The top mobile phone advertising platform was the iPhone, with 15% of the market, followed by RIM’s Blackberry Curve with 4.4% and Motorola’s Droid Razr with 4%. When combined with advertising served to tablets, Apple grabbed about 28% of impressions, followed by Samsung with 18%.

As a group, smartphones took 73% of all advertising in the first quarter, up from 62% in the same period a year ago. Tablets, however, took 20% of impressions, up from 15% last year, and now claim nearly 3x the ad impressions for feature phones.

The data comes from a survey by Millennial Media Inc. (NYSE: MM), a mobile ad network that competes with Apple’s iAds and Google’s AdMob.

Millennial also note that of the top 10 devices that display ads, 3 were tablets. A year ago only Apple’s iPad made the top 20. The two additions this year were Samsung’s Galaxy Tab and Amazon’s Kindle Fire.

As tablets attract more buyers, it’s reasonable to expect that their share of the ad market will grow. Recent research from Nielsen indicates that tablets get 24% of all Worldwide Web ad clicks, compared with just 11% for phones. Tablets are more like desktop and laptop computers and users may click on ads because of the more familiar size of the screen. The small screens on smartphones are not as easy to use to find things quickly — and that’s the appeal of smartphones and smartphone apps — to find exactly what a user wants with the least amount of fuss.

This is good news for Apple, of course, and not-so-good news for Google, which pays a hefty price in traffic acquisition costs to maintain its position as the default search engine on OEM smartphones, including iPhones. By one estimate Apple gets 50%-60% of the revenue from a Google search on iOS, whether from an iPhone or an iPad. Google probably does not have to part with quite as much revenue for devices from other makers, but a cut of about 40% would match Google’s reported traffic acquisition costs. Google needs to find a way to hold onto more of its search revenue because its mobile ad network simply can’t make up the lost cash flow.

Paul Ausick

The economic crisis abruptly ended the gradual decline in global youth unemployment rates during the period 2002–07. Since 2007 the global youth unemployment rate has started rising again, and the increase between 2008 and the height of the economic crisis in 2009 effectively wiped out much of the gains made in previous years. Globally, the youth unemployment rate has remained close to its crisis peak in 2009. At 12.6 per cent in 2011 and projected at 12.7 per cent in 2012, the global youth unemployment rate remains at least a full percentage point above its level in 2007. Nearly 75 million youth are unemployed around the world, an increase of more than 4 million since 2007. Medium-term projections (2012–16) suggest little improvement in youth labour markets. By 2016, the youth unemployment rate is projected to remain at the same high level.

The rise in part-time employment adds to the anemic creation of highly productive and well-paid jobs. The damage, if it is a decade long or longer, almost certainly will weigh on the economy well beyond the next decade.

Japan Ratings Cut

Credit rating agency Fitch Ratings cut Japan’s sovereign ratings to A+ and posted its outlook as “negative.” It is one in a long line of downgrades in the ratings of large developed nations. The announcement undermines faith in a rapid economic recovery in the old order, which used to include the United States, Europe and Japan. Japan may not be effected much, at least in its ability to raise money on preferential terms. As the economic and financial situation in the European Union worsens, there are limited investment options for global capital markets investors. This has kept U.S. Treasury yields at all-time lows, despite a cut in its AAA rating by S&P last August. Fitch wrote about the Asian nation:

Japan’s gross general government debt is projected to hit 239% of GDP by end-2012, by far the highest for any Fitch-rated sovereign. This debt ratio would also have risen 61pp since the global financial crisis. This compares with a median of 39pp for OECD economies and 8pp for ‘A’ range sovereigns. Japan is less of an outlier when account is taken of its large pile of sovereign financial assets (worth about 80% of GDP on Fitch’s calculations), but net indebtedness is still rising strongly.

Japan’s Fiscal Management Strategy envisages declines in the government debt/GDP ratio only from FY21. Fitch regards this as a slow pace of consolidation given the scale of Japan’s debt. Moreover, Japan’s consolidation strategy is subject to political risk. The government’s key revenue-raising plan is to hike the consumption tax to 10% by FY15 from 5% now. The measure is back-loaded (planned to start in FY14) and remains highly politically controversial.

