MORNING COFFEE

Applied Materials To Buy Varian Semi. Applied Materials (AMAT) has announced that they will buy Varian Semiconductor (VSEA) $4.9 billion, or $63 a share. The offer is a 55% premium to yesterday’s closing price and will be paid from a combination of cash and debt.  In a statement Mike Splinter, chief executive of Applied Materials said “Varian is a great fit for our strategy to profitably grow share in our core semiconductor business with best-in-class technology and talent.”  VSEA Pre-market: 61.48  +20.93 (51.62%) AMAT Pre-market: 16.17 +0.93 (6.10%)

Upgrades

BlackRock (BLK): Ticonderoga raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and placed a target price of $225.00 on the company.

Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS): Oppenheimer raised their rating from Perform to Outperform and placed a target price of $50.00 on the company.

ValueClick (VCLK): Needham raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $25.00 on the company.

Downgrades

First Solar (FLSR): Collins Stewart lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

Coverage Resumed

Apple (AAPL): Oppenheimer resumed coverage with an Outperform rating and placed a target price of $450.00 on the company.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

Emerson (EMR): Oppenheimer reiterated their Outperform rating and lowered their target price from $74.00 to $71.00.

First Solar (FSLR): Brean Murray reiterated their Buy rating and lowered their target price from $181.00 to $170.00.

MasterCard (MA): Oppenheimer reiterated their Outperform rating and raised their target price from $295.00 to $315.00.

MasterCard (MA): FBR Capital reiterated their Outperform rating and raised their target price from $290.00 to $330.00.

MetroPCS (PCS): Oppenheimer reiterated their Outperform rating and raised their target price from $19.00 to $21.00.

Earning Reports

AOL (AOL): Reported Q1 EPS of $0.04 missing estimates by -$0.15 on revenue of $551 million, beating estimates by +$15 million. Pre-market: 21.20 +0.80 (3.92%)

Cephalon (CEPH): Reported Q1 EPS of $2.09 beating estimates by +$0.05 on revenue of $736 million, missing estimates by -$15 million.

 

Comcast (CMCSA): Reported Q1 EPS of $0.36 beating estimates by +$0.02 on revenue of $12.13 billion, missing estimates by -$1 billion. Pre-market: 27.07 +0.46 (1.73%)

Las Vegas Sands (LVS): Reported Q1 EPS of $0.37 missing estimates by -$0.07 on revenue of $2.1 billion, in-line. Pre-market: 43.02 -2.85 (-6.21%)

Molex (MOLX): Reported Q3 EPS of $0.22 missing estimates by -$0.20 on revenue of $875 million, beating estimates by +$3 million. . Pre-market: 25.90 -0.73 (-2.74%)

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company (RRD): Reported Q1 EPS of $0.33 missing estimates by =$0.04 on revenue of $2.58 billion, in-line.

 

THQ (THQI): Q4 EPS of $0.15 beating estimates by +$0.04 on revenue of $249 million, missing estimates by -$6 million. Pre-market: 4.00 -0.12 (-2.91%)

ValueClick (VCLK): Reported Q1 EPS of $0.21 beating estimates by +$0.03 on revenue of $117 million, beating estimates by +$2 million. Pre-market: 18.50 +2.03 (+12.33%)

·         Futures at 8:16: Dow -0.1%. S&P -0.2%. Nasdaq -0.2%. Crude 0.0% at $111.04. Gold -0.3% to $1535.80.

·         Europe: London -0.9%. Paris -0.2%. Frankfurt -0.4%.

·         Asia:  Japan closed. Hong Kong -1.3% to 23324. China -2.2% to 2867. India -0.4% to 18461.