Stock Futures Higher on Greek Bailout Deal Hopes. Stocks to Watch: AAPL, BAC, BWLD, CSCO, EXPE, S, TWX, DIS

Published on Wednesday, 08 February 2012 07:36 Written by Christopher Lynn

New York, February 8^th (TradersHuddle.com) – Stock futures were pointing to a higher open, as Wall Street seems poised to join a global advance. Hopes that Greece was edging closer to a deal to access the new bailout funds was providing a lift to sentiment and spurring risk appetite.

In Asia, most stocks ended higher amid hopes that Greece could reach a deal with its creditors that could allow the country to access new bailout funds. In Japan, the Nikkei hit a 3-month high boosted by Toyota’s better than expected profit outlook and by the performance of other exporters as the Dollar / yen traded above the 77 level. In China, the Shanghai Composite jumped 2.4%, as energy related names provided a boost following news that the Chinese government announced an increase in the price of retail gasoline and diesel. Also boosting Chinese stocks were reports that new yuan loans more than double from the prior month.

In Europe, equity markets were moving higher, as participants were placing their bets that Greece should be able to wrap up a deal and avoid a disorderly default that might derail the efforts of solving the euro zone debt crisis. Banks, which have the most exposure to peripheral debt, were one of the outperformers; also investors were cheering some better than expected corporate quarterly results.

The euro was adding 0.11% against the Dollar, trading above the $1.32 level. Crude oil was climbing 1% to $99.46 per barrel. Also in the energy complex, natural gas was adding 0.28%, but still trading below $2.50 per MMBtu. Gold was practically flat at $1749 an ounce and silver was gaining 0.57% to $34.39 an ounce. Meanwhile, copper was advancing 0.80%

On economic news, at 10:30 am, the Energy Department will release its weekly crude oil and distillates inventory report.

Today’s Stocks to watch: Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE), Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), and Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS).

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), the maker of iPads and iPhones, was adding 0.41% to $470.75 in pre-market, trading at a new all-time high. Yesterday, the stock outperformed following increased chatter about the prospects of the Apple TV set. Barclays said that it expects that the iTV should add $5.40 per share to earnings in fiscal 2013. Earlier in the week, Jefferies said that the tech giant would likely name its TV set as iTV. Also yesterday, news that Halliburton was making a switch for the iPhone away from the Blackberry, underscored the gains that Apple was making in the corporate market.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) was climbing 1.4% to $7.96 in pre-market, rebounding from its 1.5% loss in the prior session. The gains in the European session, led by a jump in European bank stocks, were benefiting early sentiment in the U.S. financial space. Optimism that Greece is inching towards a deal that could allow the country access to the bailout funds was driving the upside move. The stock however is facing resistance at the $8 level, as more participants see BofA as greatly overbought, with the stock surging more than 60% from its 52-week low of $4.92 posted in December 19^th.

Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD), the casual restaurant chain that offers Buffalo, New York-style chicken wings, surged close to 17% to $81.95 in the after hours session. The stock traded at new-all-time high levels after the company posted better than expected earnings on revenues that beat consensus. Buffalo Wild Wings said it earned $0.73 per share, $0.06 better than consensus, on revenues that jumped 34.5% year over year to $220.5 million. The company also predicted that it will overcome rising commodity costs and will achieve 20% net earnings growth for 2012.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), the networking giant, was climbing 0.30% to $20.26 in pre-market ahead of its earnings report schedule for after the closing bell. On average analysts expect a profit of $0.43 per share on revenues of $11.63 billion. Last quarter the company posted a 10.3% upside surprise, as it earned $0.43 per share. Previously, Credit Suisse reiterated its Outperform rating and target price of $26 per share, citing that gross and operating margins will likely improve with the company benefiting from cost cutting.

Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE), the owner of Expedia.com and Hotels.com, would be in focus during the session after the Benchmark Company bumped its target price on the stock to $34 from $31 ahead of its quarterly results scheduled for Thursday after the closing bell. The firm said that the company could record 7% year over year bookings growth to $6.2 billion, leading to a 9% year over year revenue growth to $806 million, with growth potentially hindered by the challenging European environment and domestic competition. On average analysts expect a profit of $0.54 per share on revenues of $815.26 million.

Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S), the third largest U.S. wireless carrier, was jumping 4% to $2.55 in pre-market on reaction to its quarterly results. The company posted a loss of $0.43 per share, including items, $0.07 worse than consensus, on revenues that climbed 5.1% year over year to $8.72 billion, inline with expectations. Sprint said that it had 1.6 million subscription additions in the quarter, the best gain in six years; the company posted the seventh consecutive quarter of net postpaid subscriber growth on the Sprint platform. The stock had been under heavy pressure on concern over margin compression amid its deal to sell the iPhone on its network and increased investment as the company build its upgraded network.

Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), the owner of CNN and Fortune Magazine, was surging 4.8% to $39.94, following positive reaction to an earnings beat of $0.07 per share on better than expected revenues, upside guidance for fiscal 2012, and a new $4 billion stock buyback program.

Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS), the world’s largest media company, would be in focus after negative reaction to its quarterly results yesterday in the extended hours session. The stock fell 1.4% to $40.40 in afterhours following better than expected earnings on revenues that fell short of estimates. Disney said it earned $0.80 per share, $0.09 better than consensus, on revenues that climbed 0.6% year over year to $10.78 billion. The media company said that its studio concentrated more in return of investment rather than revenue, with overall results seeing the impact of this, while ESPN ad revenue was lower than expected due to the delay of the start of the NBA season and the switch of the Rose Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl football games to the current quarter. Earlier in the week, Davenport upgraded the stock to a Buy from Neutral.  Despite the weakness the stock continues in afterhours, the stock continues to trade above its calculated resistance at $40.25.