Oppenheimer noted that their recent checks have uncovered several tidbits about Apple's (AAPL 197.80 +7.93) forthcoming tablet. First, it appears Apple will begin ramping production in earnest in February, implying that the tablet could launch in late March or April. The firm's checks also suggest that the tablet's display will be a 10.1" LTPS based LCD screen, not an OLED display as some have suggested. Finally, contacts in the US indicate Apple has been actively reaching out to book publishers with a very attractive proposal for distributing their books on a forthcoming ebook platform.

Kaufman notes yesterday, Cisco (CSCO 23.86 +0.05) hosted its annual analyst conference. It was fairly upbeat and consistent with its recent October quarter where it beat and raised estimates. Cisco reiterated its view that it believes IT spending hit a bottom in May and has since seen an inflection point in demand trends. Firm believes Cisco is becoming more of a systems company, similar to HPQ, IBM, DELL, AAPL and others. When asked about the smart phone space and RIMM and PALM as potential acquisitions, CEO John Chambers commented that he views Apple, RIMM and Palm as partners in helping to drive more network traffic.

WSJ reports a host of Web start-ups are gaining traction based on the premise that they make it easier for people to buy and sell online than the company that invented the idea: eBay (EBAY 22.72 +0.14). Second Rotation Inc.'s Gazelle.com site, which offers people a set price to take used gadgets like iPods and laptops off their hands, last month more than doubled the number of products, to 18,000, that it took in compared with a year earlier. Glyde Corp. last month launched its own online marketplace that allows consumers to sell used books, DVDs and videogames in a system that automates posting a listing, figuring out how much to charge and even mailing it out.

RBC raised their Xilinx (XLNX 24.00 +0.23) target to $28 from $27 after the company yesterday morning preannounced strong upside to 4Q09 revenues: up 16-20% compared to prior up 6-10% previously. Gross margins guidance was raised to 64% from prior 62%-63%. While they expect XLNX to continue to benefit from cyclical upturn in industrial and communication segments, their primary concern remains execution risks associated with: 1). 40nm technology node ramp; and 2). transition to low-cost region required to achieve target operating margins of greater than 30%.

Analogic (ALOG 37.26 +0.07) reported Q1 (Oct) adjusted earnings of $0.10 per share, $0.09 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.19; revenues fell 2.9% year/year to $95.4 mln vs the $92.4 mln consensus. Co states, "As we have stated previously, one of our key financial goals is to achieve double-digit operating margins by FY2012. We are committed to achieving significant improvement in our operating margins, even at our current revenue run rate, through organic measures that are within our control..."

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