Windows 7 Forecast

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer claims that 350 million Windows 7 enabled devices will ship this year. According to Bloomberg, Ballmer claims, “It makes Windows the most popular single system.” Compared to what, a skeptic might ask. Windows 7 is the past, and Windows 8, slated to be released this fall, is the future. Ballmer did not have as much to say about that. Microsoft may ship many tens of millions of Windows 8 enabled devices, but Wall St.’s most significant concern is that very few of these will be mobile devices, the supposed future of operating systems as the demand for PCs falters. Microsoft’s largest bet on mobile versions of Windows is its partnership with deeply wounded handset company Nokia (NYSE: NOK). Its new smartphones, part of its Lumia brand, have only sold modestly well, and continue to be swamped by sales of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhones and iPads, and a new generation of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android-powered devices. Ballmer’s comments about Windows 7 mean little.

IMF on the UK

The new International Monetary Fund report on the UK (“United Kingdom—2012 Article IV Consultation Concluding Statement of the Mission”) has a pessimistic tone. But the agency believes that the country can help its own cause through stimulus and monetary policy. These cut against the current trend of government austerity and a lack of intervention of any significance from the Bank of England. The IMF analysts write:

Policies to bolster demand should help close the output gap faster. It needs to be recognized that policy options in this regard come with risks, including uncertainty about their effectiveness. However, these risks need to be weighed against the risk of weak demand that leads to persistently slow growth and high unemployment that become entrenched in decisions made by consumers and investors.

To meet that goal, the Cameron government would have to reverse course and replace its expense cuts, at least in part, with national stimulus. That would be well off the charted path of set by Cameron and is highly unlikely to happen.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Microsoft may ship tens and tens of millions of Windows 8 enabled devices, but Wall St.’s most significant concern is that very few of these will be mobile devices, the supposed future of operating systems as the demand for PCs falters.

Microsoft’s largest bet on mobile versions of Windows is its partnership with deeply wounded handset company Nokia (NYSE: NOK). Its new smartphones, part of its Lumia brand, have only sold modestly well, and continue to be swamped by sales of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhones and iPads, and a new generation of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android-powered devices.Ballmer’s comments about Windows 7 don’t mean much.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Samsung Electronics (OTC: SSNLF.PK) led all vendors with 86.6 million units sold, followed by Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) with 81.2 million units sold, and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) with 33.1 million units sold. Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) sold 9.9 million units and Motorola Mobility Holdings Co. (NYSE: MMI) sold 8.4 million units.

Samsung grew its handset market share from 16.1% to 20.7% year-over-year. Apple’s share also grew, from 3.9% to 7.9%, while Nokia’s share fell from 25.1% to 19.8%. The only other vendor to increase share was ZTE Corp., a Chinese maker of low-cost handsets.

By software platform, the Android operating system from Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) grabbed 56.1% of sales, up from 36.4% in the first quarter of 2011. Apple’s iOS was second in platform shipments, with a 22.9% of the market compared with 16.9% last year. The big losers were Nokia’s Symbian OS, down from 27.7% a year ago to 8.6% this year, and RIM, down from 13% a year ago to 6.9% this year. Microsoft Corp.’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) share also fell, from 2.6% a year ago to 1.9% this year.

According to Gartner:

All vendors were impacted at different levels; however, white-box vendors seem to have suffered the most. While tier one players such as Nokia were negatively impacted on sell-in numbers (sold into retail), white-box vendors were unable to adjust production and were left with a build-up in inventory by the end of the quarter. Gartner expects some of this volume to be sold during the next couple of quarters, because the channel is likely to lower the prices to dispose of the stock.

The lower results in the first quarter of 2012 have led us to be cautious about sales for the remainder of the year. The continued roll-out of third generation (3G)-based smartphones by local and regional manufacturers such as Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo, Yulong and TCL Communication should help spur demand in China. In addition, the arrival of new products in mature markets based on new versions of the Android and Windows Phone operating systems (OSs), and the launch of the Apple iPhone 5 will help drive a stronger second half in Western Europe and North America. However, as we are starting to update our market forecast we feel a downward adjustment to our 2012 figures, in the range of 20 million units, is unavoidable.

Now a decline of 20 million units over the course of a year is not much when total sales are expected to be north of 1.5 billion units. Samsung and Apple took more than 49.3% of total smartphone sales of 144.4 million units in the first quarter. The smartphone market has become a two-horse race, especially at the top-end of the market. Whether or not Nokia/Microsoft want to or can get into that race remains to be seen.

The open race is at the low end of the market and that’s where RIM and Motorola will have to fight it out with the low-cost makers like ZTE. Nokia/Microsoft would probably prefer not to play down here. Neither do RIM or Motorola, but that’s where the race is still undecided.

The Gartner press release is available here.

