24/7 Wall St. » SNDK

After The Fall: Value & Upside In Chip Stocks As Summer Heat Awaits (INTC, QCOM, BRCM, NVDA, AMD, TSM, MU, FSL, SNDK, AMAT, ALTR, LRCX, SMH, XSD, USD)

Administrator — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:51:47 +0000

The recent sell-off has been brutal to semiconductors and chip stocks of late. To make matters worse, investing in technology and semiconductors can be brutal during the summer months. Still, many investors believe that where there is risk there is also reward and trying to nail an exact bottom is no easy task.

With warnings having started from key leaders in the realm of chip stocks, the question is whether or not you can trust the analysts and the consensus upside. 24/7 Wall St. has gone in and evaluated the leaders in each aspect of the semiconductor sector to see where there is value and where the risks currently lie. We evaluated the following chip companies: Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC); QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM); Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN); Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM); NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA); Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD); Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (NYSE: TSM); Freescale Semiconductor Holdings (NYSE: FSL); SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK); Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT); Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ: LRCX); and Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR).

In a further effort to show just how much these have sold off, we have shown the moves in the following key semiconductor ETFs: Market Vectors Semiconductor ETF (AMEX: SMH); SPDR S&P Semiconductor (AMEX: XSD); and the ProShares Ultra Semiconductors (AMEX: USD). We have also run the same screens in retail, gold and silver miners, conglomerates, industrial giants, and major oil companies with links to those at the end of this article. Here is the screening of value and upside in the chip giants:

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) traded at $26.60 with a market value of $129 billion. The consensus target price for the king of PC processors from Thomson Reuters is $29.75 and the 52-week trading range is $19.16 to $29.27. This DJIA component’s most recent yield was listed as 3.2%. Intel’s implied upside to the consensus target is 16% and it is worth noting that the consensus target is just above the 52-week high.

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) traded at $57.78 with a market value of $99 billion. The consensus target price from Thomson Reuters is $71.92 and the 52-week trading range is $45.98 to $68.87. The CDMA giant yields about 1.7% after dividend hikes. The implied upside to the consensus target is just under 25% but we would note that the consensus target is still over $3.00 above the 52-week high.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN) traded at $29.15 with a market value of $33.4 billion. The consensus target price from Thomson Reuters is $35.80 and the 52-week trading range is $24.34 to $35.30. The yield here is about 2.3%. TI’s implied upside to the consensus target is just under 23% and that target is still just above its 52-week high.

Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) traded at $31.85 with a market value of $17.5 billion. The consensus target price from Thomson Reuters is $43.21 and the 52-week trading range is $27.59 to $39.66. Broadcom has a paltry yield of only about 1.2%, but its implied upside to the consensus target is about 35%. Be advised that this consensus target is almost $4.00 above the 52-week high.

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) trades at $12.25 and its market cap is just over $7.5 billion. This graphics processor leader has a consensus target price of $16.64 and the 52-week trading range is $11.47 to $20.05. NVIDIA pays no dividend and that is something which it should consider changing since it has about $3 billion in cash and liquidity. Its implied upside to the consensus target is about 35% and that consensus target price is well under its 52-week high.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD) trades at $6.06 and its market cap is only $4.25 billion despite it being so actively traded. The consensus target price for this distant number-2 in PC processors is $8.55 and the 52-week trading range is $4.31 to $8.71. AMD has no dividend due to very spotty earnings. Its implied upside to the consensus target is more than 41% if you trust the analysts here and its target price is just under its 52-week high.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (NYSE: TSM) currently trades at $14.15 for its ADR and Yahoo! Finance shows its market value being about $73 billion. The consensus target price from Thomson Reuters is $16.70 and the 52-week trading range is $10.75 to $16.15. The yield is listed as roughly 2.9%. TSM’s implied upside to the consensus target is 18% and the consensus target is about 4% above the 52-week high.

Freescale Semiconductor Holdings (NYSE: FSL) has been battered since its IPO and shares now trade at $9.75 with an implied market value of $2.4 billion. This private equity backed chip outfit’s consensus target price from Thomson Reuters is all the way up at $17.92 and the 52-week (less than one-year actually) trading range is $9.43 to $20.97. Freescale has NO DIVIDEND, which makes it stand out against the peer group now. Still, if you trust the analysts here the implied upside to the consensus target is a whopping 83%! Trust is hard to come by here, particularly for a company where backers will sell shares along the way into strength.

