Jim Cramer Blog

Here are 7 stocks for traders for Tuesday from TradingMarkets.com:
Genentech (NYSE:DNA - News) beat earnings estimates on Monday afternoon, reporting $0.69 EPS over a consensus of $0.67 EPS. DNA's PowerRating (for Traders) is 3.
Charles Schwab (NasdaqGS:SCHW - News) reports earnings on Tuesday before the market opens, with traders looking for $0.26 EPS. SCHW's PowerRating (for Traders) is 6.
Analysts expect Citigroup (NYSE:C - News) to report -$1.00 EPS on Tuesday before the bell. C's PowerRating (for Traders) is 3.
State Street (NYSE:STT - News) announces quarterly results on Tuesday morning; look for $1.31 EPS. STT's PowerRating (for Traders) is 5.
US Bancorp (NYSE:USB - News) is looking to report $0.59 EPS on Tuesday before the market opens. USB's PowerRating (for Traders) is 4.
After the close, watch for Intel (NasdaqGS:INTC - News) to announce $0.40 EPS in quarterly results. INTC's PowerRating (for Traders) is 4.
Linear Tech (NasdaqGS:LLTC - News) should report $0.41 EPS on Tuesday afternoon. LLTC's PowerRating (for Traders) is 5.

Labels: C, DNA, Hot Stocks, INTC, LLTC, SCHW, STT, USB

Symbol
Name
Last Trade
Change
Volume
Related Info
AVNR
AVANIR PHARMACEUTICL
3.75 12:10PM ET
2.48 (195.28%)
30,602,483

MITI
MICROMET INC
3.50 12:10PM ET
0.54 (18.24%)
133,989

PAE
PEACE ARCH ENT GRP B
2.11 12:03PM ET
0.33 (18.54%)
462,000

TRMS
TRIMERIS INC
7.75 12:09PM ET
1.01 (14.99%)
1,701,061

TIS
ORCHIDS PAPER PROD
7.00 11:32AM ET
0.90 (14.75%)
11,300

LLTC
LINEAR TECHNOLOGY
36.15 12:09PM ET
4.03 (12.55%)
11,589,947

ESPD
ESPEED INC CL A
10.75 12:10PM ET
1.10 (11.40%)
1,625,977

AGIX
ATHEROGENICS INC
3.58 12:09PM ET
0.36 (11.18%)
2,638,848

UPI
UROPLASTY INC
3.60 12:01PM ET
0.00 (0.00%)
7,300

HDY
HYPERDYNAMICS CORP
1.7319 12:03PM ET
0.1819 (11.74%)
114,900

FICC
FIELDSTONE INVESTMNT
3.55 12:09PM ET
0.35 (10.94%)
719,481

LUFK
LUFKIN INDS INC
65.00 12:10PM ET
6.06 (10.28%)
431,363
CTTY
CATUITY INC
2.44 11:42AM ET
0.29 (13.49%)
92,846

PED
SMARTPROS LTD
5.31 12:04PM ET
0.44 (9.03%)
31,500

VSGND
VASOGEN INC NEW
4.00 12:09PM ET
0.35 (9.59%)
393,867

BYW-WT
SP LEHMAN JPN YEN LN
4.76 11:55AM ET
0.40 (9.17%)
42,500

RAND
RAND CAPITAL CP
3.76 11:28AM ET
0.36 (10.59%)
7,167
INSW
INSWEB CORP
7.72 12:09PM ET
0.49 (6.83%)
1,842,706

OSG
OVERSEAS SHIPHDLG
65.60 12:04PM ET
4.11 (6.68%)
1,371,969

BLUE
BLUE HOLDINGS INC
1.74 12:09PM ET
0.13 (8.07%)
135,770

CBAK
CHINA BAK BATTERY
3.88 12:10PM ET
0.28 (7.78%)
707,047

Labels: AGIX, AVNR, BLUE, CBAK, CTTY, ESPD, FICC, HDY, INSW, LIFK, LLTC, MITI, OSG, PAE, PED, RAND, TIS, TRMS, UPI, VSGND

Stocks opened higher this morning but quickly fell into a funk on their way to a mixed close. There seemed to be little in the way of a strong catalyst to encourage the bulls to remain in the market. Oil prices put some pressure on stocks, rising for the second-consecutive day to push close to the $61 a barrel mark. The 10-year Treasury note was also weak today, pushing the yield up to 4.73%.

