Posts for Ticker ‘HAR’

Top Analyst Upgrades (CSTR, COST, GOL, GOOG, HAR, LOW, MA, TWX, V, WCRX)

These are the early morning analyst upgrades and positive research calls we have seen from Wall Street analysts this Tuesday morning:

Coinstar (CSTR) Started as Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
Costco (COST) raised to Market Perform at William Blair.
GOL Linhas Areas Inteligentes S.A. (GOL) Raised to Buy at Argus.
Google (GOOG) Raised to Buy at ThinkEquity.
Harman (HAR) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Lowe’s (LOW) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Mastercard (MA) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Time Warner (TWX) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Visa (V) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Warner Chilcott (WCRX) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: August 25, 2009 – 8:07 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Harman & Lessons of Old Emulex Hoax (HAR, ELX)

Burning Money PicThe lessons of trading in Harman International Industries Inc. (NYSE: HAR) today come from a different form of news, but there is just no way to not draw a parallel to the great old fake news release seen in Emulex Corp. (NYSE: ELX) back in 2000.  This morning’s news on Harman came from AME Info, one of the news outlets that is supposed to be one of the Middle East’s business sources.  A report discussed a huge premium takeover from a private equity group in the Middle East.  This might have come with cheer to those who were trading the private equity buyouts from 2005 to 2007 before the land grab and gold rush instantly dried up.
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Posted on: July 20, 2009 – 2:33 pm in Mergers and Buy Outs, Private Equity, Rumors, ,

Top Analyst Downgrades (T, ADP, GNTX, HAR, JCI, PAYX, YRCW)

These are the top pre-market analyst downgrades or cautious research calls we have seen from Wall Street this Thursday morning with about two hours until the market opens:

AT&T (T) Started as Sell at Pali Research.
Automatic Data (ADP) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Gentex (GNTX) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Harman (HAR) Cut to Underperform at Baird.
Johnson Controls (JCI) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Paychex (PAYX) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
YRC Worldwide (YRCW) Cut to Underperform at Baird.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: June 18, 2009 – 6:38 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , ,

The 52-week Low Club 8/18/2008 (FNM)(HAR)(TRX)

Sad_clownFannie Mae (FNM) Barron’s says common shareholders may be wiped out by new capital. Drops to $6.08 from 52-week high of $70.57.

Harman International  (HAR) Earnings miss. Drops to $33.61 from 52-week high of $115.38.

Tronox (TRX) Broker downgrade. Sells down to $.65 from 52-week high of $11.56.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: August 18, 2008 – 2:56 pm in HI/LOW, , ,

Early-Bird Analyst Downgrades (CMVT, CTRP, GET, DNA, HAR, JNJ, PTRY, WDFC)

These are some of the early analyst calls we are seeing early this Friday morning:

  • Comverse Technology (CMVT) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
  • Ctrip.com (CTRP) Cut estimates and maintained Buy but target cut 1/3 to $53 by Citigroup.
  • Gaylord Entertainment (GET) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
  • Genentech (DNA) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
  • Harman (HAR) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
  • J&J (JNJ) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
  • Pantry (PTRY) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
  • WD-40 (WDFC) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.

Jon C. Ogg
August 15, 2008

Posted on: August 15, 2008 – 6:13 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , ,

The 52-Week Low Club (HAR)(TIF)(OPWV)

Harman (HAR) Cuts forecasts and that cuts stock price. Falls to $42.88 from 52-week high of $125.13.

Tiffany (TIF) Even the rich are being pinched. Down to $32.84 from 52-week high of $57.34.

Coach (COH) More rich people spending problems. Also, gets a broker downgrade. Drops to $25.15 from 52-week high of $54.

Compuware (CPWR) Expects to miss quarterly numbers. Trades off to $7.04 from 52-week high of $12.56.

