Filed under: Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Citigroup Inc. (C), Advanced Micro Dev (AMD), Merrill Lynch (MER)

Merrill Lynch (NASDAQ:MER) is down over 5% on poor earnings.

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is down 8% on disappointing earnings.

AMD (NYSE:AMD) is down 7% on poor earnings.

UAL (NASDAQ:UAUA) is up over 8% on an anlyst upgrade.

Micrososft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is down over 5% on poor earnings.

Stocks may trade differently in the pre-market than they do the regular session.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), eBay (EBAY), Coca-Cola (KO), International Business Machines (IBM), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Merrill Lynch (MER), Economic data, Wells Fargo (WFC), Housing

U.S. stock futures edged higher Thursday morning, a day after market staged a big rally. Investors this morning are bracing for some housing data, but more importantly, a wave of earnings. Already better-than-expected earnings from J.P. Morgan Chase boosted stock index futures from earlier declines this morning.

On Wednesday, bulls finally came back in drove to but equity as oil price continued its decline and airlines and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) reported results that Wall Street found encouraging, sending airline and financials stocks through the roof. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended a three-day losing streak, jumping 276.74 points, or 2.5%. The S&P 500 climbed 30.45 points, or 2.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 69.14 points, or 3.1%.

Still, all this sentiment might yet evaporate, or be seriously damped after housing data is released at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Building permits and housing starts for June are due out at that time. Also, weekly jobless claims will continue to paint the picture of the goings on in the labor market. At 10:00 a.m., the Philadelphia Fed index for July will be reported.

It would be interesting to see how the data and earnings play out. Already, J.P. Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) reported it profit sank 53% in the second quarter to $2.00 billion, or 54 cents per share. That beat estimates of 44 cents share. JPM shares are up over 5.5% in premarket trading.

Meanwhile Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) shares are also rising 2.2% in premarket trading despite reporting a 23% decline in second-quarter profit to $1.42 billion, or 61 cents per share. Excluding one-time items, per-share earnings were $1.01, beating estimates of 96 cents per share. Revenue rose 17%.

Still due to report today are: From financials, Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) is due to post earnings after the market close. Then we also have a wave of heavyweight tech companies reporting today like Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and IBM (NYSE: IBM), all reporting after the close as well.

On Wednesday, online auctioneer giant eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) reported a 22% jump in quarterly profit, but gave a soft outlook for the current third quarter. EBAY shares are declining over 9% in premarket trading.

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Filed under: Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Citigroup Inc. (C), Advanced Micro Dev (AMD), Merrill Lynch (MER)

Merrill Lynch (NASDAQ:MER) is down over 5% on poor earnings.

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is down 8% on disappointing earnings.

AMD (NYSE:AMD) is down 7% on poor earnings.

UAL (NASDAQ:UAUA) is up over 8% on an anlyst upgrade.

Micrososft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is down over 5% on poor earnings.

Stocks may trade differently in the pre-market than they do the regular session.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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Filed under: Newspapers, Magazines, Google (GOOG), Viacom (VIA), Amer Intl Group (AIG), Lehman Br Holdings (LEH)

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The market for private mortgage insurance has narrowed and is tougher to obtain, further pressuring home buyers and affecting the market, the Wall Street Journal reported. “Clearly, the pendulum had swung a little too far in terms of flexibility in underwriting,” said Len Sweeney, the chief risk officer at AIG United Guaranty, a part of American International Group Inc (NYSE: AIG).
• In a agreement with Viacom Inc (NYSE: VIA), Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) said it will remove visitor data from YouTube before it fulfills a judge’s order to send data to Viacom, as a part of a larger copyright lawsuit, the Wall Street Journal reported.

OTHER PAPERS:

• As part of its effort to emerge from bankruptcy protection, the Detroit News reported that Delphi Corp (OTC: DPHIQ) announced plans to sell its brake business. Delphi has retained W.Y. Campbell and Co to help sell the unit, which has around 1,000 employees worldwide.
• The New York Post learned that Dick Fuld, the CEO of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (NYSE: LEH), is seriously considering ways to take the company private. The Post said that talks centering on the privatization of Lehman have “gotten very serious consideration,” according to sources, although details on how a maneuver may work remain unclear.

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Filed under: Google (GOOG), salesforce.com inc (CRM), Small business

Every day, I get a variety of media pitches from companies and PR folks. No doubt, I try to evaluate all of them.

The problem: some of the pitches don’t work. As a result, a company may miss an opportunity to get some exposure.