Makers of analog semiconductor chips were one of the day's most attractive sectors, spurred higher by a strong fiscal first-quarter profit report and encouraging guidance from Analog Devices (ADI, $xxxxx). The company, which makes chips used in cell phones, medical devices, and flat-screen TVs, reported a 26% increase in profits to $153 million, or 44 cents a share, up from $121 million, or 32 cents a share, in the year-ago period. The company said orders improved in the last month and it forecasted a strong current quarter. The results and a Citigroup upgrade to "buy" helped the stock climb 10%.
Other analog chipmakers moved higher on Analog Devices' profit report, including National Semiconductor (NYSE: NSM - News), up 6%; Maxim Integrated Products (Nasdaq: MXIM - News), which added 8%; and Linear Technology (Nasdaq: LLTC - News), up 10%. The strong showing helped the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index push 3% higher.
In other tech news, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL - News) and Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO - News) agreed to share the iPhone name and to work together on "opportunities for interoperability in the areas of security, and consumer and enterprise communications." Neither company would elaborate on what that meant. Apple was sued by Cisco after the iPod maker introduced its iPhone smartphone product. Cisco said it owned the iPhone trademark and was already using it for a VoIP handheld phone. Both products will remain on the market under the iPhone brand name.
Luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL - News) announced sharply lower fiscal Q1 earnings. The company's profit slumped -67%, driven lower by writedowns and other expenses as the slump in new home sales continued to hurt the builder's results. Toll Brothers said its profit declined to $54 million, or 33 cents per share, from $164 million, or 98 cents per share, a year ago. The results were better than the 29 cents EPS Wall Street expected, but the stock ended down -4%. Other companies in the new-home market slid on Toll Brother's report. Lennar (NYSE: LEN - News) was off -2%, while D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI - News) and Centex (NYSE: CTX - News) both dropped -3%.
Retailer J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP - News) slid -3% after it reported a weaker-than-expected fiscal Q1 and warned that it was seeing soft results this month. Penney's profit for the quarter ended February 3rd fell to $477 million, or $2.09 per share, from $551 million, or $2.34 per share, last year. Although February sales have been weak, the company predicted an upturn when it introduces its spring fashions.
In merger news, natural and organic foods supermarket operator Whole Foods Market (Nasdaq: WFMI - News) announced late yesterday that it would buy its smaller rival Wild Oats Markets (Nasdaq: OATS - News) for $535 million. Investors applauded the news, pushing shares of Whole Foods up 13%, while Wild Oats added 17%.

Published By Bullmarket.com

Labels: AAPL, CSCO, CTX, DHI, JCP, LEN, LLTC, MXIM, NSM, OATS, TOL, WFMI

Summary: Activist investor Carl Icahn recently disclosed a 1.4% stake in Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT - News) and set out to force the company to buy back its shares at what he sees as cheap prices. Combined with recent buyouts of Freescale Semiconductor Inc. (NYSE: FSL - News) and Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG - News), astute investors are eyeing telecom and chip companies with similar cash reserves, which may soon find themselves under the radar of impatient shareholders or buyout firms. Zhiping Zhao of CreditSights: "Both events represent... pressure from shareholders for these companies to return excess cash, as well as optimize capital structure and create shareholder value." Cash represents 19.1% of semiconductor companies' market cap, vs. only 6.1% and 4.9% for consumer and industrial companies -- and chip/telecom equipment companies have little or no debt. He thinks companies like Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI - News), Linear Technology Corp. (NasdaqGS: LLTC), Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NasdaqGS: MXIM), Altera Corp. (NasdaqGM: ALTR) Xilinx Inc. (NasdaqGS: XLNX), and Infineon Technologies (NYSE: IFX - News) are potential buyout targets. Companies that could face shareholder pressure to optimize balance sheets and unlock value include Ericsson (NasdaqGS: ERIC), Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK - News), Sycamore Networks Inc. (NasdaqGM: SCMR) and Tellabs Inc. (NasdaqGS: TLAB).
Published by SeekingAlpha

