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What’s Important in the Financial World (3/26/2012) Gas Nears $4, Tiger Woods Endorsements

247wallst — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 10:33:30 +0000

It does not matter whether gasoline prices are measured by AAA Fuel Gauge or the carefully watched Lundberg Survey, the trend is clear. The average price for regular gasoline increased 11.49 cents to $3.9297 a gallon, according to Lundberg. That figure is based on a two-week survey for the period that ended on March 23. The AAA number for regular is $3.897 as of yesterday, up from $3.894 the day before and $3.674 a month ago. The persistent question that no one can answer with accuracy is when most Americans will sharply curtail their consumer spending because of gas prices. It is almost certain that the lower classes, and some part of the middle class, have cut back if they have to drive any great distance. Several consumer confidence numbers will be out this week that should show the trend.

No Love for Windows Mobile

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has faced headwinds in its efforts to get app developers to build products for its Windows Mobile OS. Most developers continue to focus on apps that run on Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhones and iPads. These developers have been attracted to a lesser extent by the immensely popular Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android platform. The Microsoft problem extends to Nokia (NYSE: NOK), which has decided to launch a number of phones in a joint venture with Microsoft. Microsoft and Nokia have decided to make an investment in the app market, but it is very small. According to Slash Gear:

Microsoft and Nokia have jointly committed up to €18m ($24m) to train and support app developers as part of the new AppCampus program, though the cash will go to Symbian and S40 coders as well as Windows Phone. The new fund will support the freshly established mobile application development program at Aalto University in Finland, “to create a new generation of self-sustaining mobile startups” as well as ensuring that Windows Phone and the other platforms hopefully don’t go without key titles in future.

That is a pittance compared to what it will take to get the worldwide development community to build apps for a mobile OS that has had little adoption.

Tiger Woods Endorsements

Who will be Tiger Woods’s new endorsement partners now that he has won his first tournament in more than two years and is the new favorite for the Masters? He crushed the field at Arnold Palmer’s tournament and received huge amount of what sponsors want — TV time on a major network. Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and Tag Hauser abandoned Woods after his personal scandal. Nike (NYSE: NKE) did not. Woods signed an endorsement deal with Rolex last November. Consumer products companies, which would include telecom companies like Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and probably a car company, will want their names on Tiger’s bag. It will not be long before his endorsement levels return to where they were before 2009.

Supreme Court Mulls Obamacare

The Supreme Court will begin to hear arguments over the constitutionality of the Obama health care law. The single most important section of the law involves the mandate that Americans must carry health insurance or pay a fee. If the court should throw out the entire law, there will be a tremendous scramble among the major “shareholders” in the health care industry — doctors, hospitals, drug makers and insurance companies — to undo many of their plans based on the Obama initiative. These parties have until the end of June, probably, to prepare for what could be another sea change in the American health care system.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Filed under: Market Open Tagged: AAPL, ACN, GOOG, MSFT, NKE, VZ

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (AET, MO, MWW, RAI, ZNGA, DRI, DLGC, ACN, BONE, WTSLA, KBH, KITD, CPWM, BTU, PLUG)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 20:06:58 +0000

Markets opened about flat this morning but lost ground almost immediately as new home sales data came in weaker than expected. Then came a report that Iranian crude shipments were falling as a result of US-led sanctions, and that pulled the major indexes into positive territory (our coverage here). By the last hour of trading the indexes were up slightly. The US dollar index fell today, now down -0.47% at 79.360. Commodities were generally higher on the dollar weakness. WTI crude oil closed up 1.4% at $106.87/barrel, and Brent crude trades up 1.56% at $125.06/barrel. Gold settled up 1.2% today, at $1,662.40/ounce, finishing the week up 0.4%..

