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BP (NYSE: BP) is up 2% ahead of the oil inventory report.

AMD (NYSE: AMD) is up almost 2% on news of its introduction of a new graphics technology.

Hooker Furniture (NASDAQ: HOFT) is off over 10% on weak earnings.

Royal Bank of Scotland (NYSE: RBS) is off over 5% on negative comments about its prospects from the bank's CEO.

Stocks may trade differently in the pre-market than they do in the regular session.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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AMD (NYSE: AMD) will launch a new line of laptop chips, which may help conserve battery power. Who cares? The answer is, probably no one.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "The combination of chips is particularly good for entertainment applications that are driving many laptop purchases, according to Bahr Mahony, director of AMD's mobile business." And that puts AMD up against chips from much stronger rivals Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA).

AMD's share of the laptop market is about 14% and it has been falling. Several of its products have been late to market, which is unlikely to make it a favorite with PC and server companies that rely on chip delivery timing to launch products.

While there is some chance that the latest chips from AMD could help it get share back from the competition, Wall Street is betting otherwise. Over the last two years, AMD shares are off over 70% while Intel's are up over 30%. That means next to no one thinks the chip company can make a comeback.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com and author of the Ten Stocks Under $10 letter.

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The market for PC and server chips may be slowing a bit as it becomes more mature. So, big chip companies like Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) need to figure out where to get their next spurt of growth. Smartphones and other "intelligent" wireless devices sales are rising fast, so why not take a piece of that market. One reason is probably competition, but that rarely keeps companies from entering a market that they think is promising.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "Intel Corp has been heavily promoting a new breed of pocket-size portable devices as a future market for its chips. Its competitors now hope to reap the benefits." Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) and Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) already dominate the mobile market and may not want to let Intel in. Other large chips companies like Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and AMD (NYSE: AMD) would like a piece of the pie as well.

The gamble by Intel is that there will be huge demand for devices that are smaller than a PC but larger than a smartphone. They will eventually run on WiMax, WiFi and standard cellular broadband networks. The industry calls these "mobile Internet devices."

The success of the new market may swing on one large miscalculation. Consumers may not want a one-pound mini-computer with a tiny keyboard and modest-sized screen. Smartphones like the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone and RIM (NASDAQ: RIMM) BlackBerry are already advanced "computers" and they are being improved every year.

New chips for new devices -- but what if no one wants them?

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com and the author of the Ten Stocks Under $10 letter.

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Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) shares opened in the green this morning but have dropped as the day moved on after rumors surfaced that the EU was planning to take action against competitor Intel (NASDAQ: INTC). AMD headed back down after the EU denied that it has yet reached a decision in the matter. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on AMD.

After hitting a one-year high of $16.19 in July, the stock hit a one-year low of $5.31 in January. This morning, AMD opened at 7.01. So far today the stock has hit a low of $6.77 and a high of $7.07. As of 12:45, AMD is trading at $6.80, down $0.12 (-1.7%). The chart for AMD looks bullish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold rating.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider an October bear-call credit spread above the $9 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make an 11.1% return in five months as long as AMD is below $9 at October expiration. AMD would have to rise by more than 32% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

AMD hasn't been above $9 since December and has shown resistance around $7.20 recently. This trade could be risky if the company's earnings (due out in mud-July) are a positive surprise, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by resistance AMD might find around $9 from its 200-day moving average.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.

DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in AMD.

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Advanced Micro (NYSE: AMD) delivers high performance products through four divisions: Processors, ATI Products, Embedded Solutions and Support & Drivers.

Abu Dhabi purchased a $622 million dollar stake in AMD in November 2007.

AMD option volume was heavy on May 6 with 130,784 contracts trading. AMD May option implied volatility is at 68; June is at 50; below its 26-week average of 74 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

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Cymer (Nasdaq: CYMI) makes excimer light sources for manufacturers of photolithography tools in the semiconductor equipment industry. It offers field support products, customized to support chipmaker customers in their advanced wafer patterning processes. It also provides deep ultraviolet light sources to lithography tool makers, who integrate the sources into their wafer steppers and scanners for subsequent sale to chipmakers. Cymer has installed more than 3,000 light sources around the world, in plants run by the likes of Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD), IBM (NYSE: IBM), Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN).

Investors were pleased earlier in the week, when the firm announced a $100 million buyback program and then issued a solid quarterly summary. Cymer reported Q1 EPS of 41 cents and revenues of $124 million. Analysts had been looking for 35 cents and $119.3 million. Management also said Q2 revenues would be comparable to the Q1 total of $124 million ($116.6M consensus) and that gross margins would hold at approximately 48%.

CYMI shares popped on the news and have since been consolidating the gain in a bullish "pennant" pattern. Prices frequently exit pennants moving in the same direction they were traveling on entry. In this case, that would be to the upside.

