Posts for Ticker ‘NVLS’

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations (CHK, EOG, FFIV, FCX, MOT, NVLS, SAP, STJ, STM, TSCO)

These are this Thursday morning’s top ten analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations we have seen from Wall Street research calls:

Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV) Raised to Neutral at UBS; Raised to Buy at Canaccord Adams.
Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
Novellus Systems (NASDAQ: NVLS) Raised to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) Cut to Neutral from Buy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
St. Jude Medical (NYSE: STJ) Raised to Buy at UBS.
STMicroelectronics NV (NYSE: STM) Cut to Sell at RBS.
Tractor Supply Co. (NASDAQ: TSCO) Cut to Underweight at Piper Jaffray.

You can join our open email distribution list to get updates on top analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader alerts, IPO’s, secondary offerings, Warren Buffett and other guru activity, M&A and more.

JON C. OGG
OCTOBER 22, 2009

Posted on: October 22, 2009 – 8:13 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ATK, CELG, NTAP, NVLS, WMT, ATHN, ARNA, BK, GENZ, Q)

These are the top 10 analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations we have seen early this Monday morning:

Alliant Techsystems (ATK) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Celgene (CELG) raised to Outperform at R.W.Baird.
NetApp (NTAP) raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs
Novellus (NVLS) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Wal-Mart (WMT) Started as Overweight at HSBC.
Athenahealth (ATHN) started as Sell at Citigroup.
Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA) cut to Market Perform at Leerink Swann.
Bank of New York Mellon (BK) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Genzyme (GENZ) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Qwest (Q) Cut to Conviction Sell List, but was already a Sell, at Goldman Sachs.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: September 21, 2009 – 8:21 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Morgan Stanley’s Key Technology Upgrades & Downgrades (IBM, DELL, CTXS, ADSK, NVLS, TXN, STM, PMCS, QLGC, LRCX, XLNX)

Bull and Bear ImageMorgan Stanley has made several key downgrades in technology, as well as a few lesser upgrades.  Both IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) were downgraded to Equal-Weight from Overweight.  Also cut to underweight were Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS) and Autodesk (NASDAQ: ADSK).  Novellus Systems (NASDAQ: NVLS) and Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) were downgraded to Equal-Weight from Overweight; and STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) was cut to Underweight.

There were actually a few Morgan Stanley upgrades in the broader call as well.  PMC-Sierra (NASDAQ: PMCS), QLogic (NASDAQ: QLGC), Lam Research (NASDAQ: LRCX) and Xilinx (NASDAQ: XLNX) were all raised to Overweight.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: September 8, 2009 – 9:01 am in Analyst Calls, Software, Technology Companies, , , , , , , , , , ,

Top Day Trader Alerts (ARRY, HGSI, MTXX, NVLS, FNM)

bull-and-bear-imageBecause this is a Friday ahead of a 3-day weekend and because this is Labor Day, the “volume spikes” and the relative trading will be more muted than most trading days.  We have the five top stories here with more detailed trading volume and price analysis in the links over at VSInvestor.com:

Array BioPharma Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRY) was hit hard on poor drug study data in its rheumatoid arthritis treatment.

Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) is up 4% and not even on takeover rumors.

Matrixx Initiatives Inc. (NASDAQ: MTXX) is up 10% on a stock tout over options trading.

Novellus Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) is trading up 4% on stronger than previously disclosed orders.

Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) is now up 9% after regaining NYSE listing satisfaction on the $1.00 rule.

You can join our open email distribution list which goes out several times per week if you wish to be notified by email when the top day trader alerts hit, along with news of IPO’s, key offerings, guru investor data on Buffett and others, mergers, and more.

Have a great Labor Day and enjoy your 3-day weekend!

JON C. OGG
SEPTEMBER 4, 2009

Posted on: September 4, 2009 – 9:29 am in After-Hours Activity, Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert, , , , ,

The Big Morning Movers Analysis

bearSeveral stocks will make major moves at the open.

Noven (NOVN) is up on a buyout.

Changes in military healthcare buying may effect Aetna (AET), United Health (UNH), and Humana (HUM).

