Main market news here.Dow Jones (NYSE: DJ) was downgraded at Wachovia Securities Market Perform from Outperform following the 55% jump in the stock price yesterday due to News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) bid for the company. While some, including some members of the controlling family, Bancroft, believe a bidding war might ensue, with offers above $60, at Wachovia they don't.
Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) reported a first-quarter loss of $211 million, or 7 cents a share this morning, down from $419 million, or 14 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings totaled $532 million, or 18 cents a share, in the first quarter on net operating revenue of $10.1 billion, roughly flat with its year-ago total. The average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial was for a profit of 22 cents a share on revenue of $10.31 billion. Sprint added nearly 600,000 net new subscribers in the quarter for its Wireless operations and reiterated its outlook for consolidated operating revenue of between $41 billion and $42 billion in 2007.
The Wall Street Journal examines the new Sansa Connect [subscription] digital music player from Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) as a potential threat to Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPod. Its main advantage over the iPod is the Wi-Fi connectivity and other features that might make the iPod look old-fashioned. It also has flaws, of course. Interestingly, SNDK shares are up over 2.4% in pre-market trading.
Staying with Yahoo!, several analysts called the Right Media Inc. purchase a good strategic move, although they saythe price is hefty.
Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) is considering sizable layoffs over the next few weeks to cut costs, the New York Post reported.
Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) said today it would acquire BISYS Group Inc. (NYSE: BSG), a provider of outsourcing services for the financial services sector, for $1.45 billion in cash.
Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) is to report earnings tomorrow. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial project earnings of 19 cents per share on revenue of $2.3 billion. Investors are mostly concerned the company would not be able to match its high growth targets.
A conference about the challenges of the music industry will be held in Washington. Execs from XM Radio, Microsoft, Sirius and Apple among others plan to discuss how satellite radio, internet downloads and other distribution channels have changed the legal and financial landscape.
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