Paul Ausick

Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) had a change forced on it. Whether Scott Thompson, who was chief executive for four months, would have done well as a new leader of a troubled company will never be known. There is at least a chance he might have succeeded, if the scandal about his resume had not occurred. The board of Yahoo! did not get the opportunity to evaluate his tenure because he had none.

Two examples of CEOs who have been hired and supported by their boards despite very poor results are Ron Johnson of JCPenney (NYSE: JCP) and Stephen Elop of Nokia (NYSE: NOK). Elop has run the large handset company since September 2010. Johnson has only run Penney for a little longer than a quarter.

Elop followed Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo as chief executive. Kallasvuo was blamed because he could not transform Nokia into a successful manufacturer of smartphones. He may have stayed with the Symbian operating system, which lost popularity as Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android and Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone gained market share. Elop, the Nokia board reasoned, could rely on his years as a the head of Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) business division, although the link between that job and being the head of a handset company is difficult to understand.

Johnson’s promise as a turnaround CEO for JCPenney at least had a foundation in the success he had in his former job as head of Apple’s retail division, although some critics believe that Apple would have done well in retail no matter who was in charge. The demand for Apple products assured that. But JCPenney had been nearly ruined by former CEO and chairman Myron E. Ullman III. His strategy to make the retailer a better competitor to companies such as Macy’s (NYSE: M) and Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) did not advance JCPenney. The company’s board gambled that Johnson could do better.

Elop made one bet on a turnaround of Nokia, and it may have been his best and only chance. He tethered his company’s success to that of Microsoft and its troubled Windows Mobile OS. At least Microsoft had the cash and marketing muscle to press its software into the market, although those efforts have been failures in the past. Elop’s decision did almost nothing for Nokia, at least based on the results from the last year. Nokia’s revenue collapsed along with its market share in smartphones. Microsoft was no help at all. The Nokia board is left to decide whether Elop made the wrong decision, or whether Nokia is doomed along with other companies that have been crushed by Google and Apple: Sony Ericsson, LG and Motorola. Nokia’s future may have been set long before Elop joined. There is no reason to replace him. Who can do any better?

Johnson’s situation is another matter. He decided that JCPenney could only do well if he utterly and completely changed how the retailer brought in customers and turned them into buyers. He rebranded the retailer “JCP.” JCPenney now has three basic tiers of pricing, which are supposed to make it easier for shoppers to decide the value of products sold by the company. The results of the most recently reported quarter show the strategy has not paid off. JCPenney’s same-store sales fell an astonishing 20% and online sales dropped more than 27%. If the results for the current quarter are similar, it will be clear that Johnson’s plan has failed, or that JCPenney has been a failure for some time. The board will have to face the fact that it picked the wrong candidate or that JCPenney cannot survive in its current form in competition with several other larger retailers and e-commerce firms led by Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN). As with Nokia, the battle may have been lost long before the new CEO took up the reins.

The boards of Nokia and JCPenney may as well be passive as their new CEOs preside over companies that continue to fall apart. Neither had any chance of succeeding no matter who was put in charge.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Nokia has been losing market share due to the explosion of smartphones.  Whether this is fair or not after the company recently went after a new Windows phone, the company is considered to be a large seller of cheaper phones in emerging markets.  What is so ironic about this story is that Nokia was just recently shown to be one of the top brands in Asia. Apparently that isn’t going to cut it.

The competition from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) for the iPhone and also from Samsung and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) for Droid phones has been too steep.  Now even the emerging markets are starting to explode in smartphone use.  Even Research-in-Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) is not quite as in bad of shape for now as Nokia.

Ask yourself a simple question: How many do you know that have a Nokia phone?  Maybe the only hope is that Nokia can somehow get every person in the world who does not have a phone yet to buy one of their lower-end models in emerging market expansion. Or maybe an alternative hope is that suddenly no one can afford smartphones…

The downgrade already expects things to get worse.  Here is the dire warning in the Societe-Generale downgrade… if the company keeps losing share with sales declining and keeps its restructuring costs so high, then it risks burning through most of its available cash.  It ultimately even sets the conditions that it brings Nokia’s survival into question, although that is a scenario outside of the base case.  That is not exactly a call that Nokia is going bankrupt, but it sure feels like a dance around that notion without causing undue offense and pressure merely by the mention of such a possibility.

It is important to remember that billions and billions of dollars have been lost here.  Yahoo! Finance still lists Nokia as an $11+ billion market value and that is with shares at a 52-week low (and decade-plus low) of $3.03 today.  The prior 52-week range was $3.12 to $8.73 and the ADR was worth $15 in mid-2010 and over $25 back in 2008.

