Trefis: Week in Review 20 April 2012

Written by Trefis Staff

Below is a summary of the activity at Trefis during the past week that Trefis thought Econintersect readers would find interesting.

Trefis is a financial community structured around trends, forecasts and insights related to some of the most popular stocks in the US. It provides the unique feature of allowing the user to model future valuation based upon projected changes in components of each business. It also provides communication capabilities among members, including consensus of member analysis compared to Trefis staff analysis and blogging opportunities for members.

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Click “Read more…” to see our new clickable table of contents and most covered items of the week.

Table of Contents for the 108 top stories this week:

• Tech, Media, Telecom (49 articles)
  • Microsoft, 7 articles
  • IBM and Facebook, 3 articles each

• Consumer (20 articles)
  • Chipolte, 2 articles
  • Ford, electric cars, 1 article

• Energy (13 articles)
  • Solar energy, 3 articles
  • Schlumberger, 2 articles

• Financial Services (10 articles)
  • Goldman Sachs, 2 articles

• Industrials and Transportation (7 articles)
  • Southest Airlines, 2 articles

• Basic Materials (6 articles)

• Health Care (3 articles)

All 108 investment stories of the week are listed below

Tech, Media, Telecom

Zynga Continues With Acquisition Hunt In Search For Next FarmVille on April 20th

Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA) is the world’s largest social gaming company, with more than 280 monthly million active users. It competes primarily with…

Texas Instrument’s Results Monday Could Set The Stage For 2012 on April 20th

Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN) is set to announce its Q1 2012 results on Monday, April 23rd. Some of the competitors of the company…

AMD’s Results Were Light But 2012 Still Looks Like A Great Year on April 20th

AMD (NYSE:AMD), the California based semiconductor company, announced its Q1 2012 results on Thursday. AMD faces competition from PC microprocessor maker …

Facebook’s Tagtile Acquisition Hints at Social Commerce Play on April 20th

Everybody watched with amazement when Facebook announced the acquisition of Instagram, a popular mobile photo sharing service, for $1 billion. And now it …

Microsoft Aims to Take Windows Store To 33 More Countries on April 20th

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) officially launched the beta version of the Windows Metro App Store along with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview back in March…

Netflix’s Earnings On Deck Monday: Turnaround Continues With Eye On Content Costs on April 20th

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) will be reporting its Q1 2012 earnings on Monday, April 23. After a roller coaster ride last year and a…

IBM Heads To $225 As Earnings Suppport Its Shifting Focus on April 20th

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) reported flat earnings growth for the first three months of 2012 but registered a 7 percent increase in net…

NYT’s Future Depends On Digital Subscriptions And Online Advertising Growth on April 20th

The New York Times (NYSE:NYT) reported its earnings for Q1 2012, with a slight decline in overall revenue compared to 2011, after…

Nokia’s Earnings Show Pricing Pressures And Slow Windows Phone Transition on April 20th

Nokia (NYSE:NOK) followed up on its profit warning last week with an even bleaker earnings report yesterday as the company’s revenues…

Weekly Tech Summary: Microsoft & Zynga on April 20th

This week was quite eventful for the tech sector with some significant developments related to major companies like Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Zynga (…

Weekly Internet Update: Facebook & Amazon on April 20th

This week, we saw some significant developments related to Facebook and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), which could impact their value in the coming years…

Activision Blizzard Announces Diablo III Open Beta Weekend on April 20th

Video gaming giant Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) has announced the launch of Diablo III open beta weekend, which offers open access of the …

Microsoft’s Growth Outlook And Windows 8 Provide Upside To Stock on April 20th

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) just reported its earnings for the Q3 FY12, with revenue growing to $17.41 billion, up 6% year-over-year. Its operating …

Amazon Launches Marketplace for Amazon Web Services, Its Cloud Platform on April 20th

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) announced the launch of a new app store for Amazon Web Services, which would host software powered by its AWS …

Cree’s Results Hit Choppy Waters, Stock Worth $26 on April 20th

Cree Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 (NASDAQ:CREE), a market-leading innovator and manufacturer of semiconductors, posted its Q3 2012…

F5 Networks Flexes Virtual Muscles With Solid Results on April 19th

F5 Networks (NASDAQ:FFIV), the Seattle-based global leader in application development network, posted its Q2 2012 result on Wednesday. With $340 million …

Qualcomm’s Fundamentals Justify $68 Despite Lowered Guidance on April 19th

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) announced an yet another solid quarter yesterday but shares fell as supply issues forced Qualcomm to reduce its forecast for the…

