Stocks to Watch: Dell, HP (Update 1)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- PC maker Dell's (DELL) fiscal fourth-quarter earnings came in below analysts' expectations despite a solid revenue performance.

Dell reported non-GAAP earnings of $913 million, or 51 cents a share, on revenue of $16.03 billion for the quarter ended Feb. 3. Analysts were expecting earnings of 52 cents a share on revenue of $15.96 billion.

For the current fiscal year, the company expects non-GAAP earnings of more than the $2.13 a share it earned last year. Wall Street expects a profit of $2.05 a share in the fiscal year ending in January 2013.

Dell also said it expects a sequential decline in revenue of 7% in its fiscal first quarter ending in April.

Shares were down 6.9% to $18.21 in premarket trading Wednesday.

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Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) is expected by analysts after the closing bell Wednesday to report earnings of 87 cents a share on revenue of $30.7 billion.

HP has guided for a profit of 83 to 86 cents a share in the quarter.

Shares were slipping 0.3% to $29.35.

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Homebuilder Toll Brothers (TOL) posted a fiscal first-quarter loss of $2.8 million, or 2 cents a share, a swing from year-earlier net income of $3.4 million, or 2 cents.

Revenue fell to $322 million from $334.1 million a year earlier.

Analysts expected Toll to earn 2 cents a share on revenue of $360.8 million.

Shares were plummeting 5.1% to $23.70 in premarket trading.

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Brocade Communications (BRCD), the maker of communications networking equipment, posted an adjusted first-quarter profit of $93 million, or 20 cents a share, on revenue of $561 million.

Analysts were expecting earnings of 13 cents a share on revenue of $542.2 million.

Shares were rising 6% to $5.50 Wednesday.

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Citigroup (C)faces a potential multibillion dollar write-down on its minority investment in the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney brokerage, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Negotiations over how much Morgan Stanley will pay to buy Citigroup out of the joint venture formed in 2009 will begin in the spring, according to the report. Citigroup's stake in the business is estimated at $10 billion in equity.

Citigroup shares were slipping 0.5% in premarket trading.

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Apple (AAPL) will hold a shareholders' meeting on Thursday. The meeting comes as Apple has faced some criticism over worker conditions at Foxconn, its contractor in China.

The company also may have to address what it plans to do with its cash pile of nearly $98 billion. Some analysts speculate that Apple will pay a "special dividend." Investors are also awaiting any hints on product announcements, including the highly anticipated iPhone5, iPad3 and Apple TV.

Shares of Apple, which recently soared to an all-time high of $526.29, were trading sideways in premarket trading Wednesday.

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Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ) Bill Weldon is stepping down as the health care giant's CEO.

He will be replaced by Alex Gorsky, vice chairman and head of the company's largest business by revenue, on April 26, the day of J&J's annual shareholder's meeting.

Shares were up 0.2% to $65.04.

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Express Scripts (ESRX), the pharmacy benefits manager, is expected to earn 85 cents a share in its December-ended quarter, according to analysts, on revenue of $11.6 billion.

Shares were up 0.4% to $52.31.

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-- Written by Chao Deng and Joseph Woelfel in New York.



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