24/7 Wall St. » NVDA

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ADP, CHK, SCHW, GLW, ETFC, GD, GE, GMCR, NRGM, ITW, LRCX, LIFE, NFLX, NVDA, RYAAY, VALE)

Administrator — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:04:39 +0000

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

Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NYSE: ADP) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup; Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE: GD) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) Reiterated Buy with $22 Target at Argus.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) Started as Perform at Williams Capital.
Inergy Midstream, L.P. (NYSE: NRGM) Started as Outperform with $26 target at Credit Suisse.
Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE: ITW) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ: LRCX) Maintained Outperform with $56 target price at Credit Suisse.
Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE) Raised To Outperform From Market Perform By Leerink Swann
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Raised to Buy at Citigroup; Maintained Outperform and raised target to $125 at Credit Suisse.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) Raised to Positive at Susquehanna.
Ryanair Holdings plc (NASDAQ: RYAAY) Cut to Neutral at Nomura.
Vale S.A. (NYSE: VALE) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

If you enjoyed the top analyst calls, you can sign up in the box below to join our morning email list to receive news directly in your inbox each morning. We include major analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPO and M&A news, special situation developments, observations on Warren Buffett and key market gurus, as well as special exclusive feature stories.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ADP,, CHK, ETFC, GD, GE, GLW, GMCR, ITW, LIFE, LRCX, NFLX, NRGM, NVDA, RYAAY, SCHW, VALE

Top After-Hours Stocks on the Move (IDCC, NVDA, PLCM, TXN, VMW, EMC, WDC, ZION)

Administrator — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:27:36 +0000

We have several stocks on the move in Monday’s after-hours trading session. Most of these are on earnings as follows: InterDigital Inc. (NASDAQ: IDCC); NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA); Polycom Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCM); Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN); VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW); EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC); Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC); and Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ: ZION). We have given a news summary and the current moves on each.

InterDigital Inc. (NASDAQ: IDCC) was down 3.3% today as is, but now the company is getting slashed and burned on news of what many had considered an obvious coming outcome. The company ended its strategic review process and it did not find a buyer for its deep patent collection. Now it is going to proceed on its own licensing or selling patents. Shares are down over 16% at $37.10 in the after-hours against a 52-week range of $34.61 to $82.50.

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) was down 3% after the Texas Instruments earnings but now shares are down “only” about 0.6% after closing up 2.7% on the day.

Polycom Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCM) has a history of big hits and bad misses, but tonight’s reaction has shares on the up and up. After beating earnings handily, Polycom shares are up 9.6% at $20.29 and that is after closing up almost 4% today.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) was down initially due to headlines showing GAAP earnings above estimates but the chip giant is now up over 3% ay $34.25 in the after-hours session against a 52-week range of $24.34 to $36.71.

VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) closed down 2.4% at $86.00 today but shares are up 5% at $90.50 on almost 1 million shares after just over an hour after the 4PM closing bell. The virtualization leader said sales rose 27% to $1.06 billion and it sees revenues of $1.015 billion to $1.04 billion for the first quarter of 2012. These are being taken as above plan. The news has the (former) parent company of EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) up about 1.8% at $23.87 on over 2 million after-hours shares.

Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC) may have seen earnings drop almost 36%, but the update is proving to be above plan and it claims to be making much more progress in Thai floods. Shares closed up marginally today and the after-hours reaction has shares up 4.4% at $36.25 versus a 52-week range of $22.64 to $41.87.

Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ: ZION) posted earnings light at $0.30 versus estimates of $0.33. Its book value per common shares grew to $25.02 from $24.78 one quarter earlier and shares are down 3% at $17.98 in the after-hours.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, After-Hours Activity, Trading Alert Tagged: EMC, IDCC, NVDA, PLCM, TXN, VMW, WDC, ZION

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (AMZN, CAM, MPEL, NVDA, SVU, RF, DDS, DHI, BONE, CDTI, HHC, PNS, ALIM, PSDV, MCP, HOVNP, TRX)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 21:08:57 +0000

The markets got off to a strong start this morning, and stayed that way throughout the day. The dollar weakened against the euro and yen as currency traders seem to believe that a solution to the mess in Europe is getting nearer. Trading volume has been moderate today, perhaps due to the bond market holiday. Gold closed at $1,788.10/ounce, up 1.6% and silver closed near $34.69/ounce, up 1.7%. Crude oil settled within just below $99/barrel, its highest point in about three months.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 259 points to 12,153.46 (2.18%), the NASDAQ rose more than 53 points (2.04%) to 2,678.75, and the S&P 500 rose 1.95% or more than 24 points to 1,263.85.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) started as ‘neutral’ at Nomura. Other changes included Cameron International (NYSE: CAM) reiterated ‘buy’ with $73 target at BofA/ML; Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) maintained ‘neutral’ but cut target to $14 at JPMorgan; NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) reiterated ‘buy’ with $18 target at BofA/ML; SUPERVALU Inc. (NYSE: SVU) reinstated as ‘neutral’ at BofA/ML; and Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF) started as ‘outperform’ at BMO Capital.

Here are today’s big post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: Dillard’s Inc. (NYSE: DDS) is down more than -13%, at $47.91; D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE: DHI) is down more than -2%, at $11.42; Bacterin International Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: BONE) is up more than 6%, at $2.90; Clean Diesel Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDTI) is down more than -3.5%, at $3.45; and The Howard Hughes Corp. (NYSE: HHC) is up more than 2.5%, at $47.25.

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

Pinnacle Data Systems Inc. (AMEX: PNS) is up more than 105%, at $2.36. The company has accepted a takeover offer from Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT) worth $2.40/share.

Alimera Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALIM) is down nearly -74%, at $1.94. The company failed to get FDA approval for its eye pain drug.

pSivida Corp. (NASDAQ: PSDV) is down more than -46%, at $2.11. The company had licensed to Alimera an element of the drug that failed the FDA test.

Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE: MCP) is down more than -13%, at $33.43. The company missed earnings and revenue estimates.

Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (NASDAQ: HOVNP) is down more than -9%, at $1.40. The company did not have any news today, but likely suffered from the earnings report from D.R. Horton.

Tanzanian Royalty Exploration Corp. (AMEX: TRX) is up more than 20%, at $2.75. The company’s shares were halted earlier, and the company issued a statement that there was no particular event responsible for the heavy trading in the stock.

Except for short-term Treasury Bill auctions, there are no events scheduled for Monday.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: ALIM, AMZN, BONE, CAM, CDTI, DDS, DHI, HHC, HOVNP, MCP, MPEL, NVDA, PNS, PSDV, RF, SVU, TRX

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AMZN, AMAT, SAM, CAM, CIM, GNW, MHR, MPEL, NVDA, PKD, PLSX, RF, SVU, UTHR, ZMH)

Administrator — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:21:17 +0000

These are some of Friday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Started as Neutral at Nomura.
Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) Started as Neutral with $13 target at Credit Suisse.
Boston Beer Company (NYSE: SAM) named Momentum stock of the day at Zacks.
Cameron International (NYSE: CAM) Reiterated Buy with $73 target at BofA/ML.
Chimera Investment Corporation (NYSE: CIM) Raised to Neutral at Stern Agee.
Genworth Financial Inc. (NYSE: GNW) Raised to Neutral at Citigroup.
Magnum Hunter Resources (NYSE: MHR) reiterated Buy and raised target to $8.00 at Canaccord Genuity.
Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) maintained Neutral but cut target to $14 at JPMorgan.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) Reiterated Buy with $18 target at BofA/ML.
Parker Drilling Company (NYSE: PKD) named value stock of the day at Zacks.
Plexus Corporation (NASDAQ: PLXS) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF) Started as Outperform at BMO Capital.
SUPERVALU Inc. (NYSE: SVU) Reinstated as Neutral at BofA/ML.
United Therapeutics (NASDAQ: UTHR) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day as Zacks.
Zimmer Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ZMH) Cut to Hold at Argus.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AMAT, AMZN, CAM, CIM, GNW, MHR, MPEL, NVDA, PKD, PLSX, RF, SAM, SVU, UTHR, ZMH

