24/7 Wall St. » BIG

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — May 23, 2012 (FB, PCX, BX, AMAT, DELL, AEO, BIG, HRL, STP, TSL, FRED, HNZ, MMYT, TIF, TD, COST, PETM, STX)

Paul Ausick — Wed, 23 May 2012 20:05:55 +0000

The three major US stock indexes opened lower this morning after European leaders disagree on a fiscal response to the continent’s debt crisis(our coverage here). New US home sales were slightly above the consensus estimate, but made little difference in the slide. As the day wore on, more bad news from Europe sent crude oil prices tumbling and the dollar rising in the currency markets (our coverage here). The US dollar index rose today, now up 0.76% at 82.115. The GSCI commodity index is down fractionally at 628.23, with commodities mostly lower on the stronger dollar. Orange juice, cocoa, and cotton were today’s big losers. WTI crude oil closed down -2.1% at $89.90/barrel, its lowest settlement since October, and Brent crude trades down -2.51% at $105.69/barrel. Natural gas rose just 0.52% today to $2.72/thousand cubic feet. Gold settled down -1.8% today, at $1,548.40/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down nearly 7 points to 12,496.07 (-0.05%), the NASDAQ rose about 11 points (0.39%) to 2,850.12, and the S&P 500 rose 0.17% or about 2 points to 1,318.85.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) started as ‘buy’ with a target price of $40 at Needham (more coverage here); Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE: PCX) cut to ‘hold’ at Deutsche Bank; The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) raised ‘buy’ at Sterne Agee; Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) raised to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs; and Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) cut to ‘neutral’ at Mizuho and maintained as ‘underperform’ with a $14 target price at Credit Suisse.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Dell is down -16.8% at $12.55 after posting a new 52-week low of $12.31 earlier today (more coverage here); American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO) is up 1.4% at $20.07; Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) is up 4% at $36.20; Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE: HRL) is up 1.2% at $29.54; Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) is up 1.5% at $2.01 (more coverage here); and Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) is up 4.9% at $5.59.

Tomorrow we are scheduled to get earnings reports from Fred’s Inc. (NASDAQ: FRED), H.J. Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ), MakeMyTrip Ltd. (NASDAQ: MMYT), Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF), The Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD), and Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST).

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

PetSmart Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM) is up 13.3% at $62.99 after posting a new 52-week high of $63.19 earlier today. The company reported better-than-expected earnings and forecast more good things to come.

Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) is down -2.4% at $25.72. The disk drive maker is buying France-based LaCie SA for $186 million.

Stay tuned for Thursday. New York Fed President William Dudley is giving a speech. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – Durable goods orders
8:30 a.m. – New claims for unemployment benefits
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report
11:00 a.m. – Kansas City Fed manufacturing index
1:00 p.m. – 7-year note auction
4:30 p.m. – Fed balance sheet and money supply

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AEO, AMAT, BIG, BX, COST, DELL, FB, FRED, HNZ, HRL, MMYT, PCX, PETM, STP, STX, TD, TIF, TSL

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — May 22, 2012 (GPS, DRYS, DPZ, LYB, TSLA, AZO, BBY, RL, WSM, EXPR, AEO, BIG, HRL, NTAP, P, STP, TSL, PCX, BNHN, FB)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 22 May 2012 20:06:11 +0000

The three major US stock indexes opened slightly higher this morning following their European and Asian counterparts, none of which were the least concerned about a downgrade to Japanese debt or dire predictions from the OECD and the IMF (our coverage here and here). Existing US home sales were slightly above the consensus estimate, which also helped buoy stocks this morning (our coverage here). The US dollar index rose today, now up 0.52% at 81.509. The GSCI commodity index is up fractionally at 633.25, with commodities mostly lower on the stronger dollar. Corn and cotton were today’s big losers. WTI crude oil closed down -1% at $91.66/barrel, and Brent crude trades down -0.62% at $108.13/barrel. Natural gas rose more than 3% today at $2.69/thousand cubic feet. Gold settled down -0.8% today, at $1,576.60/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 2 points to 12,502.66 (-0.01%), the NASDAQ fell about 8 points (-.029%) to 2,839.08, and the S&P 500 rose 0.05% or less than 1 point to 1,316.63.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) raised to ‘buy’ at Lazard Capital; DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) started as ‘buy’ at Global Hunter; Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) reiterated as ‘buy’ with a target price of $46 at Argus; LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE: LYB) started as ‘outperform’ with a target price of $60 at Credit Suisse; and Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) started as ‘buy’ at Maxim Group.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Autozone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) is down -1.67% at $362.40; Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is up 1.3% at $18.41 (more coverage here); Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL) is up 3.4% at $151.24 (more coverage here); Williams Sonoma Inc. (NYSE: WSM) is up 3.4% at $35.90; and Express Inc. (NYSE: EXPR) is down -26.9% at $16.88.

