My Top Stock Picks: $ITMN $CAB $SPWH $DKS $OPK $YHOO

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My Top Stock Picks: $ITMN $CAB $SPWH $DKS $OPK $YHOO

Upgrades and Downgrades (BXP, CCL, DPZ, GPS, HBC, MRVL, FDO, JDSU, ORCL, FB, GM, YHOO, YUM)

Boston Properties Inc. (NYSE: BXP) reiterated Buy with a target price of $120 at Argus.

Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) reiterated Hold but kept as Long-Term Buy at Argus.

Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) reiterated Outperform and raised target to $50 from $44 at Oppenheimer.

Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

HSBC Holdings PLC (NYSE: HBC) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) cut to Market Perform at JMP Securities.

Most investors and traders were out on Monday and Wednesday, but here are some of the standout calls that were still listed with upgrades and downgrades this week:

Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE: FDO) reiterated as Buy with a $77 target at Goldman Sachs, but Raymond James lowered its price target to $68 from $72 due to margin pressure (both calls Wednesday).

JDS Uniphase Corp. (NASDAQ: JDSU) reiterated Outperform at Piper Jaffray, but the price target was raised to $16 from $12 in the call.

Credit Suisse commented that Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) could make the software as a service (SaaS) market come with higher multiples. Those noted positively were RNOW and TLEO, and others were CNQR, CSOD, CTCT, JIVE, MKTG, RP, SNCR and ULTI. (Wednesday)

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) reiterated Buy but the price target raised to $33 from $25 at Needham. (Monday)

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) started as Buy with $35 price target at Goldman Sachs. (Monday)

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) reiterated Buy but price target raised to $26 from $19 at Needham. (Monday)

Yum Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) reiterated Buy with $76 target at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch. (Monday)


Read more: Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (BXP, CCL, DPZ, GPS, HBC, MRVL, FDO, JDSU, ORCL, FB, GM, YHOO, YUM) - 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2012/12/27/top-analyst-upgrades-and-downgrades-bxp-ccl-dpz-gps-hbc-mrvl-fdo-jdsu-orcl-fb-gm-yhoo-yum/#ixzz2GGHWE5AN

Best & Worst Trades of 2012 top stocks,YHOO , $FB, BBY, AAPL ?

Facebook (FB)
Year-to-Date: Down 27 Percent

A trading glitch at Nasdaq on the day of Facebook's initial public offering provided an inauspicious start to one of the most-anticipated IPOs in recent years. Shares opened at $38, briefly spiked higher before trading down as low as $17 in the following months as questions about how the social media giant would generate revenues. Improved performance in the following months, a mobile advertising strategy and plans to monetize its Instagram acquisition lifted Facebook's stock price toward the end of the year.

(Watch: Time to 'Like' Facebook Again?)
» more from Fast Money ›


Best Buy (BBY)
Year-to-Date: Down 48 Percent

Looking at Best Buy's stock price in December, it's tough to believe that shares appeared poised to hit $30 in March. A few reasons have contributed to the decline, from a third-quarter loss and worsening cash flow, not to mention increased competition from Amazon.com. Best Buy's founder and its largest shareholder, Richard Schultze, reportedly sought to take the company public, but faces a financing hurdle, adding more uncertainty to the company's shares.

Yahoo (YHOO)
Year-to-Date: 21 Percent

Now for the best trades of 2012.

With Marissa Meyer at the helm — a new CEO with a Google pedigree — Yahoo saw its stock price run up to its highest level in four years. Some have questioned whether the positive sentiment is justified, but so far Meyer has upped spending on advertising and quickly closed the nearly $8 billion Alibaba deal, all while improving employee morale. For now, Wall Street is willing to give Meyer the benefit of the doubt.
Apple (AAPL)
Year-to-Date: Up 29 Percent

No stock was more talked-about in 2012 than Apple — and for good reason. Shares hit a record $705 in September as the company rolled out its new iPhone 5, iPad Mini, and sky-high expectations. While Apple's stock price recently posted big losses — briefly falling below $500 mid-December — it's still up nearly 30 percent for the year. While a range of analysts have downgraded the stock and investors are questioning it, there is also exposure to the Chinese market and a rumored Apple TV ahead.


