Daily Analysis

Oct 17, 2012 6:12 P.M. EST

BY TIERNAN RAY

Shares of semiconductor equipment maker Lam Research (LRCX) are up 82 cents, or 2.4%, at $34.40 after the company this afternoon reported fiscal Q1 revenue and earnings per share that topped analysts' expectations despite what it called an "uncertain environment."

Oct 17, 2012 5:47 P.M. EST

BY TERESA RIVAS

Alcatel-Lucent's (ALU) American depositary shares were up more than 8% today on news that the telecom-equipment maker's China unit, Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell, won a contract to deploy the largest share of China Mobile's new TD-LTE trial network rollout.

Oct 17, 2012 5:18 P.M. EST

BY BRENDAN CONWAY

Your Wednesday reading, in 20 (or so) words or less:

Oct 17, 2012 5:02 P.M. EST

BY AVI SALZMAN

American Express (AXP) shaes slipped by about 1% after hours following the company's release of slightly lower than expected third quarter revenue.

Oct 17, 2012 4:43 P.M. EST

BY AVI SALZMAN

Bank of America (BAC) desperately wants investors to focus on "core earnings," which it says are growing because of improving mortgage origination and better investment banking results. But the old elephant in the room -- the bank's troubled legacy mortgage portfolio, much of it inherited ...

Oct 17, 2012 4:41 P.M. EST

BY MICHAEL ANEIRO

On top of already high levels of investor interest in mortgage REITs, UBS is piling on some leverage, launching the ETRACS Monthly Pay 2xLeveraged Mortgage REIT ETN (MORL), which UBS trumpets as the only leveraged exchange-traded play on mortgage REITs on U.S. exchanges.

Oct 17, 2012 4:41 P.M. EST

BY RESHMA KAPADIA

Franklin Tempelton's Mark Mobius tries to help investors decode the different classes of Chinese company shares, noting that the A-share market--while more volatile--offers investors a wider breadth of exposure to the market.

Oct 17, 2012 4:37 P.M. EST

BY TIERNAN RAY

Shares of programmable chip maker Xilinx (XLNX) are down 44 cents, or 1.3%, at $33.52 in late trading after the company this afternoon reported fiscal Q2 revenue that missed analysts' expectations but beat on the bottom line, and projected a decline in revenue this quarter ...

Oct 17, 2012 4:23 P.M. EST

BY TERESA RIVAS

Shares of eBay (EBAY) were falling after hours as its third-quarter earnings beat by a penny, but its guidance disappointed.

Oct 17, 2012 4:18 P.M. EST

BY TIERNAN RAY

Shares of data center connectivity specialists Mellanox Technologies (MLNX) briefly rose 4%, then gave up gains, after the company this afternoon reported Q3 revenue that topped consensus expectations and profit per share that easily surpassed consensus.

Oct 17, 2012 4:16 P.M. EST

BY MICHAEL ANEIRO

Leveraged loan mutual funds' assets under management climbed 3.5% to a record $82.1 billion in September, according to Standard & Poor's LCD, besting the prior peak of $80.7 billion seen last August.

Oct 17, 2012 4:11 P.M. EST

BY RESHMA KAPADIA

You've probably have heard that emerging market bonds have been hot lately as investors look high and low for yield and relatively strong government balance sheets in many of these countries offer investors comfort. But investors are increasingly looking for opportunities beyond sovereign debt in ...

Oct 17, 2012 4:05 P.M. EST

BY AVI SALZMAN

Apollo Group's (APOL) stock fell about 9% immediately after the for-profit educator released fourth quarter results late Tuesday afternoon, but the results apparently looked even worse the next day.

Oct 17, 2012 3:16 P.M. EST

BY BRENDAN CONWAY

Lance Armstrong earlier today stepped down from the foundation bearing his name. Nike (NKE) cut ties with the former cycling champion, citing "seemingly insurmountable evidence" that Armstrong took part in doping and "misled Nike for more than a decade." Then RadioShack (RSH) said it's no ...

