24/7 Wall St. » CBI

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (AA, CBI, ADSK, CVC, TWC, DG, HITK, CHKR, BTH, PBY, UEC, SFSF, ATHX, TLEO, THC, RECV)

Paul Ausick — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 21:11:21 +0000

The equity markets opened strong this morning, with the Dow trading in narrow band around 140 points up all morning until about 1:30 in the afternoon. Hopeful economic news from Europe started things going in the morning, and even somewhat weak reports on non-manufacturing supply and factory orders didn’t deter traders. The sharp drop in the afternoon came after S&P warned Germany and other AAA-rated Eurozone countries that may lose their rating as a result of the turmoil in the economic and political climate. That warning also sent the dollar to a slight gain against the euro and the British pound. WTI crude is trading down about -0.2% in the late afternoon at $100.75/barrel, after rising to a gain of more than 1% earlier in the day. Gold is also down about -1.3%, at $1,724.00/ounce, it’s lowest level of the day.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 78points to 12,097.83 (0.65%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 29 points (1.10%) to 2,655.76, and the S&P 500 rose 1.03% or nearly 13 points to 1,257.08.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Alcoa, Inc. (NYSE: AA) cut to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’at Goldman Sachs. Other ratings action include Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. (NYSE: CBI) removed from ‘Conviction Buy List’ at Goldman Sachs, but maintained at ‘buy’; Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) cut to ‘sell’ from ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs; Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC) cut to from ‘outperform’ to ‘market perform’ at Wells Fargo; and Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) raised to ‘outperform’ from ‘market perform’ at Wells Fargo. We include Cablevision and Time Warner in our story today about tomorrow’s release of new software for the Xbox from Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT).

Here are today’s post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG) is up more than 1.6% at $40.59, after posting a new 52-week high earlier today of $41.25; and Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co. Inc. (NASDAQ: HITK) is down more than -9% at $38.75, after posting a new 52-week high this morning of $44.58. Earnings releases have slowed significantly this month, but there are some noteworthy reports coming after markets close today: Chesapeake Granite Wash Trust (NYSE: CHKR), Blyth, Inc. (NYSE: BTH), Pep Boys-Manny, Joe, and Jack (NYSE: PBY), and Uranium Energy Corp. (AMEX: UEC).

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

SuccessFactors, Inc. (NASDAQ: SFSF) is up more than 51%, at $39.71. The cloud-based software maker is being acquired by SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) for about $3.4 billion ($40/share). We have more coverage on this story here.

Athersys, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHX) is up more than 27%, at $2.11. The stem-cell research firm, which uses adult cells not embryonic cells, is apparently back in favor after falling to a 52-week low of $1.00 just over two weeks ago.

Taleo Corp. (NASDAQ: TLEO) is up more than 21%, at $39.99, after posting a new 52-week high of $41.23. Another cloud-based solution supplier, Taleo is one of a number of cloud developer stocks jumping today on the halo effect from SAP’s acquisition of SuccessFactors.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. (NYSE: THC) is up more than 11%, at $4.66. The health care facilities operator fell more than -10% on Friday, when investors over-reacted to some downgrades in the entire sector; today’s gains are just a reaction to last week’s over-reaction.

Recovery Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: RECV) is up more than 22%, at $5.34. This small oil & gas E&P holds 137,000 net acres in the Denver-Julesberg basin in northwestern Colorado, and began trading on the Nasdaq just about one month ago.

Stay tuned for Tuesday. We have noted Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo scheduled to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on the Dodd-Frank bill. Here are other noteworthy events scheduled for Tuesday (all times Eastern):

7:45 a.m. – International Council of Shopping Centers/Goldman Sachs weekly sales report
8:55 a.m. – International Council of Shopping Centers Redbook

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AA, ADSK, ATHX, BTH, CBI, CHKR, CVC, DG, HITK, PBY, RECV, SFSF, THC, TLEO, TWC, UEC

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AA, AMGN, ADSK, CVC, CBI, LFC, INCY, LNKD, THC, TWC, TIVO)

Administrator — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:29:18 +0000

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

Alcoa, Inc. (NYSE: AA) Cut to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Amgen Corporation (NASDAQ: AMGN) named as value stock of the day by Zacks.
Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) Cut to Sell from Neutral with new $32 target at Goldman Sachs.
Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC) downgraded to Market Perform from outperform at Wells Fargo.
Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (NYSE: CBI) maintained as Buy but removed from the Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
China Life Insurance (NYSE: LFC) maintained Underperform with $35.00 price target and named as Bear of the Day by Zacks.
Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ: INCY) Cut to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.
LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) Raised to Equal-Weight at Evercore; Reiterated “Hold” on growth versus valuation and overhang concerns by Argus.
Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE: THC) Raised to Outperform with $5.50 target by Zacks and named as the key Bull of the Day.
Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) Raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) Started as Buy with $13 price target at UBS.