J.C. Penney (JCP)
Year-to-Date: Down 43 Percent

Despite the best efforts of Apple's former marketing whiz, Ron Johnson, who now heads J.C. Penney as its CEO, this retailer's stock fell from its high of $43 in February to the $20 level in mid-December. High hopes for a turnaround in the heavily competitive retail sector never materialized, and the stock has yet to regain its footing. Competitors such as Macy's, Nordstrom, and Saks, meanwhile, saw their shares post year-to-date gains.

Holiday Stock Picks for 2012

Oracle (ORCL 0.00%, news) this month set a new standard in the race to return cash to shareholders ahead of a possible dividend-tax increase in the new year. The Redwood Shores, Calif., company decided to accelerate its next three dividends -- shelling out a payment of 18 cents a share on Dec. 21, payable to investors of record as of Dec. 14 and representing the scheduled six-cents-a-share dividends for its fiscal second, third and fourth quarters of 2013. In addition to putting its own twist on the corporate trend of beating the tax man with special dividend payments, the move in many ways encapsulates Oracle's transition from an aggressively growing tech titan with a dominant position in enterprise software to a company whose appeal lies largely with value-oriented dividend investors. A number of investors and analysts worry that the world of enterprise software is evolving away from the model ruled by Oracle and a few others, and that the company is lagging in the transition to software and services accessed over the Internet. Oracle has traditionally sold its products to be installed and run on-premises by its business customers. A bubble in dividend stocks? A bubble in dividend stocks? Oracle appears on a daily ranking created with StockScouter, an MSN Money tool that identifies stocks with strong growth prospects in the near term. All stocks with Scouter ratings of 8, 9 or 10 are considered for the list, which is then shortened to exclude stocks with a trading volume below 50,000 shares a day. The remaining stocks are ranked on the basis of market capitalization, sector membership and whether they are growth or value stocks. Best known for its focus on databases, Oracle provides hardware, software and services that businesses use to manage data, foster collaboration, interact with customers and coordinate with suppliers. It entered the hardware business in 2010 with the purchase of Sun Microsystems, one of dozens of deals engineered by CEO Larry Ellison that allowed the company to grow into an indispensable player in enterprise computing. Today, though, a new architecture is gaining traction that is centered upon cloud infrastructure and mobile computing. "The world is moving toward the cloud and Oracle is not completely in sync with that," Piper Jaffray analyst Mark Murphy told The Wall Street Journal after the company posted its fiscal-first-quarter financial results in September. Meanwhile, the accelerated dividend payment will be a boon to Oracle shareholders, none more so than Ellison, who, company officials were careful to point out, had nothing to do with the decision to roll the three dividend payments into one. The move won't cost Oracle anything beyond the roughly $867 million that would be paid as dividends in the remainder of fiscal 2013. Ellison -- Oracle's biggest shareholder, with 1.1 billion shares, according to the company -- would be in line for a dividend of about $199 million. As of mid-September, Oracle had 4.8 billion shares outstanding. Of the 33 analysts covering the company, 16 have a "strong buy" rating on Oracle. Four rate it a "moderate buy" and 13 have a "hold" recommendation. Oracle has a StockScouter rating of 10, meaning it is expected to significantly outperform the market over the next six months with less-than-average risk. StockScouter picks for Dec. 7 Company Sector Dividend yield Forward P/E Scouter score Gilead Sciences (GILD 0.00%, news) Biotechnology N/A 18.3 10 Safeway (SWY 0.00%, news) Supermarkets 3.9% 8.6 10 Symantec (SYMC 0.00%, news) Security software N/A 11.5 10 VeriSign (VRSN 0.00%, news) Internet infrastructure N/A 18.2 10 CA (CA 0.00%, news) Information technology 4.5% 9.1 10 Equity Residential (EQR 0.00%, news) Real estate investments 2.4% 18.3 10 Oracle (ORCL 0.00%, news) Software 0.8% 11.6 10 Yahoo (YHOO 0.00%, news) Internet portal N/A 17.3 10 Viacom (VIAB 0.00%, news) Entertainment, media 2.1% 9.8 9 American International Group (AIG 0.00%, news) Insurance N/A 9.8 9

