Posts for Ticker ‘CE’

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ANF, CE, FLEX, FCL, HD, HMIN, LNC, MRO, OSG, SON)

These are ten of the top analyst upgrades and downgrades from Wall Street we have seen early this Wednesday morning with more than two hours until the market opens for trading:

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Celanese (CE) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Flextronics (FLEX) Cuto Sell at Collins Stewart.
Foundation Coal (FCL) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Home Depot (HD) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Home Inns (HMIN) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Lincoln National (LNC) Raised to Outperform at Wachovia.
Marathon Oil (MRO) Cut to Market Perform at Bernstein.
Overseas Shipholding (OSG) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Sonoco Products (SON) Cut to Hold at KeyBanc.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: May 13, 2009 – 6:27 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (AVR, BLL, CE, ETR, HCP, HR, MRK, PTNR, PTEN, UAUA, VSE)

These are not all of the upgrades or positive analyst calls seen this morning but these are some of the top calls seen this Friday morning:

  • Aventine Renewable (NYSE: AVR) Raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
  • Ball Corp (NYSE: BLL) Raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
  • Celanese (NYSE: CE) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
  • Entergy (NYSE: ETR) Raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.
  • HCP (NYSE: HCP) Raised To Buy From Neutral By Goldman Sachs.
  • Healthcare Realty Trust (NYSE: HR) Started as Outperform at Wachovia.
  • Merck (NYSE: MRK) Started as Buy at Citigroup.
  • Partner Communications (NASDAQ: PTNR) Started as Outperform at RBC Capital.
  • Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ: PTEN) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
  • UAL (NASDAQ: UAUA) Raised to Overweight from Underweight at JPMorgan.
  • Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) Raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia.
  • VeraSun Energy (NYSE: VSE) Raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Jon C. Ogg
July 18, 2008

Posted on: July 18, 2008 – 6:48 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , , ,

Chemicals on Fire After Rohm & Haas Merger With Dow (ROH, DOW, BRK.A, APD, CE, EMN, ASD, HUN)

Rohm & Haas (NYSE: ROH) has agreed to be acquired by Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) in an $18.8 Billion dollar merger ($15.3 Billion in equity value).  The terms to shareholders value the company at more than $78.00 per share in a cash buyout. 

Interestingly enough, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) and the Kuwaiti Investment Authority are investing in the deal.  Rohm & Haas is more diversified than mere chemicals but a 74% premium deal has interest likely falling into other key chemical players and ones to watch would be Air Products (NYSE: APD), Celanese (NYSE: CE), Eastman Chemicals (NYSE: EMN), Ashland (NYSE: ASH) and in particular Huntsman Corp. (NYSE: HUN).

The deal is subject to shareholder approval, but this is likely a done deal so long as no anti-trust issues crop up.  The 52-week trading range is $44.13 to $62.68 and shares have never traded that high, so it seems no  one will fight this.   

There are more than 30% of the shares owned or controlled by Haas family trusts and they have indicated their support of the merger.  Rounding up the other votes should be easy at this point.

Jon C. Ogg
July 10, 2008

Posted on: July 10, 2008 – 6:38 am in Conglomerates, Mergers and Buy Outs, , , , , , , ,

This Week’s Key Stock Buybacks & Repurchases (SYK, NILE, TDC, WW, CPWR, CE, EFX, VARI)

While earnings season is slowly winding down and while the economy is obviously cooling, we still have many large and small companies alike with solid balance sheets or that have extra cash to deploy on hand.  These are some of the key share buybacks we have seen this week.

Stryker (NYSE: SYK) announced a general $750 million for share buybacks for general corporate purposes and to offset dilution from options. This is one of the larger buyback plans announced, but it is small in comparison to its market cap of $27.93 billion.

Blue Nile (NASDAQ: NILE) approved a $100 million share buyback. With its poor guidance, buybacks may only partially help a growing problem. The current market cap sits at about $688.11 million.

Teradata (NYSE: TDC) announced a $250 million stock buyback plan. With positive 2008 guidance, future earnings per share should grow. The current market cap is $4.27 billion.

Watson Wyatt (NYSE: WW) announced a $100 million stock buyback plan.  The company noted that the buybacks will help offset dilution from employee benefit plans.  Its current market cap is $2.21 billion

Compuware (NASDAQ: CPWR) announced a $750 million buyback plan to reduce the balance of outstanding common shares to 200 million. They currently have 281.4 million shares outstanding. The current market cap is $2.27 billion.

Celanese (NYSE: CE) Board approved a $400 million share buyback. The CEO noted that the buyback demonstrates their commitment to delivering value to shareholders while retaining financial flexibility. The current market cap is $6.04 billion.

Equifax (NYSE: EFX) announced a $250 million share buyback approval. It is yet another in a series of buybacks valued at about $1.08 billion since 2004. The current market cap is $4.53 billion.

