BloggingStocks

Why you must learn short selling to survive this market

Timothy Sykes — 2008-06-23T09:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Google (GOOG), Apple Inc (AAPL), General Electric (GE), Exxon Mobil (XOM), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Anheuser-Busch Cos (BUD), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Technical Analysis, Stocks to Sell

Don't know where the market is headed? Some people think a full blown crash is possible; some believe this is a good time to buy while others just don't know what to believe. Well, I just don't care and neither should you.

Because if you're like me, you've learned to take everything one high percentage profit trade at a time, whether you're betting on higher or lower prices. That's right, I'm talking about easy individual market inefficiencies like THIS.

As for the markets a whole, it's the same pathetic guessing game it'll always be, filled with plenty of "gurus" with polished-sounding theories where only a few truly brilliant hedge fund managers guess correctly with the rest of us just trying not to pull a Bill Miller (look foolish).

After all, none of the market leaders such as Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG), Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) nor even Exxon-Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM) and General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) have charts worthy of investing your hard earned capital. (And as a side note I must scream a big fat "I told you so!" to the people who bought GE in the low $30s as a dividend play)

Sure, stocks including Sprint Nextel Corp (NYSE: S), Skyworks Solutions Inc (NASDAQ: SWKS) and Broadcom Corp (NASDAQ: BRCM) might have bottomed (which I'm overly proud to have called in THIS article back in April), but blue chips like JP Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and Pfizer Corp (NYSE: PFE) have charts that make investors want to drink heavily. (Maybe that's why Anheuser-Busch Cos. (NYSE: BUD) is getting takeover offers!)

That is, unless you're a short seller, which sadly far too few of you are as you somehow believe the profiting off others' failures to be un-American or not for you. Well, I've got a purely American message for you: it's only unpatriotic to refuse to learn a strategy and ignore wide open profit opportunities.

Companies will continue to fail, financial firms will continue to stink up the joint-everybody's paying for years of excess-and it doesn't look like it's going to be over anytime soon.

That's why I encourage you to learn about short selling, if you're willing to keep an open mind, visit my blog, and you'll see why I'm loving this bear market as my portfolio is now up 58% in the last few months.

Timothy Sykes writes the blog timothysykes.com, is a former hedge fund manager, star of the TV show Wall Street Warriors and author of the book, An American Hedge Fund: How I Made $2 Million as a Stock Operator & Created a Hedge Fund

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Midyear investment guide, fat paychecks for oil CEOs & square milk at Wal-Mart - Today in Money 6/17

Allan Halprin — 2008-06-17T08:01:00+00:00

Filed under: Wal-Mart (WMT), Ford Motor (F), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Money and Finance Today, Anheuser-Busch Cos (BUD), Applied Materials (AMAT), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), Valero Energy (VLO), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM)

In the News:

· Warren Buffett Said to Back InBev's Bid for Anheuser-Busch

· Fed Not Likely to Raise Interest Rates at Next Week's Meeting

· Goldman Sachs Close to $7 Billion SIV Deal

· Midwest Floods Could Impact the Cost of Your Coke & Burger

· L.A, Philly & Other Cities Helping Residents Facing Foreclosure

· Ford to Idle SUV Plant for 2 Months as Sales Slump

· 'Soul Train' to Get New Life as Don Cornelius Sells Classic Franchise

· Broadcom Co-Founder Pleads Not Guilty to Drugging Cohort, Highing Prostitues & More

· Feds Believe Missing Hedge Fund Swindler on the Run

Midyear Investment Guide
It wasn't smooth sailing for stocks in the first half of 2008. Is it time to jump back in? SmartMoney sets out to find the most promising midyear investments. They zeroed in on the sectors that were hit hardest over the past 12 months. The result: stocks whose better days should be ahead of them. They include Valero Energy, Applied Materials, International Paper to name a few.
SmartMoney's Midyear Investment Guide - SmartMoney.com

Oil CEOs: High Prices, Fat Paychecks
Energy chief executives got raises last year much bigger than in other industries. Was it pay for performance-or pay for high oil prices?
Oil CEOs: High Prices, Fat Paychecks - BusinessWeek

Wal-Mart Pushes Square Milk
Get ready to pour your milk out of a square jug. Wal-Mart sustainability chief says the giant retailer is pushing harder than ever to go green. And so - like concentrated laundry detergent, environmentally-friendly cleaning products and compact fluorescent light bulbs, all of which are being pushed by Wal-Mart - square milk jugs are likely to find their way into tens of millions of American homes.
Square milk and mulch from old tires - FORTUNE