Tomorrow we are scheduled to get earnings reports from American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO), Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG), Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE: HRL), NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP), Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P), Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP), and Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL).

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE: PCX) is down nearly -40% at $2.22 after posting a new 52-week low of $1.36 earlier today. The coal miner was reported to be interviewing firms to help with a restructuring. Patriot issued a non-denial denial later to stem the bleeding. More coverage here and here.

Benihana Inc. (NASDAQ: BNHN) is up 21.3% at $16.13. The restaurateur is being acquired for $296 million.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) is down -8.6%% at $31.12 after posting a new low of $30.98 earlier today. Shares are getting pummeled again today. We’ve started a deathwatch here and here. Just search for ‘facebook deathwatch’ to get the latest dope.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. Minneapolis Fed President Naryana Kocherlakota is giving a speech. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
10:00 a.m. – New home sales
10:00 a.m. – FHFA house price index
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
1:00 p.m. – 5-year note auction

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AEO, AZO, BBY, BIG, BNHN, DPZ, DRYS, EXPR, FB, GPS, HRL, LYB, NTAP, P, PCX, RL, STP, TSL, TSLA, WSM

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — May 18, 2012

Paul Ausick — Fri, 18 May 2012 20:05:30 +0000

The three major US stock indexes opened somewhat higher this morning as investors paid little attention to last night’s downgrade of Spain’s banks (more coverage here). With little economic data on tap today, US markets waited for the IPO of Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) — and waited and waited. The first trade went off about half an hour late at $42.05, well above the announced price of $38, but the stock wasn’t able to hold on to the gain, ending the day at $38.08. The US dollar index fell today, now down -0.11% at 81.291. The GSCI commodity index is down 0.04% at 633.67, with commodities mostly mixed today. Wheat is the big gainer again today, up 5.7% in Chicago and 4.9% in Kansas City. WTI crude oil closed down -1.2% at $91.48/barrel, and Brent crude trades down at -0.38% at $107.08/barrel. Natural gas continues its climb, up 5.7% today at $2.74/thousand cubic feet. Gold settled up 1.1% today, at $1,591.90/ounce, ending a four-day losing streak.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down 74 points to 12,368.47 (-0.59%), the NASDAQ fell nearly 35 points (-1.24%) to 2,778.79, and the S&P 500 fell -0.74% or nearly 10 points to 1,295.17.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD) reiterated as ‘buy’ with a target price of $135 at Canaccord Genuity; Dendreon Inc. (NASDAQ: DNDN) started as ‘sell’ at Maxim; Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) cut to ‘sell’ at Deutsche Bank; Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) started as ‘buy’ at UBS; and Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) raised to ‘buy’ at Guggenheim.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: ANN Inc. (NYSE: ANN) is up 3.25% at $26.69; Brown Shoe Co. Inc. (NYSE: BWS) is up 21.4% at $10.63 (more coverage here); Progressive Corp. (NYSE: PGR) is down -0.1% at $21.32; and Footlocker Inc. (NYSE: FL) is up 8.9% at $30.50.

Next week we are scheduled to get earnings reports fromTech Data Corporation (NASDAQ: TECD); Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN); Autozone Inc. (NYSE: AZO); Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY); Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL); PetSmart Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM); Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE: RL); Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG); and Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) among others.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Renren Inc. (NYSE: RENN) is down -20% at $4.99. The Chinese Internet company is getting whacked on Facebook’s IPO. More coverage here.

