24/7 Wall St. » BWLD

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ADTN, AAPL, ARNA, T, BEAM, BBBY, BBY, BWLD, CVX, HEK, JPM, MYGN, PRA, RSH, RXN, RIMM, SLF, TXRH, VZ)

Administrator — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:46:18 +0000

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

Adtran Inc. (NASDAQ: ADTN) Reiterated Buy and $39 target at Argus.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Maintained Outperform but cut estimates at Credit Suisse (full details).

Arena Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ARNA) Raised to Buy at Jefferies; Raised to Outperform at Leerink Swann.

AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Beam Spirits Inc. (NYSE: BEAM) Maintained Hold at Argus.

Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) Cut to Neutral with $20 target at Credit Suisse.

Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) Reiterated Buy with $130 target at Argus.

Heckmann Corporation (NYSE: HEK) Started as Outperform with $5 target at Credit Suisse.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) Maintained Outperform but cut estimates at Credit Suisse; Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus; Cut to Market Perform at FBR.

Myriad Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN) Started as Neutral at BofA/ML.

ProAssurance Corp. (NYSE: PRA) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

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

Rexnord Corporation (NYSE: RXN) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) Maintained Neutral and cut estimates at Credit Suisse.

Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE: SLF) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Texas Roadhouse (NASDAQ: TXRH) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Verizon Communications, Inc. (NYSE: VZ) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

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: AAPL, ADTN, ARNA, BBBY, BBY, BEAM, BWLD, CVX, HEK, JPM, MYGN, PRA, RIMM, RSH, RXN, SLF, T, TXRH, VZ

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (AAPL, JCP, MCD, WMT, BWLD, AXE, EW, JNPR, NSC, NFX, AN, CWEI, GLW, HOG, LAD, LCC, CAT, CNH, BA)

Paul Ausick — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:06:51 +0000

Markets opened higher this morning, led by the Nasdaq which got a big boost from the strong report last night from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL). The report from the US Census Bureau on durable goods orders showed a decline in new orders (our coverage here), but Apple’s strength overcame that news. The EIA report on crude oil inventories showed a larger than expected gain this week, holding crude prices in check (our coverage here). The FOMC announcement held no surprises, with the committee indicating that it expects interest rates to remain very low through late 2014 (our coverage here). The US dollar index fell today, now down -0.18% at 79.083. The GSCI commodity index is up fractionally at 674.83, with commodities mixed on the slightly weaker dollar. WTI crude oil closed up 0.6% at $104.12/barrel, and Brent crude trades up 0.74% at $1119.03/barrel. Gold settled down -0.1% today, at $1,642.30/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 89 points to 13,090.95 (0.69%), the NASDAQ rose more than 68 points (2.3%) to 3,029.63, and the S&P 500 rose 1.37% or nearly 19 points to 1,390.70.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Apple raised to ‘outperform’ at Scotia and maintained ‘buy’ with a target price of $775 at Canaccord Genuity; J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) raised to ‘market perform’ at BMO; McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) cut to ‘hold’ at Argus; Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) started as ‘buy’ at Citigroup; Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) cut to ‘hold’ at Argus; and Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD) raised to ‘buy’ at Deutsche Bank.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Apple is up 8.9% at $610.02 (our coverage here); Anixter International Inc. (NYSE: AXE) is down -4% at $66.76; Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW) is up 11.5% at $81.74; Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) is down -4% at $20.78; Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC) is up 3.6% at $72.77; Newfield Exploration Co. (NYSE: NFX) is up 5.2% at $35.47; AutoNation Inc. (NYSE: AN) is down -0.9% at $33.27; Clayton Williams Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: CWEI) is up 1.6% at $76.45; Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) is up 6.7% at $14.25; Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG) is up 6.1% at $53.45 after posting a new 52-week high of $53.98 earlier today; Lithia Motors Inc. (NYSE: LAD) is up 7.4% at $26.84; and US Airways Group Inc. (NYSE: LCC) is up 2.5% at $9.55 (more coverage here).

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) is down -4.5% at $103.55. The heavy equipment maker reported declining sales in China as growth in the country has slowed, which led to the sell-off today.

CNH Global NV (NYSE: CNH) is up 3.6% at $45.66. The farm equipment maker beat EPS estimates by almost 50% and sales were also higher.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) is up 5.3% at $77.06. The aircraft maker reported solid earnings and revenues this morning. More coverage here.

