Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Apple Beat EPS Estimates. Apple (AAPL) reported FQ3 earnings that beat Wall Street expectations. EPS was report at $7.47, but net profit dropped to $6.9B from $8.8B, while revenue increased 1% to $35.3B. The company said that iPhone sales came in at 31.2M, up 20% from a year earlier. Gross margins fell along with sales in Europe and China.  iPad sales came in at 14.6M disappointing analysts. Some on Wall Street are pointing to the falling margins being a direct result of competition from Google’s (GOOG) Android based devices. Pre-market: 439.24 +20.25 (4.83%)

Upgrades:

Apple (AAPL): BMO Capital raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform and maintained their target price of $480.00.

D.R. Horton (DHI): Compass Point raised their rating from Neutral to Buy.

Forest Labs (FRX): Susquehanna raised their rating from Negative to Neutral and raised their target price from $30.00 to $40.00.

VMware (VMW): Nomura raised their rating from Neutral to Buy.

VMware (VMW): Raymond James raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform.

Wendy’s (WEN): Goldman Sachs raised their rating from Sell to Neutral and raised their target price from $5.00 to $7.50.

Downgrades:

Arch Coal (ACI): Tudor Pickering lowered their rating from Buy to Accumulate.

Broadcom (BRCM): B. Riley lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral.

Broadcom (BRCM): BMO Capital lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform.

Broadcom (BRCM): Credit Suisse lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral and lowered their target price from $45.00 to $32.00.

Broadcom (BRCM): RBC Capital lowered their rating from Outperform to Sector Perform.

Broadcom (BRCM): Mizuho lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral.

Broadcom (BRCM): William Blair lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform.

Broadcom (BRCM): Citigroup lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral.

DISH Network (DISH): Wunderlich lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and lowered their target price from $50.00 to $42.00.

Norfolk Southern (NSC): Bank of America Merrill Lynch lowered their rating from Neutral to Underperform and lowered their target price from $81.00 to $74.00.

Starwood Hotels (HOT): UBS lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and maintained their target price of $71.00.

Coverage Initiated:

Costco (COST): Williams Capital initiated coverage with a Buy rating.

Earning Reports:

Apple (AAPL): Reported EPS of $7.47 beating estimates by +$0.19. Pre-market: 439.24 +20.25 (4.83%)

AT&T (T): Reported EPS of $0.67 missing estimates by -0.01. Pre-market: 35.35 -0.46 (-1.28%)

Boeing (BA): Reported EPS of $1.67 beating estimates by +$0.11. Pre-market: 109.15 +1.36 (1.26%)

Broadcom (BRCM): Reported EPS of $0.70 beating estimates by +$0.01.

Caterpillar (CAT): Reported EPS of $1.45 missing estimates by -0.25. Pre-market: 84.42 -1.10 (-1.29%)

Ford Motor (F): Reported EPS of $0.45 beating estimates by +$0.08.

General Dynamics (GD): Reported EPS of $1.81 beating estimates by +$0.19.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK): Reported EPS of $0.26 in-line with estimates.

Intl Gaming Tech (IGT): Reported EPS of $0.33 beating estimates by +$0.02. Pre-market: 17.97 -0.33 (-1.80%)

Northrop Grumman (NOC): Reported EPS of $2.05 beating estimates by +$0.34.

Omnicare (OCR): Reported EPS of $0.90 beating estimates by +$0.03.

PepsiCo (PEP): Reported EPS of $1.31 beating estimates by +$0.12.

VMware (VMW): Reported EPS of $0.79 beating estimates by +$0.02. Pre-market: 80.69 +9.41 (13.20%)

Markets: 
Futures at 8:38: Dow +0.23%. S&P +0.28%. Nasdaq +1.01%. Crude -0.39% to $106.81. Gold +0.05% to $1334.90. 10 Year -21/32 2.590%

Europe: London -0.39%. Paris -0.43%. Frankfurt -0.20%. 

Asia: Japan -0.76% to 14731. Hong Kong +0.28% to 21969. China -1.27% to 2018. India -0.48% to 20,205. 

Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Japan Market Sells Off Again. For the second time in two weeks the Japanese market sold off.  In late trading the Nikkei (EWJ) fell -5.15%, bring the two week decline to over -14%. Traders point to fears that the Fed will end its QE program as well as the falling dollar-yen (FXY) as the cause of the volatility. (FXY) Pre-market: 96.79 +0.01 (0.01%)

Upgrades

Diamond Offshore (DO): JPMorgan raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight and placed a target price of $82.00 on the company.

Noble Corp (NE): Raymond James raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform and placed a target price of $52.00 on the company.

Northrop Grumman (NOC): Goldman Sachs raised their rating from Neutral to Buy.

Republic Services (RSG): Wedbush raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform and raised their target price from $33.00 to $40.00.

SunPower (SPWR): Goldman Sachs raised their rating from Sell to Neutral and raised their target price from $13.00 to $18.00. Pre-market: 20.33 +0.69 (3.51%)

First Solar (FSLR): Goldman Sachs raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and placed a target price of $64.00 on the company.

Downgrades

Noble Corp (NE): JPMorgan lowered their rating from Overweight to Neutral and placed a target price of $43.00 on the company.

Stanley Black & Decker (SWK): Argus lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and placed a target price of $78.00 on the company.

Coverage Initiated

AT&T (T): BMO Capital initiated coverage with a Market Perform rating and placed a target price of $34.00 on the company.

Leap Wireless (LEAP): BMO Capital initiated coverage with an Underperform rating and placed a target price of $3.00 on the company.

Pfizer (PFE): Sun Trust initiated coverage with a Reduce rating.

Sprint Nextel (S): BMO Capital initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and placed a target price of $9.00 on the company.

Verizon Communications (VZ): BMO Capital initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and placed a target price of $55.00 on the company.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

SEI Investments (SEIC): Stifel reiterated their Buy rating and raised their target price from $31.00 to $33.00.

Earning Reports

Big Lots (BIG): Reported EPS of $0.61 in-line with estimates. Pre-market: 34.90 -3.48 (-9.07%)

Costco (COST): Reported EPS of $1.04 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 113.92 +0.97 (0.86%)

Joy Global (JOY): Reported EPS of $1.73 beating estimates by +$0.16. Pre-market: 54.82 -0.26 (-0.47%)

Tilly's (TLYS): Reported EPS of $0.08 beating estimates by +$0.01.

Markets: 
Futures at 8:31: Dow +0.24%. S&P +0.19%. Nasdaq +0.06%. Crude -0.58% to $92.60. Gold +1.02% to $1405.50.

Europe: London +0.17%. Paris +0.72%. Frankfurt +0.54%. 

Asia: Japan -5.15% to 13589. Hong Kong -0.31% to 22484. China -0.27% to 2318. India +0.34% to 20215.