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Ahead of the Curve: Cree 08Q2 Earnings Review: LED Market Arriving?Font size: A | A | A8:26 AM ET 1/24/08 | Briefing.com reported their fiscal 2008 Q2 results after the close on Tuesday, January 22, 2008. While some might view the results as positive because Cree beat earnings estimates, the more significant positive news is the statements made about the nature of the market for commercial LED lighting. It is this market, we believe, that will eventually be the driver for Cree products. We recommend continued holding for those investors following our investment premise for the company. Exiting The Waiting Period After it became clear in August of 2006 that Cree's presence in the handset LED marketplace had weakened substantially, we declared that Cree had entered a "Waiting Period." The waiting period amounted to an unknown period of time before the market for commercialization of white LED products developed. While Cree itself would not be a vendor of application produ...

Manufacturer Corning (GLW 23.10, +0.73) delivered better than expected fourth quarter earnings results, posting a profit of $0.40 per share, excluding items, on a 16% increase in sales to $1.58 billion. In October the company guided for fourth quarter earnings per share in the range of $0.36 to $0.38 and sales of $1.50 billion to $1.55 billion. The strength in the period was driven by a 25% sales increase in its core Display Technologies segment, which prospered from continued strong global demand for LCD televisions and notebook computers. Telecommunications segment sales dropped 9.0% sequentially, yet that was owed to normal seasonality and was actually a bit better than the forecast for a 10% decline. Sales for the Environmental Technologies segment jumped 22% year-over-year while Life Sciences sales rose 4.0% Importantly, Corning provided some reassuring guidance for the first quarter. It expects sales in the range of $1.59 billion to $1.62 billion and earnings per share in the...

What is a TRUM? Where does it come from? Is this a financial word? My interests are technology, sports and stocks, not necessarily in that order. In recent years, my sports interest has gotten me into fantasy sports. I've played in leagues for baseball, basketball, football, NCAA basketball tourney. Fantasy sports allows you the chance to behave and experience the life of being a Real General Manager. My love of numbers and statistics made playing these games fun on 2 accounts. Bringing a greater understanding of the game and the team contributions, it also lets you play with statistics to maximize your team strengths and understand its weaknesses. While playing fantasy sports, I came to reading many sports sites, blogs, etc. Anything to get an advantage and win. Well, what I found was a site called talentedmrroto.com. Matthew Berry is the creater and writer on the site. In the last year, he sold his site to ESPN and now, many folks can read him and watch him on ESPN. ...

Shares of Biogen Idec (BIIB 55.22) traded higher on Monday, gaining more than 3% in pre-market activity, after the Cambridge-based biotechnology company raised its guidance for fiscal 2007 and issued a positive outlook for the following year on sales of its newest multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri. Biogen, which has been struggling with slowing sales of its flagship drug Avonex and recently failed to attract bidders after putting itself up for sale in October, expects this year's earnings to be above the high-end of its previous guidance of $2.60 to $2.70 per share. The consensus estimate currently calls for earnings of $2.62 per share. For 2008 earnings, the company forecast earnings of $3.20 to $3.35 per share, excluding special items, with revenue growth between 15% and 20% on sales of its new multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri. Analysts are currently expecting earnings of $3.20 per share. Biogen also announced new data on the global utilization, safety and overall patient expos...

With its stock depressed to multi-year lows, E*Trade Financial (ETFC) announced earlier today its turnaround plan is gaining traction. Shares of the online brokerage firm are up more than 10% in pre-market trading in response. The company recently sold a combined $6.0 billion worth of asset-backed securities portfolios. The most recent sale included $3.0 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities and municipal bonds, which resulted in a loss of less than $5 million. E*Trade's home equity loan portfolio ended 2007 with less than $12 billion in balances. Management expects its 2007 year-end tier 1 capital ratio to be equal to or better than 5.9%. A firm is considered well-capitalized if its ratio is at least 6%. The company's efforts to reduce risk and strengthen its relative capital position bode well for investors awaiting a turnaround. Notably, management has decided to discontinue its institutional trading business as part of an effort to return to its core competencies...

Best 25 Stock Picks for 2008 Rich Karlgaard 01.07.08, 12:00 AM ET On last month's 12th FORBES cruise for investors--aboard the majestic Crystal Serenity, which sailed from the Pacific to the Caribbean through the Panama Canal--guests got these 2008 stock picks from our expert panel. Ken Fisher is the founder and CEO of Fisher Investments, which manages $46 billion across 20,000-plus private accounts. Fisher said: "Most see a global recession or slowdown in 2008. I don't, not with strong earnings yields relative to low Treasury yields around the world today. Before others figure out the good news, you'll want to be in on these economic turnaround stocks: --Flextronics International (FLEX, $11.53) --Manpower (MAN, $57.18) --Allianz (AZ, $20.16) --Cascade (CAE, $46.80) --Union Pacific (UNP, $128.96). Brian Wesbury is the chief economist for First Trust Advisors, which manages $36 billion for private and institutional accounts. Wesbury said: "Our model shows U.S. stoc...

TARGET: $12 - $16 - ONLY 4.5M SHARE FLOAT...10.5M O/S SHARES...NEW 1.2M SHARE BUYBACK PROGRAM - RECORD 4Q AND RECORD FY REPORTED LAST WEEK...DOUBLE DIGIT PROFITABLE GROWTH - NEW BLOCKBUSTER HD DVR TECHNOLOGY/PRODUCTS TO BE UNVEILED AT CES SHOW ***** EARNINGS SUMMARY... as reported 12/27/2007 *****: - Record 4Q 2007 Revenues of $27.5M vs. $22.1M in 4Q 2006.....a 24% Increase - Record FY 2007 Revenues of $110.9M vs. $99.7M for FY 2006.....a 13% Increase - Record 4Q 2007 net income of $1.64M vs.4Q 2006 net income of $51K. Without a tax benefit of $1.49M, HAUP earned a record $154 in its weakest quarter. This is a 202% increase in net income. 4Q 2007 net income was affected by a $212K increase in R&D compared to 4Q 2006 to make a quick shift to all-digital products and for MSFT Vista compliance. - Record FY 2007 net income of $5.3M or 51c/share diluted vs. $2.4M or 24c/share for FY 2006. Without the 4Q 2007 tax benefit FY 2007 net income was 39c/share. This is a 58% increase over 2006....