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Verizon Pain From Strike Seen Growing; Wells Fargo Cuts Estimates

Verizon Communications ( VZ ) is starting to feel the pain from the ongoing strike by nearly 40,000 wireline workers, according to Wells Fargo, which on Friday lowered its Q2 and full-year profit-margin and revenue estimates for the telecom giant. Two unions representing about 39,000 Verizon landline workers, including those that work on its FiOS TV and broadband services, went on strike April 13. Verizon’s wireless workers, however, are not unionized, except for roughly 100 employees. Verizon has a total workforce of nearly 178,000. “While the striking employees are almost all wireline workers, we believe the strike has become a distraction to its wireless operations. VZ has been less promotional with its wireless offerings in Q2, and recent checks have shown some unfavorable (customer-switching) trends,” Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche said in a research report. Verizon and the two unions — the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) — have reopened talks, with a federal mediator involved. “While a federal mediator has the two sides back at the bargaining table, a near-term resolution is still unclear,” Fritzsche wrote. “Management recently indicated that install and order activity for FiOS has ‘significantly dropped’ as employees have been primarily focused on repair and maintenance. “Accordingly, we are cutting our Q2 and 2016 wireline revenue estimates by $343 million and $826 million. We are also lowering our Q2 and 2016 wireline margin estimates.” Verizon stock rose 3 cents to 49.66 in the stock market today , and it’s mostly been trading below the key 50-day line since touching a 16-year high of 54.49 on April 5. Verizon is widely regarded as the  front-runner to acquire Web portal Yahoo ( YHOO ).

How High Will Tesla/Apple Supplier Nvidia Go? Up 34% In 2 Months

Loading the player… Nvidia ( NVDA ) — chip supplier for  Apple ( AAPL ) and Tesla Motors ( TSLA ) — has been on a huge run lately, gaining more than 30% in the past two months. But how much higher can the top-rated stock go? While Nvidia is probably best known for being a Tesla partner, it has also supplied graphics chips for Apple computers and is involved in the budding virtual reality market. Jefferies is bullish on the stock and said last week that Nvidia is just starting to benefit from trends in the auto, data center, PC gaming and VR markets. The analyst believes the company can more than triple its annual EPS in three years. Nvidia broke out of a cup-with-handle base about eight weeks ago and pulled back to find support at the 50-day line. It then surged to a new all-time high and profit-taking zone after its view-topping quarterly report last week and has continued higher since. It’s now up about 34% from the buy point and rose 1.8% Friday. Top-Rated Peers Performing Well Nvidia has a highest-possible IBD Composite Rating of 99. Two of its highly rated chip peers have also been performing particularly well as of late: Silicon Motion ( SIMO ) and MaxLinear ( MXL ). Silicon Motion broke out of a big cup-with-handle base in March and is now trading in profit-taking territory and at all-time highs. Its stock climbed 3.8% on the stock market Friday. MaxLinear broke out of a consolidation base last week and is trading in buy range. It rose 1.7% Friday.

Don’t Overlook 4 Top Tech Stocks Near Buy Point

Sifting through stock lists for a trend is always a sound strategy. Otherwise, you could miss a stock or group of stocks that are making a move. If you look at the industry group rankings for some of the software makers, for instance, you might be quick to dismiss them. The financial software group ranked No. 108 in Thursday’s list, down from No. 45 six weeks ago. Design software came in at No. 133 vs. No. 111 six weeks back, with enterprise software just behind at No. 134 vs. No. 112. One group improved: specialty enterprise software, at No. 120, up from No. 143. But drilling down to look deeper at which stocks make this week’s Tech Leaders, you might uncover a few gems that are near buy points. Citrix Systems ( CTXS ) is back in buy range from an 80 handle buy point initially cleared in April. More importantly, shares are finding support at the 10-week moving average, providing a secondary buy area. The stock spiked as much as 12% on April 22 before settling for a 4% gain, after the business software maker reported Q1 earnings that beat views and raised its full-year outlook. Florida-based Citrix belongs to the specialty enterprise software group. Paycom Software ( PAYC ) provides a cloud-based employment management platform with a software-as-a-service business model. Shares, near the top of a buy zone from a 38.28 cup-with-handle entry, have been rising past resistance around the 40 level, a positive sign. The base was a much steeper than normal 51%, which increases risk. But the stock’s relative strength line is near highs. Paycom hails from the enterprise software group, as does Ultimate Software ( ULTI ). Ultimate, which designs payroll and workforce management software, has posted quarterly double-digit profit and sales gains for at least the past four years. Analysts expect that streak to continue the next two quarters. The stock is shaping a handle with a 209.81 entry. Cadence Design Software ( CDNS ) is holding just above a 23.40 buy point first cleared in late March. It’s finding support at its 50-day line. The stock has the top Composite Rating, 95, in the design software group.