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up nearly35 points to 13,080.73 (0.27%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 5 points (0.15%) to 3,067.92, and the S&P 500 rose 0.31% ormore than 4 points to 1,397.11.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) cut to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs; Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) raised to ‘outperform’ at Wells Fargo; Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW) raised to ‘outperform’ at Baird; Reynolds Aluminum Inc. (NYSE: RAI) cut to ‘market perform’ at Wells Fargo; and Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) started as ‘underperform’ at Needham.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI) is down -1.9% at $50.85; Dialogic Inc. (NASDAQ: DLGC) is up almost 95% at $1.40; Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) is up 2% at $64.79 after posting a new 52-week high of $64.88 earlier today; Bacterin International Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BONE) is down -26% at $2.49; and Wet Seal Inc. (NASDAQ: WTSLA) is down -7.9% at $3.27.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

KB Home (NYSE: KBH) is down more than 9% at $10.20. The homebuilder posted weak earnings and said that orders were down. More coverage here.

KIT Digital Inc. (NASDAQ: KITD) is down more than -23% at $6.25 after posting a new 52-week low this morning of $5.99. The video technology company is going through a management shake-up. More coverage here.

Cost Plus Inc. (NASDAQ: CPWM) is up more than 16% at $18.62 after hitting a new 52-week high of $18.98 earlier today. The company reported good earnings and offered an upbeat forecast. More coverage here.

Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE: BTU) is down about -0.50% at $30.39. The coal miner said estimates would come in at the lower end of the forecast range. More coverage here.

Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG) is down more than -4% at $1.35. The company had a secondary offering of 1.95 million shares today. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Monday. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser are giving speeches. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – Chicago Fed national activity index
10:00 a.m. – Pending home sales index
10:30 a.m. – Dallas Fed manufacturing survey
11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6-month Treasury bill auction

Have a great weekend!

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: ACN, AET, BONE, BTU, CPWM, DLGC, DRI, KBH, KITD, MO, MWW, PLUG, RAI, WTSLA, ZNGA

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ACN, MDRX, BLK, FMCN, FRO, HD, NRGY, JAH, KMI, LNKD, L, MU, OPEN, ORCL, RGLD, USB)

Administrator — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:20:54 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Wednesday morning.

Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) Raised to Hold at Soc-Gen.

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (NASDAQ: MDRX) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.

BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Focus Media Holding Limited (NASDAQ: FMCN) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.

Frontline Ltd. (NYSE: FRO) Cut to Underperform at Wells Fargo.

Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) Reiterated Outperform and raised target to $55 at Credit Suisse.

Inergy L.P. (NYSE: NRGY) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Jarden Corporation (NYSE: JAH) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.

Kinder Morgan. Inc. (NYSE: KMI) Raised target price to $36 from $32 at Credit Suisse.

LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Loews Corporation (NYSE: L) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) Started as Outperform at RBC.

OpenTable, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPEN) Raised to Buy at Benchmark.

Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) Raised estimates and maintained on Focus List at Credit Suisse.

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ: RGLD) Raised to Outperform at National Bank.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

If you enjoyed the top analyst upgrades and downgrades, you can join our free email newsletter that includes analyst summaries each morning sent right to your inbox. We also cover top issues such as IPOs, special financial exclusives, mergers and more. Sign up in the box below.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: ACN, BLK, FMCN, FRO, HD, JAH, KMI, L, LNKD, MDRX, MU, NRGY, OPEN, ORCL, RGLD, USB

Business is Good for IT Outsourcers (INFY, WIT, IBM, CSC, CTSH, ACN)

Administrator — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:32:16 +0000

India’s Infosys Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: INFY) reported second-quarter earnings today, and EPS came in more than 10% higher than in the same period a year ago. The company also lowered its full-year sales guidance in dollars from a July forecast of $7.3 billion to $7.08-$7.2 billion. In rupees, however, full-year guidance rose by about 5% due to the fact that the rupee has depreciated significantly against the dollar in the last year.

Infosys and competitor Wipro Ltd. (NYSE: WIT) are two of India’s largest business outsources. The two companies compete with IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM), Computer Sciences Corp. (NYSE: CSC), Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (NASDAQ: CTSH), and Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN).

Business and government spending in the US and elsewhere is expected to grow as companies invest in new equipment and outsourcing for their IT needs. Even Europe is expected to grow if very slowly.

