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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (CMO, CHK, CBB, DD, FB, GG, GFI, KIM, LVS, MANU, QCOM, RGLD, TSN, URI)

Jon C. Ogg — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 13:40:08 +0000

These are some of this Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall St. research calls.

Capstead Mortgage Corp. (NYSE: CMO) cut to Market Perform at JMP Securities.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) started as Equal Weight at Barclays.

Cincinnati Bell Inc. (NYSE: CBB) started as Underperform at BofA/Merrill Lynch and started as Hold at Deutsche Bank.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. (NYSE: DD) started as Equal Weight at Barclays.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) cut to Market Perform at Bernstein.

Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG) named Bear of the Day based on weak gold prices lowering earnings estimates by Zacks Investment Research.

Gold Fields Ltd. (NYSE: GFI) raised to Neutral at Citigroup.

Kimco Realty Corp. (NYSE: KIM) reiterated Buy and raising target by $2 to $25 at Argus.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) raised to Buy with target of $66 at Argus.

Manchester United PLC (NYSE: MANU) started as Outperform at Raymond James.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) cut to Neutral at J.P. Morgan.

Royal Gold Inc. (NASDAQ: RGLD) raised to Buy at UBS.

Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) named Bull of the Day and said to take a closer look at this top-ranked poultry producer that has a strong earnings, by Zacks Investment Research.

United Rentals Inc. (NYSE: URI) started as Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: CBB, CHK, CMO, DD, FB, GFI, GG, KIM, LVS, MANU, QCOM, RGLD, TSN, URI

The 2012 Dividend Sinners: 20 Companies That Don’t Pay Dividends But Should

Jon C. Ogg — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 12:38:54 +0000

24/7 Wall St. loves companies which send capital back to shareholders via dividends. With all of the uncertainty in today’s markets and in the fluctuating economy, having a solid dividend policy may be the key to keeping nervous investors from fleeing and going into cash or Treasury bonds which pay almost nothing these days. Too many great companies just refuse to give up their ‘growth stock’ status and pay dividends to shareholders. For some companies, they can get away without paying out a single cent to owners because the value of growth is so strong. For other companies, they fall into the “Dividend Sinners”category of companies which should be paying a dividend to holders and which have just decided to control that cash in-house instead.

Our review focuses on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A), Cincinnati Bell Inc. (NYSE: CBB), Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG), Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR), eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY), Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA), EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC), Express Scripts, Inc. (NASDAQ: ESRX), Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Jack In The Box Inc. (NASDAQ: JACK), Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC), Teradyne Inc. (NYSE: TER), United Continental Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: UAL), Urban Outfitters, Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN), Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), and Zebra Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: ZBRA).

You will see that not all of these are old technology giants meant solely as a chase of the fresh Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) dividend announcement. Our aim is to identify companies which can make payouts but which have been holding the cash for a rainy day for far too long. Some of the more obvious Dividend Sinners are the same as you have seen criticized before, but many of these are overlooked by the media and by investors alike.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) waited far too long to adopt a dividend policy and look what happened to its shares after inaction. Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE: KSS) was the last of the big department stores to have a payout. We have finally seen in the last year that Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), and NASDAQ OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) capitulated and finally decided to declare a dividend policy over the last year or so; and Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) finally jumped on board with a good dividend policy.

Of the 2011 Dividend Sinners there were only one-fifth (4 of 20) of the companies covered a year ago which have since decided to institute a dividend policy. We would like to propose that one-fourth or more begin a dividend policy as 2012 merges closer to 2013.

Here is our list of The 20 Dividend Sinners in 2012 and why…

Filed under: Active Trader, Corporate Governance, Dividend, Dividends & Buybacks, Stock Buybacks, Stock Splits Tagged: AAPL, AMGN, AMZN, BBBY, BRK-A, CBB, CSCO, DG, DLTR, EA, EBAY, EMC, ESRX, FB, FLEX, GOOG, GPS, JACK, KSS, LUV, MCD, STX, SYMC, T, TER, UAL, URBN, VMW, VZ, WDC, YHOO, ZBRA, ZNGA

More Than 20 Great Companies Which Refuse To Pay Dividends (AMZN, AMGN, AAPL, BBBY, BRK-A, CBB, DELL, DG, DLTR, EBAY, ERTS, EMC, ESRX, FLEX, GOOG, JACK, NDAQ, SYMC, UAL, URBN, WDC, YHOO, ZBRA, CSCO, VMW, MHS)

Jon C. Ogg — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 15:05:03 +0000

No money was injured while filming

If you have been a reader of 24/7 Wall St. for long, you know that we appreciate companies that pay dividends just about as much the investors who buy companies because of their great dividends. With all of the uncertainty in today’s markets and in today’s economy, having a solid dividend policy may be the key to keeping nervous investors from fleeing and going into cash or other assets that actually pay no income at all. Some of the greatest companies of today and yesteryear actually refuse to pay dividends to shareholders. For some companies, they can get away without paying a cent to owners because the value and growth is so strong. There is another list of “Dividend Sinners” which should be paying a dividend to holders and have just decided to control that cash in-house instead.