This downgrade did not exactly call for bankruptcy.  It just sets yet one more call against Nokia’s future.

JON C. OGG

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (NYSE: BBVA) Cut to Sell at Societe Generale.

Eastman Chemical Co. (NYSE: EMN) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

First Republic Bank (NYSE: FRC) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.

Jetblue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU) Cut to Neutral at Stern Agee.

Kirkland’s, Inc. (NASDAQ: KIRK) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.

NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE) Raised to Outperform at Baird.

Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) Cut to Sell at Soc-Gen.

Repblic Services Inc. (NYSE: RSG) Cut to Neutral at Wedbush Morgan.

Splunk, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK) Started as Buy at BofA/ML; Started as Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley; Started as Neutral at UBS; Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.

Teradata Corporation (NYSE: TDC) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.

Tumi Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TUMI) Started as Buy at Jefferies; Started as Outperform at William Blair; Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.

If you enjoyed the top analyst upgrades and downgrades, you can join our free email newsletter that includes analyst summaries each morning sent right to your inbox.  We also cover top issues such as IPOs, special financial exclusives, mergers and more. Sign up in the box below.

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A review of the biggest losers demonstrates how little consumers care about prior successes. Although these companies were the industry darlings once, today consumers may not even remember their names.

Companies such as Nintendo, Research In Motion, Sony and Nokia dominated their markets for a number of years and, in many cases, had few to no serious competitors. These companies often rose to the top because of major breakthrough products, such as the Nintendo Wii, RIM’s BlackBerry and Sony’s Walkman.

But the companies on this list have not managed to adequately follow up these successes with new products and now are losing ground to competitors. Sharp has lost money due to competition from companies like Samsung that have stronger brands and can undercut its prices on TV. Nokia, which continues to do well in the low-end cell phone market, is losing money because it has been unable to make a significant break into the growing smartphone market.

24/7 Wall St. has identified eight of the most popular tech brands that are losing money. To demonstrate these companies’ waning popularity, 24/7 reviewed financial data from their financial statements, as well as data from a number of major research firms.

These are the eight great tech brands losing money.

1. RIM

Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) was, for a time, a leader in the smartphone market. Its BlackBerry phones helped pioneer the industry. The company’s popularity has since waned and it has begun to lose money. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, RIM had a net loss of $125 million, the result of goodwill charges and “an inventory provision taken primarily on certain BlackBerry7 products.” Revenue was down 24% compared to the year prior. According to Comscore, RIM’s share of the U.S. market for smartphone subscribers dropped from 16% last December to 12.3% in March. Meanwhile, the share of smartphones using Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android rose from 47.3% to 51% over the same period. The company’s BlackBerry 10 handsets, which are being released later this year, may be RIM’s last chance for relevance.

2. Sharp

Sharp reported a record annual loss of $4.67 billion this past April. The company also announced that it expects to continue to lose money in the current fiscal year. Sharp’s losses are primarily due to falling prices and declining sales of its LCD televisions. The Japanese company has been struggling to compete with South Korean manufacturers. In addition, the company spent $1.5 billion in restructuring costs. In March, Sharp sold a 46% stake in its largest plant to Taiwanese rival Hon Hai to soften losses at its television business.

3. EA

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) reported a net loss of $205 million for the fiscal third quarter ending December 31, 2011, despite generating $1.06 billion in net revenue over the same period. Two of the company’s major titles — FIFA 12 and Battlefield 3 — have each sold more than 10 million copies, a particularly large quantity for games. Madden 12 has sold nearly 5 million. Many experts believe that the company’s launch of The Sims Social — meant as a competitor to Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA) products — has not done well. This was viewed as a gamble on EA’s part, as the company has spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to break into the social games space. It is not the first time for EA to be in the red. The company had a net loss of $322 million in the same quarter the year before.

4. Sony

Sony (NYSE: SNE) was a world leader in a variety of electronic products only a few years ago. As recently as November 2011, the company cut its sales forecast for TVs, cameras and DVD players. The company’s financial situation has only worsened since then. In April 2012, Sony decreased its earnings outlook for the fourth time in less than a year, warning of a potential $6.4 billion net loss in the last fiscal year. The Wall Street Journal said the loss would be “the biggest-ever in the electronics conglomerate’s 65-year history.” Sony has been dealing with ongoing losses in its television segment. In its consumer electronics arm, the company has been struggling to deal with competition from companies like Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Samsung. Sony also has lost its standing in the game console market, which it once owned with the PS2, and in the portable music device market, which it owned with the Walkman.

