Tech Trader Daily

FB Closes Down 3.4%: Need New Rev Source, Says Capstone

Tiernan Ray — Fri, 25 May 2012 20:01:34 +0000

Update: Facebook shares regained some ground late in the session, rising from their lowest point of the day at $31.11 to close down $1.12, or 3.4%, at $31.91. Shares of Facebook (FB) are down 98 cents, or 3%, at $32.05 this morning, accelerating their decline from the pre-market session. No doubt not helping the shares [...]

BLOX Rising: Street Sees New Product Offsetting Euro Weakness

Tiernan Ray — Fri, 25 May 2012 19:31:12 +0000

Infoblox’s “Trinzic 2210″ is one of several hardware “appliances” the company sells for managing network addresses of devices. Shares of networking software provider Infoblox (BLOX) are up 30 cents, or 1.6%, at $18.86 after the company last night reported fiscal Q3 revenue and profit that topped analysts’ estimates, and projected this quarter’s revenue slightly ahead [...]

RVBD: Gabelli Starts at Buy, $30 Target

Tiernan Ray — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:36:09 +0000

Shares of Riverbed Technology (RVBD) are up 80 cents, or 5%, at $16.32 following an initiation of coverage note from Gabelli & Co.’s Hendi Susanto, who writes that the company’s revenue growth will rebound as it moves past issues with its sales team and product transition. Following its quarterly earnings release on April 19, 2012, [...]

AOL: Display Losing Half a Billion a Year, Complains Starboard

Tiernan Ray — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:46:22 +0000

The Starboard Value LP fund this morning appealed to AOL (AOL) shareholders to elect the three nominees the firm put forward for the board of directors when AOL holds its annual meeting on June 14th. In the 10-page letter, Starboard, which owns 5.3% of AOL shares, the largest of its investments, says that its been [...]

ARMH: UBS Ups to Buy, Notes Reasons Intel Won’t Crush Them

Tiernan Ray — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:23:07 +0000

UBS Securities’s Gareth Jenkins this morning raised his rating on shares of ARM Holdings (ARMH) to Buy from Neutral following the company’s analyst day event on Wednesday. Jenkins raised his price target to $29.58 on the American Depository Receipts, and a 630 pence target on the ordinary shares traded in London (ARML), up from $29.11 [...]

Apple: Keep in Mind the ‘Heart Transplant,’ Says Piper

Tiernan Ray — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:45:10 +0000

Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster this morning reiterates an Overweight rating on shares of Apple (AAPL) and a $910 price target, offering his view on “ten key points” he thinks are important to consider on the way to a $1,000 share price “in the next couple years.” The most important things are further innovation, he believes, coming in this year’s product lineup, including the “iPhone 5” and an Apple-branded TV. Also, subsidies for iPhones won’t change much, he thinks, and the company has more growth coming in China, and will probably hold onto a 40% gross margin or better. Of the iPhone 5, Munster offers up some prognostications which sound fairly much like speculation that has floated for the last several months:

will represent the biggest consumer electronics product launch of 2012 as well as the biggest device upgrade cycle in smartphone history. While there has been a widely reported shortage of 28nm chips that would provide the cellular modem for the new iPhone, we are confident that Apple will be able to procure a lion's share of the chips going into the production of the new iPhone. We continue to believe there is an 80% chance that Apple can make our 49 million iPhone 5 unit estimate without supply difficulty in the December quarter. In terms of the phone itself, we believe the iPhone 5 will have a completely redesigned body style, which may more closely resemble the metallic rear panel of the current iPad. We believe there is a 60% chance the new phone has a slightly larger 4+" screen. We believe larger screen size is one of the few areas in which Android devices have been able to compete. The next iOS beta SDK could shed light on the potential screen size. Beyond the redesigned body and screen, we believe the new phone will include 4G LTE, upgraded processor and memory, and a higher megapixel camera.

As for subsidies, they're not going away because there will always be some carrier in a market who wants to use them to improve from second or third place, and because "consumers want the iPhone […] driving lower customer acquisition costs around the phone for carriers." Also, he notes, Apple "does not get paid a bounty for new subscribers. We believe Amazon.com (AMZN) & Best Buy (BBY) get paid between $25 and $75 for new subscribers, with between 5-10% of subscribers coming from this channel." The rest of the key points incude:

This Morning: Sick of Facebook Yet? Infoblox Rising; Apple’s Steps to $1,000

Tiernan Ray — Fri, 25 May 2012 13:19:33 +0000

Herewith, some things going on this morning in your world of tech. Facebook (FB) shares are down 47 cents, or 1.4%, at $32.58 in pre-market trading, reversing yesterday’s rise, as the bad news flow continues over last Friday’s IPO. Reuters’s Jessica Toonkel and John McCrank this morning report that an unnamed executive at a major [...]

Apple: Cook Foregoes $75M in Dividend-Equivalent Payout

Tiernan Ray — Thu, 24 May 2012 22:48:53 +0000

TheFlyOnTheWallApple this afternoon directed our attention to a filing by Apple (AAPL) in which the company states that CEO Tim Cook has declined to take roughly $75 million in dividend payouts that he would earn on his “Restricted Stock Units” when Apple commences its dividend later this year. Back on March 19th, you’ll recall, Apple [...]

