Featuring SMSC’s Q1 loss; KBH and the homebuilding sector; POT’s weak revenue outlook; HON’s Q2 schedule; HTZ’s surprise financial outlook; CAEI’s $500M contract.

Standard Microsystems Corp. (Nasdaq: SMSC), KB Home (NYSE: KBH), Potash Corp. (NYSE: POT), Honeywell (NYSE: HON), Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HTZ) and China Architectural Engineering (Nasdaq: CAEI).

Standard Microsystems Corp. (Nasdaq: SMSC) Stock Alert – Standard Microsystems Reports First-Quarter Loss; Revenue Drops

Standard Microsystems Corp. (Nasdaq: SMSC) reported its fiscal first-quarter results, showing a loss due to weak revenue and charge-offs, The Associated Press reported.

The Hauppauge, N.Y.-based chip maker said for the three-month period ended May 31 it lost $9.2 million, or 42 cents per share, compared with a profit of $4.5 million, or 20 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

Excluding special items, the company lost 15 cents per share in the most recent quarter.

Revenue for the latest quarter dropped 33% to $62.5 million, compared with $92.8 million for the first quarter of last year.

“We are encouraged by continued signs of health in the PC market, with increasing end customer demand for both commercial and low-end PCs,” said Christine King, president and CEO.

She continued to say that the company is “seeing promising indicators that the semiconductor market will deliver more normal seasonal patterns” later this year.

The company offered guidance of adjusted earnings of between break-even to a profit of 8 cents on revenue of between $68 million and $72 million.

Standard Microsystems designs and sells a variety of silicon-based integrated circuits that are primarily utilizing analog or mixed-signal technologies. Its integrated circuits and systems provide a variety of signal processing attributes that are incorporated by its customers into end products in the consumer electronics and infotainment, the mobile and desktop personal computer, and industrial markets. These products generally provide connectivity, networking or input/output control solutions for a variety of communication, computer and related peripheral, consumer electronics, industrial control system, or automotive information applications.

The company has four principal product types: computing and connectivity products, analog products, mobile products, and automotive information products. SMSC has operations in the United States, Germany, Japan, China, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. Major engineering design centers are located in Arizona, New York, Texas and Germany.

In its recent chart, SMSC is trading at its higher Bollinger Bands range, a bullish condition signaling that the stock is strong relative to the recent price action.  MACD reflects a bearish signal, with the indicator trending below its 9-day moving average signal line, indicating downwardly trending moving averages.

KB Home (NYSE: KBH) Stock Alert – Homebuilder Sector Gets Boost on Lennar Earnings

Shares of major U.S. homebuilders got a boost following Lennar’s second-quarter earnings which showed a significant jump in sales of completed homes and new orders, said The Associated Press.

Lennar said sales of completed homes and orders for new homes spiked 47% and 63%, respectively.  The homebuilder also reported cancellations totaled 15%, down from 22% for the same quarter last year.

KB Home (NYSE: KBH) is a builder of single-family homes, townhomes and condominiums.

The company operates in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas. The company also offers mortgage services through Countrywide KB Home Loans, a joint venture with a subsidiary of Bank of America N.A.

Through its financial services subsidiary, KB Home Mortgage Company (KBHMC), the company provides title and insurance services to its homebuyers.

As of November 30, 2008, the company operated in five reporting segments, which included four homebuilding reporting segments and one financial services reporting segment.

In its recent chart, KBH is trading at its higher Bollinger Bands range, a bullish condition signaling that the stock is strong relative to the recent price action.  MACD reflects a bullish signal, with the indicator trending above its 9-day moving average signal line, indicating upwardly trending moving averages.

Potash Corp. (NYSE: POT) Stock Alert – Potash Corp. Cuts Guidance on Weak Revenue

Potash Corp. (NYSE: POT) said it slashed the company’s second-quarter guidance, citing worse-than-expected sales of potash, The Associated Press reported.

“The change [in outlook] reflects substantially lower than forecasted potash sales volumes due to deferral of purchases by customers around the world and lower realized prices for phosphate fertilizers,” the company said in a statement.

Potash prices have remained high despite the drop in overall commodities prices, as a tight group of producers accounting for 75% of all producers drastically cut production in an effort to prop up potash prices.

Farmers, however, have seen grain prices drop sharply along with the availability of credit, preferring to wait until potash prices drop and credit loosens again.

Potash Corp. revised its earnings expectation for the second-quarter to 70 cents per share, slashed from the $1.10 to $1.50 per share estimate in a previous forecast.

The company also said if another revision to its earnings forecast becomes necessary, it will be published in the company’s second-quarter news release, which is scheduled for July 23.

Potash Corp. is an integrated fertilizer and related industrial and feed products company. The company’s potash is produced from six mines in Saskatchewan and one mine in New Brunswick. Of these mines, it owns and operates five in Saskatchewan and the one in New Brunswick. Of these mines, the company owns and operate five in Saskatchewan and one in New Brunswick.

The company’s phosphate operations includes the manufacture and sale of solid and liquid phosphate fertilizers, animal feed supplements and industrial acid, which is used in food products and industrial processes. Its nitrogen operations involve the production of nitrogen fertilizers and nitrogen feed and industrial products, including ammonia, urea, nitrogen solutions, ammonium nitrate and nitric acid. It has nitrogen facilities in Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio and Trinidad.
In its recent chart, POT is trading at its lower Bollinger Bands range, a bearish condition signaling that the stock is weak relative to the recent price action. MACD reflects a bearish signal, with the indicator trending below its 9-day moving average signal line, indicating downwardly trending moving averages.

Honeywell (NYSE: HON) Stock Alert – Honeywell to Post Second-Quarter Results

Honeywell (NYSE: HON) announced it will post the company’s fiscal second-quarter results at the open of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, July 27.  A conference call to discuss the results is scheduled at 8:00 a.m. EST.

