Toronto Stocks Little Changed in Early Trading

Toronto Stocks Little Changed in Early Trading Thursday, January 27, 2005, 10:15 AM EST: (Thomson Financial Corporate Group): Bay Street is slipping this morning, as some bleak tech reports shadow the market. Tech stocks are handing back yesterday's gains, as disappointing reports from Sierra Wireless and Zarlink Semiconductor slams the sector. Metals and mining issues are also considerably lower this morning. Elsewhere, the energy sector is one of the few market bright spots, bolstered by rising oil prices. Investors are keen to view tech bellwether Microsoft's quarterly release, due out after the close. * The S&P/Toronto Stock Exchange Composite Index is receding 0.32 points, or 0.00%. * Yesterday, the S&P/Toronto Stock Exchange Composite Index jumped 37.26 points, or 0.41%. * In technology earnings headlines, Sierra Wireless provided a weaker-than-expected first-quarter loss estimate of US$0.35 to US$0.38 a share, on revenue of US$18 million to US$20 million, compared with the mean Thomson First Call expectation for a profit of US$0.20 a share on revenue of US$54 million. Reduced sales from embedded modules to PalmOne are partly to blame for the shortfall. For the fourth quarter, Sierra Wireless earned US$0.28 a share, up from US$0.08 a share last year, on US$58.8 million in revenue. Subsequently, Merrill Lynch, Piper Jaffray and TD downgraded the stock. * Meanwhile, Zarlink Semiconductor posted a third-quarter net loss of US$0.06 a share, narrower than last-year's deficit of US$0.09 a share. Analysts were looking for a loss of US$0.05 a share, in a deficit range of US$0.02 to US$0.06 a share, as provided by Thomson First Call. Revenue climbed to US$51.2 million from US$47 million a year earlier. Third-quarter gross margin was 44% of revenue, versus 46% in the second quarter. Also, the chip firm announced that its president and chief executive is leaving the firm. * Also on the personnel front, Nortel Networks Chief Financial Officer William Kerr quit that post, but will continue to serve as a senior adviser to Chief Executive Officer Bill Owens. Peter Currie will assume the CFO position. * Outside of Canada, Nokia is bounding higher, after the firm logged better-than-expected fourth-quarter results, bolstered by record mobile device volumes. * In U.S. M&A news, SBC Communications is in discussions to buy AT&T for more than US$15 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported. * Within the energy sector, Suncor Energy said that its fourth-quarter profit, excluding certain unrealized foreign exchange gains, was C$0.62 a share, up from C$0.57 a share a year earlier. Cash flow was C$524 million, unchanged from last year, while revenues leapt to C$2.31 billion from C$1.70 billion. Separately, Petro-Canada said that its quarterly earnings from operations adjusted for one-time and unusual items was C$1.73 a share, up from C$1.06 a share last year. Revenues rose to C$3.72 billion from C$3.10 billion a year ago. Cash flow was C$1.046 billion, compared with C$628 million last year. * Oil prices are moving higher this morning, again flirting with the US$50 a barrel mark and boosting the energy sector. Meanwhile, gold shares are pulling back on greenback strength against the euro, following a surge in the gold sector yesterday. In forest and paper product research, CSFB upgraded Abitibi-Consolidated to "outperform" from "neutral." * Turning to U.S. economic reports, durable goods orders climbed 0.6% to US$200.35 billion in December after climbing an upwardly revised 1.8% in November. Economists had expected December orders to rise 1.2%. -- Linda.Shea@thomson.com; Thomson Financial Corporate Group -- This is Thomson Financial Corporate Group's Canadian Commentary, which is updated twice daily. The information herein is believed to be true and accurate, we take no responsibility for inaccurate information and reserve the right to update our reports. For more financial information at your fingertips, please visit www.irchannel.com. If you have any questions please e-mail James Sang at james.sang@tfn.com or call 646.822.6233. For more information about Thomson Financial visit us on-line at http://www.thomsonfinancial.com/. PRNewswire -- Jan. 27 Source: Thomson Financial Corporate Group Web site: http://www.thomsonfinancial.com/ ------- Profile: International Entertainment