24/7 Wall St. » CMA

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (FDX, WY, CMA, GLW, RDS-A, IDTI, MCK, PCL, CYOU, HUM, LAZ, L, SYY, SURW, CHUX, SOHU, GBG, DNDN)

Paul Ausick — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:07:48 +0000

US equity markets opened lower this morning and never moved into positive territory all day. Greek debt swap negotiations made no discernible progress today and there was no scheduled data on tap to move the market one way or the other. The dollar picked up strength against the euro today, but faltered against the British pound and the Japanese yen. The dollar index rose 0.1385 to 79.051. Crude oil was mixed with WTI crude down -0.76% at $97.10/barrel and Brent crude up 1.39% at $116.17/barrel. Gold closed down -0.9% at $1,724.90/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 17 points to 12,845.20 (-0.13%), the NASDAQ fell almost 4 points (-0.13%) to 2,901.99, and the S&P 500 fell -0.04% or less than 1 point to 1,344.33.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) raised to ‘buy’ at BofA/ML; Weyerhaeuser Co. (NYSE: WY) cut to ‘sell’ at UBS; Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) raised to ‘outperform’ at RBS; Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) raised to ‘outperform’ at Piper Jaffray; and Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS-A) cut to ‘neutral’ at Credit Suisse.

Earnings reports since markets closed last week have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Integrated Device Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: IDTI) is down -0.98% at $6.60; McKesson Corp. (NYSE: MCK) is up 1.71% at $82.18; Plum Creek Timber Co. Inc. (NYSE: PCL) is up 0.32% at $39.81; Changyou.com Ltd. (NASDAQ: CYOU) is down -12.43% at $25.50; Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) is down -5.8% at $84.90; Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) is down -4.3% at $27.65; Loews Corp. (NYSE: L) is down -0.85% at $38.28; and Sysco Corp. (NYSE: SYY) is down -4% at $29.66.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

SureWest Communications (NASDAQ: SURW) is up more than 44% at $22.50 after posting a new 52-week high of $22.69 earlier. The telecom provider has agreed to be acquired by Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CNSL) for about $341 million, or $23/share.

O’Charley’s Inc. (NASDAQ: CHUX) is up nearly 42% at $9.81 after posting a new 52-week high of $9.88. The company has agreed to be acquired by Fidelity National Financial Inc. (NYSE: FNF) for $221 million, about $9.85/share.

Sohu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: SOHU) is down nearly -15% at $53.61. The Chinese internet company posted solid earnings, but its Q1 forecast was below expectations.

Great Basin Gold Ltd. (AMEX: GBG) is down -11% at $1.05. The junior gold miner reported preliminary results today that were worse than expected and lowered first quarter production estimates.

Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) is up about 17.6% at $16.66. The drug maker is getting a boost from a negative report on a prostate cancer drug treatment that would compete with Dendreon’s Provenge.

Stay tuned for Tuesday. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke testifies before Senate Budget Committee. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

11:30 a.m. – 4- and 52-week Treasury bill auction
3:00 p.m. – Consumer credit report

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire Tagged: CHUX, CMA, CYOU, DNDN, FDX, GBG, GLW, HUM, IDTI, L, LAZ, MCK, PCL, RDS-A, SOHU, SURW, SYY, WY

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AVAV, AET, ALU, ANN, CAH, CMA, GLW, FDX, JAKK, M, PNC, PPO, RDS-A, SKX, TEVA, UA, WY)

Administrator — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:29:51 +0000

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

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Aetna, Inc. (NYSE: AET) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Alcatel-Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU) Cut to Sell at S&P Equity Research.
Ann Inc. (NYSE: ANN) Cut to Underperform at Barclays.
Cardinal Health Inc. (NYSE: CAH) Reiterated Buy with $52 price target at Argus.
Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) Raised to Outperform at RBC.
Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAKK) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.
PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC) Cut to Market Perform at BMO.
Polypore International Inc. (NYSE: PPO) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Skechers U.S.A., Inc. (NYSE: SKX) Raised to Neutral at Stern Agee.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NASDAQ: TEVA) Cut to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.
Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UA) Reiterated Buy with $90 target at Argus.
Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE: WY) Cut to Sell at UBS.

