>>> Boeing reaffirms FY14 EPS and revenue guidance at annual

Boeing reaffirms FY14 EPS and revenue guidance at annual shareholders meeting (131.20   +1.62)

Co reaffirms guidance for FY14 (Dec), sees EPS of $7.15-7.35 vs. $7.59 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY14 (Dec) revs of $87.5-90.5 bln vs. $89.91 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; reaffirms FY14 operating cash flow of $7 bln before pension funding.  Says it has a commercial airplanes backlog of $374 bln; Defense, Space & Security backlog of $67 bln

(BFW) M&S’s Cash Generation May Be Worth 600p/Shr in LBO, SocGen Says...

M&S’s Cash Generation May Be Worth 600p/Shr in LBO, SocGen Says
2014-05-21 14:37:06.21 GMT


By Heather Burke
     May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Marks & Spencer’s cash generation has
value, 600p may be a “financially feasible” bid, SocGen (buy)
says.
  * Mkt ignoring M&S’s cash flow, value in cash-generative
    retailers
  * LBO model used to calculate a theoretical shr price private
    equity could pay in a leveraged deal; est. 600p/shr
    feasible, backed by better cash flow prospects; assumes deal
    structure of 40% equity, 60% debt
  * 600p would be 34% premium to intra-day shr price of 447p
  * Optimistic on general merchandise LFL sales turnaround
  * Raises PT to 617p from 609p: SocGen
  * NOTE: Marks & Spencer Weighed Down by Legacy of CEO’s Missed
    Goals


For Related News and Information:
First Word scrolling panel: FIRST<GO>
First Word newswire: NH BFW<GO>

To contact the reporter on this story:
Heather Burke in London at +44-20-7673-2044 or
hburke2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James Ludden at +44-20-7673-2645 or
jludden@bloomberg.net

WSJ : Woodside Needs Another Path to Growth --> Few Targets out

Interesting Article on Woodside, they were planning to invest 2.5bil in Leviathan, for that amount there is few target in the market...Afren, Ophir, Maurel...Premier Oil,...

WSJ : Woodside Petroleum WPL.AU +0.76% should step on the gas.

The company said Wednesday it ditched plans to buy a quarter of Israel's largest natural gas field for around $2.5 billion after final deal talks broke down. It's the latest in a string of project delays and cancellations and leaves Australia's second biggest oil producer behind BHP Billiton BLT.LN -0.18% without a source of growth as domestic production plateaus.

The Israeli project, named Leviathan, seemed the growth possibility within nearest reach after Woodside delayed the multibillion dollar Browse liquefied natural-gas export project off the coast of West Australia by at least two years. Woodside also abandoned plans to expand its Pluto LNG terminal, another Western Australia project, after failing to find enough gas there.

Macquarie Group MQG.AU -0.48% forecasts the company's total production will fall by around 20% by the end of this decade as the North West Shelf, Woodside's cornerstone asset for the past 25 years, matures. Without new projects or acquisitions, the broker reckons earnings will fall by around 35% over the same period.

One obvious next step is to make an acquisition. With low debt of around $1.5 billion, a market capitalization $31 billion, strong recurring cash flows and low capital expenditures, it has the capacity to significantly gear up its balance sheet for the right deal.

Close to home the most obvious target is Australian listed Oil Search, which is spending heavily now to ramp up production at its operations in Papua New Guinea. But Oil Search has major strategic investors in the Papua New Guinea government and an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, which could complicate a deal.

An easier-to-digest option would be to buy at the asset level. Chief Executive Peter Coleman has said he'd like to take the company back to its roots and look for opportunities to expand in oil production. This could work as major oil companies shed assets globally as they cut capital expenditures. U.S. shale could be another target, though Mr. Coleman has said he'd likely prefer to partner with dedicated unconventional gas players.

Despite the uncertain long-term growth outlook, Woodside shares trade near a three year high as investors are attracted to its 5% dividend yield. Sustaining that dividend shouldn't be a challenge in the near term given ample free cash flow. But repeated misses to fill its pipeline with new projects leaves Woodside needing a fast-track plan for the future.