Labels: ADI, ALTR, ERIC, FSL, IFX, LLTC, MOT, MXIM, NOK, PHG, SCMR, TLAB, XLNX

Here are 7 options to watch for today. This list comes directly from the TradingMarkets Options Indicators page. The list is created using OptionVue options analysis software.
Most Under Priced Calls: These are the most under priced calls of all stocks in our database. While the Equities Explosion List finds groups of calls for individual equities that are under priced, this list finds the most under priced individual calls. Thus, the options listed here will tend to be more severely under priced.
Diamond Offshore Drilling Feb 75 Calls (NYSE:DO - News). DO's PowerRating is 4.
Most Under Priced Puts: These are the most under priced puts of all stocks in our database. While the Equities Explosion List finds groups of puts for individual equities that are under priced, this list finds the most under priced individual puts. Thus, the options listed here will tend to be more severely under priced.
Apple Inc. Feb 90 Puts (NASDAQ:AAPL - News). AAPL's PowerRating is 6.
Most Overpriced Calls: These are the most overpriced calls of all stocks in our database. While the Equities Implosion List finds groups of calls for individual equities that are overpriced, this list finds the most overpriced individual calls. Thus, the options listed here will tend to be more severely overpriced.
Intuitive Surgical Feb 100 Calls (NASDAQ:ISRG - News). ISRG's PowerRating is 4.
Most Overpriced Puts: These are the most overpriced puts of all stocks in our database. While the Equities Implosion List finds groups of puts for individual equities that are overpriced, this list finds the most overpriced individual puts. Thus, the options listed here will tend to be more severely overpriced.
MicroStrategy Feb 105 Puts (NASDAQ:MSTR - News). MSTR's PowerRating is 6.
Stocks with Abnormal Call Volume: These are stocks which showed unusual call option volume not easily explained by arbitrage operations. The appearance of a stock on the Call Volume Alerts list suggests a possible takeover, extraordinarily good earnings report, or other news which may favorably affect the stock.
NovaStar Financial (NYSE:NFI - News). NFI's PowerRating is 6.
Stocks with Abnormal Put Volume: These are stocks which showed unusual put option volume not easily explained by arbitrage operations. The appearance of a stock on the Put Volume Alerts list suggests anextraordinarily negative earnings report, or other news which may negatively affect the stock.
Google Feb 530 Calls (NASDAQ:GOOG - News). GOOG's PowerRating is 6.
Abnormal Put/Call $ Volume: These stocks have the highest dollar put volume in relation to their call volume. These high ratios are indicative of extreme bearish sentiment in the underlying stock.
Linear Technology Corp. (NASDAQ:LLTC - News). LLTC's PowerRating is 5.
PowerRatings are courtesy of PowerRatings.net

