Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Google (GOOG), Yahoo! (YHOO), Apple Inc (AAPL), General Electric (GE), Pfizer (PFE), Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Home Depot (HD), International Business Machines (IBM), Bed Bath and Beyond (BBBY), General Mills (GIS), Lowe’s Cos (LOW), Teva Pharm Indus ADR (TEVA)
Before the bell: Rate cut hopes could fuel rebound
IBM (NYSE: IBM) are shooting up over 9.5% in premarket trading after the company reported strong preliminary results, taking a few other tech stocks higher with it. Big Blue said fourth-quarter earnings from continuing operations rose 24% from a year ago to $2.80 per share on revenue of $28.9 billion, beating Wall Street expectations of $2.60 per share on sales of $27.82 billion by a wide margin. The weaker dollar, IBM reported, helped to push revenue up 10%.
With the start on Macworld tomorrow, January 15, it seems there is no shortage of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) news:
- Apple and China Mobile have called off talks to launch the iPhone in China. The talks have so far fueled speculation the device will hit the country’s store shelves soon.
- As for the iPhone being used as a web browser, reports have indeed showed increased traffic to search engines from the iPhone, surpassing others, despite it holding only a 2% share of smartphones. On Christmas, traffic to Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) from iPhones surged, surpassing incoming traffic from any other type of mobile device (it later fell below Nokia-backed Symbian operating system phones). Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) also said “iPhones accounted for a disproportionate amount of its mobile traffic.”
- And, for all your Macworld coverage, be sure to check Engadget.
The Detroit Auto Show, America’s biggest car show, kicked off over the weekend, with automakers like Ford (NYSE: F) and General Motors (NYSE: GM) unveiling some of their newest vehicle models like Ford’s Lincoln suv.
Meanwhile, GM is close to an agreement with the United Auto Workers on another round of buyout and early retirement offers.
As oil prices reach record high and demand increases for alternative power, General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE)’s energy investment business was to announce Monday it will increase its investment in renewable energy by 50%, to $6 billion by 2010.
A study found that patients treated with Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE)’s cholesterol drug Lipitor — the world’s top=selling drug — were significantly less likely to have a heart attack than those treated with generic Zocor. The study was funded by Pfizer.
Notable analyst calls this morning:
- Credit Suisse upgraded Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY), Home Depot (NYSE: HD) and Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) from Neutral to Outperform.
- HSBC Securities downgraded Teva Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ: TEVA) from Overweight to Neutral.
- JP Morgan upgraded General Mills (NYSE: GIS) from Underweight to Neutral.
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