As expected, chip maker National Semiconductor (NYSE: NSM), whose colleagues include Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD), Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), and Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN), lost money during its fourth quarter.

However, the loss wasn't as bad as feared. According to Trey Thoelcke's earnings preview, National Semiconductor could have lost up to 42 cents per share. Thankfully, according to the company's press release posted on Thursday after the bell, the business only lost 28 cents per share.

How thankful should we be? I must point out that the company earned 34 cents per share in last year's Q4 period. Also, sales dropped 39% during the past three months. Not only that, but cash from operations from the full fiscal year was down, as was the gross margin on a year-over-year basis (the gross margin increased, however, on a sequential basis compared to the third quarter, so that was a bright spot).

Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN), whose colleagues include Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM), Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD), and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), gave shareholders quite a boost in morale on Monday. The chip company issued a nice outlook for the bottom line.

Here are the stats. Net sales in Q2 should come in between $2.3 billion and $2.5 billion versus the old guidance of between $1.95 billion and $2.4 billion. The bottom line should come in between 14 cents per share and 22 cents per share, versus previous estimates of between 1 cent per share and 15 cents per share.

The markets were eagerly awaiting a Tim Geithner bailout package today. Instead, Geithner merely outlined a path of a plan in promise rather than anything with meat. The markets immediately went from weak to much worse, into a major sell-off mode. The rest speaks for itself after the drop we saw today, and the huge move in bond prices attests to this disappointment.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
10YR T-Note 2.847% (-0.18%)
Top Analyst Downgrades
Top Analyst Upgrades

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) bit the dirt today after it failed to reach enough votes to be able to spin off its manufacturing plants for a fab-lite program. Shares were down a sharp 11.4% at $2.09 before the close.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) reported dismal Q4 results due to lower demand.
• AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) reported a bigger-than-expected Q4 loss, sending shares lower.
• Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP) earnings prospects led to an upgrade.
• eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) posted Q4 and full-year results with increased revenue due to a stronger dollar.
• Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) reported strong Q4 numbers that beat analysts' expectations.
• International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) reported better-than-expected Q4 and 2008 earnings.
• Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) posted strong Q4 results but lowered its 2009 guidance.
• Northern Trust Corp. (NASDAQ: NTRS) shares surged after posting better-than-expected earnings.
• Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) reported a huge loss due to write-downs and offered a bleak outlook.
• Societe Generale said that it expects to have broken even in the final quarter of 2008.
• Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) posted its second straight quarterly loss due to fuel hedging costs.
• UAL Corp. (NASDAQ: UAUA) reported a huge loss on the erosion in value of oil hedges as prices dropped.
• Usana Health Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: USNA) posted record Q4 results despite one-time charges.

For more highlights from this week, see Apple, Microsoft, GE, Johnson & Johnson, Harley Davidson and others

As each month passes, more and more companies get into the kind of trouble that pushes them toward Chapter 11 or insolvency. Some of the companies that hit that point several months ago include Sirius XM (NASDAQ: SIRI) and Charter Communications (NASDAQ: CHTR).

In the next several months two or three large companies could be added to the list.

Advanced Micros Devices (NYSE: AMD) posted a narrow loss last quarter compared with the same quarter a year ago, but a third of its revenue disappeared. If PC and server sales get worse, its sales could shrink faster than the company can cut costs. The firm's gross margins are dropping fast and AMD has long term debt of over $4.7 billion.

Citigroup (NYSE: C) still faces the prospects that it could be nationalized if it posts more huge losses in the first quarter. Last week, its market cap dropped to $17 billion. A massive capital investment from the Treasury could wipe that equity out.

