Oppenheimer analysts just released an in-depth look at the first-quarter earnings for the communication, wireless and cloud stocks. Results were solid for the high-end wireless sector and okay for consumer wireline. Twelve of the companies Oppenheimer covers met or exceeded estimates, and five reported an earnings miss, with the more enterprise-focused companies guiding to weaker results. The analysts continue to believe that wireless data and cloud services are in the early stages of growth and that this, combined with online gaming, mobile video and social networking, will drive strong interest for many of the stocks in their coverage universe.

Here are the Oppenheimer stocks to buy, including a top three list.

Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) is one of three top stocks to buy. Akamai has followed a steady pattern of reporting two consecutive strong quarters followed by one weaker quarter. Assuming this trend continues, the second quarter this year will be another strong quarter for the company. The Thomson/First Call price target for the stock is $47.

American Tower Corp. (NYSE: AMT) is also in the top three. The Oppenheimer analysts think that American Tower is the favorite to acquire AT&T Inc.’s (NYSE: T) remaining tower portfolio, which would increase the company’s tower count by 50%. The consensus price objective for this top name is $91.50.

Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) rounds out the top three stocks to buy at Oppenheimer. Cable trends look solid for the remainder of the year, as the company was able to pass through a series of rate adjustments with only minor pushback. New acquisition NBCUniversal, had a much better first quarter than expected. The consensus target for the stock is $48. Investors are paid a 1.80% dividend.

Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE: CCI) is another tower name to make the Oppenheimer stocks to buy list. Over the past four quarters, year-over-year sales growth has been 17%, 21%, 30% and 34%, respectively. As the weather warms up, it is likely the company will have additional equipment installations and repair work as network capital spending heats up. The consensus price objective for the stock is $86.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is one of two carriers to buy. The company expects much better results in its wireless business in the second quarter after a weak start to the year. The consensus for this blue chip name is $38. Investors are paid an outstanding 4.90% dividend.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) also grabs a spot on the stocks to buy list. Verizon Wireless will pay out a total $7 billion distribution in June to Verizon and Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ: VOD) commensurate with their respective 55% and 45% stakes in the company. That puts Verizon’s share at $3.85 billion, and Vodafone will get $3.15 billion. The consensus price target for Verizon Communications is $54. Shareholders receive a 3.90% dividend.

RigNet Inc. (NASDAQ: RNET) is a small cap name that offers an interesting twist. The company provides network infrastructure services for the remote communications needs of the oil and gas industry. The consensus price objective for the stock is $27.50.

Interxion Holdings N.V. (NYSE: INXN) could be a play on growth in Europe. The company provides carrier-neutral colocation data center services in Europe. The consensus for the stock is at $21.41, way below the current trading level.

magicJack Vocal Tec Ltd. (NASDAQ: CALL) wraps up the list of stocks to buy at Oppenheimer. With television commercials that run constantly, the company provides consumers inexpensive voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) phone service. The consensus estimate for the stock is at $26. A move to the target would represent an almost 40% gain.

Even with the impressive stock market rally, investors can feel comfortable at least scale buying some of these top names. With an ever increasing consumer base around the world, growth prospects for these stocks seem very achievable.

On Monday night came news that Verizon Wireless would pay out $7 billion in a dividend to co-owners Verizon and Vodafone. Verizon Communications owns 55% of Verizon Wireless, so it will receive $3.85 billion. Vodafone owns 45%, and it is set to receive $3.15 billion. Both payments will be made toward the end of June.

There are two takes here. One is that the move is by Verizon Communications to force a position for a buyout of Verizon Wireless. The other is that the move is meant to appease Vodafone and to keep from having to cough up tens of billions of dollars that would require a huge debt or equity offering to finance the deal.

Our view is that the dividend is move intended to kick the can down the road on any major M&A transaction. Verizon already greatly underyields rival AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) on its dividend, at 3.9% versus 4.8%. This move may allow Verizon to catch its dividend back up and perhaps deal with the Vodafone stake in Verizon Wireless in pieces, or at least further out on the calendar.

The largest wireless carriers continue to be locked in a war over a market saturated by subscribers. Few athletes or celebrities have the drawing power and command the TV time that Woods does. AT&T was right to sponsor him. Verizon Wireless would be wise to pick up Woods for the same reasons AT&T was. As 4G and new smartphones from Samsung and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) revolutionize the market, Verizon needs more marketing leverage.