Here is a summary of the top analyst upgrades and downgrades from this weekend in a summary format for last week’s top (and a few lousy) Wall Street research calls.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AA, ADSK, AMGN, CBI, CVC, INCY, LFC, LNKD, THC, TIVO, TWC

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (APC, CFN, CBI, COLM, DRYS, ENR, HMC, IDIX, JACK, MGLN, MON, NSM, NVO, SPW, TM, VFC)

Administrator — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 12:22:38 +0000

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Monday morning.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC) Reiterated Hold at Argus.
Carefusion Corporation (NYSE: CFN) Cut to Neutral but kept $30 target at BofA/ML.
Chicago Bridge & Iron (NYSE: CBI) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Columbia Sportswear Company (NASDAQ: COLM) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
DryShips, Inc. (NYSE: DRYS) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Energizer Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ENR) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (NYSE: HMC) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: IDIX) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Jack In The Box. Inc. (NASDAQ: JACK) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Magellan Health Services, Inc. (NASDAQ: MGLN) Started as Underperform and $50 target at BofA/ML.
Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
National Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE: NSM) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank; Cut to Neutral at Gleacher.
Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
SPX Corporation (NYSE: SPW) Started as Outperform with $100 target at Credit Suisse.
Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE: TM) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
V.F. Corporation (NYSE: VFC) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, dividend trends, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: APC, CBI, CFN, COLM, DRYS, ENR, HMC, IDIX, JACK, MGLN, MON, NSM, NVO, SPW, TM, VFC

10 Companies To Rebuild America’s Infrastructure

Administrator — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 10:41:57 +0000

America’s core infrastructure is falling apart. Roads are sinking, bridges have collapsed, dams are old, power plants and the power grid are substandard, rail systems are ancient, the levees are ancient as are sewerage systems. The ‘Rebuild America’ bond program has so far done nothing more than contribute a down payment on a decade-long process that could reach well above the “billions” in total funding.

24/7 Wall Street has decided to take a look at the biggest companies which will lead in the rebuilding of America’s ailing infrastructure. A recent report from Infrastructurereportcard.org gave the United States a grade of a “D” and said that the 5-year investment need was $2.2 trillion. What the real tally is may not matter, but America has to rebuild.

In October, Amtrak rolled out a $100+ billion plan to rebuild its network. President Obama is expected to call for a transportation infrastructure plan in the coming weeks. Finding all of the nation’s infrastructure winners is too long and too daunting of a task. General Electric and many of the nation’s largest diversified companies are all beneficiaries, and some of the key winners are likely to be foreign entities which employ thousands of workers in America.

The companies featured are the ones behind the design, testing, manufacturing, consulting, engineering, and construction of major projects. We wanted players that will rebuild the water systems, roads, highways, bridges, airports, rail, levees, waterways, utilities, and buildings around the major infrastructure projects ahead.

These are the companies that 24/7 all Street is most focused on for the American infrastructure revival.

1. AECOM Technology Corporation (NYSE: ACM) offers architecture and engineering design services. Target markets are transportation, environmental, energy, and it serves projects in key infrastructure areas like highways, airports, bridges, wastewater facilities and power transmission and distribution. AECOM has a market value of about $3.5 billion and it is expected to have 2011 revenues of close to $8.4 billion. It as 50,000 employees.

2. Chicago Bridge & Iron (NYSE: CBI) is technically Dutch now but is a key infrastructure player with 16,000 employees worldwide that executes more than 600 projects a year with a focus in oil & gas infrastructure, steel plate structures in storage and containment and plant manufacturing. The company has a market value of more than $3.3 billion and it recently forecast that 2011 revenues are expected to reach $4.3 billion to $4.7 billion. If America is going to get serious on its energy infrastructure ahead, CB&I stands to greatly win.

3. Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR) might sound like an electric utility but it is in engineering and project management services for many industries and many government agencies. It manufactures major equipment for utilities and industry, power and telecom, heating and air-conditioning, network power, climate technologies, and more. It also has well over 100,000 employees. The company has a market value of roughly $44 billion and it just recently gave a forecast of 14% to 17% growth to $24 to $24.5 billion in 2011 revenues.