Has the Electric Car's Time Finally Come?
Backed by U.S. venture capital, Norwegian startup Think is betting its Ox concept vehicle can prove that the electric car's time has finally come.
The Electric Car Lives - BusinessWeek

Real-Life Families Who Cut Out Their Credit Cards
At one time Suzi and Terry Tolliver charged everything: gas, dinners, wedding expenses. And they had a $70,000 credit-card bill to show for it.They could handle the minimum payments, but the debt was weighing them down. Now that they've stopped using credit cards and gotten out from under their debt they're becoming parents for the first time, adopting twin boys from Vietnam. The adoption is expensive, $25,000, but they're paying for it in cash. See how they and 9 other families decided it was time to break their bad plastic habits. Here's how they did it.
They cut out their credit cards - The Tollivers (1) - CNNMoney.com

Best-Paid Bench Warmers
Which pro athletes do the least for the most? Here's a rundown of whose playing time and contributions don't jibe with their salary status within their league.
The Best-Paid Bench Warmers - Forbes.com

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Tech Vibes

Todd Harrison — 2008-06-16T15:58:00+00:00

Filed under: Apple Inc (AAPL), Adobe Systems (ADBE), Electronic Arts (ERTS), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Tech for the rest of us, Technology, Green Stocks, NASDAQ

Editor's Note: This post comes courtesy of Sean Udall, a wise player in the tech field. For more, visit www.minyanville.com.

Interesting article on Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone "potential" teardown. Implications are that the 3G iPhone will carry higher margins than previous model. We will see shortly and I still expect Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) to benefit from the actual teardown.

Speaking of Broadcom, the company got the all clear on a patent infringement deal with SiRF Technology Holdings (NASDAQ: SIRF) and I like the emerging technical setup on BRCM.

Elsewhere, Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) reports today and has been a solid tech name this year, really many years for that matter. I don't expect any big surprises.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) is at the William Blair growth conference. Gaming sales were reported strong again last week. This is probably a cheap solid grower but I prefer the growing online gaming model, I've discussed on the Buzz in the past.

SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWR) was upgraded this morning and presenting at an Alternative Energy conference on Wednesday. I was going to trade this again but the analyst action is spiking the stock today.

Evergreen Solar's (NASDAQ: ESLR) shareholder and analyst meetings is scheduled this week and I'm thinking this could fuel bullish action.

Regarding Comverge (NASDAQ: COMV) and EnerNOC (NASDAQ: ENOC), I overheard some bullish comments on these stocks on CNBC this morning. I've discussed COMV on the buzz previously and ENOC is their sister company. Both companies offer technology solutions for managing the power grid more efficiently and I think both stocks are cheap emerging growth stocks.

Position in BRCM, ESLR, COMV.

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Broadcom (BRCM) slips on TXN warning

Brent Archer — 2008-06-10T15:49:00+00:00

Filed under: Major movement, Bad news, Industry, Texas Instruments (TXN), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Options, Technical Analysis

Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) shares are falling after Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) warned that weak demand for cell-phone chips could hurt TI's second-quarter earnings. TXN is off by about 2%, but since BRCM specializes in communications chips, it is taking a bigger hit from the bad news. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on BRCM.

After hitting a one-year high of $43.07 in October, the stock hit a one-year low of $16.38 in March. This morning, BRCM opened at $27.00. So far today the stock has hit a low of $26.13 and a high of $27.00. As of 1:10, BRCM is trading at $26.69, down $1.01 (-3.7%). The chart for BRCM looks bullish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy rating.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a July bear-call credit spread above the $32.50 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 4.2% return in six weeks as long as BRCM is below $32.50 at July expiration. Broadcom would have to rise by more than 21% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

BRCM hasn't been above $30 since October and has shown resistance around $29 recently. This trade could be risky if the company's earnings (due out in mid-July) are a positive surprise, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by resistance BAC might find around $29, where it topped out twice in the past month.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.

DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in BRCM or TXN.

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iPhone 2.0 takes on world, banks vs. consumers & next real estate crisis near - Today in Money 6/7

Allan Halprin — 2008-06-06T09:29:00+00:00

Filed under: Apple Inc (AAPL), Wal-Mart (WMT), Money and Finance Today, Bank of America (BAC), Best Buy (BBY), Amer Intl Group (AIG), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM)

In the News:

· May Unemployment Rate Jumps to 5.5%; Largest 1-Month Rise in 22 Years

· Americans Are $1.7 Trillion Poorer as Household Net Worth Sinks

· Oil Prices See Biggest 1 Day Rise in History

· Broadcom Ex-CEO Charged With Slipping Executives Ecstasy Drug, Cocaine Warehouse

· Bank of America Wins Approval to Buy Countrywide

· Home Foreclosures Soar to New Record

· AIG Faces SEC Probe on Subprime Mortgages

· Wal-Mart Trying to Best Best Buy?