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) trades around $32.50 and its market value is about $7.9 billion. The king of flash memory’s consensus target price from Thomson Reuters is $44.46 and the 52-week trading range is $31.34 to $53.46. SanDisk has no current dividend, something which may need to change down the road considering that this is not anywhere close to a new company. Its implied upside to the consensus target is 37% but the company has had two warnings.

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) currently trades at $10.55 and its market value is $13.6 billion. The consensus target price from Thomson Reuters is $13.65 and the 52-week trading range is $9.70 to $13.94. Applied now yields about 3.4% and its implied upside to the consensus target is about 29%.

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ: LRCX) is worth more than $4.5 billion today but it is acquiring Novellus Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) for about $3 billion in stock, so it will soon be larger. Its shares trade at $38.00, its consensus target price is $48.53 and the 52-week trading range is $34.81 to $48.88. Lam Research pays NO DIVIDEND now and its implied upside is almost 28%.

Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) currently trades at $33.90 and its market value is $10.9 billion. The consensus target price from Thomson Reuters is $41.00 and the 52-week trading range is $30.39 to $48.91. Altera has a dink yield of only about 1% and we expect a dividend hike in the coming weeks or months. Its implied upside to the consensus target is about 21% and this one is well off highs and the target is almost $8.00 under its 52-week high.

Market Vectors Semiconductor ETF (AMEX: SMH) has undergone a total transformation since it is no longer the Semiconductor HOLDRs. At $31.25 its range since the change is listed as $28.86 to $36.17. This ETF is said to have assets of almost $400 million, but that changes based upon inflows and outflows on top of the change in the price.

SPDR S&P Semiconductor (AMEX: XSD) ETS is now one of the longest ETF in chips since the HOLDRS changed. At $43.50 now, its 52-week range is $40.09 to $59.85 and it still has only about $44 million in assets. This one peaked in January and the mix of components has made it more volatile than many leaders. This ETF would now have to rally by more than 37% to hit its 52-week high again.

ProShares Ultra Semiconductors (AMEX: USD) uses leverage of 2-times for its semiconductor trading, so this is one where it will feel just like getting your fingernails ripped out when your timing is wrong. At $33.50, this leveraged ETF has a 52-week range of $26.18 to $46.46. It would have to rally about 39% to hit its 52-week high again.

As you can see, the semiconductor and chip leaders have now pulled back substantially from their highs seen throughout 2012. The issue to consider is that Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) have confirmed that PC sales are slowing. Some of this is due to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and some of it is due to weakness in Europe, weak PC spending in the Americas, and a slowing of growth in the BRIC nations. How the Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) launch of Windows 8 will impact the PC refresh cycle ahead is now another wild card since PC sales guidance is looking softer than anticipated from just a couple of weeks ago.

We also want to warn investors to not just blindly trust the analysts in semiconductor price targets here. Summer can be a brutal time for chip stocks. The drop in the ProShares Ultra Semiconductors (AMEX: USD) during the summer of 2011 was about 40% and the drop from the 52-week high in 2011 to that end of summer trough was almost 50%.

The drop in the SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (AMEX: XSD) during the summer of 2011 was about 25%, but the drop from the peak in early 2011 here to the trough of late-summer was about 31%.

Summer is a very tough time to invest in chip stocks, and the question now is just how much the slowdown is going to continue taking out of chip stocks. We would certainly avoid trying to play the game of trying to catch falling knives here, but these are all worth keeping an eye on for those inflection points where the valuations start to adequately discount the warning signs.

Gold & Silver Miners with the Most Upside Value

Major Oil Companies with the Most Upside Value

Industrials with the Most Upside Value

Conglomerates with the Most Upside Value

Retail Stocks with Upside

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Consumer Electronics, Dividend, PC Companies, Semiconductor, Technology Companies, Value Investing Tagged: ALTR, AMAT, AMD, BRCM, DELL, FSL, HPQ, INTC, LRCX, MU, NVDA, QCOM, SMH, SNDK, TSM, USD, XSD

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ANGI, RATE, IRE, DNDN, LVS, LNKD, MU, MS, PSX, CRM, SNDK, S, TUP, YELP)

Administrator — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:37:11 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls this Friday.

Angie’s List, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI) Started as Outperform at Raymond James.

Bankrate, Inc. (NYSE: RATE) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) Started as Sell at Maxim.