General Motors (NYSE: GM) may seem like an obvious choice, but its shares could go to zero faster than investors think. If the UAW or creditors walk away from restructuring talks, GM's attempt to cut its costs to get more government assistance based on a plan to be submitted on March 31 would be ruined.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD), the arch competitor of fellow chip maker Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), continues to be nothing more than a short-sale candidate. Its Q4 was horrible. Net sales nosedived 33% on a year-over-year basis, coming in at roughly $1.2 billion. On a GAAP basis, the net loss from continuing operations was $2.32 per diluted share versus $2.24 per diluted share in Q4 2007. According to this source, on an adjusted basis (which excludes write-downs related to the ATI transaction), the loss was $0.69 per share, and that missed Wall Street's expectations by a wide amount. The call was for a loss of $0.54 per share.

AMD is in a terrible state. Sure, it's not necessarily all management's fault. What can they do about the sinking economy? Not much. Demand is down and everyone is going to have to live with it. The press release talks about lack of visibility and concentration on restructuring. That translates to "we're doing everything we can just to make it through the tough times." Gross margins, both on a GAAP and a non-GAAP basis, have been challenged. Considering the bad news recently reported by both Intel and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), it's not a stretch to say that shares of AMD are heading lower.

Although I alluded to shorting AMD at the top of this piece, I should point out that shorting is a risky proposition and not for everyone. My main point in saying this is that I believe the situation is so dark right now in this sector of tech that 52-week lows may certainly be retested. And then there is the price war between AMD and Intel that this article mentions. That's an important issue to consider when thinking about both of those companies. The worst of times brings out the fiercest of competitive natures. Since AMD's brand is arguably not as strong as the Intel name, one can see why it would be best to avoid AMD's stock at all costs.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) will report Q2 earnings on Thursday, January 22, after the bell. It's a busy week for tech reports. Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM), and Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) are all trying to tell us how the economy is doing. But Microsoft is of particular significance. It really is one of the more anticipated releases since so many institutions and retail investors count the equity as a portfolio member. And I have to tell you, deciding whether to buy ahead of it or not has been one heck of an internal debate for me this week, since I sort of want to own Microsoft for reasons other than its potential as a pure earnings trade.

According to this source, Mr. Softy might do $0.50 per share. Unfortunately, that would represent not much in the way of bottom-line growth, since the source says that the software giant did the exact same amount in the previous year. That, of course, isn't surprising. PC sales have been challenged, and businesses are in turmoil. It's no wonder the company won't be growing like a weed. Cutbacks in software investments are to be expected. But there will be a couple of key things to look for in this particular earnings missive. First, how is Microsoft's Xbox 360 division doing? Did it have a good holiday-selling season? I know, for many, this won't be the segment of most importance, but I want to see if the company is on track to truly grow this brand. It will be proof that Microsoft can make waves in terms of influencing the media culture of the living room, and it will show that it can successfully propagate a big business in a very competitive space that it doesn't monopolize. Second, with the talk about potential job cuts, I want to see exactly how the company plans to reign in costs and what their plans are for the future in the context of the financial mess.

Besides earnings, I'll be focusing on cash flows and any new thoughts from management on how to reward shareholders for their patience. Now, I alluded to my thoughts about buying Microsoft ahead of earnings. In the end, I decided not to do it. With the talk of job cuts, and with some headlines out there expecting a miss from the tech icon, I don't think it would be wise to play this one. I do want to do a quick trade on Microsoft at some point because I like its price action as of late. It seems as if you could make a fast $0.50/$1.00 on it if you buy on weakness. For now, though, I'll sit on the sidelines, and hope that, if Microsoft does sell off on its earnings news, it doesn't go past the 52-week low. That would be a terrible sign of weakness, and might stop me from thinking of the company as a potential trading vehicle.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change without notice.

Yesterday, several of America's largest and most well-know companies cut people at an alarming rate. The liquidation of Circuit City could put a total of 30,000 employees onto the street. Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) cut 2,400 sales people. AMD (NYSE: AMD) cut more than 1,000 people. Hertz (NYSE: HTZ) said it will let 4,000 people go, and Wellpoint (NYSE: WLP) will fire more than 1,000 people.

Bloomberg reported that GE (NYSE: GE) might fire up to 11,000 people in its financial unit.