· Former Heavyweight Champ Evander Holyfield's Mansion Under Foreclosure

Banks vs. Consumers (Guess Who Wins)
The business of resolving credit-card disputes is booming. But critics say the dominant firm favors creditors that are trying to collect from unsophisticated debtors.
Banks vs. Consumers (Guess Who Wins)

iPhone 2.0 Takes on the World
Apple could launch its new iPhone in 64 more countries by yearend, deepening the company's reach in international markets.
iPhone 2.0 Takes on the World - BusinessWeek

The Next Real Estate Crisis
By April, 2009, hundreds of thousands of option ARM mortgages will begin resetting, bringing on a fresh wave of foreclosures.
The Next Real Estate Crisis? - BusinessWeek

Tips for Unloading Your Gas-Guzzling SUV
If you're trying to unload an SUV or a large pickup in favor of a fuel-efficient sedan, the market has put you between the proverbial rock and a hard place. What do you do about getting rid of that big SUV?
Tips for unloading a gas-guzzling SUV - Bankrate.com

Ticket Broker Secrets
Buying tickets to concerts and sporting events has gotten more complicated in recent years. Ticket brokers are using the additional options to take advantage of unsuspecting buyers. Here is what you need to know before you buy your next ticket.
10 Things Your Ticket Broker Won't Tell You - SmartMoney.com

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Before the bell: WMT, AAPL, VZ, TM, AMAT, GE ...

Melly Alazraki — 2008-06-06T08:22:00+00:00

Filed under: Before the bell, Apple Inc (AAPL), General Electric (GE), Wal-Mart (WMT), Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), AT and T (T), Applied Materials (AMAT), Research in Motion (RIMM), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Verizon Communications (VZ), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM)

Before the bell: Futures steady ahead of payroll report

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is holding its annual shareholder meeting Friday.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs will deliver his keynote speech Monday June 9 and may unveil then an iPhone that works with third-generation, or 3G, wireless networks, which are much faster than current AT&T (NYSE: T)'s network as Apple tries to lure business users from Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) BlackBerry users and reach more international customers. If the iPhone was at first positioned as a consumer phone, the business segment is too lucrative to avoid, not to mention that many overseas customers are used to 3G networks.

Verizon Wireless has agreed Thursday to buy Alltel Corp. for $5.9 billion, which would make it by far the largest cellular carrier in the U.S. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) and Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ). The deal comes just seven months after Alltel was taken private by TPG Capital and a unit of Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS). Together, they would have some 80 million subscribers, surpassing AT&T (NYSE: T)'s 71 million.

In quite an odd indictment, not often seen in white-collar investigations, federal prosecutors may have not only charged Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III in one of the largest stock-option backdating cases in U.S. history, but also with drugging his business associates, hiring prostitutes and maintaining a drug warehouse that grabbed headlines. Spiking drinks with ecstasy??? How bizarre is that? Defense attorney Gregory Craig said the only thing a defense attorney can say, that Nicholas was innocent and would prevail.

In deal news, chip equipment manufacturer ASM International (NASDAQ: ASMI) said it received an unsolicited offer of $400 million to $500 million for two of its business units from Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT). Shares of ASM up were higher Dutch trading.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE)'s NBC-TV unit nearly sold out its inventory of ads for the coming fall season, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) "has developed a new fuel cell hybrid, a green car powered by hydrogen and electricity, that can travel more than twice the distance of its predecessor model without filling up, the automaker said Friday."

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Closing bell: Retail and tech ignore woes and oil gains

Jon Ogg — 2008-06-05T16:09:00+00:00

Filed under: Wal-Mart (WMT), Ciena Corp (CIEN), Verizon Communications (VZ), Contl Airlines'B' (CAL), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM)

Shares were higher today after the weekly jobless claims were reported as 357,000, down 18,000 from last week. While new claims are down, the four week average of those filing for benefits was up to 3.086 million, the highest level since March 2004. The good news is that the markets largely ignored that S&P downgrade of bond insurers today. The stock market even ignored a $5.00 rise per barrel in oil today. Here are the unofficial closing levels today:

DJIA 12,598.10 (+207.62)
S&P500 1,403.30 (+26.10)
NASDAQ 2,549.94 (+46.80)
10YR-TNote 4.03% +(0.09%)
52-WEEK LOWS
TOP 10 ANALYST CALLS

Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) was an example of just how strong today was by being up almost 3% at $28.90 late in the day. If you read trough the co-founder and former CEO's indictment charges you might think shareholders would have gone the other way.

Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) was the disappointment of the day. The company was up early on after beating earnings, but it slid lower after its call and shares were down a sharp 8% at $27.97 in the final minutes of the day.

Continental Airlines Inc. (NYSE: CAL) announced it was cutting capacity and would shed about 3,000 jobs. Its shares were up almost 5% at $15.20 in the final minutes of the day.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) confirmed that Verizon Wireless was acquiring Alltel and its 13+ million wireless subscribers for some $28.1 Billion, and shares were up over 5% at $39.01 in the final minutes today.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was up 3.5% to $59.71 after the company posted strong same store sales gains on the day. The one issue this highlights is the "trading down" in America.

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Analyst initiations: IBM, ENTR and FARO

Eric Buscemi — 2008-05-23T11:20:00+00:00

Filed under: Analyst reports, International Business Machines (IBM), Analyst initiations, Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM)

MOST NOTEWORTHY: IBM, Entropic Comm and FARO Tech were today's noteworthy initiations:

BMO Capital is positive on IBM (NYSE: IBM) given the company's reduced pension and stock buyback, opportunity to increase the mix of software, new mainframe cycle, and the company's diverse revenue stream. Shares were initiated with an Outperform rating and $138 target.
Merriman views Entropic Comm (NASDAQ: ENTR) as a core holding for investors seeking exposure to the rapidly growing home networking market and finds the current valuation attractive; the firm started shares with a Buy rating.
Friedman Billings assumed FARO Tech (NASDAQ: FARO) with an Outperform rating and $42 target. The firm expects FARO's secular growth to drive sales as the company's products meet the needs of the largest emerging market for software-based manufacturing measurement systems.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

Oppenheimer initiated MedAssets (NASDAQ: MDAS) with a Perform rating and $20 target.
Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) was initiated at Baird with a Neutral rating and $29 target.
LoopNet (NASDAQ: LOOP) was assumed with an Equal Weight rating and $15 target at Stephens.

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Earnings highlights: Microsoft, Yahoo!, Apple, Amazon, Texas Instruments and others

Trey Thoelcke — 2008-04-26T14:40:00+00:00

Filed under: Earnings reports, Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), Apple Inc (AAPL), Amazon.com (AMZN), AT and T (T), Netflix, Inc. (NFLX), QUALCOMM Inc (QCOM), Electronic Data Systems (EDS), Texas Instruments (TXN), Huaneng Power Intl ADS (HNP), EMC Corp (EMC), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Level 3 Communications (LVLT)

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) profits rose 30%, easily beating analysts' expectations.
AMETEK Inc. (NYSE: AME) beat Q1 estimates on global strength and recent acquisitions.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) easily beat Q2 expectations but offered a weak outlook.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) posted strong Q1 results thanks to the popularity of the iPhone.
Baidu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) beat earnings and saw an upgrade from Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C).
Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) Q1 profit soared, and it raised its guidance.
Cymer Inc. (NASDAQ: CYMI) beat Q1 estimates and announced a share million buyback program.
Electronic Data Systems Inc. (NYSE: EDS) posted Q1 profits on cost cutting and new contracts.
EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) Q1 earnings fell on on acquisition-related charges.
Hexcel Corp. (NYSE: HXL) beat Q1 estimates on increased commercial aerospace sales.
Huaneng Power ADS (NYSE: HNP) earnings plunged on coal prices, but the stock went higher.
Level 3 Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) narrowed its loss on higher sales of networking services.
McAfee Inc. (NYSE: MFE) Q1 profit plunged on product development and marketing costs.
MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR) missed analysts' estimates for the first quarter.
Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) beat earnings expectations and raised its full-year guidance.
Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) profit soared in the first quarter on increase in subscriptions.
Nintendo Co. (OTC: NTDOY) posted record results due to the popularity of the Wii system.

optionsXpress Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: OXPS) reported solid results in the first quarter.
Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) reported mixed results for the second quarter but raised its guidance.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) Q1 earnings rose 40%, in line with analysts' expectations.
VMware Inc. (NASDAQ: VMW) posted strong earnings and offered a positive outlook.
Vocus Inc. (NASDAQ: VOCS) reported its 35th consecutive quarter of revenue growth.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) beat Q1 estimates, helping it to face Microsoft.