Those estimates, though, may seem to fly in the face of reality. But Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant, and India’s largest outsourcer, privately-held Tata Consultancy Services, could reduce a company’s IT costs significantly by replacing highly paid fired workers with lower paid, outsourced workers.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), an Infosys client, plans to fire more than thousand employees to meet its cost reduction goals of $1.45 billion. That’s bad news for the terminated employees, but might offer some good news for Infosys — and Goldman for that matter.

Of course, the big question for the India-based outsourcers is how much of growth they can expect to see between now and the end of the year. Infosys got 6.2% quarterly growth in the Americas during the quarter and expects growth to continue. The other issue they face is whether or not they can control costs. Infosys expects wages to eat away about 1% of the company’s operating margin this year.

Growth that depends on a depreciating currency in a weak economic climate is tenuous at best. There are a lot of things that can go wrong and put a serious crimp in growth forecasts.

But all is well today. Just past noon today, Infosys shares are up more than 8%, at $56.88, in a 52-week range of $46.12-$77.92. Wipro shares are up about 3.5%, at $9.77, in a 52-week range of $8.63-$16.81. Cognizant shares are up nearly 6.5%, at $71.82, in a 52-week range of $53.54-$83.48.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: ADR, Business Services, Corporate Governance, Economy, Emerging Markets, International Markets, PC Companies, Software, Technology Companies Tagged: ACN, CSC, CTSH, IBM, INFY, WIT

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ACN, CATO, FVE, FIG, HCBK, MET, SHLD, SINA, SPRD, VIV, THI)

Administrator — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 12:03:55 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Monday morning.

Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) Reiterated Buy and Raised target at Argus.
Cato Corporation (NYSE: CATO) Reiterated Strong Buy as Value at Zacks.
Five Star Quality Care Inc. (NYSE: FVE) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Fortress Investment Group (NYSE: FIG) Started as Outperform with $7 target at Credit Suisse.
Hudson City Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCBK) Raised to Market Perform at FBR.
MetLife Inc. (NYSE: MET) Reiterated Buy at Argus.
Sears Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Sina Corporation (NASDAQ: SINA) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Spreadtrum Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD) Reiterated Buy at BofA/ML.
Telesp S.A. (NYSE: VIV) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Tim Hortons Inc. (NYSE: THI) Started as Buy at BofA/ML.

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, dividend trends, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ACN, CATO, FIG, FVE, HCBK, MET, SHLD, SINA, SPRD, THI, VIV

Five Stocks That Will Cheer The Flash Crash Anniversary Passage (ACN, AAPL, CNP, EXC, PG)

Administrator — Thu, 05 May 2011 18:31:16 +0000

Friday, May 6, 2011 will mark the one-year anniversary of the 2010 Flash Crash. The Flash Crash has been blamed on many things and many investors still dispute the true cause or the single smoking gun. This was just one more blow to the credibility of the market place. There is one thing that is about to occur after Friday’s close after the Flash Crash anniversary. The notorious 52-week lows of many key stocks are about to change drastically and look more realistic. We are only highlighting some of the key names, but there were many. Companies like Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CNP), Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC), and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) will all be happy to see the date May 6, 2011 disappear into sunset so their 52-week trading ranges look a bit more normalized.

This may sound like something that only the most active or experienced traders should care about. That is only partly true. Retail investors now run stock screens with regularity when they look for value stocks and overvalued stocks alike. When they see that a utility or a consumer products company has doubled or more from its yearly low, they automatically throw these names out. The only reason for that low is because of the Flash Crash and the lows should have never been there in the first place. After Friday, these ranges will look normalized.

Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) has an official 52-week trading range of $17.74 to $58.21, but the reality is that this is closer to $36 to $58.21. During the Flash Crash panic this one traded some 10 million shares at 3-times normal volume and somehow went all the way down to an official exchange price of $17.74 and then the stock closed back up at $41.09. This was one of the companies which reportedly went to $0.01.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is one which will soon stop being mis-quoted for its highs and lows of the last 52-weeks after this Friday. On May 6, 2010, its shares went from a high of $258.25 down to a NASDAQ official low of $199.25 but they closed back up at $246.25 that day. I even know of one trader who made literally $20.00 per share that day and those trades were close enough to the market that the NASDAQ did not break those trades. Apple’s ‘real’ 52-week trading range should really be closer to $235.00 to $364.90.

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CNP) has an official 52-week range of $5.67 to $18.83, but this really should have been about $12.75 to $58.21 without the Flash Crash. We have this as one of the stocks that went to a penny. This one traded 9.3 million shares, more than twice its average volume and shares closed at $13.88 on that day.

Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC) is another one of the companies which reportedly went to $0.01 during the Flash Crash. The 52-week trading range is currently listed as $16.78 to $44.49, and that Flash Crash trading on the NYSE records now shows that shares went from a high of $43.35 down to $16.78 before closing all the way back up at $39.82. Excelon’s ‘real’ 52-week range should be closer to $37.50 to $44.49.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) has an official 52-week range of $39.37 to $66.95, but the reality is that this is closer to $59.00 to $66.95 with the exception of the Flash Crash. When this crashed that day it was on more than twice normal trading volume of 28 million shares and shares closed at a price then of $60.75 that day. If you recall, Jim Cramer touted this during the peak of selling saying that is an error or a gift, and he was right. Arguably, at the time you could have removed Greece, Ireland, and Portugal off the face of the world and P&G shares might not have ever fallen to that low of a price.

Again, these are just some of the stocks which experienced significant drops. There were many others that took share price hits, but some of those Flash Crash lows were actually taken out for real during the peak of the summer selling last year.

If you want to know what real nitpicking is, that is this view here… Thursday, May 5 should be the one year anniversary of the 2010 Flash Crash. It is due to the one day per year addition on the calendar. While the May 6 date this year is on a Friday, it was on a Thursday last year and it was also a day before key economic data. Regardless of how you look at ‘anniversaries,’ come Monday the 52-week trading ranges will have normalized in these five and many other stocks.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Exchange News, Regulation, Restatements, Trading Alert Tagged: AAPL, ACN, CNP, EXC, PG

National Employee Morale Day: Nokia Cuts 4,000

247wallst — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 09:54:12 +0000

New Nokia (NYSE: NOK) CEO Stephen Elop received a signing bonus of 5 million euros to join the struggling handset company. His base salary is 1.1 million euro. The new chief executive announced today that he would dismiss 4,000 employees over the next year. He will also outsource Nokia’s Symbian development to Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and use that to move another 3,000 people off his firm’s payroll. The plan will cut Nokia’s R&D costs by 1 billion euros a year. That will happen at a time when Nokia probably needs to increase its product development efforts to gain market share in the smartphone business.

Nokia has decided to bet on the Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows Mobile operating system as its path to increased market share which it will have to gain from Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM), and an army of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android powered smartphones. The plan is a long shot according to almost every industry expert. Windows Mobile has very little market presence. The fact that Nokia is still the leader in handset sales worldwide does not mean it has leverage to move up-market. It may rue the day that it parted with it Symbian development operations. The aged operating system might have served Nokia well if it was aggressively updated.

Elop’s layoff plans are similar to what most CEOs of troubled companies do. They reject the past by cutting the staff that made the past possible. Elop says he needs a year to launch a line of competitive phones. A year is like a century in the smartphone business.

Elop had other options, most of which were better than the one he has picked. He might have engineered a merger with RIM. He might have sought a joint venture or merger with Motorola or Sony Ericsson. These two companies at least have a modest presence in the smartphone business. Nokia’s manufacturing scale and global relationships with cellular service providers would have helped a new venture. Nokia elected to go with a long odds strategy instead.

