>>> Cypress Semi beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 in-line;

Cypress Semi beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 in-line; acquires Broadcom's (AVGO) wireless IoT business for $550 mln; Advanced Semi Engineering (ASX) invests $60 mln, licenses Deca's FOWLP technology
  • Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.07 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.06; revenues fell 6.8% year/year to $425.2 mln vs the $425.18 mln Capital IQ Consensus; gross margin was 36.9%, above guidance but below our long-term goal, primarily because "we continue to run our wafer fabs at a rate lower than actual demand to burn off excess inventory, and because of inefficiencies in ex-Fujitsu manufacturing, which is being integrated now."
  • Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.10-0.14, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.11 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q2 revs of $440-470 mln vs. $454.42 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
  • Cypress will acquire Broadcom's (AVGO) Wireless Internet of Things (IoT) business and related assets in an all-cash transaction valued at $550 million. Cypress will acquire Broadcom's Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Zigbee IoT product lines and intellectual property, along with its WICED brand and developer ecosystem. Broadcom's IoT business unit, which employs approximately 430 people worldwide, generated $189 million in revenue during the last twelve months. The acquisition strengthens Cypress's position in key embedded systems markets, such as automotive and industrial, and establishes it as a leader in the high-growth consumer IoT market, a segment that includes wearable electronics and home automation solutions.
  • Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASX) and Deca Technologies, a subsidiary of Cypress announced the signing of an agreement whereby ASE will invest $60 million in Deca and will license Deca's M-Series Fan-out Wafer-Level Packaging (FOWLP) technologies and processes. As part of the agreement, ASE and Deca will jointly develop the M-Series fan-out manufacturing process and will expand production of chip-scale packages using this technology. The technology is required for the reduced size and power consumption needed for portable Internet of Things (IoT) applications and smartphones. Deca's version of it uses autoline technology developed by SunPower to decrease cost and manufacturing cycle time.
  • CY CEO, T.J. Rodgers, will step down this week and that a search—both internal and external—would be launched to replace him. In the interim, daily operational activities will be taken over by an Office of the CEO comprised of four current Cypress EVPs: Hassane El-Khoury (EVP, Programmable Systems Division), Dana Nazarian (EVP, Memory Products Division), Joe Rauschmayer (EVP, Manufacturing) and Thad Trent (CFO). Rodgers will remain on the Cypress Board and become a project leader working on key technical projects.

>>> Cliffs Natural Resources beats by $0.91, beats on revs

Cliffs Natural Resources beats by $0.91, beats on revs
  • Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.62 per share, $0.91 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.29); revenues fell 31.4% year/year to $306 mln vs the $271.8 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
  • Maintains guidance: For 2016, Cliffs is maintaining its full-year sales volume expectation of approximately 17.5 million tons from its U.S. Iron Ore business. The Company is also maintaining its 2016 production forecast of 16 million tons of iron ore pellets. Cliffs is maintaining its cash production cost per long ton2 expectation of $50 - $55 and the cash cost of goods sold per long ton expectation of $55 - $60. The cash cost of goods sold per long ton expectation includes expected idle costs of $65 million for the full year. Cliffs anticipates depreciation, depletion and amortization to be approximately $5 per long ton for full-year 2016.
  • "The steel market in the United States has started to show consistent signs of a real recovery, with a direct positive impact on our steel clients' order books and, consequently, a totally expected improvement in our clients' appetite for the pellets we supply them. Also, the announcement of a newly adopted supply discipline going forward by the two Australian majors, followed by a similar statement coming from their Brazilian peer, has generated a more reasonable pricing environment for sinter feed fines in the international market for iron ore, which continues to be short in lump ore and pellets.

>>> Charter Comm misses by $0.32, reports revs in-line

Charter Comm misses by $0.32, reports revs in-line
  • Reports Q1 (Mar) loss of $1.68 per share, $0.32 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($1.36); revenues rose 7.1% year/year to $2.53 bln vs the $2.53 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
  • Net cash flows from operating activities totaled $424 mln, compared to $528 mln in 1Q15. Free cash flow for 1Q16 totaled negative $61 mln, compared to $101 mln during the same period last year. The decrease was primarily due to higher cash interest paid in 1Q16 vs 1Q15, and the year-over-year increase in capital expenditures.
  • As of March 31, 2016, total principal amount of debt was approximately $37.3 bln, and CHTR held $21.8 bln in proceeds from debt in escrow for CHTR's pending transactions with TWC and Bright House. As of March 31, 2016, CHTR's credit facilities provided approximately $1.2 bln of additional liquidity.

