Cree Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) Tumbles; CFO Leaving For Same Job At Extreme Networks

Atlanta, GA 5/22/12 (StreetBeat) -- Cree Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) shares are falling hard Tuesday morning after the LED lighting company announced that CFO John Kurtzweil has resigned effective yesterday to take the CFO job at Extreme Networks, a networking equipment company.

At Extreme, Kurtzweil will succeed interim CFO Jim Judson.

At Cree, on an interim basis he will be replaced by Michael McDevitt, who has been corporate controller. The company has hired Russell Reynolds to conduct a search for a permanent replacement. Kurtwell will remain an employee of the company until June 15 to assist with the transition.

“The decision to leave Cree was a very difficult one for me as the past six years have been personally rewarding,” Kurtzweil said in a statement. “At this point in my career, however, I decided to move to Extreme Networks, a smaller firm where I can have a more hands-on role in growing the business.”

Investors always hate CFO transition, and this one is no exception: CREE is down $3.77, or 13%, to $25.32.

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Sector Snapshot for Energy Efficient LED Lighting Stocks; CREE, LEDS

New York, NY 2/29/2012 (StreetBeat) – Investorideas.com, a leader in renewable energy stock research for independent investors, issues an investor podcast sector snapshot for renewable energy stocks trading in the energy efficient LED lighting sector for February 28th.

Stocks covered include Cree, Inc. l (NASDAQ:CREE), a maker of LED lighting technologies and SemiLEDS Corporation (NASDAQ:LEDS), a developer and manufacturer of LED chips and LED components.

Research more energy efficient stocks on global stock exchanges –and up to 1300 renewable energy stocks at Investorideas.com

Investorideas.com was on the of the first investor sites covering investing in water and renewable energy stocks and has become a global go-to destination for investors researching the cleantech sector, with stock directories, company news, commentary from experts, research reports and industry resources and links. Investors can follow solar stocks commentary on our site with solar expert, J. Peter Lynch.

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Top Large Cap Tech Stocks

The following is a list of large-cap tech stocks. Judging by their earnings results relative to analyst estimates over the last year, it's clear that these tech giants are being underestimated by analysts.

To create this list, we started with a universe of large-cap tech stocks. We the collected earnings surprise data on all these stocks, and narrowed down the list to the companies that have the highest average earnings surprise rate over the last year.

How long will their winning streak continue, and how long until the good news fully priced in? Details below.

The list has been sorted by the average earnings surprise over the last year.

1. SanDisk Corp. (SNDK): Semiconductor Industry. Market cap of $8.89B. The company has outperformed analyst earnings estimates by an average of 72.46% over the last year. Short float at 7.38%, which implies a short ratio of 1.42 days. The stock has gained 75.68% over the last year.

2. Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO): Internet Information Providers Industry. Market cap of $21.05B. The company has outperformed analyst earnings estimates by an average of 63.54% over the last year. Short float at 4.77%, which implies a short ratio of 2.34 days. The stock has gained 0.62% over the last year.

3. Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT): Semiconductor Equipment & Materials Industry. Market cap of $16.54B. The company has outperformed analyst earnings estimates by an average of 62.43% over the last year. Short float at 1.8%, which implies a short ratio of 1.22 days. The stock has lost -2.75% over the last year.

4. Activision Blizzard, Inc. (ATVI): Multimedia & Graphics Software Industry. Market cap of $14.01B. The company has outperformed analyst earnings estimates by an average of 39.81% over the last year. Short float at 4.1%, which implies a short ratio of 2.02 days. The stock has gained 0.78% over the last year.

5. United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC): Semiconductor Equipment & Materials Industry. Market cap of $7.46B. The company has outperformed analyst earnings estimates by an average of 38.52% over the last year. Short float at 0.39%, which implies a short ratio of 3.75 days. The stock has lost -22.43% over the last year.

6. Apple Inc. (AAPL): Personal Computers Industry. Market cap of $275.65B. The company has outperformed analyst earnings estimates by an average of 33.25% over the last year. Short float at 1%, which implies a short ratio of 0.47 days. The stock has gained 45.17% over the last year.

