24/7 Wall St. » AGP

24/7 Closing Bell (AET, AGP, JBHT, SNDK, WY, CRM, SWY, SHAW, L, INVE, HUM, MNTA, PATH, NPSP, YGE, TSL, GEVO)

Paul Ausick — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:17:38 +0000

Markets opened lower this morning, and continued to fall before holding at around -150 points for most of the day on the DJIA. Japan’s yen sale pushed the dollar sharply higher and pushed down commodity prices, virtually all of which are priced in dollars. There might also have been some profit-taking, but Japan’s intervention in the currency market set the tone. The Chicago PMI index came in a bit lower than expected and had no visible impact on equity prices. Crude oil has recovered to be nearly flat, but gold is down about -1.3%, at $1,724/ounce in the last hour of trading. Silver, copper, platinum, and palladium are all down as well. The DJIA fell almost -50 points in the final half hour of trading.The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than -276 points to 11,955.70 (-2.25%), the NASDAQ fell more than -52 points (-1.93%) to 2,684.41, and the S&P 500 fell -2.48% or nearly -32 points to 1,253.29.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including the addition of Aetna, Inc. (NYSE: AET) to Goldman Sachs’ Conviction Buy list. Goldman also raised Amerigroup Corp. (NYSE: AGP) to ‘buy’. JB Hunt Transport Services Inc. (NASDAQ: JBHT) cut to ‘hold’ at Stifel Nicolaus; Sandisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) cut to ‘neutral’ at Sterne Agee; Weyerhaeuser Corp. (NYSE: WY) raised to ‘hold’ at Deutsche Bank; Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) cut to ‘equal-weight’ at Global Equities Research; and Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY) started at ‘neutral’ by JP Morgan.Here are today’s big post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: Shaw Group (NYSE: SHAW) up nearly 5.5%, at $23.39; Loews Corp. (NYSE: L) is down about -3%, at $40.07; Identive Group Inc. (NASDAQ: INVE) is down more than -6.5%, at $2.37; and Humana, Inc. (NYSE: HUM) is up more than 6.5%, at $85.68.

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTA) is up more than 22%, at $14.96. The shares jumped following a court ruling that will hamper the introduction of competing drugs.

NuPath Inc. (NASDAQ: PATH) is up more than 15%, at $2.68. The company reported positive results on tests of its patch treatment for migraine headaches.

NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: NPSP) is down more than 33%, at $5.18. The company said that two patients for its new bowel drug died and another developed cancer.

Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE) is down more than -15%, at $4.06. This could well be caused by bit of profit-taking on solar stocks that posted sharp gains on Friday.

Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL), another solar maker, is also down about -14%, at $8.04. Just another day in the solar whirlwind.

Gevo, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEVO) is down about -16%, at $7.31. The biofuel maker was refused a re-examination of a patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Stay tuned for Tuesday. A two-day meeting of the Federal Reserve board of governors begins tomorrow. The first data on auto sales in October is expected tomorrow as well. We have noted the following events (all times Eastern):

10:00 a.m. — ISM Manufacturing index released
10:00 a.m. — US construction spending for September 2011

Filed under: Market Close Tagged: AET, AGP, CRM, GEVO, HUM, INVE, JBHT, L, MNTA, NPSP, PATH, SHAW, SNDK, SWY, TSL, WY, YGE

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AET, AGP, E, JBHT, JNPR, KR, NWSA, RES SWY, CRM, SNDK, SKT, TMS, VOD, WPI, WY, WFM)

Administrator — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:29:29 +0000

These are some of Monday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls.

Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
AMERIGROUP Corporation (NYSE: AGP) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Eni SpA (NYSE: E) Raised to Buy at S&P.
JB Hunt Transport Services Inc. (NASDAQ: JBHT) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) Raised to Outperform at RBC.
The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) Started as Neutral at JPMorgan.
News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA) Started as Neutral at UBS.
RPC, Inc. (NYSE: RES) Raised to Buy at Canaccord Genuity.
Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY) Started as Neutral at JPMorgan.
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Cut to Equal-weight at Global Equities Research.
SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) Cut to Neutral at Stern Agee; named value stock of the day at Zacks.
Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. (NYSE: SKT) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
TMS International Corp. (NYSE: TMS) Started as Outperform with $11 target at Credit Suisse.
Vodafone Group Plc (NYSE: VOD) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: WPI) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Weyerhaeuser Co. (NYSE: WY) Raised to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM) Started as Neutral at JPMorgan.

