Posts for Ticker ‘ACN’

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations (ACN, AAI, CFN, FSLR, FNM, FRE, GERN, MRVL, LUV, TLAB)

These are ten of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen early this Monday morning from Wall Street research notes:

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Air Tran Holdings (NYSE: AAI) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
CareFusion (NYSE:CFN) Started as Market Perform at Leerink Swann; Started as Neutral at JPMorgan.
First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) Cut To Neutral at Macquarie.
Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM)  Cut to Underperform at KBW.
Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) Cut to Underperform at KBW.
Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) Raised to Buy at Merriman Curhan Ford.
Marvell Tech (NASDAQ: MRVL) Started as Buy at Citigroup.
Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Tellabs (NASDAQ: TLAB) Cut to Neutral at UBS.

You can join our open email distribution list to get updates on top analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader alerts, IPO’s, secondary offerings, Warren Buffett and other guru activity, M&A and more.

Jon C. Ogg
October 19, 2009

Top Analyst Upgrades (ACN, APC, AAPL, CUB, IRF, NANO, PER, RAX, ZUMZ)

These are this morning’s top analyst upgrades and positive research calls seen from Wall Street analysts early this Thursday morning:

Accenture (ACN) Started as Outperform at Baird.
Anadarko Petroleum (APC) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
Apple (AAPL) Started as Outperform at William Blair.
Cubic (CUB) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
International Rectifier (IRF) Started as Buy at Merriman Curhan Ford.
Nanometrics (NANO) Started as Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
Perot Systems (PER) Started as Outperform at Baird.
Rackspace (RAX) Started as Buy at ThinkEquity.
Zumiez (ZUMZ) Raised to Outperform at William Blair.

If you wish to be notified by email when the top analyst calls hit, along with each morning’s top day trader alerts, along with news of IPO’s, key offerings, guru investor data on Buffett and others, mergers, and more, you can join our open email distribution list which goes out several times per week.

Jon C. Ogg

Mini Earnings Season on Deck Thursday (PALM, ACN, MU, LEN, CAG, FINL, JTX, TIBX)

Money Stack ImageThursday is shaping up to be a miniature one-day version earnings season this week.  This is likely the last of the major earnings reports we’ll see for another three or four weeks until the real earnings season for Q2-2009 kicks off.  On deck are the likes of Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM), Accenture Ltd. (NYSE: ACN), Micron Tech Inc. (NYSE: MU), Lennar Corporation (NYSE: LEN), ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE: CAG), Finish Line (NASDAQ: FINL), Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. (NYSE: JTX), and TIBCO Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TIBX).  Below are preview summaries for each company’s expectations and supporting notes.
Read More »

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ACN, ASCA, KMX, DNDN, FRO, MEOH, PGR, VRSN, WAT)

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

  • Accenture (ACN) Raised to Positive at Susquehanna.
  • Ameristar Casinos (ASCA) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
  • CarMax (KMX) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
  • Dendreon (DNDN) Raised to Hold from Sell at McAdams Wright Ragen.
  • Frontline Ltd. (FRO) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
  • Methanex (MEOH) Cut to Outperform at Raymond James.
  • Progressive (PGR) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
  • VeriSign (VRSN) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
  • Waters (WAT) Raised to Outperform at Robert W. Baird.

Jon C. Ogg
June 22, 2009

Top Analyst Downgrades (ACN, FCX, MBRX, NXY, PFG, RBA)

These are some of the top analyst downgrades or cautious research calls we have seen this Tuesday morning before the market opens:

Accenture (ACN) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.
Metabasis (MBRX) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Nexen (NXY) Cut to Market Perform at Raymond James.
Principal Financial (PFG) Cut to Underperform at FBR.
Ritchie Brothers (RBA) Cut to Market Perform at Raymond James.

JON C. OGG

Why Dell (DELL) Is Toast

pc4Dell (DELL) has a problem, or a series of problems. Its share of the PC and server businesses is under pressure from IBM (IBM), HP (HPQ), IBM (IBM), Sun (JAVA), Hitachi, and other companies based in China and Taiwan.

If IBM buys Sun, it ends up with a much larger piece of the server market and may create even more competition in the sector for Dell. IBM and HP have already diversified into the highly profitable IT service and software businesses. Dell has a very small services business. Read More »

Cisco’s Unified Computing: Many Risks, Questionable Rewards (CSCO, VMW, EMC, BMC, MSFT, RHT, ACN)

cisco-logoCisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) came out with its big technology platform announcement, as prior reports had hinted at.  This includes announcements for services and products involving Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT), VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW)and EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC), BMC Software Inc. (NYSE: BMC), and Accenture Ltd. (NYSE: ACN).  While this sounds complex, it is not really that complex.  But there are some risks.  This could cloud the waters at Cisco in determining if it wants to use the business model of an arms dealer or a mercenary.  It may also open the company to risks in new businesses which it has been able to avoid to date.
Read More »