Nvidia’s Speedy Chips Won’t Break Apple’s Grip on Tablet Market (NVDA, ARMH, INTC, AAPL, TXN, QCOM, GOOG)

Paul Ausick — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:35:17 +0000

How much computing power does a person need in a mobile device? Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) is betting that the answer is, “All you can get.” The company has announced today the release of its Tegra 3, quad-core processor, which will be available in an Asus tablet next month.

Nvdia’s chip not only claims four processor units, but a fifth, low-power processor that provides minimal computing power for those times when the device is not playing movies or doing other compute-intensive tasks. The company claims a battery life of 12 hours for high-definition video playback. The chip is based on the Cortex A9 design from ARM Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: ARMH), and represents a performance leap over competing mobile chips from Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN), and Qualcomm Corp. (NASDAQ: QCOM).

If processing power were the only consideration when purchasing a tablet or smartphone, Nvidia might sell truckloads of these chips. That’s typically not the case, however. The device that is built around the chip most often carries the burden, and there is no tablet yet that has been able to break Apple’s iPad stranglehold on the market for tablet devices.

Apple’s strength is its unified hardware/software combination and its first-to-market position. Any competing device must offer vastly superior performance at a lower cost in order to wrestle market share away. So far, no tablet has been up to the challenge.

The Asus tablet, dubbed the Eee Pad Transformer Prime, will cost $449.50 when it comes to market next month. The lowest priced Apple iPad 2 rings in at $499. That’s not much of a difference, especially considering that the Asus tablet will not have available the latest Android operating system, code-named Ice Cream Sandwich, from Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) at the time of the tablet’s launch next month.

It’s also only a matter of time, of course, before Apple, TI, and Qualcomm meet the Tegra 3’s specs because they all use the ARM design. That’s how the high-tech business works. Nvidia, which has a roadmap going out another three generations can continue to leapfrog ahead, but breakthroughs become fewer and farther between and there’s no reason to believe that a competitor won’t leap over Nvidia.

The biggest problem remains Apple’s tablet market share. The company grabbed more than 80% of the market in 2010 and is expected to hold onto 65% in 2011. In 2012, Apple’s share has been estimated at 57%. If Nvidia could grab the other 43%, that would be a coup. That’s very unlikely, though, as competitors’ chips are likely to be priced lower and tablet makers may have no choice but to compete against one another — not Apple — on price.

Intel has yet to make any real noise in the mobile market, but any day now there should be something coming out of its acquisition of Infineon, another ARM-based chip maker. The company has begun to push back at Apple’s MacBook Air with a device class it calls the Ultrabook. But Intel needs to get a low-power, high-performance mobile chip out of its Infineon people real soon now. That’s where the market growth is and Intel can’t lag too far behind if it wants a piece of the action. Of course Intel’s marketing muscle (read, “cash”) makes up for a lot of sins.

