other technology companies with relatively high dividends are Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM) with a 3.2% yield, Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ: ISIL) has a yield of roughly 3.6%, Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHP) pays a dividend of roughly 3.7% and that has been increased through time.

There is income if you go much larger up the ladder as well. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) also generates billions in free cash and investors can reach up to get a yield of 3.3% at the current price. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) generates billions and billions in cash and pays roughly a 2.3% yield. Unfortunately, those investments have generated very little in long-term capital gains over the last decade. Unfortunately, it has been a tough sell telling investors that these are income stocks.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Dividend, REIT, Semiconductor, Technology Companies Tagged: DLR, INTC, ISIL, MCHP, MSFT, MXIM

Looking for Greener Pastures in Chip-Land Than Intel (INTC, QCOM, ARMH, MY, MXIM, SMH)

Administrator — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 20:19:38 +0000

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) did not exactly get a resounding endorsement today in an afternoon research call. S&P Equity Research decided it was removing its Buy rating that had been in place since March of 2009.

The firm downgraded Intel’s rating down to “Hold” from “Buy.” The move is on the heels of the recent forecase reduction in PC sales in 2011 and out to 2012. The growth ahead is just being referred to as lower growth that is healthy but uninspiring for chip investors.

S&P further noted a more exciting lineup of opportunities from chip companies that are already winning from the tablet and smartphone growth. While acquisitions will improve the story for these faster growth markets, those same acquisitions are likely to pressure Intel’s margins until the merger benefits can be realized. While we did not see any other rating changes from S&P yet, the winners so far in the tablet and smartphones are QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) and ARM Holdings plc (NASDAQ: ARMH).

Elsewhere in chip research calls today, Barclays maintained its ‘Overweight’ rating on Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) based upon a positive tone at the Analyst Day last week. It also raised the target to $13.00. Lazard also raised its rating to “Buy.” Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM) was also raised to “Buy” at Nomura earlier today. Intel shares are down 0.6% at $21.63 while the Semiconductor HOLDRs (NYSE: SMH) are higher by 0.55% at $36.20 as investors are looking elsewhere in chip-land.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Semiconductor, Technology Companies Tagged: ARMH, INTC, MXIM, MY, QCOM, SMH

Top Active Trader Alert Stocks (ALU, ALKS, CLWR, CSX, DRYS, INTC, JPM, LLTC, MXIM, MGM, NLST, PLAB)

Administrator — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 12:49:28 +0000

Active traders and day traders have many stocks to choose from this Wednesday morning. We are tracking news and moves in shares of Some of the most active stocks or largest moves seen in shares of Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), Alkermes, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALKS), Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR), CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX), DryShips, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Linear Technology Corp. (NASDAQ: LLTC), Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM), MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM), Netlist Inc. (NASDAQ: NLST), and Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLAB).

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.

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

Filed under: Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert Tagged: ALKS, ALU, CLWR, CSX, DRYS, INTC, JPM, LLTC, MGM, MXIM, NLST, PLAB

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (GENZ, IHS, KSU, MXIM, PBR, RIMM, SLRC, TUP, TKC, VOD)

Administrator — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 12:37:12 +0000

These are some of this Friday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls:

Genzyme Corporation (NASDAQ: GENZ) Cut to Market Perform at Leerink Swann.
IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS) Started as Buy at Needham & Co.
Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM) Raised to Strong Buy at Needham.
Petroleo Brasileiro (NYSE: PBR) Cut to Hold from Buy at S&P Equity (late yesterday).
Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) Cut to Neutral at Baird; target cut to $70 at Raymond James; target cut to $90 at RBC; target cut to $65 at UBS; target cut to $100 at TD
Solar Capital Ltd. (NASDAQ: SLRC) Started as Outperform at BMO Capital
Tupperware Brands Corporation (NYSE: TUP) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Turkcell (NYSE: TKC) Raised to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD) Raised to Buy at Collins Stewart.

JON C. OGG

Go through the list of the 20 least and most productive and give my take on what they have in common.

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Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: GENZ, IHS, KSU, MXIM, PBR, RIMM, SLRC, TKC, TUP, VOD