Novellus (NVLS) is likely to move on large volume after earnings news.

Dell (DELL) is dropping on negative comments about the last quarter.

CIT (CIT) is up more than 20% in the pre-market on news that it may get government bail-out funds.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: July 14, 2009 – 7:07 am in Most Actives, , , , , , ,

Full 360 Review of Technology Earnings Previews (NVLS, INTC, XLNX, GOOG, IBM)

This week will mark the kickoff for the real flood of Q2-2009 earnings season.  We have many key technology stocks reporting earnings this week and these should help to craft the post-earnings bias for traders for the following two weeks.  Novellus Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) is on deck this afternoon.  The big one for Tuesday is processor-giant Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC).  Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) is on deck for Wednesday after the close.  Thursday is web search giant Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and IT-giant International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM).  We have more details on the Thomson Reuters estimates for each, but we have also given some performance and relative analysis for each as well.
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Posted on: July 13, 2009 – 1:46 pm in Earnings, Internet, Semiconductor, Technology Companies, , , , ,

Top Analyst Upgrades (BEN, KLAC, NVLS, LRCX, JWN, OSK, STX, WDC, S)

These are the top analyst upgrades and positive research calls from Wall Street this Monday morning with about two hours until the market opens:

Franklin Resources (BEN) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
KLA-Tencor (KLAC), Novellus Systems (NVLS) and Lam Research (LRCX) were all three Raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Nordstrom (JWN) Raised to Neutral and off Conviction Sell List at Goldman Sachs.
Oshkosh (OSK) Raised to Buy at KeyBanc.
Seagate Tech (STX) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill.
Western Digital (WDC) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill.
Sprint (S) Raised to Buy at Auriga.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: July 6, 2009 – 6:35 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , ,

Intel’s $7 Billion Gamble… Too Much? Too Soon? (INTC, AMD, NVDA, AMAT, KLAC, NVLS)

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) is making a huge gamble on high- paying jobs and manufacturing.  It isn’t cuts.  Intel plans expansions for the inevitable recovery ahead.  $7 billion worth.
Read More »

Posted on: February 10, 2009 – 10:42 am in Labor & Unions, Semiconductor, , , , , , , , , ,

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (BPT, BSY, DELL, ETR, HTE, IFX, NVLS, PM, POWI, SBR, TXT, THQI)

Burning_money_picThese are some of the top downgrades and negative calls we are seeing from Wall Street analysts this Thursday morning:

  • BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty (BPT) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
  • British Sky Broadcast (BSY) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
  • DELL (DELL) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
  • Entergy (ETR) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
  • Harvest Energy Trust (HTE) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
  • Infineon (IFX) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
  • Novellus Systems (NVLS) Cut to Neutral at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.
  • Philip Morris International (PM) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
  • Power Integrations (POWI) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
  • Sabine Royalty Trust (SBR) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
  • Textron (TXT) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
  • THQ Inc. (THQI) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.

Jon C. Ogg
February 5, 2009

Posted on: February 5, 2009 – 7:47 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Second Round Analyst Downgrades (AINV, T, GSIC, MFE, NVLS, SNH, TSO, TXRH, VZ)

Burning_money_picIt seems that the early bird analyst calls did not capture the notion that analysts are starting 2009 with more opportunities to downgrade stocks.  Here are some additional pre-market analyst downgrades from Wall Street this Monday morning:

  • Apollo Investment Corporation (NASDAQ: AINV) Cut to Sell at Stifel Nicolaus; shares are down over 5% on the call.
  • AT&T (NYSE: T) Cut to Market Perform at Bernstein; shares down over 2%.
  • GSI Commerce (NASDAQ: GSIC) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
  • McAfee (NYSE: MFE) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
  • Novellus (NASDAQ: NVLS) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
  • Senior Housing (NYSE: SNH) Cut to Neutral at UBS; shares indicated down 2%.
  • Tessoro (NYSE: TSO) Cut to Sell at Soleil.
  • Texas Roadhouse (NASDAQ: TXRH) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
  • Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) Cut to Underperform at Bernstein; shares down almost 3%.