Nvidia’s shares are off more than -2% in the first hour of trading this morning, as the entire market is reacting negatively to the situation in Europe. Nvidia stock is trading at $14.75, in a 52-week range of $11.47-$26.17.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Consumer Electronics, Industry, Semiconductors, Technology Tagged: AAPL, ARMH, GOOG, INTC, NVDA, QCOM, TXN

Media Digest (11/9/2011) Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT

Douglas A. McIntyre — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 11:20:09 +0000

Greece will announce its new government today. (Reuters)

Inflation in China drops in October. (Reuters)

Olympus investment losses may have gone above $1 billion. (Reuters)

Silvio Berlusconi leaves as prime minister of Italy. (Reuters)

Investors will focus on General Motors’ (NYSE: GM) $20 billion unfunded pension liability as it releases earnings. (Reuters)

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Aol (NYSE: AOL) and Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) set a new advertising sales partnership. (Reuters)

Samsung will invest nearly $34 billion in R&D next year. (Reuters)

An Informa study for the Wireless Broadband Alliance says Wi-Fi hot spots will grow by four times by 2015. (Reuters)

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) releases new products for tablet PCs. (Reuters)

Yelp hires banks to take it public. (Reuters)

Carlyle Group sharply cuts fees as it tries to raise money for a $$2.3 billion real estate fund. (WSJ)

Investors aggressively sell Italian bonds. (WSJ)

Foreign markets help AB Inbev’s (NYSE: BUD) earnings. (WSJ)

Vivendi makes a bid for EMI. (WSJ)

Fannie Mae wants another $7.8 billion from the government. (WSJ)

The number of U.S. job openings rose to 3.4 million in September from 3.1 million in August. (WSJ)

President Obama approves very limited off-shore drilling. (WSJ)

The State Department may agree to move the Canada-to-U.S. pipeline around a section of Nebraska. (WSJ)

Amylin (NASDAQ: AMLN) and Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) kill their diabetes drug partnership. (WSJ)

Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) cuts 750 jobs. (WSJ)

Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) will give the U.S. names of clients who may have evaded taxes. (WSJ)

The FCC wants to expand low-income family access to high-speed internet. (NYT)

The head of HSBC (NYSE: HBC) says Asia faces a shortage of available credit. (FT)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Filed under: Press Digest Tagged: ADBE, AMLN, AOL, BUD, CS, GM, HBC, LLY, MSFT, NVDA, YHOO

Top Earnings & Economic Events In The Week Ahead (PCLN, AONE, ATVI, PAAS, TM, CSCO, CSC, GM, GMCR, M, SLW, MCP, JWN, NVDA, DIS)

Administrator — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:51:33 +0000

Earnings season has peaked, but we still have many key earnings reports and economic events coming in the week ahead. 24/7 Wall St. has featured a calendar with events scheduled all-week on the earnings and economic front.

The earnings previews are as follows: priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN); A123 Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: AONE); Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI); Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS); Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE: TM); Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO); Computer Sciences Corp. (NYSE: CSC); General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM); Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR); Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M); Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE: SLW); Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP); Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN); NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA); and Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS). Earnings estimates are from Thomson Reuters.

For each day of the week we have also added in the key economic events to watch for as well.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7

priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN) is expected to report $9.30 EPS and $1.42 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $5.14 EPS and $996.75 million in revenues.

10:00 AM EST Employment Trends Index (October)

3:00 PM EST Consumer Credit (September)

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8

A123 Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: AONE) is expected to report -$0.38 EPS and $66.3 million in revenues; next quarter estimates are -$0.35 EPS and $84.2 million in revenues.

Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) is expected to report $0.02 EPS and $558.4 million in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.53 EPS and $2.1 billion in revenues.

Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS) is expected to report $0.78 EPS and $260.8 million in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.66 EPS and $247.58 million in revenues.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) is expected to report $0.41 EPS and $52 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $1.03 EPS and $66.47 billion in revenues. As a reminder, this will originally be in Yen and the Yen has been at record highs and it could impact the figures.

7:30 AM EST NFIB Small Business Sentiment (October)

4:30 PM EST API Weekly Oil Inventories

Filed under: Calendar, Earnings, Economy, The Week Tagged: AONE, ATVI, CSC, CSCO, DIS, GM, GMCR, JWN, M, MCP, NVDA, PAAS, PCLN, SLW, TM

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ALU, ARMH, AVP, BCS, CSCO, C, HGSI, LAD, LOGI, NVDA, STR)

Administrator — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:06:07 +0000

These are some of Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls.