If you enjoyed the top analyst calls, you can sign up in the box below to join our morning email list to receive news directly in your inbox each morning. We include major analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPO and M&A news, special situation developments, observations on Warren Buffett and key market gurus, as well as special exclusive feature stories.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: AET, ALU, ANN, AVAV, CAH, CMA, FDX, GLW, JAKK, M, PNC, PPO, RDS-A, SKX, TEVA, UA, WY

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AMGN, CMA, COP, GOOG, JIVE, JCI, NUVA, PG, PHM, RIMM, SN, SIRI, VPHM)

Administrator — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:28:19 +0000

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

Amgen Corporation (NASDAQ: AMGN) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) Cut to Neutral at Susquehanna.
ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) Cut to Sell at UBS.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Reiterated Buy with $730 price target at Argus.
Jive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: JIVE) Started as Buy at Citigroup; Started as Neutral at UBS; Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo; Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Johnson Controls Inc. (NYSE: JCI) Cut to Equal Weight at Barclays.
NuVasive, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUVA) Raised to Buy at Canaccord Genuity.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
PulteGroup (NYSE: PHM) Cut to Equalweight at Barclays.
Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) Raised to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank; Reiterated as Hold at Canaccord Genuity.
Sanchez Energy Corporation (NYSE: SN) Started as Buy at Canaccord Genuity; Started as Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
ViroPharma Incorporated (NASDAQ: VPHM) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AMGN, CMA, COP, GOOG, JCI, JIVE, NUVA, PG, PHM, RIMM, SIRI, SN, VPHM

24/7 Wall St. Top Analyst Calls of the Week (AMD, AMZN, AAPL, CHTR, CMA, GXP, GMCR, NFLX, RVBD, TEVA, UTX, VLO)

Administrator — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 11:45:07 +0000

This last week was a bad end to a bad quarter and the research calls were very mixed. We went through the numerous upgrades and downgrades to identify which calls were insightful as well as to identify some of the big winning calls and the losing calls.

The top analyst calls of the last week from Wall Street research firms were in the following: Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD); Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN); Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL); Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR); Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA); Great Plains Energy Incorporated (NYSE: GXP); Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR); Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX); Riverbed Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD); Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NASDAQ: TEVA); United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX); and Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO).

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) was a stock that burned UBS this week pretty bad. On Raised came word that UBS raised the rating to Buy. On Wednesday the company dropped the hammer that it is having manufacturing issues that is enough for a lower revenue and margin forecast. Shares went from close to $6.50 up over $6.60 the following day, but the stock closed out te week at $5.08 and hit a new 52-week low of $5.07 on Friday as well. Too bad, but AMD was a bad break for UBS and it took at least 4 downgrades after the news.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was maintained with a “Buy” rating and with $255 target at Bank of America Merrill Lynch this last week after the new Kindles were released. There is just one problem, we noted over the weekend that Amazon doesn’t appear to be making money off the new products.

Filed under: Analyst Calls, The Week Tagged: AAPL, AMD, AMZN, CHTR, CMA, GMCR, GXP, NFLX, RVBD, TEVA, UTX, VLO

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AAPL, CAT, CHTR, CL, CMCSA, CMA, DE, DTV, IFT, KMB, LRCX, MW, NVLS, NTRI, RL, TEVA, PAY, WCRX)

Administrator — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 12:17:59 +0000

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

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Started as Buy with $495 target at Janney.
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) Started as Overweight at Barclays.
Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA) Raised to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) Started as Overweight at Barclays.
DIRECTV (NASDAQ: DTV) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Imperial Holdings, LLC (NYSE: IFT) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE: KMB) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ: LRCX) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Men’s Wearhouse Inc. (NYSE: MW) named value stock of the day at Zacks.
Novellus Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
NutriSystem Inc. (NASDAQ: NTRI) Started as Buy at Auriga.
Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NASDAQ: TEVA) Started as Buy at Canaccord Genuity.
VeriFone Systems, Inc (NYSE: PAY) Started as Buy at Argus.
Warner Chilcott plc (NASDAQ: WCRX) Started as Buy at Canaccord Genuity.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AAPL, CAT, CHTR, CL, CMA, CMCSA, DE, DTV, IFT, KMB, LRCX, MW, NTRI, NVLS, PAY, RL, TEVA, WCRX

The 24/7 Wall St./Flame Index: Companies With The Worst Press Coverage (6/16)

247wallst — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 15:01:28 +0000

Homeowners get clobbered in the press as the housing depression worsens.

Hackers hit ADP servers and worry grows about safety of payroll data.

Market revolt about Target earnings.

The Flame Index started as a research tool in 2008 at the NY Innovation Design Lab (nyidlab). It was used as a general metric to evaluate companies and their risk in the media. Publicly traded Fortune 500 companies are used as a measure to calculate an overall market of negative news and the companies are ranked within that market.

Rank	Company	Ticker	Score	Change in Rank	Comments
8	Automatic Data Processing	ADP	27.893	+167	Hackers hit its servers
9	Comerica	CMA	27.12	+82	New capital ratios could hurt earnings
15	Morgan Stanley	MS	25.317	+334	Worries about position in Greek debt?
28	Oracle	ORCL	21.623	+197	Sued by HP about an “unfair” use of software
33	Hewlett-Packard	HPQ	20.7	+580	Sues Oracle over software use
37	Target	TGT	19.498	+329	Earnings were nothing special
39	Gap	GPS	18.724	+506	Skepticism about move into Europe
41	Lennar	LEN	18.22	+150	Home builders say market is more deader than before
44	Toll Brothers	TOL	18.08	+234	Ditto
45	Smithfield Foods	SFD	18.07	+396	Nice earnings but high capex

Data and ranking provided by the Flame Index.

Filed under: Research Tagged: ADP,, CMA, GPS, HPQ, MS, TGT

Sizing Up Mortgage Exposure, Earnings, and Book Value for BofA and Peers (BAC, C, CMA, NYB, NTRS, RF, STT, USB, WFC, JPM, XLF, FAS)

Administrator — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 14:06:43 +0000

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) has found itself as the king of the mortgage mess after it decided to acquire Countrywide. By acquiring the company’s corpse rather than trying to just buy the skeleton’s remaining assets, BofA now has potentially billions of dollars of mortgage exposure due to the process or foreclosure, bad loan criteria, repackaging loans into CDOs and mortgage-backed securities, and on and on. We have wondered how bad that exposure might be in reality and we are starting to get more color on that front now that earnings season’s dust has settled.

What is interesting is that the opinion of how bad this will ultimately be can vary greatly from source to source. Our guess is that if you asked ten different members of the top brass at BofA what they thought their ultimate mortgage exposure is, you would probably get ten very different answers.

It turns out that Barron’s noted some of the banks trading close to book value, or under book value, this last weekend. We have previously noted that both Bank of America Corporation and Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) are both trading under book value but that still has not prevented a slide in the stocks. That might not matter if that book value keeps getting eroded even as BofA remains profitable.

We have also seen how shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA), New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE: NYB), Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS), Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF), State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT), and U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) have also mostly fallen since earnings season, but these are now all much closer to (or under) their implied book values reported with earnings. Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) have also been under fire but these are now at much lower premiums to book value.

The pure-play for any bounce, if one is coming, in the banks is the Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLF) ETF as it has the most exposure to the top banks in its tracking index. The derivative tracking ETF is the Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (NYSE: FAS) and it is the most leveraged and liquid of all leveraged bank ETFs with three-times the intraday moves. Keep in mind that it does have tracking error if held over longer periods of time.

Sanford C. Bernstein’s John McDonald issued a report on the mortgage woes at Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) this week with an outlook of $27 billion in new mortgage-related losses through the end of 2013. How much? The Charlotte-based bank has already booked $46 billion in mortgage losses during the financial crisis.

Filed under: Banking, Financial Stocks, Housing Tagged: BAC, C, CMA, FAS, JPM, NTRS, NYB, RF, STT, USB, WFC, XLF

The 24/7 Wall St./Flame Index: Companies With The Worst Press (6/13)

247wallst — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 14:24:13 +0000

News that a drought in west Texas could undermine oil and gas production hit Halliburton, Anadarko, and KBR.

Bank of New York Mellon was hit by negative coverage of a problem of how it handled mortgage securities paperwork

Rank	Company	Ticker	Score	Change in Rank	Comments
14	Bank of New York Mellon Corp.	BK	23.544	+125	Government probes role in mortgage securities
18	Fannie Mae	FNM	21.691	+553	Administration considers complete liquidation
22	Halliburton	HAL	20.62	+135	Growing competition from Baker Hughes
25	Comerica	CMA	20.181	+768	Federal Reserve may tighten capital rules
33	Raymond James Financial	RJF	18.726	+651	Another potential victim of Fed rules
36	Anadarko Petroleum	APC	18.533	+446	Drought threatens oil drilling in West Texas
42	KBR	KBR	17.916	+341	More concern about Texas production
43	Lowe’s	LOW	17.874	+645	Home retailer says it may have too many stores to serve weak market
45	Chevron	CVX	17.696	+250	Pulls out of Black Sea drilling venture
49	Valassis Communications	VCI	17.366	+113	Major challenge from Groupon

Data and ranking provided by the Flame Index.

Filed under: General, Research Tagged: BK, CMA, CVX, HAL, RJF

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ATML, CMA, CBRL, DNDN, DV, EDMC, GIS, GFI, IPSU, JNS, LPS, MTL, MHS, MPEL, QLTY, SIG, SIRI, VG, ZUMZ)

Administrator — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 12:07:27 +0000

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

Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML) Reiterated Buy and $17 target at Gleacher & Co.
Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA) Reiterated Buy at BofA/ML.
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. (NASDAQ: CBRL) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.
DeVry, Inc. (NYSE: DV) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Education Management Corporation (NASDAQ: EDMC) Raised to Neutral at BofA/ML.
General Mills, Inc. (NYSE: GIS) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Gold Fields Ltd. (NYSE: GFI) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Imperial Sugar Co. (NASDAQ: IPSU) Raised to Buy with $30 target at Janney Capital.
Janus Capital Group Inc. (NYSE: JNS) Reiterated Underperform but cut target to $11 at BofA/ML.
Lender Processing Services, Inc. (NYSE: LPS) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL) Started as Buy at UBS.
Medco Health Solutions Inc. (NYSE: MHS) Reiterated Buy with $69 target at Argus.
Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $13.30 at Citigroup.
Quality Distribution Inc. (NASDAQ: QLTY) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE: SIG) Maintained Strong Buy as Value at Zacks.
SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Vonage Holdings Corporation (NYSE: VG) Started as Buy at Janco Partners (Wednesday).
Zumiez, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZUMZ) Cut to Neutral at Janney Capital.

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: ATML, CBRL, CMA, DNDN, DV, EDMC, GFI, GIS, IPSU, JNS, LPS, MHS, MPEL, MTL, QLTY, SIG, SIRI, VG, ZUMZ

The 24/7 Wall St./Flame Index: Companies With The Worst Press (May 31)

247wallst — Tue, 31 May 2011 14:47:07 +0000

Chiquita Brands (NYSE: CQB) was sued for supporting dangerous para-military groups in Columbia in 2007. The EU began what is likely to be a vigorous examination of the Western Digital (NYSE: WDC) takeover of Samsung’s disk drive business. The Flame Index started as a research tool in 2008 at the NY Innovation Design Lab (nyidlab). It was used as a general metric to evaluate companies and their risk in the media. Publicly traded Fortune 500 companies are used as a measure to calculate an overall market of negative news and the companies are ranked within that market.

Rank	Company	Ticker	Score	Change in Rank	Comments
1	Google	GOOG	35.86	+4	More concerns that Android does not make money
2	Chiquita Brands International	CQB	35.729	+656	Columbia paramilitary payoffs
3	Research In Motion Limited	RIMM	34.034	-1	Still being beaten down by Apple
4	Massey Energy	MEE	30.687	+3	West Virginia may block M&A
5	General Motors	GM	29.789	-2	May auto sales will be weak
6	Western Digital	WDC	28.731	+326	EU may stop purchase of Samsung disk unit
7	Hewlett-Packard	HPQ	28.166	+6	Management turnover grows
8	Comerica	CMA	27.804	-4	Bank gets low rating in new reputation report
9	Pfizer	PFE	26.891	+6	About to buy Ferrosan’s consumer healthcare business.
10	Fannie Mae	FNM	26.442	-1	Will almost certainly be shuttered
2	Chiquita Brands International	CQB	35.729	+656	Trouble with Columbian payments
6	Western Digital	WDC	28.731	+326	EU scrutiny of deal
14	Freddie Mac	FMCC	25.297	+168	Issues new three-year reference notes
15	BB&T Corp.	BBT	23.24	+181	Criticism of bank’s trust preferred securities
21	Exxon Mobil	XOM	21.617	+42	Restarts key LA refinery

Data and ranking provided by the Flame Index.

Filed under: General, Research Tagged: CMA, CQB, GM, GOOG, HPQ, MEE, PFE, RIMM, WDC