PayPal Continues to Drive Growth for eBay; Mobile Payments to Explode in 2012 on April 19th

eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) reported its earnings for Q1 2012 this week. It was a great quarter with revenue increasing to $3.3 billion, up…

Intel Results Show That 2012 Will Be A Transition Year on April 19th

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) posted its much awaited Q1 results on Tuesday. The report shows that the company was after all able to weather …

Cloud-Focused Office 15 Gives Microsoft Subscription Model Opportunity on April 19th

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is expected to launch the next version of its popular productivity software suite – Office 15 – in 2013…

Brace Yourselves, The Facebook IPO Is Coming May 17 on April 19th

Reports suggest that Facebook is planning to go public on May 17, in what would possibly be the biggest internet IPO to date. Earlier…

Why You Should Be Bullish on IBM on April 19th

Submitted by Investing Daily as part of our contributors program . Investing Daily editor Jim Fink keeps a close eye on the buys and sells…

The Avengers Should Make Up For Disney’s John Carter Debacle on April 19th

Disney’s (NYSE:DIS) filmed entertainment arm, which competes with Time Warner (NYSE:TWX), Viacom (NASDAQ:VIA) and News Corp…

Yahoo’s Thompson Reiterates Focus On Core Business, Divestiture Plans on April 18th

Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) announced its earnings for the first quarter of 2012, with its net revenue (excluding traffic acquisition costs) increasing to …

China Looks To Disney’s Help With Animating Chinese Culture on April 18th

Disney (NYSE:DIS) is partnering with the animation arm of China’s Ministry of Culture and Tencent Holdings Ltd. to push animation …

Microsoft Unveils Windows Azure Media Services on April 18th

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced new media services for its Azure cloud platform, which enable customers to offer live streaming, on-demand streaming, video …

Shutterfly Launches New Service Treat to Boost Greeting Card Sales on April 18th

Shutterfly (NASDAQ:SFLY) has launched a new online personal publishing service, Treat. Treat enables users to create, personalize and send greeting cards …

Microsoft Working On Web Version Of Skype To Expand Its Reach on April 18th

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is apparently working on a web version of Skype, which can be accessed by users directly through their browsers without …

New York Times Earnings: Undervalued And Will Get Lift From Digital Push on April 18th

New York Times (NYSE:NYT) will release its quarterly earnings on April 19. It has seen its revenue from traditional sources such as …

SanDisk Earnings: Looking At Fundamental Drivers To Support Outlook on April 18th

SanDisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) – the maker of solid state drive (SSD) memory, flash cards and USB flash drives – is …

Nokia Earnings: More Pain In Store But Lumia Sales Key on April 18th

Nokia (NYSE:NOK) will announce its Q1 FY 2012 earnings on April 19, but it has already given a preview of what to …

AMD Earnings Preview: Global PC Trends And Supply Chain In Focus on April 18th

AMD (NYSE:AMD), which failed to ride the wave of the growing PC market in 2011 and saw its stock decline considerably, is…

Verizon’s Earnings: Margin Recovery And LTE Focus Drive $42 Value on April 18th

Verizon (NYSE:VZ) is expected to announce its Q1 2012 earnings on April 19th, and we will be keenly looking for a revival …

Microsoft Announces More Windows 8 Details on April 17th

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has announced additional details about its upcoming Windows 8 OS, which is expected to be launched in Q3 2012. It…

Groupon Acquires Ditto.Me, Social Recommendation App on April 17th

Despite a series of controversies and lawsuits, Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN) continues to march forward with its acquisition spree. This week, it acquired …

Google Drive’s Torpedo Aimed At Dropbox Could Launch Next Week on April 17th

Google ‘s (NASDAQ:GOOG) cloud storage service – Google Drive – has been rumored to be in the works for …

VMware Q1 Earnings Preview: What We Are Watching on April 17th

VMware (NYSE:VMW), owned by EMC (NYSE:EMC), is expected to release its Q1 2012 earnings on April 18. It leads …

F5 Networks Pre-earning Article: What We’re Watching on April 17th

F5 Networks (NASDAQ:FFIV), a global leader in application delivery network, is set to announce its Q2 2012 results on Wednesday, April …

Activision Widens Mobile Reach With Skylanders Cloud Patrol For iDevices on April 17th

Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) is expanding the reach of Skylanders franchise with the debut of its mobile version, Skylanders Cloud Patrol. The game…

Apple Falls Almost 10% As Earnings Near; $550 Fair Value on April 17th

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is set to announce its Q1 FY2012 results after the markets close on April 24. While we do not expect …

Microsoft Earnings Preview: What We’re Watching on April 17th

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) will announce its Q3 FY12 earnings on April 19. This year is going to be a crucial year for Microsoft …

