Xylem (XYL) (WPRT) (XLNX) (ZLCS) (ATVI) (AUGT) Get New Coverage

Xylem (NYSE: XYL), Westport Innovations Inc. (NASDAQ: WPRT), Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX), Zalicus Inc. (NASDAQ: ZLCS), Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) and Augme Tech (NASDAQ: AUGT) getting new coverage from analysts.

JMP Securities initiated coverage on Westport Innovations Inc. (WPRT). They placed an “Outperform” rating on the company.

MKM Partners initiated coverage on Xilinx, Inc. (XLNX). They placed a “Neutral” rating and a price target of $29.00 on the company.

Canaccord Genuity initiated coverage on Xylem (XYL). They placed a “Buy” rating and a price target of $30.00 on the company.

MLV & Co. initiated coverage on Zalicus Inc. (ZLCS). They placed a “Buy” rating and a price target of $4.00 on the company.

Macquarie initiated coverage on Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI). They placed an “Outperform” rating on the company.

Brean Murray initiated coverage on Augme Tech (AUGT). They placed a “Buy” rating and a price target of $3.00 on the company.

Xilinx (XLNX) (XYL) (ZLCS) (COF) (CFR) (WNS) Ratings, Price Targets

Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX), Xylem (NYSE: XYL), Zalicus Inc. (NASDAQ: ZLCS), Capital One (NYSE: COF), Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE: CFR) and WNS Holdings Ltd (NYSE: WNS) ratings and price targets.

Xilinx, Inc. (XLNX) is now covered by MKM Partners. They have a “Neutral” rating and a price target of $29.00 on the firm.

Xylem (XYL) is now covered by Canaccord Genuity. They have a “Buy” rating and a price target of $30.00 on the firm.

Zalicus Inc. (ZLCS) is now covered by MLV & Co. They have a “Buy” rating and a price target of $4.00 on the firm.

Capital One (COF) had its “Buy” rating reiterated by at Nomura (NYSE:NMR).

Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (CFR) was downgraded by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods to an “Underperform” rating.

WNS Holdings Ltd (WNS) was downgraded by Zacks Investment Research from an “Outperform” rating to a “Neutral” rating.

Xilinx (XLNX) (PSS) (SIG) (TDC) (YZC) (ZQK) Get New Coverage

Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX), Collective Brands Inc. (NYSE: PSS), Signet Jewelers Ltd. (NYSE: SIG), Teradata Co. (NYSE: TDC), Yanzhou Coal Mining (NYSE: YZC) and Quiksilver, Inc. (NYSE: ZQK) getting new coverage from analysts.

Piper Jaffray initiated coverage on Xilinx, Inc. (XLNX). They placed an “Overweight” rating and a price target of $40.00 on the company.

Auriga initiated coverage on Collective Brands Inc. (PSS) . They placed a “Hold” rating on the company.

Northcoast Research initiated coverage on Signet Jewelers Ltd. (SIG). They placed a “Neutral” rating on the company.

UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) initiated coverage on Teradata Co. (TDC). They placed a “Neutral” rating and a price target of $62.00 on the company.

Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Yanzhou Coal Mining (YZC). They placed a “Market Perform” rating on the company.

Auriga initiated coverage on Quiksilver, Inc. (ZQK). They placed a “Buy” rating and a price target of $4.00 on the company.

DuPont (DD) (IHG) (ALTR) (LSCC) (XLNX) (ONXX) (COLM) (FRAN) (AMTG) Get New Coverage

DuPont (NYSE:DD), Intercontinental Hotels Group (NYSE:IHG), Altera (NASDAQ:ALTR), Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ:LSCC), Xilinx (NASDAQ:XLNX), Onyx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ONXX), Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM), Francesca’s (NASDAQ:FRAN) and Apollo Residential Mortgage (NYSE:AMTG) getting new coverage from analysts.

Barclays initiated coverage on DuPont (DD). They have an "Equal Weight" rating on the company.

Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) initiated coverage on Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG). They have a "Buy" rating on the company

Pacific Crest initiated coverage on Altera (ALTR). They have an "Outperform" rating on the company and a price target of $50.

Pacific Crest initiated coverage on Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC). They have an "Outperform" rating on the company and a price target of $9.

Pacific Crest initiated coverage on Xilinx (XLNX). They have a "Market Perform" rating on the company.

Brean Murray initiated coverage on Onyx Pharmaceuticals (ONXX). They have a "Hold" rating on the company.

FBR Capital initiated coverage on Columbia Sportswear (COLM). They have a "Market Perform" rating and price target of $61 on the company.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) initiated coverage on Francesca’s (FRAN). They have a "Neutral" rating and price target of $32 on the company.

JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) initiated coverage on Apollo Residential Mortgage (AMTG). They have a "Neutral" rating on the company.

Intel (INTC) (QCOM) (BRCM) (NXPI) Top Barclays Semi List

Going against the grain on the outlook for the semiconductor market, Barclays Capital analyst C.J. Muse said in a long report this morning that he has raised his rating on the sector from "Neutral" to "Positive." His favorites in the sector are Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Broadcom (NASDAQ:BRCM).

Muse said he sees the downward trend in the industry as a “mid-cycle correction” rather than a long-term downturn in the semiconductor industry.

While acknowledging the industry won't perform as in the past, Muse sees it growing at an annual rate of 6 percent to 8 percent going forward. He cites a 0.97 correlation between the semi market and global GDP growth rate, which appears to be headed for 7 percent in 2011 and 2012, according to the calculations of Muse.

Along with his positive outlook on Intel, which he boosted its rating to "Overweight," Muse also did the same for Altera (ALTR) and Spansion (CODE). Top picks include NXP Semiconductors (NXPI), Qualcomm (QCOM), and Broadcom (BRCM), which are also rated "Overweight."

On the negative side, Muse lowered his rating on Xilinx (XLNX), Analog Devices (ADI), Micron Technology (MU) and Nvidia (NVDA), dropping them to "Equal Weight."

He reiterated his "Equal Weight" ratings on Texas Instruments (TXN), Freescale Semiconductor (FSL) and Linear Technology.

Xilinx (XLNX) (STJ) (WU) (AVGO) (BANF) Ratings Reiterated

Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX), St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE: STJ), The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), Avago Technologies (NASDAQ: AVGO) and BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ: BANF) have ratings reiterated.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) reiterated its "Overweight" rating on Xilinx, Inc. (XLNX).

Citigroup (NYSE:C) reiterated its "Sell" rating on St. Jude Medical, Inc. (STJ).

Wells Fargo & Co. reiterated its "Outperform" rating on The Western Union Company (WU).

Citigroup maintains its "Buy" rating on Avago Technologies (AVGO). They have a price target of $45.00 on the company.

KBW reiterated a "Market Perform" rating on BancFirst Co. (BANF).

Ex-Dividend for (VLO) (WWD) (XLNX) on May 16

Ex-Dividend date for Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO), Woodward Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) and Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX) is May 16.

Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) pays a dividend of $0.05 with a yield of 0.75 percent.

Woodward Inc. (WWD) pays a dividend of $0.07 with a yield of 0.79 percent.

Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) pays a dividend of $0.19 with a yield of 2.16 percent

Chips (MU) (INTC) (BRCM) (TSM) (XLNX) Under Pressure

Citing growing chip inventories, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) says after supply checks it appears the chip sector and companies like Micron (NASDAQ:MU), Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE:TSM), Xilinx (NASDAQ:XLNX), Broadcom (NASDAQ:BRCM) and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) are under pressure as chip demand falls.

Goldman noted that Taiwan Semiconductor and China-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) have seen declining demand since the latter part of February.

The rise in chip inventories seems to be be largely across the industry, according to Goldman, and not company-specific events.