Accenture competes with several other global consulting firms for corporate and government customers. It invested millions of dollars in ad campaigns centered around Woods. Accenture’s major competitor — PcW — is already a large PGA tour sponsor. As a matter of fact, it was the title sponsor of the Players Championship, which Woods just won. Its commitment to the sport is already in place. Woods is the logical face of PcW as its extends it participation in the sport.

Coca-Cola Co.’s (NYSE: KO) Powerade is Gatorade’s primary competitor. All of its endorsement deals are with major athletes, including LeBron James and Derrick Rose. Given the prices these athletes command for their associations with Powerade, the drink already invests tens of millions of dollars in endorsements. Woods would be an ideal athlete to round out its stable, based on the fact that he dominates his sport the way that James does.

General Motors Co.’s (NYSE: GM) Buick division dropped Woods before the scandal. Its fortunes crumbled ahead of it entering Chapter 11. Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and Chrysler compete with Buick. Either one of them could turn to Woods to build its brand. Chrysler in particular relies on the U.S. market, because it has little presence overseas.

Woods had what was once estimated to be several hundred million dollars in sponsors. He has won seven of his most recent 21 PGA starts, and four so far this year. During most tournaments, he is on television for several hours — just the kind of exposure major sponsors crave.

Carl Icahn and Southeastern will offer an alternative to the Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) buyout. (WSJ)

ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT) earnings are hit by lower steel shipments. (WSJ)

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) may release a 3D smartphone. (WSJ)

The National Association of Realtors reports that home prices rose by the largest amount in seven years in the first quarter. (WSJ)

Poor weather hurts April retail sales. (WSJ)

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) starts a new prepaid wireless program. (WSJ)

Chrysler faces production problems in China as it tries to increase Jeep sales. (WSJ)

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) develops a home set-top box. (WSJ)

China auto sales rise 13% in April. (WSJ)

Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube launches several paid channels. (WSJ)

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) moves away from the California energy market as officials pressure trading practices. (WSJ)

The FCC may encourage airlines to offer faster broadband. (NYT)

Fannie Mae will pay $59 billion to the Treasury as it reimburses part of the support it got during the financial crisis. (FT)

Nissan’s profit improvement is the least among major Japanese car companies. (Bloomberg)

Ergen said, “We’re not going to lose because we’ve got a better offer on the table.” Dish’s offer for Sprint is $7.10 in cash per share, along with a 32% ownership stake for Sprint shareholders in the combined company, tops Softbank’s cash offer of $6.38 a share and a 30% stake in Sprint.

Softbank has said that it will not improve its offer, but that was then. Ergen appears to expect a sweetened offer for Sprint from Softbank, and indicated yesterday that Dish would have to seek a private equity partner if Softbank put in a bid of $7.50 or $8.00 a share.

Ergen also made it very clear about what is important to Dish: the spectrum owned by Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWR), a company controlled by Sprint and for which the wireless carrier already has offered to buy the rest of the company. Dish has tried before to acquire spectrum from Clearwire, only to be rebuffed. Now the gloves are off.

Ergen’s strategy — if he can acquire Sprint/Clearwire — is to leverage Dish’s satellite network with a terrestrial wireless network that would allow subscribers to get mobile wireless service as part of a single package. Verizon Wireless — still a joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ: VOD) — and AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) both seek the same thing, but neither has the content licenses that Dish already has in place with the media companies.

That is a huge part of Ergen’s play here. Dish would be transformed virtually overnight into the only U.S. provider of a single, all-inclusive wireless-pay TV package that would allow customers seamless access to media content both inside and outside their homes.

Suddenly, Dish is a threat to what is essentially a duopoly at the top of the wireless industry in the United States. The FCC would be hard-pressed to deny a merger that promises to increase competition for consumers.

It is still early days, but the fight for Sprint/Clearwire has all the earmarks of being a good one for Sprint shareholders. Shares are trading now at $7.12, slightly above Dish’s cash offer of $7.10. If Softbank makes a higher bid, shares will shoot up on the expectation that Dish will top the offer.

Ergen has as much as said that Dish Network’s future depends on its acquisition of Sprint/Clearwire. Certainly Dish’s growth prospects are dim without a transformative deal like this, and there are no other deals out there like this one. For Dish, it is grow or die.

