Collins Stewart analyst Thomas Eagan thinks you may be swapping your Comcast (CMCSA) shares for Time Warner Cable (TWC) sometime soon.

In a note to clients this morning, Eagan writes that investors may rotate out of Comcast if the company decides to invest $12 billion to $14 billion for a stake in GE’s (GE) NBC-Universal, as rumored. The latest buzz on that deal is that it has a 50/50 chance of happening, according to a piece in the Wall Street Journal this morning.

If Comcast were to take a 51 percent stake in NBC-U, Comcast’s revenue from content would jump from 4.5% of the firm’s total sales to 30 percent, writes Eagan.

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The best days for the Palm (PALM) Pre may already have past. That was the implication of the Sell call on the stock this morning from Morgan Joseph–and the same theme can be found in a similarly bearish note this morning from Collins Stewart analyst Ashok Kumar.

Kumar says that despite being positioned as a flagship product at Sprint (S), Palm shipped under 300,000 units in May and June. He says the company ramped up production aggressively in July when shipments exceeded build levels in the previous two months, but that the “momentum appears to have already peaked.”

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Collins Stewart analyst Ashok Kumar this morning upped his rating on Apple (AAPL) to Buy from Hold, setting a $170 price target.

Kumar contends that Apple will gain share in the smart phone segment from both Research In Motion (RIMM) and Microsoft (MSFT) Windows Mobile. He also writes that Google (GOOG) Android is “positioned to be a winner” in the sector.

So back to Apple. Kumar says that a low bill of materials should enable Apple to hit a $99 price point on an 8GB iPhone, stimulating demand. He says a launch with China Mobile (CHL) “is an additional near-term catalyst.” Further out, he thinks the launch of what he calls the “iPhone nano” in the first half of 2010 should help Apple further expand its share of the smart phone segment.

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Shares of both Seagate (STX) and Western Digital (WDC) are getting battered on fears that the hard-drive sector could once again soon find itself with a glut of supply.

At least in part, the Street is reacting to this morning’s downgrade of Marvell (MRVL) by Barclays Capital, which–as I noted earlier–was in response to indications from Taiwanese component makers of a slowdown PC demand. Barclays chip analyst Romit Shah wrote that “every company that we met with [in Taiwan] indicated that PC order rates are slowing into the back-to-school season.”

Meanwhile, Collins Stewart analyst Ashok Kumar today notes new data on drive production that he thinks raises ominous clouds for Seagate in particular. Kumar says data from Techno Systems Research, a Japan-based market research firm, find that hard-drive unit production was down 18 percent sequentially in the March quarter, comparable to a 15 percent decline in PC shipments.

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Unable to get the attention of the wireless carriers, Dell (DELL) has decided to enter the mobile phone market by selling its wares direct through retailers, according to Collins Stewart analyst Ashok Kumar. The analyst writes that the carriers have decided to pass on Dell’s handset, “citing a non-compelling product with a roadmap that lags competition.”

Kumar is not optimistic about Dell’s chances for success with that approach, asserting that the company is “facing a stacked deck with little experience on how to play this game.”

Kumar wonders whether consumers will want a phone that the carriers consider to be not good enough to sell directly. “Consumers are used to subsidized handsets and are not used to paying full price,” he notes, and assumes that retailers will provide prime shelf space for Dell’s phones.

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Collins Stewart solar analyst Daniel Ries today cut his rating on Canadian Solar (CSIQ) to Hold from Buy, and slashed EPS estimates, citing “the harsh pricing environment” in the solar sector. He now sees 2008 EPS of $1.85, down from $2.18. But the real change is for 2009: He goes to $1.74, from $2.94.

Ries notes that European buyers are demanding substantially lower prices. “This presents a challenge for CSIQ, as it is a competitive company but not a low cost producer at this point,” he writes.

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The Street continues to ratchet down its expectations for Google (GOOG) ahead of the company’s third-quarter earnings coming up next Thursday.

While continuing to recommend the stock, analysts at both RBC Capital and Bernstein Research today trimmed both their earnings estimates and price targets for the Internet search giant. That follows similar moves by analysts at Stifel, Morgan Stanley, AmTech and Collins Stewart.

RBC Capital’s Ross Sandler maintains an Outperform rating, but today cut his price target to $500 from $600. For 2008, his EPS estimate is now $19.14, down from $19.45; for 2009 he now sees $21.24, down from $23.46. The move, he writes, is “based on the deteriorating macro environment.” (I bet you sure are surprised to hear that.) He says search is holding up better than other forms of online advertising, but that “no company is immune to cyclical factors.”

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More trouble lurks ahead for Yahoo (YHOO), Collins Stewart analyst Sandeep Agrawal warned this morning.

“We believe that the fundamentals at YHOO are deteriorating,” he writes in a research note. “On the one hand, economic headwinds and turmoil in the financial markets are causing weaker display ad revenues. On the other hand, changes with the minimum bid with search and a possible GOOG/YHOO deal are causing an outcry among many advertisers. To further complicate the situation is an ongoing loss of talent which might accelerate with renewed restructuring efforts. We don’t see any near-term upside in the shares of YHOO on a fundamental basis.”

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Shares of glassmaker Corning (GLW) and LCD panel producers AU Optronics (AUO) and LG Display (LPL) are all down sharply today amid a new wave of market jitters on the prospects for the flat-panel display market.

Several recent Street research reports note that conditions in the LCD panel sector have been difficult for much of the third quarter, raising questions about the companies’ ability to hit current Street estimates.

Brian White, an analyst with Collins Stewart, noted in a roundup piece on the electronics supply chain today that he visited last week with three leading Taiwan-based LCD panel makers, and came away with a “reinforced” cautious stance on AU Optronics, which he rates Hold.

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Google’s (GOOG) third-quarter results will feel the effects of a strengthening dollar, Collins Stewart analyst Sandeep Aggarwal observed in a research note this morning. Aggarwal points out that currency has lifted earnings in each of the last 10 quarters, but that the company will suffer a sequential FX loss in Q3, with the year-over-year benefit “materially lower” than in recent quarters.

Aggarwal says trend reversal in FX “will put $22 million” of “negative pressure on Google’s gross margin” on a sequential basis, and will provide only a $132 million boost on a year-over-year basis, versus $248 million in Q2 and $202 million in Q1.

Aggarwal, who maintains a Buy rating and $615 price target on the stock, says that the currency shift “is not a thesis changer, but a noteworthy trend reversal to watch for.”

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U.S. cable operator Cablevision’s (CVC) announcement this morning that it will pay a quarterly dividend of 10 cents a share does not preclude the company from doing a large share buyback, says Collins Stewart analyst Thomas Eagan in a note to clients this morning.

As [fellow Tech Trader Daily writer] Eric Savitz noted yesterday, the Dolan family that controls Cablevision has taken what some consider a more “shareholder-friendly” stance of late, perhaps because activist investor Harbinger has taken a 5 percent stake in the company.

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