Cirrus shares are down more than 15 percent in midday trading, after the firm predicted that its profit margins would fall over the longer term, disclosing in slides at Barclays Global Technology Conference that it projects its gross margins to be in the mid 40s percentage level over the period. Prior to this, Cirrus had anticipated its gross margins to be between 50 and 57 percent over the long-term, said the research firm Oppenheimer, but the actual figure in its quarter ended in March stood at 49 percent. The company  explained that it expects growing pricing pressure in the smartphone market, along with reduced prices for its products.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ:GMCR): Current price $74.00

President, U.S. Commercial, Michelle Stacy announced Thursday, “This summer, Donut House Collectionis giving Keurig brewer owners a new, refreshing way to enjoy their classic ‘sinkers and suds,’ – that’s coffee and donuts in diner lingo. This sweetened, creamy iced coffee delivers a delightful pick-me-up, especially on hot days.” Keurig brewer owners may now have a “classic, cool, delicious treat” in their own kitchens with Sweet & Creamy Regular Iced Coffee K-Cup packs from DonutHouse Collection. They are to be available in grocery stores throughout the United States.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD): Current price $55.82

Gilead recently reported that its marketing authorization application for HCV candidate sofosbuvir (formerly GS-7977), submitted to the European Medicines Agency  on Apr 17, has been validated and is presently under review. Gilead wants to have the candidate approved in combination with ribavirin as an all-oral therapy for treating patients affected with genotypes 2 and 3 of the disease. Additionally, the application includes data supporting the use of sofosbuvir in combination with RBV and pegylated interferon (peg-IFN) as a first-line therapy in patients suffering from the genotypes 1, 4, 5 and 6 of the virus.

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Biogen Idec (NASDAQ:BIIB): Jim Cramer ranked this stock a Buy. Cramer previously ranked this stock a Buy on May 14, 2013. The stock’s 52-week high is $217.80, and its 52-week low is $126.39.

Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG): Jim Cramer ranked this stock a Buy. Cramer previously ranked this stock a Buy on May 14, 2013. The stock’s 52-week high is $128.52, and its 52-week low is $58.53.

Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH): Jim Cramer ranked this stock a Buy. Cramer previously ranked this stock a Buy on May 7, 2013. The stock’s 52-week high is $64.40, and its 52-week low is $46.94.

American Electric Power Co. (NYSE:AEP): Jim Cramer ranked this stock a Buy. Cramer previously ranked this stock a Buy on April 26, 2013. The stock’s 52-week high is $51.60, and its 52-week low is $37.70.

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CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE:CVS): Jim Cramer ranked this stock a Buy. Cramer previously ranked this stock a Buy on March 27, 2013. The stock’s 52-week high is $60.66, and its 52-week low is $43.30.

Six Flags Entertainment (NYSE:SIX): Jim Cramer ranked this stock a Buy. Cramer previously ranked this stock a Buy on August 13, 2012. The stock’s 52-week high is $80.62, and its 52-week low is $43.67.

Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ:WFM): Jim Cramer ranked this stock a Buy. Cramer previously ranked this stock a Buy on May 21, 2013. The stock’s 52-week high is $101.86, and its 52-week low is $81.39.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED): Jim Cramer ranked this stock a Buy. Cramer previously ranked this stock a Buy on October 11, 2012. The stock’s 52-week high is $65.98, and its 52-week low is $53.63.

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Generally, the picture painted of retirement is grim. PBS aired a program at the end of April entitled “The Retirement Gamble,” which postulated that the financial crisis had made retiring a much more difficult prospect. And the numbers suggest a similar conclusion. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s latest survey on retirement confidence, 57 percent of households say they have less than $25,000 in savings and investments, while twenty-eight percent say they have less than $1,000. Furthermore, the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College has warned that 53 percent of American households are at risk of not having saved enough to maintain their living standards in retirement.

Still, saving is not the only method of funding retirement; another important pillar of the American retirement system, falling only behind Social Security in importance, is the 401k. In fact, for wealthier Americans, the accounts — whose payouts are dependent on contributions and investment returns — constitute the primary means by which they save for retirement. Gallup’s poll of Americans preparing for retirement, conducted between April 4 and April 14 of this year, discovered that for 65 percent of respondents earning $75,000 or more per year, retirement savings accounts would be the “major source” of retirement funds. Only 17 percent said Social Security.

The majority of the recovery in 401k accounts is linked to the stock market rally that lifted the broad S&P 500 Index 145 percent since the close of trading on March 9, 2008, the stock market’s nadir.

