While the Dow and S&P 500 indices cling to their
respective 50-day moving averages, the Nasdaq Composite fell
below the key support level earlier this week. The recent
underperformance of Apple (Nasdaq:
AAPL
) continues to weigh heavily on the tech sector overall.
It's never a good idea owning a stock when uncertainty is
rampant, and that's certainly the case with Apple as the market
continues to question whether or not the company will be able to
continue its track record of innovation and execution without
Steve Jobs.
With the Nasdaq acting as weak as it is, is it reasonable to
think that an avalanche of tech earnings next week will left the
tech index out of its recent doldrums? It's possible, but not
likely in the near-term as sellers continue to have the upper
hand in the market.
Dow component Intel (Nasdaq:
INTC
) reports next week. It's hard to be optimistic about robust
results at the chipmaker. Earlier this week, Bernstein downgraded
the chipmaker to "underperform" and Nomura reduced its profit
estimates on the company through 2013.
In early September, Intel lowered estimates due to "weaker
than expected demand in a challenging macro-economic
environment." It also said customers were reducing inventory due
partly to soft PC demand and slowing growth in emerging markets.
Yesterday, International Data said that PC makers shipped 87.8
million systems in the third quarter, down 8.6 percent from a
year ago considerably below IDC's forecast for a 3.8 percent
decline.
The Thomson Reuters consensus estimate calls for profit at
Intel to fall 23 percent from a year ago to $0.50 a share with
sales down seven percent to $13.2 billion. As usual, investors
will play close attention to non-GAAP gross margin at Intel. In
the second quarter, it fell to 64.4 percent from 65.1
percent.
Don't get too pessimistic, though, because results should be
solid from Ebay (Nasdaq:
EBAY
) and Google (Nasdaq:
GOOG
). EBay's PayPal unit continues to be a growth driver for the
company. In the second quarter, the unit processed over $34
billion worth of transactions, up 20 percent from a year ago.
Total sales rose 26 percent to $1.4 billion. For the third
quarter, profit at eBay is seen rising 15 percent to $0.55 a
share with sales up 15 percent to $3.4 billion.
Meanwhile, results should be solid at Google. Investors are
not only feeling pretty good about the company's core search
business, but sentiment seems to be improving regarding its
acquisition of Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. Sales of cell
phones which use the company's Android operating system are doing
well. In June, Google introduced the Nexus 7, a seven-inch tablet
to compete with the iPad.
In the third quarter, profit growth at Google is expected to
slow sequentially from the second quarter, up nine percent to
$10.56 a share. Sales, excluding traffic and acquisition costs (
TAC
), are seen rising 59 percent to $11.9 billion.
Here's an abbreviated earnings calendar for next week:
Monday: Citigroup (NYSE:
C
), WD-40 (Nasdaq:
WDFC
)
Tuesday: Coca-Cola (NYSE:
KO
), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:
GS
), Fortinet (Nasdaq:
FTNT
), IBM (NYSE:
IBM
), Intel (Nasdaq:
INTC
), Intuitive Surgical (Nasdaq:
ISRG
)
Wednesday: Bank of America (NYSE:
BAC
), Pepsico (NYSE:
PEP
), American Express (NYSE:
AXP
), eBay (Nasdaq:
EBAY
), Mellanox Technologies (Nasdaq:
MLNX
)
Thursday: Polaris Industries (NYSE:
PII
), Union Pacific (NYSE:
UNP
), Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:
CMG
), Google (Nasdaq:
GOOG
), Microsoft (Nasdaq:
MSFT
), Verizon (NYSE:
VZ
)
(c) 2012 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment
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