We have identified more than twenty Dividend Sinners. Our review focuses on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A), Cincinnati Bell Inc. (NYSE: CBB), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG ), Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR), eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY), Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC), Express Scripts, Inc. (NASDAQ: ESRX), Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Jack In The Box Inc. (NASDAQ: JACK), Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ), Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC), United Continental Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: UAL), Urban Outfitters, Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN), Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), and Zebra Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: ZBRA).

You can see that many of these are not technology giants. Many are. The aim is to handicap which companies still can get away without paying out income to their shareholders versus those which can and should. Some of the more obvious Dividend Sinners are the same as you have seen criticized before, but many of these are overlooked by the media and by investors alike. In some cases the lack of dividend payments is just ludicrous. Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) waited far too long to adopt a dividend policy and look what happened to its shares after inaction. Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE: KSS) took until this year before finally declaring a dividend while its direct competitors have paid dividends for years.

Again, some companies can get away without paying holders a penny. Our aim was to identify the highly able companies and those which lag peers enough that the dividend trend just needs to be considered by management of these companies. We looked at forward P/E ratios based upon next year’s estimates from Thomson Reuters, the return on equity (ROE) from Finviz.com, the current share price and a 52-week trading range, along with the market cap of each company. If applicable, we handicapped competitor and peer dividends and even noted how high of a dividend these companies could pay out.

Activist investors could have a field-day with at least a few of these dividend sinners…

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is the online retail king. It has a forward price earnings multiple of 56 and a return on equity (ROE) of 16.3%. Its market cap is $100 billion. The recent share price was $222 and the 52-week trading range is $114.51 to $227.20. While much of the tone of this article might seem to be geared around a negative impact of a no-dividend policy, Amazon.com is actually in a different camp. At 58-times 2012 projected earnings, the question to ask is “how high of a dividend could it pay anyway?”… Wall Street has even been able to absorb habitually lower and lower margins as it ramps up its capital spending. With shares having now hit the $100 billion market cap and having hit fresh all-time highs, is there are reason to criticize the company right now? We predicted that it would be on of the next mega-cap stocks for a reason.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) is due with earnings shortly and its path has been a boring one for long enough. The largest independent biotech outfit has a forward price earnings multiple of 9.7 and a return on equity (ROE) of 19.4%. Its market cap is $51 billion. The recent share price was $54.00 and the 52-week trading range is $50.26 to $61.53. Investors hope and pray that Amgen will be the first of the big biotechs to finally declare a dividend. The call has been a longstanding call and the company has more than enough ample cash and patent protection to justify a healthy payout. With about $15 billion in liquidity and $10 billion in long-term debt, investors should ask the company to stop wasting the cash by repurchasing shares in the open market. It hasn’t worked as is the case with most share buyback plans. If it is not going to have a dividend, maybe it should consider growing into new arenas with a substantial acquisition. Our take is that Amgen is going to have to do something at some point soon and a dividend will do far better than a stock buyback plan.

Filed under: Active Trader, Activist Investor, Compensation, Conglomerates, Consumer Electronics, Corporate Governance, Dividend, Dividends & Buybacks, Editor's Picks, ETFs & Mutual Funds, Industrials, Insider Activity, Internet, Large Cap Stocks, Mutual Funds, Personal Finance, Regulation, Retail, Shareholder Issues, Stock Buybacks, Stock Splits, Technology, Technology Companies, Turnarounds, Value Investing Tagged: AAPL, AMGN, AMZN, BBBY, BRK-A, CBB, CSCO, DELL, DG, DLTR, EBAY, EMC, ERTS, ESRX, FLEX, GOOG, JACK, MHX, NDAQ, SYMC, UAL, URBN, VMW, WDC, YHOO, ZBRA

Market Recovery: The Return of M&A in Tech and Telecom (ADCT, TEL, HPQ, ORCL, CIEN, Q, CTL, BRCD, CBB, CVLT, DELL, JDSU, LEAP, PCS, WFR, NOVL, PGI, RSH, TLAB, TDC, OVTI, SYNA)