Top NASDAQ Volume Leaders - #GRPN, SIRI, FB, CSCO,#MSFT, PPHM, EROC, MU, YHOO, AAPL, RIMM

Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) is trading down 22.52% and was last sold at $5.85. The stock traded as high as $6.00 and as low as $5.76. GRPN had previously closed at $7.55. 16,354,560 shares of the stock traded hands today.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is trading down 1.20% and was last sold at $2.48. The stock traded as high as $2.53 and as low as $2.48. SIRI had previously closed at $2.51. 8,963,640 shares of the stock traded hands today.

Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) is trading down 3.47% and was last sold at $20.85. The stock traded as high as $21.60 and as low as $20.82. FB had previously closed at $21.60. 6,874,795 shares of the stock traded hands today.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is trading down 0.40% and was last sold at $17.27. The stock traded as high as $17.40 and as low as $17.17. CSCO had previously closed at $17.34. 4,776,602 shares of the stock traded hands today.

Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) is trading down 0.66% and was last sold at $30.19. The stock traded as high as $30.39 and as low as $30.17. MSFT had previously closed at $30.39. 3,833,379 shares of the stock traded hands today.

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: PPHM) is trading down 6.99% and was last sold at $2.66. The stock traded as high as $3.21 and as low as $2.62. PPHM had previously closed at $2.86. 3,427,076 shares of the stock traded hands today.

Eagle Rock Energy Partners (NASDAQ: EROC) is trading up 1.26% and was last sold at $8.83. The stock traded as high as $8.85 and as low as $8.70. EROC had previously closed at $8.72. 2,640,598 shares of the stock traded hands today.

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) is trading down 0.30% and was last sold at $6.70. The stock traded as high as $6.78 and as low as $6.68. MU had previously closed at $6.72. 2,512,097 shares of the stock traded hands today.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is trading down 0.47% and was last sold at $14.95. The stock traded as high as $15.05 and as low as $14.84. YHOO had previously closed at $15.02. 2,443,258 shares of the stock traded hands today.

Apple, Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is trading up 0.60% and was last sold at $633.81. The stock traded as high as $635.30 and as low as $631.85. AAPL had previously closed at $630.00. 2,228,732 shares of the stock traded hands today.

Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) is trading down 2.23% and was last sold at $7.89. The stock traded as high as $8.09 and as low as $7.88. RIMM had previously closed at $8.07. 2,093,223 shares of the stock traded hands today.

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) is trading up 0.19% and was last sold at $26.74. The stock traded as high as $26.81 and as low as $26.63. INTC had previously closed at $26.69. 2,024,784 shares of the stock traded hands today.

Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) is trading flat unch and was last sold at $2.93. The stock traded as high as $2.95 and as low as $2.91. ZNGA had previously closed at $2.93. 1,955,031 shares of the stock traded hands today.

Velti (NASDAQ: VELT) is trading up 11.65% and was last sold at $7.86. The stock traded as high as $8.61 and as low as $7.70. VELT had previously closed at $7.04. 1,924,318 shares of the stock traded hands today.

eBay, Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) is trading up 0.60% and was last sold at $45.59. The stock traded as high as $45.87 and as low as $45.30. EBAY had previously closed at $45.32. 1,875,727 shares of the stock traded hands today.

Frontier Communications (NASDAQ: FTR) is trading down 2.49% and was last sold at $4.70. The stock traded as high as $4.88 and as low as $4.68. FTR had previously closed at $4.82. 1,737,377 shares of the stock traded hands today.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) is trading down 0.20% and was last sold at $14.78. The stock traded as high as $14.88 and as low as $14.71. NVDA had previously closed at $14.81. 1,713,731 shares of the stock traded hands today.

Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARNA) is trading up 0.41% and was last sold at $7.27. The stock traded as high as $7.35 and as low as $7.27. ARNA had previously closed at $7.24. 1,701,294 shares of the stock traded hands today.

Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) is trading up 0.61% and was last sold at $31.55. The stock traded as high as $31.59 and as low as $31.30. ORCL had previously closed at $31.36. 1,475,273 shares of the stock traded hands today.

Comcast Co. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is trading up 0.67% and was last sold at $34.78. The stock traded as high as $34.88 and as low as $34.62. CMCSA had previously closed at $34.55. 1,388,071 shares of the stock traded hands today.

Hot Stocks To Watch Today

Tickers in this article:


JPM

BA GE

DIS BAC

AXP

EVBS Eastern Virginia Bankshares Inc. 10.26%


YUII Yuhe International, Inc. 10.10%

PCLN priceline.com Incorporated 10.01%

HQS HQ Sustainable Maritime Industries, Inc. 9.89%

EXK Endeavour Silver Corp. 9.80%

DPTR Delta Petroleum Corp. 9.77%

URZ Uranerz Energy Corp. 9.73%

WMCO Williams Controls Inc. 9.57%

PCBC Pacific Capital Bancorp 9.46%

BRD Brigus Gold Corp 9.36%

ACFC Atlantic Coast Federal Corporation 9.33%

SCEI Sino Clean Energy Inc 9.29%

CRZO Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. 9.21%

STEM StemCells Inc. 9.10%
A Ultimate Guide to Swing Trading + Plus Bonus
BIOF BioFuel Energy Corp. 8.87%

JSDA Jones Soda Co. 8.80%

TNDM Neutral Tandem, Inc. 8.75%

SINO Sino-Global Shipping America, Ltd. 8.64%
TheStreet Ratings 10 Best Dow Stocks Since March 2009 Low


By Jake Lynch



Add CommentStock quotes in this article:JPM, BA, GE, DIS, BAC, AXP, CAT BOSTON (TheStreet) -- Those who claim you can't make money in blue-chip dividend stocks should take a look at the following 10 Dow components. They've at least doubled since the March 2009 low, which was two years ago this week. Although the mega-cap index has lagged the S&P 500 and Nasdaq since then, several companies have surged. Several may still outperform in 2011. Below, they are ordered by performance since the low, from great to best.

More on JPM

After Historic Gains, Are Stocks Nearing A Bubble?Stock Market, March 7: What's on Tap
Up on Futures
Market Activity

General Electric Company
GE American Express Company
AXP Walt Disney Company
DIS 10. JPMorgan(JPM_) is a financial company, with retail-, commercial- and investment-banking units.

JPMorgan's stock has doubled since the March 2009 low. It has gained 8.8% in 12 months and 15% in three. Make Money Trading Stocks & Options - Over 24 Hours!

JPMorgan currently ranks as analysts' favorite Dow stock, based on aggregate ratings. Currently, 28, or 85%, of the analysts in coverage rate its stock "buy" and five rate it "hold." None rank it "sell." Oppenheimer forecasts a rise of 35% to $61. Nomura predicts a gain of 11% to $50. The stock trades at a trailing earnings multiple of 12, a forward earnings multiple of 8.2 and a sales multiple of 1.5, 16%, 26% and 14% peer discounts. JPMorgan's adjusted fourth-quarter earnings surged 84% to $1.12, beating researchers' consensus estimate by 12%. The company's quarterly revenue grew 23%. Developing A Winning System For Trading High-Performance Stocks With Tim Cho [VHS]





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9. United Technologies(UTX_) is an aerospace, defense and industrial company.

United Technologies' stock has more than doubled since the March 2009 low. It has gained 17% in 12 months and 3.8% in three.

