Gordon Johnson, head of alternative energy research at Hapoalim Securities, says the group is lagging, and will continue to struggle into 2010, for several reasons:

• Big government subsidies in China, Spain (since ratcheted down) and the U.S. (just getting started) led to massive overinvestment in the space.
• Polysilicon manufacturers are still profitable even though prices have cratered in the past year, leading to yet more supply and disappointing results for many solar names.
• Natural gas prices have plummeted to a 7-year low and solar demand is more closely correlated to natural gas prices vs. oil, which itself is still about 50% below last year's peak despite a significant rally this spring.

Johnson has been bearish on solar stocks for much of the year and remains negative on most of the big names in the space, as we discuss in greater detail in a forthcoming segment.

Updated from 3:38 p.m. EDT

Update: Intel reported better-than-expected results after the close on Tuesday. The chip giant reported second-quarter revenue of $8 billion, above the consensus of $7.3 billion. Excluding a one-time charge stemming from a European Commission fine, the company posted EPS of 18 cents a share, well ahead of consensus of 8 cents.

“Intel’s second-quarter results reflect improving conditions in the PC market segment with our strongest first- to second-quarter growth since 1988 and a clear expectation for a seasonally stronger second half,” president and CEO Paul Otellini said in the firm's press release.

For the current quarter, Intel forecast revenue of $8.1 billion to $8.9 billion vs. the current consensus of $7.8 billion.

Intel shares rose in the initial after-hours reaction, ahead of its conference call slated for 5:30 p.m. EDT.

Earlier:

Stocks managed only meager gains Tuesday despite blowout results from Goldman Sachs this morning.

But the press is paying too much attention to Goldman and the financials generally, says Vinny Catalano, president and global investment strategist with Blue Marble Research, who says Intel's post-close results are more important.

While not diminishing the importance of the financials, Catalano's point is the market needs new leadership, and economically sensitive "cyclical" areas like tech and industrials, as well as major pharma names, will give a better barometer of the state of the global economy.

On that front, Catalano is encouraged by results from Alcoa and Johnson & Johnson and believes Dell's disappointment is more a result of its overexposure to developed markets vs. a sign the global "green shoots" are turning brown.

Like most, the strategist and blogger believes second-quarter results must exceed consensus expectations...

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Intel shares stumbled Wednesday, despite the chip giant's better-than-expected first-quarter results and proclamation the PC market has "bottomed out."

Intel shares may be down today because the firm didn't give formal second-quarter guidance, or because, as detailed here, their effective first-quarter tax rate was well below expectations, goosing the bottom line.

Or maybe it's just a "buy the rumor, sell the news"-type trade.

Either way, Scott Bleier, president of CreateCapital.com says Intel is "the closet thing to a legal monopoly" that exists in America and the stock was "dirt-cheap" before rallying sharply during the broad market's recent five-week gallop.

Bleier currently has no position in the stock but is eager to "buy the dip" should Intel fall back to the low teens. Like many tech stocks, Intel's valuations have fallen to extremely attractive levels, making it both a good trade and investment, he says.

After 18 month of wild volatility, Bleier thinks the market will soon settle into a "sideways, consolidation phase" that could last a year or more with the Dow trading in a 7000-9000 range. This type of environment will actually be better for true long-term investors vs. traders, i.e. the opposite of the recent past, he says.

In terms of stocks to buy for an investment...

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Updated from 3:47 p.m. EDT

Update: Intel reported first-quarter earnings of 11 cents per share on revenue of $7.1 billion, ahead of the consensus estimates for earnings of 3 cents and revenue of $6.98 billion.

“We believe PC sales bottomed out during the first quarter and that the industry is returning to normal seasonal patterns," Intel president and CEO Paul Otellini said in a statement.

However, Intel shares fell in the initial after-hours reaction as the company once again declined to give formal revenue guidance, saying only "the company is currently planning for revenue approximately flat to the first quarter."

Furthermore, the company's earnings "beat" was aided by an effective tax rate in the quarter of just 1%, much lower than the expected rate of approximately 27%. The vast difference was "driven primarily by settlement of various federal and state tax matters related to prior years and a higher percentage of profits in lower tax jurisdictions," the company said.

