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Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ADI, ARMH, AGO, BHI, DF, DELL, DUK, EV, EXPR, HPQ, HGSI, IRDM, MET, NOV, OCZ, RSH, RA)

Administrator — Thu, 24 May 2012 12:18:24 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls this Thursday.

Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI) Reiterated Buy with $43 target at Argus.

ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) Raised to Buy at S&P.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE: AGO) Raised to Buy at UBS.

Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) Cut to Hold at Societe Generale.

Dean Foods Co. (NYSE: DF) named as Bull of the Day in its turnaround at Zacks.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) Maintained Buy but target cut to $18 from $22 at Argus.

Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE: DUK) Raised to Buy at UBS.

Eaton Vance (NYSE: EV) Raised to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup.

Express Inc. (NYSE: EXPR) Started as Neutral at JPMorgan.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) Maintained Neutral but raised 2012/2013 estimates by 2% at Credit Suisse.

Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) Cut to Market Perform with a price target of $13.00 at BMO Capital.

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) Started as Buy at CRT Capital.

MetLife Inc. (NYSE: MET) Reiterated Buy with $46 target at Argus.

National Oilwell Varco (NYSE: NOV) Raised to Buy at Societe Generale.

OCZ Technology Group Inc (NYSE: OCZ) Started as Outperform with $8 target at Credit Suisse.

RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.

RailAmerica Inc. (NYSE: RA) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.

Three calls seen on NetApp (see here).

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JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ADI, AGO, ARMH, BHI, DELL, DF, DUK, EV, EXPR, HGSI, HPQ, IRDM, MET, NOV, OCZ, RA, RSH

BofA Missed Opportunity, But Now Under Book Value (BAC, AGO)

Administrator — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 11:28:34 +0000

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) is out with its first quarter earnings and there is some ammo for bulls and bears alike. Earnings of $2.05 billion were reported as $0.17 EPS and revenues were $26.88 billion. Thomson Reuters has consensus estimates of $0.27 EPS and $26.69 billion in revenues. Those estimates had been trimmed in recent days ahead of the earnings.

The capital ratios are going to be key since the bank was denied the right to lift its dividend. The tier-1 capital ratio is listed as 11.32% and the Tier-1 common equity ratio was 8.64%. Charge-offs were $6.03 billion and non-performing loans were listed as $31.6 billion. The allowance for loan losses was $39.8 billion with a loan loss ratio of 4.29%.

One key aspect that investors will look at is book value, which came in at $13.21 per share at the end of the quarter. Whether you ar a BofA bull or bear, this matters. As far as how that compared to the December 31, 2010, we went back and found that the figure then was $12.98 in book value per share and when it reported earnings on January 21, 2011 its shares had closed at $14.53 the day before and closed at $14.24 on that day of the earnings report.

Two non-earnings issues are that Bruce Thompson is taking over as CFO and the bank announced a mortgage repurchase claims agreement with Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE: AGO). Assured said that BofA and subsidiaries like Countrywide settled transactions insured by Assured Guaranty over reimbursement for breaches of representations and warranties and historical loan servicing issues. The settlement includes a payment of $1.1 billion to Assured Guaranty as well as a loss-sharing reinsurance arrangement on 21 first lien RMBS transactions that have a gross par value of $5.2 billion and $4.8 billion in par outstanding balance.

As far as the breakdown of the pros and cons without the blow-by-blow dollar amounts… BofA cited earnings and revenues, BofA cited lower credit costs, gains from equity investments, higher asset management fees, higher investment banking fees, and declines continuing in bankruptcies and delinquencies. The bank cited the drag as being from higher legacy mortgage costs, as well as lower sales and trading revenues.

Bank of America closed at $13.13 yesterday after hitting a low so far in 2011 of $13.07. With more than two hours until the market opens for trading, Bank of America shares are indicated around $13.01 or $13.02. Some still-bullish investors may heed that $13.21 book value as a safety net, but the bears may argue that the figure should act more like a ceiling. Stay tuned.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Banking, Earnings, Value Investing Tagged: AGO, BAC

The Future of “AAA” Ratings: Who Has It & Who Will Lose It

Administrator — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 11:02:40 +0000

Media reports questioning whether the United States will keep its “Triple-A Rating” in the future are frequent. The fear of endless budget deficit spending and quantitative easing have only added fuel to the fire that the country’s prized Triple-A rating is at risk. Getting a Triple-A rating from Moody’s or Standard & Poor’s is not easy and losing one can be a serious psychological blow. This is particularly the case for other governments, corporations, municipalities and mortgages which can no longer get adequate insurance.