Here are the top 10 pre-market analyst upgrades and downgrades:

Jon C. Ogg
January 5, 2009

Posted on: January 5, 2009 – 9:24 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , ,

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (ADS, AUTH, BRCM, EXC, NVLS, SAI, SNDA)

These are the top upgrades and positive analyst calls we are seeing this Thursday morning:

  • Alliance Data (ADS) Started as Buy at B of A.
  • AuthenTec (AUTH) Started as Buy at S&P Equity Research.
  • Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
  • Excelon (EXC) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
  • Novellus Systems (NVLS) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
  • SAIC (SAI) Raised to Outperform at at Wachovia.
  • Shanda Interactive (SNDA) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.

Jon C. Ogg
September 4, 2008

Posted on: September 4, 2008 – 6:30 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , ,

Top Analyst Downgrades (CXR, ETM, ROCK, LUX, MAN, NVLS, VSE, ZUMZ)

These are some of the top DOWNGRADES we are seeing from Wall Street analysts this Thursday morning:
Cox Radio (NYSE: CXR) Cut to Sell from Hold at Citigroup.
Entercom (NYSE: ETM) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
Gibraltar Industries (NASDAQ: ROCK) Cut To Sell From Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Luxottica (NYSE: LUX) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Manpower (NYSE: MAN) Cut to Neutral at Banc of America.
Novellus (NASDAQ: NVLS) Started as Sell at Banc of America.
VeraSun Energy (NYSE: VSE) Cut to Sell at Piper Jaffray.
Zumiez (NYSE: ZUMZ) Cut to Market Perform at William Blair.
Jon C. Ogg
July 10, 2008

Posted on: July 10, 2008 – 7:03 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , ,

The 52-Week Low Club (DAL)(AMR)(LCC)(UAUA)

Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL) Fuel costs, faltering earnings. Drops to $6.70 from 52-week high of $21.85.

AMR (AMR) Another airline. Sells off to $7.05 from 52-week high of $29.47.

US Airways Group (LCC) Fly boys. Down to $6.75 from 52-week high of $45.65.

UAL (UAUA) Ditto. Dips to $12.78 from 52-week high of $51.60.

Omnicell (OMCL) Cuts profit outlook. Down to $11 from 52-week high of $31.12.

Novellus Systems  (NVLS) Drop in Q1 profit. Sells down to $20 from 52-week high of $34.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: April 22, 2008 – 2:55 pm in HI/LOW, , , , , ,

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (AAPL, AMAT, BMC, COLM, SCOR, KLAC, NVLS, TJX, SONC, TIN)

These are the top analyst calls that 247WallSt.com is focusing on this Monday morning:

  • Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) Raised to Overweight from Market Weight at Thomas Weisel.
  • Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) Cut To Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
  • BMC Software (NYSE: BMC) Cut to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.
  • Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ: COLM) Cut to Sell From Hold at Citigroup.
  • ComScore(NASDAQ: SCOR) Raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.
  • KLA Tencor (NASDAQ: KLAC) Raised to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.
  • Novellus Systems (NASDAQ: NVLS) Raised to Equal-weight from Underweight By Lehman.
  • TJX (NYSE: TJX) Cut to Hold from Buy at Citigroup.
  • Sonic (NASDAQ: SONC) Started as Overweight at Lehman Brothers.
  • Temple-Inland (NYSE: TIN) Raised to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.

Jon C. Ogg
April 7, 2008

Posted on: April 7, 2008 – 6:56 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Applied Materials: What To Expect From Earnings (AMAT, KLAC, NVLS, LRCX, ASML)

AppliedMaterials (NASDAQ:AMAT) reports earnings today after the close and First Call estimates are still $0.32 EPS and$2.53 Billion in revenues.  Next quarter is also its fiscal year-endand analysts expect it to post $0.30 EPS on revenues of $2.46 Billion for the quarter.