Also, Jim Cramer discusses "crummy lenders" and Sheldon Liber takes a closer look at Amazon.com's results. Joseph Lazzaro considers Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) as a barometer of the economy. One analyst thinks financials may have hit bottom and it may be time to buy, and Jon Ogg looks at what short sellers are making of tech stocks. Ted Allrich discusses what to sell/what to buy.

Upcoming results to watch for include Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN), CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS), Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC), U.S. Steel Corp. (NYSE: X), Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), General Motors (NYSE: GM), Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT), Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), and Chevron (NYSE: CVX).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

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10 crushed stocks that look to be rebounding

Timothy Sykes — 2008-04-24T10:47:00+00:00

Filed under: Good news, Sprint Nextel Corp (S), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Technical Analysis, Level 3 Communications (LVLT), China Life Insurance ADS (LFC), Stocks to Buy

Way back in early March I highlighted 10 horrifically downtrending stocks and said not to even think about buying them until they broke their nasty trendlines to the upside.

Over the past few weeks, many have displayed solid sideways price action, but it wasn't until yesterday that the high volume breakouts occurred. I'm talking about those 50+ million shares traded, 10%+ price surges beautifully accomplished by such popular names like Sprint Nextel Corp (NYSE: S), Broadcom Corp (NASDAQ: BRCM) and Level 3 Communications Inc (NASDAQ: LVLT).

Unsurprisingly, several other stocks also showed similarly strong price action:

RF Microdevices Inc (NASDAQ: RFMD)
Anadigics Inc (NASDAQ: ANAD)
Skyworks Solutions Inc (NASDAQ: SWKS)
Triquint Semiconductor Inc (NASDAQ: TQNT)
China Life Insurance Co. Ltd (NYSE: LFC)
Raymond James Financial Inc (NYSE: RJF)
Cerner Corp (NASDAQ: CERN)

Hold on, hold on, before you get too excited and spend all the cash sitting in money market funds, understand that this is just the first step in any potential major reversal. I doubt any of these stocks will go straight up as there are still plenty of bitter long-term investors who'd like to cut their losses into any bounce. So, think back to the lessons taught by the now-decade-old-but-still-great movie Contact: "Small moves Ellie, small moves."

For now, just keep a closer eye on all these plays -- stalk them as if they were your prey. If I'm right, short sellers are going to start covering en mass and that should help increase the odds for a gradual price rise over the next few weeks and months.

Timothy Sykes writes the blog timothysykes.com, is a former hedge fund manager, star of the TV show Wall Street Warriors and author of the book, An American Hedge Fund: How I Made $2 Million as a Stock Operator & Created a Hedge Fund

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Qualcomm's earnings and litigation factors keep me away from the stock

Steven Mallas — 2008-04-24T08:08:00+00:00

Filed under: Earnings reports, Nokia Corp. (NOK), QUALCOMM Inc (QCOM), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM)

I just checked out Qualcomm's (NASDAQ: QCOM) earnings report that was released after the bell on Wednesday -- there's nothing in there that screams "buy me!"

For the company's fiscal Q2, revenues increased 17% to about $2.6 billion. Not too bad on the top line, I suppose. The bottom line, however, didn't see fit to reach for the double-digit growth crown -- diluted earnings per share, with adjustments, rose 8% to $0.54. Furthermore, free cash flow declined by 29% on a year-over-year basis. Now, let's focus our gaze at the pro forma forecast -- Qualcomm is looking for a potential decrease in Q3 earnings per share, perhaps on the order of between 5% and 9%. Okay, that's just the next quarter -- surely the fiscal year will be better, right? Not really. At best, the full-year earnings per share number will increase 4%, and at worst, you can look for a tiny little increase of 1% (that was an improvement over previous guidance, I'll give management that).

I'll pass on Qualcomm. Not only do these growth rates fail to intrigue me, but the company has been involved in litigation with Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) and Nokia (NYSE: NOK), as Douglas McIntyre discussed last month. I like to avoid companies with litigation issues that can possibly exert a negative influence on a stock's potential to rise. Perhaps when Qualcomm has its legal house in order, I'll take another look.

Disclosure: I don't own shares in any of the companies mentioned here; positions can change at any time.

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Closing Bell: Winners trump losers on earnings: ABK, BA, LVLT, VMW ...