United currently ranks as analysts' third favorite Dow stock, with 74% of those in coverage ranking it a "buy." Nomura values the stock at $98, suggesting 20% upside. FBR Capital Markets forecasts a modest rise to $83. United shares sell for a forward earnings multiple of 14 and a book value multiple of 3.5, 11% and 55% industry discounts. Yet, they're fairly valued based on cash flow and trailing earnings. United's fourth-quarter adjusted earnings rose 9.8% to $1.31, exceeding consensus by 1.3%. Sales expanded 5.4% to $15 billion.
8. Boeing(BA_) builds commercial and military aircraft as well as satellites and missile defense systems.


Boeing's stock has soared 123% since the March low. It has risen 7% in 12 months and 3.5% in three.
Volatile Markets Made Easy: Trading Stocks and Options for Increased Profits
Boeing currently ranks as the thirteenth highest rated Dow stock, based on analyst grades. Of researchers covering Boeing, 69% advise purchasing its shares. Gleacher & Co. offers a target of $100, implying 45% of upside. In contrast, HSBC predicts a decline to $63. Boeing's stock trades at a trailing earnings multiple of 16, a forward earnings multiple of 13 and a sales multiple of 0.8, 12%, 13% and 38% peer discounts. It's expensive based on cash flow and book value. Boeing's adjusted fourth-quarter earnings tumbled 38% to $1.11, meeting consensus expectations.





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7. General Electric(GE_) is a conglomerate, with businesses ranging from turbine manufacturing to energy infrastructure.



AIB Allied Irish Banks plc 8.59%

DXCM DexCom, Inc. 8.54%

CGV Compagnie G 8.51%

BSDM BSD Medical Corp. 8.50%

ITI Iteris, Inc. 8.44%

IEC IEC Electronics Corp. 8.41%

MDR McDermott International Inc. 8.39%

USU USEC Inc. 8.30%

CHNR China Natural Resources Inc. 8.16%

AGQ ProShares Ultra Silver 8.13%

MGH Minco Gold Corporation 8.12%

THTI THT Heat Transfer Technology, Inc. 8.08%

AQQ American Spectrum Realty Inc. 8.07%

GBG Great Basin Gold Ltd. 8.02%

RRC Range Resources Corporation 8.00%
agriculture, materials, and pharmaceutical units.


DuPont's stock has rocketed 184% since the March 2009 market low. It has returned 56% in 12 months and 9.4% in three.
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DuPont currently places as researchers' 12th favorite Dow stock, receiving 10 "buy" calls, five "hold" recommendations and no "sell" ratings. Citigroup is bullish, expecting an advance of 22% to $65. Credit Suisse forecasts a more modest increase to $58, ranking DuPont "neutral." DuPont trades at a trailing earnings multiple of 16, a forward earnings multiple of 13, a sales multiple of 1.5 and a cash flow multiple of 11, 25%, 24%, 47% and 23% chemicals industry discounts. Adjusted quarterly earnings rose 14%, beating consensus by 60%.





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3. Bank of America(BAC_) is a financial company, with retail- and commercial-banking units.

Bank of America's stock has more than tripled since the 2009 stock-market low. It has fallen 16% in 12 months, but rallied 18% in three


PLM Polymet Mining Corp. 8.00%

ASTM Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. 7.94%

ENER Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. 7.91%

TRIB Trinity Biotech plc 7.91%
Ford Motor Co.(F)-Share of Ford Motor closed at $15.77 on Friday. Ford (F) will have resistance at $16-$16.36. Ford will now hit the next big resistance level $16.50. Ford continues to be a strong buy between $15,49-$16,24. Ford continues is a strong buy below low $14.This is my long term investment.This is my one top pick for 2010 - 2011.