Analysts are mixed on the stock, but average targets from analystsare between $24.00 and $25.00. The chart had been quite hard to notnotice last week when the market was in turmoil, but shares have given up a little more ground.  Last week we noted how the stock hadn’t gotten thedown market memo, because it has been in an up-trend and its shares were down only about 3% from recent highs of $23.00.  Shares are lower and closer to $21.50 now.  That recent$23.00 high is within 10% of a 5-year high.  On a static basis, option trader expectations late morning appear to bracing for a move only $0.40 to $0.55 depending on which contract you use.  Keep in mind that with a Friday options expiration the time value will erode rapidly.

Interestingly enough, one of the things that has been helpingApplied out is its new and upcoming solar operations.  After a coupleof recent solar and silicon related purchases and with the extracapacity that Applied has in its capacity arsenal, this solar operationis becoming a business that has the potential of becoming a dominantplayer in the coming years.  It is even feasible that this could becomeits own entity to unlock shareholder value down the road, although thatis far too soon to predict or target.

Bets have been that despite a weak cap-ex market that it willchange or at least not deteriorate.  Themain US chip equipment and cap-ex names to watch for secondary movementare KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ:KLAC), Novellus (NASDAQ:NVLS), LAM Research(NASDAQ:LRCX), and ASML Holdings NV (NASDAQ:ASML) in Europe.

Jon C. Ogg
August 14, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

               

Posted on: August 14, 2007 – 9:59 am in Earnings, Semiconductor, , , , , ,

Previewing Applied Materials Earnings; They Didn’t Get The Down Market Memo (AMAT, KLAC, NVLS, LRCX, ASML)

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) reports on Tuesday, August 14.  This will be interesting for chip equipment stocks as this is the largest chip equipment stock out there, but the main reason this will be even more interesting than normally is thatthis has held up incredibly well in what has become quite a crummy stock market.  As of today, First Call estimates are $0.32 EPS and $2.53 Billion in revenues.  Next quarter is also its fiscal year-end and analysts expect it to post $0.30 EPS on revenues of $2.46 Billion. 

Analysts are mixed on the stock, but average targets from analysts are between $24.00 and $25.00. The chart has been quite hard to not notice.  Bets have been that despite a weak cap-ex market that it will change or at least not deteriorate.  The stock so far hasn’t gotten the down market memo, because it has been in an up-trend and its shares are just down about 3% from recent highs of $23.00.  In fact, that recent $23.00 high is within 10% of a 5-year high.  We are not going to comment on option trader expectations today because of the volatile market and time value compression with options expiration being next Friday.

Interestingly enough, one of the things that has been helping Applied out is its new and upcoming solar operations.  After a couple of recent solar and silicon related purchases and with the extra capacity that Applied has in its capacity arsenal, this solar operation is becoming a business that has the potential of becoming a dominant player in the coming years.  It is even feasible that this could become its own entity to unlock shareholder value down the road, although that is far too soon to predict or target.

Outside of almost everyone in the chip equipment sub-sector, the main US chip equipment and cap-ex names to watch for secondary movement are KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ:KLAC), Novellus (NASDAQ:NVLS), LAM Research (NASDAQ:LRCX), and ASML Holdings NV (NASDAQ:ASML) in Europe.

Jon C. Ogg
August 10, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: August 10, 2007 – 12:36 pm in Earnings, Semiconductor, , , , , ,

Cramer’s Chemical/Tech Pairs Trade

On today’s STOP TRADING segment on CNBC, Jim Cramer made a call for a pairs trade on chemical and tech stocks: Cramer said that traders can ring the register in chemical stocks and they can throw the money into tech stocks for a few days.  He thinks Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT), KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ:KLAC), and Novellus (NASDAQ:NVLS) all have room to run.

Cramer also thinks that a research call saying that Crown Holdings (NYSE:CCK) is right on as a way to play Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) earnings.

This wasn’t a pure ‘pairs trade’ but as a reminder, pairs trades lately have fallen out of vogue because the cost to carry the short (broker loan call rate) is higher, but they are mostly out of vogue because so many companies that were previously deemed too big are now able to be acquired.

Jon C. Ogg
July 17, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: July 17, 2007 – 1:52 pm in Cramer, Technology Companies, , ,

Intel: Earnings Taking Stock to $27.50 or $25.00? (INTC, NVLS, AMD, SMH)

After today’s close we’ll get to see earnings out of processor giant Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC).  Wall Street estimates out of First Call put expectations at $0.19 EPS and $8.54 Billion.  Intel shares are up more than 1% ahead of eranings, and anything above $26.04 on the day is an 18-month high.