Xilinx (XLNX) was trading at $35.48, falling $0.25, or 0.70 percent. Broadcom (BRCM) was at $33.94, down $0.20, or 0.59 percent. Intel (INTC) was at $22.85, dropping $0.40, or 1.70 percent. Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) was trading at $13.70, down $0.05, or 0.36 percent. Micron (NASDAQ:MU) was at $10.49, declining $0.38, or 3.50 percent.

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Applied Micro (NASDAQ:AMCC) went against the grain today, as they're both trading in positive territory as of 2:19 PM EDT.

Dividend Yields for (XLNX) (AMAT) (NSM) (TXN) (ALTR)

Indicated dividend yields for Standard & Poor's 500 Index companies Xilinx Inc (XLNX), Applied Materials Inc (AMAT), National Semiconductor Corp (NSM), Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) and Altera Corp (ALTR) .

These dividend data indicate dividend yields of companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index as of Saturday, April 30. The yield is determined by taking the latest declared dividend, annualized and divided by the price of the stock. Payout ratios are calculated based on latest quarterly dividend paid divided by earnings.

Xilinx Inc (XLNX) has a dividend yield of 2.18 percent on a declared dividend of $0.19. The payout ratio is 26.4 percent.

Applied Materials Inc (AMAT) has a dividend yield of 2.04 percent on a declared dividend of $0.08. The payout ratio is 18.2 percent.

National Semiconductor Corp (NSM) has a dividend yield of 3.36 percent on a declared dividend of $0.10. The payout ratio is 40.7 percent.

Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) has a dividend yield of 1.46 percent on a declared dividend of $0.13. The payout ratio is 22.8 percent.

Altera Corp (ALTR) has a dividend yield of 0.49 percent on a declared dividend of $0.06. The payout ratio is 8.6 percent.

Varian (VAR) (WIT) (WPI) (TUP) (WYN) (XLNX) Price Targets Raised

Price targets on Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR), Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT), Watson Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NYSE: WPI), Tupperware Brands Co. (NYSE: TUP), Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN) and Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) raised by analysts.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) raised their price target on Varian Medical Systems (VAR) from $65.00 to $68.00. They have a “neutral” rating on the company.

Piper Jaffray raised their price target on Wipro Limited (WIT) to $14.00. They have a “neutral” rating on the company.

Piper Jaffray raised their price target on Watson Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (WPI) from $62.00 to $72.00. They have an “overweight” rating on the company.

RBC Capital raised their price target on Tupperware Brands Co. (TUP) from $64.00 to $72.00. They have an “outperform” rating on the company.

Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) raised their price target on Wyndham Worldwide (WYN) from $38.00 to $41.00. They have a “buy” rating on the company.

Auriga raised their price target on Xilinx, Inc. (XLNX) from $36.00 to $39.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the company.

National Semi (NSM), Micron (MU), LSI (LSI), Texas Instruments (TXN), Xilinx (XLNX) Lead Friday Teck Rally

Tech stocks jumped Friday, led by National Semi (NSM), Micron (MU), LSI (LSI), Texas Instruments (TXN) and Xilinx (XLNX), among other chip stocks, ending the session with gains across the sector.

Earlier, the tech sector mirrored the broader market’s uncertainty in the wake of an 8.9-magnitude earthquake that rattled Japan.

National Semi (NSM) rose 54 cents, or almost 4%, to close at $14.70 after the chip maker’s fourth-quarter revenue forecast fell in line with analysts’ estimates.

Late Thursday, National Semi said it expects quarterly sales of $360 million to $370 million, while analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had forecast revenue of $367 million.

Micron closed Friday at $10.24, up $0.31, or 3.17 percent. LSI closed at $6.60, gaining $0.28, or 4.43 percent. Texas Instruments ended the session at $34.39, up $0.14, or 0.41 percent. Xilinx closed at $32.33, up $0.43, or 1.35 percent.




Source

Lawsuits for Intel (INTC), AMD (AMD), eBay (EBAY), IBM (IBM), Xilinx (XLNX), Polycom (PLCN), Spansion (NASDAQ:SPSN)?

