LargeCap Stocks to Watch Today

Tomahawk, WI 4/19/2012 (StreetBeat) -- Microsoft (MSFT), the giant software maker, is seen by analysts Thursday posting fiscal third-quarter earnings of 57 cents a share on revenue of $17.18 billion.

The stock has risen nearly 20% this year. It releases Windows 8 later in 2012.

Bank of America (BAC) is expected by analysts Thursday to post first-quarter earnings of 12 cents a share on revenue of $22.51 billion.

The stock has risen 60% in 2012, making it the biggest gainer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Analysts are calling for Morgan Stanley (MS) to post-quarterly earnings of 45 cents a share, down from profit of 46 cents a year earlier.

Analysts see revenue of $7.31 billion, down from $9.49 billion last year.

DuPont (DD), the chemicals maker, is seen posting quarterly profit of $1.55 a share on revenue of $11.21 billion.

Other Dow components reporting Thursday are Travelers (TRV) and Verizon (VZ).

American Express (AXP), the credit card company, reported quarterly earnings Wednesday of $1.26 billion, or $1.07 a share, in the March-ended period, on revenue net of interest expense of $7.61 billion. Analysts were expecting profit of $1 a share on revenue of $7.57 billion.

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LinkedIn IPO Priced at $42-$45 per Share

Oxford, MS 5/17/2011 (PennyPayDay) -- LinkedIn Corp, which runs a social network for professionals, said the pricing of its initial public offering was increased by 30 percent, as investors clamour to ride the social networking wave.

The new pricing range of $42-$45 per share, up from a previously expected $32-$35, values the 9-year old company at a little over $4 billion.

At about 17 times LinkedIn's 2010 revenue, the IPO is still cheap compared with 78 times for Renren Inc, the Chinese site often likened to Facebook and which made a successful U.S. debut earlier this month.

LinkedIn doubled its revenue last year to $243.1 million and posted a net income of $15.4 million.

Companies like Facebook, Twitter, Groupon and Zynga have whetted investor appetite and made social media one of the hottest sectors around. Their shares, traded in markets for private investors, command multi-billion-dollar valuations.

On its debut, Renren soared 29 percent, but the stock has since dropped to below its IPO price amid investor apprehension over accounting issues and fears of China's strict regulations.

Of the 7.84 million shares LinkedIn is offering, 4.83 million will come from the company and the rest from some of its stockholders.

Shares owned by LinkedIn co-founder and ex-PayPal executive Reid Hoffman, who is among those stockholders selling shares in the IPO, would represent about 21.7 percent of voting power after the offering.

Other big stakeholders offering shares include Goldman Sachs, McGraw-Hill Companies Inc and Bain Capital Venture Integral Investors LLC.

Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and JPMorgan are among the bookrunners for the LinkedIn IPO.

(Reporting by Sweta Singh in Bangalore; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy and Ian Geoghegan)

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