5. Nintendo

Nintendo was the number one video game console manufacturer in the world thanks to its Wii. In order to better compete, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Sony slashed prices on their Xbox 360 and PS3 products. Nintendo, as a result, was forced to drop the prices of both its Wii and portable player DS. In April 2012, the company posted a total loss of $461.2 million for the 2011 fiscal year. All three companies also face the growing competition posed by smartphone-based gaming.

6. Nokia

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has long been the world’s largest handset manufacturer, but it lost that position to Samsung in the first quarter of the year. Its past success was due, in large part, to the company’s low-end cell phone models, which are particularly popular in developing countries. When it came to smartphones, however, Nokia has not kept up. The market continues to be dominated by Samsung and Apple. Nokia’s inability to break into the more profitable smartphone arena has been apparent in the company’s profit and loss statements. In April 2012, the company announced a quarterly net loss of $1.2 billion, blaming “greater than expected competitive challenges.” In an attempt to turn itself around, Nokia has set a joint venture with Microsoft to distribute Windows mobile on its smartphones in exchange for financial and marketing support.

7. Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) has invested increasing amounts in its Nook e-book reader. But intense competition from other tablet and e-reader companies, including Apple and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), has kept the company in the red. For the 39 weeks that ended January 28, 2012, Barnes & Noble lost more than $11 million. The company blamed the increasing losses on continued investments “in its rapidly growing Nook business, including advertising costs and personnel.” To help it with the Nook development costs, Barnes & Noble has also formed an alliance with Microsoft. The software company has made an investment in the book company’s e-book and e-reader businesses in exchange for the creation of Nook models that run the Windows OS.

8. Acer

Acer’s business plan used to rely on the netbook, the cheap, portable and underpowered laptop. In the past two years, however, netbook sales have been disrupted by the surging tablet market, as well as the growing popularity of smartphones. Dropping the price did little to encourage demand. The company reported a massive annual loss of $212 million in 2011. Now the company is focusing on the Utlrabook, Intel’s (NASDAQ: INTC) laptop and effectively the next generation of netbook. It appears the company has not learned its lesson. According to The Verge, Acer Global President Jianren Weng predicts that PC Ultrabooks will drop to $499 in 2013 to compete with Apple’s iPad. Unfortunately, that is several hundred dollars less than the company needs to make money.

Charles B. Stockdale

Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) saw a gain of 18.7% in short interest as of for the two weeks ended April 30th. More than 6.6 million shares were added to short interest and 20% of the company’s float is now short. The coal miner’s poor earnings and forecast are to blame.

Short interest in Exco Resources Inc. (NYSE: XCO) rose nearly 12% to more than 33.5 million shares, or 19.3% of the company’s float. The oil & gas driller missed revenue expectations, although it did post a profit. Revenue is more important now however.

Among the largest overall short positions, SandRidge Energy Co. (NYSE: SD) got short interest on 49.5 million shares, nearly 12% of its float and up 6.7% from the previous reporting period. Shares are down more than -33% in the past 12 months, and the small spikes don’t affect short sellers here. The long-term outlook for natural gas continues to call for weak pricing.

E&P company Forest Oil Co. (NYSE: FST) was another recipient of more short interest in late April. Short sellers added about 3 million shares, a 24.7% increase and enough to put nearly 13% of the company’s float short.

Even Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) didn’t escape. Short sellers added 7.7 million shares to their positions, a 31.8% change to 32 million shares, but still less than 1% of Exxon’s shorts.

The final energy company we’ll look at here is Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK), where 5.8 million additional shares were added to short positions, bringing total shorts to just over 79 million shares. That’s an addition of 8% and represents 5.9% of Duke’s float. It’s odd to see a utility on this list.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD)saw short interest in its share rise by 6.5% to more than 70 million shares or 11.9% of the company’s float. AMD continues to suffer from lower-than-expected earnings and revenues.

Short interest in Sanofi (NYSE: SNY) jumped 265% to more 13.4 million shares. While still only about 0.5% of the company’s float, but generic drug sales are hurting the company as is a weak economy in Europe. Neither condition is expected to improve soon either.

