This Morning: How Do You Like Them AAPLs? Nokia Sinks, Netflix Soars

Here are some things going on this morning in your world of tech:

Shares of Apple (AAPL) are down $53.75, or almost 11%, at $459.26, in early trading, following the company’s Q4 report last night for revenue that missed analysts’ estimates slightly and profit that beat slightly, on sales of slightly fewer iPhones than expected.

The Street this morning has come to the conclusion that Apple is a no-growth company: Pretty much every analyst is projecting no growth in EPS this year, at best, with many seeing a decline in EPS.

More than that, analysts were left rather befuddled by the change in Apple’s forecasting approach, discussed extensively on the conference call last night,�which now offers a range of revenue values, instead of a single number, for the quarter, and no profit projection. Price targets are going down across the board.

There are at least two downgrades, that I can see, one from Scotia Capital’s Gus Papageorgiou, who cut his rating to Sector Perform from Outperform, and one from Jefferies & Co.’s Peter Misek, who cut the stock to Hold from Buy.

Nomura Equity Research’s Stuart Jeffrey reiterates a Neutral rating, writing that the company is “Starting the ex-growth era.”�However, Brian White of Topeka Capital Markets, while cutting his price target to $888 from $1,111, reiterates a Buy rating, writing that he still expects EPS growth this year, projecting $56.99 per share, versus a prior $58.92, which is still quite a bit above the average estimates now around $42 or so.

As if the report wasn’t humbling enough, Gartner late yesterday reported that Samsung Electronics (005930KS) has surpassed Apple as the top buyer of semiconductors in the world, purchasing $23.9 billion in components last year, ahead of Apple’s $21.4 billion, versus prior-year purchases of $18.6 billion for Samsung and $18.8 billion for Apple.

Shares of Nokia (NOK) are down 40 cents, or 8.7%, at $4.24, after the company this morning reported Q4 results roughly in line with its pre-announcement from two weeks ago, but said it will do away with its 2012 dividend, which had been 20 cents a share the prior year, in order to “ensure strategic flexibility.”

Shares of Netflix (NFLX) continue the amazing surge begun after the company last night reported better-than-expected Q4 results. The stock is currently up $44.91, or 43%, at $148.17. Price targets are going up all around, and the stock received multiple upgrades this morning, from JP Morgan, Lazard Capital, Morgan Stanley, Raymond James and Macquarie, though Credit Suisse cut its rating on the shares to Neutral. Price targets and estimates are going up all around.

Shares of electronics distributor Avnet (AVT) are up $1.23, or almost 4%, at $33.40, after the company this morning reported fiscal Q2 revenue and earnings per share that topped analysts’ estimates, and forecast this quarter’s revenue and profit higher as well.

CEO Rick Hamada remarked that, “our served markets continue to reflect an uneven recovery as questions around global growth trends persist.”