STOCKS TRENDED HIGHER in this morning's premarket trading, resisting the downward pull of a new batch of earnings warnings.
Nasdaq 100 futures were six points above fair value while those tied to the S&P 500 were about a point higher, indicating a slight rise to the major indexes when regular trading begins.
Applied Materials (AMAT), the leading maker of semiconductor-manufacturing equipment managed to gain about 2%. It beat recently-lowered Wall Street profit estimates by about 6%, but warned that delays and cancellations of orders will cause it to miss the next quarter's numbers. The company said it would aggressively cut costs.
While most analysts lowered profit estimates on the sector, J.P. Morgan analyst Eric Chen upgraded Applied and four competitors, KLA Tencor (KLAC), Novellus Systems (NVLS), ASM Lithography (ASML) and Varian Semiconductor Equipment (VSEA). Chen said declines in business are moderating and the worst for the beaten sector may be over.
Chen kept cautious however, putting a Long-Term Buy on the shares, up from Market Performer. "While some investors may be surprised by the rapid deterioration of the equipment business in general, which could result in near-term pressure on the share prices, we believe that downside is largely protected now," he wrote to investors.
Another tech bellwether, fiber-optic equipment maker JDS Uniphase (JDSU), managed a 3% gain despite admitting it will miss its annual estimates by about 10% due to lower spending by its telecom customers.
Sycamore Networks (SCMR), a big player in the data-networking gear space also issued a mixed report and rose 8%. The company beat the Street by a penny at six cents a share for the fiscal second quarter. However it expects third-quarter earnings to come in on the low end of its estimated range of 32 cents to 39 cents.
Stocks fell yesterday as Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan testified to the Senate the worst of the economic downturn may be past. For traders who had hoped for hints of another big interest-rate cut before the Fed's March 20 policy meeting, that was a disappointment.
Nasdaq 100 futures were six points above fair value while those tied to the S&P 500 were about a point higher, indicating a slight rise to the major indexes when regular trading begins.
Applied Materials (AMAT), the leading maker of semiconductor-manufacturing equipment managed to gain about 2%. It beat recently-lowered Wall Street profit estimates by about 6%, but warned that delays and cancellations of orders will cause it to miss the next quarter's numbers. The company said it would aggressively cut costs.
While most analysts lowered profit estimates on the sector, J.P. Morgan analyst Eric Chen upgraded Applied and four competitors, KLA Tencor (KLAC), Novellus Systems (NVLS), ASM Lithography (ASML) and Varian Semiconductor Equipment (VSEA). Chen said declines in business are moderating and the worst for the beaten sector may be over.
Chen kept cautious however, putting a Long-Term Buy on the shares, up from Market Performer. "While some investors may be surprised by the rapid deterioration of the equipment business in general, which could result in near-term pressure on the share prices, we believe that downside is largely protected now," he wrote to investors.
Another tech bellwether, fiber-optic equipment maker JDS Uniphase (JDSU), managed a 3% gain despite admitting it will miss its annual estimates by about 10% due to lower spending by its telecom customers.
Sycamore Networks (SCMR), a big player in the data-networking gear space also issued a mixed report and rose 8%. The company beat the Street by a penny at six cents a share for the fiscal second quarter. However it expects third-quarter earnings to come in on the low end of its estimated range of 32 cents to 39 cents.
Stocks fell yesterday as Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan testified to the Senate the worst of the economic downturn may be past. For traders who had hoped for hints of another big interest-rate cut before the Fed's March 20 policy meeting, that was a disappointment.