However, there are some strategies to improve things. So, let’s take a look:

Know the journalist: Most of us focus on certain topics (or have a so-called beat). Thus, read some of a journalist’s work. If he or she doesn’t cover your industry or market focus, then it’s probably a waste of time to make a pitch.

Now, for those who are a right fit: put the journalist’s name in a notebook or a database (there are free online offerings, such as Zoho). You might also look at other publications the journalist writes for. Oh, and it’s a good idea to keep reading the journalist’s work. To this end, you might set a filter with something like Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) News.

Craft a personalized pitch: OK, I will respond to a canned pitch. But, it better be highly targeted.

Although, if you want to improve your odds, try to find ways to show that you understand my focus and work.

For example, you could start a pitch with: “Hi Tom, I saw that you recently wrote a piece about on-demand software operator, Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM). I think you might be interested in another company in the space, which is called…..”

Believe me, I’ll pay attention.

Keep it short: I’ve seen pitches that have hundreds of words. Don’t do it. Instead, I like pitches that are just a couple paragraphs.

Basically, find a way to grab me and then perhaps have a press release (but don’t have it as an attachment — I’m scared of opening them because of security concerns).

Provide a hook: I get press releases on such topics as new-hires of executives and other typical stuff. But, unless the hire is a big-time person, does it matter? Probably not.

In other words, think about the following: what is the angle (that is, the hook)? Why would I be interested in writing about your pitch?

In fact, try to state the hook in an email’s subject line.

Don’t pitch every day: Yes, I get some of these. And it’s annoying. It means that you are really not targeting me; rather, it’s kind of like spam.

Some resources: To go further, there are certainly good books on dealing with the media, such as Media Training 101: A Guide to Meeting the Press and The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly.

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Filed under: After the bell, Earnings reports, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Intel (INTC), Marketing and advertising

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) today reported better-than-expected second quarter results, allaying fears that the economic slowdown would hurt the world’s largest chipmaker.

Net income rose 25% to $1.6 billion, or 28 cents and sales jumped 9.1% to $9.47 billion, beating analysts’ expectations of profit of 26 cents on revenue of $9.33 billion. The company even gave robust guidance of $10 billion to $10.6 billion. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expected sales of $10.01 billion. Shares of the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company rose in after-hours trading along with other tech bellwethers such as Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG).

“Intel had another strong quarter with revenue at the high end of expectations and earnings up substantially year over year,” said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO, in the earnings release. “As we enter the second half, demand remains strong for our microprocessor and chipset products in all segments and all parts of the globe.”

Some skeptics, including me, wondered whether Intel would be hurt by the economic slowdown that’s hurting everyone else. After all, are people and companies willing to shell out big bucks for fancy notebook computers during these uncertain times? Well, judging from the company’s earnings, the answer appears to be “yes.”

Both the mobile and microprocessor units set records. Gross margins rose to 55.4% from 53.8% in the first quarter and 46.9% a year earlier “as growth in demand for lower-priced notebook PCs resulted in a lower-than-expected microprocessor average selling price. In April, the company predicted a gross margin of 56% plus or minus a couple of points,” the Wall Street Journal noted.

So it looks like reports of Intel’s decline were overblown.

“If the slowdown were that pervasive, then Intel would have already seen it,” Raymond James analyst Hans Mosesmann told Bloomberg News.

Good point.

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Filed under: Bad news, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), General Electric (GE), Coca-Cola (KO)

So, the past few days have been cool ones for the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index. The market saw a nice uptrend. Click here and set the Dow to the one-month timeframe; that graph says it all. It looks like things may be okay from now on, right? Well, don’t bet on it. CNBC.com reminds us about the dreaded bear-market rally. And I completely agree with the thesis: we are most likely headed back down once this market happiness runs its course.

It would simply be too easy for investors to have seen the bottom. No way, not with all the problems going on in terms of inflation and financial disasters. Oh yeah, oil has retreated, that’s true, but I don’t think the energy monster is in permanent hibernation. Not by a long shot. The problem with the past few days is that it plays with investors’ emotions. It’s played with mine, certainly. I haven’t bought a stock in a while, and I really want to buy something. Maybe add to my General Electric (NYSE: GE) trade, my Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) holding. I love the dip in Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and really want to get serious about grabbing shares in Mr. Softy. My 401(k) has a lot of money waiting to be put to work. I want to transfer some of those monies into one or two of the quality mutual-fund offerings at my disposal. I can’t stand having money tied up in stable-value instruments.