Some countries and companies still have Triple-A ratings, which go by “AAA” at S&P and by “Aaa” at Moody’s. Very few investors want to see the United States lose its Triple-A rating. At the same time, many know very little about how the highest rating works and the challenges that lie that entities face in maintaining it.

A Triple-A Is What?

Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s are the two major ratings agencies, followed by Fitch and A.M. Best, DBRS, and Egan-Jones. To keep this simple, we’ll focus mostly on Moody’s and S&P.

S&P says that an issuer rated “AAA” has an extremely strong capacity to meet its financial commitments. Of course, issuer credit ratings may be changed, suspended, or withdrawn and can be either long-term or short-term. There are plenty of moving parts here.

“If the starting conditions are adverse, then the credit must have the capacity to withstand further deterioration of extreme magnitude,” S&P says.

Some of those events taken into consideration were the Great Depression, the Asian Contagion of the late 1990′s, other international sovereign debt scares, both World Wars, and more going all the way back to late 1700s.

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Banking, Bankruptcy, Bonds, Buffett, business and finance, Business Services, Compensation, Conglomerates, Corporate Governance, Economy, Editor's Picks, Emerging Markets, Infrastructure, International Markets, Large Cap Stocks, Law, Mergers and Buy Outs, Regulation, Research, Shareholder Issues Tagged: AAPL, ADP,, AGO, BRK-A, BRK-B, FNM, FRE, GE, GOOG, JNJ, MRK, XOM

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades, and Initiations (AMZN, AAPL, AGO, BAC, CELG, CBST, DRYS, EBAY, POT, RIG)

247wallst — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:09:12 +0000

These are this Thursday morning’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls:

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Started as Market Perform at JMP Securities.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Started as Buy at Jesup & Lamont.
Assured Guaranty (NYSE: AGO) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) Raised to Outperform at FBR Capital Markets.
Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG) Started as Buy at Soleil.
Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CBST) Raised to Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.
DryShips, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Ebay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) Started as Outperform at JMP Securities.
Potash Corp. (NYSE: POT) Cut to Hold from Buy at Desjardins.
Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) Raised to Buy at Calyon.

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JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls, Trading Alert Tagged: AAPL, AGO, AMZN, BAC, CBST, CELG, DRYS, EBAY, POT, RIG

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations (AEP, ARRS, AGO, IRE, ESRX, KBH, MTL, MU, RFMD, SPG)

247wallst — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:55:05 +0000

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

American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Arris Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRS) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE: AGO) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Express Scripts (NASDAQ: ESRX) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
KB Home (NYSE: KBH) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Micron Technology Inc. (NYSE: MU) Reiterated Buy ($10 target) at Auriga.
RF Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: RFMD) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Simon Property Group Inc. (NYSE: SPG) Started as Outperform at KBW.

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Jon C. Ogg

Posted in Analyst Calls, Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert Tagged: AEP, AGO, ARRS, ESRX, IRE, KBH, MTL, MU, RFMD, SPG

Secondary Offerings Keep Mounting (ED, KMP, VNR, AGO, USEG)

247wallst — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:14:31 +0000

There is still a flood of secondary offerings coming down the pipe. We have secondaries from Consolidated Edison Inc. (NYSE: ED), Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: KMP), Vanguard Natural Resources, LLC (NYSE: VNR), Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE: AGO), and U.S. Energy Corp. (NASDAQ: USEG). We have compiled details in a summary of each showing capital raised, the use of proceeds, underwriters, and the reaction on each.

Consolidated Edison Inc. (NYSE: ED) is selling 5 million shares of its common stock through UBS to raise approximately $215 million based upon the closing prices on Monday. A formal pricing has not been seen as of the pre-market time and shares are actually up a penny at $42.92 this morning. Con-Ed plans to use proceeds from the sale of shares to fund construction costs and for other general corporate purposes.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: KMP) has priced a public secondary offering of 4,500,000 common limited partner interests at $57.15 per common unit. The underwriters, Goldman Sachs, Citi, Barclays, and others have a 30-day option to purchase up to 675,000 additional common units to cover over-allotments. The company will be raising more than $250 million. Shares, or LP interests, are down 2% at $57.09 on triple average volume.

Vanguard Natural Resources, LLC (NYSE: VNR) priced its public secondary offering of 2.25 million shares (common units representing limited liability company interests) at $18.00 per unit. Vanguard said it expects to receive net proceeds of approximately $38.5 million and it intends to use the net proceeds to redeem 250,000 common units from one of its unitholders, Nami Capital Partners, LLC, and to repay debt. Citi, Wells Fargo Securities and RBC Capital Markets are the joint book-running managers for the offering and they have been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 337,500 common units.