Las Vegas Sands Corporation (NYSE: LVS) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) Reiterated Buy with $135 target at Canaccord Genuity.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) Started as Buy at ThinkEquity.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) Raised to Buy at UBS.

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) Started as Buy at UBS.

Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Reiterated Buy with $180 target at Canaccord Genuity.

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) Started as Hold at ThinkEquity.

Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) Raised to Buy at Guggenheim.

Tupperware Brands Corporation (NYSE: TUP) Cut to Hold at Argus.

Yelp, Inc. (NYSE: YELP) Started as Market Perform at Raymond James.

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.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ANGI, CRM, DNDN, IRE, LNKD, LVS, MS, MU, PSX, RATE, S, SNDK, TUP, Yelp

24/7 Wall St. Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades Of The Week

Administrator — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 11:01:49 +0000

This last week had many top analyst calls, but each week we review all of the calls looking for those which were very bold calls or that go against the grain. These make up the Top Analyst Calls of the Week.

The standout research calls this last week were in the following stocks: ABB Ltd. (NYSE: ABB); Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ALSN); Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN); Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL); CafePress Inc. (NASDAQ: PRSS); Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG); Demandware, Inc. (NYSE: DWRE); Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES); Infosys Ltd. (NASDAQ: INFY); McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD); SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK); Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT); Zynga, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA); Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX); Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC); Banco Santander (NYSE: STD); and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (NYSE: BBVA).

We have outlined a summary of each call and added in color on each to show why (and if) the analysts made calls worth watching.

ABB Ltd. (NYSE: ABB) is about to see a drop due to its ex-dividend date and we saw two simultaneous downgrades after an acquisition strategy was outlined this last week. On Thursday ABB shares were downgraded to Neutral at JPMorgan and they were also removed from he coveted Conviction Buy List but maintained as a ‘Buy’ over at Goldman Sachs. This one lost about 5% from earlier in the week by the time Friday’s close came around.

Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ALSN) saw its quiet period end on Tuesday. Shares recovered on Friday due to stronger numbers elsewhere but the stock had been weak after the coverage started. We saw the following initiations: Started as Outperform at Baird; Started as Neutral at Citigroup; Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse; Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs; Started as Neutral at J.P. Morgan; and Started as Hold at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was a Johnny Come-Lately call where several analysts decided all at once that they had to upgrade the online retail giant after it blew out its earnings: Raised to Buy at BofA/ML; Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs; Raised to Buy at Nomura; Raised to Buy at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) blew the door off the hinges this last week with earnings. While it was already rated and effective buy rating, the new street-high official target is $1,111 and that will make it the first company worth more than $1 trillion by market cap if it comes true. This newest street-high call came from Topeka Capital Markets’ Brian White this last Wednesday.

CafePress Inc. (NASDAQ: PRSS) saw its quiet period end this last week and these are the calls we saw for analyst initiations: Started as Buy at Janney; Started as Outperform at Raymond James; and Started as Overweight at J.P. Morgan. The initiations being positive did not help the shares.

Filed under: Analyst Calls, The Week Tagged: AAPL, ABB, ALSN, AMZN, BBVA, CMG, DWRE, HES, INFY, MCD, PRSS, SNDK, STD, STX, WDC, WMT, ZNGA

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (PM, SNDK, BIDU, AMZN, ALU, ELY, CLWR, DECK, WY, TRP, GT, PG, NWL, MRK, HELE, F, COV, CVX, MDRX, EXPE, WDC)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:05:47 +0000