GSV Capital Corp. (NASDAQ: GSVC) is down -18.6% at $13.10. The investment company had a nice hunk of Facebook shares at a very low price — all the value is in today. More coverage here.

Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) is down -16.3% at $6.92 after posting a 52-week low of $6.90 earlier today. Another stock that climbed on Facebook’s back during the run-up to the IPO, shares were stopped by an automatic trigger shortly after FB shares opened today. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Monday. Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart is giving a speech. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

10:00 a.m. – Existing home sales
10:00 a.m. – Richmond Fed manufacturing index
11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6-month bill auctions

Have a great weekend!

Paul Ausick

Filed under: General Tagged: ANN, AZO, BBY, BIG, BWS, DELL, DNDN, FB, FL, GSVC, HPQ, IRE, JASO, LNKD, PETM, PGR, PSX, RENN, RL, S, TECD, URBN, ZNGA

The Top Earnings Previews For The Week Ahead (TECD, URBN, AZO, BBY, DELL, PETM, RL, BIG, HPQ, NTAP, P, TOL, COST, TIF, PAY)

Administrator — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:09:16 +0000

24/7 Wall St. has compiled earnings previews for some of the top companies reporting in the week ahead. Estimates have been taken from Thomson Reuters for consensus earnings and targets and we have added in color on some companies if applicable.

These are some of the focus companies reporting earnings in the coming week: Tech Data Corporation (NASDAQ: TECD); Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN); Autozone Inc. (NYSE: AZO); Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY); Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL); PetSmart Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM); Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE: RL); Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG); Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ); NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP); Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P); Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL); Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST); Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF); and VeriFone Systems Inc. (NYSE: PAY).

MONDAY, MAY 21

Tech Data Corporation (NASDAQ: TECD) is set to report and show how the outlook is for the companies which actually distribute all of the technology components and finished smartphones and consumer electronics devices around the world. Shares were recently under $48 and the 52-week range is $38.21 to $59.29. The consensus estimate is $1.16 EPS and $6.18 billion in revenue.

Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) is going to show if its turnaround is closer or just still chugging along. Estimates are $0.20 EPS and $579.2 million in revenue. Shares were recently around $25.50 and the 52-week range is $21.47 to $33.90; the consensus target price is about $29.70.

TUESDAY, MAY 22

Autozone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) took it hard on the chin recently when rival Advance Auto warned of a difficult second quarter. This is one of the high-priced stocks and shares are around $366 against a 52-week range of $266.25 to $399.10. The consensus analyst target price is $419.80; estimates are $6.25 EPS and $2.13 billion in revenue; next quarter estimates are $8.47 EPS and $2.84 billion in revenue.

Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is in such disarray that we won’t even bother with the warnings and the caveats here. Estimates are $0.60 EPS.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is now trading at only about 7.5-times forward earnings. Estimates are $0.46 EPS and $14.89 billion in sales. Earnings have been choppy on guidance but the PC makers and components makers are all talking up the release of Windows 8 as a new catalyst. With shares trading just under $15.00, the 52-week range is $13.29 to $18.36 and the consensus price target is almost $19.50.

PetSmart Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM) has been a steady “beat earnings and raise guidance” outfit as Americans will pay endless and countless dollars on Fido and Fifi. Estimates are $0.73 EPS and $1.6 billion in revenue. With shares around $56.00, the 52-week high is $59.36.

Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE: RL) has sold off nearly $40 from its highs since March. The question is how its business has been holding up in slowing markets even if the U.S. sales have been strong. Estimates are $0.83 EPS and $1.6 billion in sales. With shares around $143 the 52-week range is $105.00 to $182.48 and the consensus price target from analysts is just over $190.00.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 23

Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) should be called “Warning Lots” because it has lowered guidance and been hard on two different waves. With shares under $35 and against a high of $47.22, the premium values of the dollar stores may and discounters may be hurting here. On the flip side, the bar has been set extremely low. Estimates are $0.69 EPS and $1.3 billion in revenue.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) is now around the $22 handle and the news of another 25,000 or more in layoffs (versus 350K as of October 31, 2011) is not helping the growth hopes. Estimates are $0.91 EPS and $29.92 billion in sales. The stock now trades at about 6-times earnings, but the consensus price target is down to just over $29.00 as no one wants to pay up for the valuation of this DJIA component.

NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) has been pounded and the last 45 days has looked like a downward staircase on its chart. At about $34.00, the 52-week range is $33.00 to $56.49 and the consensus price target objective is just over $47.00.

Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) is no longer market-influencing, but it is a cult stock and the earnings could create a large gain or a large drop. With shares under $10.50, the post IPO range is $7.83 to $26.00. Estimates are -$0.17 EPS and $74.3 million in revenue. Can the company make it to profitability by the end of next year?

Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL) is expected to be profitable. A profitable homebuilder! At $25.50, the 52-week range is $13.16 to $27.80. A lot of good news already has to be priced in, so we would want to expect upside to remain positive here. Estimates are $0.04 EPS and $381.9 million in revenue.

THURSDAY, MAY 24

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) almost always beats its earnings estimates. At $83.75 the 52-week range is $70.22 to $92.10; analysts have a target price of $86.80 or so. Estimates are $0.87 EPS and $22.1 billion in revenue.

Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) has come off of its highs significantly and this is the king of jewelry stores for investors. There will have been two smaller reports ahead of Tiffany in the week with Fred’s and Zale. Estimates for Tiffany are $0.69 EPS and $816.8 million. With shares under $61.00, the 52-week range is $56.21 to $84.49 and the consensus price target is $75.63.

VeriFone Systems Inc. (NYSE: PAY) has pulled back by about 20% from its highs, but the woes of the company seem to be behind it. At $44.80, the 52-week range is $30.25 to $55.89 and the consensus analyst price target is $54.10. Estimates are $0.61 EPS and $471.5 million in revenue.

As a reminder, dates and estimates can change ahead of earnings and some may have already changed.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Calendar, Earnings, The Week Tagged: AZO, BBY, BIG, COST, DELL, HPQ, NTAP, P, PAY, PETM, RL, TECD, TIF, TOL, URBN

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ARMH, BIG, CHKM, CSCO, CPWM, DLB, HGSI, JDSU, LINE, MMM, NOV, ORCL, RGP, TPX, TLLP, TEVA, VRTX)

Administrator — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:25:05 +0000

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

ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) Raised to Market Perform at Bernstein.

Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.

Chesapeake Midstream Partners, L.P. (NYSE: CHKM) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Reiterated Buy with $24 target at Argus.

Cost Plus Inc. (NASDAQ: CPWM) Cut to Neutral at Wedbush.

Dolby Labs, Inc. (NYSE: DLB) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.

Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) Cut to Market Perform at Leerink Swann.

JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ: JDSU) Raised to Buy at UBS.

Linn Energy, LLC (NASDAQ: LINE) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) Cut to Market Perform at Bernstein.

National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV) Maintained Buy but cut target to $90 at Argus.

Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) Cut to Hold at ThinkEquity.

Regency Energy Partners LP (NYSE: RGP) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Tempur-Pedic International Inc. (NYSE: TPX) Raised to Strong Buy at Raymond James.

Tesoro Logistics LP (NYSE: TLLP) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NASDAQ: TEVA) Cut to Hold at Needham.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: VRTX) Cut to Outperform at RBC.

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: Analyst Calls Tagged: ARMH, BIG, CHKM, CPWM, CSCO, DLB, HGSI, JDSU, LINE, MMM, NOV, ORCL, RGP, TEVA, TLLP, TPX, VRTX

Options Take: Pressure To Remain On Wal-Mart Woes (WMT, TGT, DG, BIG)

Administrator — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 18:56:43 +0000

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is still deep in the soup. Since the news broke over the weekend over bribes in Mexico involving its current and former top-brass, Wal-Mart shares have slid and slid. The drop in late Wednesday trading is down only 0.3% to $57.60, but this was a $62.45 stock on Friday.

Wal-Mart’s stock almost never moves this much from start to finish in a 3-day period and the shares are approaching an oversold level. The problem in trusting any chart at this point is that the news flow and headline risk remains greater than the odds that the headlines will suddenly become good here.

