Zillow Prices IPO This Evening; Price Range Upped to $16-$19 Sticks

Q1 revenues spiked 111% to $11 Mn with a 86% spike in unique visits….

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Stock guides higher and trades up $10.20 in AH

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CMG

VMware beats by $0.04, beats on revs; guides Q3 revs above consensus; guides FY11 revs above consensus (106.02 +5.24)
Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.51 per share, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.47; revenues rose 36.8% year/year to $921 mln vs the $873.5 mln consensus. Co issues upside revenue guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $915-940 mln vs. $898.75 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. The third quarter non-GAAP operating margin is expected to decline sequentially by 260 to 360 basis points. Co issues upside guidance for FY11, sees FY11 revs of $3.65-3.75 bln vs. $3.63 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Intuitive Surgical beats by $0.20, beats on revs (374.90 +12.62)
Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $2.91 per share, $0.20 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $2.71; revenues rose 21.4% year/year to $425.7 mln vs the $410.5 mln consensus. “We are pleased with our second quarter procedures, revenue, and earnings growth. Our results reflect the continued adoption of da Vinci surgery across a broad range of procedures.”

Yahoo! reports EPS in-line, misses on revs; guides Q3 revs below consensus (14.59 +0.17)
Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.18 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate consensus of $0.18; revenues fell 4.6% year/year to $1.08 bln vs the $1.1 bln consensus, primarily due to the revenue share related to the Search Agreement with Microsoft. GAAP rev -23% YoY to $1.23 bln. Excluding this item and other special items, revenue ex-TAC for the second quarter of 2011 increased 1% YoY. Special items include the impact of the divestiture of HotJobs, broadband deferred revenue amortization, and certain fee rate reductions. Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $1.05-1.10 bln vs. $1.12 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; GAAP revenue for 3Q11 is expected to be in the range of $1,200 million to $1,260 mln. Total expenses (cost of revenue plus total operating expenses) for the third quarter of 2011 is expected to be in the range of $1,065-1,095 million. Total expenses less TAC for the third quarter of 2011 is expected to be in the range of $915-935 million. Income from operations for Q3 is expected to be in the range of $135-165 mln. “We experienced softness in display revenue in the second half of the quarter due to comprehensive changes we have made in our sales organization to position ourselves for more rapid display growth in the future.”

Yahoo post $0.18 or $0.19 cents adjusted….guidance was also light

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Revenues up 22.4%

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No. Ticker % Change
1 ZSL 7.85
2 TYH 7.83
3 TQQQ 6.60
4 TNA 6.56
5 DRN 5.05
6 ERX 4.90
7 BGU 4.82
8 UPRO 4.78
9 UWM 4.38
10 QLD 4.26
11 EDC 4.19
12 FAS 3.80
13 UCO 3.74
14 DIG 3.30
15 ITB 3.30
16 URE 3.27
17 DDM 3.26
18 XOP 3.20
19 SSO 3.17
20 UYM 3.03
21 PHK 2.95
22 SMH 2.88
23 DZZ 2.87
24 UYG 2.65
25 XHB 2.57

No. Ticker % Change
1 NEWN 66.96
2 DNH 61.46
3 ISI 59.11
4 RETL 56.88
5 XSD 55.63
6 CTNN 51.40
7 DCNG 51.26
8 WEET 50.81
9 BIL 45.85
10 OLEM 45.77
11 CAFE 44.87
12 CIR 39.04
13 IDCC 29.20
14 KNDI 26.26
15 PJF 25.21
16 RETS 25.05
17 SZK 24.07
18 RCON 21.62
19 MLN 17.96
20 KTEC 16.10
21 PQ 15.52
22 FBR 14.26
23 AXAS 14.02
24 FCEL 13.49
25 WBMD 13.18

Bulls maul the bears in today’s trade….

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Obama is hoping for bipartisan support on this plan as the deadline is getting close.

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A strategist from Banyan Partners says to ignore the news and go long the market.