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

8:30 a.m. – New unemployment benefits claims
8:30 a.m. – Chicago Fed national activity index
10:00 a.m. – Pending home sales index
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. – Federal Reserve balance sheet and money supply

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AAPL, AN, AXE, BA, BWLD, CAT, CNH, CWEI, EW, GLW, HOG, JCP, JNPR, LAD, LCC, MCD, NFX, NSC, WMT

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AAPL, IRE, BWLD, CYMI, DPZ, ETH, FITB, ISRG, JCP, LEG, MCD, RF, SYMC, TWC, UTX, WMT)

Administrator — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:17:11 +0000

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

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Raised to Outperform at Scotia; Maintained Buy with $775 target at Canaccord Genuity.

Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Cymer Inc. (NASDAQ: CYMI) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Domino’s Pizza (NYSE: DPZ) Raised to Neutral at BofA/ML.

Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. (NYSE: ETH) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) Started as Outperform at Raymond James; Named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

J. C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE: JCP) Raised to Market Perform at BMO.

Leggett & Platt, Inc. (NYSE: LEG) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) Cut to Hold at Argus.

Regions Financial (NYSE: RF) Raised to Buy at Rochdale Securities.

Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC.

Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) Started as Buy at Citigroup.

United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) Raised to Buy at Argus.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) Cut to Hold at Argus.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AAPL, BWLD, CYMI, DPZ, ETH, FITB, IRE, ISRG, JCP, LEG, MCD, RF, SYMC, TWC, UTX, WMT

100 Best Small Companies in America

Brian Zajac — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:22:08 +0000

For the first time, 24/7 Wall St. presents the 100 Best Small Companies in America. To be considered, companies had to be publicly traded with more than $5 million and less than $1 billion in revenue. 24/7 Wall St.’s inaugural 100 Best Small Companies in America is comprised of America’s best publicly traded companies marked by outsized revenue, growth and innovation. Data for the analysis was provided by S&P Capital IQ.

Read the 100 Best Small Companies in America

The initial list based on the universe of public corporations with less than $1 billion in revenue. These companies are among the best for their size because they have increased revenue over the period covered by our analysis. Their relatively small sizes and robust sales expansion rates also makes it likely many will continue to grow even further, if the record of public company expansion is any example. Past growth does not mean all of these firms will prosper, but most on this list have been consistently profitable, which adds to the chances of future progress.

Small companies, our research shows, usually have one or two specialized divisions and are focused on one core market. For instance, Steve Madden, True Religion and rue 21 have all carved out a niche segment in the apparel and footwear market. Their lack of diversity could be a drawback because the companies rely completely on one set of products, but it can also mean that management can be laser focused on a single opportunity.

Another industry which is well represented on this list is niche healthcare. Once again, most of the firms in this sector which made the list are in only one business. Mesa Labs makes manufacturing quality control products for medical devices. It is a narrow market, and there is no guarantee that a large device manufacturer might not attack the same sector. Bio-Reference Laboratories provides testing services. Cantel Medical provides infection prevention and control devices. This infection prevention business appears to be a relatively small one, but the overall medical industry in the US is expanding at such a rapid rate and regulations are changing so quickly that some of these companies will prosper because of these changes. Given the state of American healthcare costs, not many people would be surprised to see healthcare firms on a list of fast growing companies

These corporations are also often willing to take calculated risks, in some case, as they strive to expand their bases. Retailers are a good example. Steve Madden, one of our companies, was started in 1990 with $1,100. The company has consistently added lines of apparel since then to increase revenue

Another reason to create this list is that 24/7 Wall St. recognizes that smaller companies continue to be a backbone of job growth. Corporations that are highly successful are roadmaps for the sort of industries, managements, and products and services which have done well recently. As recent access to capital has improved compared with access during the recession, well targeted and well run smaller businesses stand a much better chance of doing extremely well because they can tap pools of funding. Methodology: We ranked these companies largely based on their growth rates as well as on how they have performed financially in the recent past. The pace of these growth rates allowed us to make a final selection and rank the companies when growth was combined with eight other categories. The 100 companies on our list had a median 20% sales growth and 30% earnings per share growth over the last 12 months. Similarly, the median stock price return for the latest year for this group was 16%, which is double the return of the S&P 500 index over the same time.

While stock market performance is one of our ranking criteria, we did not remove companies for poor performance because smaller companies tend to have greater price swings than the overall market. We should point out that this is not an investment list for value seekers. Maintaining these lofty growth rates is not an easy task.