Oct 17, 2012 2:43 P.M. EST

BY TERESA RIVAS

Microsoft (MSFT) has announced pricing for the new Surface tablet, with its 32GB model at $499 (add $100 for a Touch Cover keyboard) and a 64 GB version and keyboard for $699. While there is a limited preorder via Microsoft's website, the official launch is ...

Oct 17, 2012 1:57 P.M. EST

BY BRENDAN CONWAY

Doubters of the first index funds were proven wrong. So were those who looked askance at an exchange-traded fund for gold bullion. The SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) is the second biggest ETF in the U.S. by assets, holding $75 billion. But an ETF for diamonds? ...

Oct 17, 2012 1:52 P.M. EST

BY TERESA RIVAS

Analysts have been busy speculating about an iPad mini even before Apple's (AAPL) announcement yesterday, and today Janney Montgomery Scott's Bill Choi has updated his estimates to reflect the new offering.

Oct 17, 2012 1:35 P.M. EST

BY BRENDAN CONWAY

When it comes to closed-end funds, my colleague Jacqueline Doherty had the telling statistic two weeks ago: Sixty-six percent of taxable bond funds and 73% of municipal-bond funds trade above their net asset value, versus about 30% a year ago and about 30% in 2006. What ...

Oct 17, 2012 12:21 A.M. EST

BY TERESA RIVAS

Shares of IBM (IBM) were falling about 5% in recent trading following the company's third-quarter earnings report. Analysts were weighing in today, with opinion split between Buy and Hold, although the shares saw at least one downgrade.

Oct 17, 2012 12:10 A.M. EST

BY AVI SALZMAN

Like a certain president in a high-stakes Wednesday-night debate, Pepsico (PEP) appears to have stopped the bleeding against its biggest rival. Pepsi said that its carbonated beverages gained market share on both a dollar and volume basis in America in the third quarter. Coca-Cola (KO) ...

Oct 17, 2012 11:55 A.M. EST

BY TERESA RIVAS

Analysts were out in force today dissecting Intel's (INTC) third quarter, and the note was mostly cautious.  The stock was recently falling 2.7%.

Oct 17, 2012 11:46 A.M. EST

BY MICHAEL ANEIRO

A couple of small signs of the housing market turning the corner and suddenly Treasury bonds are no longer the most popular investments around. Treasury prices are falling again Wednesday after the Commerce Department said U.S. home starts rose by 15% in September to the ...

Oct 17, 2012 11:35 A.M. EST

BY BRENDAN CONWAY

The cotton harvest is behind schedule and ICE warehouse stocks are at a 17-year low. None of that moves Citigroup commodity strategists, who argue in a note that the rally "might be full of fluff." It's a caution for investors tempted to buy one of ...

Oct 17, 2012 11:20 A.M. EST

BY TERESA RIVAS

Target (TGT) has announced plans to match prices from competitor's websites in stores, following a similar move by Best Buy (BBY) last week. While the price-match offers extend to other rivals' online stores, like Wal-Mart (WMT), it's an obvious shot across the bow of Amazon ...

Oct 17, 2012 11:14 A.M. EST

BY AVI SALZMAN

Milk producer Dean Foods (DF) announced today that its WhiteWave-Alpro division has filed papers with the SEC to spin off into a separate company called WhiteWave. The IPO is expected to raise up to $320 million by selling 20 million shares at about $14 to ...

Oct 17, 2012 10:58 A.M. EST

BY TERESA RIVAS

Shares of Cisco (CSCO) were recently falling about 0.9% in recent morning trading, as Cantor Fitzgerald's Paul Mansky cut his rating on the tech giant from Buy to Hold.

Oct 17, 2012 10:38 A.M. EST

BY TERESA RIVAS

Shares of Nokia (NOK) were trading up 1.4% this morning ahead of tomorrow's third-quarter earnings.

Oct 17, 2012 10:15 A.M. EST

BY TIERNAN RAY

Here are some things going on this morning in your world of tech:

Oct 17, 2012 10:11 A.M. EST

BY AVI SALZMAN

Knight Capital Group (KCG) referred obliquely to an "August 1, 2012 technology issue" in the first line of its earnings statement released today. It turns out that that "issue" was even more costly than the bank had initially estimated, costing it $461.1 million in the third ...

