Posts for Ticker ‘ANF’

More Apparel Deals Coming? (PVH, WRC, VFC, RL, ARO, ANF, OXM, LULU, UA, COLM)

Phillips-Van Heusen Corp. (NYSE: PVH) has traders and investors speculating about or pondering which other apparel companies may become acquisition targets or which could end up in ‘mergers of equals’ as companies aim to strengthen their market positions.  The PVH bid to acquire Tommy Hilfiger from Apax Partners for about $3 billion is technically a leveraged deal because the market cap for PVH was around $2.3 billion before it was announced.  But now PVH shares are up almost 9% around $52.00 and we saw a 52-week high this morning of $54.64.

This deal may have put others in the spotlight.  Warnaco Group Inc. (NYSE: WRC), V.F. Corporation (NYSE: VFC), Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE: RL), Aeropostale, Inc. (NYSE: ARO), Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF), Oxford Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: OXM), Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU), Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA), Columbia Sportswear Company (NASDAQ: COLM) and many more are companies are now worth a second look in the sector.  Most of these are more likely acquirers rather than targets, although not in all cases.

Read More »

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Posted on: March 15, 2010 – 1:16 pm in Apparel, Mergers and Buy Outs, Private Equity, Retail, Rumors, , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 2/17/2010 Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg

Reuters:   Obama pushed his nuclear initiative and backed a new plant.

Reuters:   Oil moved toward $78 on hope of an improved economy.

Reuters:   Toyota (NYSE:TM) will cut auto output.

Reuters:   Fidelity says the retirement savings rate held steady. Read More »

Posted on: February 17, 2010 – 3:59 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ANF, BIDU, BSX, DF, ENER, GBL, NVDA, PALM, MMM, RHT)

These are the top ten analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations we have seen from Wall Street research calls:

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) Raised to Outperform Oppenheimer.
Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) Raised to Neutral at HSBC, whoops!; target raised to $550 by Citigroup.
Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Dean Foods (NYSE: DF) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Energy Conversion Devices (NASDAQ: ENER) Raised to Hold at Jefferies.
GAMCO Investors (NYSE: GBL) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) Raised to Buy at Roth Capital.
Palm Inc, (NASDAQ: PALM) Raised to Hold from Sell at Citigroup.
3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) Raised to Outperform at Bernstein.
Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) Started as Outperform at William Blair.

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list to hear about top analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPOs and secondary offerings, ongoing day trader and options trader alerts, stock and market rumors, Buffett and guru investor news, M&A and more.

JON C. OGG
FEBRUARY 11, 2010

Posted on: February 11, 2010 – 8:23 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 2/3/2010 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

Reuters:   Volcker believes that banks should not be allowed to make risky trades.

Reuters:   Toyota (NYSE:TM) sales dropped after its recall announcements.

Reuters:   More US consumers are paying credit cards before mortgages.

Reuters:   Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) has approved $4 billion in bonuses. Read More »

Posted on: February 3, 2010 – 3:53 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , ,

24/7 Wall St. 2010 Major Retailer Store Closing List

Each year some large retailers face the fall-out of a weak holiday season. The problem was particularly acute in 2009 because the improvement from 2008 was modest if there was any improvement at all. The 2008 holiday sales period was one of the worst on record. There is some evidence that e-commerce revenues improved, but most of that money went to virtual stores, particularly Amazon. Read More »

Posted on: January 19, 2010 – 3:05 am in Retail, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Top Analyst Caution Calls (ANF, AEO, ADI, AA, ALTR, CL, LEAP, PMCS, XLNX)

These are this Tuesday’s top analyst downgrades and cautious research calls we have seen from Wall Street analyst reports:

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE: AEO) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Analog Devices (NYSE: ADI) Cut to Neutral at BofA/Merrill.
Alcoa (NYSE: AA) Cut to Underperform at BMO.
Altera Corp. (NASDAQ: ALTR) Cut to Neutral at BofA/Merrill.
Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) Cut to Neutral at BofA/Merrill.
Leap Wireless (NASDAQ: LEAP) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
PMC-Sierra (NASDAQ: PMCS) Cut to UNderperform at BofA/Merrill.
Xilinx (NASDAQ: XLNX) Cut to Neutral at BofA/Merrill.

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list from 24/7 Wall St. to hear about ongoing day trader and options trader alerts, analyst upgrades and downgrades, stock and market rumors, Buffett and guru investor news, M&A and IPOs, and more.

