• WiMAX team unveiled. An alliance of cable and internet providers and chipmakers are poised to unveil a $3.2B WiMAX venture which will give them a two-year jump on rivals Verizon Wireless (VZ) (VOD) and AT&T (T). The partners include Sprint Nextel (S), Clearwire (CLWR), Comcast (CMCSA), Time Warner Cable (TWC), Google (GOOG) and Intel (INTC). The deal is considered a coup for Sprint CEO Dan Hesse. Contributions: CMCSA -- $1.05B; INTC -- $1B; TWC -- $550M; GOOG -- $500M. Sprint has already poured an estimated $5B into its WiMAX bet.
• Chambers cautions. Cisco (CSCO) CEO John Chambers called the company's FQ3 a solid quarter (see below), "given the challenges we are witnessing in the market," but said revenue growth is slowing to 9-10% from a previous 16-17%. Growth of switches sales was just 3%, down from 11% in FQ2.
• Disney defies. Net income rose a strong 22% at Disney (DIS), including 11% theme-park growth. "The parks had an extraordinary quarter when you consider the economic environment," CEO Robert Iger said. He noted a weak U.S. dollar is likely bringing more foreigners into the company's parts.
• Net surges 18% at Total. Total (TOT) said net income rose 18% to €3.6B thanks largely to soaring oil prices, although the company, which reports in euros, doesn't derive the full advantage of high-priced crude. Results slightly exceeded forecasts, and shares were down 1.1% in Paris.
• Gates says he's not looking elsewhere. Bill Gates said Wednesday he's not pursuing any other deals post Microsoft's (MSFT) failed courtship of Yahoo (YHOO). Then again, on Tuesday Gates said he wasn't ruling out alternative partnerships. Recent rumors place it at AOL's (TWX) door. Or perhaps LinkedIn, which yesterday pitched a VC funding round that would value it at a cool $1B.
• Yahoo puts shareholders on short stick. Disgruntled Yahoo (YHOO) shareholders have just 10 days to muster a challenge to the company's management after it finally set the date for its annual shareholder meeting.
• AMD investors grow hopeful. Shares of AMD (AMD) jumped more than 12% on anticipation of a much-awaited restructuring plan investors hope will help it cut costs and once again compete seriously with Intel (INTC). Analysts see AMD separating its design and manufacturing, teaming up with Chartered Semiconductor (CHRT) on the latter. AMD's annual shareholder meeting is tomorrow.
• Fannie gets regulatory boost. Shares of Fannie Mae (FNM) rebounded from a sharp earnings miss to close up almost 9% after Ofheo, its regulator, lowered its capital requirement to 15% from 20%. Fannie boosted credit loss provisions by $3.1B. Fannie said it expects to feast on opportunities created by the subprime crisis.
• Medtronic to cut workforce by 3%. Medtronic (MDT) is ditching about 1,100 employees across the globe. The market for ICDs has yet to fully recover from 2005 recalls.
• Citi gets new investment arm. Citigroup (C) is creating an alternative asset group within its investment bank that will focus on private-equity and infrastructure funds. The move is likely the first in a upcoming flurry of managerial shuffling at the troubled bank. Citi also disclosed the sale of another $2B in preferred shares.
• When it rains... UBS (UBS) is under investigation by U.S. federal authorities. There are allegations it helped clients evade taxes.
• Wachovia increases Q1 loss. Wachovia (WB) nearly doubled it previously-reported Q1 loss to $0.36/share ($708M) from a previous $0.20 ($393M) due to writedowns on a bank-owned life-insurance portfolio. Media reports say aggressive commercial real-estate lender "Large Loan" (Richard) Verrone is leaving the firm.
• Sunny day for Qimonda. Shares of Qimonda (QI) surged 18.5% after it announced a five-year deal with LDK Solar (LDK) that will see the latter supplying it with multicrystalline solar wafers, and on a partnership with German Centrosolar to enter the solar cell market.
• No Saudi depeg. Saudi Arabia says it will not abandon the dollar peg, despite 30-year high inflation.
• Verizon joins undersea network. Verizon (VZ) is helping to construct an undersea internet cable to connect Europe, the Middle East and India. Verizon participates in the network rollouts in order to provide its customers with more stable voice and broadband connections.
• Service sector rebounds. The ISM's service sector index rose to 52 from 49.6, outdoing economist forecasts of a drop to 49.1. An above-50 reading signals growth in the service sector, which accounts for about 70% of the GDP.
• Cablevision stalks Sundance. Cablevision (CVC) is poised to acquire the Sundance Channel from NBS (GE), CBS (CBS), and actor Robert Redford for about $500M. Cablevision also made a $650M bid for Newsday. A purchase would strengthen Cablevision's independent film lineup, although many analysts are bearish on the future profitability of independent films due to a market glut.
• Pop at Pepsi. PepsiCo (PEP) raised its annual dividend to $1.70 from $1.50.