S&P Capital IQ provided us with corporate information, financial data and rankings based on a series of metrics. We started with a universe of 1,200 publicly traded, small companies, which we defined as having between $5 million and $1 billion in revenue over the last 12 months. To narrow this group down, we required that sales growth, earnings per share growth and return on equity to be greater than zero for both the latest 12 months and over the companies’ last five fiscal years. We also excluded companies whose stock price is lower than $5.This brought the size of the list to 164

The criteria we used to allow us to winnow the list to 100 companies based on a few items which included stock price. We then assigned a rank based on all of the above growth metrics and stock price returns over one and five years. For companies whose shares were not traded for five years, we used annualized figures from their first trade date. From these category rankings, each company was given an overall score that was used to produce the list.

Brian Zajac

The financial data below is from the latest available reporting period and price change is as of March 21, 2012.

Rank	Company	Sales	Sales Growth	EPS Growth	Price Change	Quotes
1	Bridgepoint Education Inc	$933m	31%	41%	36%	(NYSE: BPI)
2	SolarWinds Inc	$198m	30%	38%	73%	(NYSE: SWI)
3	Sturm Ruger & Co Inc.	$329m	29%	43%	100%	(NYSE: RGR)
4	Steven Madden Ltd	$987m	50%	26%	50%	(NASDAQ: SHOO)
5	Accretive Health Inc	$826m	36%	107%	-4%	(NYSE: AH)
6	IPG Photonics Corp	$474m	59%	113%	1%	(NASDAQ: IPGP)
7	Buffalo Wild Wings Inc	$784m	28%	30%	68%	(NASDAQ: BWLD)
8	Grand Canyon Education Inc	$427m	11%	47%	20%	(NASDAQ: LOPE)
9	LSB Industries Inc	$805m	32%	170%	5%	(NYSE: LXU)
10	Winmark Corp	$51m	25%	36%	48%	(NASDAQ: WINA)
11	Vera Bradley Inc	$461m	26%	25%	-19%	(NASDAQ: VRA)
12	Gordmans Stores Inc	$558m	7%	57%	20%	(NASDAQ: GMAN)
13	Wright Express Corp	$553m	42%	52%	27%	(NYSE: WXS)
14	rue21 Inc	$760m	20%	28%	-2%	(NASDAQ: RUE)
15	American Public Education Inc	$260m	31%	40%	-4%	(NASDAQ: APEI)
16	FleetCor Technologies Inc	$520m	20%	28%	18%	(NYSE: FLT)
17	Quality Systems Inc	$418m	25%	40%	8%	(NASDAQ: QSII)
18	Boston Beer Co Inc. (The)	$513m	11%	37%	15%	(NYSE: SAM)
19	IEC Electronics Corp	$139m	29%	25%	-37%	(AMEX: IEC)
20	Ebix Inc	$169m	28%	16%	-20%	(NASDAQ: EBIX)
21	America’s Car-Mart Inc	$378m	15%	28%	88%	(NASDAQ: CRMT)
22	Vitamin Shoppe Inc	$857m	14%	48%	33%	(NYSE: VSI)
23	Middleby Corp (The)	$856m	19%	30%	18%	(NASDAQ: MIDD)
24	Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc	$952m	16%	17%	17%	(NASDAQ: JOSB)
25	Mesa Laboratories Inc	$37m	29%	42%	62%	(NASDAQ: MLAB)

Filed under: Special Report Tagged: AH, APEI, BPI, BWLD, CMAN, CRMT, EBIX, FLT, INFA, IPGP, JOSB, LOPE, LXU, MIDD, MLAB, QSII, RGR, RUE, SAM, SHOO, SWI, VRA, WINA, WXS

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (BBY, BWLD, CR, EMC, EXLP, GPS, IBN, INVN, LULU, MU, PAAS, BTU, RTN, RIMM, VVUS)

Administrator — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:07:22 +0000

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

Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) Maintained Hold at Argus.

Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD) Started as Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Crane Company (NYSE: CR) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.

EMC Inc. (NYSE: EMC) Reiterated Buy and Raised target to $36 at Argus.

Exterran Partners L.P. (NYSE: EXLP) Started as Neutral with $23 target at Credit Suisse.

Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) Raised to Buy at Janney.

ICICI Bank Ltd. (NYSE: IBN) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

InvenSense, Inc. (NASDAQ: INVN) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer; Started as Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) Started as Buy at UBS.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) Reiterated Buy with $11 target at Jefferies.

Pan American Silver Corporation (NASDAQ: PAAS) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE: BTU) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC.

Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) Maintained Underperform with $12 target at Jefferies.

VIVUS Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) Raised to Buy at Brean Murray.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: BBY, BTU, BWLD, CR, EMC, EXLP, GPS, IBN, INVN, LULU, MU, PAAS, RIMM, RTN, VVUS

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ATVI, APOL, BAC, BWLD, DRQ, EA, KR, MU, SAIA, SNDK, SCCO, VALE)

Administrator — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:24:53 +0000

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

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) Started as Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.

Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) Cut to Neutral at Baird.

Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Dril-Quip, Inc. (NYSE: DRQ) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) Started as Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.

The Kroger Company (NYSE: KR) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Micron Technology Inc. (NYSE: MU) Started as Buy at Jefferies.

Saia Inc. (NASDAQ: SAIA) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) started as Hold at Jefferies.

Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE: SCCO) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Vale S.A. (NYSE: VALE) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: APOL, ATVI, BAC, BWLD, DRQ, EA, KR, MU, SAIA, SCCO, SNDK, VALE

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AAPL, BLK, BWLD, COH, CPO, GM, KBH, KR, MSFT, MS, NTRS, RHT, SBAC, SNV, AMTD, VE)

Administrator — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 12:19:20 +0000

These are some of this Friday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has seen targets raised this morning by Oppenheimer to $700 and by UBS to $675; see the strange downgrade from Thursday.

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD) Cut to Neutral at Wedbush.

Coach. Inc. (NYSE: COH) Raised estimates and target to $83 from $75 at Credit Suisse; Started as Buy with $90 target at Argus.

Corn Products International Inc. (NYSE: CPO) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) Cut target to $29 from $30 at Jefferies.

KB Home (NYSE: KBH) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

The Kroger Company (NYSE: KR) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) Raised to Buy with $39 target at Argus.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS) Started as Neutral with $49 target at BofA/ML.

Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) Cut to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.

SBAC Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: SBAC) named as Top Pick at Credit Suisse.

Synovus Financial Corporation (NYSE: SNV) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: AMTD) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Veolia Environnement (NYSE: VE) Raised to Neutral from Sell at UBS.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: AAPL, AMTD, BLK, BWLD, COH, CPO, GM, KBH, KR, MS, MSFT, NTRS, RHT, SBAC, SNV, VE

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (YUM, DMD, NLY, MS, UBS, AGU, CVS, RL, RAI, TWX, DIS, WYN, BWLD, CSCO, CZR, FFN, TNK, AKAM, NURO)

Paul Ausick — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:06:49 +0000

The US equity markets opened slightly higher this morning, but soon turned around and spent the rest of the morning lower before returning to about even by afternoon. Equities could close at or near where they opened today. The lack of a decision on the Greek debt swap deal is leading investors to exercise caution both in Europe and the US. If the new Greek deal is anything like the last dozen or so, it will send markets up as soon as it is announced; and once people have a chance to read the details, markets will turn south again. Crude is higher today, with WTI up 0.51% at $98.91/barrel and Brent up 1.24% at $117.67/barrel. Gold closed down -0.73% at $1,735.60/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 6 points to 12,883.95 (0.04%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 12 points (0.41%) to 2,915.86, and the S&P 500 rose 0.22% or about 3 points to 1,349.97.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) cut to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs; Demand Media Inc. (NYSE: DMD) cut to ‘underweight’ at Morgan Stanley; Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY) cut to ‘market perform’ at FBR; Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) cut to ‘hold’ at Collins Stewart; and UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) cut to ‘sell’ at Deutsche Bank.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Agrium Inc. (NYSE: AGU) is up 2.16% at $82.95; CVS Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS) is up 1.18% at $43.59 after posting a new 52-week high of $44.08 earlier in the day; Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL) is up 9.8% at $172.50 after posting a new 52-week high of $178.47 earlier today; Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI) is down -1.35% at $39.57; Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) is up 0.3% at $38.21 after posting a new 52-week high of $39.23 earlier today; Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) is up 0.95 at $41.34; Wyndham Worldwide Corp. (NYSE: WYN) is up 5.6% at $43.22 after posting a new 52-week high of $43.36 earlier today; and Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD) is up nearly 17% at $82.04 after posting a new 52-week high of $82.45 earlier today.