>>> Lowe's earnings call summary

Lowe's earnings call summary (45.08 -0.44)
  • Comps in the south and west regions, where weather is more favorable, were in the mid-single digits. 7 of 12 product categories posted positive comps.
  • Co continues to see strength in its Pro business.
  • Backdrop for home improvement growth remains positive, despite a slow start to the spring season. Economic forecasts still suggest a moderate improvement in growth for the year.
  • Comps were essentially flat in Feb, +2.5% in Mar, and flat in April.
  • Both ticket and transactions adjusted for the Easter shift improved sequentially, with the trend continuing into May.
  • Mgmt believes that weather impacted Q1 sales by ~ 150 bpts; mgmt feels good about start of Q2.
  • Last quarter, mgmt said that Q1 would be co's best performing comp and Q2 would be the lowest. Since weather pushed some sales from Q1 to Q2, it now looks like Q2 will be co's highest comping quarter.

(BFW) AstraZeneca Should Put Pfizer Offer to Holders, AXA IM Says...

CRL 05/21 13:41 AXA IM UK: ASTRAZENECA SHOULD NOT PREVENT OFFER PUT TO HOLDERS
 BN 05/21 13:39 *AXA INVESTMENT MANAGERS UK COMMENTS IN E-MAIL STATEMENT
 BN 05/21 13:39 *AXA INVESTMENT MANAGERS UK'S JIM STRIDE COMMENTS ON PFE/AZN
 BN 05/21 13:37 *AXA IM UK SAYS AZN BOARD 'ARGUABLY WRONG' TO DISMISS PROPOSAL
 BN 05/21 13:37 *AXA IM UK SAYS MANY SHAREHOLDERS WILL FIND OFFER ATTRACTIVE
 BN 05/21 13:36 *AXA IM UK REFERS TO 55-POUND-SHARE OFFER
 BN 05/21 13:36 *AXA IM UK: ASTRAZENECA SHOULD NOT PREVENT OFFER PUT TO HOLDERS
 BN 05/21 13:34 *AXA INVESTMENT MANAGERS UK COMMENTS ON PFIZER-ASTRAZENECA
AstraZeneca Should Put Pfizer Offer to Holders, AXA IM Says
2014-05-21 13:42:28.861 GMT


By Gaurav Panchal
     May 21 (Bloomberg) -- AXA Investment Managers U.K. says
AstraZeneca board should not prevent an offer from Pfizer of
5,500p-shr from being put to the shareholders of the company
  * Many shareholders, but not necessarily  all, will find this
    an attractive offer: AXA
  * AstraZeneca board was arguably wrong, acted too hastily to
    dismiss latest proposal from Pfizer: AXA
  * Says has met with the management teams of Pfizer and
    AstraZeneca in recent past
  * Comments from Jim Stride, director and head of U.K.
    equities, AXA Investment Managers U.K.
  * Statement here
  * AXA owns 5.45% of AstraZeneca: Bloomberg data



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First Word scrolling panel: FIRST<GO>
First Word newswire: NH BFW<GO>

--With assistance from Trista Kelley in London. 

To contact the reporter on this story:
Gaurav Panchal in London at +44-20-7392-0511 or
gpanchal2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
James Ludden at +44-20-7673-2645 or
jludden@bloomberg.net
Brian Lysaght

>>> Apple : Reportedly Apple is negotiating paid interconnect deals with ISPs fo

Apple : Reportedly Apple is negotiating paid interconnect deals with ISPs for their own CDN - tech blogs

Apple is currently negotiating paid interconnection deals with some of the largest ISPs in the U.S. Im not going to disclose which ISPs they are talking to and what deals they have already done, but its interesting to note that with all the talk lately of net neutrality, peering and interconnect relationships, Apple isnt out in the market making any complaints. While Netflix has used the media, consumers and lawmakers to try and argue that CDNs should get as much peering as they want, at no charge, Apple doesnt seem to agree with that sentiment. If they do, they certainly arent complaining in any public forum. 

Part of Apples reasoning for building their own CDN is because of performance issues with iCloud, with Apple wanting to have more control over the end-user experience. Apple already controls the hardware, the OS and the iTunes/App store platforms. Right now Apple controls the entire customer experience, except for the way content is delivered to their devices, so its only natural that a company of their size would build out their own CDN.