With the trial of Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam about to start this week, companies which allegedly supplied insider information to Galleon executives, such as Spansion Inc. (NASDAQ:SPSN), Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC), Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE:AMD), eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY), International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX) and Polycom Inc. (NASDAQ:PLCN), could find themselves being the recipient of lawsuits, according to a Bloomberg report.

"If a company made a decision for whatever reason that it wanted to make information available to select individuals, that in my opinion would be unlawful," Bloomberg cited Mark Rifkin, of Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP, as saying. "We’re paying close attention to the entire insider trading case as it unfolds because you never know what’s going to happen."

The trial of Galleon Group LLC co-founder Raj Rajaratnam, 52, starts on Tuesday after months of legal battles about whether wiretaps and other information gathered during a long investigation will be admitted as evidence. Rajaratnam faces a possible 10 years in prison if convicted.




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Wells (WFC) Top Semi Picks are Intel (INTC), Qualcomm (QCOM), Linear Technology (LLTC), Analog Devices (ADI), Xilinx (XLNX), Altera (ALTR)

Even though Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) chip analyst David Wong downgraded his outlook on semiconductor stocks from "Overweight," he still likes Intel (INTC), Qualcomm (QCOM), Linear Technology (LLTC), Analog Devices (ADI), Xilinx (XLNX) and Altera (ALTR) in the sector.

Wong said, “We continue to expect solid semiconductor industry growth in 2011, of 10-15%, with many chip companies maintaining the high levels of profitability demonstrated in 2010.”

“The trend for worldwide semiconductor sales continues to track roughly in line with to somewhat above our expectations,” added Wong, who also said inventory levels are "appropriate" at this time.

Wong considers less desirable Broadcom (BRCM), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Microsemi (MSCC) and Micron Technology (MU), citing high valuations, low profit and company-specific risk.

Wong maintains Market Perform ratings on Maxim (MXIM), Texas Instruments (TXN) and National Semiconductor (NSM).

Xilinx (NASDAQ:XLNX) Margins Under Pressure Long Term

Xilinx (NASDAQ:XLNX) recently released their third-quarter results, and along with guidance, were largely in line with company guidance.

But over the long terms, according to comments from the company, their margins look like they'll be coming under pressure.

Auriga commented, saying that Xilinx "management highlighted increased R&D spending to accelerate the release of 28nm products. Along with our recent comments about checks suggesting more aggressive pricing from XLNX for new design wins, we remain concerned about the implications for longer term operating margins."

Auriga is changing their fourth quarter 2011 and full year 2011 EPS/revenue estimates from $0.54/$578 million and $2.29/$2.37 billion to $0.55/$582 million and $2.37/$2.36 billion. Estimates for 2012 remain in place.

Auriga maintains their "Hold" rating on Xilinx (XLNX), which was trading at $31.27, up $0.25, or 0.81 percent, at 12:34 PM EST. Auriga has a price target on Xilinx of $35.

Xilinx (NASDAQ:XLNX) Battling for Market Share with Aggressive Pricing

Weak demand is forcing Xilinx to cut prices in an attempt to get more market share as it erodes in the weak economic climate.

Auriga said, "XLNX has recently become much more aggressive on pricing, particularly at communications customers, to stem market share erosion."

The one positive note, as with peers of Xilinx, is edge routers are selling well.

That has caused Auriga to actually raised their fourth quarter 2011, full year 2011 and full year 2012 estimates on Xilinx from $0.52, $2.25, and $2.23 to to $0.54, $2.29, and $2.28.

Auriga reiterates a "Hold" rating on Xilinx, which closed Tuesday at 31.77, up $0.08, or 0.25 percent. Auriga raised their price target on Xilinx from $29 to $35.

Short selling on Xilinx has reached a 25-month high as earnings approaches.

Xilinx (NASDAQ:XLNX) Weakness Probably Wireless Inventory Correction

With the surprising negative pre-announcement by Xilinx (NASDAQ:XLNX), many companies slashed their numbers on the company, although Auriga says they see it probably related to an inventory correction in their wireless segment and not share loss.

