LargeCap Stocks to Watch Today

Tomahawk, WI 7/23/12 (StreetBeat) -- McDonald's (MCD), the fast-food giant, is expected by analysts Monday to post second-quarter profit of $1.38 a share on sales of $6.94 billion.

Germany's Bayer and Onyx Pharmaceuticals (ONXX) said Monday that Tarceva, a jointly produced drug, in combination with Nexavar tablets for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma, a type of liver cancer, failed in further improvement of overall survival.

NRG Energy NRG said Sunday it reached a deal to buy GenOn Energy (GEN) for $1.7 billion in stock.

The merger creates the largest U.S. independent power producer.

Halliburton (HAL) is expected by analysts Monday to post second-quarter earnings of 75 cents a share on revenue of $6.93 billion.

Chipmaker Texas Instruments (TXN), according to analysts, will post second-quarter profit of 41 cents a share on revenue of $3.35 billion.

Texas Instruments posts numbers after Monday's closing bell.

Hasbro (HAS), the toy maker, is seen by analysts posting quarterly earnings on Monday of 24 cents a share on revenue of $832 million.

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LargeCap Stocks to Keep an Eye on Today

Tomahawk, WI 9/16/2011 (PennyPayDay) – BlackBerry maker Research In Motion missed quarterly revenue and profit expectations.

The company posted an adjusted profit of 80 cents a share and sales of $4.2 billion for the second quarter. That performance missed the average analysts' estimate for earnings of 87 cents a share and sales of $4.5 billion in the quarter.

Shares were plunging 18.9% to $23.95 in premarket trading Friday.

Diamond Foods said it now sees earnings of $3.05 to $3.15 a share, up from a prior outlook of $3 to $3.10 a share.

The company posted a non-GAAP profit of $11.9 million, or 52 cents a share, for its fourth quarter, with revenue coming in at $232.8 million. The average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters was for earnings of 44 cents a share in the quarter on revenue of $216.3 million.

Shares were spiking 5.1% to $82.20.

Reinsurance company Transatlantic Holdings and specialty insurance company Allied World Assurance have mutually agreed to terminate their merger agreement.

Transatlantic shares were falling 2.1% to $48.50.

Chipmaker Texas Instruments said it is lifting its quarterly dividend by 31% to 17 cents a share from its current payout of 13 cents.

Shares were up 2% to $28.26.

UBS, the Swiss bank, is expected to cut jobs at its investment bank business, the unit that was hit with a $2 billion rogue trading loss, a report said.

Shares were up 1.1% to $11.54.

The CEO of media company Gannett , Craig Dubow, is taking his second medical leave in three years.

Shares were up 0.7% to $10.15.

Goldman Sachs will shutter its flagship Global Alpha Fund after significant losses and a management shakeup, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Electrical products maker Cooper Industries cut third-quarter guidance to 94 cents to 98 cents a share, down from the previously expected forecast of 98 cents to $1.03 a share.

The company now expects full-year adjusted earnings of $3.75 to $3.82 a share, down from the previous projection of $3.80 to $3.90 a share.

Health care insurer Amerigroup revised its full-year health benefits ratio range to 83.9% to 84.9% from the previously expected range of 83.1% to 84.1%, reflecting the company's expectation of higher medical cost trends.

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Mid-day Market Update

Oxford, MS 9/9/2011 (PennyPayDay) – Stocks have moved sharply lower in early trading on Friday, succumbing to broad based selling pressure. The major averages have fallen firmly into negative territory, extending the notable downward moves seen over the course of the previous session.

Currently, the major averages are posting steep losses, just off their lows for the young session. The Dow is down 200.52 points or 1.8 percent at 11,095.29, the Nasdaq is down 30.06 points or 1.2 percent at 2,499.08 and the S&P 500 is down 16.25 points or 1.4 percent at 1,169.65.

The early sell-off on Wall Street comes as traders express skepticism about the economic impact of the proposals that President Barack Obama outlined in his highly anticipated jobs speech before a joint session of Congress Thursday evening.

Obama outlined a $447 billion package of tax cuts and new spending that includes a reduction in payroll taxes for both workers and small businesses, an extension of unemployment benefits, and an increase in spending on infrastructure projects.

Republican reaction to the remarks has been lukewarm at best, with some lawmakers criticizing Obama for rehashing old ideas that have not stimulated the economy.

Steel stocks are seeing considerable weakness amid concerns about the outlook for demand, with the NYSE Arca Steel Index sliding by 3.1 percent. Arcelor Mittal (MT) and Mechel (MTL) are turning in two of the sector's worst performances.

Notable weakness has also emerged among housing stocks, as reflected by the 2.2 percent loss being posted by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. Banking, energy, and utilities stocks are also under significant selling pressure, moving lower along with most of the major sectors.