Markets opened higher this morning following a lower-than-expected GDP growth estimate of 2.2%. That was weaker, but not awful (our coverage here). The consumer sentiment survey rose a couple of ticks in April, but Americans still believe the future will better than the present (our coverage here). The US dollar index fell today, now down -0.25% at 78.725. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.07% at 682.08, with commodities mostly higher on the slightly weaker dollar. WTI crude oil closed up 0.4% at $104.93/barrel, and Brent crude trades down -0.23% at $119.64/barrel. Gold settled up 0.3% today, at $1,664.80/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up nearly 24 points to 13,228.24 (0.18%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 19 points (0.61%) to 3,069.20, and the S&P 500 rose 0.24% or more than 3 points to 1,403.37.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) reiterated as ‘buy’ and target price raised to $94 at Argus; SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) raised to ‘buy’ at Jefferies; Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) maintained as ‘neutral’ but target price cut at Credit Suisse; Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) raised to ‘buy’ at BofA/ML, Nomura, and Goldman Sachs; and Alcatel-Lucent SA (NYSE: ALU) maintained as ‘underperform’ and estimates cut at Jefferies.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Amazon.com is up 15.6% at $226.64; Callaway Golf Co. (NYSE: ELY) is down -14.9% at $5.94 (our coverage here); Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWR) is down -2.7% at $1.43; Deckers Outdoor Corp. (NASDAQ: DECK) is down -25.5% at $51.78 after posting a new 52-week low of $51.03 (our coverage here); Weyerhaeuser Corp. (NYSE: WY) is down -0.3% at $20.81 (more coverage here); TransCanada Corp. (NYSE: TRP) is up 0.5% at $44.01; The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: GT) is down -5.1% at $11.32; Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) is down -4% at $64.18 (our coverage here); Newell Rubbermaid Inc. (NYSE: NWL) is up 3.6% at $18.61; Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) is down -0.2% at $38.38; Helen of Troy Ltd. (NASDAQ: HELE) is up 4.4% at $35.33; Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is down -2.1% at $11.62 (our coverage here); and Covidien plc (NYSE: COV) is up 0.5% at $55.32.

Be sure to look at our list of next week’s big earnings.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) is up 0.2% at $106.44. The supermajor oil company reported earnings in line, but production was down. More coverage here.

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: MDRX) is down -36% at $10.25 after posting a new 52-week low of $9.00. The healthcare services provider fired its chairman, and the list of woes goes on. More coverage here.

Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) is up 24.4% at $40.59. The Internet travel company posted better-than-expected quarterly results. More coverage here.

Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) is down -14.2% at $37.83. The disk drive maker had solid earnings, but worries abound about next quarter. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Monday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – Personal income and spending
9:45 a.m. – Chicago PMI
10:30 a.m. – Dallas Fed manufacturing survey
11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6-month bill auctions
3:00 p.m. – Farm Prices

Have a great weekend!

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: ALU, AMZN, BIDU, CLWR, COV, CVX, DECK, ELY, EXPE, F, GT, HELE, MDRX, MRK, NWL, PG, PM, SNDK, TRP, WDC, WY

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AET, AEM, APD, ALU, MDRX, AMZN, AMCC, BIDU, CBG, CTCT, DECK, EBAY, LOGI, PCS, PM, REGN, SNDK, STX, WDC, ZNGA)

Administrator — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:17:32 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls this Friday.

Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) Reiterated Buy with a target price of $55 at Argus.

Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE: AEM) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Air Products & Chemicals Inc. (NYSE: APD) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.

Alcatel-Lucent SA (NYSE: ALU) Maintained Underperform and cut estimates at Jefferies.

Allscripts Healthcare (NASDAQ: MDRX) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse; Cut to Equal-weight at Barclays.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML; Raised to Buy at Nomura; Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs; Maintained Hold but raised target to $230 at Canaccord Genuity.

Applied Micro Circuits Corp. (NASDAQ: AMCC) Cut to Hold at Wunderlich.

Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) Maintained Neutral but target cut at Credit Suisse.

CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE: CBG) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Constant Contact (NASDAQ: CTCT) Cut to Neutral at Janney; Cut to Market Perform William Blair.

Deckers Outdoor Corp. (NASDAQ: DECK) Cut to Hold at Jefferies; Cut to Hold at Canaccord Genuity.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $48 from $40 at Argus.

Logitech International (NASDAQ: LOGI) Raised to Outperform at BNP Paribas.

MetroPCS (NYSE: PCS) Cut to Hold at Argus; Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank; Cut to Hold at Canaccord Genuity.

Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $94 from $88 at Argus.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) Cut to Market Perform at BMO.

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.

Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.

Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.

Zynga, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) Raised to Neutral at BofA/ML; Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan; Maintained Hold but cut target to $13 from $15 at Canaccord Genuity.

AAR Corporation (NYSE: AIR) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AEM, AET, ALU, AMCC, AMZN, APD, BIDU, CBG, CTCT, DECK, EBAY, LOGI, MDRX, PCS, PM, REGN, SNDK, STX, WDC, ZNGA

Apple-Fever Spreads To Its Component Makers (AAPL, AMD, BRCM, MRVL, MU, LSI, QCOM, SNDK, SWKS, TQNT)

Administrator — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:31:48 +0000

By now everyone in the world knows that Apple blew the door off the hinges on its latest quarterly earnings report. The consumer electronics giant overcame iPad shortages with very strong iPhone sales led by overseas markets. The Apple-fever this morning is spreading to Apple’s component suppliers and we are taking a look at some of the key suppliers for Apple.