Auriga noted, "We are lowering our estimates but maintain our rating and $29 price target on Xilinx following its negative pre-announcement for FQ311(December). We have preferred its competitor Altera (Nasdaq: ALTR)(Hold), based on expected market share gains at 40nm and 28nm, but this miss is more likely driven by an inventory correction than share loss as lead times normalize. Our sense is that end demand remains firm, though the recent licensing spectrum scandal in India may have caused a pause at some of the smaller carriers. In any event, consistent with our prior view, we still expect the ongoing inventory correction to be a multi-quarter event across broad-based semis.

"Our FQ311 (Dec) estimate goes to $570mln/$0.51 versus our prior estimate/consensus at $608mln/$0.58. We are also lowering our FY11 estimate to $2.35bln/$2.25 from $2.42bln/$2.39 (consensus at $2.42bln/$2.36) and FY12 estimate to $2.40bln/$2.23 from $2.46bln/$2.45 (consensus at $2.46bln/$2.30)."

Auriga maintains a "Hold" rating on Xilinx, which closed Wednesday at $28.63, up $0.24, or 0.85 percent. Auriga has a price target on them of $29.

Xilinx (NASDAQ:XLNX) Projects Lower Sales in Surprise Announcement

Xilinx (NASDAQ:XLNX) shares have tumbled today after the unscheduled announcement Tuesday after the market closed lowering the sales results to be released in their upcoming fourth-quarter report.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) keeps their "Sell" rating on Xilinx, while lowering their EPS estimates for 2011.

For full year 2011, they lowered EPS estimates from $2.30 to $2.22.

Sales for Xilinx will come be down from 7 percent to 9 percent quarter over quarter, in a range of $564 million to $576 million. That far below the $605 million the Street is looking for.

Most of the sales weakness is coming from their large wireless communications customers, although backlog and customer projections appear to imply growth going forward.

Xilinx was trading at $28.07, down $0.32, or 1.13 percent, as of 12:37 PM EST.

Ticonderoga on Cogo (Nasdaq:COGO), Huawei

Fresh off their first day at the China Tech Investor Tour, Ticonderoga Securities came away with their take on Cogo (Nasdaq:COGO) and Huawei.

Ticonderoga said, "Cogo Still in Ramp Mode, We See More Upside Potential. After our Cogo (Buy-rated) meeting, we remain confident in the growth path at the company and believe our estimates for 2011 remain very conservative. With the momentum we see at Cogo, we would not be surprised if the company is able to reach $1 billion in revenue over the next few years. After today's meetings, we believe the company is well positioned to benefit from the continued investment in telecom infrastructure, combined with the ramp of China's mobile Internet, which remains in the early stages of development and ultimately will shift from 3G to 4G networks. Additionally, we remain intrigued by the ramp of new tablet customers, and the industrial business continues to have momentum into 2011.

"Huawei Sticks Its Head Into the Clouds; ZTE Handsets Rebound. Our meeting with Huawei highlighted the company's evolution from a telecom equipment vendor to a broader IT vendor with an aggressive cloud computing ramp. As such, we would not be surprised if the company is able to double its business in areas such as Ethernet switch and computing-related (e.g., storage, server) in 2011. Cisco (Nasdaq:CSCO)(Buy-rated) appears to be the target for Huawei in the near term and HP (NYSE:HPQ)(NR) over the longer term, while the company also plans to be a player in the cloud services market. On the supplier front, we sensed Huawei is positioned to ramp Altera (Nasdaq:ALTR)(NR) at a much faster pace than Xilinx (Nasdaq:XLNX)(NR) in 2011. During our ZTE meeting, we felt the company is satisfied with a strong ramp for the India 3G market and expects this to represent the fastest growth area in 2011. Also, the PTN business is expected to continue to enjoy strong growth in 2011, while we believe the handset business will enjoy a significant uptick in 4Q10 and terminals could top 100 million in 2011."

Cogo closed Monday at $7.73, up by $0.13, or 1.71 percent.