Jon C. Ogg — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:10:13 +0000

The latest and M&A deal in the world of technology and communications came to ADC Telecommunications Inc. (NASDAQ: ADCT) this week, where Tyco Electronics, Ltd. (NYSE: TEL) is paying $12.75 per share in cash for a net price of roughly $1.25 billion. After you have seen small and mid-sized deals come from Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) for 3Com and Palm, Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) for Sun and for Phase Forward, deals from Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) for Nortel’s metro ethernet operations, and even the proposed Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE: Q) merger with CenturyTel Inc. (NYSE: CTL), you have to wonder if more and more mergers are coming down the pipe now that the market has stabilized. We wanted to consider some of the routine go-to stocks that keep coming up through time as technology, communications, and telecom merger candidates.

Some names under consideration that have either been rumored to be in deals or which could potentially be in future M&A deals are Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD), Cincinnati Bell Inc. (NYSE: CBB), CommVault Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CVLT), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ: JDSU), Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP), MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS), MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR), Novell Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVL), Premiere Global Services, Inc. (NYSE: PGI), RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH), Tellabs Inc. (NASDAQ: TLAB), Teradata Corporation (NYSE: TDC), OmniVision Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: OVTI), and Synaptics Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNA).

For starters, most of the companies listed as targets here are possible bolt-on mergers rather than super-mergers. Closing a mega-deal by the end of the year that has not been announced is going to be tough, and that likely means that the capital gains and the effects of the old Bush tax rates on capital gains will be either gone or muted in 2011. Businesses today are willing to spend cash for companies that can be easily integrated or that open up new and untapped markets for them. As far as a giant taking on another giant and then having to make divestitures and many layoffs, those deals are far less attractive for companies right now. Then there is the notion of a tougher regulatory approval environment for large mergers that has to be considered.

The list of companies we have provided falls into at least two of three distinct categories. The first category is that the company has been either a target or acquirer and a deal fell through. The second category is that the company has either been rumored to be in a merger or it is a company that is one we have viewed as a shoe-in target for the right acquirer. Lastly, there is the bolt-on deal or at a minimum a tool-box deal to make these easy for a buyer to gobble up.

We have compiled a list of predators and prey here for your review in the technology, telecom, and communications sectors. This list is displayed alphabetically to avoid any ranking issues or any more pointed issues over size and the real chances of a deal coming into play.

One name which used to come up routinely is Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD). This was one of our picks for stocks which could still double, and the buyout thesis for a low-cost provider in networking and storage was a part of why we thought the stock could double. The short-term moves are not working in favor of holders, so it would seem no deal is imminent even if shares are at $5.15.

Cincinnati Bell Inc. (NYSE: CBB) is one of the last of the “anything remotely tied to the Bells” stocks, although it has always been its own boss. It is the main telecom player for Cincinnati and its nearby areas located in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, making this a potential bolt-on acquisition for a larger telecom player. It has almost the same exact operational area as its license back to the end of the 1800′s with a 25 mile radius around Cincinnati. The small $615 million market cap would make this a line-item for a buyer, but it is worth noting that both AT&T and Verizon are going to have a harder and harder time under regulatory review in making acquisitions. With shares at $3.06, the 52-week trading range is $2.50 to $3.74.

CommVault Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CVLT) is on sale due to its disappointing guidance this week. The 21% drop to $18.50 would not likely make any lower-premium buyout more likely to be approved as the 52-week range is $15.60 to $24.51. That recent high is an all-time high though and a Goldman Sachs strategist had this as a potential buyout candidate earlier this year. Its Simpana platform aims to help enterprises manage data growth while cutting costs and adding security via cloud integration, deduplication, recovery, efficiency, virtualization, remote and branch office integration, and more. Valuations are an issue, although the 21% drop leaves a market cap at just about $800 million.

