24/7 Wall St. » CE

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (XOM, NKE, POT, TSLA, AMGN, RRC, AXE, ARMH, CE, LLY, HP, LLL, MHP, MAT, PFE, VLO, VRNG, RSH, PAY, REE, FFN)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:06:33 +0000

All three major indexes opened higher this morning, but the strength didn’t last as the Chicago PMI number failed to meet expectations and came in lower even than last month’s reading. The lower reading on consumer confidence also supported sellers this morning. Nothing of note was concluded on the Greek debt swap, so that had little effect on the market one way or the other. Oil major Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) reported earnings in-line with expectations, that wasn’t good enough for investors today (our coverage here). Crude oil is mixed today, with WTI crude down -0.32% at $98.46/barrel and Brent crude higher by 0.31% at $111.09/barrel. Gold closed today at $1,738.10/ounce, having gained 11% this month (our view here).

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down nearly 21 points to 12,632.91 (-0.16%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 2 points (0.07%) to 2,813.84, and the S&P 500 fell -0.05% or less than 1 point to 1,312.40.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) raised to ‘buy’ at Argus; Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) cut to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs; Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) started as ‘buy’ at Jefferies; Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) reiterated as ‘buy’ and target price raised to $80 at Argus; and Range Resources Corp. (NYSE: RRC) raised to ‘hold’ from ‘sell’ with a target price of $59 at Canaccord Genuity.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Anixter Inc. (NYSE: AXE) is down -3.7% at $65.25; ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) is up 1.7% at $28.84; Celanese Corp. (NYSE: CE) is down -0.95% at $48.84; Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) is up 1.35% at $39.78; Exxon Mobil is down -1.98% at $83.80; Helmerich & Payne Inc. (NYSE: HP) is up 2.2% at $61.64; L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LLL) is up 1.3% at $70.49; McGraw-Hill Cos. Inc. (NYSE: MHP) is down -0.5% at $46.09; Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT) is up 5.1% at $31.04 after posting a new 52-week high today of $31.49; Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) is down -0.8% at $21.42; and Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) is down -0.73% at $24.10.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Vringo Inc. (NASDAQ: VRNG) is up nearly 21% at $1.40. The social media software maker is apparently basking in the glow of the coming IPO of Facebook. See our coverage here.

RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) is down nearly -30% at $7.19 after setting a new 52-week low of $7.15 earlier today. The social media software maker is apparently basking in the glow of the coming IPO of Facebook. See our coverage here.

Verifone Systems Inc. (NYSE: PAY) is up more than 8% at $42.61. The payment systems maker is getting a boost from a plan by Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) to subsidize the installation of new card readers that use a microchip rather than a magnetic stripe to store customer information.

Rare Element Resources Ltd. (AMEX: REE) is up more than 17% at $7.22. The rare earth minerals miner is likely gaining after a ruling from the WTO that China’s restriction on rare earth minerals’ exports violates global trade rules.

FriendFinder Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: FFN) is up about 19% at $1.26. The adult social media company is likely also being bought up on the prospective Facebook IPO.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. Automakers will be releasing sales figures for January throughout the day. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
7:30 a.m. – Challenger Job-cut data
8:15 a.m. – ADP employment report
10:00 a.m. – ISM manufacturing index
10:00 a.m. – Construction spending
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire Tagged: AMGN, ARMH, AXE, CE, FFN, HP, LLL, LLY, MAT, MHP, NKE, PAY, PFE, POT, REE, RRC, RSH, TSLA, VLO, VRNG, XOM

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (MO, AVP, CE, LFC, EL, FITB, GE, MIND, VRTX, YHOO, YUM, GRPN)

Administrator — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:05:27 +0000

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

Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) Raised to Outperform at BMO Capital Markets.
Celanese Corporation (NYSE: CE) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
China Life Insurance (NYSE: LFC) maintained as Underperform but named the Bear of the Day by Zacks Investment Research.
Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE: EL) Added to Strong Buy List at Zacks Investment Research.
Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) Cut to Market Perform at Bernstein.
General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) Reiterated Outperform and raised estimates at Credit Suisse.
Mitcham Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIND) named as value stock of the day at Zacks Investment Research.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX) Raised to Outperform but cut the price target to $37 from $39 by Credit Suisse.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) resumed with a “Sell” rating at Goldman Sachs.
YUM! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) Reiterated Buy and raised price target to $66.00 by Argus.

The big move in the land of stock research and analyst calls is the expiration of the Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) quiet period. The online social couponing site was initiated in coverage as follows by some of the syndicate firms:

Overweight and $27.00 price target at Barclays;
Buy with $28.00 price target by Bank of America/Merrill Lynch;
Neutral and $24.00 price target at Citigroup;
Neutral with a $25.00 price target at Credit Suisse;
Buy with a $29.00 price target by Goldman Sachs;
Neutral and $24.00 price target at JPMorgan;
Sector Perform with $25.00 price target at RBC Capital Markets.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AVP, CE, EL, FITB, GE, GRPN, LFC, MIND, MO, VRTX, YHOO, YUM

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ABC, CAM, CE, CVX, EMC, FII, OII, RSH, RTN, O, SKH, SUNH, VHS, VE, VOD)

Administrator — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:06:32 +0000

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

AmerisourceBergen Corporation (NYSE: ABC) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Cameron International Corporation (NYSE: CAM) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Celanese Corporation (NYSE: CE) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) Reiterated Buy and Raised Target to $125 at Argus.
EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Federated Investors, Inc. (NYSE: FII) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Oceaneering International Inc. (NYSE: OII) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) Raised to Outperform at Bernstein.
Realty Income Corporation (NYSE: O) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc. (NYSE: SKH) Cut to Market Perform at Morgan Keegan.
Sun Healthcare Group Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNH) Cut to Market Perform at Morgan Keegan; Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Vanguard Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE: VHS) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo; Started as Overweight at Barclays.
Veolia Environment (NYSE: VE) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD) Raised to Buy at UBS.

You are invited to 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: ABC, CAM, CE, CVX, EMC, FII, O, OII, RSH, RTN, SKH, SUNH, VE, VHS, VOD

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ANF, CE, FLEX, FCL, HD, HMIN, LNC, MRO, OSG, SON)

247wallst — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:27:37 +0000

These are ten of the top analyst upgrades and downgrades from Wall Street we have seen early this Wednesday morning with more than two hours until the market opens for trading:

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Celanese (CE) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Flextronics (FLEX) Cuto Sell at Collins Stewart.
Foundation Coal (FCL) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Home Depot (HD) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Home Inns (HMIN) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Lincoln National (LNC) Raised to Outperform at Wachovia.
Marathon Oil (MRO) Cut to Market Perform at Bernstein.
Overseas Shipholding (OSG) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Sonoco Products (SON) Cut to Hold at KeyBanc.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: ANF, CE, FCL, FLEX, HD, HMIN, LNC, MRO, OSG, SON

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (AVR, BLL, CE, ETR, HCP, HR, MRK, PTNR, PTEN, UAUA, VSE)

247wallst — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 06:48:46 +0000

These are not all of the upgrades or positive analyst calls seen this morning but these are some of the top calls seen this Friday morning:

Aventine Renewable (NYSE: AVR) Raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
Ball Corp (NYSE: BLL) Raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Celanese (NYSE: CE) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Entergy (NYSE: ETR) Raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.
HCP (NYSE: HCP) Raised To Buy From Neutral By Goldman Sachs.
Healthcare Realty Trust (NYSE: HR) Started as Outperform at Wachovia.
Merck (NYSE: MRK) Started as Buy at Citigroup.
Partner Communications (NASDAQ: PTNR) Started as Outperform at RBC Capital.
Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ: PTEN) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
UAL (NASDAQ: UAUA) Raised to Overweight from Underweight at JPMorgan.
Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) Raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia.
VeraSun Energy (NYSE: VSE) Raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Jon C. Ogg
July 18, 2008

Chemicals on Fire After Rohm & Haas Merger With Dow (ROH, DOW, BRK.A, APD, CE, EMN, ASD, HUN)

247wallst — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 06:38:46 +0000

Rohm & Haas (NYSE: ROH) has agreed to be acquired by Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) in an $18.8 Billion dollar merger ($15.3 Billion in equity value). The terms to shareholders value the company at more than $78.00 per share in a cash buyout.

Interestingly enough, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) and the Kuwaiti Investment Authority are investing in the deal. Rohm & Haas is more diversified than mere chemicals but a 74% premium deal has interest likely falling into other key chemical players and ones to watch would be Air Products (NYSE: APD), Celanese (NYSE: CE), Eastman Chemicals (NYSE: EMN), Ashland (NYSE: ASH) and in particular Huntsman Corp. (NYSE: HUN).

The deal is subject to shareholder approval, but this is likely a done deal so long as no anti-trust issues crop up. The 52-week trading range is $44.13 to $62.68 and shares have never traded that high, so it seems no one will fight this.

There are more than 30% of the shares owned or controlled by Haas family trusts and they have indicated their support of the merger. Rounding up the other votes should be easy at this point.

Jon C. Ogg
July 10, 2008

This Week’s Key Stock Buybacks & Repurchases (SYK, NILE, TDC, WW, CPWR, CE, EFX, VARI)

247wallst — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:15:56 +0000

While earnings season is slowly winding down and while the economy is obviously cooling, we still have many large and small companies alike with solid balance sheets or that have extra cash to deploy on hand. These are some of the key share buybacks we have seen this week.

Stryker (NYSE: SYK) announced a general $750 million for share buybacks for general corporate purposes and to offset dilution from options. This is one of the larger buyback plans announced, but it is small in comparison to its market cap of $27.93 billion.

Blue Nile (NASDAQ: NILE) approved a $100 million share buyback. With its poor guidance, buybacks may only partially help a growing problem. The current market cap sits at about $688.11 million.

Teradata (NYSE: TDC) announced a $250 million stock buyback plan. With positive 2008 guidance, future earnings per share should grow. The current market cap is $4.27 billion.

Watson Wyatt (NYSE: WW) announced a $100 million stock buyback plan. The company noted that the buybacks will help offset dilution from employee benefit plans. Its current market cap is $2.21 billion

Compuware (NASDAQ: CPWR) announced a $750 million buyback plan to reduce the balance of outstanding common shares to 200 million. They currently have 281.4 million shares outstanding. The current market cap is $2.27 billion.

Celanese (NYSE: CE) Board approved a $400 million share buyback. The CEO noted that the buyback demonstrates their commitment to delivering value to shareholders while retaining financial flexibility. The current market cap is $6.04 billion.

Equifax (NYSE: EFX) announced a $250 million share buyback approval. It is yet another in a series of buybacks valued at about $1.08 billion since 2004. The current market cap is $4.53 billion.

Varian (NYSE: VARI) Board approved a $100 million share repurchase program. The buybacks could boost an already healthy stock. The current market cap is $6.53 billion.

Rachel Lopez
February 15, 2008

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (RATE, CE, CSCO, DCP, RL, PFG, RYAAY, AKH, VM, XL)

247wallst — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 07:20:09 +0000

Below are some of the early bird analyst calls that are affecting shares in pre-market trading:

Bankrate Inc. (NASDAQ: RATE) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.
Celanese (NYSE: CE) raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) downgraded to Neutral from overweight at JPMorgan; downgraded to Neutral at Baird; more to come.
Dyncorp international (NYSE: DCP) upgraded to Buy at Jefferies; upgraded to Outperform at Wachovia.
Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) cut to Hold from Buy at Citigroup.
Principal Financial (NYSE: PFG) raised to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
Ryanair Holdings (NASDAQ: RYAAY) and Air France KLM (NYSE: AKH) were both raised to Buy at UBS.
Virgin Mobile USA (NYSE: VM) downgraded to Equal Weight at Lehman.
XL Capital (NYSE: XL) cut to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.

Jon C. Ogg
February 7, 2008

Pre-Market Stock News (December 11, 2007)

247wallst — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 08:17:49 +0000

Below is a snapshot of the individual company news affecting share prices being watched by 247WallSt.com:

Amtech Systems (NASDAQ: ASYS) shares up 3% after it announced receipt of a $3.9 million solar order for diffusion processing systems from an existing solar cell customer based in Taiwan.
Boeing (NYSE: BA) has an update for the progress on its 787 Dreamliner today.
Celanese (NYSE: CE) guided up slightly for 2007 and in-line for 2008, guidance upped to 2010 as well.
ChinaEdu Corporation (NASDAQ: CEDU) priced its 6.82 million ADR IPO at $10.00 per share.
Citigroup (NYSE: C) cuts size of SIV by $15 Billion.
Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) introduced new tablet PC with touchscreen.
General Electric (NYSE: GE) set to give outlook meeting this afternoon with guidance.
Genesis Micro (NASDAQ: GNSS) shares up over 50% after being acquired by STMicroelectronics for $8.65 per share.
H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) shares trading down about 8% after posting loss for quarter.
IAC/Interactive (NASDAQ: IACI) is allowing users to dump their searches stored by the search engine in a bout to win over customers via privacy.
Macrovision (NASDAQ: MVSN) won a tier 1 pact from a European automotive integrator.
Medarex (NASDAQ: MEDX) shares trading down almost 20% after saying its BMY partnered Ipilimumab failed to meet endpoints for its metastatic melanoma treatment.
MultiMedia Games (NASDAQ: MGAM) $0.02 EPS vs $0.01 est.
PCTEL (NASDAQ: PCTI) selling its mobility solutions unit to Smith Micro for $59.7 million.
Smith Micro (NASDAQ: SMSI) traded up 12% after announcing it was acquiring PCTEL’s mobility solutions group for $59.7 million.
Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) traded up almost 5% after raising its mid-point of guidance to above consensus.
UBS (NYSE: UBS) shares trading down 3% after it wrote-down another $10 Billion in value of mortgage backed assets and sold a 10% stake to investors from Singapore and the Middle East.
Valero (NYSE: VLO) may sell some more refinery assets.
Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) shares trading down 9% after it cut its dividend, announced lay-offs, and will exit sub-prime operations.

Jon C. Ogg
December 11, 2007

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

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.