Jon Ogg — 2008-04-23T16:24:00+00:00

Filed under: Boeing Co (BA), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Level 3 Communications (LVLT)

Shares closed mostly higher today, although this was more of a mixed day between the haves and the have-nots. Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) managed to keep earnings inline with estimates and were not bad considering the weak airline sector, so its 4.4% gain to $82.09 was a huge relief for the DJIA today. Below are the unofficial closing levels for major US index levels:

DJIA 12,767.21 (+46.98; +0.37%)
S&P 500 1,380.23 (+4.29; +0.31%)
NASDAQ 2,403.45 (+26.51; +1.12%)
10YR-Bond 3.73% (0.01)
52-week lows.

Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: ABK) posted losses that were wider than expected. It showed losses of $1.7 billion and $11.69 per share and a $3.1 billion in subprime charges. The company sells insurance policies that repay bondholders if issuers default. The 52-week range is $4.50 - $96.10. Shares hit a new low today, and traded down over 40% at $3.45 in the final minutes of trading.

MBIA Inc. (NYSE: MBI) dropped dramatically after Ambac's worse-than-expected earnings report. The rivals are expected to be hit hard by the wave of defaults it insures due to the subprime credit crisis. The two have been struggling to raise capital to cover losses and have suffered downgrades to their credit ratings. MBI shares were down 32% at $9.00 in the final minutes today.

Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) reported a 22% increase in profit with a net income of $74.3 million and $0.14 EPS. The chipmaker had positive guidance for the second quarter and the year. Shares were up over 15% at $27.28 in the final minutes today.

Cree (NYSE: CREE) reported earnings of $5.7 million and $0.06 EPS Tuesday after the market close. Revenues rose by 29%. The earnings were 73% lower than first quarter last year, however, those earnings were boosted by a one-time gain. Shares traded down over 15% at $26.25 in the final minutes today.

Level 3 Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) losses narrowed when it reported its earnings this morning. The smaller losses are credited to higher sales of its networking services. The company generated a loss of $181 million, or $0.12 per share, compared to $647 or $0.44 per share in the first quarter of 2007. The company also restated its positive outlook for next quarter. Shares traded up over 20% at $2.90 in the final minutes today.

Safeco. (NYSE: SAF) jumped after a $6.12 billion offer from Liberty Mutual. Liberty offered $68.24 per share. The merger will make Liberty Mutual the fifth largest property insurer in the U.S. Pending regulatory and shareholder approval, the deal is expected to close by the end of the third quarter. Shares were up 45% at $65.94 in the final minutes today.

VMware, Inc. (NASDAQ: VMW) was up after posting strong earnings and a positive outlook. The company generated a net income of $43 million and $0.11 EPS compared to $41 million and $0.12 EPS first quarter 2007. The revenue growth was fueled by a 73% increase in software license sales and a 62% increase in services revenue. The company also reported a positive outlook, however, many analysts are hesitant to upgrade because the stock is already highly valued. Shares were up 12% earlier today, but shares were "only" up about 5% at $60.93 in the final minutes of trading today.

Jon Ogg is an editor and producer of the "10 Stocks Under $10" weekly newsletter from 247WallSt.com.

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Pre-market movers: VMW, BRCM, ABK ...

Douglas McIntyre — 2008-04-23T07:52:00+00:00

Filed under: Before the bell, Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM)

Sirtris Phamaceuticals (NASDAQ: SIRT) is up 80% on a takeover offer from GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK).

VMWare (NYSE: VMW) is up over 13% on strong earnings.

Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) is up over 8% after announcing a strong quarter.

Ambac (NYSE: ABK) is off over 15% after posting a large loss.

Stocks may trade differently in the pre-market than they do in the regular session.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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A lesson in how stocks bottom

Timothy Sykes — 2008-03-25T11:00:00+00:00

Filed under: eBay (EBAY), Starbucks (SBUX), AT and T (T), Sprint Nextel Corp (S), Comcast Cl'A' (CMCSA), KB HOME (KBH), Toll Brothers (TOL), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Technical Analysis, Stocks to Buy

No matter how hard I promote my core strategy of short selling surging microcaps, the sheer volume of emails asking me about when slumping blue chips like Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX), Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) and Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) will bottom is astounding.

So, this is my answer to you guys. I'm also going to throw in Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and Ebay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) because they all share the same horrifically downtrending charts!

I've already written about how you should avoid these kinds of stocks, but I know many of you are already down too much to even contemplate getting out now. Luckily for you, there now looks to be a glimmer of hope.