Oct 17, 2012 10:06 A.M. EST

BY BRENDAN CONWAY

Hire a stock picker, or pay less money to just track an index? It's no surprise that more investors are favoring the autopilot approach. Mutual-fund managers have underperformed markedly for a few years now. Registered investment advisors are bound to reflect this preference, blending more ...

Oct 17, 2012 9:23 A.M. EST

BY RESHMA KAPADIA

With Google and Microsoft entering the hardware business, they will need to partner with hardware makers with strong design, distribution and production capabilities and that's good news for several Taiwanese firms, HSBC analyst Jenny Lai writes.

Oct 17, 2012 9:11 A.M. EST

BY AVI SALZMAN

Stock futures rose early on Wednesday after the government said that housing starts rose to 872,000 in September, the highest level in four years and well ahead of analysts' expectations of 770,000 new homes. The news is sending homebuilders higher in pre-market action, with KB ...

Oct 17, 2012 8:56 A.M. EST

BY BRENDAN CONWAY

Market check: That gust you just felt is word that U.S. homebuilding is at a four-year high. Commerce Department data for September released this morning showed that housing starts increased 15.0% last month from August to a seasonally adjusted 872,000 annually, reports Dow Jones Newswires. ...

Oct 17, 2012 8:47 A.M. EST

BY AVI SALZMAN

New Citigroup (C) CEO Michael Corbat told analysts late on Tuesday that the bank's basic strategy won't likely change under his leadership. "The focus is going to be on operating performance," he said. He said that Citi has "the right footprint and the right resources."

Oct 17, 2012 7:57 A.M. EST

BY RESHMA KAPADIA

In a surprise move, the Bank of Thailand cut rates by 25 basis points to 2.75% in a bid to support domestic demand, with five of seven members favoring the cut, Reuters' Orathai Sriring and Kitiphong Thaichareon reports.

Oct 16, 2012 9:50 P.M. EST

BY TIERNAN RAY

Following Q3 results from Intel (INTC) this afternoon that surpassed estimates, and a Q4 outlook that missed consensus, CEO Paul Otellini and CFO Stacy Smith held a conference call with analysts to review the results and outlook.

Oct 16, 2012 9:22 P.M. EST

BY RESHMA KAPADIA

The South African Municipal Workers' Union said some 200,000 workers will stop working later this week in protest of poor pay and corruption, adding to the the pressure to the country's economy which has been hit hard by wildcat strikes in the mining sector, the ...

Oct 16, 2012 6:48 P.M. EST

BY TIERNAN RAY

Shares of enterprise security technology vendor Fortinet (FTNT) are down $3.80, or 15%, at $21, after the company this afternoon reported Q3 revenue and profit per share in line with analysts' expectations.

Oct 16, 2012 5:22 P.M. EST

BY TERESA RIVAS

Linear Technology (LLTC) was falling 4% after hours following its fiscal first-quarter report.

Oct 16, 2012 5:06 P.M. EST

BY RESHMA KAPADIA

With an election less than six months away, beyondbrics' Josh Noble wonders if investors aren't worried enough about Malaysia.

Oct 16, 2012 5:02 P.M. EST

BY TERESA RIVAS

IBM (IBM) was falling 2.8% in late trading after the tech giant reported a mixed Q3.

Oct 16, 2012 4:47 P.M. EST

BY MICHAEL ANEIRO

Barron's has recently detailed in this blog and the current magazine the troubles facing mortgage REITs in the wake of QE3. A rise in mortgage refinancings and bond prepayments, due to falling rates enabled by Fed policy and large Fed mortgage bond purchases, has left ...

Oct 16, 2012 4:35 P.M. EST

BY BRENDAN CONWAY

Mortgage REITs' investor worries in the wake of the Federal Reserve's third round of quantitative easing took a bit of a breather today.

Oct 16, 2012 4:24 P.M. EST

BY TIERNAN RAY

Intel (INTC) this afternoon reported Q3 revenue and profit per share that easily surpassed analysts' reduced estimates.