Openwave (OPWV) CFO heads for the door and broker downgrades. Dips to $1.20 from 52-week high of $10.58.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: January 14, 2008 – 4:03 pm in HI/LOW, , , , ,

The Week In Stock Buybacks (DELL, CROX, XOM, UNH, HNT, IMMR, ACXM, HAR, ATI, AYI, EPIC)

This might not be that unusual for a volatile week during earnings season, but this was a fairly active week for share buyback news announcements.  Some are new and some are continuations or expansions.  There is no way to cover all the share buybacks during earnings season, and we screened out the micro-cap stocks.

Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) is perhaps the biggest buyback coming down the pipe after this month.  It will now be clear to resume its major stock buyback now that it has become compliant again with having its restatement complete and SEC filings current. Dell even said it expects to resume its share repurchase program shortly after it reports its results for the third quarter (so after 11/29).  Goldman Sachs added Dell to its Conviction Buy List at the expense of H-P (NYSE:HPQ).

ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) missed earnings expectations but noted that during the quarter, the company repurchased roughly 90 million shares of its own stock for about $7.8 billion.

CROCS Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX) authorized a 1 million share buyback planafter Thursday’s major stock drop.  The board must have said, "Evenwith ugly shoes, these buyback things that companies have announcedseem to be well received by traders."  After traders sent CROX to the Everglades, the company might as well just save its cash.

Allegheny Technologies Inc. (NYSE:ATI) Board of Directors approved a share repurchase program of $500 million, and it increased ATI’s quarterly dividend by nearly 40% to $0.18 per share.  This is after a dismal earnings number.

Immersion Corp. (NASDAQ:IMMR) board of directors authorized the repurchase of up to $50 million of the company’s common stock (nearly 3 million shares at current prices, with 30.1 million shares outstanding as of 10/31).  If the company lives up to it, that is an impressive buyback plan.  Unfortunately its earnings are quite spotty and expected to be that way ahead.

Epicor Software Corp. (NASDAQ:EPIC) Board of Directors has authorized up to $50 million for a buyback plan of its Common Stock that can be repurchased from time to time.

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) completed the spin-off of Zep Inc. (NYSE: ZEP) to the stockholders of Acuity Brands. Effective October 31, 2007, the Board of Directors of Acuity Brands authorized the repurchase of an additional 2,000,000 shares, or almost 5%, of its common stock. Also, Acuity has authorization to buy back a remaining 811,400 shares of outstanding common stock under the repurchase program announced in August of this year.  Baird just upgraded the company.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) at the Board of Directors’ regular quarterly meeting, held on October 30, 2007 renewed and increased its Stock Repurchase Program up to 210 million shares of the company’s common stock. This includes approximately 50 million shares remaining under the previous buyback plan; at September 30, 2007 the Company had approximately 1.3 billion common shares of stock outstanding.

Health Net, Inc. (NYSE:HNT) board of directors approved a $250 million increase to the company’s share repurchase program. The company launched its share repurchase program in May 2002 with an initial authorization of $250 million.  On October 16, 2006, Health Net announced that its board of directors increased the size of the stock repurchase program to $450 million and now Health Net has approximately $346 million in remaining repurchase authority.

PACCAR’s (NASDAQ:PCAR) Board of Directors approved the repurchase of $300 million of its outstanding common stock. PACCAR has invested $978 million to repurchase 27.4 million shares and paid $1.73 billion in dividends during the last three years.

Harman International (NYSE:HAR) announced that it has repurchased4,775,549 shares of its common stock under separate accelerated sharerepurchase programs for a total purchase price of approximately $400million.  After a failed merger, what choices are there?

Acxiom Corp. (NASDAQ:ACXM) board of directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $75 million of the company’s common stock over the next 12 months.  After a failed merger, what choices are there?

Jon C. Ogg
November 2, 2007

Posted on: November 2, 2007 – 11:16 am in Stock Buybacks, The Week, , , , , , , , , , ,

News Digest 10/22/2007 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Barron’s

According to Reuters, Halliburton (HAL) increased its third quarter profit by 19%.

Reuters writes that Wal-Mart (WMT) will buy the part of its Japanese operations that it does not own for $350 million.

The Wall Street Journal writes that KKR and Goldman Sachs will cancel their takeover of Harman (HAR), but make an investment in the company to avoid a lawsuit.