I just can’t make a move yet. I feel that lower prices will be upon us sooner rather than later. Already, many are talking about buying opportunities for oil futures, and I fear those who hold such opinion will turn out to be correct. When oil rises again, stocks will most likely fall, and this summer fun will be just another memory of a day at the beach. I’m not saying there aren’t buys out there. Again, Microsoft is looking attractive. Value investing, however, isn’t. It’s not the style of the day. And when value investing isn’t the style of the day, your only hope is to become a deep-value investor and pray that patience is eventually rewarded.

Am I being pessimistic? I’m being realistic. The economy is still unstable. Even the great Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) isn’t immune. So, while I can’t say I won’t nibble here and there on some stocks next week, I can say what was I feeling most strongly as I saw the Dow climb: maybe it’s time to buy the DXD (AMEX: DXD) ETF to short the index. It would be risky to do this, of course, but my main point is that I still feel bearish on the Dow even with the recent rise.

Disclosure: I own Coke and GE; positions can change at any time.

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Filed under: Google (GOOG), Options

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) closed at $535.60 Wednesday.

GOOG is scheduled to report Q2 EPS on July 17. Cowen says: “We continue to expect GOOG to gain search share and monetize newer initiatives, such as YouTube and GOOG Apps, over time. We are maintaining our Outperform rating.”

GOOG July 530 straddle is priced at $39. GOOG August 530 straddle is priced at $58. GOOG August option implied volatility of 47 is above its 6-month average of 38 according to Track Data, suggesting large price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

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Filed under: Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Citigroup Inc. (C), Advanced Micro Dev (AMD), Merrill Lynch (MER)

Merrill Lynch (NASDAQ:MER) is down over 5% on poor earnings.

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is down 8% on disappointing earnings.

AMD (NYSE:AMD) is down 7% on poor earnings.

UAL (NASDAQ:UAUA) is up over 8% on an anlyst upgrade.

Micrososft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is down over 5% on poor earnings.

Stocks may trade differently in the pre-market than they do the regular session.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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Filed under: Earnings reports, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), International Business Machines (IBM), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Merrill Lynch (MER), Wells Fargo (WFC)

Reuters reports that today is a big one for bank and technology earnings. It looks like Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) will lose big and will try to soften the blow with an announcement about selling its 20% of Bloomberg LP for $4.5 billion to its founder, New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg. JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and a handful of big technology companies are expected to report profits. But will they be enough?

Meanwhile, how can we make sense of yesterday’s 276 point rally on Wall Street? Nobody knows what happened, but theories abound: the price of oil fell — possibly due to anticipation that the Fed would raise interest rates to deal with inflation that is roaring out of control. Higher interest rates would strengthen the dollar, which would drive down the price of oil since it’s traded in dollars. But I think yesterday’s market was a short-covering frenzy. With the SEC foolishly squeezing the shorts, they needed to cover their bets that financials would fall further. Of course good news from Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) didn’t hurt.

Today’s earnings — with estimates courtesy of a Reuters analyst survey — are likely to move the market. Here’s a roundup:

• Merrill Lynch is expected to lose $1.94
• JPMorgan was expected to make $0.44, down 63% from 2007. At a Price/Earnings to Growth (PEG) ratio of 0.4 and a P/E of 12 on earnings forecast to grow 31% to $3.34 in 2009, it looks cheap. CNNMoney reports it made 54 cents — well ahead of expectations and its shares are up 5% in premarket.
• Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) will earn 47 cents a share, a 21% increase from last year. At a PEG ratio of 1.1 and a P/E of 15 on earnings forecast to grow 14.3% to $2.16 in 2009, it looks reasonably priced.

• Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is likely to earn $4.72, up 61% from last year. At a PEG ratio of 1.7 and a P/E of 36 on earnings forecast to grow 25% to $21.57 in 2009, it looks expensive.
• International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) is anticipated to earn $1.82, 21% higher than 2007. At a PEG ratio of 1.3 and a P/E of 16 on earnings forecast to grow 12% to $9.57 in 2009, it looks priced about right.

As always, I predict the market will boost the shares of companies that beat these expectations and raise their revenue and profit growth forecasts. For those that fail to beat and raise, investors could slash their shares. JPMorgan beat expectations this morning and the upside surprise is rewarding those who bet on it prior to the announcement.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter . He owns Wells Fargo shares and has no financial interest in the other securities mentioned.

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