Oct 16, 2012 4:19 P.M. EST

BY MICHAEL ANEIRO

Mortgage REIT Annaly Capital Management (NLY) just announced plans to repurchase up to $1.5 billion of its outstanding common shares over a 12-month period.

Oct 16, 2012 4:16 P.M. EST

BY AVI SALZMAN

For-profit educator Apollo Group (APOL) beat fiscal fourth quarter earnings expectations but missed on revenue, sending shares down more than 9% after hours.

Oct 16, 2012 3:37 P.M. EST

BY BRENDAN CONWAY

There's a lively debate in the fund industry over whether risk-averse investors should go after low-volatility stocks or focus instead on companies with above-average dividends. Well, PowerShares is launching a fund this week that aims to do both.

Oct 16, 2012 3:30 P.M. EST

BY JOHANNA BENNETT

Disappointing earnings trump a special dividend. Shares of hospital chain HCA Holdings (HCA) fell 2.5% to  $31 a share in afternoon market action after the for-profit hospital chain warned investors that third-quarter earnings will fall below analysts.

Oct 16, 2012 3:02 P.M. EST

BY TIERNAN RAY

The Consumer Electronics Show just announced that Paul Jacobs, CEO of Qualcomm (QCOM) will be the keynote speaker for this year's event, which runs January 8th through the 11th in Las Vegas.

Oct 16, 2012 3:00 P.M. EST

BY JOHANNA BENNETT

Now that investors have had a few hours to digest UnitedHealth Group's (UNH) third-quarter earnings report, the share price isn't getting the same lift it initially received this morning.

Oct 16, 2012 2:19 P.M. EST

BY MICHAEL ANEIRO

In their latest monthly update, the high yield folks at Schroders say the surfeit of new bonds sold last month offered plenty of issues to choose from but still left something to be desired:

Oct 16, 2012 2:18 P.M. EST

BY BRENDAN CONWAY

The bottom line for the average investor from BlackRock's (BLK) new exchange-traded fund plan: It's great news. Investors will have 10 more low-cost, plain-vanilla ETFs from which to choose. The big ETF providers continue to woo you by trying to build better, less expensive products than ...

Oct 16, 2012 2:03 P.M. EST

BY BRENDAN CONWAY

BlackRock (BLK) may have grabbed the fee-cutting headlines of late, but Vanguard Group is still undercutting rivals. This time, the company has built a new Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities fund that costs half what a few comparable offerings charge.

Oct 16, 2012 1:54 P.M. EST

BY TERESA RIVAS

Angie's List (ANGI) was losing ground today, down a recent 2.7% to $9.70, but ThinkEquity's Yun Kim thinks the stock can almost double its current price.

Oct 16, 2012 1:43 P.M. EST

BY TERESA RIVAS

Apple's (AAPL) iPad mini may be on the way.

Oct 16, 2012 1:19 P.M. EST

BY AVI SALZMAN

Coca-Cola (KO) saw sales decelerate in China and warned that the next few months there could be tough. Those revelations may be weighing on the stock, even after Coke posted earnings that met Street expectations. Shares were recently down 0.8%.

Oct 16, 2012 12:50 A.M. EST

BY RESHMA KAPADIA

HSBC throws a bit of cold water on the argument about the long-ranging consumer agreement in Asia by taking a look at demographics.   Of course, attractive demographics--namely  a young, dynamic and large population--is one of the attractions of emerging markets like India.

Oct 16, 2012 12:42 A.M. EST

BY RESHMA KAPADIA

Based on an algorithm model, Riedel Research is telling its clients that the Indian market may have become a bit too jubilant about the government's recent reform measures. While analysts say the steps are indeed a positive for sentiment, they write that the market has ...

Oct 16, 2012 11:35 A.M. EST

BY AVI SALZMAN

Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

Oct 16, 2012 11:19 A.M. EST

BY TERESA RIVAS

Juniper Networks (JNPR) will report third quarter earnings next week, and today Morgan Stanley's Ehud Gelblum reiterated an Outperform rating and $21 price target ahead of the report, as he expects an in-line third quarter and strong fourth quarter guidance.