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (ACN, ADBE, DOX, CREL, CTRP, IACI, ISIL, KLAC, SAPE, SSCC)

These are some of the top pre-market analyst downgrades and cautious calls we have seen this Thursday morning:

  • Accenture (ACN) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
  • Adobe Systems (ADBE) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
  • Amdocs (DOX) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
  • Corel (CORL) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
  • Ctrip.com (CTRP) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
  • IAC/Interactive (IACI) Cut to Equal-Weight at Barclays.
  • Intersil (ISIL) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
  • KLA-Tencor (KLAC) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
  • Sapient (SAPE) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
  • Smurfit-Stone (SSCC) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Jon C. Ogg
December 4, 2008

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ACN, ACL, BHP, PGI, ASML, IPAR, ITRN, STM)

It is looking fairly quiet on the analyst research front this Monday morning.  Here are today’s early bird upgrades and downgrades from Wall Street analysts:

  • Accenture (ACN) Raised to Buy at SocGen.
  • Alcon (ACL) Raised to Outperform at Wachovia.
  • BHP Billiton (BHP) reinitiated as Buy at SocGen.
  • Premiere Global Services (PGI) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
  • ASML Holding N.V. (ASML) Started as Underperform at Jefferies.
  • Inter Parfums, Inc. (IPAR) Cut to Neutral at HSBC.
  • Ituran Location and Control, Ltd. (ITRN) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
  • STMicro (STM) Cut to Sell at SocGen; targets cut at JPMorgan and UBS as well.

Jon C. Ogg
December 1, 2008

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (ACN, ARO, ASCA, CTSH, ROCK, INFY, ISLE, MSCC, STN, TRIN)

These are some of the downgrades and negative analyst calls we have seen affecting shares this Friday morning:

  • Accenture (ACN) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
  • Aeropostale (ARO) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
  • Ameristar Casinos (ASCA) Started as Sell at Goldman Sachs.
  • Cognizant Tech Solutions (CTSH) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
  • Gibraltar Industries (ROCK) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
  • Infosys (INFY) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
  • Isle of Capri (ISLE) Started as Sell at Goldman Sachs.
  • Microsemi (MSCC) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
  • Stantec (STN) Cut to Outperform at Raymond James.
  • Thomson-Reuters (TRIN) Cut To Sell at Deutsche Bank.

Jon C. Ogg
September 19, 2008

H-P Confirms EDS Talks, Who’s Next? (EDS, HPQ, ACN, CSC, ACS, PER, UIS, ACXM, BE)

As traders look to the news covering whether or not Electronic Data Systems Corporation (NYSE: EDS), there was a release from Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) that confirmed the two companies were engaged in merger talks but there were no assurances that a deal could be reached. As a result, there are many other tech and IT-sourcing companies to look at that other players may take an interest in.  Keep in mind that many of these large tech companies do not want to be involved in being acquired and some of the companies will have stronger takeover provisions.  Everyone of these companies are different, yet all are in overlapping areas.  Here is a handful of names that could fall under that sort of tie-up if the deal comes to pass:

  • Accenture Ltd. (NYSE: ACN), although maybe too large;
  • CA, Inc. (NYSE: CA);
  • Computer Sciences Corp. (NYSE: CSC);
  • Affiliated Computer Services, (NYSE: ACS);
  • Perot Systems Corp. (NYSE: PER);
  • Unisys Corp. (NYSE: UIS);
  • Acxiom Corp. (NASDAQ: ACXM);
  • Bearingpoint, Inc. (NYSE: BE)…..

If we took the mid-point of the pricing at $12.5 Billion we would have a rough share price of $25.00 per share on EDS.  At that rough price, you would have a company that analysts expect to be priced at 18.2 times DEC-2008 earnings and 0.55-times revenue estimates.

Any such deal for EDS would likely have to come in the form of a friendly buyout.  This company doesn’t protect itself as hard as other companies, but Capital IQ does note the following tools the company has:

  • Removal of directors only for cause;
  • Board can change size of members;
  • Advanced Notice for director nominations;
  • Move by 50% of shareholders to remove directors;
  • Board Indemnification;
  • Blank Check Preferred Stock.

EDS is seemingly involved in more aspects of IT outsourcing and consulting than it isn’t.  Because of the rate that IT-workers come and go inside the Indian IT-outsourcing companies and because of laws restricting total foreign ownership in India, we did not include the public Indian-IT operations in this report 

You can join our open email distribution list to hear about other mergers, IPO’s, spin-offs, secondary offerings, and other special situations.

