SAP AG (SAP) reported third quarter of 2009 net income from continuing operations of 60 cents per share, compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 58 cents. U.S. GAAP software and software-related service revenues were €1.94 billion (previous year: €1.99 billion), a decrease of 3%. U.S. GAAP total revenues were €2.51 billion (€2.76 billion), a decrease of 9%. U.S. GAAP software revenues were €525 million (€763 million), a decrease of 31% (30% at constant currencies). In the third quarter of 2009, SAP closed major contracts in several key regions including Dagrofa/SuperGros, Prada S.p.A., SeverStal OAO, Surgutneftegaz OAO, Swiss Life AG, and Telefonica, S.A. (TEF) in EMEA; Banco Industrial S.A., ConocoPhillips (COP), Dolby Laboratories (DLB), Fairfax County, Research In Motion Limited (RIMM) and Valero Services Inc. in Americas; and APL Co. Pte. Ltd, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia, HDFC Standard Life ...

Oracle Corporation (ORCL) announced first quarter of FY2010 earnings per share of 29 cents, matching the Zacks Consensus Estimate. First quarter total revenues were down 5% year over year at $5.1 billion. New software license revenues were down 17% to $1.0 billion. Technology new license revenues were $711 million, down 19% in constant currency and down 22% in U.S. dollars. The Americas declined 11%, EMEA was down 26% and Asia declined 22%. Applications for new license revenues were $317 million, unchanged from last year on a constant currency basis, and down 4% in U.S. dollars. The Americas grew by 6%, EMEA was up 3% and Asia declined 23%. Software license updates and product support revenues were up 6% at $3.1 billion. These revenues are annual fees customers pay to receive updated versions and enhancements of their existing products. Services revenues were $909 million, down 18% in ...

In a recent press release, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), disclosed that it has acquired Ounce Labs, Inc., a privately-held company based in Waltham, Massachusetts. Software produced by Ounce Labs finds security flaws and resolves compliance issues faced by companies. It is a leading application security company and equips the customers with tools that enable them to reduce their threat exposure and avert data breach disasters.   From now on, Ounce Labs software will be offered in combination to IBM Rational AppScan family of Web application security and compliance testing solutions. This new product will offer companies a reasonable solution, which will help them to correct security vulnerabilities in applications before they go live.

We believe that IT systems are extremely vulnerable to security and compliance threats. Consequently, companies will be eager to find a cost effective solution, which can protect their application software from being invaded by outsiders.  

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Highlights include Intel Corp. (INTC), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), Motorola, Inc. (MOT), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), Sun Microsystems, Inc. (JAVA), NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA) and Broadcom Corp. (BRCM).Looking at Intel and AMD by Industry PositionIntel Corp. (INTC) is by far the largest supplier of microprocessors, motherboards and chipsets in the world. The company benefited from its initial capture of market share, and built on this position through constant innovation and versatility. The market research group iSupply Corporation provides the following market share data.The company's dominant position in microprocessors comes from its leadership in the PC market. The first company that seriously challenged its position in this space was Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), with its more competitively priced offerings in the desktop and server areas....

Nanometrics Inc. is focused on designing, manufacturing, selling and supporting process control metrology systems used in semiconductor manufacturing and compound semiconductor substrates, devices and integrated circuits. The Company’s systems monitor film thickness and dimensions that are essential to control the manufacturing process and enable semiconductor manufacturers to improve yields, increase productivity and performance, as well as lower their manufacturing costs.

Nanometrics’ metrology systems measure various thin-film properties, critical circuit dimensions and overlay registration accuracy of successive layers of semiconductor patterns on wafers in the photolithography process. The company’s metrology systems also measure electrical and material properties, including composition, crystal structure, layer thickness, dopant concentration, contamination and electron mobility.

The Company receives around two-thirds of its orders outside of the U.S. and has been selling its systems since 1977. They have retained an extensive base of industry leading customers, including Applied Materials, Dainippon Screen, Ebara Technologies, Hitachi, Hynix Semiconductor, Ebara Technologies

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With over half of its revenue (58%) coming from outside the United States, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) has been more insulated from recent weakness in the U.S. economy than many of its peers.

Further, we are encouraged with IBM’s focus on more profitable businesses, such as software and services, and exit of low-margin businesses. IBM has strengthened its position through strategic investments and acquisitions in emerging higher value segments like SOA, Information on Demand, business process services, and open modular systems.

With the strength of its global on-demand model, IBM is experiencing strong revenue growth in all geographies, with robust growth in emerging markets worldwide. Given strong performance in the first half of 2008, we maintain our Buy recommendation on the shares of IBM with our six-month target price of $140.00, which reflects a P/E multiple of 14.8x our 2009 EPS estimate.

Shares of IBM are currently trading at

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