Paul Shread

Google’s growth prospects are strong, but they’re largely reflected in the company’s share price, Merrill Lynch argued on Wednesday. Merrill initiated coverage of Google with a “neutral” rating, saying that the company’s shares are fairly valued. “On an absolute basis, Google’s valuations appear high,” Merrill wrote, “but given the current fantastic growth rate of the […]

Amazon.com tumbled 5% Tuesday after Smith Barney cut the online retailing giant from “hold” to “sell.” Rising competition could force Amazon to spend more on technology and marketing, analyst Lanny Baker wrote. While Amazon benefited from strong holiday online spending, the online operations of traditional retailers like Wal-Mart grew even faster, Baker said. “Clearly, healthy […]

The bearish rising wedges that we warned you about on Dec. 23 broke down today; now we’ll see how much strength the bulls have in them. The Nasdaq (first chart below) needs to get back above 2160 quick to reverse its breakdown. Support is 2150, 2140 and 2130. The S&P 500 (second chart) also broke […]

Google and Yahoo started 2005 in the green Monday after Goldman Sachs said it sees the two companies benefiting from strong online advertising spending trends. Goldman analyst Anthony Noto said he sees branded online advertising becoming a permanent part of the overall advertising mix. Demand is strong, and there is a shortage of inventory on […]

Note: The Technical Analysis column will return on January 3. Happy Holidays and best wishes for a prosperous 2005. Once again, while the market remains in a positive period between now and January 3, the indexes sure are beginning to look extended. The Nasdaq (first chart below) is the index to watch. The index has […]

You’d think a company named Red Hat would treat investors well at this time of year, but the stock acted more like Scrooge than Santa Claus on Thursday. Red Hat shares tumbled 13.5% after the Linux provider reported in-line earnings of 6 cents per share. Sales surged 55% to $50.9 million — but that was […]

It’s hard to argue with the bullish case between now and January 3, but the indexes sure are getting extended here, with no pullback to speak of over the last two months. The surprise lately is that the Nasdaq (first chart below) is lagging, while the Dow (second chart) is leading. Perhaps we are witnessing […]

Micron Technology and Red Hat missed Wall Street revenue estimates after the close on Wednesday. Shares of Micron were unchanged after hours after the company beat earnings estimates by two cents per share with 23-cent earnings. But revenues of $1.26 billion, up 6% year-over-year, missed $1.31 billion forecasts. Average selling prices were flat from the […]

An upgrade to Intel sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its highest close since June 2001 on Tuesday. Lehman Brothers analyst Tim Luke said he expects Intel’s capacity utilization and gross margins to bottom in the first half of 2005 after a year-long inventory correction. Luke also said that strong notebook sales could lead […]

In another two or three days, the holiday rally season will be upon us; another day or two of down could be a good set-up for a year-end rally. Today’s failed rally wasn’t pretty, but at least it generated a little fear among options traders. The Nasdaq (first chart below) broke another uptrend line today. […]

Shares of McAfee sank 6.8% Monday after Microsoft made its second move against the security software company in a week. Microsoft gave the antivirus business for its Hotmail Web-based email service to Trend Micro , replacing McAfee. Shares of Trend Micro leapt 8.5% on the news. Analysts said the move would likely have little impact […]

The market may have begun a correction here; if it can continue into next week and generate some good fear, it could set up a good holiday rally. The Nasdaq (first chart below) faces resistance at 2140, 2145 and 2150, and support is 2132, 2125-2128, 2120 and 2110. The S&P 500 (second chart) faces resistance […]