Short interest in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) also rose sharply, buy 21.4% to reach a total of 63.6 million shares, about 0.8% of the company’s float. Like Sanofi, competition from generics hurts. The company also said it will reduce marketing expenditures on its Lipitor drug.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) gets the honor for being the equity with the largest number of short shares, 195 million, which represents 5.2% of the company’s float. The good news is that short interest fell by more than 32 million shares, also the largest change.

More than 75% of Barnes & Noble Inc.’s (NYSE: BKS) float is short, about 19.8 million shares. Short interest in the company grew by just 700,000 shares since mid-April.

Short interest holds more than 42% of grocer SuperValue Inc.’s (NYSE: SVU) shares with a total of 88.5 million shares short, up slightly from two weeks ago.

Short interest in Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE: PBI) actually fell slightly , but the company’s total of 50.5 million shares short represents 25.3% of the float and 22 days to cover.

Short interest in for-profit educator DeVry Inc. (NYSE: DV) jumped 123.2% to 3.7 million shares or 6.3% of the company’s float. Another education company, Bridgepoint Education Inc. (NYSE: BPI) posts short interest of more than 9.7 million shares, or 56% of its float.

Paul Ausick

The technology sector needs for Cisco to show that the warnings of spotty spending a month ago were just contextual.  Does Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) have much to do with Cisco?  Technically not a thing if you just use common sense.  The reality is different though.  Apple remains the tech darling of Wall Street but its shares have pulled back and have gotten down almost as low as they were before the huge earnings gap-up in the last couple of weeks.

The first two issues to address are Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) and Alcatel-Lucent, S.A. (NYSE: ALU).  Juniper turned in an earnings report that looked like it was offering a stabilization to a really bad drop, but its stock popped up and then immediately pulled back and the stock is now under where it was before earnings.  Alcatel-Lucent just gave poor results this earnings season and its stock is back under $1.50 per ADR and is floundering as it tries to find some sense of remaining relevant outside of Europe.

The real issue here is Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) with Cisco.  Many analysts do not compare Oracle and Cisco enough because up until lately Oracle was more of a software play.  With Sun under its belt it has datacenter exposure but even if Oracle was to jettison its physical equipment the comparison is still crucial to understand.  While Cisco is a very different part of the enterprise technology dollars to be spent, weakness in one may mean weakness in another as technology officers can push orders out further on the horizon.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) is now more and more of a competitor with Cisco as well, even though the company was trying to get rid of the PC unit.  By competing in the datacenter, the former partners now compete.  H-P is also an off-calendar quarterly reporting company and its shares are back down to almost $23.00 and close to a 52-week low.

There is also the old ties to Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK), although this is more historic than present day.  Both companies remain highly challenged and we suspect that their futures will both remain challenged regardless of what Cisco says in its conference call.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation (NASDAQ: CTSH) recently kept the pace of other IT-outsourcing outfits by warning about a weak IT-spending climate but it was hard to not notice that some of the more fresh weakness was noted as being in North America.  Cisco could easily be in a different bucket here, but we did see this trend as almost unified in the outsourcing segment.

Perhaps the biggest relevance is International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM).  IBM’s services backlog was slightly lower but IBM is still maintaining its long-term goals of $20.00 in earnings per share.  The stock is still within 5% of all-time highs and it has recently juiced up its dividend more than expected.

Cisco is also the last major tech report before Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) updates investors this Thursday.  It has only been about three weeks since Intel’s earnings report and we are only 24 hours or so since the chip and processor giant announced a dividend hike of its own.  Shares of Intel are now off almost $2.00 from the high of $29.27 and the consensus price target is $29.72.

Cisco shares are back under the $19.00 mark after having been at $20.00 as recently as May 1, 2012 and having been at $21.00 as recently as April 3, 2012.  The 52-week trading range is $13.30 to $21.30 and the consensus price target from Thomson Reuters is $22.58.

The Thomson Reuters estimates for Cisco are $0.47 EPS and $11.57 billion in revenue.  Cisco usually offers guidance in the conference call rather than in the press release and those estimates are $0.49 EPS and $11.99 billion in sales for the quarter ahead.  Keep in mind that Cisco trades at a mere 10.2-times its expected earnings for the fiscal year-end of July 2012.

As far as Cisco on the stock charts, this has been very weak and the 50-day moving average was up above at $19.00 and the 200-day moving average was lower around $18.13.  Both of those figures are likely to be a couple of cents different on Wednesday ahead of earnings.

A more detailed preview will appear Wednesday morning ahead of the formal Cisco earnings report showing expectations for cash, margins, options trading, stock charts, and a final revised set of earnings estimates.

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JON C. OGG