Labels: AAPL, DO, GOOG, ISRG, LLTC, MSTR, NFI, stock options

Alaska Communications (NasdaqGM:ALSK - News) was downgraded to underweight from equal weight at Lehman Bros.
Allied Capital Corp. (NYSE:ALD - News) agreed to sell its portfolio company, Palm Coast Data Holdco Inc., to Kable Media Services Inc., a unit of Amrep Corp. (NYSE:AXR - News). The value of the transaction was $92 million.
Blackbaud Inc. (NasdaqGS:BLKB - News) acquired privately owned sister companies Target Software Inc. and Target Analysis Group Inc. for $60 million, plus up to an additional $2.4 million under a 1-year earn-out arrangement. Blackbaud sees the acquisition cutting earnings per share, before items, in 2007 by 3 to 6 cents.
Cheesecake Factory Inc. (NasdaqGS:CAKE - News) said Peter D'Amelio, president and chief operating officer of the restaurant division, is leaving for personal reasons, effective Feb. 2. The company is searching for a replacement.
Cosi (NasdaqGM:COSI - News) was downgraded to buy from strong buy at Wedbush Morgan.
Fortunet Inc. (NasdaqGM:FNET - News) was initiated with a hold rating at W.R. Hambrecht & Co.
Fulton Financial (NasdaqGS:FULT - News) said fourth-quarter net income rose, as interest income gained, to $46.6 million, or 27 cents a share, from $40.9 million, or 25 cents a share, during the same period in the prior year. The Lancaster, Pa.-based financial holding company said quarterly net interest income rose to $121.7 million from $107.9 million in the prior year.
Genomic Health (NasdaqGM:GHDX - News) was downgraded to equal weight from overweight at Lehman Bros. on valuation concerns.
Health Care Property Investors Inc. (NYSE:HCP - News) priced a public offering of 6.77 million of its shares. The real estate investment focusing on healthcare facilities said it has granted underwriters a 10-day option to purchase an additional 1.02 million shares.
Indymac (NYSE:NDE - News) was downgraded to market perform from market outperform at JMP Securities.
Intel (NasdaqGS:INTC - News) said fourth-quarter profit dropped 39% as the world's largest chipmaker cut prices and boosted investment, attempting to beat back a challenge from smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices.
Isis Pharmaceuticals' (NasdaqGM:ISIS - News) shares slumped after the Carlsbad, Calif.-based company said late Tuesday it plans to raise roughly $125 million through an offering of convertible subordinated notes due 2027 in a private placement. Isis also plans to grant the initial purchasers a 30-day option to buy up to an additional $37.5 million of convertible notes. The company said it will use the proceeds of the offering repurchase, retire or repay its 5.5% convertible subordinated notes due 2009 and for general corporate purposes.
Linear Tech (NasdaqGS:LLTC - News) said second-quarter net earnings rose slightly to $105 million, or 34 cents a share, from $103.2 million, or 33 cents, last year, as sales were virtually flat. Excluding stock-based compensation, the company posted per-share earnings of 39 cents vs. 36 cents last year.
Polycom (NasdaqGS:PLCM - News) was downgraded to hold from buy at Wedbush Morgan.
Rackable Systems Inc. (NasdaqGS:RACK - News) said it expects fourth-quarter results to range from a net loss of $683,000, or 2 cents a share, to net earnings of $194,000, or 1 cent a share. The company said it is "disappointed" it did not meet its per-share earnings and gross margin goals, citing higher-than-expected DDR memory pricing and intense competition as reasons for the missed targets.
Ryanair Holdings (NasdaqGS:RYAAY - News) was downgraded to hold from buy at Citigroup Investment Research.
Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - News) reported fourth-quarter net income fell 19% on 15% higher revenue. Earnings fell to $57 million, or 7 cents a share, from $70 million, or 9 cents, in the year-earlier period. Excluding special items, earnings were 12 cents against 10 cents. Revenue reached $2.28 billion from $1.99 billion. A survey of analysts by Thomson First Call produced a consensus estimate of 12 cents of profit on $2.28 billion of revenue. Southwest said it hopes in 2007 to exceed its target of 15% growth in earnings per share excluding special items. For the first quarter, Southwest said it's 100% hedged for jet-fuel prices at the equivalent of an average of $50 a barrel of crude. That's compared with the year-earlier period's level of 75% hedged at $36 a barrel.
Trustmark Corp. (NasdaqGS:TRMK - News) reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $29.4 million, or 50 cents a share, up 6% from $27.7 million, or 50 cents a share, during the year-ago period. There were 59.1 million shares outstanding during the compared with 56 million a year ago.
UST Inc. (NYSE:UST - News) was downgraded to neutral from buy at UBS. The firm cited valuation.
Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY - News) was downgraded to neutral from buy at UBS. The firm cite weaker fundamentals.
World Acceptance Corp. (NasdaqGS:WRLD - News) was downgraded to hold from buy at Jefferies & Co., citing valuation. The firm also cut its price target on the stock to $49 from $53.

