Stock Futures Mixed ahead of the Fed amid Earnings. Stocks to Watch: AAPL, BAC, BA, GLW, JCP, NFLX, NVDA, UTX, YHOO

Published on Wednesday, 25 January 2012 07:42 Written by Christopher Lynn

New York, January 25^th  (TradersHuddle.com) – Stock futures were pointing to a mixed open after Apple stellar results are failing to spark a broad move amid weakness in Europe, a flurry of corporate results, and investor anxiety ahead of the conclusion of the two day Fed meeting.

In Asia, stocks closed higher after Apple (NASDAQ AAPL) stunned Wall Street with its record results and European money markets showed signs of stabilization. The thinly traded session in Asia continue, with the majority of markets closed for the Chinese New Year Holiday. Participants also pushed stocks higher as they shifted focused from Europe and concerns over Greece’s restructuring to the U.S. ahead of conclusion of the Fed two-day meeting. In Japan, the Nikkei jumped more than 1%, helped by exporters as the yen weakened following trade data that showed the first annual trade deficit since 1980.

In Europe, equity markets were continuing their slide, extending the prior session losses. Earning from Apple failed to lift tech companies, as Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) was plunging more than 14% after seeing its profit dropped by half in the last quarter, amid a slowdown in the global economy that resulted in lower demand for new equipment. Concern over stalled Greek debt swap negotiations with private bondholders continued to weigh on the sentiment, as investors fear the country is heading to a messy default.

The euro was falling 0.48% against the Dollar, trading below the $1.30 level. Crude oil was falling 0.57% to $98.39 per barrel. Gold was losing 0.34% to $1658.90 an ounce and silver was sliding 0.33% to $31.87 an ounce. Meanwhile, copper was dropping 0.55%.

On economic news at 10 am, December Pending Home Sales data will be available. At 10:30 am, crude oil and distillates inventory data will be released and at 12:30 pm the FOMC rate decision will be available.

Today’s Stocks to watch: Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Boeing (NYSE: BA), Corning (NYSE: GLW), JC Penny (NYSE: JCP), Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA), United Technologies (NYSE: UTX), and Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO).

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), the maker of iPads and iPhones, was jumping 7.31% to $451.15 in pre-market after stellar quarterly results pushed the stock to trade in a new all-time high territory and propelling the company’s market cap to the largest in the world. Apple crushed even the highest earnings estimates, stunning Wall Street with record iPhone, iPad, and Macs shipments. Apple posted earnings of $13.87 per share, practically double the $6.43 per share it posted last year. Revenue surged 73% year over year to $46.3 million. Apple reported having sold 37.04 million iPhones in the most recent quarter, showing growth of 128% versus the same quarter last year. Also contributing substantially to its record-breaking results was the news that Apple sold 15.43 million iPads during Q1 2012, showing a 111% unit gain. Also the company reported 5.2 million Mac computers sold, a 26% year over year increase, well over the industry growth. Perhaps the only disappointment was that Apple said it sold just 15.4 million iPods, falling 21% year over year, as both iPhones and iPads cannibalized on the device. Numerous analysts will adjust estimates and target prices during the day in order to reflect growth rates and the stunning results. BTIG Research bumped its target price to $600 from $580, while the ISI Group raised its target price to $550 from $525. Citigroup also raised its target price to $600 from $500 and BMO Capital bumped its target price to $545 from $460. Barclays also joined the parade of brokerage houses raising estimates, by bumping its target price to $630 from $555. Meanwhile, UBS bumped its target price to $550 from $510.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) was falling 0.95% to $7.22 in pre-market, pulling back from its gains in the prior session. Weakness in Bank of America comes ahead of the conclusion of the two day Fed meeting, European jitters, and after a group of consumer advocates were asking regulators to end the too big to fail and eliminate grave threats to the U.S. economy. The group plans to file a petition with the Federal Reserve Board, asking for regulators to break Bank of America into safer and simpler pieces. BofA has been the best performer in the Dow so far this year, with the stock rebounding from last year losses 31.12%. The stock has a calculated resistance of $7.37.

Boeing (NYSE: BA), the world’s second largest commercial aircraft maker, will be in focus in the session after the company reported earnings and as it announced from Norwegian the largest-ever Boeing order from a European airline. The order is for 100 fuel-efficient 737 MAX airplanes and 22 Next-Generation 737-800s, with the total order valued at $1.4 billion at list prices. Boeing earned $1.32 per share, ex items versus consensus of $1.01 per share. Revenues were inline with estimates at $19.55 billion, an 18% year over year increase.

Corning (NYSE: GLW), the LCD and optical fiber maker, was losing 2.53% to $14.25 in pre-market despite the company reporting earnings that were inline with expectations on revenues that were better than consensus. Corning said that it expects significant double-digit price declines over the cumulative two-quarter period, which weighed on the stock. The company posted earnings of $0.33 per share on revenues that climbed 6.9% year over year to $1.89 billion.

JC Penny (NYSE: JCP), the department store operator, will be in focus as it holds and event in New York in which the company will unveil plans to redesign its stores.

Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), the online video rental subscription service, was falling 1.15% to $91.60 in pre-market. The stock will be in focus during the session, as participants adjust positions ahead of its quarterly results, scheduled for after the closing bell. On average analysts expect a profit of $0.55 per share on revenues of $857 million. Last quarter the company posted a 23% upside earnings surprise, as it earned $1.16 per share. Year to date, Netflix has been one of the best performers in the S&P 500, jumping 33.7%, rebounding also from sharp losses in the prior year. Earlier in the week, Northland Capital set its target price on the stock at $50 per share, while maintaining its Underperform rating. The firm cited margin compression and uncertainty regarding international growth and expects inline fourth quarter results.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA), the world leader in visual computing technologies, was tumbling 4.69% to $14.24 in pre-market after the company lowered its fourth quarter revenue guidance below consensus, with the company citing the global disk-drive shortage caused by the flooding in Thailand, which impacted the mainstream GPU segment more than anticipated. NVDIA expects revenues for the quarter to be within  $940.5 and $959.5 million versus consensus of $1.06 billion. FBR Capital lowered its target price to $17 from $20, while JMP Securities downgraded the stock to Underperform from Market Perform.

United Technologies (NYSE: UTX), the maker of Otis elevators and Carrier air conditioning systems, will be in focus after its results were better than expected on the earnings front on revenues that were inline with consensus. United Technologies said that it earned $1.47 per share, $0.01 better than consensus, on revenues that climbed 0.7% year over year to $14.97 billion. United Technologies also reaffirmed its full year 2012 EPS and revenues guidance.

Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), the Internet media company that owns the second largest search engine, was falling 1.21% to $15.50 in pre-market after the company last night reported inline earnings on revenues that missed estimates, while guiding inline revenue for the current quarter. Yahoo said that it earned $0.24 per share on revenues that fell 3% year over year to $1.17 billion versus consensus of $1.19 billion. Barclays cut its target price on Yahoo to $18 from $19, while Citigroup bumped its target price to $18 from $17.