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Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (MO, AEA, CCK, GE, HIBB, HBC, ITC, LNKD, PCS, SAP, SON, TSO, VZ)

Administrator — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 13:39:27 +0000

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

Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Advance America, Cash Advance Centers Inc. (NYSE: AEA) named as value stock of the day at under 10-times earnings by Zacks.
Crown Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CCK) Started as Outperform with $43 target and was added to the Focus List at Credit Suisse.
General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) Raised to Outperform by Bernstein (call was made late Monday afternoon).
Hibbett Sporting Goods (NASDAQ: HIBB) maintained Outperform with $47 target and named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
HSBC Holdings PLC (NYSE: HBC) started as Underperform and named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
ITC Holdings Corp. (NYSE: ITC) Cut to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NYSE: PCS) Raised to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation by William Blair.
SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) Cut to Hold at S&P Equity Research.
Sonoco Products Co. (NYSE: SON) Started as Neutral with $34.00 price target at Credit Suisse.
Tesoro Corporation (NYSE: TSO) Cut to Neutral with $34 target from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) Reiterated Buy with a $44 price target at Argus.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AEA, CCK, GE, HBC, HIBB, ITC, LNKD, MO, PCS, SAP, SON, TSO, VZ

Top Active Trader Alert Stocks (CCK, CIGX, JASO, NOK, MU)

247wallst — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 12:52:10 +0000

Active traders and day traders have many stocks to choose from this Monday morning. We are tracking news and moves in shares of Cameco Corporation (NASDAQ: CCJ), Star Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ: CIGX), JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO), Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK), and Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU).

Cameco Corporation (NASDAQ: CCJ) is down nearly 13% premarket on heavy volume. The company was cut to hold at TD.

Star Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ: CIGX) is up nearly 13% premarket on heavy volume to $3.32, relative to a 52-week range of $1.07-$3.69. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office confirmed two of the pharmaceutical company’s drug patents.

JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) is up more than 4% before market open on moderate volume to $6.58, relative to a 52-week range of $4.22-$10.24.

Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) is down 3% premarket on moderate volume to $8.23, within a 52-week range of $8.00-$15.89.

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) is up 3.7% this morning to $10.62, relative to a 52-week range of $6.36-$11.95.

Filed under: Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert Tagged: CCK, CIGX, JASO, MU, NOK

December Buybacks Near $30 Billion Already, More For 2011 (T, AET, AZO, ADSK, CB, CAG, CCK, ECA, ENZN, HD, INTC, MAN, MKL, SWY, SYK, TEVA, TIBX, PKW, CSCO, GE, BAC, WFC, JPM)

Administrator — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:38:33 +0000

There is a long-standing debate over the effect and impact of share buyback plans. What is not up for debate is that many companies have given big updates or announced new buyback plans in the month of December. In less than two weeks we had some $15 billion in updated buybacks, but through December 22 we actually have a much larger number: almost $29 billion tracked in just these buybacks! The number is likely over $30 billion already.

We have updates for AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET), AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO), Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK), Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX), Chubb Corporation (NYSE: CB), ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE: CAG), Encana Corp. (NYSE: ECA), Enzon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ENZN), Franklin Resources Inc. (NYSE: BEN), The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE: HD), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), Markel Corp. (NYSE: MKL), Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY), Stryker Corp. (NYSE: SYK) and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NASDAQ: TEVA), TIBCO Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TIBX), and Trinity Industries Inc. (NYSE: TRN).

The buyback ETF is PowerShares Buyback Achiever Portfolio (NYSE: PKW), and we have highlighted that herein as well. We also took a look at the continuing situations in General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) and Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO). For buybacks in 2011, there is already evidence that Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) could begin significant buyback programs.

There is a long-standing debate over whether or not stock buybacks are an effective return of cash to shareholders. It’s a simple theory by lowering the number of outstanding shares to boosts the price of the stock. That does not always work, but many companies are willing to spend billions upon billions for this effort. Investors need to know that many new buyback plans are coming. We wanted to track December’s big buybacks now that we are likely over some $30 billion if you include the many smaller buybacks we either missed or eliminated due to size and the length of this already.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) announced last week that it plans to repurchase as many as 300 million shares. This would represent some $8.7 billion worth of stock at the time, or about 5% of its shares. The current market cap is close to $171 billion.

Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) approved the repurchase of $750 million of stock, which is actually in addition to roughly $257 million left in prior approvals. We’ll call it $1 billion for short, and that compares to a market cap of just over $12 billion at the time.

AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) added some $500 million into its buyback plan. The company noted, “Since the inception of the repurchase program in 1998, and including the above amount, AutoZone’s Board of Directors has authorized $9.9 billion.” Its market cap is currently just shy of $12 billion.

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Banking, Corporate Governance, Dividend, Economy, Editor's Picks, Large Cap Stocks, Mergers and Buy Outs, Shareholder Issues, Stock Buybacks, Trading Alert, Value Investing Tagged: ADSK, AET, AZO, BAC, CAG, CB, CCK, CSCO, ECA, ENZN, GE, HD, INTC, JPM, MAN, MKL, PKW, SWY, SYK, T, TEVA, TIBX, WFC

Goldman Sachs Research Summary (June 5, 2007)

247wallst — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 07:39:09 +0000

Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) downgraded from Buy to Neutral.

Earnings estimates Raised: Aracruz Celulose S.A. (ARA), Sappi Ltd. (SPP), Celanese (CE). Earnings estimates Cut: XTO Energy (XTO).

Weyerhaeueser (WY) was pretty decent estimate hike. Goldman raised its 2007 EPS target to $1.40 from $1.20 and raised 2008 EPS from $2.05 to $2.40. Domtar (UFS) was added to the Americas Conviction Buy List and raised estimates for 2007 from $0.40 to $0.55 and 2008 from $0.55 to $0.75.

After the Scholastic (SCHL) share buyback plan, Goldman raised the 2008 EPS target from $2.50 to $2.65 based on the 14% share count drop.

(CCK) Crown Holdings removed from Americas Conviction Buy List to make room for Domtar (UFS) to go on.

Jon C. Ogg
June 5, 2007

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