Taiwan's Acer has been on a tear recently. It markets the eMachines, Acer and Gateway computer brands and overtook Dell Inc. (DELL) recently to become the second-largest computer seller in the world. It may not be the most innovative, but it is selling a large amount of PCs every quarter. Its presence is large in the U.S. retail sector, where Dell's efforts over the last 18 months are still not where they need to be.

Now that Acer Chairman J.T. Wang wants to see Apple's (AAPL) new iPad tablet computer, one has to wonder why Acer cares at all. Although Amazon, Inc. (AMZN) already has the Kindle e-reader device (and ready to unveil a third-generation product to compete with Apple), Acer's Chairman may not realize that Apple is not wanting to compete as a tablet PC manufacturer.

Shortly after the introduction of Apple, Inc.'s (AAPL) long anticipated iPad tablet computer I was quite surprised to receive an email from one of our more astute readers boldly stating "Game, set and match. See you at $300"

My immediate reaction was that this overly zealous stock trader and Apple enthusiast had let all reason escape his cranium. For me it reinforced how irrational investors are and how little they understand numbers. Apple stock will not reach $300 this year.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage on BloggingStocks:

• Apple Inc. (AAPL) posted its highest quarterly revenue ever, easily beating estimates, as iPhone sales doubled.
• Boeing Co. (BA) swung to a larger-than-expected Q4 profit but guidance fell short of analysts' estimates.
• Chevron Corp. (CVX) fell short of analysts' earnings estimates for Q4, sending shares lower.
• Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) shares rose after optimistic statements by the CEO ahead of Q2 results.
• Eastman Kodak Co. (EK) shares surged after it beat Q4 expectations by a wide margin and cash flow improved.
• Ford Motor Co. (F) reported its first annual profit in four years due to cost-cutting and improved market share.
• Halliburton Co. (HAL) reported lower Q4 earnings but beat estimates by a penny, and revenue also fell.

While the entire world was wrapped up in the hype of the Apple (AAPL) iPad launch Wednesday, many tech enthusiasts, bloggers and uber-geeks -- the kind who hang on anything Steve Jobs belches out -- came away mostly underwhelmed and disappointed.

Apple, after knocking the middle ground between laptop and smartphone, unveiled a product that, well doesn't really have any of the best qualities of both. So, the iPad may go down as one of the biggest launch letdowns in Apple's recent history. It's already being called a larger iPod touch with an e-book reader attached. Not flattering, Apple.

Microsoft (MSFT), the tech giant behind the Windows operating system, whose colleagues include Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), IBM (IBM), and Yahoo! (YHOO), issued Q2 numbers after the bell on Thursday. Revenues increased 14%, and diluted earnings per share went up well over 50% to 74 cents.

In terms of expectations, Earnings.com says 59 cents was the number to beat. Obviously, the company had no problem doing that. As the news outlets have been reporting, Windows 7 was the big driver of the quarter's success.

Shares of e-commerce giant Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) are trading lower in after hours trading despite posting better than expected earnings this afternoon for its fourth quarter.

Going into this afternoon's earnings release, analysts were expecting to see Amazon show earnings of 72 cents per share, on revenues of $9.04 billion in revenues.

Today was weak from the start, part on earnings but mostly on the trend and partly in reaction to last night's State of the Union. Bernanke's confirmation looking to be reconfirmed helped markets late in the day, as did some bargain buyers. The end of day results were much less-bad than intra-day trading lows. This may have been one more day that the bears and profit takers looked more right than wrong. Today's close on the S&P and intra-day lows on the S&P are bringing up some serious support levels that had been prior resistance levels at that 1,085 level.

Here were today's closing bell levels:

Dow 10,120.46 -115.70 (-1.13%)
S&P 500 1,084.52 -12.98 (-1.18%)
Nasdaq 2,179.00 -42.41 (-1.91%)

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Just when you have had enough of hearing about Apple's (AAPL) iPad, I have something else for you. It seems Steve Jobs may have issued a bit of a surprise at yesterday's iPad unveiling. The surprise? The price. According to the ValleyWag blog, some Apple bigwigs were told that the price of the iPad was pegged at $399 -- not the $499 that Steve Jobs revealed.