In particular, the recovery has benefited workers 55 and older, according to Fidelity, the largest administrator of 401k retirement plans in the United States. Those pre-retirement workers have seen their average balances soar by nearly 100 percent, increasing from an average balance of $130,700 in the first quarter of 2009 to $255,000. Fidelity’s analysis covered people who have worked with their current employer for 10 years or more.

However, A small percentage — 1.6 percent — of pre-retirees abandoned the stock market during the tumult of the financial crisis and, as a result, have not experienced the same rebound. Their average balance grew just 26 percent to $101,000 during the same the period, Fidelity said.

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Is Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) obscuring its actual tax rate behind a web of offshore profit shifting? Earlier this week CEO Tim Cook told the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that Apple paid $6 billion, or 30.5 percent, of its income in federal taxes. But does this figure tell the whole story?

The 30.5 percent tax rate cited by Cook only covers Apple’s U.S. income of $19 billion. This is approximately a third of Apple’s global pretax income.

Martin Sullivan, the chief economist at the non-profit organization Tax Analysts, believes Apple is being disingenuous with its 30.5 percent tax rate figure. Sullivan states via Bloomberg that “Apple has shifted enormous amounts of profits from the United States to an untaxed entity overseas. That’s the issue.”

If Apple’s total worldwide income is considered, the company actually pays a much lower tax rate than 30.5 percent. According to Scott D. Dyreng, an assistant professor of accounting at Duke University, Apple pays an actual tax rate of less than 14 percent.

Apple is able to keep its overall tax burden low by shifting profits into countries with more favorable tax rates. Thanks to the differences between American and Irish tax laws, Apple only pays a two percent tax rate for its Ireland-based subsidiaries. Since 2009, approximately $30 billion in profits have been shifted to one Irish subsidiary that doesn’t even have any employees in Ireland.

Although Apple’s overseas profit shifting may seem fishy on the surface, it seems that the Cupertino-based company is following the letter of the law — if not the spirit. Apple is also not the only corporation to use these tax-avoidance strategies to minimize its tax burden. Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX), and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) have faced similar questions about their offshore tax practices in parliamentary hearings in the U.K.

However, this recent Senate hearing is drawing even more attention to this corporate practice, which may spur lawmakers to legislate against it. One possible way to reign in multinationals’ tax-avoidance strategies would be to require companies to disclose how much they pay in taxes in each individual country. This would give governments and investors a much clearer picture of how much a company actually pays in total taxes.

Here’s how Apple has traded so far this week.

Follow Nathanael on Twitter (@ArnoldEtan_WSCS)

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The dry bulk shipping and offshore contract drilling firm has reported its sixth consecutive quarterly loss, saying that it does not expect charter rates to improve in 2013. Shares of DryShips, which are thought a bellwether stock for the industry, fell by almost 7 percent in midday trade. Excess supply of dry bulk ship capacity for commodities like coal, ore and grains, has led shipping rates downward relentlessly in the last five years, accelerated by weak demand, resulting in a number of shippers being forced to restructure their businesses and lower capital spending. DryShips Chief Executive George Economou commented that “even though there has been a recent spike in some dry bulk charter rates, we continue to be defensive about the short-term prospects of the shipping markets. We do not expect any positive sustainable development in charter rates this year.”

BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY): Current price $14.39

On Wednesday, analyst Alexander Peterc at Exane BNPParibas lowered his rating on BlackBerry from Neutral to Underperform, at the same time hiking his price target to $10 from $7, subsequent to trimming estimates. Peterc wrote that the firm’s transition is threatened by the “disappearance of legacy profit pools” in the smartphone industry.

Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN): Current price $21.66

Bloomin’ Brands has announced the pricing of a secondary public offering of 19 million shares of its common stock at a price of $21.50 per share. All shares are being offered by certain stockholders. The offering should close on May 29, subject to the satisfaction of the usual closing conditions. Further, the underwriters will have a 30-day option to buy up to an additional 2.85 million shares from certain selling stockholders.

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Immelt’s goal is to cut GE Capital’s assets down to half of what they were preceding the 2008 financial crisis by 2014. In addition to possible IPOs, the company will continue selling off real estate businesses, insurance operations, and overseas banking stakes. Immelt would like for the company to continue to grow its industrial profits. Industry accounted for 54 percent of GE’s profits last year, and Immelt wants to see that number grow to 70 percent.

Immelt said that GE is “thinking strategically” about which of GE Capital’s non-core businesses to sell off. GE Capital’s global mortgage businesses and commercial real-estate units have previously been labeled as non-core, though Immelt didn’t give any specifics as to which businesses the company would sell or spin off. Immelt said that initial public offerings were a desirable option for continuing to shrink GE Capital, ”the capital markets are very receptive to IPOs…So I think you basically have as good a setting as you could possibly have.”