So, in one day, as many as 60,000 people were out of work. A look at the activity shows why it will be so hard to arrest the drop in jobs. The companies involved in downsizing yesterday range from big pharma to transportation to tech to retail. The 24 hours were, in essence, a cross-section of the entire American economy suffering under the weight of the recession.

Economists say there cannot be a recovery with a reversal of the fall in unemployment. Unfortunately, addressing the cause of joblessness is has moved well beyond saving the retail industry and Detroit. Industry by industry, the entire system has become diseased.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), the arch rival to chip competitor Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD), released its Q4 earnings report on Thursday after the bell. The good news is that everything went according to plan and Intel reported earnings of 4 cents per share as was indeed expected. The bad news is it was a drop of 89%. Big ouch. Revenues took a dive of 23%, coming in at $8.2 billion and also meeting expectations.

This is always an odd situation. A company at least has the decency to meet expectations, but how can an investor get too happy when revenues and profits are on the decline? We already know what's up with the chip maker's situation: demand for its products are down, for obvious macro reasons. Plus, lower-margin netbooks are exerting an effect.

One thing to note is that a $1 billion write-down related to an investment in Clearwire really influenced the net income picture in the fourth quarter. The press release does point out that Intel delivered $11 billion in operational cash flow for the whole year, so fans of cash flow can at least be cheered up by that result. That amount more than covered capital-expenditure needs and dividend obligations.

When Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) was developing its new and powerful i7 chip, the economy was peachy. Today, it finally launched the microprocessor chip, but into a completely different economic environment, which may mean the payout from the chip will take years.

Intel does not seem to be concerned by the timing, but perhaps it should be. According to The Wall Street Journal, "You recover from a recession with tomorrow's products, not today's," said Sean Maloney, Intel's executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer.

Maloney's assessment may be flawed. After years of being behind Intel in product development, AMD (NYSE: AMD) seems to be finally catching up as it launches new chips of its own. If i7 sales are undercut by the tech recession, when the industry recovers, Intel will be faced with tough competition while it rebuilds its sales and earnings. In a strong economy it could build a market share lead during a period when the entire market is expanding. In a downturn, facing strong competition, its revenue could be significantly undermined

Intel also has to face a long payout cycle for the i7, which could hurt earnings. After many quarters of R&D costs, the world's largest chip company probably assumed it could recoup its investment in the i7 in a fairly short period of time. Now, that short period has become unpredictably long.

Intel's casual attitude about the i7 being an important product during a recovery is a smoke screen to hide the fact that its ROI plans have almost certainly been damaged.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) narrowed its Q3 net loss on rising revenues.
• AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) posted a deeper-than-estimated Q3 loss but ordered 42 new planes.
• Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) reported its fourth straight quarterly loss on another write-down.
• Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) posted better-than-expected Q3 results on growth overseas.
• CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) reported strong Q3 results on lower fuel prices and cost controls.
• eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) topped Q3 expectations but lowered its full-year guidance.
• Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) beat expectations, sending shares higher.
• Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) better-than-expected Q3 results sent shares higher.
• Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG) international growth couldn't overcome disappointing results.
• Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY) results in Q3 were in line with analysts' expectations.
• IBM (NYSE: IBM) posted strong Q3 results and offered an optimistic outlook.
• Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) posted strong Q3 results but warned of lower demand in Q4.
• Intuitive Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) strong results easily topped expectations, but shares fell.
• Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) posted strong Q3 results and raised its full-year guidance.

There has been plenty of concern that tech will be hit as hard as any industry in the recession. Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) posted fine results but has poor guidance. That pushed many technology shares down. Over the last two weeks shares in big companies in the sector have sold off as much as financials.

The sector showed it still has a pulse yesterday. AMD (NYSE: AMD), which has done almost nothing right over the last three years, nearly broke even on rising revenue. Its shares were up over 12% after hours. Revenue rose to $1.82 billion from $1.39 billion. For the third quarter AMD's net loss came to $67 million, or $.11 compared with a loss in the year-earlier period of $396 million, or $.71. The company even said its troubled graphics chip business did well.