Get diversified and set a time horizon. Its that simple.

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The most telling part of this piece is definitely the assessment of renting on the overall picture.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Builders broke ground on more single-family homes and apartments in June, helping the battered construction industry gain a little life after a dismal spring.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that builders began work on a seasonally adjusted 629,000 homes last month, a 14.6 percent increase from May.

Still, that’s roughly half the 1.2 million homes per year that economists say must be built to sustain a healthy housing market. Jennifer Lee, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, called the gains “just a blip in the overall flat-lining trend of homebuilding activity.”

“We have to see a rebound in job creation to sustain a recovery in housing,” she said.

Much of the increase in June came from a surge in apartment construction, a volatile part of the industry. That sector jumped more than 30 percent last month.

Renting has become a preferred option for many Americans who lost their jobs during the recession and were forced to leave their rapidly depreciating homes. Since 1992, apartments have typically made up just 20 percent of home construction. Now, they make up closer to 30 percent of the market.

Single-family home construction rose 9.4 percent. It was the biggest increase since June 2009, when the recession officially ended. But analysts said the pace of 453,000 homes per year was still too depressed to signal a turnaround.

“The underlying trend of single-family housing starts shows no signs of improving in a significant manner anytime soon,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR Inc.

Building permits, a gauge of future construction, increased 2.5 percent.

Do not mess with Murdoch.

LONDON (AP) — Sean Hoare was the kind of reporter who could knock back several whiskeys and a few lines of cocaine before filing salacious stories of celebrity misbehavior.

He was also the first journalist to openly say that his former friend and editor at the News of the World, Andy Coulson, knew about the tabloid’s widespread use of phone hacking. Coulson links the scandal to Prime Minister David Cameron, who he worked for as communications chief.

Hoare’s death this week added another tragic twist to the scandal, which has forced the paper’s closure, brought down senior police officials and threatened to engulf the rest of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.

Hertfordshire police discovered Hoare’s body at his home north of London on Monday morning. They describe his death as “unexplained, but not suspicious,” and are waiting for the results of Tuesday’s post-mortem.

NEW YORK (AP) — Things keep getting worse for Bank of America.

On Tuesday, the nation’s largest bank reported a loss of $9.1billion during the second quarter, partly due to an $8.5 billion settlement with investors. That agreement, reached in June, settled claims that the bank had sold the investors poor-quality mortgage bonds. The bank had already announced several other settlements this year. The total so far to settle investor claims: $12.7 billion.

The large settlements and protracted losses related to mortgage loans is causing investors to worry about something bigger: Bank of America’s overall financial strength. In a conference call to discuss the earnings report, analysts grilled the bank’s executives.

At the top of their list of concerns? Whether the bank will need to raise more money to comply with new international requirements that large banks hold more capital. If Bank of America needed to boost its capital reserves, it might look to raise more money by issuing more common shares of its stock. That would dilute the value of stock owned by current shareholders.

The stock is already down more than 35 percent for the year and is the only large bank whose shares trade below $10 per share.

Some lunatic threw a plate filled with shaving cream on Rupert’s face.

“The recent upswing in crop failures and spontaneous animal miscarriages appears to be the result of a deadly new plant disease, suggests a prominent researcher. According to ongoing research being conducted by Emeritus Professor Don Huber from Purdue University in Indiana, this disease is likely a result of genetically-modified (GM) crops and the pesticides and herbicides used to grow them…..”

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Some one screwed up releasing an email with trading spreadsheets.  More than just hedging we have price manipulation based upon information privy to large oil majors.

“Chevron confirmed the authenticity of the documents. “It was never Chevron’s intent to release information that could be misinterpreted by investors,” said a spokesman. “Chevron is extremely disappointed that certain media organizations chose to publish information after being alerted it was an accidental release.”

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Not sure about this thesis since we have 200 years of coal alone. Not sure if China’s appetite for coal will dramtically boost prices either; I’ll sleep on this one.

I think Natty gas has a better moon shot in prices over the next decade.

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