JON C. Ogg

Posted on: January 12, 2010 – 8:41 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , ,

The 15 Most Hated Companies In America

Customers, employees, shareholders, and taxpayers hate large corporations for many reasons. 24/7 Wall St. has looked at many of these issues to choose the 15 most hated companies in America. We evaluated each company based on five criteria.  First, employee impressions, using research firm Glassdoor and other services, were reviewed.  Second,  we considered total return to shareholders from these companies over one-year, two-year and five-year periods, compared to the broad market and other companies within the same sector. Several firms on our list are not public. Third, customer satisfaction numbers and reputation figures were analyzed from a broad array of sources, including Consumer Reports, JD Power, the MSN/Zogby poll, Vanno, and the University of Michigan American Customer Satisfaction Index were examined. Fourth, brand valuation changes were also reviewed based on data from Corebrands, Interbrand, and Brand Z.  Finally, the views of taxpayers, Congress and the Administration of these companies were considered where applicable. Read More »

Posted on: January 5, 2010 – 9:01 am in Banking, Compensation, Editor's Picks, Financial Stocks, Large Cap Stocks, PC Companies, Satellite, Telecom, Transports, Wireless, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Holiday Retail A Wreck Even With Late Spending

It is likely that there were very few winners among retailers this holiday season. Mid-market chains such as Macy’s (NYSE:M) and Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) probably had bad results. Perennially weak retailers which include Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) almost certainly took another big hit.

The holiday retail season will be remembered as being no better than the catastrophic one in 2008. The limited number of winners were companies will big online operations, particularly Amazon (NYSE:AMZN). Read More »

Posted on: December 31, 2009 – 4:52 am in Retail, , , ,

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations (ANF, AGAM, BIDU, DE, GENZ, HBC, SVA, USB, X, FCX)

These are this morning’s top pre-market analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls:

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) Raised to Outperform at FBR.

AGA Medical (AGAM) Started as Buy at Citigroup; Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo; Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Baidu, Inc. (BIDU) Cut to Market Perform at Bernstein.
Deere & Co. (DE) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Genzyme (GENZ) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
HSBC Holdings plc (HBC) Raised to Buy at BofA Merrill Lynch; Started as Outperform at FBR.
Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (SVA) Reiterated Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
US BAncorp (USB) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
US Steel (X) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs; replaces Freeport McMoRan (FCX).

You can join our open email distribution list to receive daily emails with analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader alerts, market rumors, merger activity, IPOs and secondary offerings, Warren Buffett and guru activity and more.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: November 30, 2009 – 7:51 am in Analyst Calls, Trading Alert, , , , , , , , , ,

Top Day Trader Alerts (ANF, RINO, CADX, TSTC, PLA, JWN)

These are this morning’s top day trader and active trader alert stocks.  More detailed analysis and data has been offered via a link to each story at VSInvestor.com:

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) is trading higher by 6% despite poor sales.

RINO International Corp. (NASDAQ: RINO) is hitting new 52-week highs after strong earnings.

Cadence Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CADX) is down 6% after the FDA extended the review for its painkiller Acetavance.

Telestone Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: TSTC) is the top percentage gainer.

Playboy Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: PLA) is up again 8% after yesterday’s takeover chatter.

Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) is down about 5% on soft earnings despite raised guidance.

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

JON OGG

Posted on: November 13, 2009 – 8:53 am in Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert, , , , , ,

52-Week High Club (ANF, DISH, RSH, REV)

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) surged over 7%  to a yearly high of $37.80 after the company was upgraded from “neutral” to “buy” by anlysts at Goldman Sachs.  

DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) was up over 8% at its peak at a yearly high of $20.80 after the company announced that it would pay a one-time dividend of $2 for all Class A and B shares.  

RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) rose over 14% today to a yearly high of $20.57 after the electronics retailer announced that it plans to sell Apple iPhones in some of its stores that are located in major metropolitian areas.  This announcement has precipitated some analyst upgrades.

Revlon Inc. (NYSE: REV) surged over 37% today to a yearly high of $15.06.  The company announced that it intends to offer $330 million in senior notes that will be due in 2015 in order to pay off debt due in 2011.  The company was also upgraded to “outperform” by BMO Capital Markets.

Garrett W. McIntyre

Posted on: November 9, 2009 – 3:59 pm in Dividend, Media, Retail, Satellite, , , ,

Top Day Trader Alerts (ARIA, EWBC, GE, MCD, ANF)

These are this Monday’s top day trader and active traders stock alerts.  We have a link for more detailed analysis and price/volume data at VSInvestor.com:

Ariad Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ARIA) is up 10% as traders hope the analyst upgrade may hint at it being the next hot low price biotech stock.

East West Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: EWBC) is soaring by 27% on it winning in an FDIC-led bank takeover.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is up again by almost 3% this morning on a likely NBC Universal valuation of close to $30 billion.

McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) is up almost 1% on same store sales, but U.S. same store sales remain more of a concern than some of its other growth.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) is up 5% on an analyst upgrade.

