Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ:BRCM) shares rose 1.5% to $34.11 after the company was upgraded to “buy” from “neutral” at Goldman Sachs.
The company also announced a new series of multi-layer Ethernet devices that enable faster connectivity between servers in the data center today.
Chief technical officer Henry Tso said, “The data center segment is an important growth area for our business. Broadcom’s latest series of high density 10GbE solutions enables us to meet the virtualization and converged scalable services demands of our customers’ next generation energy efficient data center.”
The index of U.S. leading indicators rose 0.1% in February, which is the smallest gain in almost a year, pointing to a slower economic expansion in the second half of 2010, according to a Bloomberg report.
The increase in the Conference Board’s measure of the outlook for three to six months matched expectations and followed a 0.3% rise in January. Severe weather may have affected some of the indicators.
Citigroup reiterated its Buy rating on Nike (NYSE:NKE) and increased its price target from $75 to $80, reflecting the company’s third quarter beat and better gross margin assumptions.
Analyst Kate McShane, said, “While the co. remained cautious on certain geographic markets, mgmt sounded upbeat about their overall business based on its renewed growth in apparel, momentum in NA, stronger futures growth in China & Emerging Markets, innovation driving product launches & share gains, increasing ASP’s, continued strength in direct to consumer and mgts ability to better manage the supply chain and increase efficiencies.”
McShane added, “While the stock is likely to be up tomorrow on the strong Q3 beat and better than expected global futures number, we would still be buyers ahead of the investor day on May 5th, which we think will focus on further growth opportunities for apparel, long term growth targets, and capital allocation. NKE remains on Citi’s Top Picks Live! list.”
The bank raised Nike’s 2010 EPS estimate from $3.75 to $3.86, versus consensus estimates of $3.71.
Home Depot (NYSE:HD) announced plans Thursday to host a series of Black Friday-like sales in the coming weeks as the company looks to take advantage of the recent gains seen at many retailers.
“Spring is our Christmas,” said merchandising executive Craig Menear, “Traffic in our stores is at its highest during the spring season as customers look to take on outdoor projects to improve the appearance of their homes and we want to give them the best deals possible to meet all of their outdoor needs.”
Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO) announced Thursday that it is powering the mobile Internet search experience and sponsored search advertising on Spain’s largest operator network, Telefonica Espana’s emocion portal.
This announcement builds on the mobile search partnership with O2 Germany launched in November 2009, as well as the larger agreement announced in October 2007 to provide consumers with Yahoo! as the primary search service on Telefonica’s mobile portals in 15 European and Latin American countries.
“This is an important milestone as we extend our relationship with Telefonica and offer consumers across Spain with an engaging mobile search experience that enables them to discover their world and the world around them,” said Rich Riley, senior vice president, Yahoo! Europe, “Together, Telefonica and Yahoo! are enhancing the mobile Internet experience for consumers, while creating scale for advertisers, enabling them to reach the rapidly growing audience of mobile consumers.”
Shares of Evergreen Solar (NASDAQ:ESLR), a manufacturer of STRING RIBBON(TM) solar power products with its proprietary, low-cost silicon wafer manufacturing technology, are trading 0.8% higher to $1.25 Wednesday after the company announced that a five-megawatt power plant in Apulia, Italy, that uses Evergreen Solar panels is now online.
Bloomberg reported Wednesday that wholesale prices in the U.S. fell in February more than anticipated, led by a drop in fuel costs and signaling there are few inflation pressures building in the early stages of the economic recovery.
Prices paid to factories, farmers, and other producers fell the most since July, posting a 0.6% decrease, giving back nearly half the 1.4% increase recorded in January, according to figures from the Labor Department in Washington.
So-called core prices climbed 0.1%, excluding food and fuel.
Consensus estimates were for a 0.2% decrease in February producer prices, according to the median of 70 projections in a Bloomberg News survey.
The report confirms forecasts by Federal Reserve policy makers, who yesterday retained a pledge to keep the main interest rate near zero for an “extended period,” and said “inflation is likely to be subdued for some time.”
Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP sued Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) over claims that the bank failed to disclose billions of dollars in losses at Merrill Lynch before shareholders voted to takeover the lender, according to a Bloomberg report.
The manager of ABP, APG Algemene Pensioen Groep NV, is seeking damages of as much as $91 million in the lawsuit, according to a spokesperson.
APG filed the lawsuit on behalf of ABP yesterday in U.S. federal court in New York.
In an e-mailed statement, APG said, “There is no doubt that shareholders would have found the information withheld vital to an informed vote and rejected the merger if they would have had knowledge of the concealed facts.”
A Bank of America spokesperson declined to comment.
Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) was set to make an offer Wednesday in the final round of bids for German drug maker Ratiopharm Group International, Reuters reported, citing an unnamed person close to the matter.
Pfizer officials weren’t immediately available for comment.
Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE:BBI) said in a regulatory filing that the company will likely file for bankruptcy if it is unable to address its debt load.
Due to the 2009 operating loss that the company reported and increasingly competitive industry conditions, Blockbuster sees “substantial doubt about [their] ability to continue as a going concern,” according to the filing.
A Reuters report stated that Blockbuster’s overall debt totals $1 billion.