Netflix’s Finds $131 Value With User Recommendation Tools on April 16th

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) has released an interesting fact that about 75% of what its subscribers watch are from recommendations. Netflix’s recommendation …

Viacom Tunes Into YouTube And Google Play In A Savvy Move on April 16th

Viacom (NASDAQ:VIA) recently signed a licensing agreement with Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) under which the users of Google Play and YouTube will be…

IBM Q1 Earnings Preview: What We’re Watching on April 16th

IBM (NYSE:IBM) is set to announce its Q1 earnings on April 17, 2012. While we expect the company to show solid revenue…

Time Warner, News Corp Look To Capture Digital Shift With Next Issue Media on April 16th

The shift of magazines to the digital medium has been happening for sometime and all of the big media companies such as News Corp (…

eBay Earnings Preview: PayPal’s Growth Continues, Looking For Marketplaces Updates on April 16th

eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) saw its revenue grow around 27% in 2011, and nearly 35% in Q4 2011, with most of it driven by…

Qualcomm Earnings Will Show It Rides The Mobile Revolution on April 16th

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) is expected to announce its Q1 FY 2012 earnings on April 18th. The company has had a record run over …

Comcast Could Face Net Neutrality Scrutiny With Xfinity For Xbox on April 16th

Time Warner’s (NYSE:TWX) HBO Go service is now available on Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Xbox 360 for Comcast’…

Cree’s Earning Preview: What We’re Watching on April 16th

Cree (NASDAQ:CREE), a leading manufacturer of LED chips, components and lighting products, is set to announce its Q3 results for 2012 …

Constant Contact Upgrades Event Management Offering on April 16th

Constant Contact (NASDAQ:CTCT) has upgraded its event management product with new features that provide additional customization options, mobile registration support and expand …

Consumer

Chipotle’s Growth Remains The Envy Of Restaurant Stocks on April 20th

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc (NYSE:CMG) continued with its growth momentum delivering strong Q1 results on Thursday. Net revenues for the quarter ending…

Unilver Plans To Pour $500 Million Into Mexico on April 20th

Unilever (NYSE:UL) could invest another $500 million in Mexico’s production capacity in the next five years. Even though the investment …

Electric Cars Won’t Take Off Unless Battery Costs Drop Big Time on April 19th

Ford (NYSE:F) has revealed that its electric car which normally sells for around $22,000 has a battery pack costing between $12,000-15,000. …

Wynn Takes Hard Look At Online Gambling Market With Zynga on April 19th

Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN) is in talks with Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA), the world’s largest social gaming developer, in order to…

Rite Aid Improves Profitability And Outlook, $1.55 Fair Value on April 19th

Rite Aid (NYSE:RAD), the third largest drug retailer in the U.S., reported strong growth in 2011 with improved same store sales …

RadioShack Getting Walloped In The U.S. Focuses On Southeast Asia on April 19th

RadioShack (NYSE:RSH) has plans to expand on a major scale in Southeast Asia. The consumer electronics retailer is struggling in the U.S….

Wal-Mart Rolls To $72, Steps Up China Focus on April 19th

Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) plans to strengthen its presence in China, the second largest economy in the world after the U.S. Wal-Mart Asia CEO…

Kimberly Clark Q1 Preview: What We’re Watching on April 19th

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) is due to announce its Q1 results this Friday . The high-cost environment and weakened demand in the developed markets took…

Las Vegas Sands Talks Big Spanish Plans on April 19th

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) looks keen to establish its presence in Spain which would provide it access to European customers. According to …

Coca-Cola Delivers Strong Results Buoyed by Worldwide Volume Growth on April 18th

Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO) delivered strong results helped by impressive volume growth in developing countries and strong pricing in the North American region. …

McDonald’s Earnings: Looking For Continued Growth And Margin Improvement on April 18th

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) will announce its Q1 earnings on April 20, 2012. Revenues are likely to see healthy growth buoyed by…

Philip Morris International Earnings Preview: Asia to Drive Top-Line Growth on April 18th

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) is set to announce its Q1 results on April 19, 2012. Once again we expect Asia to drive…

Walgreen Gets A Lift From UBS Upgrade And Express Deal Speculation on April 18th

Walgreen’s (NYSE:WAG) stock jumped 5% on Tuesday following its upgrade to UBS’s ‘most preferred’ list. …

Las Vegas Sands Strengthens Its Position in Macau on April 17th

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) recently launched Sands Cotai Central, its fourth resort in Macau. The resort which is expected to be completed…

Chipotle Earnings Preview: Margins And Growth Plans Are Driving The Stock on April 17th

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc (NYSE:CMG) will announce its earnings on April 19, 2012. The stock continues to outperform the broader market …

Why Zipcar Should Put U.S. Operations Ahead of International Markets on April 17th

Zipcar (NASDAQ:ZIP) is one of the most successful and technologically capable car sharing/ rental service to have emerged in the recent years….