Alcatel-Lucent SA (NYSE: ALU) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) Started as Hold at Canaccord Genuity.
Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Started as Buy at MKM Partners.
Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) Raised to Outperform with $48 target at Credit Suisse.
Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE: LAD) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.
Logitech International SA (NASDAQ: LOGI) Cut to Strong Sell at S&P (late-Monday call).
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) Cut to Hold at Canaccord Genuity.
Questar Corporation (NYSE: STR) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ALU, ARMH, AVP, BCS, C, CSCO, HGSI, LAD, LOGI, NVDA, STR

Expected Price Gains for Chip Maker Stocks (INTC, AMD, TXN, BRCM, MRVL, XLNX, AMAT, ARMH, NVDA, QCOM)

Paul Ausick — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 19:11:27 +0000

Nearly every forecast for PC sales indicates slower growth in desktop and laptop sales, waning sales of netbooks, and rising, if not booming, sales for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. If those forecasts are borne out, chip makers for mobile devices could suck a lot of the air out of the PC microprocessor market, but could also invigorate the server market.The issue for mobile chip makers is competition. There are several companies designing and making the chips that run all those smartphones and tablets, and a clear winner has yet to be named. Our look at chip-maker stocks today includes Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD), Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN), Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM), Marvel Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL), Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX), Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT), ARM Holdings, plc (NASDAQ: ARMH), Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA), and Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM).All data comes from Yahoo! Finance and MarketWatch, and share prices were gathered shortly after noon today.

1. Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC)
Intel has a median target price of $27.00 from 36 brokers. Shortly after noon today, shares are trading today at $24.56, for an implied gain of $2.44, or 10%. Intel’s forward P/E is 9.6 and the company does pays a dividend yield of 3.4%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $19.16-$24.84, and at today’s price that’s about 28% above its 52-week low, posted earlier this morning, and 1% below the 52-week high. Intel posted record revenue in the third quarter, but the company still hasn’t made a significant dent in the mobile device market. Its Atom microprocessor sales were down -32% year-over-year as netbook sales continue to slide. The company is gearing up a big push for its low-profile, low-power laptops called Ultrabooks, which are aimed at a market niche now dominated by the MacBook Air from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL).

Also Read: A New Blow To Housing: More Boomers Will Stay Put

2. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD)
AMD has a median target price of $6.50 from 27 brokers. Shares are trading today at $4.99, for an implied gain of $1.51, or 30%. AMD’s forward P/E is 8.81 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $4.31-$9.58, and at today’s price that’s about 16% above its 52-week low, posted earlier this morning, and 48% below the 52-week high. AMD posts third-quarter earnings tomorrow, and analysts are expecting EPS of $0.10 on sales of $1.65 billion. That’s $0.05 less per share than the company earned in the year-ago quarter. For the December quarter, analysts currently expect EPS of $0.15, which would beat the year-ago quarter by a penny. The company finally hired a new CEO in August, but even he is unlikely to turn this company around any time soon.

3. Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN)
Texan Instruments has a median target price of $32.00 from 33 brokers. Shares are trading today at $30.89, for an implied gain of $1.11, or 4%. TI’s forward P/E is 12.83 and the company pays a dividend yield of 2.1%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $24.34-$36.71, and at today’s price that’s about 27% above its 52-week low, posted earlier this morning, and 16% below the 52-week high. TI recently completed its acquisition of National Semiconductor, and that could help it next quarter. It’s earnings in the third quarter were barely newsworthy, but several analysts are bullish on the stock going forward, mainly due to TI’s low cost structure. There’s barely anything in the company’s recent performance to substantiate a positive outlook on this stock, so analysts are looking into a crystal ball and seeing what they were looking for.

4. Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM)
Broadcom has a median target price of $45.00 from 35 brokers. Shares are trading today at $34.86, for an implied gain of $10.14, or 29%. Broadcom’s forward P/E is 11.22 and the company pays a dividend yield of 1%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $29.05-$47.39, and at today’s price that’s about 20% above its 52-week low, posted earlier this morning, and 26% below the 52-week high. Broadcom reported weak earnings yesterday and guided fourth quarter earnings lower. The company makes chips for mobile devices from Apple, Samsung, and Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK), and its business should be better than it is. The company needs to get bigger orders from these customers or it needs to push its way into a supply deal with a low-cost Chinese mobile phone maker.

Also Read: Sony Goes All In On Smartphone Market

5. Marvel Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL)
Marvel has a median target price of $18.25 from 30 brokers. Shares are trading today at $13.51, for an implied gain of $4.74, or 35%. Marvel’s forward P/E is 9.01 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $11.23-$22.01, and at today’s price that’s about 20% above its 52-week low, posted earlier this morning, and 39% below the 52-week high. Marvel stock has the highest implied gain of any stock we’ve looked at here. Its price has fallen recently due to flooding in Thailand, where Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) uses Marvel chips in its disk drive production and where manufacturing is not expected to be back at full capacity until the first quarter of next year.

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Consumer Electronics, Hardware, Industry, Semiconductor, Semiconductors, Technology Tagged: AMAT, AMD, ARMH, BRCM, INTC, MRVL, NVDA, QCOM, TXN, XLNX

Media Digest (10/12/2010) Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

247wallst — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 10:21:54 +0000

Alcoa (NYSE: AA) earnings bring markets lower. (Reuters)

Senate defeats the Obama jobs bill. (Reuters)

Sony (NYSE: SNE) says a third party tried to sign into 93,000 PlayStation accounts. (Reuters)

The Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) BlackBerry network suffers another breakdown. (Reuters)

EBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) to broaden its relationship with Facebook. (Reuters)

Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) have three weeks to answer EU concerns about the merger. (Reuters)

A whistleblower comes forward in the BNY Mellon (NYSE: BK) currency trading investigation. (WSJ)

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) may not spin out its PC operation. (WSJ)

The Senate to pass a bill that encourages the government to label China as a currency manipulator. (WSJ)

Some mutual funds that own Groupon shares may not make the profit they had expected. (WSJ)

Burberry sales rise sharply. (WSJ)

Choppy markets make it hard for Sprint-Nextel (NYSE: S) to target new financing. (WSJ)

Solyndra is one of a number of troubled U.S.-backed energy firms. (WSJ)

The use of vitamin-E supplements may increase the rate of prostate cancer. (WSJ)

Share buybacks often produce lackluster results. (WSJ)

Zynga begins to reduce its reliance on Facebook. (WSJ)

News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) defends its directors against charges that they have ties to the Murdoch family. (WSJ)

99 Cent Only Stores (NYSE: NDN) agrees to a buyout by Ares Management and the Canadian Pension Investment Board. (WSJ)

A large UAW local rejects a deal with Ford (NYSE: F). (WSJ)

Mercedes-Benz sales in China falter. (WSJ)

Chevron (NYSE: CVX) says third-quarter profits will be within expectations. (WSJ)

The U.S. Energy Department will work with Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Advance Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) to build a major supercomputer. (WSJ)

OPEC cuts its forecast for demand for 2011 and 2012. (WSJ)

Strikes hurt India’s largest car maker. (NYT)

The EU is closer to recapitalizing some of its banks. (NYT)

Shippers voice concern about U.S. holiday sales. (NYT)

A 9% capital rule could force Europe’s banks to raise nearly $300 billion. (FT)

Slovakia politicians still in a battle over approval of the EU bailout fund. (Bloomberg)

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) launches its iCloud service. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Filed under: General, Press Digest Tagged: AA, AAPL, AMD, BK, CVX, EBAY, F, HPQ, NVDA, NWS, NYX, RIMM, S, SNE