Since the March 9 closing low of 676.53, the S&P500 has risen 36%, settling on Thursday at 920.26, while Honeywell (NYSE: HON) has risen 37.1% from its March 9 low of $23.23 to close Wednesday at $31.85, slightly outperforming the S&P500.

Honeywell is a diversified technology and manufacturing company, serving customers globally with aerospace products and services, control, sensing and security technologies for buildings, homes and industry, turbochargers, automotive products, specialty chemicals, electronic and advanced materials, and process technology for refining and petrochemicals and energy efficient products and solutions for homes, business and transportation.

The company operates in four business segments: aerospace, automation and control solutions, specialty materials, and transportation systems.

During the year ended December 31, 2008, the company completed the acquisition of Safety Products Holding, Inc. (Norcross) and Metrologic Instruments Inc.

In July 2008, B/E Aerospace Inc. announced that it has completed the acquisition of Honeywell’s Consumables Solutions distribution business (HCS) within the Aerospace segment.

In its recent chart, HON s trading at its lower Bollinger Bands range, a bearish condition signaling that the stock is weak relative to the recent price action. MACD reflects a bearish signal, with the indicator trending below its 9-day moving average signal line, indicating downwardly trending moving averages.

Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HTZ) Stock Alert – Hertz Issues Surprise Outlook

Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HTZ) said the economic downturn has created demand for its rental cars, as vacationers shift from overseas destinations to domestic ones, and raised its expectation for the company’s fiscal second quarter, The Associated Press reported.

Hertz chairman and CEO Mark Frissora said in both the U.S. and Europe “people are staying local when they travel.”  Frissora cited that reservations for the July 4 weekend are higher than last year.

However, Frissora said the company’s equipment rental business remains week.  “We may not see an upward turn in this thing until the fourth quarter,” he said.

In a change of a recent company policy of withholding guidance, Hertz released its outlook in response to a markedly contrasting expectation held by the Street of the company’s earnings.  Hertz now anticipates second-quarter earnings to reach between 9 cents to 10 cents per share on revenue of between $1.7 billion to $1.75 billion.

The mean analysts’ estimate polled by Thomson Reuters is for the company to earn one cent per share on revenue of $1.89 billion.

Hertz expects full-year profit to reach 12 cents to 15 cents per share on revenue of $6.7 billion to $7 billion, compared with analysts who forecast a loss of 23 cents per share on revenue of $7.45 billion.

In an unexpected turnaround, Hertz’s previous one-year strategy of cutting its fleet in response to hostile economic conditions is now terminated.  Instead, the company is now adding to its fleet, said the company.

Hertz is a general use car rental brand and is engaged in equipment rental businesses in the United States and Canada. The company and its independent licensees and associates accept reservations for car rentals at approximately 8,100 locations in approximately 145 countries.

In the company’s equipment rental business segment, it rents equipment through approximately 345 branches in the United States, Canada, France, Spain and China, as well as through its international licensees. It operates in two segments: car rental and equipment rental.

In April 2008, it acquired the vehicle rental businesses of its franchise partner, Rentex Autopujcovna a.s. in the Czech Republic and of Rentex’s subsidiary, Car Solutions s.r.o. in Slovakia.

In April 2009, the company completed the acquisition of Advantage Rent A Car assets.

In its recent chart, HTZ is trading above its higher Bollinger Bands range, a bullish condition signaling that the stock is strong relative to the recent price action.  MACD reflects a bullish signal, with the indicator trending above its 9-day moving average signal line, indicating upwardly trending moving averages.

China Architectural Engineering (Nasdaq: CAEI) Stock Alert – China Architectural Engineering Enters into Agreement to Build in China

China Architectural Engineering (Nasdaq: CAEI) announced in a news release that it has contracted with Shanghai Nine Dragon Co. Ltd. to participate in the Nine Dragon Resort, Zhejiang project, which will include a seven-star hotel, marine park and upper-end villas.  The company expects the total project to top $500 million, and begin construction in the second half of calendar 2009, and be completed within three years.

The company also provided an update to its Dubai Metro System, which it says will be completed during the company’s fiscal third quarter.  The proceeds from the Dubai project will be used to complete the Nine Dragon Resort.  But due to tightened credit conditions brought on by the global financial crisis the company will terminate its efforts in the Singapore project.  China Architectural Engineering said the murky global economic outlook precludes allocating further resources toward additional projects.

“Our latest project update shows the effects of an uncertain global economic outlook. The termination of our Singapore project is a disappointment, of course, but it is also noteworthy that we continue to gain new business in our core domestic market of China,” said China Architectural Engineering chairman and CEO Ken Yi Luo.  Here, our track record and extensive network of contacts in the public and private sectors are enabling us to take advantage of the Chinese government’s aggressive stimulus spending. In the future, we will gradually develop some good business that will produce steady revenues for the company to offset the impacts from the volatile construction industry.”

China Architectural Engineering specialize in high-end curtain wall systems (including glass, stone and metal curtain walls), roofing systems, steel construction systems, eco-energy saving building conservation systems and related products, for public works and commercial real estate projects.

The company provides its clients using specialized technical expertise in the design, engineering, fabrication, installation and construction of structural exterior cladding systems.

In 2008, the company became a member of United States Green Building Council (USGBC) and the company further focused on expanding its international operations.

The company designs and develops systems to offer custom-designed solutions for developers of commercial and public works projects with special architectural features.

In its recent chart, CAEI is trading above its higher Bollinger Bands range, a bullish condition signaling that the stock is strong relative to the recent price action.  MACD reflects a bullish signal, with the indicator trending above its 9-day moving average signal line, indicating upwardly trending moving averages.

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