Beware This Tech-Tonic Shift In The Global Technology Sector

by Tony Daltorio, Investment U Research

If you’re betting on a recovery in technology stocks based on third quarter earnings reports from companies such as IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), you’re not alone.

While economists and commentators debate the issue, many investors have already placed large bets on a V-shaped recovery for the tech sector.

They have some good reason to think so too, since the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite has risen 70% from its March lows. The problem is, they’re expecting “business as usual” in the industry… meaning they think spending will pick up the way it did in the 1990s.

Kris Gopalakrishman, CEO of Indian tech giant, Infosys (Nasdaq: INFY) – a company in the Xcelerated Profits Report portfolio – sees it differently,

...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 30, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Moody’s (MCO), Microsoft (MSFT), Fannie Mae (FNM), Freddie Mac (FRE) and ExxonMobil Corporation (XOM).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Thursday’s AnalystBlog:

GDP Notes – In Depth

With massive amounts of space sitting idle in offices and empty strip malls littering the landscape, look for new investment in commercial real estate to continue to decline in coming quarters. Moody’s (MCO) has estimated that the value of commercial real estate has plunged by

...

LSI Corp. (LSI) yesterday reported revenues of $578 million in the third quarter, down 19% year over year but up 11% sequentially. The sequential improvement in revenues was driven by increased shipments of mid range storage systems and server rated solutions. IT spending showed clear signs of improvement in the quarter as data centers needed to add storage capacity to meet demand for data storage in management while also taking advantage of newer server technology.

Semiconductor revenues came in at $371.6 million, up 8% sequentially but down 25.7% year over year. Storage Systems revenues came in at $206.6 million, up 16.8% sequentially but down 3.4% year over year.

Gross margins came in at 45.5%, an increase of 340 basis points from the previous quarter and exceeded management’s guidance range by 50 basis points.

Net income jumped to $119 million from a net income of $7 million in the previous quarter and

...

Senior strategist Dirk van Dijk, CFA has issued notes on this morning's GDP numbers. These notes will be published in two separate blogs -- Growth Rates and Contributions to Growth. The recession is over! In the third quarter, GDP grew by 3.5%, comfortably ahead of expectations for 3.0% growth. This is a huge improvement over the 0.7% decline in the second quarter and the 6.4% plunge in the first quarter. The internals of the report were strong as well, although it appears that much of the growth came from things like the "Cash for Clunkers" (C4C) program and the extraordinary levels of support that are currently being given to the housing sector. I will first go over the percentage growth rates for the main components of GDP, and then how much each part contributed (or subtracted from the 3.5% growth rate). This is probably the ...

One great thing about my position here as Director of Marketing is my extensive contact list. I say that because I have access to thousands of excellent traders, investors, and economists at my finger tips! So when things around the world catch my attention, I can quickly find someone who can give me the skinny on what’s really going down. One of my contacts is Nicholas Vardy, Editor, The Global Guru, and he’s got a MUCH better pulse on the world aboard then I do. That’s why I asked him to give us his reasons why the markets outside the US are doing so well and WHY!

He told me he’d love to get feedback from the Trader’s Blog readers, so let’s not let him down! You can also visit The Global Guru to get his new report on his favorite global picks.

====================================================================

Make Your Fortune from the

...

After sliding for two successive days, stocks managed to find some footing and ended Thursday with impressive gains as companies from McDonald’s to PNC Financial reported solid quarterly earnings.  A mixed bag of economic reports notwithstanding, the Dow average once again scaled the 10,000 mark as components Travelers Cos, 3M Co., and AT&T Inc. posted stronger-than-expected results.

Investors, looking for bargains, picked up financial shares as many banks noted lower loan losses.  Travelers (NYSE:TRV) surged almost 8% after reporting a three-fold jump in quarterly profit.  Travelers, together with McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD), led the Dow average higher.  AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), also a Dow component, rose 0.6% after reporting better-than-expected profit.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 132 points, or 1.3%, to close at 10,081.31 and the S&P 500 index rose 11 points, or 1%.  The tech-heavy NASDAQ, limited by late-session, downward guidance from eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY), gained 14 points, or 0.7%.

The

...

In a filing with the SEC, Sun Microsystems Inc. (JAVA) announced to cut its headcount by 3,000 or 10% over the next 12 months, given the delay in getting European Commission clearance for its merger with Oracle Corp. (ORCL).  Sun said that the job cuts will affect all of the company’s major regions, including North America, Europe, Asia and emerging markets. The company expects to incur $75 – $125 million in restructuring charges over the next several quarters. The company said it will record the majority of the charges in the second and third quarters of fiscal 2010.  Oracle, the largest software company, had proposed the acquisition of Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion ($9.50 a share), which has been slowed by an ongoing antitrust review in Europe and the company is still waiting for clearance by the European Commission.  The delay in approval from the ...

Dr Stock Pick HOT News & Alerts!

_________________________________________

FREE Daily Stock Alerts From DrStockPick.com

_________________________________________

Tuesday October 20, 2009

DrStockPick.com Stock Report!

BAC, PSFT, PWRM, SO, CSRH, NYX, CVAT, ATVI, AQNM

**************************************************************

BAC, Bank of America Corporation

BAC is one of the world’s largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services.

BAC today announced a strategic alliance with Avjet Corporation, a leading aviation services provider based in Southern California, providing preferred financing terms for clients who finance their aircraft through BAC and take advantage of the business aircraft management services of Avjet.

**************************************************************

PSFT, Powersafe Technology Corp., PSFT.PK

POWERSAFE

...

Companies featured in this edition of the newsletter: CHIP, ENZ, GERS, IWEB, OMCM, ONEZ, XSNX

Markets hit fresh highs for ‘09 yet again last week, as the first round of earnings helped to assuage investor concerns that operating results would underpin robust gains in equities this year. All told, the Dow gained 130 points to end the week at 9995 after briefly cracking the 10,000 mark, gaining 1.3% on the week and extending its gains to 13.9% on the year. The Nasdaq gained 0.8% on the week to close at 2156, up 36.8% on the year, while the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 gained 1.5% and 0.2% respectively, bringing their YTD totals to 20.4% and 23.4%.

Earnings stole the spotlight last week as things got off to a strong start early with JP Morgan handily beating expectations calling for $0.51 per share, reporting earnings of $0.82 per share. Citigroup

...

A bit of selling pressure sent major averages lower at the end of an otherwise upbeat week on Wall Street as Bank of America and General Electric’s numbers disappointed investors.  The Dow Jones industrial average, after closing above the 10,000 mark for two successive sessions, finished just below that level.  Despite the drop, stocks managed to post impressive gains on the week even as investors grew jittery about credit losses in the financial sector. 

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) said it lost $2.2 billion during the quarter after it wrote down almost $10 billion in bad loans and General Electric’s (NYSE:GE) revenue numbers were below Street projections.  Higher loan losses aggravated investors’ concerns as Citigroup (NYSE:C) and JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) had also reported higher loan losses during the quarter.  General Electric’s (NYSE:GE) results were impacted by lower earnings at its GE Capital unit.    

The 30-share Dow Jones industrial average fell

...