NetApp Off 13%: FBN Ups to Buy on Cash, Takeout Value

Tiernan Ray — Thu, 24 May 2012 18:44:44 +0000

Shares of storage equipment provider NetApp (NTAP) are down $4.38, or 13%, at $28.48 after the company last night reported fiscal Q4 results better than expected but offered a disappointing Q1 outlook, citing macroeconomic concerns. Price targets and estimates are going down today, and even the bulls express caution. Pacific Crest’s Brent Bracelin reiterated an [...]

F5 Falls 8%: Deutsche Cuts Estimates on Economic Woes

Tiernan Ray — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:38:41 +0000

Deutsche Bank’s Brian Modoff today reiterates a Buy rating on shares of F5 Networks (FFIV) while trimming his price target to $140 from $150 to account for lower estimates based on macroeconomic concerns. Modoff cut his estimate for the June-ending fiscal Q3 to $351 million in revenue and $1.12 per share from $354.6 million and [...]

OCZ: Credit Suisse Starts at Buy, $8 Target on Enterprise Growth

Tiernan Ray — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:23:36 +0000

Shares of solid-state drive (SSD)maker OCZ (OCZ) are up 20 cents, or 4%, at $5.30, after Credit Suisse’s Kulbinder Garcha started coverage of the stock with an Outperform rating and an 8 price target, writing that the stock can ride the expansion of the use of SSDs even as it improves its revenue picture from [...]

Facebook Closes Up 3%; Morgan to Reimburse Some Clients

Tiernan Ray — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:19:00 +0000

Shares of Facebook (FB) flirted with declines most of the afternoon before closing up $1.03, or 3%, at $33.03, still down from the day’s high of $33.21. The stock gave up its gains in the after-market, slipping to $32.83. The stock has been flat at $32 several times in the last half hour or so. [...]

Microsoft: Bernstein Tallies Facebook Gain So Far

Tiernan Ray — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:08:08 +0000

Bernstein Research’s Mark Moerdler this morning reiterates an Outperform rating on shares of Microsoft (MSFT), and a $40 price target, posing the question of what it means that Microsoft has realized a $171 million post-tax gain in Facebook (FB) from its 6.6 million shares sold in the IPO, which could contribute 2 cents to the [...]

HP Trims Gains: Hope for ‘Baby Steps’; Cramer Bemoans Lack of Mobile

Tiernan Ray — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:50:03 +0000

Shares of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) are up 76 cents, or almost 4%, at $21.84 after the company last night beat fiscal Q2 expectations and raised its outlook for this year’s profit per share, and said it will undertake a restructuring meant to cut as much as $3.5 billion a year from operating expenses while laying off [...]

AAPL, GOOG Take 80% of Smartphone Shipments In Q1, Says IDC

Tiernan Ray — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:53:55 +0000

In case you missed it, research firm IDC this morning offers up its latest assessment of the smartphone world, with analyst Ramon Llamas stating that Apple‘s (AAPL) iOS operating system and Google‘s (GOOG) Android operating system, combined, made up 80% of the 152.3 million smartphones shipped in Q1 of this year, with iOS having 23% share [...]

This Morning: Cheers for HP’s ‘Baby Steps,’ Time to Vent About Facebook

Tiernan Ray — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:32:16 +0000

Herewith, some things going on this morning in your world of tech: Shares of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) are up $1.24 cents, or almost 6%, at $22.32 after the company last night reported fiscal Q2 results that were better than expected, and raised its year profit outlook, saying it will lay off 27,000 people over the course [...]

Facebook: Knight Capital Suffered $30-$35M Loss on IPO

Tiernan Ray — Wed, 23 May 2012 23:15:20 +0000

Apparently, it wasn’t just the little guy. Knight Capital Group (KCG) this afternoon reported in an 8K filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission that the fall in Facebook‘s (FB) stock price since its IPO last Friday has cost the firm from $30 million to $35 million. On May 18, 2012, Facebook, Inc. (“Facebook”) launched [...]

SNPS Rising on FYQ2 Beat, Forecast; Splits CEO Role

Tiernan Ray — Wed, 23 May 2012 21:46:59 +0000

Shares of electronic design automation software maker Synopsys (SNPS) are up 58 cents, or 2%, at $28.78 in late trading after the company this afternoon reported fiscal Q2 revenue ahead of analysts’ expectations, forecast this quarter’s and the year’s results ahead of estimates, and said it would split the CEO role between its chairman and [...]

NetApp Plunges 25%: FYQ4 Beats, Q1 View Weak

Tiernan Ray — Wed, 23 May 2012 20:46:13 +0000

Shares of enterprise storage equipment vendor NetApp (NTAP) are down $8.17, or 25%, at $24.69 in late trading after the company this afternoon reported fiscal Q4 revenue ane earnings per share that topped analysts’ expectations, but forecast this quarter’s revenue and profit per share well below expectations. Revenue in the three months ended in April [...]

Pandora Jumps 14%: FYQ1 Beats; Year View Tops Consensus

Tiernan Ray — Wed, 23 May 2012 20:25:46 +0000

Shares of internet radio purveyor Pandora Media (P) are up 98 cents, almost 10%, at $11.31 up $1.41, or almost 14%, at $11.74 after the company this afternoon reported fiscal Q1 revenue that topped consensus and a much smaller-than-expected net loss per share. The company forecast this quarter in line with estimates but projected the [...]