Wednesday Hangs on Key Tech/Media Earnings (CSCO, CMCSA, QCOM, TWX, VG)

We have four key earnings for technology and media investors and traders due on Wednesday, and one key cult stock.  The two biggest for tech which can impact all components of their related sub-sectors are Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) and QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM).  Then in media and communications will be Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX).  Lastly, there is one of Wall Street biggest cult stocks with Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG) on deck.  We have provided Thomson Reuters consensus estimates, and, where applicable, key performance measures and added color on each.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) will be the key tell here for the following day’s technology trading around enterprise spending on equipment and cap-ex.  Its earnings are due on Wednesday after the close and estimates are $0.31 EPS and $8.74 billion in revenues, same as they were late last week.  Next quarter estimates are $0.32 EPS and $8.97 billion in revenue.  Some damage has been done on its chart, at least potentially, now that Cisco stock have violated its 50-day moving average. That will probably change by tomorrow by a penny or so, but that figure is $23.08 as of today versus a current share price of $22.80.  It will be interesting to see if Cisco addresses the Tandberg bid of $3.1 billion before or concurrent with earnings.

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is also up for earnings on Wednesday early in the pre-market hours.  Estimates are $0.25 EPS on $8.85 billion in revenues.  Next quarter estimates are $0.27 EPS and $8.99 billion in revenues.  A wild card, and a big wild card, is if any pending NBC Universal deal with General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) comes into play.  Where this gets interesting is in the stock chart at Comcast.  In early September the stock busted under a 50-day moving average and just in the last two days it has violated the 200-day moving average.  The 50-day is $15.83 and the 200-day is $14.40.  Shares are trading right around that key 200-day average today.

QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) is a favorite for all smartphone investors and earnings are due Wednesday afternoon. Estimates are $0.52 EPS and $2.72 billion in revenues, while next quarter estimates are $0.56 EPS and $2.84 billion in revenue.  The stock has been very weak on a longer-term basis and has traded in a $41 to $42.75 range in recent days as it has used its 200-day moving average as a magnet ($41.72 today).  This stock has not been acting as though it is going to have blow-out upside news, but we will never use just the read from a chart.

Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) is set to report earnings Wednesday morning before the open.  Of course the earnings report will matter with estimates of $0.53 EPS and $7.08 billion in revenues, although what most are going to be looking at is what the roll-out date is looking like for the AOL spin-off.  That may influence the stock much more than its past quarter report.

Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG) is one major cult stock, but we expect absolutely no fall-out in any key tech, web, telecom, or media stocks as a result of what the VoIP leader says.  With only one estimate, we don’t even care about anything other than whether the company can hold its customer base, what its churn rate is, and what its customer acquisition costs are.  Citi took its target to $1.50 from $0.50 during the pre-App launch for the iPhone.  Even though this one has pulled back from its iPhone App launch highs above $2.00, this one is up over 300% from the March 9 close.  And the stock has risen both days this week ahead of earnings.

Stay Tuned!

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JON C. OGG