Elop’s plans have cost 4,000 people their jobs. And, he has probably already made a decision that will doom Nokia’s future place in the smartphone industry.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Filed under: Wireless Tagged: AAPL, ACN, GOOG, MSFT, NOK, RIMM

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ACN, CETV, CSCO, C, DELL, DFS, JPM, LVS, MAR, NKA, OXY, TXN, UTI, WFC)

Administrator — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 12:13:39 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Tuesday morning.

Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) Reiterated Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Central European Media Enterprises (NASDAQ: CETV) Started at Hold at Jefferies.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Started as Neutral at Gleacher & Co.
Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) Raised to Outperform at Bernstein.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) Started as Neutral at Cowen.
Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) Started as Outperform at Macquarie.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) Reiterated Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Marriott International Inc. (NYSE: MAR) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Niska Gas Storage Partners LLC (NYSE: NKA) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: OXY) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC Capital.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) Reiterated Outperform and $40 target at Credit Suisse; Maintained Buy and raised target to $42 at Gleacher & Co.
Universal Tech Institute Inc. (NYSE: UTI) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) Started as Outperform at Macquarie.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, dividend trends, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ACN, C, CETV, CSCO, DELL, DFS, JPM, LVS, MAR, NKA, OXY, TXN, UTI, WFC

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ACN, ALU, ARMH, SID, CPX, BEN, MON, NOK, SIVB, TXN)

Administrator — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 12:13:31 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Monday morning.

Accenture PLC (NYSE: ACN) Reiterated Buy with $62 target at Argus.
Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs; Raised target to $7 at BofA/ML.
ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) Started as Neutral at Cowen.
Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (NYSE: SID) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Complete Production Services, Inc. (NYSE: CPX) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE: BEN) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) Reiterated Buy at Argus.
Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ: SIVB) Raised to Outperform and $61 target at Credit Suisse.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) Reiterated Buy at BofA/ML.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ACN, ALU, ARMH, BEN, CPX, MON, NOK, SID, SIVB, TXN

Nine Great Brands That Had To Change Their Name

247wallst — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 08:43:39 +0000

Many companies keep the names that they used to brand themselves when they were founded. Firms such as Ford (NYSE: F) and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) may have changed their corporate names slightly (Apple Inc. was once Apple Computer), but hardly enough for most people to notice. Some of the world’s largest companies have changed their names out of necessity, often due to mergers. Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) is the combination of two companies–Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio. Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) was once AOL Time Warner and owned Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) and online portal AOL (NYSE: AOL). Both of those companies are gone and so is the firm’s former name.

As part of 24/7 Wall St.’s ongoing look at brands, the value of brands, and the purchase and sale of brands, we looked at nine large companies that changed their names. Usually, particularly for corporations that have been in business for decades, the decision carries substantial risks. Tens of millions if not billions of dollars are put into creating brand identities and visibility, often over a long period – over a century, in the case of Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) or J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP).

A look at large companies that have completely altered their names shows that in most cases, the change is a calculated break with the past. Philip Morris was under siege legally and financially due to tobacco litigation, which peaked in the late 1990s. Management diversified that company into food products and changed the name of the company in the hope that re-branding would take away some of the stigma of the firm’s past.

Another reason companies decide to break with old names is because they have products that become more well-known than their parent companies. These firm’s essentially increase their corporate value by putting the brand equity of their most important product or service in the place of their own. Xerox (NYSE: X) was known as the Haloid company until its Xerox product became more recognizable among its business customers.

An exact calculation of the success or failure the decision by a company to change its name is nearly impossible to make. British Petroleum changed its name to BP PLC (NYSE: BP) in 2001. The disaster in the Gulf has so badly damaged the oil company’s brand that it might consider changing it back. The brand was tarnished by an accident which the public believes was entirely the company’s fault. The BP brand will never recover from that, which raises the possibility that it may change its name again. No matter what BP does, there is a temptation for corporations which have been though period of trouble and bad publicity to change their names in the hope of re-branding themselves and through that process improving their images over time.

These are the nine brands that had to change their name.

Filed under: Research Tagged: AAPL, ACN, AOL, BP, CA, F, JCP, KFT, KO, MO, ORCL, PM, SIRI, TWC, TWX, X