Before the bell 7-24-07: AAPL, T, MCD, SIRI, TIVO, GE ...

Posted Jul 24th 2007 8:46AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Before the Bell, Earnings Reports, Analyst Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Google (GOOG), Apple Inc (AAPL), General Electric (GE), Time Warner (TWX), Starbucks (SBUX), Amazon.com (AMZN), XM Satellite Radio (XMSR), Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), McDonald's (MCD), AT and T (T), Verizon Communications (VZ)

Main market news here: Before the bell 7-24-07: Futures indicating a lower start on earnings concerns

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) reports quarterly earnings tomorrow after the close. Of course, BloggingStocks will cover the earnings call of this darling live.
For now, here is AP's earnings preview including some analysts comments. In numbers, Apple gave guidance of 66 cents per share on quarterly sales of $5.1 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expect Apple to report second-quarter earnings of 72 cents per share (already much higher than guidance) on sales of $5.28 billion.
If AT&T Inc.'s (NYSE: T) results are any indication perhaps of what's in store for Apple tomorrow (and for quarters to come), then expect good earnings. AT&T said sales of the Apple iPhone "have been robust" as it activated 146,000 iPhone subscribers in the last two days of the quarter, 40% of them new.

McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) swung a second-quarter loss this morning due to a $1.6 billion charge related to the sales of restaurants in Latin America. McDonald's lost $711.7 million, or 60 cent a share. Excluding the charge, the company would have earned 71 cents a share from continuing operations. Revenue rose 12% to just over $6 billion and same-store sales saw a 7.4% growth. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had been expecting McDonald's to earn 71 cents a share on revenue of $5.9 billion. MCD shares are down nearly 1% in premarket trading (8:08 a.m.).

Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: XMSR) today face the last day that responses can be made to regulators on submissions related to their proposed merger. Yesterday, the companies showed plans of a-la-carte programming.

According to Theflyonthewall.com, SMH Capital has just cut TiVO (NASDAQ: TIVO) to Short from Sell, recommending investors to actually short the shares.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is expected to report after the close today second-quarter earnings of 16 cents a share, according to Thomson Financial. AP's earnings preview.

General Electric Co.'s (NYSE: GE) senior executive said it projects revenue from emerging markets worldwide to hit US$50 billion by 2010. The company expects revenue from emerging markets to expand by 30-40% annually over the next three to five years.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), AT&T and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) are expected to tender multibillion-dollar bids in a wireless airwaves auction. Today there is a House hearing on the subject that has been fascinating to follow as Google wants to provide high-speed Internet and other services through these airwaves.

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) is raising coffee and specialty drinks prices for the second time in a year. The 9 cents price hike is meant to offset the rising cost of dairy products, energy and fuel. Some analysts favored the move, others feared it would turn away customers.

According to Reuters, Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE: TWX) AOL unit is paying $275 million in cash for Tacoda, an online ad company.

Tags: aapl, amzn, ge, goog, mcd, sbux, siri, t, tivo, twx, vz, xmsr