Apple shares are up over $56.00 at $616.74 on last look and we have already seen more than 1 million shares trade in the pre-market with well over an hour until the open. Here are some of the moves in the Apple component players:

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) is up over 1% at $7.40 on thin volume. Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) is up 4.6% at $34.42.

LSI Corporation (NYSE: LSI) is indicated up around $8.10 to $8.20 (+1% to +2%) after an $8.03 close.

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) is down 2.2% at $15.31.

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) is up 1.5% at $6.61.

NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ: NXPI) is indicated up about 1% after getting a CNBC tout as a growing Apple supplier for the next generation chips.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) is up 2.5% at $63.41.

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) has warned twice in recent weeks but it is getting some love as well with a gain of 1.7% at $37.10.

Skyworks Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS) is up 7% at $25.60.

TriQuint Semiconductor Inc. (NASDAQ: TQNT) is up 10% at $5.67.

When one stock goes up, everyone looks at the other plays out there that benefit too. When Apple is so big, it leaves a lot of room for growth.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Consumer Electronics, Semiconductor, Technology Companies Tagged: AAPL, AMD, BRCM, LSI, MRVL, MU, QCOM, SNDK, SWKS, TQNT

Odd Options Volume Moves SanDisk (SNDK)

Administrator — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:13:24 +0000

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) had already warned of poor results ahead of earnings, but it offered continued guidance which was not good enough for even the most optimistic of investors. SanDisk shares are up today, on what is a broadly down-day in the market after the warnings created a drop from about $50 to $44.50 and then from about $40.50 down to just under $36.00. Today’s move may be tied to a very unusual options trade.

The call options were active in May if you look at the open interest but it is a trade out in the JULY-2012 $40 CALLS that really starts the interest here. There have been more than 13,000 CALLS traded in the July expiration and the prior open interest was a mere 980 contracts. This is representative of 1.3 million shares on a fully leveraged basis.

We would note that more than 5,500 contracts have traded at the same $40-strike price in the July PUTS but there was an open interest of 11,597 before taking today’s volume into consideration.

Another odd trading alert took place with more than 5,500 of the OCTOBER-2012 $31.00 PUTS trading hands today. The prior open interest there was only 580 contracts in those PUT options.

SanDisk shares are up 2% at $36.64 and the 52-week trading range is $32.24 to $53.46.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Options, Semiconductor, Trading Alert Tagged: SNDK

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (BAC, CHK, SAM, ERJ, PAA, GE, MCD, KMB, ALK, ALTR, COF, HBI, SNDK, KEY, AEP, CP, CTIC, RCL, PCX, RVBD, RMBS)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 20:05:19 +0000

Markets opened higher this morning although a decline in tech stocks weighed on the Nasdaq, leaving the index with only a small gain going into the last hour of trading. Energy stocks boosted the Dow and the S&P. Asian and European markets were higher today, except in Japan, where tech stocks held the market down. The IMF’s attempts to build its Eurozone firewall fund to around $400 million are meeting with mixed success, with the failure of the BRIC countries to jump on board (our coverage here). The US dollar index fell today, now down -0.46% at 79.193. The GSCI commodity index is up fractionally at 672.63, with most commodities gaining on the falling dollar. WTI crude oil closed up 0.8% at $103.05/barrel, and Brent crude trades up 0.54% at $118.64/barrel. Gold settled up 0.01% today, at $1,642.80/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 65 points to 13,029.19 (0.5%), the NASDAQ fell more than 7 points (-0.24%) to 3.000.45, and the S&P 500 rose 0.12% or nearly 2 points to 1,378.53.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) cut to ‘sell’ at Credit Agricole; Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) cut to ‘market perform’ at Wells Fargo; Boston Beer Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM) started as ‘neutral’ at UBS; Embraer SA (NYSE: ERJ) cut to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs; and Plains All American Pipeline L.P. (NYSE: PAA) started as ‘overweight’ at Barclays.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is up 1.4% at $19.41 (more coverage here); McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) is up 0.7% at $95.90 (more coverage here); Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) is up 1.6% at $76.50 after posting a new 52-week intraday high of $77.09 (more coverage here); Alaska Air Group Inc. (NYSE: ALK) is down -0.4% at $34.55; Altera Corp. (NASDAQ: ALTR) is down -8.1% at $35.38; Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) is up 0.05% at $53.96; Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE: HBI) is up 11.7% at $30.09 (more coverage here); Sandisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) is down -12.2% at $35.55 (more coverage here); KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) is down -0.06% at $7.87; American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP) is up 1.1% at $38.29; Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (NYSE: CP) is up 0.8% at $77.08 (more coverage here); Cell Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: CTIC) is flat at $1.16; and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) is down -7.8% at $26.61.