Earnings: Tuesday After Close

• Avis Budget Group (CAR): Q1 EPS of -$0.11 misses consensus of flat. Revenue of $1.4B in-line. Shares: -2.7%
• Bidz.com (BIDZ): Q1 EPS of $0.18 beats consensus of $0.15. Revenue of $61.9M vs. consensus $60.6M. Sees Q2 EPS of $0.09-$0.11 vs. consensus of $0.10. Shares: -3.8%.
• Blue Nile (NILE): Q1 EPS of $0.16 beats consensus of $0.14. Revenue of $70.5M vs. consensus of $68.5M. Sees Q2 EPS of $0.15-$0.18 vs. consensus of $0.22, and revenue growth of 0-5%. Shares: -2%.
• Brightpoint (CELL): Q1 EPS of $0.09 misses consensus of $0.12. Revenue of $1.2B vs. consensus of $1.38B. Shares: -6.45%.
• Cisco Systems (CSCO): FQ3 EPS of $0.38 beats consensus of $0.36. Revenue of $9.8B vs. consensus of $9.75B . Shares: +1.1%.
• On Semiconductor (ONNN): Q1 EPS of $0.21 beats consensus of $0.14. Revenue of $422M vs. consensus of $387M. Sees Q2 revenue of $545-560M vs. consensus of $388.65M (!). Shares: +10.4%.
• Papa John's (PZZA): Q1 EPS of $0.30 misses consensus of $0.44. Revenue of $289M vs. consensus of $283M. Sees full-year EPS of $1.68-1.76, better than consensus of $1.69 . Shares: -0.2%.
• Petrohawk Energy (HK): Q1 EPS of -$0.30 misses consensus of $0.16. Revenue of $215M vs. consensus of $202M. Shares: -6.1%.
• Pitney Bowes (PBI): Q1 EPS of $0.66 just beats consensus of $0.65. Revenue of $1.57B vs. consensus of $1.5B. Sees 2008 EPS of $2.80-$2.90 vs. consensus of $2.86, and 2008 revenue growth of 6%-9%. Shares: -0.4%.
• RF Micro Devices (RFMD): FQ4 EPS of $0.01 in-line. Revenue of $222M in-line. RFMD announced a strategic restructuring which will see it reduce its investments in wireless systems like cellular transceivers and GPS solutions in order to focus on core semiconductor component opportunities. Shares: -4.35%.
• Tesoro (TSO): Q1 EPS of -$0.60 misses consensus of -$0.49. Shares: -1.2%.
• THQ Inc. (THQI): FQ4 EPS of -$0.37 misses consensus of -$0.06. Revenue of $187M vs. consensus of $201M. Sees FQ1 2009 EPS of -$0.38 to -$0.42, short of consensus of -$0.18. Sees full-year EPS of $0.95-1.05, short of consensus of $1.18. Shares: -6.6%.
• ValueClick (VCLK): Q1 EPS of $0.19 beats consensus of $0.16. Revenue of $176M vs. consensus of $170M. Sees full-year EPS of $0.81-0.83 up from $0.78-$0.81 vs. consensus of $0.79. Shares: -2.1%.
• Walt Disney Co. (DIS): FQ2 EPS of $0.58 beats consensus of $0.51. Revenue of $8.71B vs. consensus of $8.47B. Shares: +2.7%
• WebMD (WBMD): Q1 EPS of $0.07 beats consensus of $0.05. Revenue of $81.7M in-line. Shares: flat.