>>> Baxalta beats by $0.01, beats on revs

Baxalta beats by $0.01, beats on revs
  • Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.47 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.46; revenues rose 10.3% year/year to $1.55 bln vs the $1.47 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
    • Undertaking efforts to expand global access and indications for HYQVIA including recent regulatory approval in Australia. In addition, the company has received orphan drug designation from the FDA for the treatment of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), a neurological disorder characterized by progressive weakness and impaired sensory function in the legs and arms, and a Phase 3 clinical trial is underway.
    • Accelerating treatment for patients with significant unmet medical needs with Health Canada's Priority Review of the New Drug Submission (NDS) for irinotecan liposome injection, also known as "nal-IRI," for the treatment of patients with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas previously treated with gemcitabine-based therapy. The expedited review is expected to be conducted in the second half of 2016.
    • Accelerating innovation in growing immuno-oncology portfolio with announcement of global collaboration with Precision BioSciences, a genome editing company, to develop a broad series of allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies directed toward areas of major unmet need in multiple cancers. The companies will develop CAR T therapies for up to six unique targets, with the first program expected to enter clinical studies in late 2017.
  • Given the proposed merger agreement with Shire plc announced on January 11, 2016, Baxalta will not be hosting an investor conference call to discuss financial results. In addition, the company will not be providing financial guidance for the second quarter or full-year 2016, and previously-issued guidance for Baxalta as a standalone entity is no longer applicable.

>>> Pinnacle Foods reports EPS in-line, misses on revs; guides FY16 EPS in-line

Pinnacle Foods reports EPS in-line, misses on revs; guides FY16 EPS in-line
  • Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.40 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.40; revenues rose 13.4% year/year to $754.3 mln vs the $774.55 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
  • Co issues reaffirms guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $2.08-2.13 vs. $2.11 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
  • Adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter of 2016 grew 13.2% to $131.7 mln, compared to $116.3 mln in the first quarter of 2015.
  • This outlook includes the following unchanged assumptions: Input cost inflation for the year is estimated in the range of 2% to 3%. Productivity for the year is estimated in the range of 3.5% to 4.0% of cost of products sold, including Boulder Brands organic cost savings, but excluding acquisition synergies.

>>> MasterCard beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides on call at 9:00

MasterCard beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides on call at 9:00
  • Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.86 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.85; revenues rose 9.7% year/year to $2.45 bln vs the $2.38 bln Capital IQ Consensus. On a currency-neutral basis, net revenue increased 14%.
  • Net revenue growth was driven by the impact of the following: An increase in processed transactions of 14%, to 12.6 billion; A 13% increase in gross dollar volume, on a local currency basis, to $1.1 trillion; and An increase in cross-border volumes of 12%.
  • These factors were partially offset by an increase in rebates and incentives, primarily due to new and renewed agreements and increased volumes.
  • Worldwide purchase volume during the quarter was up 12% on a local currency basis versus the first quarter of 2015, to $838 billion. As of March 31, 2016, the company's customers had issued 2.3 billion MasterCard and Maestro-branded cards.
  • Operating income for the first quarter of 2016 was flat, or up 4% on a currency-neutral basis, versus the year-ago period. The company delivered an operating margin of 55.1%.
  • Updates FY16 guidance on call at 9:00

>>> AbbVie to acquire Stemcentrx for ~$5.8 bln in cash & stock, updates FY16 gui

AbbVie to acquire Stemcentrx for ~$5.8 bln in cash & stock, updates FY16 guidance
  • AbbVie will acquire Stemcentrx for approximately $5.8 billion in cash and stock. AbbVie will pay approximately $2.0 billion of the transaction value in cash and fund the remaining portion with stock. In addition, Stemcentrx investors are eligible to receive up to $4 billion in cash for additional, success-based milestone payments for the achievement of certain regulatory and clinical developments
  • Expected to close in second-quarter 2016
  • AbbVie expects this transaction to be approximately $0.20 dilutive to our ongoing earnings per share in 2016, with accretion beginning in 2020
  • As a result, AbbVie is updating its 2016 adjusted diluted earnings per share guidance range to $4.62 to $4.82
  • AbbVie will host a conference call on April 28, 2016, at 8:00 am Central time to discuss this transaction and first-quarter 2016 results

>>> Vale S.A. reports Q1 net income of $1.776 bln vs $8.569 bln in Q4; Q1 revs $

Vale S.A. reports Q1 net income of $1.776 bln vs $8.569 bln in Q4; Q1 revs $5.719 bln vs $5.559 bln Capital IQ consensus, which fell $180 mln QoQ
  • Adjusted EBITDA was US$ 2.005 bln in 1Q16, 44% higher than in 4Q15 mainly as a result of the improvement in the EBITDA for Ferrous Minerals (US$ 329 mln) and Base Metals (US$ 218 mln). Carajás iron ore production of 32.4 Mt; (iii) Tubarão pellet production of 7.2 Mt; (iv) nickel production of 73,500 t; and (v) copper production of 109,900 t. Adjusted EBITDA for Ferrous Minerals was US$ 1.738 bln in 1Q16, US$ 329 mln higher than the US$ 1.409 bln achieved in 4Q15, mainly as a result of higher realized sales prices (US$ 565 mln) and lower costs6 (US$ 244 mln).
  • Copper Outlook: The copper market is expected to remain in surplus in 2016 with no significant production cuts announced during 1Q16 and South American supply steadly increasing with the ramp-up of new projects