The Wall Street Journal also writes that Sandisk (SNDK) will begin o sell a small storage device so consumers can move video from PC to TV.

The Wall Street Journal reports that AT&T (T) will sell wireless access to Napster’s collection of five million songs. The service will not work with Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone

The Wall Street Journal writes that an ITC judge ruled that Nokia’s (NOK) patent complaint against Qualcomm (QCOM) should he dropped.

The New York Times writes that the FTC has decided not to open a formal antitrust inquiry into Intel’s (INTC) practices.

The New York Times writes that libraries are rejecting offers from Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG) to move their libraries online.

The New York Times writes that Apple’s (AAPL) Mac sales are surging and the company plans several years of software upgrades to feed the increase.

The NYT says that a new poll indicates Americans are still willing to buy Chinese products.

The FT writes that a number of financiers want transparency into the securities that a new super-fund may be buying so that they do not get artificial pricing.

CNNMoney writes that the UAW deal with Chrysler is in trouble.

Bloomberg writes that sales outside the US allowed GM (GM) to sell more cars worldwide than Toyota (TM) in the first nine months of the year.

Douglas A. McIntrye

Posted on: October 22, 2007 – 2:55 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Pre-Market Analyst Calls (October 1, 2007)

AMR cut to Hold at Citigroup.
ALVR raised to positive at Susquehanna.
CHTR started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
CME raised to Outperform at Wachovia.
COMS cut to Neutral at UBS.
COP cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.
CTXS cut to Neutral at B of A.
HAR reinstated as Overweight at Lehman.
IDTI cut to Equal Weight at Lehman.
ISIL raised to Equal Weight at Lehman.
KRC raised to Buy at Citigroup.
LKQX started as Hold at Deutsche Bank.
LUV cut to Hold at Citigroup.
MRVL cut to Equal Weight at Lehman.
NCC cut to Underperform at Bear Stearns.
NETL cut to Equal Weight at Lehman.
PCL cut to Neutral at Merrill Lynch.
PRX cut to Underperform at FBR.
RIMM cut to Outperform at RBC.
RYN cut to Sell at Merrill Lynch.
SVU started as Sell at B of A.
SXCI raised to Buy at UBS.
TEN started as Underperform at Bear Stearns.
VSTA cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.

Jon C. Ogg
October 1, 2007

Posted on: October 1, 2007 – 6:46 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Harman Sets Up To Battle KKR

Harman International (HAR) released fiscal 2008 guidance this AM.

It is no coincidence that the company issued them after Goldman Sachs (GS) and KKR walked on a deal to take the company private. That news hit late Friday.

Harman said it expects operating income and diluted EPS before merger related costs to equal or exceed last year’s record performance. In 2007, operating income was $397 million and diluted EPS were $4.14 adjusted for non-recurring restructuring charges, merger costs and tax items.

The company added "In light of increases in material costs and faster ramp-up of R&D resources to work on new business awards, equaling the record operating performance of fiscal 2007 is an achievement. The benefits of common platform synergy and scalability will be realized in fiscal 2009 and beyond. Those benefits will strengthen our operating profits."

Harman’s shares have dropped from almost $124 per share when the deal was announced to $85 last week when it became clear the deal was in trouble.

The market either does not like the guidance or assumes that it means a legal fight with KKR. The shares are off another nearly 8% to $78.43.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: September 24, 2007 – 8:03 am in Mergers and Buy Outs, ,

KKR And Goldman Walk On Harman

Harman International (HAR) said that Goldman Sachs (GS) and KKR have walked away from an $8 billion private equity deal to buy the company. The buy-out interests say that Harman had undergone a "material adverse change" allowing the firms to kill the agreement.

Reuters writes the "Harman bail-out appears to be centered on the financial conditions of the company itself, and marks the first time in a two-year private equity acquisition frenzy that buyers walked out of a major deal."

It would appear likely, at this point, that Harman will file a lawsuit challenging the move by Goldman and KKR.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: September 21, 2007 – 5:51 pm in Mergers and Buy Outs, ,