Earnings: Wednesday Before Open

• BCE (BCE): Q1 EPS of $C0.57 beats consensus of $C0.53. Revenue of $C4.39B vs. consensus of $4.29B.
• Checkpoint Systems Inc (CKP): Q1 EPS of $0.12 misses consensus of $0.15. Revenue of $210M vs. consensus $200M.
• Cognizant (CTSH): Q1 EPS of $0.34 just beats consensus of $0.33. Revenue of $643M in-line. Sees Q2 EPS of $0.38-0.39, better than consensus of $0.36, and revenue of at least $608M vs. consensus of $708M. Sees full-year EPS of $1.67 vs. consensus of $1.51 and revenue of $2.95B in-line.
• Devon Energy (DVN): Q1 EPS of $2.74 beats consensus of $2.33. Revenue of $2.97B vs. consensus $3.28B.
• DirecTV (DTV): Q1 EPS of $0.32 just beats consensus of $0.31. Revenue of $4.59B vs. consensus of $4.47B.
• Foster Wheeler (FWLT): Q1 EPS of $0.85 beats consensus of $0.73. Revenue of $1.8B vs. consensus of $1.48B.
• GLG Partners (GLG): Q1 EPS of $0.10 beats consensus of $0.08. Revenue of $131M vs. consensus of $120M.
• Marsh & McLennan (MMC): Q1 EPS of $0.46 just beats consensus of $0.45. Revenue of $3B vs. consensus of $2.92B.
• NCR Corp (NCR): Q1 EPS of $0.21 beats consensus of $0.17. Revenue of $1.18B vs. consensus of $1.06B. Sees full-year EPS of $1.52-1.57, better than consensus of $1.51.
• Owens Corning (OC): Q1 EPS of $0.07 beats consensus of $0.02. Revenue of $1.35B vs. consensus of $1.2B.
• Quicksilver Resources (KWK): Q1 EPS of $0.25 in-line. Revenue of $157.5M vs. consensus of $155M.
• Sky West (SKYW): Q1 EPS of $0.47 missses consensus of $0.60. Revenue of $868M vs. consensus of $842M.
• Transocean (RIG): Q1 EPS of $3.71 beats consensus of $3.34. Revenue of $3.11B vs. consensus $3.05B.

Today's Markets

• In Asia, the Nikkei gained 0.38% to 14,102. Hang Seng -2.48% to 25,610. Shanghai -4.13% to 3,579. BSE Sensex -0.19% to 17,339.
• European markets are higher at midday. FTSE +0.62% to 6,253. CAC +0.56% to 5,069. DAX +0.84% to 7,076.
• U.S. futures are down slightly at 7:20 AM. Dow -0.18% to 13,005. S&P -0.18% to 1,418.50. Nasdaq -0.33% to 1,992.50.
• Gold is down 0.66% to $872. Oil is flat at $121.90.

• Today's Action: Crude Crushes the Dollar; Financials Threaten  »
• Thursday Options Update: XLF, USO, DNDN, RDC, FL, CRM, SKS   »
• Home Prices Have Stopped Falling: The Statistics Are Skewed  »
• UUP: Bullish Dollar ETF Captures Long-Term Momentum  »
• Oil's Jump Pushes Dollar Down  »

SA Editor
Eli Hoffmann

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