Posted Jun 30th 2009 4:00PM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: After the bell, General Electric (GE), Market matters, Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM)

This morning's trading was looking solid enough and had enough overseas support with gains in Europe that it seemed as though we were going to have a rock solid end to one of the best performing quarters in years.
The Russell trade and the quarter-end failed to help. A
quiet ISM-prelude from Chicago Purchasing Managers was one thing, but a weak consumer confidence took the wind out of the sails of the bulls. The good news is that shares managed to close off their lows, but it still wasn't an up day. Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 8,448.06 -81.32 (-0.95%)
S&P 500 919.47 -7.76 (-0.84%)
Nasdaq 1,835.04 -9.02 (-0.49%)
Top Analyst UpgradesTop Analyst DowngradesContinue reading Closing Bell: The great day that could have been... (APOL, BRCM, ELX, GE, GERN, VICL)
Posted Apr 27th 2009 2:00PM by Brent Archer
Filed under: Major movement, Earnings reports, Deals, Good news, Law, QUALCOMM Inc (QCOM), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Options, Technical Analysis
Qualcomm (NASDAQ:
QCOM -
option chain) shares are rising today despite a
weak earnings report this morning after the company agreed to pay
$891 million to
Broadcom (NASDAQ:
BRCM) to dismiss all pending lawsuits between the two companies. The $891 settlement was not as high as the figure some analysts had feared QCOM would have had to pay BRCM. Plus, this dispute has been raging for quite some time with no end in sight, so a cessation of hostilities should be good for both companies. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on QCOM.
QCOM opened this morning at $42.35. So far today the stock has hit a low of $42.30 and a high of $44.59. As of 11:40, QCOM is trading at $43.78, up $2.42 (5.8%). The chart for QCOM looks bearish and
S&P gives QCOM a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell ranking.
Continue reading Is the Qualcomm-Broadcom dispute finally settled?
Posted Apr 23rd 2009 10:40AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Google (GOOG), Yahoo! (YHOO), Apple Inc (AAPL), eBay (EBAY), Intel (INTC), Market matters, International Business Machines (IBM), Nokia Corp. (NOK), Best Buy (BBY), Corning Inc (GLW), Sun Microsystems (JAVA), Oracle Corp (ORCL), QUALCOMM Inc (QCOM), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Cramer on BloggingStocks
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: It's go with the flow on tech stocks
Posted Apr 23rd 2009 10:20AM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Apple Inc (AAPL), International Business Machines (IBM), Morgan Stanley (MS), BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), QUALCOMM Inc (QCOM), Analyst initiations, Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Teva Pharm Indus ADR (TEVA)
Analyst upgrades:
- Jefferies upgraded Brocade (NASDAQ: BRCD) to Buy from Hold on expectations expanding OEM partnerships, new products and entry into new markets will drive long-term growth. The firm's channel checks indicate the first phase of an IBM (NYSE: IBM) deal for ethernet products will be announced next week. Jefferies raised its target price on the stock to $6 from $3.50.
- JMP Securities upgraded Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) to Market Perform from Underperform citing the potential settlement with Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM). The firm said Broadcom has far more to gain than Qualcomm has to lose.
- Citigroup upgraded Air Products (NYSE: APD) and Praxair (NYSE: PX) to Buy from Hold on expectations that an improvement in customer operating rates will benefit gas companies. The firm raised its target price on Air Products to $70 from $55 and on Praxair to $79 from $63.
- Royal Bank of Scotland upgraded BP Plc (NYSE: BP) to Buy from Hold to reflect its dividend yield at current levels.
- Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) was raised to Outperform from Underperform at RBC Capital.
- T. Rowe Price (NYSE: TROW) was upgraded at Sandler O'Neill to Hold from Sell.
- Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) was lifted to Neutral from Underperform at Banc of America/Merrill.
Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: QCOM, AAPL, IBM, BP, MS, VMW, TVA ...
Posted Apr 22nd 2009 1:20PM by Laurie Pasternack
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Caterpillar (CAT), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), Dean Foods (DF), US Airways Group (LCC), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Analyst initiations, Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Gilead Sciences (GILD), Andersons Inc (ANDE)
Analyst upgrades:
- Merriman upgraded Dendreon (NASDAQ: DNDN) to Buy from Neutral on expectations shares will react positively to the full IMPACT data release on April 28. The firm thinks Provenge could represent the first cancer immunotherapy approved in the U.S. and raised its valuation range on the stock to $33-$34 from $18-$19.
- Piper Jaffray upgraded Andersons (NASDAQ: ANDE) as it believes the valuation is attractive, investor expectations are low, and the company's fertilizer and rail segments could recovery in FY10. The firm has a $19 target on shares. Goldman upgraded the auto sector to Neutral from Cautious and added Ford (NYSE: F) to its Conviction Buy list. The analyst does not believe Ford will have to declare bankruptcy and sees the company benefiting from Chrysler share declines and GM's (NYSE: GM) reduced product offerings. Ford's price target is $6
- Banc of America/Merrill upgraded U.S. Airways (NYSE: LCC) to Buy from Underperform.
- Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
- Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.
Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: DNDN, ANDE, the auto sector, DGX, MTB, ADVS, ITG, MF and PCLN
Posted Apr 21st 2009 10:00AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Market matters, International Business Machines (IBM), Bank of America (BAC), Sun Microsystems (JAVA), Oracle Corp (ORCL), Texas Instruments (TXN), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Wells Fargo (WFC), Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the good developments in the space got lost yesterday amid all the hubbub over banks. We are so focused on the endless one-time gains at
Bank of America (NYSE:
BAC) (
Cramer's Take) that made the quarter look better than it should that we forgot about some other obvious positives that were occurring right before our eyes. I am talking about tech, and tech mergers and tech earnings.
No, I am not minimizing the problems of the banks -- did anyone think that Ken Lewis would choose to show a loss if he had a chance, as the bears seemed to urge? I am saying that when you have both
Oracle (NASDAQ:
ORCL) (
Cramer's Take) and
IBM (NYSE:
IBM) (
Cramer's Take) interested in something that we thought was worth very little just a few weeks ago --
Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ:
JAVA) (
Cramer's Take) -- when you have
Broadcom (NASDAQ:
BRCM) (
Cramer's Take) interested in buying
Emulex (NYSE:
ELX) (
Cramer's Take) -- another left-for-dead tech company -- and when you have
Texas Instruments (NYSE:
TXN) (
Cramer's Take) saying inventories are lean, mostly because of Asian demand, you are not getting a picture of despair.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Don't miss this moment in tech
Posted Mar 26th 2009 1:40PM by Todd Harrison
Filed under: Earnings reports, Research in Motion (RIMM), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Tech for the rest of us, Technology
This post was written by Minyanville contributor Sean Udall. Sean holds position in RIMM, VMW, SUPX.
- Goldman Sachs upgraded Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM)saying to buy in front of EPS. I couldn't agree more and in fact was going to say that today. Be that as it may, I doubled my RIMM long into yesterday's weakness and plan to hold into/through EPS report. My quick take is that RIMM could have one of the better reports relative to all the negative analyst actions and commentary in tech and the overall market.
- One of my themes for this upcoming EPS season is to look for stocks that have had the most negative analyst commentary coming into the quarter, as no one these days is looking at things like Price/Sales, Price/Book or Price to normalized earnings.
Continue reading Early thoughts on the tech sector
Posted Feb 13th 2009 12:00PM by Mitch Tuchman
Filed under: Motorola (MOT), Ciena Corp (CIEN), Corning Inc (GLW), Alcatel-LucentADS (ALU), QUALCOMM Inc (QCOM), ETF Investing, Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM)
The old adage to new investors has always been to invest in something that you use or believe in. Right now, you're probably reading this online and there's a good chance you got online through a broadband connection, so why not invest in the companies that continue to supply equipment for the growth of the broadband revolution?
The exchange-traded fund (ETF) Broadband HOLDRs (NYSE: BDH) is a great way to invest in the broadband industry without having to select one company. BDH consists of about 22 companies that develop, manufacture and market products and services that facilitate the transmission of data, video and voice more quickly and efficiently than traditional telephone line communications.
Continue reading ETF Stocks: Use BDH for a play on broadband technologies
Posted Jan 30th 2009 4:05PM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: Amazon.com (AMZN), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Boston Scientific (BSX), Procter and Gamble (PG), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Juniper Networks (JNPR)

Today was just another negative day at the office after yesterday. It felt as though we were trying to hold on when we saw a four day winning streak, but in this market it seems we constantly get reminded that good news is a brief thing.
Today's GDP was worse than a 3% drop year over year, but the economists were looking for worse than 5%. Everyone is fixated on the "bad bank" hopes, and it seems that realities will trump hopes in the end. So things still went from soft to ugly over the course of the day. Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 8,000.94 -148.07 (-1.82%)
S&P 500 825.90 -19.24 (-2.28%)
Nasdaq 1,476.42 -31.42 (-2.08%)
Top Analyst UpgradesTop Analyst DowngradesContinue reading Closing Bell: DJIA challenges 8,000, again ...
Posted Jan 29th 2009 3:00PM by Todd Harrison
Filed under: Earnings reports, Industry, QUALCOMM Inc (QCOM), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Technology
This post was written by Minyanville contributor Sean Udall.
Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) reports tonight and it is getting hit due to the poor report from Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM). QCOM lowered guidance quite a bit -- in fact, enough that I likely may not have to worry much about QCOM for the next couple quarters. Low $30's would present solid value.
Getting back to BRCM, I still feel it is one of the few must own chip names. I think it has enough innovation and diversification to avoid the 35-40% sequential reductions I am seeing from many in the chip space. However, I also think a lowering of the bar is priced into BRCM's shares and anything less than a disaster should keep the stock above $16.50 (assuming we avoid another shock down to the whole market). Anything around that level ($16.50) and lower would have me adding the shares. I've taken gains recently in trading shares and am hoping to add BRCM back on just a bit more weakness.