U.S. Cellular disclosed that it will start selling Apple products along with its corporate earnings report on Friday. In fact, this was the first tag line in its press release summary. As you will see, U.S. Cellular actually needs the iPhone to boost its business.

The company has declining sales and declining income. Revenues fell to $996.3 million from $1.02 billion a year ago. Earnings fell to $4.9 million from $62.5 million. That translates to a per-share drop to only $0.06 EPS from $0.73 a year ago.

U.S. Cellular is even small compared to Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S), although it is involved in selling its Chicago, St. Louis, central Illinois and three other markets to Sprint Nextel for $480 million. At the time that deal was disclosed in late 2012, it covered its PCS Spectrum and almost 600,000 customers.

It only makes sense that the iPhone is coming to U.S. Cellular. The company said that it is bringing 4G LTE to 87% of its customers in 2013 and also is increasing its network capacity. 4G LTE smartphones were 76% of smartphones sold in the quarter in its core markets, while smartphones overall were 62% of devices sold.

The company said:

We have a number of strategies in progress to increase loyalty and attract more customers, including our announcement today that we will begin offering Apple products later this year. By further strengthening our device portfolio, we’ll give consumers another great reason to switch to U.S. Cellular, and enable our existing customers to choose from an even wider variety of iconic smartphones, and enjoy the outstanding U.S. Cellular customer experiences they deserve. Our smartphone penetration is currently 43 percent of core market customers and growing quickly. We believe there will be strong, ongoing demand for smartphones and data products and services from our customers, and we have significant room for growth in this area.

Our only question is how much it cost U.S. Cellular to bring the iPhone. Apparently, a lot. Shares are down 2% to $37.70, against a 52-week range of $33.16 to $41.54. U.S. Cellular’s market cap is $3.15 billion, but it is one of the few established telecom players that pays no dividend.

We would point out that the company also has a partnership with Verizon Wireless covering parts of the New York market. One thing to note is that this company has been a takeover candidate in the past. Nothing ever came of those rumors.

With keynote speakers ranging from Ajay Banga, the CEO of MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) to Bill Smith, president of AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) Network Operations, every aspect of technology, media and telecom will be open for discussion.

Jeffries has asked all of its TMT analysts to present one controversial stock or theme ahead of the conference. It requested stocks or themes where the analysts felt that information or data presented at the conference may have an impact. It makes sense to keep an eye on the stocks mentioned during next week’s conference, as any catalyst may move the stocks one way or another.

We present the stocks from the Jefferies analysts by sector.

Semiconductors: Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) will be the featured stock. It is always volatile, as DRAM chip pricing tends to fluctuate, and Jefferies sees capacity restraint translating into long-term pricing stability. The Jefferies price target for this stock to buy is $15. The Thomson/First Call consensus estimate is $12.

Computer Services and IT Consulting: Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (NASDAQ: CTSH) is one of the focus stocks in this category. Cognizant provides information technology (IT), consulting and business process outsourcing services worldwide. The issue to be discussed will be an immigration bill proposed in the Senate that could affect work visas for offshore hiring. The Jefferies price target for this stock to buy is $80. The consensus target is even higher at $86.

Workday Inc. (NYSE: WDAY) had a recent and highly successful initial public offering, and it is on the radar at Jefferies. The interest at the conference will be in the corporate switch from old line HR companies like Automatic Data Processing Inc. (NASDAQ: ADP) handling HR/payroll outsourcing to new cloud-based competitors like Workday. Jefferies has an Underperform rating on ADP and a $55 price target. The consensus is $63. Workday is a stock to buy, with a $76 price target. The consensus is much lower at $60. This could be an interesting pair trade.

Technology Software: Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) is another stock that will be looked at closely. The market fears that Red Hat’s strong growth rate may be slowing. Look for management to outline the strength of current bookings and discuss how Linux workloads are outperforming Windows workloads. The Jefferies price target for the stock is $65. The consensus target is lower at $59.

Technology Communication Equipment: Investors are concerned about the current pace of carrier capital spending, particularly in North America. Jefferies expects a relatively positive backdrop for communication infrastructure as carriers globally (particularly in North America, China and Germany) increase their spending on routing, optical and wireless infrastructure. Expected to benefit are JDS Uniphase Corp. (NASDAQ: JDSU), Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) and Infinera Corp. (NASDAQ: INFN). All three are stocks to buy at Jefferies, but we did not have price targets.