Our preview of tomorrow’s earnings releases is here. Also see our coverage of earnings for Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) due after markets close today

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Ceasars Entertainment Corp. (NASDAQ: CZR) is up more than 70% at $15.32. The casino owner completed its IPO today, with 1.8 million shares going out at $9/share. We have some issues with this IPO.

FriendFinder Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: FFN) is up nearly 33% at $1.95. The adult dating site had no news today, so this must just be more halo effect from Facebook — or something else.

Teekay Tankers Ltd. (NYSE: TNK) is down more than -12% today at $3.98. The shipping company this morning priced a secondary stock offering of 15 million shares at $4/share.

Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) is up about 2% at $34.33. The internet company acquired a Canadian company today, and reports earnings after markets close today. We have more coverage here.

NeuroMetrix Inc. (NASDAQ: NURO) is down more than -17% at $0.95 after posting a new 52-week low of $0.94 earlier today. The medical device maker priced a secondary offering of 10.5 million shares at $1/share this morning.

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

8:30 a.m. – New unemployment benefits claims
10:00 a.m. – Wholesale trade report
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report
1:00 p.m. – Treasury 30-year bond auction
4:30 p.m. – Federal Reserve balance sheet and money supply

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire Tagged: AGU, AKAM, BWLD, CSCO, CVS, CZR, DIS, DMD, FFN, MS, NLY, NURO, RAI, RL, TNK, TWX, UBS, WYN, YUM

Top Earnings Previews For Tuesday (NLY, BP, BWLD, CERN, CHD, KO, EMR, HIG, JIVE, NTGR, OPEN, PNRA, SNCR, TM, DIS)

Administrator — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:24:07 +0000

We are getting into the last of the normalized quarterly earnings reports and into the first waves of the companies with off-normal quarter-ends. Tuesday is going to be another busy day with many earnings. The earnings previews are for the following: Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY); Bp Plc (NYSE: BP); Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD); Cerner Corporation (NASDAQ: CERN); Church & Dwight Co. (NYSE: CHD); Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO); Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR); Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: HIG); Jive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: JIVE); NETGEAR Inc. (NASDAQ: NTGR); OpenTable Inc. (NASDAQ: OPEN); Panera Bread Co. (NASDAQ: PNRA); Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNCR); Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE: TM); and The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS).

We have compiled previews using Thomson Reuters consensus data and have added color on each if applicable.

Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY) is going to be closely watched by the dividend investors because of that 13% implied dividend yield. The mortgage REIT is expected to report $0.56 per share.

Bp Plc (NYSE: BP) has recovered handily from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. This is an ADR so its earnings will be converted from U.K. Pounds… The estimate is $1.57 per share and the stock is up well over 50% from when its shares sold off so much in 2010. Keep in mind that this was a $60 stock before the Gulf of Mexico disaster.

Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD) is not so hot after the Super Bowl and we are six weeks from the next mega-event in sports. Estimates are $0.67 EPS and $210.25 million. This one remains expensive at almost 22-times full 2012 earnings expectations and it is only about $2.00 shy of a 52-week and all-time high.

Cerner Corporation (NASDAQ: CERN) is expected to report $0.53 EPS and $586.86 million in sales. At $63.20, the 52-week trading range for the healthcare information technology and support company is $53.93 to $74.39.

Church & Dwight Co. (NYSE: CHD) is expected to report $0.51 EPS and $694.32 million. At $45.50, the 52-week range is $33.83 to $47.00. This consumer products company remains at a large valuation premium to its larger consumer products rivals and it also has a much lower dividend yield.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Calendar, Earnings Tagged: BP, BWLD, CERN, CHD, DIS, EMR, HIG, JIVE, KO, NLY, NTGR, OPEN, PNRA, SNCR, TM

The Ten Worst 10-Ks of 2011 (HPQ, GRPN, BWLD)

247wallst — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 11:19:31 +0000

Covering a wide range of industries and behaviors, the 10Q Detective lists some of the more sophomoric — and predictable — regulatory filings made to the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2011:

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) continued its revolving door policy, showing CEO Leo Apotheker the exit in September after the SAP (NYSE: SAP) software veteran fumbled the TouchPad tablet launch. During his 11-month tenure, the common stock fell some 45% in value. Apotheker had hoped to leverage HP’s strengths in global reach and hardware to make the webOS-based device a formidable competitor to Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) ubiquitous iPad. He bungled magnificently — the product was killed a mere six weeks after its launch due to anemic sales. Nonetheless, despite his failure to lead, Apotheker received almost $16 million in compensation: a severance payment of $7.2 million (including the accelerated vesting of shares worth $3.6 million and a performance bonus of $2.4 million) and a cash sign-on bonus totaling $8.6 million. HP believed the severance package, also called the “Apotheker Agreement,” was appropriate — in “recognition of, among other things, the compensation from his former employee being foregone … and the considerable expense he incurred in relocating his family to the United States (from Europe).” The board of directors might want to reconsider its “pay-for-results” ethos.

Can Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN), industry leader in the online coupon discounting space, defy the odds? Of the 30 social media or Internet-related IPOs launched since the start of 2010, 60% are trading below their offering price, according to Birinyni Associates analyst Kevin Pleines. In two amended prospectus filings leading up to its November 4 IPO, the company backed away from a controversial accounting metric. In particular, Groupon’s original offering prospectus in July focused on “adjusted income” of $81.6 million. In actuality, the company’s operations had generated losses of $117.8 million in the quarter ending March 31 — if some $200 million in online marketing expenses were recognized. Conveniently, adjusted income does not reflect the significant working capital consumed in acquiring subscribers. Come 2012, whether Groupon can continue to trade above its original IPO of $20 a share ultimately will depend on the company posting real earnings and cash flow growth.

MF Global Holdings became the first U.S. casualty of the European sovereign debt crisis in 2011, filing for bankruptcy on October 31. Though he has yet to acknowledge culpability, the blame rests squarely with chairman and chief executive Jon Corzine, who pushed the financial derivatives broker-dealer to make an ill-timed $11.5 billion bet on European bonds (with borrowed money). Corzine’s judgment that European leaders would resolve the euro crisis, leading to a rebound in the value of MF Global’s holdings, proved dead wrong. As the euro crisis intensified, the value of MF Global’s bonds dropped, leading to margin calls and the subsequent collapse of the company. Bondholders of a $325 million offering last August probably are rethinking their insistence of a “key man event” clause, which stated that “the interest rate applicable to the notes would be subject to an increase of 1.00% upon the departure of Mr. Corzine as full time chief executive officer due to his appointment to a federal position by the President of the United States.” In hindsight, bond buyers probably would have accepted 100 basis points less to have been rid of the erstwhile New Jersey senator and governor.

Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD) insists that professional basketball is not a significant driver of restaurant sales (like the NFL). Nonetheless, the share price rose 10% in the days following word that NBA owners and players reached a new labor accord over the Thanksgiving weekend, ending a five-month lockout that led to the loss of 16 games in the regular 82 game season schedule. Notwithstanding a potential labor dispute in the NHL next year (collective bargaining agreement expiry), profitability at the chicken-wing restaurant chain could come undone in 2012 due to rising poultry prices. A report by the USDA suggests that a combination of high feed costs and (anticipated) processing cutbacks could send boneless/skinless breast prices into the $1.50 to $1.60 per pound range by spring, from $1.15 per pound in November 2011. Wings accounted for 39% of third-quarter 2011 sales, according to the Buffalo Wild Wing’s quarterly filing with the SEC.

In straightforward fashion, News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) reported that the company faced criminal investigations regarding the well-publicized phone hacking scandal and “inappropriate payments” (bribes) to British police made by higher-ups at the media company’s erstwhile publication, News of the World. “It is also possible that these proceedings could damage our reputation and impair our ability to conduct our business,” declared the 10-K filing. You think? In July, the media conglomerate withdrew its $12.4 billion takeover bid for British pay-TV satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB), following pressure from the government. Despite mounting legal problems, it was another profitable year for anyone named Murdoch at the family-controlled holding. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch took home total compensation of $33.3 million, up from $22.7 million in 2010; his son James, deputy chief operating officer, pocketed $17.9 million, a 70% increase over the prior year. It looks like the financial messes resulting from the newspaper scandal did not damage the Murdochs’ ability to conduct business.

Read the rest of the “Worst of the Bad” regulatory filings of 2011 in tomorrow’s 24/7 Wall St.

David Phillips

Filed under: Corporate Governance Tagged: AAPL, BWLD, GRPN, HPQ, NWS, SAP