Labels: ALD, ALSK, AXR, BLKB, CAKE, COSI, FNET, FULT, GHDX, HCP, INTC, ISIS, LLTC, LUV, NDE, PLCM, RACK, RYAAY, TRMK

Linear Technology Corp. on Tuesday reported a second quarter net income of $105 million, or 34 cents a share, in line with the year-ago period's $103.3 million, or 33 cents a share.
The Milpitas-based company (NASDAQ:LLTC - News), a maker of high performance linear integrated circuits, said its revenue was $267.9 million, compared to $265.1 million last year.
Analysts expected, on average, the company to post earnings of 34 cents a share.
Lothar Maier, company CEO, said Linear is seeing "an overall reduction in our inventories at our end customers, which coupled with some general market weakness, has resulted in a decrease in bookings, sales and profits for the December quarter. The upcoming March quarter is a challenge to accurately forecast."
He said revenue is expected to drop 4 percent to 7 percent, with profits "slightly more impacted" primarily because of a tax rate increase.
Published January 16, 2007 by the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal

Labels: Linear Technology Corp., LLTC

The background evidence of the week was somewhat mixed and of the type that could always conjure the spin doctors of Wall Street to don the bear goggles. Make no mistake about it though, a decisive shift in investor psychology opted to embrace the bull at large, with the end result fresh multi-year and all-time-highs. For the five day period S&P500 ($SPX) and NASDAQ Composite ($COMPQ) are up 1.49% to 2.82% on sure signs of investor satisfaction.Aggressively lower energy prices certainly helped market bulls this week. It’s not always the case, as the relative weakness and potential earnings concerns over the ‘profit-engine’ of the energy complex (XLE, OIH) need to be ignored or used as the proverbial sacrifice fly, so that other sectors may prosper. That was the case this past week as Black Gold slid precipitously to two year lows. At the same time, the West Texas ETF (USO) fell by -9% to fresh all-time-lows of 43.50 before closing off -6.69% at 44.63. Abnormally warm weather in the northeast, continued bearish build ups of inventories, further not-so-smart institutional monies rotations and trader skepticism over OPEC cuts all played a part in the action. Meanwhile, concern over the ‘price drilling’ being an actual harbinger of a weaker economy dissipated and lost favor with a giddy Wall Street and other data saying something else entirely. After a couple warnings curveballs thrown in the week prior, the official start to the Q4 earnings season was a bullish catalyst for the market. While it’s still too early to determine any type of trend, lowered expectations for Corporate America and a cautious investor mood have been countered by strong results and outlooks from the likes of Alcoa (AA) and Genentech (DNA). While the 22% growth seen in the third-quarter isn’t likely to be matched, bullish reactions to upside surprises thus far do suggest sufficient pessimism coming into the period. Now all Wall Street needs are 450-plus reports from the S&P500, to see if they’ve got it right.One place Wall Street seems certain it has it right is a rotation into large cap technology. An outsized 2.82% gainer and a second straight week of outperformance is a testament to that belief of value found, four plus years into the broader market’s Bull Run. However, as a further testament to a market still composed of stocks and obviously not tolerant of disappointments: sales warnings out of veritable tech names such as Tellabs (TLAB), SAP (SAP) and Advanced Micro (AMD) were punished by investors. While the initial broader market concern / impact was shaken off each time and ultimately favored the “Buy, Buy, Buy!” routine, some canaries outside of the coal / energy mine have been spotted and possibly worth listening too. It also looks like Wall Street is in the mood to embrace strength outside of the corporate kind. Economic data this week contained potentially damaging information for bulls insistent of rate cuts. However, when all was said and