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
November 9, 2009

Posted on: November 9, 2009 – 8:55 am in Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert, , , , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/6/2009) (RTP)(BHP)(BRK.A)

newspaperUpdated throughout the day.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) will re-launch some of its least successful hedge funds  (FT)

The stock market is at risk of not holding 10,000.  (TheStreet)

AIG (NYSE:AIG) will not hold a conference call to avoid uncomfortable questions about its balance sheet  (The Deal)

Sales of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows 7 are outpacing those after the launch of Vista (Apple Insider)

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) are likely to fall sharply  (Barron’s)

BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) may make another bid to buy rival Rio Tinto (NYSE:RTP)  (FTAlphaville)

“Governments may take as long as a decade to cut debt issuance back to the levels before global markets seized up following the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. last year.”  (Bloomberg)

Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) is likely to go through a period of sharp job cuts.  (Business Insider)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 6, 2009 – 9:17 am in Rumors, , , , , , ,

Top Analyst Upgrades (ANF, CSCO, KO, GR, HMY, KSS, NWS-A, DIS, VIA-B)

These are this Wednesday mornings top pre-market analyst upgrades and positive research calls we have seen early on from Wall Street:

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) Raised to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) Raised to Outperform at William Blair.
Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Goodrich (NYSE: GR) Raised to Outperform at FBR Capital.
Harmony Gold (NYSE: HMY) Raised to Buy at Nomura.
Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
News Corp (NWS-A) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) Raised to Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Viacom B (VIA-B) Raised to Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

You can join our open email distribution list which goes out several times per week for reminders of the top day trader alerts, analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPO’s, key secondary offerings, guru investor data on Buffett and others, mergers, and more.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: October 7, 2009 – 7:59 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , ,

Hope For Retail: Costco (NASDAQ:COST) Beats The Street

AnnCostco (NASDAQ:COST) announced earnings that beat Wall St. expectations.

Net sales for the fiscal 2009 fourth quarter  ended August 30, 2009 were $21.89 billion, a drop from $22.63 billion in the same period a year ago. Net income for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2009 was $374 million, or $.85 per share, compared to $398 million, or $.90 per share, in the same quarter last year. Analysts expected EPS of $.77. Read More »

Posted on: October 7, 2009 – 5:55 am in Earnings, Economy, Retail, , ,

Holiday Retail Sales To Be Battered

bearRetail sales dropped 3% or more during the 2008 holiday period. Same-store sales at a number of large chains were down much more than that. The trend was so bad that thousand of store locations where closed early in 2009 and tens of thousand of people in the industry lost their jobs.

The 2010 holiday sales season may be nearly as bad as last year’s. The National Retail Federation expects a hard winter. Read More »

Posted on: October 6, 2009 – 5:43 am in Economy, Retail, , , ,

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (ANF, FRED, FDO, FINL, SEPR, VMED, WTNY, ZUMZ)

It is looking pretty thin in analyst calls ahead of the 3-day weekend, but these are some of the top research upgrades, downgrades, and initiations we have seen this Friday morning:

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) cut to Sell from Hold at Citi.
Fred’s Inc. (FRED) Cut to Market Perform at William Blair.
Family Dollar Stores (FDO) Cut to Market Perform at William Blair.

Finish Line (FINL) Started as Outperform at Wedbush Morgan.
Sepracor (SEPR) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Virgin Media (VMED) Started as Outperform by Credit Suisse.
Whitney Holding (WTNY) Raised to Buy at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
Zumiez (ZUMZ) Cut to Hold at KeyBanc.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: September 4, 2009 – 8:32 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , ,

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ANF, AA, ANN, ASMI, KLIC, MDAS, MSFT, BPOP, TGT, DIS)

These are Wednesday’s top ten analyst research summary upgrades, downgrades, and initiations from Wall Street brokerage firms:

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) Cut to Neutral at Susquehanna.
Alcoa (NYSE:AA) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Ann Taylor (NYSE:ANN) Raised to Buy at UBS.
ASM International (NASDAQ:ASMI) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Kulicke & Soffa (NASDAQ:KLIC) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
MedAssets (NASDAQ:MDAS) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Raised to Buy at AmTech.
Popular Inc. (NASDAQ: BPOP) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
Target (NYSE:TGT) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) Started as Buy at Janney Montgomery Scott.

JON C. OGG
AUGUST 19, 2009

Posted on: August 19, 2009 – 7:53 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Blackstone (BX) Chief Makes $702 Million

GeithnerThe thoughts of restricting the pay packages of the CEOs of public companies may be in the air, but new data on chief executive compensation show that boards of directors are not taking any of it seriously.

Stephen Schwarzman, head of financial firm Blackstone (BX), made over $702 million in 2008 based on data from The Corporate Library. Read More »

Posted on: August 13, 2009 – 5:54 pm in Compensation, Corporate Governance, Editor's Picks, , , , , , , , , ,

24/7 Wall St. TV: A Miserable Period For E-Commerce

24/7 WallSt TVCostco’s (COST) same-store sales fell 7% last month. The firm was lucky. Abercrombie & Fitch’s (ANF) numbers were down 38%. Saks (SKS) plunged by 16.3% and Neiman Marcus fell 27.3%. July was a sign that all but a few retailers particularly Wal-Mart (WMT) are continuing to watch the year slip away from them.

There was a chance, a promise that e-commerce activity would salvage the retail sector. The increase in revenue from online retail websites averaged 20% in 2007. In the first half of last year, the number fell but was still 12%. There was no increase in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the same period the year before. The figures from comScore are in for the second quarter of this year, and online retail sales actually dropped 1% to $30.2 billion, which is astonishing given the robustness of the business just a year ago. Read More »

Posted on: August 11, 2009 – 12:02 pm in Internet, Retail, TV, , ,