7. Autodesk, Inc. (ADSK): Technical & System Software Industry. Market cap of $8.02B. The company has outperformed analyst earnings estimates by an average of 27.25% over the last year. Short float at 3.98%, which implies a short ratio of 2.86 days. The stock has gained 30.67% over the last year.

8. Intuit Inc. (INTU): Application Software Industry. Market cap of $15.1B. The company has outperformed analyst earnings estimates by an average of 25.43% over the last year. Short float at 1.98%, which implies a short ratio of 1.44 days. The stock has gained 56.72% over the last year.

9. Teradata Corporation (TDC): Diversified Computer Systems Industry. Market cap of $6.51B. The company has outperformed analyst earnings estimates by an average of 21.49% over the last year. Short float at 0.96%, which implies a short ratio of 0.93 days. The stock has gained 29.27% over the last year.

10. Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI): Wireless Communications Industry. Market cap of $20.36B. The company has outperformed analyst earnings estimates by an average of 19.99% over the last year. Short float at 3.82%, which implies a short ratio of 49.79 days. The stock has gained 17.99% over the last year.

11. Garmin Ltd. (GRMN): Scientific & Technical Instruments Industry. Market cap of $5.68B. The company has outperformed analyst earnings estimates by an average of 19.53% over the last year. Short float at 16.84%, which implies a short ratio of 13.09 days. The stock has lost -3.13% over the last year.

12. Intel Corporation (INTC): Semiconductor Industry. Market cap of $117.58B. The company has outperformed analyst earnings estimates by an average of 17.64% over the last year. Short float at 0.96%, which implies a short ratio of 0.78 days. The stock has gained 6.09% over the last year.

13. Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (MXIM): Semiconductor Industry. Market cap of $6.61B. The company has outperformed analyst earnings estimates by an average of 17.05% over the last year. Short float at 7.69%, which implies a short ratio of 6.35 days. The stock has gained 24.8% over the last year.

14. Flextronics International Ltd. (FLEX): Printed Circuit Boards Industry. Market cap of $5.29B. The company has outperformed analyst earnings estimates by an average of 16.8% over the last year. Short float at 2.61%, which implies a short ratio of 2.95 days. The stock has lost -5.6% over the last year.

15. Dolby Laboratories Inc. (DLB): Diversified Electronics Industry. Market cap of $7.21B. The company has outperformed analyst earnings estimates by an average of 16.61% over the last year. Short float at 7.3%, which implies a short ratio of 5.51 days. The stock has gained 48.84% over the last year.

16. Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. (ASX): Semiconductor Equipment & Materials Industry. Market cap of $5.47B. The company has outperformed analyst earnings estimates by an average of 16.42% over the last year. Short float at 0.29%, which implies a short ratio of 4.12 days. The stock has gained 0.22% over the last year.

17. Agilent Technologies Inc. (A): Scientific & Technical Instruments Industry. Market cap of $12.2B. The company has outperformed analyst earnings estimates by an average of 16.19% over the last year. Short float at 1.68%, which implies a short ratio of 1.79 days. The stock has gained 18.83% over the last year.

18. Avago Technologies Limited (AVGO): Semiconductor Industry. Market cap of $5.89B. The company has outperformed analyst earnings estimates by an average of 16.11% over the last year. Short float at 4.45%, which implies a short ratio of 2.6 days. The stock has gained 53.08% over the last year.

19. Cree Inc. (CREE): Semiconductor Equipment & Materials Industry. Market cap of $6.11B. The company has outperformed analyst earnings estimates by an average of 16.07% over the last year. Short float at 21.78%, which implies a short ratio of 4.68 days. The stock has gained 18.11% over the last year.

20. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): Application Software Industry. Market cap of $218.76B. The company has outperformed analyst earnings estimates by an average of 16.06% over the last year. Short float at 0.94%, which implies a short ratio of 1.14 days. The stock has lost -13% over the last year.