Since AMD has about 20% of the server and PC chips market and said its earnings would be flat in the fourth quarter, that demand has to be coming from somewhere. Business buying of computers cannot be entirely dead. At least that is the AMD message.

Even more impressive were results from IBM (NYSE: IBM) which indicated that a great deal of tech spending is robust and that emerging markets still have some gas in their tanks. The huge computer and software firm said that third quarter net income rose to $2.8 billion, or $2.05 per share, from $2.4 billion, or $1.68 per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 5 percent to $25.3 billion. And, the company's management indicated there were better days ahead.

IBM's CFO said that "the software division has a healthy pipeline of business prospects that should enable it to keep business growing even given the current weak economy," according to Reuters. Based on IBM's size, it should be a reasonable proxy for the tech industry all on its own.

There may be a recession in progress but tech is showing that it will not go down without a fight.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Tomorrow, semiconductor chip makers Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) and Altera Corp. (NYSE: ALTR) are both expected to report profit growth in the third quarter.

Intel is expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial to report earnings of 34 cents per share, 8.8% higher than the same period of last year, on revenue of $10.3 billion. The company has missed estimates in two of the past three quarters, but beat by 10.2% in the second quarter.

Based in Santa Clara, Calif., Intel is the world's largest chip maker, and generates half its revenues from Asia/Pacific. In the past year, the company's revenues were $38.3 billion and its net income totaled $6.9 billion. Its long-term EPS growth forecast is 11.9%, which is less than the S&P, as well as that of rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD). The consensus recommendation of analysts has recently shifted from hold to buy Intel.

The share price has fallen 17.7% in the past three months, and closed Monday at $16.99, up 11.9% in the day's big rally.

The earnings crunch begins in earnest this coming week, with companies from Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) and PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) to Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) and Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG) scheduled to report results for the quarter just ended. But with the ongoing turmoil in the markets, much attention is on the tech and financial sectors. This week will provide plenty to mull over on both counts.

Wall Street expectations for tech stocks are fairly optimistic. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial are looking for chip maker Altera Corp. (NASDAQ: ALTR) and software/service company iGate Corp. (NASDAQ: IGTE) to be the sector's biggest earnings gainers of the week. Altera is expected to report earnings of 30 cents per share (up 33.3% from a year ago) on revenue of $355.1 million. Altera had previously forecast flat sales for the quarter, and shares fell to a 52-week low last week. iGate is expected to report earnings of 14 cents per share (up 42.9%) on revenue of $55.6 million. India-based iGate recently spun off its Mastech consulting services. Shares are down 45.0% in the past three months, and also reached a new 52-week low last week.

San Jose-based Novellus Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS), on the other hand, is expected to report that net income tumbled 90.4% from a year ago to 4 cents per share, on revenue of $245.6 million. Novellus fell to a 52-week low early last week, and shares are down 44.5% year to date.

No doubt, this week has made it more and more difficult to say anyone should buy stocks at the moment. Even in good, solid, dividend-paying companies. Many analysts and pundits have recommended investors to sell and stay away from the stock market for a while as they don't see a bottom yet, only more declines.

Others believe the bottom is near and investors shouldn't try to time it to buy good value stocks. But it seems they are fewer. It has also become a little more difficult to find stocks our bloggers call a Buy. Still there are a few:

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) -- while AMD stock did not hold up very well recently, a positive development may encourage buyers as this week spun off its manufacturing business.

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) -- Apple fans have seen the stock getting pounded the past week, but today it was one of the big winners, jumping 9%. Sheldon Liber notes that "it has not traded at a P/E below it's projected growth rate in years..." Apple is also expected to announce new laptops next week, including a low-priced model to better position itself among competitors.

Costco (NASDAQ: COST) -- Costco reported decent same-store sales this week, and Steven Malls thinks that "Longer-term, Costco will do well."