We recently noted that options trades were betting on Wal-Mart shares going down to $56.50 os so by mid-June and ultimately to $55.50 or so by mid-September. Shares were down 4.7% to $59.50 at that time, but now they are down to the $57.60 level.

If we use the December 2012 PUT OPTIONS today, the bets are still strong on the downside. In the DEC-2012 $55.00 PUTS we have seen 2,730 contracts trade against a listed open interest of only 219 contracts. There were also in the same month $60.00 PUTS some 5,204 contracts traded so far today against a prior open interest of only 155 contracts. This may be a hedge or a roll, but the implication is that either Wal-Mart is headed down to $52.50 or so in December. If the bet is not that the stock falls that far, then it is a synthetic long where an investor is willing to take delivery of shares at just under $52.50 just a few days before Christmas.

What is so interesting about the Wal-Mart news is that investors have not gone out and started rewarding rival Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT). The king of dollar stores is Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG) and it and other rivals have not been amply rewarded. Part of the blame on a negative retail sector may be on stores like Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) with its downward guidance effectively having taken shares down from $45 to $35 this week.

Maybe Wal-Mart can get saved by statutes of limitation. Maybe it can sneak its way out of this. Unfortunately, the negative pressure that Wal-Mart had been getting away from is back and this pressure is unlikely to go away in an instant. The good news is that the allegations are all in the past rather than the current corporate culture, but the bad news is that the pressure here could end up toppling management at the highest levels of the world’s largest retailer.

The long and short of the matter is that U.S. companies are expected to uphold certain ethical rules and practices. Bribes are illegal, even if companies do not get punished for the activity on the foreign soil.

The flip-side to this is that no one will really be able to address (nor really fix) the underlying issue: doing business and Mexico and in Latin America is not quite as straightforward as ‘ethics officers’ would hope. Outright bribes, gifts, donations, and other business enhancing methods are all just a small part of the business culture once you go south of Texas, News Mexico, Arizona, and California.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Accounting, Activist Investor, Austerity, Compensation, Conglomerates, Consumer Goods, Corporate Governance, Large Cap Stocks, Law, Management Change, Options, Retail, Shareholder Issues Tagged: BIG, DG, TGT, WMT

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (AAPL, T, XRX, GE, LNKD, BIG, AZO, APD, BHI, COH, ITW, MHP, RSH, RF, HSY, NFLX, IBM, NAT, EGLE)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:11:08 +0000

Markets opened mixed this morning, with the DJIA showing much more strength than the S&P 500, which opened higher, or the Nasdaq, which opened lower. The S&P Case-Shiller house price index showed another decline in home prices (our coverage here), although new home sales rose slightly. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index was lower this month as well (our coverage here). Tech stocks have been weak all day as sentiment about the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) earnings report faltered following comments from AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) related to iPhone connections (our coverage here). The US dollar index fell today, now down -0.25% at 79.220. The GSCI commodity index is down -0.28% at 675.82, with commodities mostly rising on the weaker dollar. WTI crude oil closed up 0.4% at $103.55/barrel, and Brent crude trades down -0.48% at $118.14/barrel. Gold settled up 0.7% today, at $1,643.80/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 74 points to 13,001.56 (0.58%), the NASDAQ fell nearly 9 points (-0.30%) to 2,961.60, and the S&P 500 rose 0.37% or about 5 points to 1,371.97.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Xerox Corp. (NYSE: XRX) reiterated ‘buy’ with a target price of $13 at Argus; General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) reiterated ‘buy’ with a target price of $22 at Argus; LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD) started as ‘overweight’ at Piper Jaffray; Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) cut to ‘hold’ at Deutsche Bank; and AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) raised to ‘overweight’ at JPMorgan.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: AT&T is up 3.9% at $31.81; Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (NYSE: APD) is down -4.3% at $84.91; Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) is up 5.3% at $43.23 (more coverage here); Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) is down -4% at $72.10 (more coverage here); Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE: ITW) is up 2.7% at $56.71; McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. (NYSE: MHP) is down -3% at $47.65; RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) is down -10.3% at $5.36 after posting a new 52-week intraday low of $5.27; Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) is up 5.4% at $6.42; The Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY) is up 5.7% at $65.86 after posting a new 52-week intraday high of $66.94; and Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) is down -14.6% at $87.01.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) is up .0.8% at $200.24. The tech giant raised its dividend today. More coverage here.

North American Tankers Ltd. (NYSE: NAT) is up 1.5% at $14.01. Shipping rates for dry bulk shippers are rising and tanker rates, especially for the smaller (1 million barrels) crude carriers of the Suezmax class. Many other shippers are also getting a boost today, including Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. (NASDAQ: EGLE), which is up 6.8% at $1.88.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee wraps up its two-day meeting and Chairman Ben Bernanke will hold a press conference this afternoon. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
8:30 a.m. – Durable goods orders
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
11:30 a.m. – 5-yr note auction
2:00 p.m. – FOMC forecasts

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AAPL, APD, AZO, BHI, BIG, COH, EGLE, GE, HSY, IBM, ITW, LNKD, MHP, NAT, NFLX, RF, RSH, T, XRX

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ALSN, AZO, BIG, CHKP, CMG, CTRN, DWRE, GE, ILMN, LNKD, PBY, RMBS, TXN, UNH, XRX)

Administrator — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:04:35 +0000

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

Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ALSN) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse; Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs; Started as Neutral at Citigroup.

AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.

Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP) Maintained Hold at Argus.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG) Cut to Neutral on valuation at Credit Suisse; Reiterated Buy with $480 target at Argus.

Citi Trends, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTRN) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Demandware, Inc. (NYSE: DWRE) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank; Started as Outperform at William Blair; Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer; Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) Reiterated Buy with $22 target at Argus.

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) Reiterated Buy with $54 target at BofA/ML.

LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) Started as Overweight at Piper Jaffray.

Pep Boys-Manny, Moe & Jack Inc. (NYSE: PBY) Cut to Sell at Argus.

Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN) Reiterated Buy with $36 target at BofA/ML.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) Reiterated Buy with $13 target at Argus.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ALSN, AZO, BIG, CHKP, CMG, CTRN, DWRE, GE, ILMN, LNKD, PBY, RMBS, TXN, UNH, XRX

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (TRV, LOW, MSI, PCS, MWW, BIG, GCO, BIOF, BAGL, YELP, SFLY, VRNG, PRTS, OSTK)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 21:18:09 +0000

The major US stock indexes opened lower this morning following some weak data on European unemployment. Buyers tried to come back but low volume so far has kept trading lower, and a last-minute rally seems to have gone nowhere. The dollar is stronger today, with the dollar index up 0.75% at 79.379. The stronger dollar is pushing some commodities down, with crude oil the hardest hit. WTI crude closed down -2% at $106.70/barrel and Brent crude is down -1.84% at $123.88/barrel. Gold settled down -0.7% at $1,709.80/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down nearly 3 points to12,977.57 (-0.02%), the NASDAQ fell nearly 13 points -0.43%) to 2,976.19, and the S&P 500 fell -0.32% or nearly 4.5 points to 1,369.63.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Travelers Companies (NYSE: TRV) cut to ‘equal weight’ at Morgan Stanley; Lowe’s Companies (NYSE: LOW) raised to ‘equal weight’ at Morgan Stanley; Motorola Solutions Inc. (NYSE: MSI) raised to ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse; MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS) maintained as ‘buy’ with $15 target price at Argus; and Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW) cut to ‘neutral’ at UBS.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) is down -4.2% at $42.61; Genesco Inc. (NYSE: GCO) is up 4.2% at $73.58 after posting a new 52-week high of $74.89 earlier today; Biofuel Energy Corp. (NASDAQ: BIOF) is up 5.5% at $0.76; and Einstein Noah Restaurant Group Inc. (NASDAQ: BAGL) is up 3.6% at $14.99.

Here’s our preview of next week’s earnings announcements.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) is up nearly 64% at $24.55 following its IPO at $15/share this morning. Move coverage here.

Shutterfly Inc. (NASDAQ: SFLY) is up 16% at $31.22. The social networking company has struck a deal with Eastman Kodak Co. (EKDKQ) to provide a stalking-horse bid for some of Kodak’s assets. More coverage here.

Vringo Inc. (AMEX: VRNG) is up more than 13% at $1.63. The social network app maker is probably getting a bump from the success of Yelp’s IPO.

U.S. Auto Parts Network Inc. (NASDAQ: PRTS) is down more than -19% at $4.00. The retail parts auto parts distributor missed consensus estimates last night.

Overstock.com Inc. (NASDAQ: OSTK) is down more than -11% at $6.11 after posting a new 52-week low of $5.89 earlier this morning. The online discounter posted an unexpectedly quarterly loss this morning.

Stay tuned for Monday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

10:00 a.m. – Factory orders
10:00 a.m. – ISM non-manufacturing index
11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6-month Treasury bill auction

Have a great weekend!

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire Tagged: BAGL, BIG, BIOF, GCO, LOW, MSI, MWW, OSTK, PCS, PRTS, SFLY, TRV, VRNG, Yelp

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (LULU, CLF, DPZ, WNR, SINA, GES, BIG, ZUMZ, RY, BNS, YRCWD, WDC, RIMM, THC, JASO)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:12:02 +0000

Stocks got off to a good start this morning following the Labor Department’s report on non-farm payrolls, up slightly less than expected at 120,000 new jobs, and an unexpected drop in US unemployment from 9% to 8.6%. Also supporting prices this morning was news that the European Central Bank would lend 100-200 million euros to the IMF to hand out to debtor nations in the Eurozone. Gains peaked in the early morning and have remained up only modestly since about noon. The dollar strengthened against both the euro and the yen, keeping gains for both crude oil and gold at under 1%. Crude oil is trading at $100.83/barrel and gold is trading at $1,747.10/ounce just before today’s close.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down less than 1 point to 12,019.42 (-0.01%), the NASDAQ rose less than 1 point (0.03%) to 2,626.93, and the S&P 500 fell 0.02% or less than 1 point to 1,244.28. Folks, that’s flat!

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) raised to ‘buy’ at KeyBanc. Other ratings action Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) raised to ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse; Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) started as ‘hold’ at KeyBanc; Western Refining Inc. (NYSE: WNR) raised to ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse; Sina Corp. (NASDAQ: SINA) raised to ‘buy’ at Deutsche Bank; and Guess? Inc. (NYSE: GES) cut to ‘neutral’ at Citigroup.

Here are today’s big post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading:
Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE: BIG) is down -8.6%% at $36.34; Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ: ZUMZ) is up 23.9% at $28.95; Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY) is up 3.4% at $47.82; and Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE: BNS) is down -3.1% at $48.08.

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

YRC Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCWD) is up 29.7% at $12.61. The freight hauler concluded a 1-for-300 reverse split that drove the share price to $9 from $0.03.

Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) is up about 7% at $31.30. The computer disk drive maker announced that it was resuming operations at one of its flooded Thai plants and raised its revenue estimate for the current quarter. More details here.

Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) is down about -9.6% at $16.79. The smartphone and tablet maker announced an inventory writedown of $485 million for unsold PlayBook tablets and said that full-year earnings would be lower. Detailed coverage here.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. (NYSE: THC) is down more than -10% at $4.20. The health care facilities operator likely is suffering from a lowered target price from BMO Capital Markets with rating of ‘market perform’.

JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) is down nearly -7% at $1.74. The solar PV maker is likely giving back gains made over the past two days. The was little reason for the gain in the first place, so that investors are taking it back should be no surprise.

Stay tuned for Monday. We have noted a speech due from Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans and short-term Treasury bill auctions in the morning. Here are other noteworthy events scheduled for Monday (all times Eastern):

10:00 a.m. – Census Bureau factory orders report
10:00 a.m. – Industrial Supply Management non-manufacturing index

Have a great weekend.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: BIG, BNS, CLF, DPZ, GES, JASO, LULU, RIMM, RY, SINA, THC, WDC, WNR, YRCWD, ZUMZ