Coca-Cola Earnings Preview: Emerging Markets Will Drive Volume And Revenue Growth on April 16th

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) is set to announce its Q1 earnings on April 17. The company’s international operations especially those …

Daimler Drives To $72 As Trucks Gain From Global Growth, Aging U.S. Fleets on April 16th

Daimler (NYSE:DAI) has delivered an exceptional performance in the sales of its truck products last year. The sales and revenues of Daimler …

Why Africa’s Potential For Multinationals Has Failed So Far on April 16th

We have been long been hearing about the growth potential of Africa. From being described as a geography which is just waiting for the …

Another Tsunami In Indonesia Could Spell Disaster For Autos on April 16th

On 11 April, an earthquake of magnitude 8.6 (Richter scale) struck off the Indonesia coastline followed by an aftershock of 8.2 magnitude. This…

Energy

Kinder Morgan Earnings Show Mixed Picture But Positive Outlook Intact on April 20th

Kinder Morgan Partners (NYSE:KMP) registered a 65% growth in income from continued operations from $291 million to 480 million. However, the net…

Schlumberger Bubbles To $93 On Oil Prices And International Growth on April 20th

Oilfield services giant Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) reported a 3% sequential decline in revenues and a 12% drop in net income in Q1 2012 as…

Halliburton Stock Worth $43 Despite Weak Natural Gas Prices on April 19th

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) came out with its Q1 results on Wednesday, reporting a decline in revenues and profitability from Q4 2011 despite higher …

New Fracking Guidelines Give Exploration Companies Time To Clean Up Methods on April 19th

The oil and gas industry welcomed the Environmental Protection Agency’s new regulations on the release of smog forming emissions that are released in…

Schlumberger Earnings Preview: North America To Weigh On Performance on April 19th

Oilfield services giant Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) will declare its Q1 results on April 20. While the company’s overall results will be …

Think Tanks Push For Overhaul Of U.S. Solar Subsidy Policies on April 18th

Several think tanks in the U.S. are pushing for an overhaul of the subsidy programs which provide incentives for solar and other clean energy …

First Solar’s Downsizing Highlights Industry Challenges on April 18th

Thin cell panel manufacturer First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) announced that it would be closing down its manufacturing facility in Germany and reduce its global…

A Closer Look at Kinder Morgan Energy Partners’ 2011 Distributable Cash Flow on April 17th

Submitted by Ron Hiram of Wise Analysis using our Trefis Contributors tool. In an article titled Distributable Cash Flow (“DCF)” I present …

Exxon Gains Access To Massive Arctic Reserves With Russian Pact on April 17th

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) and its Russian Partner Rosneft signed a deal that would allow the American oil major wider access to Russia’…

Halliburton Earnings Preview: North American Performance In Focus on April 17th

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) will release its earnings for the last quarter on April 18. We will closely watch the company’s performance …

Kinder Morgan Q1 Earnings: Expansion Plans And Volume Growth In Focus on April 16th

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE:KMP) has plans to announce results for Q1 2012 on April 18th. KMP’s strategic focus towards …

What the BrightSource IPO Cancellation Says About the Solar Industry on April 16th

Upcoming solar energy player BrightSource Energy cancelled its IPO last week, reflecting the gloomy investment environment in the solar sector. Brightsource is a player…

Energy Updates: KMP Transmountain Twin Expansion & CHK Triple Deals on April 16th

A lot is happening with energy companies these days owing to the wild movements in crude and natural gas prices and all strategic decisions seem…

Financial Services

American Express Gets Boost From Recovering Market And Higher Spending on April 20th

American Express (NYSE:AXP) announced its first quarter earnings for 2012 on Wednesday, 18 th April. The net income reported by the company…

Goldman Heads To $130 As Results Show The Recovery Is For Real on April 20th

Goldman Sachs ‘ (NYSE:GS) better-than-expected earnings shows that the business environment for major banks has improved significantly since the beginning of the…

U.S. Bancorp Shows That Traditional Banking Pays, Stock Worth $34 on April 19th

There will always be a need for plain vanilla traditional banking and U.S. Bancorp’s (NYSE:USB) results lend support to this …

Goldman Raises $2.3 Billion From ICBC Stake Sale on April 19th

The trend witnessed in recent months with major U.S. banks cutting their stake in Chinese banks continues as Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) reportedly …