DRYS DryShips, Inc. 7.84%

HK Petrohawk Energy Corporation 7.71%

CABL China Cablecom Holdings, Ltd. 7.69%

SAPX Seven Arts Pictures plc 7.69%

ONP Orient Paper Inc. 7.69%

VGZ Vista Gold Corp. 7.67%

NBN Northeast Bancorp 7.66%

FPTB First Pactrust Bancorp Inc. 7.57%

PRIM Primoris Services Corporation 7.52%

DROOY DRDGOLD Ltd. 7.43%

LDK LDK Solar Co., Ltd. 7.41%

SEED Origin Agritech Limited 7.40%

TLR Timberline Resources Corp. 7.38%

COG Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation 7.31%

HL Hecla Mining Co. 7.21%

KBX Kimber Resources Inc. 7.21%

VIAS Viasystems Group Inc. 7.20%

DAG PowerShares DB Agriculture Dble Long ETN 7.16%

RIC Richmont Mines Inc. 7.13%

GCC GreenHaven Continuous Commodity Index 7.03%

LOOK LookSmart, Ltd. 6.99%

SVBI Severn Bancorp Inc. 6.86%

MGN Mines Management Inc. 6.86%

DGSE DGSE Companies Inc. 6.82%

GRRF China GrenTech Corp. Ltd. 6.79%

UAG UBS E-TRACS CMCI Agriculture TR ETN 6.73%

KAD Arcadia Resources Inc. 6.72%

MIDD Middleby Corp. 6.70%

FOSL Fossil, Inc. 6.69%

EDGR EDGAR Online Inc. 6.66%

ETRM EnteroMedics, Inc. 6.63%

CCJ Cameco Corp. 6.60%

DCTH Delcath Systems Inc. 6.57%

SF Stifel Financial Corp. 6.55%

GRH GreenHunter Energy, Inc. 6.45%

REE Rare Element Resources Ltd. 6.45%

URG UR-Energy Inc. 6.33%

CHGS China GengSheng Minerals, Inc 6.28%

MOTR Motricity, Inc. 6.26%

CGA China Green Agriculture, Inc. 6.26%

LIVE LiveDeal, Inc. 6.25%

TELK Telik Inc. 6.24%

FFI Fortune Industries, Inc. 6.22%

CDE Coeur d`Alene Mines Corporation 6.19%

CSII Cardiovascular Systems Inc. 6.14%

PKOH Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. 6.07%

RAME RAM Energy Resources, Inc. 6.01%

IIJI Internet Initiative Japan Inc. 6.00%

HCII Homeowners Choice, Inc. 6.00%

MCOX Mecox Lane Limited 5.98%

GMET Geomet, Inc. 5.97%

EMAN eMagin Corp. 5.85%

UCD ProShares Ultra DJ-UBS Commodity 5.81%

XOMA XOMA Ltd. 5.79%

YHOO Yahoo! Inc. 5.75%

EQT EQT Corporation 5.72%

DNN Denison Mines Corp. 5.71%

GKNT Geeknet, Inc. 5.70%

SUSS Susser Holdings Corporation 5.68%

CALM Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. 5.68%

NFEC NF Energy Saving Corp. 5.65%

SLW Silver Wheaton Corp. 5.65%

SYUT Synutra International Inc. 5.63%

ESA Energy Services of America Corporation 5.63%

EDAP EDAP TMS SA 5.62%

GMXR GMX Resources Inc. 5.61%
American Express(AXP_) is a credit-card company, competing with the likes of Visa(V_).


American Express's stock has more than tripled since the 2009 low. It has advanced 12% in 12 months, but fallen 4.6% in three.

American Express places as researchers' ninth least-favorite Dow stock. Of the analysts covering AmEx, 18, or 67%, rate its stock "buy", six rate it "hold" and three rank it "sell." Piper Jaffray offers a target of $62, suggesting a 12-month rise of 44%. Raymond James forecasts a fall of 16% to $36. American Express, undervalued based on its 5.6 cash flow multiple, is fairly valued when considering forward earnings and book value. Its fourth-quarter adjusted earnings jumped 59% to 94 cents, missing analysts' consensus estimate.





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1. Caterpillar(CAT_) makes and sells construction and mining equipment.

Invest like SpongBob ?

