Pre-Market - Monday November 27th

ThinkEquity raised their tgt on AAPL to $110 from $100, saying their proprietary "Black Friday" survey of Apple Retail stores across the nation indicates likely upside to their Retail Store rev est of $1.45 bln for 1Q07. Firm believes that AAPL's Retail Store is a clear differentiator and a significant catalyst for further CPU share gains and profit margin expansion.

Barron's mentions possible takeover targets in the semiconductor industry: Potential candidates in the tech sector, according to CreditSights, include cash-rich analog semiconductor companies like Linear Technology (LLTC), Maxim Integrated (MXIM) and Analog Devices (ADI), as well as Altera (ALTR) and Xilinx (XLNX).

Soliel downgrades X (US Steel) to Hold from Buy based on valuation. The firm says while a possible breakup value could approach $100 a share, it is their experience that companies do not trade at the break up value and possible acquirers won't pay full value for a company.

Google Overvalued? Barron's reports shares of Google (GOOG) appear due for a correction based on slowing growth and bloated expenses. Analysts on average expect the co to earn $13.70 in 2007, up from an estimated $10.31 this year. That's a prospective gain of 33%, which looks great until compared with the 81% increase in earnings that Google is on track to produce in 2006. In either case, those estimates are inflated. They ignore about $1 a share of stock-option expense, while giving the co about $1 a share of credit for the interest earned on its $10.4 bln cash hoard. If analysts accounted for option expense and ignored interest income, '07 estimates would shrink to roughly $11.70 and the p-e multiple would climb to 43. Also, the price advertisers are willing to pay for search keywords has fallen. The average price paid to buy a search word across the Web in the second quarter -- $1.27 -- has declined 11% from the start of the year and 34% from the peak of $1.93 in April 2005. So far, companies have made up the difference on volume, but it's a trend worth watching. Fred Hickey, editor of the High-Tech Strategist newsletter and a Barron's Roundtable member, is convinced the consumer is slowing. He expects the slowdown to hurt Google's advertising and stock price, too. "I know (Google stock) isn't worth $500 a share," he says.

WSJ highlights ENER, reporting that Stanford R. Ovshinsky has spent 40 years -- and millions of dollars in backing from various partners -- pursuing his dream. He wanted to build a huge machine that would make giant sheets of material that can generate solar power. Today, Mr. Ovshinsky, 84 years old, finds himself running his factory at full capacity and overwhelmed with orders. His company, Energy Conversion Devices (ENER), is the largest U.S.-owned maker of photovoltaic materials, which convert sunlight to electricity. The co is a pioneer in an exploding global industry selling $15 bln a year of what's called "PV." Mr. Ovshinsky, a thin, nattily dressed inventor who never progressed beyond high school, is a big reason why the U.S. remains in this high-tech race. He has a six-month backlog of PV orders, selling about half his production to Germany, and is building three new plants. His PV is thinner, cheaper and more flexible than that of many competitors, and can be used directly as a roofing material.

Goldman adds Celanese (CE) to their Conviction Buy List. The firm also removes Air Products (APD).

HOFF - Horizon Offshore upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James- maintain $29 tgt, based on valuation (15.31 )

Courtesy of Briefing.com