Jon C. Ogg
May 12, 2008

Pre-Market Stock News (December 20, 2007) (ACN, ATVI, ALTU, ARRY, ATHX, BSC, BX, CAKE, ECHO, INTU, FDX, MLHR, IDEV, LDK, LEG, LOCM, NKE, ORCL, PIR, RIMM, RAD, RUTH, SMOD, SCS, DEEP, TRB)

This is not every bit of news on individual stocks but this is the major news affecting many shares in pre-market activity this Thursday morning:

  • Accenture (ACN) stock up 4% after posting $0.60 EPS vs. estimate of $0.56.
  • Activision (ATVI) again guided earnings higher.
  • Altus Pharmaceuticals (ALTU) traded down almost 20% after it reacquired ALTU-238 development and commercialization rights for North America from Genentech, an end to the development pact.
  • Array BioPharma (ARRY) traded down almost 20% after it announced initial results from a Phase II study comparing its monotherapy with temozolomide in the first-line treatment of advanced melanoma showed no apparent difference in efficacy for the primary endpoint.
  • Athersys (ATHX) and Angiotech announce authorization of Phase I stem cell trial for heart attacks.
  • Bear Stearns (BSC) expected to post first loss.
  • Blackstone (BX) plans to sell a $9 Billion CMBS offer backed by Hilton Hotels in Q1 2008.
  • Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) had a 10% stake taken by activist Nelson Peltz.
  • Electronic Clearing house (ECHO) getting acquired by intuit for $17.00 per share.
  • FedEx (FDX) $1.54 EPS vs. $1.50 estimates (had been lowered) but next quarter $1.15-1.30 vs. $1.38 est.; $6.40 to $6.70 for year bvs. $6.47 estimate.
  • Herman Miller (MLHR) $0.72EPS Vs. estimate of $0.59; stock rose about 10%.
  • Indevus Pharma (IDEV) trading down about 5% on a non-approvable letter from the FDA for VALSTAR NDA supplement (submitted May 2007).
  • Intuit (INTU) paying $131 Million for ECHO.
  • LDK Solar (LDK) $0.37 EPS on $157M revenues vs. $0.37/$143.22M est.; Q4 guidance $0.40-$0.41 on $180-$185M revenues vs. $0.41/$167.5M est.; stock indicated down 5%.
  • Leggett & Platt (LEG) stock down about 5% on lower guidance.
  • Local.com (LOCM) announced a strategic partnership with IAC/Interactive’s Citysearch; stock trading up 7% on news.
  • Nike (NKE) traded up 3% after $0.71 EPS on $4.3 Billion revenues vs. estimates $0.66/$4.3B.
  • Oracle (ORCL) traded up 6% after beating earnings and giving slightly higher guidance; sees enterprise spending lasting into 2008.
  • Pier 1 (PIR) -$0.11 EPS vs -$0.24 estimate.
  • Research-in-Motion (RIMM) reports earnings after the close today.
  • Rite Aid (RAD) indicated down about 5% after posting loss.
  • Ruths Chris (RUTH) gave an earnings warning.
  • Smart Modular Tech (SMOD) $0.18 EPS vs. $0.17 estimate.
  • Steelcase (SCS) $0.30 EPS vs. $0.28 estimate.
  • Superior Offshore (DEEP) signed a letter of intent with a strategic partner for ownership of a DP-III deepwater construction and dive support vessel expected to be delivered in late 2008.
  • Tribune (TRB) buyout supposedly set to close today.

Jon C. Ogg
December 20, 2007

As Microsoft (MSFT) Sales Improve, Can A PC Rally Be Far Behind?

The Vista train may be pulling out of the station. After checking a number of software sales indicators, an analyst quoted in Barron’s says that Microsoft (MSFT) OS sales should handily exceed expectations in second half of the year.

Since Vista was first released in beta, Wall St. has harbored a "domino theory" about the effect that the new software will have on the broader tech industry. As sales of Vista begin to spike up, PC demand will rise sharply. Companies including Dell (DELL) and HP (HPQ) will benefit from the new unit shipments.

As the PC domino falls, the large chip-makers will begin to see improvement in their sales. Intel (INTC) and AMD (AMD) benefit within a quarter or two of Vista’s success.

After that, tech integration companies like EDS (EDS) and Accenture (ACN) will be called in to integrate Vista and Microsoft’s new server software throughout the tech infrastructure of large enterprises.

The Achilles heel in all of this is that rumors of improved Vista sales have been around since the beginning of the year. MSFT CEO Steve Ballmer threw cold water on the idea that the software was flying off the shelves. Analysts looking for a big short-term profit in the stock got burned.

Burned once, shame on me. After that, it’s all your fault.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com.

More Buyout Predictions

On CNBC’s Stop Trading segment today, Jim Cramer talked with Alexander Goldfarb from UBS about Archstone Smith (ASN) on a potential buyout.  An industry newsletter said that Tischman may be in talks to do a deal with Archstone.  He doesn’t know if there are talks right now, but he thinks it would make sense and the companies are atttractive.  Apartment Investment Trust (AIV) trades at a 15% discount to net asset value and that concerns are unwarranted.  Two of the other three that were noted as potential buys are Essex Property trust (ESS) and Equity Residential (EQR).

Cramer said that he thinks Cleveland Cliffs will be acquired imminently and that stock is up 8% today, and they noted call options activity.

Jon C. Ogg
May 25, 2007