Immelt would like for GE Capital’s ending net investment to total between $300 and $350 billion by the end of 2014. That figure was $402 billion at the end of March, down from $630 billion before the financial crisis, and below Immelt’s earlier target of $425.

Shrinking GE Capital’s ending net investment would, “create excess cash in GE Capital, and we are going to use that excess cash to buy back stock. We would like to get our share count down to 9 billion to 9.5 billion shares by the end of 2015,” Immelt said.

GE has thus far been successful at meeting its goals to shrink GE Capital under Immelt’s leadership, and spin-offs through public offerings will help further reduce GE Capital and leave more room for the company to focus on industry.

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On Thursday, the Commerce Department reported that purchases of new homes, measured by contracts signed, increased 2.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted 454,000-unit annual pace last month, compared to the revised March rate of 444,000 units. This is the second best level since July 2008. Home sales are up 29.0 percent compared to April 2012. However, as the chart below shows, the real estate market is still well below its glory days.

The median estimate of 76 economists polled by Bloomberg only expected a gain of 425,000 units. Meanwhile, another survey by Reuters also called for 425,000 units.

The Commerce Department also reported the median sales price of new houses sold in April 2013 was $271,600, the highest level on record. The average sales price came in at $330,800. Although low interest rates and inventory levels have been supporting the real estate market, the average sales price of $279,900 in March was the lowest since June 2012.

The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of April was 156,000 units. This represents a supply of 4.1 months at the current sales rate, near record lows. The all-time high for supply hit 12.1 months in January 2009.

Shortly after the report, housing-related stocks such as Home Depot (NYSE:HD) and Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW) dropped about 1.5 percent. However, home builders such as Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL) and Lennar (NYSE:LEN) both climbed higher.

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The director named by the government would be responsible for overseeing national security concerns and making sure Sprint complies with agreements on network security. The move would give the U.S. government an unusual amount of influence over Sprint’s board. The U.S. government frequently imposes restrictions on telecom companies with foreign investors, but it would have a much higher amount of influence on the company than usual if the SoftBank-Sprint deal goes through.

One of the government’s main concerns about the deal is Sprint’s Chinese equipment purchases. The government would like to approve Sprint’s future equipment buys and to remove the use of Chinese gear in Sprint’s affiliates. Of biggest concern is Chinese supplier Huawei Technologies Co., which has been accused of being a security risk. Last fall Congress recommended telephone companies not do business with the company, due to fear of spying. Huawei responded, saying that it does not cooperate with spying.

Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei gave his first ever interview in New Zealand earlier this month in an attempt to dispel the rumors surrounding the company. Huawei has suffered losses in the U.S. and Australia in response to the accusations. Ren said he is confident that no member of Huawei’s staff would engage in spying, even if asked to do so by the Chinese government. He went on to say that Huawei’s relationship with China is no different than any other company’s relationship with their home country’s government.

Still on the table for Sprint is a $25.5 billion offer from Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH). Part of Dish’s campaign to purchase Sprint has involved trying to convince the government that the foreign SoftBank poses a security risk. But while SoftBank has promised to only use equipment approved by the government and to avoid Huawei Technologies, Dish has made no such promise.

Bound up in the fight between SoftBank and Dish is Sprint’s recent bid to purchase wireless service provider Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR), a company Dish had also been bidding on. Clearwire said that rival bids from Dish and Verizon (NYSE:VZ) were “not actionable.” Clearwire is set to vote on the offer May 30. Sprint’s purchase of Clearwire will only increase Dish’s desire to buy Sprint

As negotiations between SoftBank and the U.S. government continue, Sprint is set to vote on the $20 billion takeover on June 12.

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Now it appears that it is Microsoft’s turn to knock the capabilities of Apple’s iPad. While Siri apologizes for only being able to do one thing at a time, Microsoft’s tablet shows off its multitasking capabilities, which include using PowerPoint.  The commercial includes a biting dig at Apple when Siri asks the unseen user, “Should we just play ‘Chopsticks’?” This is a sarcastic reference to the Apple ad that introduced the iPad mini by having it accompany an iPad in a rendition of “Chopsticks.”

Microsoft’s final jab takes aim at the iPad’s price. The ad shows the 64 GB iPad price of $699 versus the $449 Windows 8 Tablet price. The ad concludes with the anti-Siri tagline, “Less talking. More doing.”

Here’s how Apple and Microsoft have traded so far this week.

Follow Nathanael on Twitter (@ArnoldEtan_WSCS)

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