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.

Alcatel-Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU) maintained Underperform at BofA/ML and maintained Hold at Argus, but the latter may discontinue coverage if the stock dips under $1.

ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) reiterated Buy and raised price target to $41.50 at BofA/ML.

BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT) raised to Buy at BofA/ML.

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP) added to US 1 List at BofA/ML.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) maintained Hold but cautious and warns of reinstating Sell rating at Argus.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) added to US 1 List at BofA/ML.

Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) raised to Neutral at Citi.

Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) started as Buy at Needham.

Diageo PLC (NYSE: DEO) maintained Buy and target raised 6% at BofA/ML.

Energy Transfer Partners L.P. (NYSE: ETP) raised to Buy at BofA/ML.

Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.

Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) cut to Market Perform at William Blair.

Highwoods Properties Inc. (NYSE: HIW) raised to Buy at BofA/ML.

JCPenney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) cut to Hold at Jefferies.

Nelnet Inc. (NYSE: NNI) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.

Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: RYAAY) cut to Neutral at Citi.

Sequenom Inc. (NASDAQ: SQNM) raised to Buy at Jefferies.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) reiterated Buy and raised target to $4 at BofA/ML.

SL Green Realty Corp. (NYSE: SLG) raised to Buy at BofA/ML.

TripAdvisor Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

US Cellular Corp. (NYSE: USM) raised to Buy at Citi.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX) cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Voronado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO) cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.

The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) raised to Buy at Citi.

JON C. OGG

The sale is subject to regulatory approval and Sprint said it expects the deal to close in mid-2013.

Sprint’s CEO said:

This transaction will enable us to strengthen our business and become a more robust competitor. Acquiring this spectrum will significantly increase Sprint’s network capacity and improve the customer experience in several important Midwest markets including Chicago and St. Louis. We welcome the new customers in these markets and look forward to providing them with Sprint’s unique combination of unlimited plans, an iconic device portfolio and unmatched customer service.

Sprint will use the additional spectrum to add to its coverage “as it continues to deploy its Network Vision upgrade and roll out 4G LTE nationally.”

This is Sprint’s first transaction since the company agreed to a sale of a majority interest in the company to Japan’s SoftBank. The cash must be burning a hole in Dan Hesse’s pockets.

Sprint’s shares are down about 1% in premarket trading this morning, at $5.67 in a 52-week range of $2.10 to $6.04.

Paul Ausick

The U.S. dollar index fell today, now down 0.22% at 80.573. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.6% at 629.85, with commodities prices mostly higher today. WTI crude oil closed up 3.6% today, at $88.71 a barrel. Brent crude trades up 2.8% at $110.72 a barrel. Natural gas is up 1.6% today at about $3.61 per thousand cubic feet. Gold closed at $1,715.00 an ounce, up 1.9% for the day.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 133 points to 13,245.52 (1.01%), the NASDAQ rose more than 12 points (0.41%) to 3,011.93, and the S&P 500 rose 0.78% or about 11 points to 1,428.36.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS) raised to ‘equal weight’ at Barclays; Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) raised to ‘buy’ with no change to target price of $320 at BofA/ML; Beam Inc. (NYSE: BEAM) reiterated as ‘buy’ with target price of $74 at Argus; Stein Mart Inc. (NASDAQ: SMRT) started as ‘outperform’ with a target price of $10 at Credit Suisse; and United States Cellular Corp. (NYSE: USM) raised to ‘neutral’ at JPMorgan.

Earnings reports since U.S. markets closed last night have resulted in some price moves today, including these as of the last half hour of trading: CF Industries Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CF) is up 0.3% at $206.16; Express Scripts Holding Co. (NASDAQ: ESRX) is down 12.6% at $54.94; Plains All American Pipeline LP (NYSE: PAA) is up 2.8% at $46.72 after posting a new 52-week high of $46.77 earlier today; Walter Energy Co. (NYSE: WLT) is up 2.5% at $37.45; Zillow Inc. (NASDAQ: Z) is down 18.1% at $28.14 (more coverage here); American Superconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: AMSC) is up 3% at $3.78; AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is up 17.8% at $42.18 after posting a new 52-week high of $42.29 earlier today (more coverage here); Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC) is up 6.7% at $15.43 (more coverage here); CVS Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS) is up 0.6% at $46.92 (more coverage here); Fossil Inc. (NASDAQ: FOSL) is down 10.6% at $83.53; Louisiana Pacific Corp. (NYSE: LPX) is down 1.3% at $15.84; and Vivus Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) is down 19.9% at $11.97.

After markets close today and before they open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear from Goodrich Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: GDP), News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA), Rackspace Hosting Inc. (NYSE: RAX), Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE: TWO), AES Corp. (NYSE: AES), Agrium Inc. (NYSE: AGU), Clean Harbors Inc. (NYSE: CLH), Enbridge Inc. (NYSE: ENB), HollyFrontier Corp. (NYSE: HFC), James River Coal Co. (NASDAQ: JRCC), Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP), Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M), Tenet Healthcare Corp. (NYSE: THC), Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX), and WellPoint Inc. (NYSE: WLP).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI) is down 49.3% at $1.53 after posting a new 52-week low of $1.49 earlier today. The video game maker will delay the introduction of revisions to a number of its top-selling games and has hired an advisor to help it evaluate its options and raise cash.

Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. (NYSE: CDE) is down 21.2% at $23.93. The silver miner reported poor quarterly results. More coverage here.

Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP) is up 17.5% at $2.95. The office supply retailer reported results this morning that were weak, but chatter about a potential merger with OfficeMax Inc. (NYSE: OMX) put a charge into the share price. More coverage here.

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

• 7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
• 1:00 p.m. – 10-year note auction
• 3:00 p.m. – Consumer credit

Paul Ausick

Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY) maintained Neutral but cut target to $17 at Credit Suisse.

Apartment Investment & Management Co. (NYSE: AIV) raised to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Avnet Inc. (NYSE: AVT) cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Beam Inc. (NYSE: BEAM) reiterated Buy with $74 target at Argus.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) raised to Buy but $320 target is same at BofA/ML.

Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS) raised to Equal Weight at Barclays.

Diamondback Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: FANG) started as Outperform with $25 target at Credit Suisse and started as Buy at Stern Agee.

Express Scripts Holding Co. (NASDAQ: ESRX) cut to Hold at Jefferies and reiterated Buy at BofA/ML.

Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) reiterated Buy with $82 target at Argus.

Kite Realty Group Trust (NYSE: KRG) started as Buy with $6 target at BofA/ML.

L.M. Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC) reiterated Buy with $14 target at Argus.

Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: RJET) raised to Neutral at BofA/ML.

Responsys Inc. (NASDAQ: MKTG) cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Ross Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: ROST) started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Stein Mart Inc. (NASDAQ: SMRT) started as Outperform with $10 target at Credit Suisse.

The TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX) started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.

UBS A.G. (NYSE: UBS) raised to Overweight at Barclays.

United States Cellular Corp. (NYSE: USM) raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.

JON C. OGG

Editor’s Note: 24/7 Wall St. has received new information regarding the allegations about Ubiquiti Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: UBNT) from representatives of the company related to a report from a Chinese website claiming a connection between the “Chinese mafia” and the company. The original report used for our article has been removed from the web site and is no longer available. The company has requested a retraction on this matter which we wish to address.

Ubiquiti issued the following release on Thursday morning:

Ubiquiti Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq: UBNT), a next-generation communications technology company reiterated with its customers the discovery of counterfeit products on the market and launched a worldwide campaign to aggressively defend its intellectual property and protect its customers.

The company believes that as a result of the effectiveness of its campaign, it has become subject to malicious and false accusations posted on overseas websites by those infringing on its intellectual property, and these false accusations have subsequently been reposted by unwary media outlets and news aggregators.

“While we do not normally comment on rumors, we take our business reputation very seriously and strive to conduct all of our activities in compliance with the law,” said Jessica Zhou, General Counsel and Vice President of Legal Affairs of the company, “Our worldwide intellectual property protection efforts demonstrate that we take our customers’ interest to heart and that we remain firmly committed to being a technology leader.”

24/7 Wall St. was contacted today by representatives of Ubiquiti Networks who pointed out this situation as false and damaging. We noted in our article that the basis for this nasty situation was a report out of China, which we can now see has been removed from that site. We also concluded in our original article, “Whether or not Ubiquiti has made its competitors an offer that can’t be refused will be proved or disproved at some point.”

This stock was already down over 16% at $29.31 when we published our story.  What is perhaps the most sad issue about this situation is that Ubiquity shares, despite the company defending itself in a press release, did not recover from the sell-off which took shares from $35.00 on Tuesday down to $28.90 on Wednesday and down another $0.12 on Thursday to $28.78. This is one of those unfortunate situations where what is true and what is false when it comes out of China is not exactly clear.

Ubiquiti Networks issued another press release after the close on Thursday noting that its CFO plans to present at the JMP Securities Research Conference on Monday, May 14, 2012.

Forbes has also issued an update to their original story.

-The 24/7 Wall St. Team

Our original article from 2:29 PM EST on May 2, 2012:

In the great scheme of things, wireless communications company Ubiquiti Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: UBNT) is pretty small, with a market cap of around $3 billion before today’s debacle. That puts the company in the same league as MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS) and United States Cellular Corp. (NYSE: USM), although Ubiquiti does not operate as a carrier but as an equipment maker.

A report at a Chinese website claims that Ubiquiti’s CEO is under investigation for allegations of sending “[C]hinese mafia to [competitors’] factories to intimidate and harass and threatening them to stop trying to produce technology that are competition to [Ubiquiti].”

The report continues:

Using mafia to solve commercial dispute, collect due payments is a common patter with Chinese small size companies. However, it is very unusual for a public listed American company to use this kind of method to stop the competition. If these accusations are proven right it could be a very serious problem for this young company and its CEO. … The company has faced legal trademark problems in many countries, as they did not register their trademark in most of the countries worldwide. The lack of respect for international laws and the fact that their sold products to countries under trade sanctions such as Iran brought them many legal problem before.

You can’t make this stuff up.