Meanwhile, airline stocks are bucking the downtrend by the broader markets, resulting in a 1 percent gain by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. United Continental (UAL) is leading the sector higher despite reporting a 2.7 percent drop in August traffic.

Among individual stocks, shares of Texas Instruments (TXN) is trading higher even though the chip maker lowered its third quarter earnings and revenue guidance, citing broadly lower demand across a wide range of products, markets and customers.

Texas Instruments said it now expects earnings of $0.56 to $0.60 per share on revenues of $3.23 to $3.37 billion. The company previously forecast earnings of $0.55 to $0.65 per share on revenues of $3.40 to $3.70 billion.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.6 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index edged down by 0.2 percent.

The major European markets are also moving to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 2.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index are both down by 3.2 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are seeing modest strength amid the weakness on Wall Street. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 2.6 basis points at 1.96 percent.

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Will Apple Stick with Intel

Chicago, IL 5/18/2011 (PennyPayDay) -- Trend-setting products launched by Apple Inc (Nasdaq:AAPL) are a key factor in Intel Corp's (Nasdaq:INTC) plans for new processors, a senior executive of the world's top chipmaker said.

Tom Kilroy, a senior vice president at Intel, told the Reuters Global Technology Summit in New York on Wednesday that the runaway success of the iPad and other Apple products shapes how Intel thinks about future devices and the chips that will power them.

"We work very closely with them and we're constantly looking down the road at what we can be doing relative to future products. I'd go as far as to say Apple helps shape our roadmap," Kilroy said.

"Apple -- they push us hard," he said.

Apple designed its own processors for the iPhone and iPad using technology licensed from Britain's ARM Holdings (LSE:ARM.L), widely used in the mobile market.

But in its high-end MacBook PCs, which set the tone for other computer manufacturers, Apple uses powerful Intel chips. Kilroy played down suggestions that ARM processors could eventually unseat the world's top chipmaker in those premium PCs.

"Go look at the performance of those platforms. They're taking our latest and high-end end versions of second-generation core, and ARM doesn't even come close to any capability there," he said.

Kilroy would not specifically confirm whether Intel has been guaranteed a place in future MacBooks, saying that kind of announcement would be up to Apple.

Inclusion in an Apple product is seen as a major coup for electronics suppliers, given the technology icon's reputation for quality and innovation. The big sales volume of Apple products also means major revenue for component sellers.

While its processors are the brains in 80 percent of the world's PCs, Intel has struggled to adapt its chips to work well in mobile gadgets.

Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN), Samsung (005930.KS) and Qualcomm (Nasdaq:QCOM) are major players in smartphones and tablets, using ARM's technology to make processors more energy-efficient -- a key requirement for mobile devices that depend on batteries.

The market for mobile chips is still tiny compared with Intel's PC processor business, but investors expect it to grow quickly and the Santa Clara, California, company is racing to use its massive lead in manufacturing technology to catch up.

Meanwhile, Intel's core PC market is being shaken up, with long-time bedfellow Microsoft Corp (Nasdaq:MSFT) planning to make future versions of its Windows operating system compatible with ARM chips, and with manufacturers launching laptops running on Google's (Nasdaq:GOOG) new Chrome operating system.

Samsung and Acer (Taiwan:2353.TW) are using Intel's Atom chips to make laptops outfitted with Chrome, which is essentially a web browser that steers users to use applications like email and spreadsheets directly on the web, instead of storing software such as Outlook or Word directly on PCs.

"There's a lot of experimentation that goes on and we'll see how it plays out. We're eager to understand what usage models become popular," Kilroy said. "We're just happy we're the architecture of choice."

(Reporting by Noel Randewich and Poornima Gupta, additional reporting by Jim Finkle and Bill Rigby, editing by Matthew Lewis)

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Stocks to Watch Today

Home Depot, the No. 1 home-improvement retailer, said Wednesday it expects fiscal-year sales to rise 2.3% with earnings from continuing operations up 27% to $1.97 a share.Shares of the company were a tad lower at $33.46, down 0.3% in premarket trading.

Costco said fiscal first-quarter earnings rose 17% as sales at its warehouse stores jumped 11%. Shares of Costco were 0.2% lower to $69.49 in premarket trading Wednesday.

Texas Instruments tightened its fiscal fourth-quarter outlook after Tuesday's closing bell saying it now sees earnings of 61 cent sto 65 cents a share on revenue ranging from $3.43 billion to $3.57 billion. Texas Instruments shares fell 0.8% to $33.15 in premarket trading.

Fortune Brands on Wednesday confirmed reports it will break itself into three separate companies. The company, whose products include Maker's Mark bourbon whisky and Titleist golf products, said it will spin off its home and security division to shareholders, try to sell or spin off its golf products business, and continue as a public liquor company. Shares were rising in the premarket by $3.35, or 5.48%, to $64.50.