Finally, the company forecast second-quarter gross margins "in the mid-40s" vs. 45.6% in the first quarter, down from 53.1% in the fourth quarter.

Intel's conference call is slated to being at 5:30 p.m. EDT.

Earlier: The five-week rally is facing its first major test, thanks to Goldman's stock offering and Tuesday's batch of weaker-than-expected economic news.

The tech sector, meanwhile, turns its attention to post-close results from Intel...

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Despite the doom and gloom, the Baltic Dry Index has been ticking up for much of 2009, and that’s typically a sign we’ve got demand in the economy again. Yes and no, says my guest investor and blogger Paul Kedrosky.

It is a sign that the economy isn’t going to zero: That’s good. But amid the late 2008 panic inventories had gotten so low that an increase in orders is more a re-stocking than it is a recovery.

That said, there are a few speculative bets for investors with a high risk tolerance, especially among semiconductors. Watch the video for Kedrosky’s picks.

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The gulf between Barack Obama and campaign BFF Eric Schmidt widens even further, crowed the blogosphere. The White House has ditched YouTube as the platform for its weekly radio address, after privacy advocates complained about Google’s long-term tracking of what users watch. The technology is in violation of the federal government policy about tracking what people do on government sites.

CNET notes that YouTube had just updated its policy on cookies, but apparently it was wasn’t fast enough or far reaching enough for the White House. The White House will now use an Akami player, although the addresses will still appear on YouTube. It’s just one example of the high-tech Obama team having to adjust to the caution of occupying the White House...

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By mid-morning in Silicon Valley, there was one big story that no one was talking about: What was going on at the Apple Shareholder meeting. That’s because Apple refused to allow any computers or devices in. That’s right, not even iPhones. That means-- gasp!-- no live blogging, live streaming or live Twittering.

Should President Barack Obama be just as draconian with his meetings? At last night’s joint session of congress, lawmakers came down with Twitter fever offering live updates, opinions and even catty missives from their Blackberries as Obama spoke. The press may fawn over Twitter in other cases, but many a blogger and reporter rebuked lawmakers for acting like teenage girls, suggesting congress focus on changing the country instead.

Critics have a point. But the beauty of Twitter is that it peels away the bland veneers normally constructed by lawyers and publicists to reveal that all people—no matter how high the pedestal we put them on—are just people. It’s done wonders for celebrities like Shaquille O’Neal...

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From AllThingsD.com

"We have gone through a very difficult time, reacted quickly and decisively, and we are on our way to really have, I believe, a phenomenal transition year in 2008." - AMD CEO Hector Ruiz, December 2007

2008 hasn't quite proven to be the "phenomenal transition year" AMD believed it would be. Despite new leadership and a restructuring of its manufacturing assets, the company was not able to return to profitability by the third quarter of 2008 as it had hoped. And now, AMD (AMD) has reported a greater-than-expected net loss for the fourth quarter of 2008-its ninth consecutive one. A grotesque 33 percent drop in revenue left the company awash in $1.4 billion of red ink...

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After a halting start, stocks surged Wednesday afternoon and ending with the Dow up 279 points at 8228 while the S&P; gained 4.4% and the Nasdaq jumped 4.6% ahead of Apple's post-close report.

Paul Kedrosky, “Infectious Greed” blogger and strategist for Ten Asset Management, joined me to discuss three stories that were surging through the market today: Wall Street’s reaction to Barack Obama’s inauguration, news that Intel could report its first quarterly loss in decades and State Street’s 71% drop in profits, announced yesterday.

Kedrosky calls the idea that the inauguration had anything to do with yesterday's sell off absurd. On the other hand, Intel and State Street represent just the tip of further economic deterioration that investors should watch carefully.

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From Silicon Alley Insider, Jan. 7, 2009:

Intel said that the Q4 results it announces on January 15 will be worse than expectations it provided in November. The company says to blame "further weakness in end demand and inventory reductions by its customers in the global PC supply chain" for revenues that will be around $8.2 billion, down 20% quarter over quarter and down 23% y/y.

Full release: ... Click here for the full release.

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