J.C. Penney Company (NYSE:JCP): Mike Kramer, the company’s COO, said it plans to fund the transformation of jcpenney’s stores through cash from operations, beginning with $800M in capital expenditures in FY12. The majority of this capital will be spent enhancing jcpenney’s store experience and installing the company’s new in-store shops. The shares closed at $40.72, up $6.44 or 18.79% on the day. They have traded in a 52-week range of $23.44 to $41.00.

Kla-Tencor Corp. (NASDAQ:KLAC): KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ:KLAC) is expected to report Q2 earnings after the market close on Thursday, January 26, with a conference call scheduled for 5:00 pm ET. The consensus estimate is 66c for EPS and $629.45M for revenue, according to First Call. Analysts expect a decent Q2, with revenue and earnings coming in-line with management’s guidance. For Q2, management provided guidance of: orders to be up 25%-45%, revenue of between $600M-$650M, gross margin 57%-58%, opex of $200M-$205M, tax rate of 26%, and non-GAAP EPS of 56c-72c. RBC Capital believes KLA-Tencor will report orders at or above the high-end of guidance given strong capex trends exiting 2011. Taiwan Semiconductor, or TSMC (NYSE:TSM), Samsung and United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) substantially increased ordering in Q4. Hynix was also aggressive exiting the year. Novellus (NASDAQ:NVLS) raised guidance on its Q4 mid-quarter update and Tokyo Electron recently reported orders 50% higher than its guidance. RBC expects KLA Q4 revenue and EPS in-line with its estimates, at the midpoint of management’s guidance. The firm believes KLA benefited from roughly $100M in additional spending from wafer manufacturing customers following the Japan earthquake. RBC’s Q3 estimates were raised recently to 73c on $6677M in revenue; they are still below consensus of 80c on $680.56M in revenue. The shares closed at $50.26, down $0.98 or 1.91% on the day. They have traded in a 52-week range of $33.20 to $52.00.

Micromet (NASDAQ:MITI): Ladenburg downgraded Micromet citing the acquisition by Amgen. The firm believes the deal price represents fair value for Micromet. The shares closed at $10.94, up $2.66 or 32.13% on the day. They have traded in a 52-week range of $4.13 to $8.90.

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To contact the reporter on this story: Derek Hoffman at staff.writers@wallstcheatsheet.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Damien Hoffman at editors@wallstcheatsheet.com

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