Is this true? It wouldn't be the first time that a rumor like this circulated. The first comment brings up the rumor that the Macintosh was set to carry a price tag of $999, but that Steve Jobs pulled a fast one -- doubling the price thanks to the marketing of the computer. Is this a substantiated story? No, it ranks up in the pantheon of lore like the cocaine in Coca-Cola.

Earlier this week,, I posted a bullish post on Apple (AAPL), in which analyst Geoff Seiler called the stock a huge bargain for the longer-term investor (see Apple: Another blowout quarter).

Following yesterday's announcment for the iPad, Andy Obermueller in his Government-Driven Investing, asks, "Is the new iPad a reason to buy the stock?" Here's his well-thought-out analysis."

Cutting through the hype and the niftiness of the device -investors need to ask themselves will people buy the device and will it have a significant effect on Apple's revenue?

Apple (AAPL) closed at $207.88. February put option implied volatility decreased on improved clarity after iPad introduction and is at 33, April at 35, July at 37; near its six-month average of 37, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing near-term price movement.

Baidu (BIDU) closed at $424.36. BIDU is expected to report Q4 EPS in mid-February. February put option implied volatility is at 44, March is at 45, versus its 26-week average of 45, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price fluctuations.

CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) at 23.13; 10-day moving average is 21.23, 50-day is 21.15

Options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Today was potentially a fairly quiet trading day when you consider how volatile the day could have been. We had Tim Geithner and Hank Paulson both getting grilled over American International Group, Inc. (AIG) again in front a House Panel, we had an FOMC rate decision, and tonight is the State of the Union speech from President Obama. Throw in disappointing housing data in December new home sales and you had a potential powder keg. Stocks spent most of the day in the red, but a move late in the day wiped all that out.

Here were the unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,236.09 +41.80 (0.41%)
S&P 500 1,097.25 +5.08 (0.47%)
Nasdaq 2,221.13 +17.40 (0.79%)

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About an hour ago, Apple (AAPL) finally unveiled its much anticipated and rumored tablet computer -- the iPad. For the past couple of years, many wondered why Apple never got into the netbook market. Steve Jobs, Apple's founder, CEO and visionary explained that netbooks simply are not better than laptops. The iPad, however, according to Jobs is.

Specs, from Engadget: The Apple iPad weighs just 1.5 pounds, and has a 9.7-inch touchscreen LCD display. It's running Apple's own 1GHz "A4" chip, with a 10-hour battery life and a month of standby. It'll come in three sizes and prices points: 16GB -- sold for $499, 32GB -- sold for $599, and 64GB -- $699.

U.S. stock market futures were higher Wednesday morning as upbeat earnings report from late Tuesday and early Wednesday boosted sentiment. Meanwhile, investors also awaited the Federal Open Market Committee policy statement later in the day as well as President Barack Obama state of the union address.

As Fed chairman Bernanke fights for another term at the helm of the federal bank, the Federal Reserve may take a chance the housing market can stage a comeback without its support and announce today it will stick to the plan to end a $1.25 trillion program of mortgage-debt purchases in March. The Fed will release its policy statement at 2:15 p.m. Eastern.

"Apple (AAPL, $213.35, 10.28), a holding in our model portfolio, delivered another blowout quarter, though the results were enhanced by a change in the way the company accounts for iPhone and AppleTV revenue," notes Geoff Seiler.

In his BullMarket.com advisory, he explains, "Even without the accounting change, Apple reported strong sales across its product line. It sold 8.7 million iPhones during the quarter, 3.36 million Macs, and 21 million iPods.

"The bottom line was that Apple reported a 50% increase in profits for the quarter ended December 26th. It earned a record $3.38 billion, or $3.67 per share, compared to $2.25 billion, or $2.50 per share, in the year-ago period.

The stock market was a roller-coaster today, and suddenly over the last week and a half we have gone from a market where volatility was very low to one where triple-digit DJIA point moves occur and get reversed in almost the same day. The VIX even opened right over 26.0 today before selling off. We started the day mixed, then went very positive, and then went very negative toward the end of the day. Earnings are still strong, but valuations are weighing on investors as you see many names selling off even after good earnings. The wide budget deficit only highlights more and more long-term concerns.

Here were the unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,200.19 +3.33 (0.03%)
S&P 500 1,092.17 -4.61 (-0.42%)
Nasdaq 2,203.73 -7.07 (-0.32%)

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