The U.S. Treasury has reached terms on the sale of the remainder of its stake in Citigroup, pricing the final 2.4 billion common shares at $4.35 each. Citigroup shares were down 0.2% to $4.61.

Men's Wearhouse, the Houston-based men's apparel retailer, forecast a much wider than expected loss for the current quarter, citing increased costs from bonus payments and medical expenses. There were no premarket quotes for Men's Wearhouse. The stock settled 0.4% higher at $28.74 Tuesday, but tumbled 8.7% to $26.24 in after-hours trading.

Netflix said Chief Financial Officer Brian McCarthy is leaving. McCarthy's departure is effective Friday, making for a rather abrupt transition for replacement David Wells, who most recently served as vice president of financial planning and analysis. Shares of the company were down 3.7% to $182.80 in premarket trading.

Orexigen Therapeutics' Contrave, the weight loss drug, has been recommended for approval by a Food and Drug Administration panel. Shares of Orexigen surged 139.7% to $11.41. Other companies also working on diet drugs include Vivus and Arena Pharmaceuticals. The stocks rose 15.4% to $9 and 11.4% to $1.57, respectively.

H&R Block posted weaker-than-expected quarterly financial results after the closing bell Tuesday. There were no premarket quotes for the stock. It settled 4.1% higher at $13.55 on Tuesday.

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iGo (NASDAQ:IGOI) in Bed with Texas Instruments and Cisco

Shares of iGo (NASDAQ:IGOI) hit a new 52-week high today running up the charts on strong third quarter results released yesterday along with an announcement today about its upcoming financial conference. In early trading, IGOI jumped 35 percent (or 79 cents) to $2.80 per share on very heavy volume of more than 1.4 million shares compared to its average daily volume of only 119,000 shares. IGOI has a market cap of $84 million and a 52-week range between $1.03 and $2.80 per share.

IGOI reported net income of $51,000, or $0.00 per share, in the third quarter of 2010, compared with net income of $318,000, or $0.01 per share, in the same quarter of the prior year.

Revenue was $12.2 million in the third quarter of 2010, compared to $9.7 million in the second quarter of 2010 and $12.0 million in the same period of the prior year.

The Company’s financial position remained strong at $31.7 million in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments, $7.3 million in working capital and no debt as of September 30, 2010.

IGOI announced an agreement with Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN) to collaboratively develop a custom integrated circuit that enables and expands market availability of efficient iGo Green Technology. Also, IGOI announced the development of a new family of accessories for Cisco's (NASDAQ:CSCO) Flip Video camera.

Shares of iGo (NASDAQ:IGOI) hit a new 52-week high today running up the charts on strong third quarter results released yesterday along with an announcement today about its upcoming financial conference. In early trading, IGOI jumped 35 percent (or 79 cents) to $2.80 per share on very heavy volume of more than 1.4 million shares compared to its average daily volume of only 119,000 shares. IGOI has a market cap of $84 million and a 52-week range between $1.03 and $2.80 per share.

IGOI reported net income of $51,000, or $0.00 per share, in the third quarter of 2010, compared with net income of $318,000, or $0.01 per share, in the same quarter of the prior year.

Revenue was $12.2 million in the third quarter of 2010, compared to $9.7 million in the second quarter of 2010 and $12.0 million in the same period of the prior year.

The Company’s financial position remained strong at $31.7 million in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments, $7.3 million in working capital and no debt as of September 30, 2010.

Michael D. Heil, President and Chief Executive Officer of IGOI, commented, “Our revenues continued to trend positively in the third quarter, driven by seasonally strong sales to RadioShack, increasing sales at new retail accounts, and higher international sales. We have also made excellent progress on the strategic plan we outlined last quarter to expand our presence in the mobile electronic device accessories market. With the acquisition of Adapt Mobile and AERIAL7, along with the development of a new family of accessories specifically designed for the popular Flip Video camera by Cisco, we have significantly expanded our product portfolio and improved our ability to drive sustainable growth in revenue and earnings.”

IGOI will present at Tech America's 40th Annual AeA Classic Financial Conference at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, California on Tuesday, November 9, 2010.

IGOI offers a full line of innovative accessories for mobile electronic devices, including a variety of proprietary power, protection and audio solutions. IGOI’s unique products allow consumers to enjoy all of the features offered by today’s mobile electronic devices by keeping those devices powered and protected at all times. In addition, IGOI’s audio and visual products offer consumers enhanced options for hearing and viewing all of the powerful multimedia functions offered by the latest mobile electronic devices to hit the market.

IGOI also offers an award-winning line of eco-friendly power solutions based on its patented iGo Green Technology which automatically eliminates wasteful and expensive standby or “vampire” power. Expanding on the company’s history of innovation, IGOI continues to regularly introduce fresh new solutions to the ever changing mobile electronics device market, making the use of such devices easier and more efficient for consumers.

For more information visit: http://www.igo.com/