Other Wall Street firms have been known to stake out observers at competitors’ conferences to gain access to information. You can be sure also that there will be lots of media coverage via CNBC and financial websites. Stocks in the past have shown movement either up and down over conference commentary, so investors may want to keep an eye on these stocks and see if they react.

The top dividend stocks we are tracking in the short interest are Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO), American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP), Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY), AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK), General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE), Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB), Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: KMP), Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK), Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG), Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI) and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ).

As we have said before, it takes much more conviction to short sell a stock that has a very high dividend. On top of having to pay a broker loan-call rate to borrow the stock, the dividend payouts have to be paid and the ex-dividend dates play into the equation as well.

Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) ticked way back up and gave back all the losses in the short interest from the prior report. This was 26.08 million shares as of April 15, up from 23.829 million in the prior report and up from 24.55 million shares short the month before that. This was the highest reading since the end of December. Altria’s dividend yield is now 4.95%.

American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP) saw short sellers back off into the stock’s strength. This fell to 3.86 million shares in the April 15 short interest. March 28 short interest was down to 4.37 million share,s versus 5.18 million as of mid-March. AEP yields 3.7% as shares have risen and risen.

Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY) saw a real drop as short sellers wanted to avoid paying that dividend. The April 15 short interest fell to 26.04 million shares, versus 29.85 million shares in the previous period and from 29.37 million shares before that. What is interesting is that the days to cover rose to 3.61 from 2.62 in the prior report. Annaly has a current yield of about 11.49%, based on its last payout.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) saw a slight downtick to 78.29 million shares short as of April 15, versus March 28′s count of 81.68 million shares short. AT&T’s dividend is 4.86% after the earnings drop.

Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) saw a significant decline to 6.85 million shares in the short interest from 7.8 million in the prior report. This was the lowest reading since October, and even the days to cover fell to 2.43 from 3.48. Duke has a dividend yield of about 4.1%, as shares are higher from the last report.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) has seen some serious profit taking and new bets come against after earnings, but that was after the short interest date cutoff. The short interest actually did rise ahead of earnings to 82.69 million shares, versus 78.92 million shares in the prior report. The days to cover ticked up a bit to 2.43. GE still outyields the other conglomerates, with a 3.46% yield now that shares have taken such a hit.

Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) saw a serious increase in the bets against its massive rise. The stock has hit new high after new high, up until recent days, but the short interest jumped back up to 8.05 million shares from 6.7 million at the end of March. This consumer products giant keeps seeing the shares rise, and the yield is 3.13% now.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: KMP) saw its third gain in the short interest as of April 15 to 3.728 million shares (units). The March 28 short interest was 3.357 million shares, versus 2.723 million shares short in mid-March. This is the highest short interest back to last November. Its dividend is actually a distribution and now is the equivalent of about 5.61%.

Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) saw a massive increase in the short interest that is larger than almost all others. This short interest in mid-April went up a whopping 33% to 28.5 million shares. The March 28 short interest was 21.33 million shares, versus 26.18 million shares short in mid-March. Note that this was the highest short interest reading since last August. Merck’s dividend yield is about 3.59% now that shares have appreciated.

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) saw a decent gain in the short interest, meaning that short sellers cleaned up on this week’s price drop. The April 15 short interest was 23.6 million shares, versus 21.329 million shares at the end of March and 24.744 million shares short in mid-March. P&G’s dividend is back up to 3.12%, now that shares sold off after earnings.

Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI) saw a large gain in the short interest to 10.75 million shares, versus 9.676 million shares at the end of March and a prior near-term high of 10.38 million shares in mid-March. Reynolds has a yield of about 5.13% as shares have remained resilient.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) short sellers must have known it was time to step aside into the stock strength. The April 15 short interest fell to 51.423 million shares, versus 57.637 million shares at the end of March and 60.962 million shares short in mid-March. Verizon yields only 3.98% since its shares have hit higher and higher multiyear highs.

There have been rumors for years that a deal would be consummated. Verizon takes on a very large risk if it finally does make the purchase. The wireless service subscription business in the United State has become a zero-sum game, at least as far as absolute subscriber counts go. More than 300 million people have wireless service accounts, and that is at or above the level of the U.S. population.