BNY Mellon’s Asset Portfolio Swells Taking Stock’s Worth To $27 on April 19th

BNY Mellon (NYSE:BK) failed to impress investors with its first quarter earnings, which were slightly below expectations. This was evidenced by the…

Citigroup Bounces Back With Strong Earnings, Stock Worth $36 on April 18th

Citigroup (NYSE:C) reported its first quarter earnings on Monday, and the global banking group tried to show that the strength of its …

Ameritrade Earnings Decline on Low Volumes And Interest Rates on April 17th

Ameritrade (NASDAQ:AMTD) announced its fiscal second quarter results on Tuesday, and as expected, low interest rates and trading volumes resulted in a…

Schwab Worth $16: Earnings Fall But The Outlook Improves on April 17th

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) reported its first quarter results on Monday, with earnings declining on lower fees while management said that the brokerage&…

JPMorgan’s Stock Worth $48 On Improved Earnings And Outlook on April 17th

JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) announced its performance figures for Q1 2012 last Friday, and the better-than-expected numbers point toward an overall improvement in …

Wells Fargo Continues To Deliver, Revised Fair Value $35 on April 17th

Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) beat expectations with a record quarterly performance for Q1 2012. The bank with the largest market cap earned an …

Industrials & Transportation

Southwest Airlines Navigates A Tough Market On Solid Earnings on April 20th

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) posted better than expected results for the first quarter as revenue increased by 29% to $4 billion thanks to the…

Johnson Controls Q1 Results Could Show Rocky Quarter on April 19th

Johnson Controls (NYSE:JCI) will be reporting its second quarter earning results for the present fiscal year 0n 20 Apr, 2012. Despite a…

General Electric’s Q1 Results Preview: Earnings Will Be A Mixed Bag on April 19th

General Electric (NYSE:GE) will deliver its first quarter earnings of the present fiscal year on April 20. After an 2011 when the …

Southwest Airlines Earnings: Navigating A Tough Quarter on April 18th

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Alaska Airlines Q1 Earnings Preview: What We’re Watching on April 18th

The quarterly earnings season for the airline sector starts with Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) along with its major rival Southwest Airlines (NYSE:…

Union Pacific Q1 Preview: Better Volumes And Pricing To Support Outlook on April 18th

Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP), the largest U.S. railroad company by market capitalization, will announce its first quarter earnings on Thursday. We…

CSX Q1 Earnings: Higher Volumes To Offset Coal Weakness on April 17th

CSX Corporation (NYSE:CSX) will be first among the U.S. Class I railroads to release its first quarter earnings to be announced on …

Basic Materials

DuPont’s Price Increases Help Stock Blossom on April 20th

DuPont (NYSE:DD) reported solid earnings buoyed by strong performance of its agriculture segment. Total revenues for the quarter were $11.2 billion, up…

U.S Steel Q1 Preview: Improving Conditions Should Lend Support on April 19th

U.S. Steel (NYSE:X) will announce its first quarter earnings on Monday, and we expect that it will post improved numbers on the…

Rio Tinto’s Q1 Sees Slower Demand From China, Weather Weighs On Production on April 19th

Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO), the world’s second largest iron ore producer, released its quarterly operations review report on Tuesday. Unfavorable …

Freeport McMoRan Earnings Preview: What We’re Watching on April 18th

Freeport McMoRan Copper (NYSE:FCX), the world’s largest copper miner, is set to release its first quarter earnings on Thursday. …

DuPont Earnings On Deck: What We’re Watching on April 18th

DuPont (NYSE:DD) is scheduled to announce its Q1 earnings on April 19, 2012. We expect the company’s two broader divisions…

Silver Wheaton Worth $40 On Fundamental Drivers on April 16th

After witnessing spectacular growth on the back of skyrocketing silver prices prices in past two years, Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW) has seen its …

Health Care

Merck Updates: Partners With Endocyte; Propecia Gets New Virility Warnings on April 17th

Merck (NYSE:MRK) has recently announced that it will partner with Endocyte (NASDAQ:ECYT), an Indiana based bio-pharmaceutical company which develops therapies …

Abbott Q1 Earnings Preview: What We’re Watching on April 16th

Abbott Labs (NYSE:ABT) is going to announce its Q1 results on April 18. It is the second major healthcare company in our …

Pharma Updates: Pfizer’s Asbestos Lawsuit & Layoffs; JNJ Charged With $1.2 Billion Fine on April 16th

Lawsuits and associated penalties have become so common for pharmaceutical companies that they are compelled to maintain restricted funds for such purposes. Recently, a…