• Priceline.com (NASDAQ:PCLN) reported adjusted third quarter earnings of $3.45 a share, 55 cents above consensus estimates, on better-than-expected revenues of $730.7 million, ahead of estimates of $$693.97 million on strong summer season travel. The firm provided fourth quarter guidance at about $1.06-$1.16

• Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS) said it plans to cut 1500 additional jobs. The firm reported second quarter adjusted earnings of 6 cents, a one penny miss, on revenues of $1.15 billion, which slightly topped Street projections of $1.12 billion. The firm forecast 2010 earnings of $0.70-$1.00, topping estimates of 89 cents on revenues of $4.2-$4.4 billion versus estimates of $4.26 billion

• Cadbury (NYSE:CBY) rejected the latest Kraft (NYSE:KFT) bid calling it "derisory"

• Moody's (NYSE:MCO) commented that AIG (NYSE:AIG) will be able to repay its Federal loans

• Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) lifted its growth expectations for the semiconductor group following release of third quarter numbers. Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) remained its first

...

Xilinx, Inc. (XLNX) recently reported sales of $415.0 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2010. The result was down 14% year over year but up 10% sequentially, exceeding management's guidance range of revenue growth between 2% and 6%.

Sales growth in the September quarter was driven by strength in all end markets and geographic regions. New Product sales increased 36% sequentially during the quarter.

In particular, sales of Virtex-5 (one it's new products) recorded outstanding growth and exceeded 20% of the total sales after ironing out supply issues from the previous quarter. The company expects to resolve all supply issues by the December quarter and inventory should return to normal levels.

Europe and Japan posting the strongest growth of 15% and 26% respectively. Strength in Japan was driven by consumer and communications applications, while growth in Europe was related to a broader base of end markets, including communications, industrial, and

...

Stocks meandered at the start as uncertainty over the quarterly results this week kept investors from building positions.  Jittery investors, wanting to see more sings of an economic revival, sold off financial stocks after influential analyst Meredith Whitney downgraded shares of Goldman Sachs.  Whitney also lowered her earnings outlook for Bank of America and Citigroup.  Although late morning saw some strength, stocks struggled to stay afloat and ended the day mixed.   

Gains in commodity prices helped some mid-session buying in energy and material shares but the overall weakness in financial and healthcare stocks kept sentiment in check.  Shares of UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH) and Aetna Inc. (NYSE:AET) fell more than 3% as the Senate Finance Committee approved an $829 billion plan to overhaul the U.S. health system.  Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) fell 2.4% after the company reported revenue that was below the Street expectations.  However, the company reported higher

...

Lattice Semiconductor Corporation (LSCC) reported second quarter results that beat the consensus revenue and earnings estimates by 9.6% and 3 cents, respectively. The peer group consists of Xilinx (XLNX), which missed by 5 cents, and Altera Corporation (ALTR), which reported in-line. Another logic player, Actel Corporation (ACTL) is expected to disappoint, as the company is seeing weakness in a particular product line.  Revenue of $46.9 million was up 8.2% sequentially and down 19.2% year over year. The sequential increase was driven by the Chinese communications business and success of new products. Similar to many other semiconductor companies, such as Linear Technologies (LLTC) and Intersil Corporation (ISIL), Lattice also benefited from strength in the computing and consumer markets. These two end markets generated 12% and 14% ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – July 22, 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: Texas Instruments (TXN), Xilinx (XLNX), Cypress (CY), Altera (ALTR) and Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT).

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 Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

Texas Instruments Beats Easily

On July 20, 2009, Texas Instruments (TXN) reported results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2009 ending June 2009. Both the top and bottom lines were well over initial consensus estimates.

Management stated that channel inventories declined 10% in the second quarter, and customer

...

TI reports strong second quarter, expects continued growth off a smaller base On July 20, 2009, Texas Instruments (TXN) reported results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2009 ending June 2009. Both the top and bottom lines were well over initial consensus estimates. Management stated that channel inventories declined 10% in the second quarter, and customer lead times stretched out on some products. This does not come as a surprise, since a few of the other companies generating significant sales from communications customers are seeing similar conditions: Xilinx (XLNX), for example, experienced supply constraints, and was unable to service demand. Cypress (CY) management was of the opinion that restocking activity had not yet impacted the company’s business. Altera’s (ALTR) reported flattish inventory at distributors and extended lead times. The company expects lead times to return to normal levels over the next ...

On July 16 2009, Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (CY) reported results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2009 ending June 2009. Both the top and bottom lines beat consensus and our estimates. Revenue for the quarter was $155.8 million, up 11.8% sequentially and down 25.7% year over year. The Consumer and Computation (CCD) and Data Communications (DCD) divisions were up double-digits, while the Memory and Imaging Division (MID) was flat sequentially. Revenue was over the top end of management’s guidance range of $145-153 million (up 4-10% sequentially). The company shipped 112 million units in the last quarter (up 14.3%), and the average selling price (ASP) declined 2.8% to $1.39. The blended ASP declined 2.2% to $1.39. The CCD segment generated 40% of revenue (up 20% sequentially), DCD 16% (up 25%) and MID 42% (flat). While all end markets registered growth, there was particular strength in ...

Altera Corp. (ALTR) is expected to report quarterly financial results on July 14. The San Jose, California-based company designs, manufactures and markets a broad range of high-performance, high-density programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs).

The company earlier updated its guidance for the second quarter of fiscal 2009. As demand from OEMs providing equipment for Asian 2G and 3G wireless networks remains strong, management reiterated its prior guidance for quarterly sales that indicates a 2% – 7% sequential growth.

The main drivers for growth in Q2 are new products. Sales of 65-nanometer devices are up sharply, while sales of the company's 40-nanometer devices are on track to double from first-quarter levels, as projected by the management. Altera expects Stratix IV to continue its revenue ramp and management forecasts $3 million in revenue in Q2 and close to $10 million

...

Six Dow components are scheduled to report as large-cap stocks dominate the first big week of earnings season. The 6 companies are Bank of America (...

While industry statistics indicate that the wireless phone market is declining globally, emerging markets like China and India are helping handset makers to more than compensate the loss. Users in these countries can now have more data-intensive services on their mobile phones, such as video call and film download through the high-speed 3G networks. China will invest approximately $58 billion in 3G networks over the next three years.

The Chinese government completed the first phase of its plan to upgrade the nation's wireless infrastructure to 3G networks in January 2009. Licenses were issued to the country's largest telecom companies, China Mobile Ltd (CHL), China Unicom Ltd (CHU), and China Telecom Corp (CHA), to build and provide the nation's premier high-speed wireless networks.

The three Chinese players plan to spend over $20 billion this year alone rolling out the initial phases of their 3G deployments.

...