The average buy target from Wall Street is north of $27.50.  Options activity and influence will depend on the news, but Intel shares are nestled right in between strike prices with options expiring this Friday.  In theory, that could cause either the $27.50 or $25.00 strike prices to act as a magnet with those being the nearest strike prices.  Options trading in Intel could be a huge run of volume and it won’t be surprising at all if Intel trades more than 100 million shares tomorrow.  With shares at 18-month highs, any additional strength should be considered a further break-out pattern by technicians.

Even a somewhat tepid outlook with hopes of more from Novellus Systems (NASDAQ:NVLS) last night isn’t managing to put an end to tech stocks and their subsequent rally we have seen.  There is quite a bit of hope ahead of the keystone industry event Semicon West in San Francisco.  There are hopes that Novellus will get some upward revisions based on other sectors in chip-land, and those hopes are what is keeping the chip-equipment sector up today.

Even the Semiconductor HOLDRs (NYSE:SMH) are trading up more than 1% on the day ahead of Intel’s earnings.  Intel usually offers guidance, so here is the important data: Q3 $0.27 EPS and revenues $9.36 Billion; Fiscal DEC-2007 $1.08 EPS and $37 Billion in revenues.  Intel’s rival Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD) reports earnings Thursday, and you can bet that the action in Intel will have some impact on the perception of AMD.

Jon C. Ogg
July 17, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: July 17, 2007 – 10:28 am in Earnings, Semiconductor, , , ,

News Digest 7/16/2007

According to Reuters, the CEO of McDonald’s (MCD) believes that the company can still grow a great deal in the US.

Reuters writes that Hollywood is starting labor negotiations with screenwriters with revenue from the internet as a major deal point.

The Wall Street Journal writes that a special committee of the Dow Jones (DJ) has accepted Rupert Murdoch’s offer of $5 billion. The deal now goes to the board and founding Bancroft family.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Google (GOOG) is developing a new search engine for phones.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Sprint (S) will launch a new service that will allow customers to find  and track their friends using GPS technology.

The FT writes that a lawsuit charges that Facebook may have taken its source code from another project.

The FT also writes that oil prices are near their all-time high.

The FT also writes that Barclays (BCS) will sweeten its bid fof ABN Amro (ABN) now that a competing bid has been increased.

The New York Times writes that Nintendo is getting more support for its game system from video game publishers.

The New York Times also writes that Ford (F) is having success selling cars in Russia.

Barron’s writes that Novellus (NVLS) announced earnings inline with expectations.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: July 17, 2007 – 3:10 am in Uncategorized, , , , , ,

Earnings Preview: Novellus Systems (NVLS) (July 16, 2007)

Novellus Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:NVLS) reports earnings after today’s close.  First Call estimates were $0.44 EPS and $413.3 million revenues on last look.

On a static snapshot of this morning’s options prices, it looks like options traders are not looking for more than a 2% price change in either direction.  While chip stocks have been busy putting in recent highs, Novellus hasn’t really participated in the share gains.  Unfortunately, this stock has seen its fair share of downgrades this year and the average price target from analysts is under $30.00 as the analysts prefer other chip equipment plays out there.  If the company makes the $1.64 EPS estimate for 2007, it trades at 17.7 times 2007 earnings.

At the end of June, Novellus said results would come in at the lower-end of the guidance ranges previously offered.  The company also announced it would cut executive pay and see some temporary shutdowns in the third and fourth quarters to cut down on operating expenses.  Even with the recent interest in chip stocks, it feels like the Bulls’ only hope for today is news that could be deemed "less-bad" than just a couple weeks ago. 

Novellus’ market cap is under $4 Billion at current prices and the stock is no longer viewed as a sector-leader.  Its 52-week trading range is $22.55 to $35.00 and shares are down more than 10% in the last 90-days.

Jon C. Ogg
July 16, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: July 16, 2007 – 9:23 am in Earnings, Semiconductor,