Filed under: Aerospace, Agriculture, Business Services, Editor's Picks, Emerging Markets, Industry, Infrastructure, International Markets, Nuclear, Politics, Regulation, Transports, Utilities Tagged: ACM, BWC, CBI, EMR, FLR, GLDD, JEC, KBR, MDR, SHAW, TTEK

Top Analyst Upgrades (APSG, BWA, CBI, ETH, GME, PIR, TD, WSM)

247wallst — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:04:31 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market analyst upgrades and positive research calls that we have seen from Wall Street firms early this Monday morning:

Applied Signal (APSG) Raised to Buy at Colliins-Stewart.
Borg Warner (BWA) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Chicago Bridge & Iron (CBI) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Ethan Allen (ETH) Raised to Hold at KeyBanc.
GameStop (GME) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Pier-1 Imports (PIR) Raised to Hold at KeyBanc.
TD Bank (TD) Raised to Outperform at RBC.
Williams-Sonoma (WSM) Raised to Hold at KeyBanc.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: APSG, BWA, CBI, ETH, GME, PIR, TD, WSM

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (ADCT, ADTN, CBI, CIEN, CSCO, PAC, OESX, SAI, TWTC, USB, VRAZ)

247wallst — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:44:42 +0000

These aren’t all of the downgrades or negative analyst calls we have seen this Wednesday, but these are some of the impact analyst calls we are seeing:

ADC Telecommunications (NASDAQ: ADCT) Cut to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Adtran (NASDAQ: ADTN) Cut to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Chicago Bridge & Iron (NYSE: CBI) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Ciena (NASDAQ: CIEN) Cut to Underperform from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) Cut to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Grupo Aeroportuario (NYSE: PAC) Cut to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Orion Energy Systems (NASDAQ: OESX) Cut to Market Weight at Thomas Weisel.
SAIC (NYSE: SAI) Cut to Neutral from Outperform at Cowen.
TW Telecom (NASDAQ: TWTC) Cut to Underweight from Overweight at JPMorgan.
US Bancorp (NYSE: USB) Cut to Sell from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Veraz Networks (NASDAQ: VRAZ) Cut to Underperform from Hold at Jefferies.

Jon C. Ogg
July 16, 2008

George Soros Top Equity Holdings (AAPL, AUXL, BFLY, CBI, CMG, CRUS, COV, MAPP, POT, SVNT)

247wallst — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 09:17:55 +0000

This week we got to see critical SEC filings showing holdings of many key and influential investors. Included in these filings were billionaire George Soros, a billionaire whom is loved by some and much less ‘well thought of’ by others over his currency trading history of over his MoveOn.org attempts. Either way, investors still watch Soros. These are the holdings of Soros Fund Management LLC as of December 31, 2007. These were listed as the top holdings and are not at all his entire positions. Soros Fund Management LLC was listed as having some $2.269 Billion in the total filing, and these positions here only equate to $360+ million, so there are many more positions. As with all of these holdings, these positions may have changed or been eliminated as of the dates noted. Here is a summary of his larger positions with a dollar amount provided by Soros as filer and a share count:

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) $32,000,000; 161,550 shares
Auxilium Pharma (NASDAQ: AUXL) $36,473,000; 1,216,180 shares
Bluefly Inc. (NASDAQ: BFLY) $36,451,000; 48,601,156 shares… an old favorite of his…
Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. (NYSE: CBI) $29,743,000; 492,100 shares
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG) $32,404,000; 220,332 shares
Cirrus Logic Inc. (NASDAQ: CRUS) $24,376,000; 4,616,666 shares
Covidien, Ltd. (NYSE: COV) $32,194,000; 726,900 shares
MAP Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MAPP) $71,374,000; 4,076,169
Potash Corp. (NYSE: POT) $37,933,000; 263,500 shares
Savient Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SVNT) $25,002,000; 1,088,461 shares

As Soros himself says …."Contrary to the tenets of market fundamentalism, financial markets do not tend towards equilibrium; they are crisis prone."

Other billionaires and their holdings filed this week:
Bill Gates
Carl Icahn
Warren Buffett

Jon C. Ogg
February 16, 2008

Cramer’s Middle East Infrastructure Picks

247wallst — Wed, 09 May 2007 18:37:58 +0000

On tonight’s MAD MONEY on CNBC, Jim Cramer came out not just on a ROW strategy for "rest of the world," but said it’s a BRIC+ME: Brazil, Russia, India, China PLUS the Middle East. His picks here Caterpilar (CAT-NYSE) and Cummins (CMI-NYSE) for global capital spending plays. His other two picks from the area are hot as well as McDermott International (MDR-NYSE) and Foster Wheeler (FWLT-NASDAQ) that are both up big after his recommendations. As expected, Cramer stuck with Fosted Wheeler and even said it could fetch $100.00. Chicago Bridge & Iron is a beneficiary of the weak dollar and it wins many international infrastructure pacts in the Middle East.

Jon C. Ogg
May 9, 2007

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