done, the market reacted favorably to a stronger economy and one not in need of the Fed easing monetary policy. Friday’s much stronger-than-expected .9% retail sales increase solidified traders shift towards relief over an economy that’s showing more signs of bottoming without further intervention. In fact, some analysts feel the data could point to an upward revision for the Q4 GDP. The bond market is listening as well. Fed funds futures are pricing in almost no chance of a cut before May and treasury yields soared to their best levels in more than two months. The widely followed 10-Year closed at 4.77% and up 13 basis points on the week, but below the key 5% level and a point where another kind of market intervention might come into play.ON TAP THIS WEEKInvestors received an equal dose of high profile surprises and warnings last week, but all told the total count of less than a handful makes for a clean slate as earnings intensify this week. The holiday shortened work-week will have plenty of high-profile names in a myriad of industry groups. Currently, earnings expectations are riding low as Wall Street makes provisions for the end of thirteen quarters of double digit growth from the S&P500. That’s likely to happen, as much of that success was directly linked to the oil patch, which has lost more than a bit of its energy mojo. Financials, also a very heavily weighted group, will likely surprise to the upside as deal making and the capital markets have been benevolent overall. It’s anticipated though that much of what the market does in the coming weeks will be riding heavily on the current rotation into large cap tech and the NASDAQ. Investors won’t want to see further disappointments from that group with so much money now obviously betting on a confirmation of those actions. As mentioned prior, expectations for the Fed cutting rates before May are down to a near zero vote of confidence. The economic data of late has shown both a tightening labor market and enough resilience in the manufactured slowdown to keep interest rates on hold and possibly even nudged up if conditions persist. The current environment is taking place as well, in a market that’s seen hard declines in physical prices of underlying commodities. That means that should those prices firm, an additional force could also be at work, as to keep a rate cut out of the equation for 2007. The week is full of fresh data on both the inflation and growth fronts, so economic watchdogs should make sure to keep note of what’s on tap by looking at the schedule below. What does a rate cut or none offered actually mean to investors? The underlying theme that a reduction is good for the market will always have a home on Wall Street. However, the current popular vote—as evidenced by higher stock prices—is geared towards wanting an economic turnaround despite some concerns over higher price pressures. Until yields move to levels that are deemed attractive enough to pull the rug from under equities, Wall Street can apparently have its cake and eat it too.
TuesdayEconomic: NY Empire Index (20)Earnings: Ameritrade (AMTD), Forest Labs (FRX), US Banc (USB), Wells Fargo (WFC), Intel (INTC), Linear Tech (LLTC)
WednesdayEconomic: PPI & Core (.6%, .1%), Ind Prod & Cap Util (.1%, 81.8%), Weekly Crude, Beige BookEarnings: AMR (AMR), Freeport McMoran (FCX), Lennar (LEN), JP Morgan (JPM), Apple (AAPL), Lam Research (LRCX), Washington Mutual (WM)
ThursdayEconomic: CPI & Core (.5%, .2%), Housing & Permits (1.575M, 1.510M), Weekly Claims (315K), Leading Indicators (.2%), Philly Fed (3.0)Earnings: Bank of NY (BK), Continental (CAL), Harley-Davidson (HOG), Jeffries (JEF), Knight (NITE), Merrill (MER), United Health (UNH), Cap One (COF), Cree (CREE), IBM (IBM), Molex (MOLX), Xilinx (XLNX)
FridayEconomic: Michigan Sentiment (92.0)Earnings: Amcol (ACO), Citigroup (C), General Electric (GE), Motorola (MOT), Schlumberger (SLB), Suntrust (STI), Satyam (SAY), Johnson Controls (JCI), Fastenal (FAST)
Chris Tyler

Labels: AA, AAPL, AMD, AMR, CAL, DNA, FCX, INTC, JPM, LEN, LLTC, MER, OIH, SAP, TLAB, UNH, USB, USO, WFC, XLE