Before the bell 1-22-07: AMZN, HPQ, IBM, MSFT, YHOO ...

Posted Jan 22nd 2007 8:50AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Before the Bell, Earnings Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), Apple Inc (AAPL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), eBay (EBAY), Amazon.com (AMZN), Intel (INTC), Daimler (DAI), Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), McDonald's (MCD), International Business Machines (IBM), AT and T (T), Caterpillar (CAT), Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), Sun Microsystems (JAVA), United Technologies (UTX)

Main market news here.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) was upgraded to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus. Merrill Lynch, on the other hand, sees pressure on Amazon shares before the company reports earnings. AMZN shares are up 1.3% in pre-market on the upgrade.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ) announced it plans to open a research and development facility in St. Petersburg, Russia.

International Business Machine Corp.'s (NYSE:IBM) Lotus unit will introduce today a set of social networking services that functions like a MySpace for office workers. This could renew the rivalry with Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT). IBM is expected to collaborate with Hewlett-Packard and Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC).

France Telecom is considering dropping Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ:YHOO) as the supplier of advertising to its Internet portal, the Financial Times reported.

Reporting this week:

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) reports Tuesday. Analysts expect it will earn 79 cents per share for the fourth quarter.
Still Tuesday, United Technologies Corp (NYSE:UTX) is expected to report earning of 85 cents per share.
Also on Tuesday, Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO and Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ:SUNW) are expected to report.
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) should report fourth quarter results on Wednesday. Wall Street is looking for earnings of 28 cents per share.
Still on Wednesday, McDonald's Corp. (NYSE:MCD) is reporting and is expected to earn 61 cents per share.
Thursday will see Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) reporting. Ford is expected to show a loss of 97 cents per share for its fourth quarter. Microsoft is expected to earn 23 cents per share for its fiscal second quarter.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) will also report Thursday.
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) is scheduled to report fourth-quarter on Friday. Analysts expect earnings of $1.34 per share. CAT closed at $59.37 on Friday. Its 52-week range has been $58.82 to $82.03.

Fortune has this great article on a company and product called Parallel, that allows both Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) operating systems to run on the same system.

Fortune has another great article about forecasting auto industry trends, winners and losers for 2007. In 2006, six of General Motors Corp.'s (NYSE:GM) brands lost ground. Sic of Ford's (Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo, Jaguar and Aston Martin) and all three of DaimlerChrysler's (NYSE:DCX) U.S. brands (Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep).