24/7 Wall St. » CECO

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AGCO, APOL, BSX, CECO, DNDN, FDX, GS, HUN, ITW, INTC, KSS, SNDK, AMTD, TRV, UPS, URBN, VOD, HOGS)

Administrator — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:19:44 +0000

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

AGCO Corporation (NYSE: AGCO) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) Reiterated Outperform and Raised Target to $60 at Credit Suisse.
Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) Maintained Hold but lowered estimates at Argus.
Career Education Corporation (NASDAQ: CECO) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) Reiterated Neutral with $10 target at Baird.
FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) Cut to Market Perform by Wells Fargo.
Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN) named as Value Stock of the Day at Zacks.
Illinois Tool Works. Inc. (NYSE: ITW) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Cut to Neutral at Stern Agee.
Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE: KSS) Cut to Hold at Argus.
SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) Raised to Buy at Stern Agee.
TD AMERITRADE Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: AMTD) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TRV) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE: UPS) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) Started as Underperform and named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Vodafone Group PLC (NYSE: VOD) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Zhongpin, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOGS) Started as outperform at Oppenheimer.

If you enjoyed this morning’s Wall Street research notes, you can sign up to receive these directly in your inbox each morning by joining our free email list in the box below. We also include major movers, key stock calls, news on Warren Buffett and other gurus, as well as special exclusive feature stories.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AGCO, AMTD, APOL, BSX, CECO, DNDN, FDX, GS, HOGS, HUN, INTC, ITW, KSS, SNDK, TRV, UPS, URBN, VOD

Expected Gains in For-Profit College Stocks (APOL, WPO, STRA, DV, CECO)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:29:59 +0000

After a shaky start to the year, the for-profit college sector has pulled itself back up. With one exception, however, four of five stocks we looked at are still down for the year and all five remain below 52-week highs. The five stocks we reviewed are Apollo Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL), The Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO), Strayer Education Inc. (NASDAQ: STRA), DeVry, Inc. (NYSE: DV), and Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ: CECO).

The for-profits face tighter rules on recruiting and somewhat closer oversight on graduation and job placement rates. Student loan defaults continue to be a problem, and last month the US Government Accounting Office reported on widespread cheating at some of the schools. And one of the schools, Career Education Corp., had its CEO resign. All in all, what was once a high-flying sector has lost a good deal of its appeal.

Apollo Group, which owns the University of Phoenix, is the largest of the for-profit operators based on student enrollment. The company’s stock has a median target price of $54.00, up from $53.00 on November 1st. At a current price of $50.01 at around noon today, the potential upside for the shares is 8%. Shares have gained nearly $4.00 since November 1st.

The Washington Post owns the Kaplan schools. The company’s median target price is a meaningless $275.00 from a single broker who must not have noticed that the share price is now $349.00. The drag on the company’s stock comes from its newspaper operations, of course, without which the Post would be operating at a loss.

Strayer has a median target price of $100.00, down from $104.00 on November 1st. The current share price is $99.43, leaving an implied gain of less than 1%. The company recently purchased the Jack Welch Institute of Management, which gave the stock a shot in the arm. Shares are down about -28% for the past 12 months.

DeVry has a median target price of $52, slightly lower than its target of $52.50 on November 1st. The shares are trading today at $35.22, for a potential upside of 47.6%. The stock goes ex-dividend tomorrow in advance of its twice-yearly dividend payment of $0.15/share. DeVry’s stock is down nearly -20% for the past 12 months.

Career Education has a median target price of $9.50, a drop of more than -50% from its target of $20.00 on November 1st. Shares are trading today at $7.33, for a potential upside of 29.6%. Of all these stocks, this one has been hammered the most over the past year, with a share price loss of nearly -61%. The CEO resigned last month, and 49 of the company’s schools must this month show reasons why they should not lose their accreditation.

Of these schools, only Apollo, which has seen its share price grow by about 37% in the past year offers even the remotest opportunity for investors. The stock’s 52-week high is less than $0.25 higher than its new target price, and the company claims that it came out clean in the GAO cheating investigation because it was one of the three schools to deny admission to students based on insufficient credentials. Enrollments are the key for Apollo, though, and it will have to spend more to keep those enrollments up.

The rest of this group is so weak that even lowered targets may be well out of reach. Overall, for-profit schools are unlikely to repeat the rapid growth they managed just a few years ago. There could be some consolidation in this sector or some closures. Either would be a big help.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: APOL, CECO, DV, STRA, WPO

For-Profit Colleges Stung in GAO Report (APOL, EDMC, WPO, DV, ESI, STRA, CECO)

Paul Ausick — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:01:29 +0000

For-profit colleges have had a tough couple of years. First, the colleges were forced to change admissions procedures in a way that has cost them enrollment. Then student loan default rates and job placement rates came under fire. Share prices tumbled, although a decision by the US Department of Education in July delayed implementation of some rules until 2015. Now the schools have taken another shot.

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a new report on for-profit education that was prepared at the request of US Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), a long-time critic of the for-profit sector. This report focused on how closely the colleges adhered to their own policies related to admissions credentials, cheating, and counseling students who withdraw.

The GAO does not identify the 15 schools included in the study by name, but it does say that the study did include the top 5 based on enrollment in 2008. The likely suspects include Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL), Education Management Corp. (NASDAQ: EDMC), The Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO), DeVry, Inc. (NYSE: DV), ITT Educational Services Inc. (NYSE: ESI), Strayer Education Inc. (NASDAQ: STRA),. and Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ: CECO).

The study resembled an undercover sting operation. The GAO tried to enroll students with false high school credentials, and once admitted, the students plagiarized assignments, turned in clearly incorrect assignments, and regularly skipped class. The overall results indicated that 8 of the 15 schools mostly complied with their own policies, while at the other 7 the GAO said it found “mixed results.”

Regarding academic performance policies, the GAO had this to say:

At 6 colleges, instructors acted in a manner consistent with school policies in this area, and in some cases attempted to contact students to provide help outside of class. One or more instructors at 2 colleges repeatedly noted that the students were submitting plagiarized work, but no action was taken to remove the student. One or more instructors at the 4 remaining colleges did not adhere to grading standards. For example, one student submitted photos of celebrities and political figures in lieu of essay question responses but still earned a passing grade.

That totals only 12 schools because 3 of the schools refused to admit students who could not provide acceptable high school credentials.

By itself, this study probably won’t have much effect on the for-profit schools share prices, but it does let investors know that the schools’ policies and practices remain under scrutiny. There is little question that the prosperity that these schools achieved in the 2000s was largely due to the huge increase in federal student loan dollars that flowed in as the schools’ enrollments surged. Changes in federal law and continuing investigative pressure will definitely have an impact on these schools going forward.

Senator Harkin is also investigating the recruiting of military veterans by the for-profit schools. Due to a quirk in the law, veteran’s benefits are not included in the requirement that no more than 90% of a school’s revenue can come from federal financial aid programs. In 2010-2011, veteran’s education payments to 8 for-profit schools increased by 86%, to $627 million, about 14% of the $4.4 billion total veteran education benefits for the 2010-2011 academic year.

For-profit schools will stay on the radar both because of the ongoing investigations into their activity, but also because budget-cutting time in the US Congress could hit these schools pretty hard.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Austerity, Compensation, General, Politics, Regulation Tagged: APOL, CECO, DV, EDMC, ESI, STRA, WPO

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (FCX, CECO, CLX, COL, BSX, MDT, FICO, LAMR, OWW, KSWS, RIG, MDVN, SNSTA, SONO, DNDN, ANF, CLWR)

Paul Ausick — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 20:05:46 +0000

Stock markets. Equity markets opened sharply higher this morning before falling into negative territory before the ISM and factory order reports were released. The ISM index came in lower than expected, but factory orders grew by 0.3%, slightly better than expected. New pressure on Greece to forgo its referendum on the EU bailout package helped push share prices up, as did strength in tech stocks. Crude oil is up nearly 1.5% and gold is up nearly 2%, while the dollar is down against both the euro and the British pound.

Closing bell. The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 207 points to 12,043.19 (1.75%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 58 points (2.2%) to 2,697.97, and the S&P 500 rose 1.87% or more than 23 points to 1,261.10.

Analyst upgrades and downgrades. There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX) started at ‘overweight’ at Barclays. Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ: CECO), Clorox Corp. (NYSE: CLX), and Rockwell Collins Inc. (NYSE: COL) were cut to ‘underperform’ at BofA/Merrill Lynch; and Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) and Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT) were started as ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse.

Market reacts to earnings. Here are today’s big post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: Fair Isaac Corp. (NYSE: FICO) is up about 25%, at $33.95; Lamar Advertising Co. (NASDAQ: LAMR) is up nearly 25%, at $26.18; Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: OWW) is up 40%, at $2.66; K-Swiss Inc. (NASDAQ: KSWS) is down more than -33%, at $3.09; and Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) is down about -13%, at $48.73.

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

Medivation Inc. (NASDAQ: MDVN) is up 140%, at $39.74 after posting a new 52-week high of $40.15 earlier today. The company reported that an experimental prostate cancer drug reduced death risk by 37%.

Sonesta International Hotels Corp. (NASDAQ: SNSTA) is up nearly 41%, at $30.65 after posting a new 52-week high of $31.06. The company has agreed to be acquired for $31/share by an affiliate of Hospitality Properties Trust (NYSE: HPT).

SonoSite, Inc. (NASDAQ: SONO) is up about 29%, at 39.62 after posting a new 52-week high of $40 earlier today. Sonosite is reported to have hired Morgan Stanley to find a buyer for the company and talks are already in progress with potential buyers, including Samsung Electronics.

Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) is down more than -37%, at $6.53 after setting a new 52-week low of $6.52 earlier today. The company today reiterated its forecast for only modest sales of its Provenge anti-cancer drug.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) is down nearly -20%, at $59.51. The company reported slowing sales in Europe, a region where the company had pinned its hopes for growth.

Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWR) is down about -14%, at $1.75. The company is seeking additional financing and has been unable to get its largest customer and majority shareholder Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) to commit to the financing.

Stay tuned for Friday. The G-20 summit opened today and will continue meeting tomorrow and over the weekend. Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW) releases its October report on US online job demand. We have noted the following event (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – Non-farm payroll data for October

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Market Close Tagged: ANF, BSX, CECO, CLWR, CLX, COL, DNDN, FCX, FICO, KSWS, LAMR, MDT, MDVN, OWW, RIG, SNSTA, SONO

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (NLY, BSX, CECO, CLX, CNH, DNDN, FCX, HXL, HSP, MDT, COL, SWIR, STJ, SLF, TEVA, TDW, WYN)

Administrator — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 12:34:47 +0000

These are some of Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls.

Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE: NLY) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ: CECO) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Clorox Corp. (NYSE: CLX) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
CNH Global N.V. (NYSE: CNH) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.
Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX) Started as Overweight at Barclays.
Hexcel Corporation (NYSE: HXL) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
Hospira Inc. (NYSE: HSP) cut to Underperform ar Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Rockwell Collins Inc. (NYSE: COL) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Sierra Wireless Inc. (NASDAQ: SWIR) downgraded at Raymond James and Morgan Keegan.
St. Jude Medical (NYSE: STJ) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE: SLF) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NASDAQ: TEVA) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Tidewater Inc. (NYSE: TDW) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Wyndam Worldwide (NYSE: WYN) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: BSX, CECO, CLX, CNH, COL, DNDN, FCX, HSP, HXL, MDT, NLY, SLF, STJ, SWIR, TDW, TEVA, WYN

Where Was Career Education Corporation’s Board?

247wallst — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 10:37:07 +0000

Career Education Corporation (NASDAQ: CECO) posted poor earnings, fired its CEO, and its board announced that an investigation by law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf had “confirmed the existence of improper placement determination practices at certain of the Company’s Health Education segment schools, and, for the Company’s Health Education and Art & Design segment schools.“ Where was the board of directors when the improper behavior was going on?

Additionally, the board failed to detect another problem. The Attorney General of the State of New York is reviewing practices at Career Education. Some of the company’s policies may not have complied with state consumer protection rules.

The corporation’s board does have members who should have seen warning signals if they had been on guard as board members should be. Lead director Leslie T. Thornton was a former chief of staff to the U.S. Secretary of Education. She is currently a partner at law firm Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky. She has been a director at Career Education since 2005. Thornton can hardly take the position that she does not know that company’s operations very well and could not understand the legal ramifications of certain management decisions.

Director David W. Devonshire has an impressive background as a financial executive. He was executive vice president and chief financial officer of Motorola. He has a degree in accounting and an MBA. Board member Greg L. Jackson also has an MBA. He has been a mutual fund portfolio manager, which means he has spent years reviewing corporate business practices and balance sheets.

The board of Career Education Corporation will say that CEO Gary E. McCullough effectively slipped the company’s misdeeds past them. Thornton, the lead director, will take his place. She, more than anyone else outside management, should have been alert to the company’s problems.

Where were the board members when Career Education was acting in ways it should not have? Clearly not performing their fiduciary roles.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Filed under: Corporate Governance, General Tagged: CECO

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (AWK, C, JPM, CAT, DE, VLO, PNX, NOR, HGG, CECO, END, VG, AMRS, DMND, PG, SINO, OXGN, RTK, RNF)

Paul Ausick — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:08:58 +0000

Stocks opened higher this morning and the gains held up pretty well all day. The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee report contained no big surprises, with interest rates continuing to be held between 0%-0.25%. The dollar is a bit weaker, leading to a small rise in oil and commodity stocks. Fed chairman Ben Bernanke’s prepared remarks were issued prior to his press conference, and the Fed has lowered its estimate of US economic growth for the year from 2.7%-2.9% to 1.6%-1.7%. The growth forecast for 2012 has also been trimmed, from 3.3%-3.7% to 2.5%-2.9%.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up nearly more than 177 points to 11,835.74 (1.52%), the NASDAQ rose more than 33 points (1.27%) to 2,639.98, and the S&P 500 rose 1.61% or more than 19 points to 1,237.89.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including American Water Works (NYSE: AWK) added to Zack’s Strong Buy List. Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) and JP Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) cut to ‘hold’ at S&P Capital IQ; Caterpillar Corp. (NYSE: CAT) started at ‘overweight’ at Morgan Stanley; Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) started at ‘underweight’ at Morgan Stanley; and Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) reiterated ‘buy’ at Argus with a price target of $35.

Here are today’s big post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: Phoenix Companies Inc. (NYSE: PNX) up more than 27%, at $1.73; Noranda Aluminum Holding Corp. (NYSE: NOR) is up more than 21%, at $10.44; hhgregg, Inc. (NYSE: HGG) up more than 16%, at $14.09; Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ: CECO) is down nearly -467%, at $8.38, a new 52-week low; Endeavor International Corp. (NYSE: END) is down nearly -14%, at $7.66; and Vonage Holding Corp. (NYSE: VG) is down about -15%, at $2.65.

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

Career Education Corp., in addition to posting an awful quarterly report, also got hit by the resignation of the company’s CEO. Shares are down more than -47%, at $8.38, to give the shares a new range of $8.68-$27.60.

Amyris Corp. (NASDAQ: AMRS) is down more than -20%, at $15.41, having posted a new 52-week low earlier to give the stock a new range of $15.21-$33.99. The company’s earnings report revealed an EPS loss of -$0.97, much worse than expected. Shares were downgraded by Robert Baird from ‘outperform’ to ‘neutral’.

Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND) is down more than -17%, at $53.01, in a 52-week range of $43.14-$96.13. The company’s board is reviewing how walnut growers are being paid and will delay the annual report into next year. The company’s deal to by Pringles snack foods from Proctor & Gamble (NYSE: PG) could be in jeopardy because the company planned to use stock to make the acquisition.

Sino-Global America Shipping, Ltd. (NASDAQ: SINO) is up more than 81%, at $3.05, in a 52-week range of $1.20-$9.16. The company has signed a memorandum of understanding with a South African firm to act as Sino’s agent in that country. In shipping these days, any positive signal is a rare treat.

Oxigene, Inc. (NASDAQ: OXGN) is up nearly 12%, at $1.69, in a 52-week range of $0.82-$6.38. The company has set its third-quarter earnings release for next week, and investors are expecting good news on the company’s drug development efforts.

Rentech, Inc. (AMEX: RTK) is up about 21%, at $1.95, a new 52-week high, and a new 52-week trading range of $0.72-$1.95. The company continues to get a boost from the IPO of its spin-off of Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P. (NYSE: RNF).

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

8:30 a.m. – Initial unemployment claims
10:00 a.m. – Factory orders
10:30 a.m. – EIA Natural gas report
4: 30 p.m. – Federal Reserve Balance Sheet

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AMRS, AWK, C, CAT, CECO, DE, DMND, END, HGG, JPM, NOR, OXGN, PG, PNX, RNF, RTK, SINO, VG, VLO

Expected Price Gains at For-Profit Education Companies (APOL, EDMC, APEI, STRA, DV, WPO, COCO, BPI, LOPE, CECO)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:06:57 +0000

Share prices at for-profit education companies peaked in June and July this year, following a slow start. At the beginning of the year there was widespread fear that new federal rules related to student loans, recruiting practices and employment upon graduation would eviscerate revenues and earnings. However, the rules changes were less onerous than anticipated, and stock prices gradually climbed back up. Enrollments are still a problem at some schools, but share prices are well above lows at most of the companies.

The ten companies we have looked at are Apollo Group (NASDAQ: APOL), Education Management (NASDAQ: EDMC), American Public Education (NASDAQ: APEI), Strayhorn Education (NASDAQ: STRA), DeVry (NYSE: DV), Washington Post (NYSE: WPO), Corinthian Colleges (NASDAQ: COCO), Bridgeport Education (NYSE: BPI), Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ: LOPE), and Career Education (NASDAQ: CECO).

All data is from Yahoo! Finance, and current share prices were gathered in the mid-afternoon today.

Apollo Group has a median target price of $53.00 from 15 brokers. Shares are trading today at $46.09, for an implied gain of $6.91, or 15%. Apollo’s forward P/E is 12.72 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $33.75 to $54.23, and at today’s price that is about 37% above its 52-week low and 15% below the 52-week high. The company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings a couple of weeks ago and jumped more than 10% in a day. But lower enrollments plague the company, which has managed to keep revenue up by raising tuition and fees.

Education Management has a median target price of $20.00 from 11 brokers. Shares are trading today at $20.48, about 0.5% above the target price. Education Management’s forward P/E is 13.36 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $11.56 to $28.61. At today’s price it is about 77% above its 52-week low and 28% below the 52-week high. The company beat both quarterly EPS and revenue estimates when it reported earnings last week. But a warning on future enrollment and profit declines have cooled enthusiasm for the shares.

American Public Education has a median target price of $45.00 from 10 brokers. Shares are trading today at $35.11, for an implied gain of $9.89, or 28%. APEI’s forward P/E is 14.50 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $26.15 to $49.29, and at today’s price that is about 49% above its 52-week low and 26% below the 52-week high. The company reports earnings next week and is expected to post EPS of $0.42 on revenue of $62 million. The EPS figure is less than the June quarter, but better than the same period a year ago.

Strayhorn Education has a median target price of $104.00 from 12 brokers. Shares are trading today at $83.06, for an implied gain of $20.94, or 25%. Strayhorn’s forward P/E is 11.39 and the company pays a dividend yield of 4.6%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $69.34 to $165.73 Today’s price is about 29% above its 52-week low and 50% below the 52-week high. The company reports earnings on Thursday and is expected to post EPS of $1.07 on $139 million in revenue. That is a big dip from the same quarter a year ago, when EPS came in at $1.72, and an even bigger dip sequentially, from $2.53 in the June quarter.

DeVry has a median target price of $52.50 from 16 brokers. Shares are trading today at $38.14, for an implied gain of $14.36, or 38%. DeVry’s forward P/E is 8.55 and the company pays a dividend yield of 0.6%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $34.24 to $66.85, and at today’s price that is about 11% above its 52-week low and 43% below the 52-week high. The company missed both EPS and revenue projections last week when it reported its first fiscal-quarter 2012 results. Enrollment was also lower as bleak job prospects keep potential students away.

Washington Post has a median target price of $275.00 from just a single broker. Shares are trading today at $336.80, about 18% above the target price. The forward P/E is 19.44 and the company pays a dividend yield of 2.6%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $308.50 to $455.68. Today’s price is about 9% above its 52-week low and 26% below the 52-week high. The Kaplan education division of the company contributes more than 50% of Washington Post’s revenues and nearly half of net income. The company is expected to post EPS of $3.85 on revenue of $1 billion this Friday. The lack of coverage makes this stock a tough one to figure out.

Corinthian Colleges has a median target price of $2.00 from 10 brokers. Shares are trading today at $2.04, fractionally above the target price. Corinthian’s forward P/E is 9.93 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $1.24 to $6.12, and at today’s price that is about 65% above its 52-week low and 67% below the 52-week high.

Bridgeport Education has a median target price of $26.00 from 10 brokers. Shares are trading today at $22.94, for an implied gain of $3.06, or 13%. Bridgeport’s forward P/E is 8.88 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $13.89 to $30.62, and at today’s price that is about 65% above its 52-week low and 25% below the 52-week high. The company posted better-than-expected third-quarter earnings this morning and raised full-year EPS guidance to $2.95 to $2.98. Enrollment is expected to fall by about 5,000-8,000 students by the end of December.

Grand Canyon Education has a median target price of $18.50 from 10 brokers. Shares are trading today at $15.97, for an implied gain of $2.53, or 16%. Grand Canyon’s forward P/E is 13.22 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $12.26 to $20.66, and at today’s price that is about 30% above its 52-week low and 35% below the 52-week high. The company reports third-quarter earnings next week and is expected to post EPS 0f $0.25 on $109 million in revenues.

Career Education has a median target price of $20 from 11 brokers. Shares are trading today at $15.79, for an implied gain of $4.21, or 27%. The forward P/E is 8.77 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $12.24 to $27.60, and at today’s price that is about 29% above its 52-week low and 43% below the 52-week high. The company reports third-quarter earnings next week, and the consensus EPS estimate is $0.34 on $457 million in revenue. The EPS estimate has been trimmed from $0.46 over the past three months. Shares gained nearly 5% on October 19th, following the strong earnings report from Apollo.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: General Tagged: APEI, APOL, BPI, CECO, COCO, DV, EDMC, LOPE, STRA, WPO

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ABAX, BUD, AMAT, BX, COF, CECO, DOV, GS, HUM, JDSU, LVS, NDAQ, RFMD, SWKS, THI, TQNT, WYN)

Administrator — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 12:04:21 +0000

These are some of this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen having an impact from Wall Street research calls.

Abaxis, Inc. (NASDAQ: ABAX) maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) Reiterated Buy with $19 target at Argus.
The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ: CECO) maintained Buy but cut target to $21 from $28 at Argus.
Dover Corporation (NYSE: DOV) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Humana, Inc. (NYSE: HUM) Reiterated Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ: JDSU) Started as Hold at Kaufman Bros.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
NASDAQ OMX Group (NASDAQ: NDAQ) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
RF Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: RFMD) Started as Underperform with $5.50 target at BofA/ML.
Skyworks Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS) Started as Buy with $25 target at BofA/ML.
Tim Hortons Inc. (NYSE: THI) Reiterated Buy with $56 target at BofA/ML.
TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TQNT) Started as Underperform with $6.75 target at BofA/ML.
Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (NYSE: WYN) named value stock of the day at Zacks.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ABAX, AMAT, BUD, BX, CECO, COF, DOV, GS, HUM, JDSU, LVS, NDAQ, RFMD, SWKS, THI, TQNT, WYN

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ARUN, CECO, CENT, DRYS, ETN, FDO, FRX, FRO, MPEL, PANL, UTI, V)

Administrator — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 12:34:06 +0000

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

Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARUN) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ: CECO) Raised to Market Perform at FBR.
Central Garden & Pet Co. (NASDAQ: CENT) Reiterated Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Eaton Corporation (NYSE: ETN) Reiterated Buy as Value at Zacks.
Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE: FDO) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Forest Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: FRX) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Frontline Ltd. (NYSE: FRO) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) Reiterated Outperform and Raised target at Credit Suisse.
Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ: PANL) Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Universal Technical Institute (NYSE: UTI) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $95 at Argus.

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JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ARUN, CECO, CENT, DRYS, ETN, FDO, FRO, FRX, MPEL, PANL, UTI, V