I'm not going to try to call a bottom or for any major market rebound-the odds of that happening aren't very great-but it's definitely a good sign when similarly hard hit stocks like Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA), KB Home (NYSE: KBH) and Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL) stop going down.

And, that's how these things work. No sharp reversals. No about faces, just some sideways action and higher highs. Look at KB Home's chart-it's a picture perfect trend reversal (now if it could just break $30, it'll really be a nice breakout, but let's not get ahead of ourselves). But do understand bottoming in these market conditions is a multi-attempt and usually a multi-month process-filled with plenty of fakeouts.

Timothy Sykes writes the blog timothysykes.com, is a former hedge fund manager, star of the TV show Wall Street Warriors and author of the book, An American Hedge Fund: How I Made $2 Million as a Stock Operator & Created a Hedge Fund

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Qualcomm's (QCOM) case keeps getting worse

Douglas McIntyre — 2008-03-20T08:38:00+00:00

Filed under: Industry, Law, Nokia Corp. (NOK), QUALCOMM Inc (QCOM), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM)

Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) lost a patent ruling against rival Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM). That was some time ago. It prevents Qualcomm from selling certain chips in the US. That hurts its profits and makes its handset partners very unhappy.

Things got worse for the wireless chip company. An appeals court turned down its request to temporarily start selling the chips again. According to The Wall Street Journal, "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, without providing details, ruled Tuesday that Qualcomm had not met its burden of proof to win a stay pending appeal of the injunction."

Qualcomm's bad patent habits have it in court cases against its largest customer, Nokia (NYSE: NOK), as well as Broadcom. That creates a nightmare for shareholders.

Although handset sales may be slowing a bit. Qualcomm has a wonderful business providing chips and software to the industry. That franchise took its stock from $15 less than five years ago to $53 in mid-2006. Disputes with customers and rivals have helped push that share price down to under $38.

With the new court ruling,Qualcom's share price is likely to stay down a lot longer.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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The trend is your friend (or enemy): 20 stocks to watch

Timothy Sykes — 2008-03-12T10:58:00+00:00

Filed under: eBay (EBAY), Starbucks (SBUX), Motorola (MOT), Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Merrill Lynch (MER), Alcatel-LucentADS (ALU), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Technical Analysis, Gilead Sciences (GILD), Kinross Gold (KGC), SanDisk Corp (SNDK), Stocks to Buy, Stocks to Sell

Last week, I wrote one article about 10 stocks making new 52-week highs and another about 10 stocks making new 52-week lows. Gold, oil and steel plays made up the majority of stocks making new highs while technology and finance companies were the ones plummeting.

Both articles gave some very basic rules on how to spot reversals while recommending investors cut their losses quickly and let their winners run. And, both articles were released mid-week around the same time of day. Yet the article about stocks making new lows turned out to be more than seven times as popular!

Why do you think that is? Sure, they're slightly more actively traded, but I believe investors are not comfortable buying into or holding commodity plays because they've already gone up so much. But they're perfectly willing to go down with the ship on blue chip brokers and technology plays, sometimes even doubling and worse, tripling up because they're invested in such "quality companies."

If I'm right, as Cher would say, snap out of it! Forget those bubble years of the past; technology -- and certainly financial -- won't be making exponential comebacks anytime soon. The trend is your friend until the trendline breaks -- oh yes, technical analysis works because it pertains directly to your investment's value. Fundamental analysis is all well and good in the long run, but it won't save you from potentially mammoth short-term losses!

I'm listing all 20 stocks, good and bad, because nothing much has changed since. Yes, some stocks have dropped and bounced a bit, but the overarching trends remain intact. So, you suffering longs have no choice but to click these strange stocks to see what uptrending charts look like, and you trend-following investors who are loving life can laugh while you see how the other half lives.

Uptrending = Good!

Downtrending = Bad!

Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM)
Sandisk (NASDAQ: SNDK)
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM)
Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER)
Citigroup (NYSE: C)
Motorola (NYSE: MOT)
Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S)
Ebay (NASDAQ: EBAY)
Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU)
Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX)

Timothy Sykes writes the blog timothysykes.com, is a former hedge fund manager, star of the TV show Wall Street Warriors and author of the book, An American Hedge Fund: How I Made $2 Million as a Stock Operator & Created a Hedge Fund

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Broadcom (BRCM) falls on weak Marvell (MRVL) outlook

Brent Archer — 2008-03-07T14:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Major movement, Earnings reports, Forecasts, Bad news, Industry, Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Options, Technical Analysis, Marvell Technology Group (MRVL)

Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) stock is falling after fellow chip manufacturer Marvell (NASDAQ: MRVL) indicated an outlook for the first quarter of this year that investors did not like the looks of. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on BRCM.

