Futures Signaling Weakness to Continue. Stocks to Watch: AAPL, CSIQ, CVX, FCX, HRL, LO, and RIMM

Published on Friday, 20 August 2010 08:22 Written by Christopher Lynn

New York, August 20^th (TradersHuddle.com) – Stock futures were lower, signaling that the S&P 500 will likely extend its weekly losses as overhang from yesterday’s dismal economic reports remains.

Overseas, European shares moved lower on concern over the strength of the recovery. Asian indexes closed mostly in the red with Japan's Nikkei 225 seeing sharp declines, as exporters fell.

Corporate earnings are having little impact in sentiment. Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) released after-the-bell earnings reports yesterday. HP's fiscal third-quarter profit was in line with Wall Street estimates. Dell reported quarterly profit of 32 cents a share, two cents above estimates.

Today’s stocks to watch: Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ), Chevron (NYSE:CVX), Freeport McMoRan (NYSE:FCX), Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL), Lorillard (NYSE:LO), and Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM).

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), the maker of iPhones and iPads, will be an interesting stock to watch to see if the any buzz from the announcement that Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and Visa (NYSE:V) will be experimenting with cell phone payments.

Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ), the maker of solar panels based in Ontario, Canada, fell more than 4% in pre-market trading after reporting mixed results yesterday after the close. The company missed by $0.03 per share, but revenues jumped 32.5% year over year to $336.9 million versus consensus of $331 million. Oppenheimer raised its target price on Canadian Solar to $12 from $10. The firm cited that operationally the company is benefiting from strong module demand, but margins remain in check due to rising wafer and cell costs.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX), the second largest U.S. energy producer, fell 0.70% in pre-market trading, as crude oil prices traded at a 6-week low on economic recovery concerns.

Freeport McMoRan (NYSE:FCX), the largest publicly traded copper producer in the world, fell 1.44% in pre-market trading, as Copper prices fell for the second day on the London Metals exchange. Copper declined after economic reports in the U.S. sparked renewed concerns about the economic recovery in the world’s second largest copper market.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL), the maker of canned meats like Spam, will likely see an upside bias after reporting earnings that beat analysts’ expectations and raising guidance. The company posted a profit of $0.63 per share, $0.04 better than consensus; revenues rose 9.9% year over year to $1.73 billion versus consensus of $1.67 billion. Hormel also raised guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $2.85-2.91 versus consensus of $2.82.

Lorillard (NYSE:LO), the Greensboro, NC tobacco company maker of Newport cigarettes, was flat in pre-market trading after announcing it has increased the quarterly dividend on its common stock to $1.125/share from $1.00/share and approved $1 billion share repurchase program

Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM), the blackberry maker, fell more than 2.5% in pre-market after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to Underweight from Overweight. Shares of RIMM have been under pressure on concern over fierce competition that will likely translate into market share losses.