We also have some more data on analysts and the calendar. Here are the top analyst upgrades and downgrades of the last week. We also have the top twelve earnings reports and an economic calendar for what is coming down the pipe this week.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AET, AGP, CRM, E, JBHT, JNPR, KR, NWSA, RES SWY, SKT, SNDK, TMS, VOD, WFM, WPI, WY

Health-Care Reform Boosts Health-Care Providers (WLP, UNH, AET, CI, CNC, AGP, WCG, MOH)

Administrator — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 15:22:10 +0000

While the courts and the Congress continue to fight over the health-care reform law, known as the Affordable Care Act or ACA, insurers are looking forward to as many as 16 million new customers as a result of the ACA’s provision that allows states to contract with providers to run managed-care Medicaid programs. The opportunity for insurers could total $40 billion in new business, as we have already noted.

Large insurers like Wellpoint Inc. (NYSE: WLP), UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH), Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET), and Cigna Corp. (NYSE: CI) are in hot pursuit of opportunities to offer management services to state-run Medicaid programs, in the belief that a slew of new customers will more than offset any losses attributable to the ACA. Politicians continue to squabble over ideology, with the conservatives seeking to kill the ACA and liberals wanting to maintain it.

The insurance companies know what they want. Wellpoint posted EPS of $6.94 in 2010 and has reiterated its guidance for EPS of “at least” $6.30 in 2011. The company has also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25, beginning with the current quarter, and has announced that it will buy back some $1.6 billion in shares by the end of 2011.

Wellpoint is the largest provider in the managed-Medicaid market, and by virtue of its size will be a formidable competitor to the other leading managed-Medicaid providers. Other leading managed-Medicaid providers include Centene Corp. (NYSE: CNC), Amerigroup Corp. (NYSE: AGP), WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE: WCG), and Molina Heathcare Inc. (NYSE: MOH). None of these has a market cap of more than about $2.5 billion, about a tenth the size of Wellpoint.

Of the large providers, Aetna has forecast 2011 operating profit of $3.70-$3.80/share, compared with $3.68 in 2010. The company, like Wellpoint, UnitedHealth, and Cigna, experienced lower health care use in 2010. That is surely the result of higher premiums, higher deductibles, and fewer visits to the doctor from those insured.

Six states already have a requirement that Medicaid patients enroll in managed care plans, and another ten have similar programs under consideration. Under the managed care plans, Medicaid payments will go to the plan administrators, not directly to doctors, hospitals, and nursing homes as is currently the case in most states. In a managed care system, the states pay a fixed amount to the insurer for each Medicaid patient. Then its up to the insurer to manage costs.

The argument against the managed care plans is that because the goal is to keep costs down, patients have difficulty getting the care they need.

The vast new market open to insurers by way of managed Medicaid plans is likely to be the driver of insurers’ profits through 2014. Higher premiums, higher deductibles, and lower health care use will also contribute to insurers growth, at least for the next year or two. But if the ACA is not repealed or starved financially, premiums should start to moderate, deductibles should get smaller, and patients should begin consulting their doctors again, without driving government costs through the roof.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Earnings, Healthcare Tagged: AET, AGP, CI, CNC, MOH, UNH, WCG, WLP

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (AER, AGP, LEH, NVO, CRM, SNPS)

247wallst — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 06:29:29 +0000

These are some of the downgrades or cautious analyst calls we are seeing this Thursday morning:

AerCap (AER) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Amerigroup (AGP) Started as Neutral at B of A.
Lehman (LEH) estimates cut at Citigroup.
Novo Nordisk (NVO) Started as Neutral at UBS.
Salesforce.com (CRM) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
Synopsys (SNPS) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.

Jon C. Ogg
August 21, 2008