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You can bank on it: What, another sale? No, silly, Jos. A. Bank (josb) is always running sales. What you can bank on, it increasingly appears, is a quarter that gets a rise out of this person or that. This time, the second consecutive quarter, Bank kept its first quarter earnings call Monday very short and allowed no questions from fans or foes alike. Adding to the intrigue: CEO Robert Wildrick was nowhere to be found. While his name was mentioned as being in attendance, he didn't speak. When I called his office later, a secretary said he was out of town; a call to CFO

Semiconductor companies are planning sharp production cuts for both Q4 2008 and Q1 2009, according to a report today by Craig Berger, chip analyst at Friedman Billings Ramsey. He says that PC chip firms are seeing “significant production weakness,” as are communications IC producers - and that semiconductor companies are adjusting their own output accordingly.

Here’s a rundown on Berger’s outlook for production in the next few quarters from key chip companies; what he’s measuring here are wafer starts, or a little more roughly, units:

• Broadcom (BRCM): He sees production down 13% in Q4 from

The evidence mounts: conditions in the chip are even worse than the Street had anticipated.

Ergo, analysts continue to cut estimates. Yesterday, Friedman Billings Ramsey analyst Craig Berger made wholesale estimate and target reductions on the chip sector. Today, Citigroup’s Glen Yeung made a similar move.

“Our cuts reflect poor end demand, inventory reductions and an absence of credit in the supply chain that conspired to make October particularly difficult for chipmakers,” he writes. On the other hand, he thinks the conditions were so bad as to be “unsustainable,” and that November hasn’t b

Barclays Capital chip analyst Tim Luke this morning cut his EPS estimates for Texas Instruments (TXN) for both this year and next year, reducing his price target to $18, from $19. For 2008, he now sees profits of $1.66, down from $1.68; for 2009, he goes to $1.10, from $1.26.

Luke writes in a research note that the “business conditions have seen further broad weakness as we have moved through Q4.” He see the combination of weak visibility, slower bookings and inventory reductions by both the channel and OEMs “should prompt another below seasonal quarter in Q1 2009.”

Luke maintains his Equal W

Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts

The earnings season is beginning to wind down as we have passed the halfway mark of the quarter and the holiday season begins in earnest next week with Thanksgiving in the United States.

Bermuda-based Frontline Ltd. (NYSE: FRO) is anticipated by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters to be one of the biggest earnings gainers among companies scheduled to report quarterly results this coming week. The oil tanker fleet operator is expected to post third-quarter earnings of $1.97 per share, 86.8% higher than in the same period a year ago, on revenues of $399

Nokia (NOK) this morning said out loud what everyone in the mobile phone business kind of knew already: demand in 2009 is going to be down from 2008. This is an industry that had become accustomed to seeing unit growth in the 10% plus range; to see the industry’s most important player forecast a down year is a shocker, even if you suspected that something like this was inevitable.

Nokia’s warning is weighing heavily on a variety of players in industry: other phone companies; wireless carriers; chip makers; and even contract manufacturers. Here’s a look at the damage:

• Nokia is down $1.66, or