After hitting a one-year high of $43.07 in October, the stock has hit a new one-year low today. This morning, BRCM opened at $17.75. So far today the stock has hit a low of $17.35 and a high of $18.73. As of 12:30, BRCM is trading at $17.66, down 93 cents (-5.0%). The chart for BRCM looks bearish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy rating.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a May bear-call credit spread above the $22.50 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make an 8.7% return in two and a half months as long as BRCM is below $22.50 at May expiration. Broadcom would have to rise by more than 27% before we would start to lose money.

BRCM hasn't been above $22.50 since January and has shown resistance around $20 recently. This trade could be risky if the economic situation turns around, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by resistance BRCM might find at its 50 day moving average, which is currently around $23 and falling.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.

DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in BRCM.

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How I would play these 10 horrifically downtrending stocks

Timothy Sykes — 2008-03-05T12:48:00+00:00

Filed under: eBay (EBAY), Starbucks (SBUX), Motorola (MOT), Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Sprint Nextel Corp (S), Merrill Lynch (MER), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), SanDisk Corp (SNDK), Stocks to Sell

Ahhh, big losers. They exist in every market environment but only show their true colors during bear markets such as this. The only people interested in them are those investors who have lost a ton stubbornly holding for far too long, short sellers who are loving life right now, and those who are looking to bottom fish. I understand the short sellers perspective -- it's a truly great feeling to profit off those sadly naïve or eternally optimistic investors -- but to the other two groups, I say, you aren't playing the odds.

That's right, no matter the company, products, potential, industry or their "long-term value," I'd never be caught invested in any stock whose chart looks like that of:

Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM)
Sandisk (NASDAQ: SNDK)
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM)
Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER)
Citigroup (NYSE: C)
Motorola (NYSE: MOT)
Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S)
Ebay (NASDAQ: EBAY)
Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU)
Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX)

Because I cut my losses quickly before they can cut me sharply. Repeat that phrase over and over until you follow it every time. It all comes down to discipline. Those who have it make money, those who do not, do not. Do not be one of those do notters. It's so important a lesson; I cover it often in blog posts like this.

And experience tells me it's infinitely more difficult for stocks making new lows to turnaround anytime soon -- especially without breaking their perfectly downtrending chart patterns first -- than it is to profit by buying stocks breaking out to new highs

My advice to short sellers: ride your gains. Stubborn longs: cut your losses already and learn to cut them sooner next time. And bottom fishers: draw some rudimentary trendlines and don't buy until the stock breaks above them.

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Analyst upgrades: POT, CSG and ZRAN

Laurie Pasternack — 2008-02-05T09:46:00+00:00

Filed under: Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Good news, Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (POT)

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Potash, Cadbury Schweppes and Zoran were today's noteworthy upgrades:

Citigroup upgraded shares of Potash (NYSE: POT) to Buy from Hold and raised its target to $178 from $141 to reflect their expectation for a more bullish outcome from the ongoing China Potash contract negotiations.
Cadbury Schweppes (NYSE: CSG) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan to reflect the company's takeout potential and cash returns.
Oppenheimer raised its rating on Zoran (NASDAQ: ZRAN) to Outperform from Perform on valuation, as they believe the recent weakness is overdone.

OTHER UPGRADES:

Pep Boys (NYSE: PBY) was upgraded to Market Weight from Underweight at Thomas Weisel.
JMP Securities upgraded Actuate (NASDAQ: ACTU) to Strong Buy from Outperform.
Goldman raised Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) to Buy from Neutral.

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Intel (INTC) spreads its wings

Douglas McIntyre — 2008-02-04T09:45:00+00:00

Filed under: Launches, Industry, Intel (INTC), QUALCOMM Inc (QCOM), Texas Instruments (TXN), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM)

It would be nearly impossible to argue that Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) has not been one of the most successful tech companies of the last 25 years. It has about 75% of the PC and server chip market.

Intel's problem has been getting beyond computer chips and successfully selling products for other devices. It has watched Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) and Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) make huge strides in handset chips market.

Intel is making another push into portable devices [subscription required]. According to the Wall Street Journal, the company is starting to market chips for devices "that are between the size of a cellphone and a laptop computer."

Intel may wish it had stayed in the PC market. Aside from TI and Qualcomm, Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) has had real success with its products for handsets. All of these other companies have contracts with handset and portable companies as well as proven products.

Being big may not work for Intel this time.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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