Varian (NYSE: VARI) Board approved a $100 million share repurchase program. The buybacks could boost an already healthy stock. The current market cap is $6.53 billion.

Rachel Lopez
February 15, 2008

Posted on: February 15, 2008 – 1:15 pm in Stock Buybacks, , , , , , , ,

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (RATE, CE, CSCO, DCP, RL, PFG, RYAAY, AKH, VM, XL)

Below are some of the early bird analyst calls that are affecting shares in pre-market trading:

  • Bankrate Inc. (NASDAQ: RATE) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.
  • Celanese (NYSE: CE) raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
  • Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) downgraded to Neutral from overweight at JPMorgan; downgraded to Neutral at Baird; more to come.
  • Dyncorp international (NYSE: DCP) upgraded to Buy at Jefferies; upgraded to Outperform at Wachovia.
  • Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) cut to Hold from Buy at Citigroup.
  • Principal Financial (NYSE: PFG) raised to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
  • Ryanair Holdings (NASDAQ: RYAAY) and Air France KLM (NYSE: AKH) were both raised to Buy at UBS.
  • Virgin Mobile USA (NYSE: VM) downgraded to Equal Weight at Lehman.
  • XL Capital (NYSE: XL) cut to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.

Jon C. Ogg
February 7, 2008

Posted on: February 7, 2008 – 7:20 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Pre-Market Stock News (December 11, 2007)

Below is a snapshot of the individual company news affecting share prices being watched by 247WallSt.com:

  • Amtech Systems (NASDAQ: ASYS) shares up 3% after it announced receipt of a $3.9 million solar order for diffusion processing systems from an existing solar cell customer based in Taiwan.
  • Boeing (NYSE: BA) has an update for the progress on its 787 Dreamliner today.
  • Celanese (NYSE: CE) guided up slightly for 2007 and in-line for 2008, guidance upped to 2010 as well.
  • ChinaEdu Corporation (NASDAQ: CEDU) priced its 6.82 million ADR IPO at $10.00 per share.
  • Citigroup (NYSE: C) cuts size of SIV by $15 Billion.
  • Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) introduced new tablet PC with touchscreen.
  • General Electric (NYSE: GE) set to give outlook meeting this afternoon with guidance.
  • Genesis Micro (NASDAQ: GNSS) shares up over 50% after being acquired by STMicroelectronics for $8.65 per share.
  • H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) shares trading down about 8% after posting loss for quarter.
  • IAC/Interactive (NASDAQ: IACI) is allowing users to dump their searches stored by the search engine in a bout to win over customers via privacy.
  • Macrovision (NASDAQ: MVSN) won a tier 1 pact from a European automotive integrator.
  • Medarex (NASDAQ: MEDX) shares trading down almost 20% after saying its BMY partnered Ipilimumab failed to meet endpoints for its metastatic melanoma treatment.
  • MultiMedia Games (NASDAQ: MGAM) $0.02 EPS vs $0.01 est.
  • PCTEL (NASDAQ: PCTI) selling its mobility solutions unit to Smith Micro for $59.7 million.
  • Smith Micro (NASDAQ: SMSI) traded up 12% after announcing it was acquiring PCTEL’s mobility solutions group for $59.7 million.
  • Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) traded up almost 5% after raising its mid-point of guidance to above consensus.
  • UBS (NYSE: UBS) shares trading down 3% after it wrote-down another $10 Billion in value of mortgage backed assets and sold a 10% stake to investors from Singapore and the Middle East.
  • Valero (NYSE: VLO) may sell some more refinery assets.
  • Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) shares trading down 9% after it cut its dividend, announced lay-offs, and will exit sub-prime operations.

Jon C. Ogg
December 11, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: December 11, 2007 – 8:17 am in Pre-Market Activity, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Goldman Sachs Research Summary (June 5, 2007)

Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) downgraded from Buy to Neutral.

Earnings estimates Raised: Aracruz Celulose S.A. (ARA), Sappi Ltd. (SPP), Celanese (CE).  Earnings estimates Cut: XTO Energy (XTO).

Weyerhaeueser (WY) was pretty decent estimate hike. Goldman raised its 2007 EPS target to $1.40 from $1.20 and raised 2008 EPS from $2.05 to $2.40. Domtar (UFS) was added to the Americas Conviction Buy List and raised estimates for 2007 from $0.40 to $0.55 and 2008 from $0.55 to $0.75.

After the Scholastic (SCHL) share buyback plan, Goldman raised the 2008 EPS target from $2.50 to $2.65 based on the 14% share count drop.

(CCK) Crown Holdings removed from Americas Conviction Buy List to make room for Domtar (UFS) to go on.

Jon C. Ogg
June 5, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he owns.

Posted on: June 5, 2007 – 7:39 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , ,