24/7 Wall St. » BUD

Investors Seeking Defensive Stocks Where 3% to Over 5% Dividends Rule!

Administrator — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:14:54 +0000

A stock market that sells off eight of nine days is not a good market. Even the Facebook IPO is being viewed as a one-off item rather than a systemic item which will make the market stronger. With “Sell in May and go away!” remaining prevalent and with Europe in meltdown as Asia slows, the big question is where to hide. Some investors just refuse to accept the floor-level rates of CDs and Treasury bills and Treasury notes, so they go hide out in the defensive stocks like tobacco, consumer staples, basic level food, utilities, big-pharma, and maybe even those high-yields in telecom. This is a market where defensive stocks should rule the roost.

People are going to buy Coke and Pepsi, most likely, in almost any economy. Pepsico, Inc. (NYSE: PEP) is actually up 0.6% at $67.23 against a 52-week high of $71.89; Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is down 0.6% at $76.95 against a 52-week high of $77.82. With yields of about 3% on average, these pay about the same as the 30-Year Treasury’s long-bond. The beer segment remains uncorrelated to defensive stocks as it did last week (in part due to currencies): Anheuser-Busch InBev SA (NYSE: BUD) is down by 0.7% at $71.43 and Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE: TAP) is down 1.2% at $40.81. Even the best water utility in America via American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE: AWK) is down another 1% $33.99 against a 52-week and all-time high of $34.89.

Food is supposed to be defensive. You gotta eat, right? McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is down almost 0.4% at $91.55 and getting further and further away from that $102.22 all-time high recently seen. The rest of the defensive food segment is up to mixed as food is defensive and with dividends:

Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) is up 0.4% at $39.20 with a 3% yield that challenges the long-bond;
ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE: CAG) is down 0.2% at $25.67 with a 3.7% yield that beats the long-bond;
Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) is up 0.25% at $34.49 with a 3.4% yield that beats the long-bond;
Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE: HRL) is down only 0.1% at $29.08 but its 2.1% yield is ‘only’ paying what the 10-year has been paying recently.

Smoking has those nice 5%-plus yields for the defensive tobacco sector: Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) is down only 0.1% at $31.75 against a 52-week high of $32.62; Vector Group Ltd. (NYSE: VGR) is down 0.5% at $16.73; and Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI) is down only 0.2% at $40.41 against a high of $42.81.

Diapers, toothpaste, deodorant, and shaving… consumer products are acting defensive: Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) is down only 0.3% at $63.50 with a 3.5% yield; Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE: KMB) is up by 0.3% at $79.62 with a 3.7% yield; Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) is down 0.1% at $99.20 but it only pays about 2.5% for a dividend yield.

Drug and medical is mixed to positive: Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) is up by over 0.8% at $38.35 with its 4.4% yield; Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) is down only $0.01 at $22.64 with its 3.9% yield; and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is down 0.5% at $64.00 with its 3.8% yield.

Those smartphones and telephones are not acting defensive at all today with Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) down 0.9% at $40.80 with its 5% yield and with AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) down 0.7% at $33.36 with a 5.4% yield.

Some investors are willing to suffer from the near-zero return of Treasuries, while others are going to try to look for the safest of stocks to seek safe and steady dividends. The DJIA is down 0.7% and the S&P 500 was down 0.6% at last look. Both are actually much better than what we were looking at just two hours or so ago.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Defensive Stocks, Dividend Tagged: AWK, BUD, CAG, CL, CPB, HRL, JNJ, KFT, KMB, KO, MCD, MO, MRK, PEP, PFE, PG, RAI, T, TAP, VGR, VZ

The Market Where Defensive Shares Are Working Again (PEP, KO, BUD, TAP, AWK, MCD, KFT, CAG, CPB, HRL, MO, VGR, RAI, PG, KMB, CL, MRK, PFE, JNJ, T, VZ)

Administrator — Tue, 08 May 2012 16:07:03 +0000

Blame whatever you want. A weaker U.S. economy, a weakening and flailing Europe, a move to socialism in France and Greece, a weaker BRIC and emerging market story, commodity prices and on and on… Commodity prices and their tracking shares are getting hosed today. Why does the “Sell in May and go away!” profile often coincide with sell-offs so well?

After the weakness in the broad market has the DJIA down 140 points (or -1.1%) and the S&P 500 Index down 15 points or 1.1%, it turns out that most of the defensive stock sector leaders are holding up far better than the broad market in our go-to defensive stock portfolio. We have taken a look at each of these with share price snapshots right before Noon EST.

No matter what, you gotta drink! Pepsico, Inc. (NYSE: PEP) is down 0.5% at $66.28 against a 52-week high of $71.89; Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is down 0.4% at $76.97 against a 52-week high of $77.82. With yields of about 3% on average, these are now challenging the 30-Year Treasury yields. The beer segment is not acting defensive as it should, perhaps because they are foreign issues now with more currency risks: Anheuser-Busch InBev SA (NYSE: BUD) and Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE: TAP) are not acting very defensive with price corrections of 3% and 2$ respectively.

Perhaps the most defensive you can get is water, and the top water utility is American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE: AWK) with a premium valuation. This water leader is down 0.8% at $33.73 against a 52-week and all-time high of $34.89.

Food is supposed to be defensive, although a drop of 1.5% in McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) to $94.10 is causing some added stress in what was the darling of the DJIA in 2011. The rest of the defensive food segment seems to be less damaged when you evaluate the moves: Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) is down only 0.4% at $39.11; ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE: CAG) is down 0.7% at $25.52; Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) is down only 0.3% at $33.97; and Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE: HRL) is down only 1 penny at $28.92 as the world is getting excited about Spam again.

Smoking is defensive again and the tobacco stocks are holding up much better than the broad market with those 5% and higher dividends: Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) is down only $0.3% at $32.10 against a 52-week high of $32.62; Vector Group Ltd. (NYSE: VGR) is down only 0.2% at $16.88; and Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI) is down only 0.2% at $40.18 against a high of $42.81.

Shaving, diapers, toilet paper, and other consumer products are acting defensive with some gains on a weak day. Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) is trading up $0.11 at $64.36 and Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE: KMB) is up $0.08 at $79.08 with KMB challenging the 52-week high. Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) is down ‘only’ 0.5% at $99.10 against a 52-week high of $100.81.

Drug and medical is holding up on the consumer end with losses look far less than the broader market: Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) is down 0.35% at $38.40; Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) is down 0.3% at $22.38; and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is down the least with a drop of 0.2% at $64.65 against a 52-week high of $68.05.

Those smartphones and telephones are somewhat defensive, and those 5%-plus yields sure shield investors who are worried about chasing the hottest growth stocks. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) is down only 1-penny at $40.52 with a 5% dividend yield and AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) is actually up 0.2% at $33.08 with a yield of about 5.4%.

When investors want safety and when the Treasury yield is so low on the longer-term Treasury market, many investors turn to the safety of the higher dividends and safer stocks that are defensive. Greece and the rest of PIIGS may fall again, but the logic is that U.S. consumers still have to eat, drink, shave, put on deodorant, and tend to stick with their core vices as best as they can.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Consumer Goods, Defensive Stocks, Dividend, Drug companies, Food, Telecom, Tobacco Tagged: AWK, BUD, CAG, CL, CPB, HRL, JNJ, KFT, KMB, KO, MCD, MO, MRK, PEP, PFE, PG, RAI, T, TAP, VGR, VZ

America’s Favorite Beers

247wallst — Mon, 07 May 2012 03:27:48 +0000

It may be about time Budweiser relinquished its title as “King of Beers.” According to the recently released 2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend Rankings, there is a new batch of brews with stronger brand equity, customer connections and buzz. 24/7 Wall St. has examined the report, identifying the 10 beers with the strongest brands.

Read America’s Favorite Beers

The beer brands with the greatest strength — a measure of familiarity, quality, purchase consideration, trust and the ability to generate buzz — are largely more expensive brews. Nine of the 10 are among the most expensive beers out of the country’s 20 best-selling beers. The beer that is not one of the most expensive, Yuengling, is not far behind in price.

American consumers also are spending more on these beers. Dollar sales of every beer on the list has increased from one year prior. Yuengling, Blue Moon and Modelo Especial have had the largest increases among all popular beer brands. Meanwhile, many other brands, including Budweiser by Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD), Keystone Light and Natural Light, experienced decreases over this same period. Sales of Bud Light Lime dropped nearly 7% over this period.

The beers with the most powerful brands are just as varied as beer drinkers’ tastes. They differ greatly in style and originate from five different countries. They also have a range of founding dates, extending from 1759 to 1995. This illustrates that an established brand does not necessarily mean a strong brand.

24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend Rankings to identify the most popular beers, which quantifies brand strength among consumers. We included dollar sales, change in dollar sales from one year ago and case sales. We also included the average price per case over the latest 52-week period in the United States provided by SymphonyIRI Group, a Chicago-based market research firm. The group looked at sales at supermarkets, drugstores, gas/convenience stores and mass market retailers, but excluding Walmart (NYSE: WMT) club stores, and liquor stores.

These are America’s favorite beers.

Filed under: Special Report Tagged: BUD, DEO, featured, SAM, WMT

Budweiser Sales Rise, InBev Shares Falter (BUD, TAP, SAM, SBMRY)

Paul Ausick — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:16:39 +0000

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (NYSE: BUD) reported first quarter earnings this morning that beat consensus estimates for EPS and barely missed revenues, but the company’s shares are lower on concerns about US sales, rising costs, rising distribution expenses, and rising marketing costs.

AB InBev posted EPS of $1.06 versus the consensus estimate of $0.91 and revenue of $9.33 billion against a consensus estimate of $9.36 billion. EPS was 75% higher than the same period a year ago. Molson Coors Brewing Co. (NYSE: TAP) is expected to post EPS of $0.42 on revenue of $703.83 million for the first quarter, down a penny from the same period a year ago. Boston Brewing Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM) is expected to post EPS of $0.40, up from $0.28 a year ago, on revenue of $112.13 million. SABMiller PLC (OTC: SBMRY.PK) is expected to haul in EPS of $1.89 on revenue of $19.23 billion for the 2012 fiscal year.

AB InBev’s outlook is weighing on the share price this morning. The company front-loaded US shipments in the first quarter, and anticipates “softer shipments in the US in 2Q12 as a result.” The company also expects a boost in the minimum wage in Brazil, its second largest market, to “accelerate industry beer volumes. The company also forecasts revenue to “grow ahead of inflation.”

The less-good nes is that cost of sales is expected to increase by “mid single digits,” and AB InBev’s distribution expenses are expected to rise “by mid to high single digits.” The company plans to “continue to drive top-line performance by investing behind our brands.” To investors, that all sounds like running hard in order to remain in the same place.

AB InBev’s shares are down about -0.7% this morning at $72.12 in a 52-week range of $49.05-$74.31.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Earnings, Food Tagged: BUD, featured, SAM, SBMRY, TAP

Molson Coors Buys European Brewer (TAP, BUD)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:57:24 +0000

North American brewing giant Molson Coors Brewing Co. (NYSE: TAP) has announced the acquisition of StarBev L.P., a Central and Eastern European brewer based in The Netherlands and the Czech Republic, for $3.54 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2012.

Molson Coors said that it will pay for StarBev with $3 billion in cash and debt and up to $667 million in convertible debt issued to the seller, private equity firm CVC Funds, which bought StarBev from Anheuser Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD) in 2009. Molson Coors also expects the acquisition to boost earnings in its first full year of operation and plans approximately $50 million in operational savings by 2015.

Molson Coors’ shares are down a penny in the pre-market this morning, at $45.65 in a 52-week range of $37.99-$49.58.

Filed under: Food, Mergers and Buy Outs Tagged: BUD, TAP

Light Beers Looking for More Drinkers (TAP, BUD, SBMRY)

Paul Ausick — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:02:50 +0000

The light beer revolution that was launched in the mid-1970s has been having a rough time lately. Though the global market for light beet remains around $50 billion annually, beer sales in general and light beer sales in particular have been declining.

A joint venture between Molson Coors Brewing Co. (NYSE: TAP) and SABMiller (OTC: SBMRY.PK), dubbed MillerCoors LLC, is getting ready to spend big on advertising in the next few months to try to convince drinkers to come back to the light stuff. Anheuser Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD), brewers of Bud Light, hasn’t announced a new ad push, but clearly the company also has something to protect. Brewers are losing share, and shelf space, to wines and craft beers and need somehow to halt the slide.

A report at Bloomberg News notes that four of the top five selling beers in the US are light beers, which would seem to be good news. But that’s only part of the story:

Still, as consumers turn to more exciting alternatives, U.S. beer sales volumes have dropped for three straight years, including a 1.5 percent decline in 2011, according to the Beverage Information Group, a Norwalk, Connecticut-based researcher. Coors Light — the only Top 5 U.S. beer still growing — posted a 1 percent increase last year, the same as in 2010.

Advertising made Miller Light and Coors Light the phenomena they became. Now it has to pull off the same trick again, to breathe some new life into a product whose time may be past.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Consumer Goods, Food Tagged: BUD, SBMRY, TAP

Top Earnings Previews for the Rest of the Week (P, AEO, PLCE, HRB, HOV, AONE, ALTR, BUD, RENN, SFD, WSM)

Administrator — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 17:32:06 +0000

Earnings season is over for the most part, but we still have many widely held companies which are due to report earnings this week. We have compiled earnings previews for the following shares: Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P); American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO); Children’s Place Retail Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCE); H and R Block Inc. (NYSE: HRB); Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: HOV); A123 Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: AONE); Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR); Anheuser Busch Inbev SA (NYSE: BUD); Renren Inc. (NYSE: RENN); Smithfield Foods Inc. (NYSE: SFD); and Williams Sonoma Inc. (NYSE: WSM). We have broken these out by day and included Thomson Reuters consensus data on each. Color has been added on some of the names as well.

Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) reports after the close on Tuesday and investors are still trying to get a better grasp on its business model as far as how it will make money. The company surprised before. Estimates are -$0.02 EPS on just over $83 million in sales and the market value is $2.2 billion.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7

American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO) has estimates of $0.35 EPS and $1.05 billion in sales. With where its stock is around $14.50, this looks fairly valued so it will likely take good news or bad news to move the stock.

Children’s Place Retail Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCE) has estimates of $0.91 EPS on just over $478.1 million in sales.

H&R Block Inc. (NYSE: HRB) is expected to report $0.05 EPS and $700 million sales, but next quarter is the tax-season money quarter. Next quarter targets are $2.24 EPS on $2.11 billion in sales. To emphasize how much the tax season matters, the entire fiscal year-end of April 2012 is expected to be $3.01 billion.

Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: HOV) is expected to report -$0.47 EPS and $287.66 million in sales.

THURSDAY, MARCH 8

A123 Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: AONE) failed to rally on Tuesday’s construction news. Estimates are -$0.51 EPS on almost $48.5 million in revenues. Shares are well under $2.00 now.

Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) is a ‘business update’ rather than a formal earnings release. Estimates are $0.37 EPS and $426.8 million in sales.

Anheuser Busch Inbev SA (NYSE: BUD) has estimates of $0.91 EPS and $9.9 billion in sales. We would remind investors that this is now translated from Euros now that this is not a U.S.-based company.

Renren Inc. (NYSE: RENN) is still down and out from its 2011 IPO but it is still very actively traded as a Facebook knock-off in China. Renren is expected to report earnings of $0.02 EPS and almost $32.3 million in sales. Next quarter estimates are -$0.04 EPS on almost $30.9 million in sales.

Smithfield Foods Inc. (NYSE: SFD) is expected to report earnings of $0.66 EPS and $3.5 billion in sales.

Williams Sonoma Inc. (NYSE: WSM) is expected to report earnings of $1.13 EPS and $1.25 billion in sales. Shares are down almost 15% from the 52-week high and the shares are still close to the consensus price target of $39.57.

Keep in mind on any of these companies that dates and estimates can change without notice.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Calendar, Earnings Tagged: AEO, ALTR, AONE, BUD, HOV, HRB, P, PLCE, RENN, SFD, WSM

Top Earnings Previews For The Week Ahead (FMCN, TEA, URBN, PAY, P, AEO, PLCE, HRB, HOV, AONE, ALTR, BUD, RENN, SFD, WSM)

Administrator — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 17:40:06 +0000

Earnings season is over for the most part, but we still have many companies that are widely held stocks due to release their earnings for the week ahead. We are tracking earnings due in the following shares: Focus Media Holding Ltd. (NASDAQ: FMCN); Teavana Holdings Inc. (NYSE: TEA); Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN); VeriFone Systems Inc. (NYSE: PAY); Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P); American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO); Children’s Place Retail Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCE); H and R Block Inc. (NYSE: HRB); Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: HOV); A123 Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: AONE); Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR); Anheuser Busch Inbev SA (NYSE: BUD); Renren Inc. (NYSE: RENN); Smithfield Foods Inc. (NYSE: SFD); and Williams Sonoma Inc. (NYSE: WSM).

We have broken these out by day and included Thomson Reuters consensus data on each. Color has been added on some of the names as well.

MONDAY, MARCH 5

Focus Media Holding Ltd. (NASDAQ: FMCN) has already recovered handily from when alleged accounting woes were surrounding this company. This is the outdoor advertiser in China. Estimates are $0.61 EPS and $225.1 million in sales.

Teavana Holdings Inc. (NYSE: TEA) remains a premium company with great products and growth, but at a price for a small tea retail empire trading at close to 40-times next year’s expected earnings. Estimates are $0.32 EPS on $67.8 million in sales.

Urban Outfitters Inc (NASDAQ: URBN) has recovered off of its lows but the company remains an early turnaround story. The real question is what the growth opportunities are for the next decade compared to the growth of the last decade. Earnings estimates are $0.20 EPS on $742.9 million in sales.

VeriFone Systems Inc. (NYSE: PAY) has estimates of $0.52 EPS on about $417.5 million in sales.

TUESDAY, MARCH 6

Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) remains in limbo and investors are still trying to get a better grasp on its business model as far as how it will make money. The company surprised before. Estimates are -$0.02 EPS on almost $83 million in sales and the market value is $2.2 billion.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7

American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO) has estimates of $0.35 EPS and $1.05 billion in sales.

Children’s Place Retail Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCE) has estimates of $0.89 EPS on just over $478 million in sales.

H and R Block Inc. (NYSE: HRB) is expected to report $0.05 EPS and $700 million sales, but next quarter is the tax-season money quarter and the estimates are currently $2.24 EPS on $2.11 billion in sales. To emphasize how much the tax season matters, the entire fiscal year-end of April 2012 is expected to be $3.01 billion.

Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: HOV) is expected to report -$0.47 EPS and $287.6 million in sales. While this is a homebuilder and while it has been widely followed before, this is probably not going to be a sector-mover for homebuilders.

THURSDAY, MARCH 8

A123 Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: AONE) is challenged with shares now down under $2.00 and a weak performance late in the week. Estimates are -$0.41 EPS on almost $53.7 million in revenues. It seems sad that lithium-ion batteries are not doing well and around $1.80 it has a 52-week range of $1.51 to $8.70.

Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) is a ‘business update’ rather than a formal earnings release but investors will be watching its guidance. Estimates are $0.37 EPS and $426.8 million in sales.

Anheuser Busch Inbev SA (NYSE: BUD) has estimates of $0.91 EPS and $9.9 billion in sales, but keep in mind that this is now translated from Euros now that this is not a U.S.-based company.

Renren Inc. (NYSE: RENN) is down massively from its 2011 IPO but it is still very actively traded as a Facebook knock-off in China. Renren is expected to report earnings of $0.02 EPS and $32.3 million in sales.

Smithfield Foods Inc. (NYSE: SFD) is expected to report earnings of $0.67 EPS and $3.5 billion in sales.

Keep in mind on any of these companies that dates and estimates can change without notice.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Calendar, Earnings, The Week Tagged: AEO, ALTR, AONE, BUD, FMCN, HOV, HRB, P, PAY, PLCE, RENN, SFD, TEA, URBN, WSM

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (AAPL, X, NVDA, BUD, ALU, MWW, DBD, KVHI, NTE, ESTE, BDCO, GNOM, CHTP, CRD-A, GEVO)

Paul Ausick — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:04:22 +0000

Equity markets got off to a good start this morning as all three major US stock indexes opened higher on the news that the Greek parliament had approved a new round of austerity measures, which the country hopes will lead to a $172 billion bailout package from the EU, the IMF, and the European Central Bank. There wasn’t much else to boost stocks this morning, other than Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) finally busting through the $500/share barrier (our coverage here). The dollar gained strength versus the euro as the day went on, putting a little more pressure on equity prices. Crude oil moved up sharply on improving global economic conditions and reports from tanker owners that they would be avoiding Persian Gulf crude supplies (our coverage here). WTI crude rose more than 2% to $100.71/barrel and Brent crude rose 0.19% to $117.52/barrel. Gold settled down less than -0.1% at $1,724.90/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up nearly 73 points to 12,874.04 (0.57%), the NASDAQ rose more than 27 points (0.95%) to 2,931.39, and the S&P 500 rose 0.68% or more than 9 points to 1,351.76.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including U.S. Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) cut to ‘hold’ at KeyBanc; Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) raised to ‘outperform’ at FBR; Anheuser Bush InBev (NYSE: BUD) started as ‘neutral’ at Credit Suisse; Alcatel Lucent SA (NYSE: ALU) cut to ‘sell’ at SocGen; and Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW) cut to ‘sell’ at Citigroup.

Earnings reports since markets closed last Friday have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Diebold Inc. (NYSE: DBD) is up 9.3% at $37.97 after posting a new 52-week high of $39.72 earlier today; KVH Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: KVHI) is down -8.7% at $9.04; Nam Tai Electronics Inc. (NYSE: NTE) is down more than -12% at $5.83; and Earthstone Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: ESTE) is up 22% at $21.35. See our preview of companies announcing earnings tomorrow.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Blue Dolphin Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: BDCO) is up about 69% at $8.75 after posting a new 52-week high of $10.48. The pipeline and oil & gas producer has no news, but crude prices are rising today and Blue Dolphin is appealing to investors.

Complete Genomics Inc. (NASDAQ: GNOM) is up nearly 40% at $4.60. The DNA-sequencing company has been selected by the Mayo Clinic to supply outsourced whole human genome sequencing.

Chelsea Therapeutics International Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTP) is down more than -38% at $3.08 after posting a new 52-week low of $2.90 earlier today. The development stage pharmaceutical company reported that it would present additional information for its new drug application currently pending before the FDA. More coverage here.

Crawford & Co. (NYSE: CRD-A) is down more than -13% at $3.95. The claims management service reported weaker than expected earnings this morning.

Gevo Inc. (NASDAQ: GEVO) is up nearly 20% at $$10.18. The alternative energy company has no news today. See more coverage here.

Stay tuned for Tuesday. Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser and Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart are giving speeches. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

7:30 a.m. – Small business optimism index
8:30 a.m. – Retail sales
8:30 a.m. – Export and import prices
10:00 a.m. – Business inventories
11:30 a.m. – 4-week Treasury bill auction

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire Tagged: AAPL, ALU, BDCO, BUD, CHTP, CRD-A, DBD, ESTE, GEVO, GNOM, KVHI, MWW, NTE, NVDA, X

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ANF, AES, ALU, BUD, BHI, DD, EL, MNKD, MU, MWW, NE, NVDA, SHLD, TSCO, X, V)

Administrator — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:17:32 +0000

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

Abercrombie & Fitch Company (NYSE: ANF) Reiterated Buy with $70 target at Jefferies.
AES Corporation (NYSE: AES) Started as Buy at UBS.
Alcatel-Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU) Cut to Sell at Soc-Gen.
Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE: DD) Started as Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.
Estee Lauder Companies, Inc. (NYSE: EL) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ: MNKD) Started as Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
Micron Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) Reiterated Outperform with $12.00 target at Credit Suisse.
Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: MWW) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
Noble Corporation (NYSE: NE) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
Sears Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Tractor Supply Co. (NASDAQ: TSCO) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
U.S. Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) Cut to Hold at KeyBanc.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $130 at Argus.

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JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: AES, ALU, ANF, BHI, BUD, DD, EL, MNKD, MU, MWW, NE, NVDA, SHLD, TSCO, V, X