The big four wireless companies — AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) and T-Mobile, which will soon merge with MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS) — continue to try to take market share from one another. Sprint is likely to step up its pursuit of customers because of a new investment from likely owner Softbank. Each of these companies has increased its fees for data used by customers, but competition has put price pressure on these initiatives.

Reuters said of Verizon’s bid for Vodafone’s stake:

The sources said Verizon was now ready to push aggressively for a deal. It hopes to start discussions with Vodafone soon for a friendly agreement but is prepared to take a bid public if the British company does not engage, one of the sources added.

“I don’t really see this as a surprise,” one of Vodafone’s 15 largest investors told Reuters, on condition of anonymity. “The talk about this deal has been quite intense recently. We knew that Verizon were definitely a keen buyer and that Vodafone were a keen seller.”

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) apparently wants to buy out the 45% of Verizon Wireless it does not own. The other portion is owned by Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ: VOD), which will be offered $100 billion. There have been rumors for years that a deal would be consummated. Verizon takes on a very large risk if it finally does make the purchase. The wireless service subscription business in the United State has become a zero-sum game, at least as far as absolute subscriber counts go. More than 300 million people have wireless service accounts, and that is at or above the level of the U.S. population. The big four wireless companies — AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) and T-Mobile, which will soon merge with MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS) — continue to try to take market share from one another. Sprint is likely to step up its pursuit of customers because of a new investment from likely owner Softbank. Each of these companies has increased its fees for data used by customers, but competition has put price pressure on these initiatives. Reuters said of Verizon’s bid for Vodafone’s stake:

The sources said Verizon was now ready to push aggressively for a deal. It hopes to start discussions with Vodafone soon for a friendly agreement but is prepared to take a bid public if the British company does not engage, one of the sources added.

“I don’t really see this as a surprise,” one of Vodafone’s 15 largest investors told Reuters, on condition of anonymity. “The talk about this deal has been quite intense recently. We knew that Verizon were definitely a keen buyer and that Vodafone were a keen seller.”

U.K. GDP Growth

The threat of a triple-dip recession in the United Kingdom has gone away, although gross domestic product (GDP) growth is so small that the discussion is a matter of semantics. The Office of National Statistics reported on preliminary U.K. GDP:

• GDP increased by 0.3% in Q1 2013 compared with Q4 2012. GDP was 0.4% higher in Q1 2013 than in Q3 2011 and therefore has been broadly flat over the last 18 months.
• By far the largest contribution to Q1 2013 GDP growth came from services; these industries increased by 0.6% contributing 0.47 percentage points (pp) to the 0.3% increase in GDP.
• There was also a small upward contribution (0.03pp) from production; these industries rose by 0.2%, largely due to mining & quarrying, which increased by 3.2% following a weak Q4 2012 when extended maintenance in the North Sea reduced output.
• These upward contributions were partially offset by construction; these industries fell by 2.5%, reducing GDP growth by 0.17pp.

The news will not stop the debate over whether the government’s ongoing push for austerity has ruined any chance for growth of GDP. As is true throughout the European Union, United States and Japan, the proponents of stimulus argue that without aide, none of these troubled economies will enter a phase of strong recovery.

Global Tablet Shipments

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) still holds the top spot among tablet makers. But Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) has started to get a foothold in the business. The latest data on global tablet shipments:

According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global tablet shipments reached 40.6 million units in the first quarter of 2013. Android secured a robust 43 percent global share, while Apple iOS maintained its strong leadership at 48 percent. Windows secured a 7.5 percent global share.

Peter King, Director of Tablets at Strategy Analytics, said, “Global branded tablet shipments reached an all-time high of 40.6 million units in Q1 2013, surging 117 percent from 18.7 million in Q1 2012. Demand for tablets among consumer, business and education users remains strong. Apple produced a solid performance this quarter as the Mini had its first full term and shipped a robust 19.5 million mixed iPads worldwide maintaining market leadership with 48 percent share during the first quarter of 2013. Android captured a record 43 percent share of global branded tablet shipments in Q1 2013, rising from 34 percent a year earlier. Global Android tablet shipments increase 177 per cent annually to 17.6 million units.”