Pre-Market Stock News (January 24, 2008)

We are full blown into earnings season now.  These are not all of the stocks in the news, but this is a good portion of the news in individual stocks for traders to review this morning:

• Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NLY) priced its secondary of 51,000,000 shares of common stock at $19.25 per share.
• AT&T (T) $0.71 EPS vs. $0.71 estimate; new share buyback plan of up to 400 million shares.
• Becton Dickinson (BDX) $1.07 EPS vs $1.04 estimate; raised guidance before charges.
• Cabot Micro (CCMP) $0.51 EPS vs $0.47 estimate.
• Cubist Pharmaceuticals (CBST) shares rose another 7% to $21.72 after beating earnings and raising guidance.
• Danaher (DHR) $1.12 EPS vs. $1.12 estimate.
• DuPont (DD) noted as strong value without earnings risk according to Cramer on CNBC’s Mad Money.
• eBay (EBAY) shares fell over 5% after beating earnings but lowering guidance; Meg Whitman retires as CEO but stays on board.
• F5 Networks (FFIV) shares rose almost 20% after beating earnings.
• Ford (F) -$0.20 EPS vs. -$0.19 estimates; CEO will be on CNBC at 12:15 PM EST.
• IBM (IBM) noted as strong value without earnings risk according to Cramer on CNBC’s Mad Money.
• Lennar (LEN) -$0.42 EPS vs, -$1.61 est.; but losses were before -$7.50 per shares in charges; sees 2008 continuing weakness.
• Lockheed Martin (LMT) $1.89 EPS vs. $1.69 estimate; sees 2008 EPS $7.05 to $7.25 vs. prior guidance $6.19 to $7.15 and vs. $7.29 estimate.
• Microsoft (MSFT) reports earnings after the close today with estimates at $0.46 EPS on revenues of $15.94 Billion.
• Napster (NAPS) msic rental service is now available to NTT DoCoMo subscribers.
• Netflix (NFLX) earnings were above plan and guidance was too; shares indicated up slightly.
• Nokia (NOK) announced its market share rose to 40% and posted a 57% gain in earnings overseas.
• Plexus Corp. (PLXS) raised guidance to $0.46 to $0.51 EPS on revenues of $440 million to $460 million, compared to estimates of $0.42 & almost $430 million;shares rose 8.3% to $21.50 in after-hours trading.
• Polycom (PLCM) posted $0.42 EPS on revenues of $263.3 million vs. estimates of $0.39 & $252.5 million; shares rose some 7.7% to $24.00.
• Potash (POT) announced it would repurchase up to 5% of its outstanding shares.
• Qualcomm (QCOM) posted $0.46 EPS and non-GAAP EPS at $0.52 EPS on $2.44 Billion in revenues.  Estimates were $0.53 EPS on revenues of $2.41 Billion, 6% to $38.90 after-hours.
• Symantec (SYMC) beat earnings; raised guidance; shares rose 8.5% at $16.55.
• THQ (THQI) traded down 8% after disclosing net profit drops on charges from discontinued titles.
• Trimble Navigation (TRMB) shares rose 15% at $27.45 after raising current guidance and reaffirming 2008 revenues.
• Western Digital (WDC)  $1.35 EPS vs. $1.04 estimate; sees next quarter $0.85 to $0.91 EPS  & $2 Billion revenues vs. estimates of $0.80 & $1.9 Billion; shares rose by almost 7%.
• World Acceptance (WRLD) $0.54 EPS vs. $0.46 estimates.
• Xerox (XRX) $0.41 EPS vs $0.41 estimate; sees next quarter $0.25 to $0.28 vs. $0.28 estimate; sees 2008 $1.31 to $1.35 EPS versus $1.31 estimates.

Jon C. Ogg
January 24, 2008