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE: AGO) has announced an agreement to sell 23,924,000 common shares via a public secondary offering. Assured Guaranty intends to use the net proceeds for general corporate purposes and to complete the external capital portion of the rating agency capital initiatives announced in November, but the company noted that it does not expect to complete the external reinsurance arrangement discussed then. UBS is the sole underwriter for the offering and it will have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 3,588,600 common shares to cover overallotments. This will raise more than $500 million and shares are down 4.6% at $21.62 this morning.

U.S. Energy Corp. (NASDAQ: USEG) has announced a public secondary offering of 5,000,000 shares of common stock to fund its capital expenditure program through 2010, with specific emphasis on the expansion of its Williston Basin drilling program with Brigham Exploration Company and further drilling participation with PetroQuest Energy and Yuma Exploration. SMH Capital Inc. is the sole book-running and lead manager and C.K. Cooper is co-manager, and these underwriters will have a 30-day option to purchase up to 750,000 additional shares of common stock to cover over-allotments. This will raise approximately $30 million in gross funds and the stock is actually up 2.5% at $6.09.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Secondary Offering Tagged: AGO, ED, KMP, USEG, VNR

52-Week High Club (AGO, SMTL, SINA, TWB)

247wallst — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:56:50 +0000

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE: AGO) over 32% to a yearly high of $28.14 after the company posted earnings of $0.44 per share, beating analysts estimates.

Semitool Inc (NASDAQ: SMTL) rose over 30% to a yearly high of $11.00 after Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ: AMAT) agreed to buy the company for $11.00 per share, or $364 million.

Sina Corp (NASDAQ: SINA) rose over 10% today to a yearly high of $47.95 after the Chinese internet portal beat earnings and projected margin improvements.

Tween Brands Inc (NYSE: TWB) rose over 11% today to a yearly high o $10.16 after the company posted a profite of $0.58 per share, beating analyst estimates.

Garrett W. McIntyre

Posted in Financial Stocks, Media, Mergers and Buy Outs, Retail, Semiconductor, Technology Companies Tagged: AGO, AMAT, SINA, SMTL, TWB

Top Analyst Downgrades (AGO, CP, KOF, GENZ, SHAW)

247wallst — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:02:37 +0000

These are some of the top early-bird analyst downgrades and cautious research calls we have seen from Wall Street analysts early this Monday morning:

Assured Guaranty (AGO) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Coca-Cola Femsa (KOF) Cut to Sell at UBS.
Genzyme (GENZ) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Shaw Group (NYSE: SHAW) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AGO, CP, GENZ, KOF, SHAW

The 52-Week Low Club 7/22/2008 (TXN)(AMD)(MRK)(VMW)(AGO)(SNDK)

247wallst — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:56:13 +0000

Texas Instruments (TXN) Bad earnings take chip company down. Falls to $23.28 from 52-week high of $38.79.

AMD (AMD) Chip company may have changed CEOs but Wall St. still thinks company is dead. Sells down to $4.32 from 52-week high of $15.69.

Merck (MRK) Major drug trial goes wrong. Company suspends guidance. Drops to $31.15 from 52-week high of $61.62.

VMWare (VMW) Hottest IPO of last year. CEO pushed out recently. Company mutes expectations. Falls to $34.17 from 52-week high of $125.25.

Assured Guaranty (AGO) Moody’s may cut rating. Dives to $7.95 from 52-week high of $30.22.

SanDisk (SNDK) Grim earnings. Falls to $13.06 from 52-week high of $58.60.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Top 10 Early Bird Analyst Calls (ARTC, AGO, FDRY, IFF, PETS, PDS, CRM, SNDK, TEF, TXN)

247wallst — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 06:19:20 +0000

These are ten of the early bird analyst calls we are seeing this Tuesday morning with over 2 hours to the open:

ArthroCare Corp. (NASDAQ: ARTC) Cut to Market Perform at William Blair.
Assured Guaranty (NYSE: AGO) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Foundry Networks (NASDAQ: FDRY) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE: IFF) Started as Underweight at Lehman.
PetMed Express (NASDAQ: PETS) Raised to Neutral from Sell at Piper Jaffray.
Precision Drilling (NYSE: PDS) Raised to Outperform at CIBC.
salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
Telefonica (NYSE: TEF) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) Cut to Neutral at Merrill Lynch.

Jon C. Ogg
July 22, 2008