RBC Capital Markets noted that last night Microsoft (MSFT 29.79 -0.12) announced that CFO Chris Liddell will be leaving the company at year-end and will be replaced by Peter Klein, currently CFO of Microsoft's Business Division. The firm does not anticipate much in the way of change from Mr. Klein, particularly with respect to the renewed focus on costs.

JMP Securities raised their NVIDIA (NVDA 13.07 +0.15) Q4 EPS estimate to $0.21 from $0.19 (consensus $0.17) following their better than expected checks indicating stronger pricing leverage and increased 55nm wafer starts. The firm noted that while their checks indicate 40nm production constraints remain a headwind, upside in certain product areas and the ability to leverage older process geometries in an accommodating pricing environment are increasing their confidence in the current quarter.

WSJ reported that Corning (GLW 16.86 +0.33) is confident revenue in the current fourth quarter will come in at more than $1 billion (First Call Consensus is $1.41 bln) and is seeking acquisition targets after its purchase of Axygen BioScience in September, its top executive said. "We're looking around. It hasn't been a very active effort in the past seven or so years but we are starting to reactivate," said Peter Volanakis, Corning's president and chief operating officer, in a recent interview.

Jefferies noted that this coming (Black) Friday officially kicks off the holiday season, with a more upbeat consumer (vs. last year,) and online merchants eager to offer bargains to drive traffic. Firm expects e-Com and online mktg cos to show positive Y/Y growth this season with Amazon (AMZN 134.03 +1.09), EBay (EBAY 23.61 +0.02), Google (GOOG 585.74 +2.65) and Vista Print (VPRT 52.91 +2.66) likely to benefit the most from this trend. AMZN, with its cost effective value proposition and free shipping, and GOOG with its ability to cost effectively drive e-tailer traffic, stand to benefit the most, in its view.

Wedbush expects for significant margin expansion for Blue Coat Systems (BCSI 27.27 +1.60) due to the restructuring of operations and continued stabilization in the spending environment. Wedbush also raised its FY10, FY11 EPS estimates to $1.28 and 1.70 from $1.23 and $1.56 respectively to reflect better than expected leverage from restructuring. The firm has modestly decreased the FY10 revenue estimate to $496 mln from $501 mln to account for lighter than expected Packeteer revenue and Q3 guidance.

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