Filed under: Active Trader, Analyst Calls, Banking & Finance, Cult Stock, Editor's Picks, Industrials, Industry, Internet, Mergers & Acquisitions, Mergers and Buy Outs, Private Equity, Rumors, Semiconductor, Semiconductors, Software, Technology, Technology Companies, Telecom, Telecom & Wireless, Wireless Tagged: ADCT, BRCD, CBB, CIEN, CTL, CVLT, DELL, HPQ, JDSU, LEAP, NOVL, ORCL, OVTI, PCS, PGI, Q, RSH, SYNA, TDC, TEL, TLAB, WFR

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (CRL, SCHW, CBB, HTZ, FRPT, MTG, SAP, ULTA, JPM, WB, BAC)

Douglas A. McIntyre — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 08:15:58 +0000

These are not the only analyst calls impacting individual share prices, but these are the ones that 247WallSt.com is focusing on:

Charles River (NYSE: CRL) downgraded from Buy to Neutral at UBS.
Charles Schwab (NASDAQ: SCHW) started as Neutral at UBS.
Cincinnati Bell (NYSE: CBB) downgraded from Outperform to Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.
Hertz Global (NYSE: HTZ) downgraded from Buy to Neutral at Banc of America.
Force Protection (NASDAQ: FRPT) started as Sell at Stanford Global Research.
MGIC Investment Corp. (NYSE: MTG) downgraded from Neutral to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) downgraded from Outperform to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Ulta Salons (NASDAQ: ULTA) started in new coverage: started as Outperform at Wachovia; started as Overweight at J.P.Morgan; started as Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
Merrill Lynch downgrades brokers: cuts J.P.Morgan (NYSE: JPM) to Neutral from Buy, cuts Wachovia (NYSE: WB) to Sell from Neutral; cuts Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) to Neutral from Buy.

Jon C. Ogg
December 12, 2007

Pre-Market Earnings Gappers (November 2, 2007)

Douglas A. McIntyre — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 07:31:47 +0000

(ALY) Allis-Chalmers $0.37 EPS vs $0.36 est.
(ASVI) A.S.V. Inc. $0.13 EPS vs $0.19 est.
(BEBE) bebe stores traded up 3% despite slight revenue miss.
(CBB) Cincinnati Bell $0.09 EPS vs $0.08 est.
(CI) CIGNA $1.14 EPS vs $0.93 est.
(DUK) Duke Energy $0.48 EPS vs $0.39 est.
(ENCY) Encysive -$0.32 EPS vs -$0.31 est.
(ERTS) Electronic Arts trading up 3% after beating earnings.
(GYI) Getty Images traded up 5% after earnings.
(HAIN) Hain Celestial rose almost 5% after beating earnings expectations.
(HIMX) HIMAX trading up 7% after earnings.
(IP) International Paper $0.57 EP vs $0.57 est.
(ITRI) Itron trading down 11% after earnings.
(LVS) Las Vegas Sands trading down $16+ to $109 pre-market on net loss.
(MSO) Martha Stewart Enterprises -$0.08 EPS vs -$0.13 est.
(NI) NIsource $0.08 EPS vs $0.10 est.
(NTLS) NETELOS $0.18 EPS vs $0.14 est.
(NYX) NYSE $0.76 EPS vs. $0.73 est.
(OMG) OM Group $1.30 EPS vs $1.17 est.
(RDEN) Elizabeth Arden $0.04 EPS vs -$0.05 est.; sees Q2 $1.11-1.16 vs $1.21 est.
(SGMS) Scientific Games down 4% after earnings.
(SYNA) Synaptics traded up 10% after beating earnings expectations.
(VCLK) ValueClick trading down 0.5% after lackluster earnings.
(VIA) Viacom $0.65 vs 0.60

Earlybird Analyst Calls (June 14, 2007)

Douglas A. McIntyre — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 06:29:07 +0000

ACL started as Buy at Jefferies.
AMGN started as Mkt Perform at Rodman & Renshaw.
B started as Outperform at CIBC.
CBB started as Buy at UBS.
CHE started as Buy at Jefferies.
CTL raised to Neutral at UBS.
CYTX started as Mkt Perform at Piper Jaffray.
DJ cut to Reduce at UBS.
EQ raised to Buy at UBS.
ESI cut to Equal Weight at Lehman.
EYE started as Underperform at Jefferies.
GNLB started as Buy at Oppenheimer.
ILMN raised to Outperform at Bear Stearns.
ISIL raised to Buy at B of A.
MFA started as Outperform at JMP Securities.
MNKD started as Buy at B of A.
OPTT started as Outperform at Bear Stearns.
PT raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
RACK started as Buy at Merriman Curhan Ford.
RBC started as Sector Perform at CIBC.
SLM cut to Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.
SNY cut to Neutral at HSBC; cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
THI raised to Outperform at CIBC.
VDSI cut to Hold at Jefferies.
VTIV raised to Strong Buy at First Albany.
WIN started as Neutral at UBS.
ZGEN started as Neutral at Oppenheimer.

Jon C. Ogg
June 14, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.