Continue reading Chipmaker earnings and other top tech news
Posted Jan 29th 2009 2:30PM by Brent Archer
Filed under: Major movement, Earnings reports, Industry, QUALCOMM Inc (QCOM), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Options, Technical Analysis
Broadcom (NASDAQ:
BRCM -
option chain) shares are declining today ahead of the company's fourth-quarter earnings report after the market closes. Analysts are looking for a profit of 27 cents per share on revenue of $1.07 billion, down from last year's Q4 of 50 cents per share.
BRCM has beaten estimates four quarters running, but is down almost 5% today.
That dip is in part to investors' concern about weak earnings in this environment, but also due in part to competitor
Qualcomm (NASDAQ:
QCOM), which reported yesterday after the close
earnings that missed estimates, plus a big charge for investment losses. However, revenues beat analyst expectations, which was one ray of hope for the industry as a whole.
Put option prices on Broadcom should be inflated today with the combination of BRCM being down big already and earnings this evening, so I am actually looking at a bullish trade with a good deal of downside protection on BRCM.
Continue reading Broadcom (BRCM) Q4 earnings preview
Posted Dec 9th 2008 8:57AM by Allan Halprin
Filed under: Google (GOOG), Apple Inc (AAPL), Wal-Mart (WMT), Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Sony Corp ADR (SNE), Money and Finance Today, Abbott Laboratories (ABT), , Boeing Co (BA), , CVS Corp (CVS), FedEx Corp (FDX), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Gilead Sciences (GILD), Kraft Foods'A' (KFT)
Continue reading Stocks to buy in a recession, 8 questions to auto bailout answered & 5 retailers bucking the slump - Today in Money 12/9
Posted Nov 7th 2008 4:00PM by Steven Mallas
Filed under: Earnings reports, Microsoft (MSFT), Nokia Corp. (NOK), QUALCOMM Inc (QCOM), Texas Instruments (TXN), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Technology
Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM), a famous name in the wireless industry whose colleagues include Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), Texas Instruments Incorporated (NYSE: TXN), and Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK), reported earnings for the fourth quarter on Thursday. While the stock may be up today, I'm not so sure I'd be a buyer of it.
It's not that the bottom-line numbers were wholly bad. Net profit rose 16% to roughly $1.1 billion. Earnings per diluted share on an adjusted basis increased 17% to $0.63. According this news source, that figure beat estimates by three pennies. That's all well and good, but that news source also states that Qualcomm is guiding below consensus. Not surprising, certainly, given what the markets are going through. But it still puts a damper on the stock's near-term potential, in my opinion. Plus, free cash flow was down 13% during the quarter, and it was flat for the twelve-month period.
Except for certain companies like Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), I'm not really interested in playing the tech sector. If you had purchased Qualcomm near its 52-week low of $30.87, I'd be a seller into today's strength. No, I certainly can't predict the movement of stock prices, but I can tell you that I think Qualcomm could easily pull back from today's rally. The recession is going to worsen, and I don't think we've reached the point where the market will begin to discount better days. In fact, we're probably far off from that point. The rally that is going on in the markets as I write this (and by the time this gets published, it could be gone for all I know) feels like a dead-cat bounce. That wouldn't be good for Qualcomm's stock, I'd imagine. So, kudos to management for beating Q4 expectations. But I won't be rewarding you by buying your stock. Sorry!
Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.
Posted Nov 3rd 2008 5:52PM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Analyst reports, Apple Inc (AAPL), Research in Motion (RIMM), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Marvell Technology Group (MRVL)
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:
AAPL), according to one analyst,
may be cutting iPhone production for the fourth-quarter. Yes, you read right. Despite the looming shopping season, the analyst believes the economy would have more of an impact on shopper as we slide further into a recession, affecting iPhone sales.
Friedman Billings Ramsey analyst Craig Berger also covers
Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM), Marvell Technology (NASDAQ:
MRVL) and the likes -- companies that supply Apple with iPhone components. He regularly checks into Apple's supply chain and he consequently now thinks production of the 3G iPhone could fall by as much as 40% in the calendar fourth quarter sequentially. Last time he ran his checks, he suggested a 10% drop. The analyst further said that this is an indication on how the global slowdown is affecting even high-end consumers.
This comes not long after Apple has reported financial results, boasting a 26% rise in quarterly profit thanks to growth in iPhone sales -- Apple sold 6.89 million iPhones during the quarter, outpacing
Research in Motion (NASDAQ:
RIMM) and
capturing 2.3% of the phone market. Apple also said iPhone builds remained healthy.
Still, there is no denying Apple is not immune to macroeconomic conditions. If the analyst is right, it looks like the slowdown has finally touched the tech darling and is going to hurt demand for its products evern more going further. While
another analyst suggested the production "cut may not be as bad as it sounds if Apple had already ramped up delivery of the iPhone to countries outside the United States," it certainly doesn't paint a pretty picture either.
Investors have not reacted much to the news today as Apple shares closed down 0.59% at $106.96, but perhaps the 46% punishment year-to-date has been enough so far.
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