We have a preview of next week’s big earnings reports here.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE: PCX) is down -8% at $6.19. The coal miner announced another mine closure today, along with a lowered production estimate. Patriot is scheduled to report earnings after markets close today.

Riverbed Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) is down -28.6% at $19.89. The network equipment maker missed earnings expectations. More coverage here.

Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS) is down -12% at $4.92. The dhip maker missed EPS estimates today and offered a lower-than-expected forecast.

Stay tuned for Monday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6- month bill auction

Have a great weekend.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Earnings, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AEP, ALK, ALTR, BAC, CHK, COF, CP, CTIC, ERJ, GE, HBI, KEY, KMB, MCD, PAA, PCX, RCL, RMBS, RVBD, SAM, SNDK

Sandisk Weakness Hits Other Chip, Flash Makers (SNDK, MU, BRCM, NVDA, QCOM, AAPL)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 16:03:50 +0000

Sandisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) had already guided its quarterly earnings down, but last night’s report also lowered the company’s forecast by about $250 million (our coverage here). That is likely the cause of the drooping prices for Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU), Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM), and Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA). Only Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) is managing to avoid a hit today.

Micron’s shares are down about -4.2% at $6.71 in a 52-week range of $3.97-$11.83. Micron’s NAND Flash memory business was expected to get a boost from the release of Ultrabook laptop computers from a number of makers later this year. Sandisk, too, was expecting some help from the Ultrabook releases, but the company’s guidance put a halt to that.

Broadcom and Nvidia are also feeling the effects of Sandisk’s earnings report, but not to the same degree as Micron. Broadcom’s shares are down 1.4% at $35.23 in a 52-week range of $27.59-$41.00, and Nvidia’s shares are off -0.4% at $13.60 in a 52-week range of $11.47-$20.52.

Only Qualcomm is dodging Sandisk’s bullet, up nearly 1% at $63.16 in a 52-week range of $45.98-$68.87. The company is simply better positioned in the mobile device market than any of the others, primarily because of its role as a supplier to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL).

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Consumer Electronics, Industry, Semiconductors, Technology, Wireless Tagged: AAPL, BRCM, MU, NVDA, QCOM, SNDK

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ALTR, BAC, SAM, CHK, CRUS, ERJ, EZPW, GTE, XXIA, LL, MYGN, NXY, OKE, PAA, RVBD, SNDK, SYNM)

Administrator — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:31:02 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls this Friday.

Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) Cut to Sell from Underperform at Credit Agricole.

Boston Beer Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM) Started as Neutral at UBS.

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo; called “a stock to avoid on more ‘off balance sheet’ debt and ‘Founders Well’ issues” by Argus.

Cirrus Logic Inc. (NASDAQ: CRUS) Started as Buy at Stern Agee.

Embraer SA (NYSE: ERJ) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

EZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ: EZPW) Cut to Underperform at Stern Agee.

Gran Tierra Energy, Inc. (AMEX: GTE) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Ixia (NASDAQ: XXIA) Raised to Buy at Wunderlich.

Lumber Liquidators Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: LL) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Myriad Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN) Raised to Outperform at Cowen.

Nexen Inc. (NYSE: NXY) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

ONEOK Inc. (NYSE: OKE) Raised to Buy at UBS.

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE: PAA) Started as Overweight at Barclays.

Riverbed Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan; Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer; downgrades and price target and estimates have been cut at multiple boutique firms.

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank; downgraded or estimate and price targets cut at several other boutique firms.

Syntroleum Corporation (NASDAQ: SYNM) Started as Market Outperform with $1.80 price target at JMP Securities.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ALTR, BAC, CHK, CRUS, ERJ, EZPW, GTE, LL, MYGN, NXY, OKE, PAA, RVBD, SAM, SNDK, SYNM, XXIA