Oh, and by the way, Ubiquiti reported better-than-expected EPS and revenues yesterday, and forecast the next quarter in-line with expectations. But who cares — we’re talking about the Chinese mafia here.

Whether or not Ubiquiti has made its competitors an offer that can’t be refused will be proved or disproved at some point. But shares are taking a beating today, down more than -16% at $29.31 in a 52-week range of $16.25-$35.99.

Paul Ausick

A Google cache of the original story appears here.

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE: AWK) added to Strong Buy List at Zacks.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) Cut to Hold at S&P Capital IQ (late-Tuesday).
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (NYSE: BIP) reinstated as Outperform with $32 target at Credit Suisse.
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) Cut to Hold at S&P Capital IQ (late-Tuesday).
Corn Products International (NYSE: CPO) named Value Stock of the Day at Zacks.
Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) Started as Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML; Cut to Neutral at Janney.
Encana Corporation (NYSE: ECA) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) Raised to positive at Susquehanna.
Government Properties Income Trust (NYSE: GOV) Cut to Neutral at Janney.
Joy Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: JOYG) Started as Equalweight at Morgan Stanley.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) Cut to Hold at S&P Capital IQ (late-Tuesday).
OpenTable, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPEN) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML; Cut to Market Perform at Morgan Keegan; Raised to Buy at ThinkEquity.
Seaspan Corporation (NYSE: SSW) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Texas Roadhouse Inc. (NASDAQ: TXRH) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
United States Cellular Corporation (NYSE: USM) Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) Reiterated Buy with $35 target at Argus.

We were also given a new updated list of the prized Gabelli Focus Five List showing that all five positions were new positions as special situation stocks that the firm feels are undervalued to the market expectations.  This list outperformed in the last quarter and has significantly outperformed the S&P going back to the 2006 inception.

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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Reiterated Outperform and $500 target at Credit Suisse; Reiterated Buy and raised target to $460 at Argus; Reiterated Buy and $515 target at BofA/ML.
Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML) Reiterated Buy with $17 target at Gleacher.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) Reiterated Hold at Argus.
Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) Cut to Hold at Canaccord Genuity.
Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Reiterated Buy with $24 target at Argus.
Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE: CY) Reiterated Neutral with $23 target at Gleacher.
The Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $78 at BofA/ML.
Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ: FNSR) Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ: JDSU) Started as Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks; Added to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
PolyOne Corporation (NYSE: POL) Reiterated Buy as Value at Zacks.
Riverbed Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) Raised to Outperform at Baird; Reiterated Neutral and cut target to $37 at BofA/ML.
US Cellular (NYSE: USM) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse; Reiterated Buy and raised target to $128 at BofA/ML.
Youku.com Inc (NYSE: YOKU) Started as Neutral at Susquehanna.

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, dividend trends, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

This merger will probably help to lock in a near duopoly between AT&T and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ).  It should be no surprise that some will wonder if this will force an unlocking of the Vodafone PLC (NYSE: VOD) deal with Verizon as well.

We wanted to consider a couple of other possibilities for the wireless sector.  First, this leaves Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) in a no-win position.  Deutsche Telekom was recently rumored to be in some sort of deal with Sprint, but what is more important was that the two weaker wireless players have been rumored to be in a potential deal for longer than you could believe.  Sprint Nextel shares are down 14% at $4.33.

Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) is up almost 13% at $13.70 with a $1.08 billion market cap and MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NYSE: PCS) is up 5.5% at $15.75 with a $5.6 billion market cap.  There was a failed merger between the two pre-paid wireless carriers before.  This leaves them with little choice but to go in and merge now if they want to remain relevant and to remain competitive on costs.

Perhaps the most overlooked and/or easiest to forget about is the thinly traded United States Cellular Corp. (NYSE: USM), more commonly known as US Cellular.  With shares up 5% at $48.60, its market cap is $4.15 billion.  The company has been rumored to be a M&A target in the past but so far nothing has ever happened.

It may seem odd to many that Verizon is up with AT&T.  The logic behind it is simple: fewer competitors will translate to price stability and pricing power to be enjoyed by both.  Verizon shares are up 2.4% at $36.71, more than the AT&T gain of 1.2% to $28.28 so far on Monday.

By now you know the drill with Wall Street’s mantra for greed begets more greed: Big mergers beget more mergers!

JON C. OGG

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) Raised to Buy at Argus.
Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML) Raised to Strong Buy from Buy at Needham.
Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC.
Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
CTC Media (NASDAQ: CTCM) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) Raised to Buy at S&P Equity Research (late Thursday call).
Fair Isaac Corp. (NYSE: FICO) Raised to Hold at S&P Equity Research.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Raised to Buy at Roth Capital.
Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) Raised to Buy at Roth Capital.
MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NYSE: PCS) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer; Credit Suisse issued Short-Term Buy and Raised target to $13 from $11.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) Reiterated Outperform and $36 target at Credit Suisse.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) Raised to Buy at Roth Capital.
Portugal Telecom SGPS SA (NYSE: PT) Cut to Underperform at BNP Paribas.
U.S. Cellular Corp. (NYSE: USM) Cut to Sell at S&P Equity Research/

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG