S&P UPGRADES OPINION ON ADSS OF NOKIA TO BUY FROM SELL (NOK; 34.02):
While global growth slows, we believe Nokia's handset sales (71% of NOK's projected 2008 total sales) will remain largely unaffected, helping to drive results. We think NOK's key attractions include strong market share in emerging markets, ongoing semiconductor component pricing and manufacturing scale economies that should help drive operating margin improvement in 2008 and 2009, and low U.S. exposure. We are raising our 2008 earnings per ADS estimate by $0.44 to $2.57. We are increasing our 12-month target price by 6 to 40 to reflect changes to our DCF and relative p-e analyses. -C.VanDerElst
S&P MAINTAINS HOLD RECOMMENDATION ON SHARES OF ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES (AMD; 6.34):
AMD updates its first quarter outlook, now expecting revenue to be about $1.5 billion, a 22% increase from last year and a 15% decline from the fourth quarter. The company's new revenue projection is below our forecast of $1.65 billion, reflecting lower-than-expected sales across all of AMD's business segments. the second quarter. We await the company's full first quarter results, expected on April 17, for further detail. We are maintaining our 12-month target price of 9, on a peer-discount price/sale ratio. -A.Zino-CFA
S&P REITERATES HOLD RECOMMENDATION ON SHARES OF ALCOA (AA; 37.44):
Alcoa posts first quarter EPS of $0.44 before special items, vs. $0.77, on a 6.7% sales decline. This is way shy of our $0.68 estimate, reflecting higher-than-expected interest and tax expenses. We are cutting our full-year 2008 estimate to $2.88 from $3.05 to reflect the shortfall. Even so, we are keeping our 12-month target price of 42 based on our belief that AA's share buyback program and sale of underperforming units will support a p-e of 14.6 times that estimate. Long-term, EPS should rise on increased production from lower-cost plants and a generally higher aluminum price. -L.Larkin