Brokers recommend the issue with two "strong buys", five "buys" and three "underperforms". Analysts see a 35% growth rate, through the next year. The CYMI P/E ratio (11.47), Price to Sales ratio (1.61), Price to Book ratio (1.63), Price to Cash Flow ratio (8.09), Price to Free Cash Flow ratio (9.41) and Operating Margin (20.01%) compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages. Institutional investors hold about 95% of the outstanding shares. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has traded between $22.86 and $44.73. A stop-loss of $23.90 looks good here.

Larry Schutts is a contributing editor for Theflyonthewall.com and the Vice-President of Stockwinners.com. He does not hold positions in any of the stocks mentioned above.

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Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Abbott Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: ABT) first-quarter profit soared on overseas demand for Humira.
• Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) posted a bigger-than-expected loss, its sixth straight.
• Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) posted better-than-expected first-quarter results on strength overseas.
• CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) first-quarter profit soared on strong demand for grain, ethanol, and coal.
• eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) beat first-quarter expectations but the outlook was uninspiring.
• Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) first-quarter profit soared 42%, beating Wall Street estimates.
• Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) first-quarter earnings slipped but exceeded expectations.
• Intuitive Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) beat first-quarter estimates and offered a disappointing outlook.
• J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (NASDAQ: JBHT) missed first-quarter estimates on rising fuel prices.
• Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) first-quarter profit missed expectations and it warned of a coming decline.
• Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) first-quarter profits fell and missed analysts' expectations.
• Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (NYSE: RS) lowered its second-quarter outlook.
• Royal Philips Electronics posted a bigger-than-expected fall in profit on weak North America TV sales.
• Wolverine World Wide Inc. (NYSE: WWW) beat earnings estimates but shareholders were not impressed.
• Xerox Corp. (NYSE: XRX) posted a first-quarter loss that matched analysts' estimates.

Also, Jim Cramer doesn't think General Electric (NYSE: GE) is the bellwhether some take it for. Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is pessimistic about this earnings season. And here's a look at some companies that reported this week that could bounce back after the recession, as well as earnings expectations for "barometer" companies reporting next week.

Upcoming results to watch for include Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), Merck (NYSE: MRK) Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN), AT&T (NYSE: T), DuPont (NYSE: DD), Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM), Boeing (NYSE: BA), UPS (NYSE: UPS), 3M (NYSE: MMM), PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Motorola (NYSE: MOT), and McDonald's (NYSE: MCD).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

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• DJIA 12,852.21 (+231.72; +1.84%)
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MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal reported that New York state's attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, has launched an investigation into auction-rate securities and is seeking information from some of Wall Street's biggest institutions including UBS AG (NYSE: UBS), Citigroup Incorporated (NYSE: C) and Merrill Lynch & Co Inc (NYSE: MER), a person familiar with the matter said.
• According to the Financial Times, Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB) and other investment banks are working on plans to develop a clearing house for the credit derivatives markets. In an attempt to reduce counterparty risk, the banks are trying to develop a system that would only allow institutions with strong capital bases and credible trading histories to clear trades in the credit default swap markets with a central counterparty.

• The news that The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (NYSE: RBS) is planning a rights issue of between GBP5B and GBP12B received mixed reviews from British analysts and investors, the Telegraph reported. The analysts expect the bank to cut its dividend.

• DigiTimes reported that Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) is planning to launch the GeForce 9600 GSO GPU in May to compete with Advanced Micro Devices' (NYSE: AMD) Radeon HD 3830, according to sources at graphics card makers.

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AMD (NYSE:AMD) announced its sixth straight loss. For the first quarter of 2008, the company reported a net loss of $358 million, or 59 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $611 million, or $1.11 a share, for the year-earlier period.

MarketWatch writes "Revenue was $1.5 billion, up from $1.23 billion for the year-ago period. Analysts had expected the chipmaker to report a loss of 48 cents a share on revenue of $1.52 billion, according to FactSet Research."

The company's survival as an independent company remains at stake. The firm said that second quarter results would be down.

AMD still carries long-term debt of over $5 billion and with operating losses it remains difficult to see how the company can attack an amount of that magnitude while still investing aggressively in R&D. Larger rival Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) has the balance sheet and cash flow to continue to launch new chips, many of which have features superior to those of AMD products.

AMD may have only two choice now. One would be to sell the company to a more successful chip operation like Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA). The other is to auction off its graphics chip operation ATI, and hope that it can get enough money to help take down a large portion of its long-term debt obligations.

Either way, AMD is unlikely to look that same as it does now by the end of the year.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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AMD downwardly revised its Q108 revenue guidance on Monday after the market close due to lower than expected sales across all business segments. The company now expects Q108 revenues to be -15% qoq or $1.5bn versus its previous expectation that Q108 revenues would be in-line with normal seasonality of -5% to -10% qoq. Additionally, AMD will be implementing a 10% workforce reduction by the end of Q308. We are reducing our estimates on lower revenues: CY08 goes to -$2.20 from -$1.65; CY09 goes to -$1.30 from -$0.75; CY10 goes to -$0.30 from $0.40.

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Intel Corp.

• Microprocessor and chipset businesses as expected. Microprocessor units lower sequentially, with ASP flat. * NAND revenue flat as significant price declines offset unit growth.

• Gross margin: 53.8%, slightly below consensus of 54%.

• Tax rate slightly higher than expected: 33.5% vs. 31%, and restructuring and asset-impairment charges $329 million vs. $100 million estimate. Operating income stronger than appears.

• $2.5 billion share repurchase reduced share count

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Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Acuity Brands Inc. (NYSE: AYI) beat second-quarter estimates on increased productivity and new products.
• Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) cut its outlook and announced job cuts.
• Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) missed first-quarter earnings estimates but beat revenue expectations.
• Circuit City Stores Inc. (NYSE: CC) surprised Wall Street by posting a second-quarter profit.
• Dell Inc.'s (NASDAQ: DELL) rosy 2008 forecast is based on cost cuts, overseas growth, share buybacks.
• DuPont & Co. (NYSE: DD) raised its first-quarter outlook on strength in agriculture and emerging markets.
• Eastman Chemical Co. (NYSE: EMN) raised its first-quarter guidance on strong sales and higher prices.
• EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering (NASDAQ: EXFO) beat estimates and announced an acquisition.
• Foundry Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: FDRY) slashed its first-quarter outlook, blaming the weak economy.
• Genentech Inc. (NYSE: DNA) beat first-quarter earnings estimates, but not revenue expectations.
• General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) missed earnings expectations and lowered its guidance.
• Novellus Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) trimmed its first-quarter earnings and revenue forecasts.
• Progressive Corp. (NYSE: PGR) beat estimates though first-quarter profits fell due to lower premiums.
• Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) swung to a loss in the fourth quarter on acquisition costs and a tax charge.

• Schawk Inc. (NYSE: SGK) posted mixed results due in part to the Hollywood writers strike.
• Sealy Corp. (NYSE: ZZ) posted better-than-expected first-quarter results on international sales.
• SonoSite Inc. (NASDAQ: SONO) forecast swinging to a first-quarter profit on international growth.
• United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) lowered its first-quarter forecast due to weakness in the U.S. economy.
• WD-40 Co. (NASDAQ: WDFC) missed second-quarter estimates and lowered its outlook.

Also, Jim Cramer takes GE's disappointing results as a reminder that earnings matter. Weak financial performance at Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) hits the CEO in the pocketbook, and analysts don't like the prospects for MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) and other casinos. Jonathan Berr looks back at analysts' earnings forecasts in the previous quarter. And here's a look at big banks reporting results next week.

Upcoming results to watch for include Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY), IBM (NYSE: IBM), JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM), Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), Capital One (NYSE: COF), E*Trade (NASDAQ: ETFC), Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Harley Davidson (NYSE: HOG), Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER), Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), Schlumbeger (NYSE: SLB), Wachovia (NYSE: WB), and Xerox (NYSE: XRX).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

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Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD), the maker of chips for PCs and servers, lost its chief technology officer yesterday. At a hardware company, it could be argued that the CTO is as important, if not more important, than the CEO. AMD recently announced another round of lay-offs, this time cutting 10% of its workforce. The firm also said its Q1 numbers would be disappointing.

According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Phil Hester "has been closely associated with an AMD strategy known as 'accelerated computing,' which envisions the use of special-purpose circuitry being used on chips along with general-purpose microprocessors." To put it another way, he is one of the masterminds behind AMD's plans to compete with larger rival Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC).

Each piece of news out of AMD makes the company look more like a restructuring candidate. It is hard to see why Hester would leave if he thought things were turning around. AMD has more than $5 billion of debt, most of it from buying graphics chip company ATI. The company's shares traded near their 52-week low. The firm's new forecasts may indicate that AMD will have trouble generating sufficient cash flow to service its debt.

Did someone mention Chapter 11?

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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• Dow 12,576.44 (-35.99; -0.29%)
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• Full 52-week lows.
• See Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls.

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The semiconductor equipment maker now expects first-quarter earnings in a range between 15 cents and 17 cents per share, down from its previous range of 21 to 24 cents. Quarterly revenues are expected to be at the low end of the previously communicated range of $315 million and $325 million. Analysts were waiting for Novellus Systems show quarterly earnings of 23 cents a share on sales of $319.4 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

The company blamed difficult market conditions which put a curb on consumer spending for memory chips. Novellus also cited higher manufacturing spending and a bigger-than-expected tax rate. A company executive stated that the bad situation the microchip manufacturing equipment maker has to face is "a combination both of what's happening in the market place and a self inflicted wound."

The company's warning came as a sign of another negative effect of the current economic uncertainty. Wall Street has reacted by pushing the stock down 7.01% to $22.14 in today's trading.

Eliza Popescu is a financial writer for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.

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