Investing in Tech, the SpongeBob Way
By E. SAVITZ
Barrons
INVESTORS EXHAUSTED BY THE RELENTLESSLY BAD NEWS in the technology sector seem to be trying a new tack: If the news is miserable, simply ignore it. Why let pesky facts get in the way of a good stock idea?
Consider the market's initial reaction to the first major tech-earnings report of the new season: Q4 results from Intel (ticker: INTC). The chip giant's earnings, while well-telegraphed ahead of time, were basically terrible. As CEO Paul Otellini noted in a conference call Thursday, this was just the second time in 20 years that Intel's Q4 revenue was below Q3's. The first time, in 2000, it fell by less than 1%. This time, it plunged 19%.
As for the Q1 outlook, Intel did something odd: It declared that, owing to uncertainty about the economy and customer demand, it wouldn't give revenue guidance. Then, in the very next sentence of its press release, Intel said that for internal purposes, it is assuming revenue will be about $7 billion. (When is revenue guidance not actually revenue guidance? And, by the way, what is the sound of one hand clapping?)
Revenue at the $7 billion level would be a little worse than the consensus view, down 15% from the $8.2 billion reported in Q4, and 27.6% below a year ago. Intel also said its gross margin for the quarter would fall from 53% to the low 40s, due to lower capacity utilization and other factors.
Not much to cheer about. But the stock inched higher Friday anyway. Some investors apparently are working on the theory that the guidance-that-is-not-guidance might be as bad as things are going to get-and that Intel will be a survivor. My reaction, to quote that great philosopher SpongeBob SquarePants: "Well, good luck with that." Sure, Intel will survive, but sticking a stake in the ground and hoping for the best isn't investing; it's gambling. A turnaround in PC demand? It is coming someday, but I see no evidence of it in the numbers Intel reported.
THE SAME PHENOMENON IS EVIDENT at Motorola (MOT). The crumbling of its once-mighty handset business seems to be accelerating. Late Wednesday, the company pre-announced miserable Q4 results. It sold 19 million handsets in the period, compared with 25.4 million in Q3, and 28 million in Q2. At that rate, it soon will have a quarterly handset run-rate of, well, zero. Motorola also said it would lay off 4,000 people -- 3,000 in the handset business. But it cheerfully added that it is developing new smartphones, and that it has been getting a good reception from carriers.
Okay, very nice. Motorola sure needs new smartphones (which are expected to be based on Google's spiffy Android operating system). Unfortunately, while Motorola has been frittering away huge gobs of market share, the smartphone market has been invaded by impressive competitors, like the Apple iPhone, BlackBerry Bold and Palm Pre. Nonetheless, investors, cheered by the, uh, happy news about all those layoffs, bid the stock up nearly 8% Thursday. Paging SpongeBob.
Change Happens: Apple's CEO took a medical leave, while Yahoo!'s new boss arrived. Intel's profit slid 90%. The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.7%, to 1529.
FINALLY, CONSIDER YAHOO! It has a new CEO. After a two-month search, the troubled Internet company replaced founder Jerry Yang with former Autodesk chief Carol Bartz. The Street's initial reaction was to shout "Yahoo!" -- which is exactly what Bartz did at the start of her conference call.
The theory is that with a new CEO, the company will sell its search engine to Microsoft . Bartz, however, told employees she isn't inclined to sell the search business. Bulls are betting Bartz will wheel and deal Yahoo! out of its funk. But if there is no Microsoft deal, she may have to manage her way out. And that could take longer than holders -- whose stock has slid below 12 from about 30 early in 2008 -- want to believe.
Bartz certainly has incentive to drive up Yahoo! 's stock (YHOO). According to an SEC filing, she will get a base salary of $1 million, and a performance bonus of as much as $4 million, plus an annual equity grant -- $8 million for 2009 -- and another $10 million (75% in restricted stock, the rest in cash) in compensation for forfeiting Autodesk options. And she gets five million seven-year options, which vest over time based on Yahoo's shares reaching certain levels. The first third vests when the stock hits 150% of the yet to-be-determined strike price, for instance. Maxed out, her first-year compensation could top $40 million. No wonder she shouted Yahoo!.