Oct 16, 2012 11:03 A.M. EST

BY BRENDAN CONWAY

We'll have more as the WSJ publishes it, but fresh headlines out a few moments ago paint it in broad strokes for BlackRock (BLK), which is coming through on its pledge to cut fees, and then some. We're particularly intrigued by the bit about new ...

Oct 16, 2012 10:54 A.M. EST

BY TERESA RIVAS

Jefferies' Peter Misek has a preview of Apple's (AAPL) fourth quarter, due out late next week, and is maintaining his above consensus estimates of 26 million iPhones sold in the calendar third quarter.

Oct 16, 2012 10:36 A.M. EST

BY AVI SALZMAN

Homebuilder sentiment hit a new six-year high in October, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index. The index rose by 1 point to 41, but was slightly below economists' expectations for a reading of 42.

Oct 16, 2012 10:27 A.M. EST

BY TIERNAN RAY

Here are some things going on this morning in your world of tech:

Oct 16, 2012 10:26 A.M. EST

BY TERESA RIVAS

Riverbed Technology (RVBD) were moving ahead more than 1% this morning, despite a downgrade by Citi.

Oct 16, 2012 9:48 A.M. EST

BY AVI SALZMAN

Vikram Pandit will step down as CEO of Citigroup (C) immediately, as will COO John Havens, the company announced this morning. Shares were down 2.4% in pre-market trading after the surprise announcement.

Oct 16, 2012 9:43 A.M. EST

BY AVI SALZMAN

The Wall Street Journal got ahold of a memo sent to Citigroup (C) employees by newly appointed CEO Michael Corbat after today's bombshell announcement that Corbat would replace Vikram Pandit, effective immediately. Citi shares have been volatile in early trading and were recently up 0.2%.

Oct 16, 2012 9:20 A.M. EST

BY RESHMA KAPADIA

Mexican cement giant Cemex (CX) posted a wider than expected net loss in the third quarter of $203 million while sales fell an expected 2% from a year-ago, helped by 10% sales growth in the United States.

Oct 16, 2012 9:19 A.M. EST

BY AVI SALZMAN

Citigroup (C) is stealing the show this morning even though a half-dozen big companies just reported their third quarter earnings. In a surprising announcement, Citi said CEO Vikram Pandit and COO John Havens will step down; shares are down 2.5%. We'll have more on that ...

Oct 16, 2012 8:48 A.M. EST

BY BRENDAN CONWAY

Market check: There's no shortage of news in the financial sector this morning: Citigroup (C) chief executive Vikram Pandit is stepping down effective immediately -- my colleague Avi Salzman has the news here, which has sent Citi's shares down nearly three percent in premarket trading. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs (GS) swung to a ...

Oct 16, 2012 8:40 A.M. EST

BY AVI SALZMAN

Sorry Johnny, but this Christmas your stocking might be a little light. Goldman Sachs analyst Michael Kelter says toy spending has been on the decline, and the pace of the dropoff appears to be accelerating.

Oct 16, 2012 8:03 A.M. EST

BY RESHMA KAPADIA

Money is flowing out of China, with wealthy Chinese buying up property abroad and firms shopping overseas, WSJ's Alex Frangos, Tom Orlik and Lingling Wei report. That's usually not a great sign.

Oct 15, 2012 7:30 P.M. EST

BY AVI SALZMAN

Bridgepoint Education (BPI) fell about 9% after the for-profit educator revealed that the Department of Justice is investigating how the company compensates its admissions personnel.

Oct 15, 2012 5:05 P.M. EST

BY BRENDAN CONWAY

BlackRock's (BLK) fee cuts turn out to be smaller than several analysts expected -- more on that below. The real significance in Monday's news -- a series of fee cuts, rebrandings and such at the company's iShares unit -- may instead be about choice. BlackRock is ...

Oct 15, 2012 5:04 P.M. EST

BY TIERNAN RAY

Sprint-Nextel (S) this afternoon receives its second upgrade of the day following its $12.1 billion deal with Japan's Softbank, with Bernstein Research's Craig Moffett raising his rating on the shares to Market Perform from Underperform, and raising his price target to $6 from $3.