24/7 Wall St. » COH

Top Analyst Downgrades and Stocks to Sell: CarMax, CME, Coach and More

Jon C. Ogg — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:35:17 +0000

Investors often get to see the various analyst upgrades and Buy ratings issued by Wall Street firms. What investors often do not get to see is when analyst downgrade stocks to sell or to avoid. 24/7 Wall St. reviews many fresh research calls each and every day to find great ideas from value stocks to growth stocks to dividend stocks, and we have broken out the negative analyst calls today. These are this Tuesday’s top analyst downgrades and cautious research notes from Wall Street.

Beazer Homes USA Inc. (NYSE: BZH) was cut to Neutral from Buy at Stern Agee.

CarMax Inc. (NYSE: KMX) was cut to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair.

Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) was cut to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CME) was cut to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie.

Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) was cut to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Deutsche Bank A.G. (NYSE: DB) was cut to Neutral from Overweight at J.P. Morgan.

Life Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: LIFE) was cut to Underperform from Outperform at CLSA.

Oil States International Inc. (NYSE: OIS) was cut to Neutral from Buy at Stern Agee.

V.F. Corp. (NYSE: VFC) was cut to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Wellcare Health Plans Inc. (NYSE: WCG) was cut to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Filed under: Investing Tagged: BZH, CCL, CME, COH, DB, KMX, LIFE, OIS, VFC, WCG

Top Wall Street Analyst Downgrades: AIG, Coach, J.C. Penney and More

Jon C. Ogg — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:35:09 +0000

Investors frequently get to see the analyst upgrades and Buy ratings from Wall Street firms. What investors often do not get to see is when analyst downgrade stocks to sell or to avoid. 24/7 Wall St. reviews many fresh research calls each and every day to find great ideas from value stocks to growth stocks to dividend stocks and we have broken out the negative analyst calls today. These are this Tuesday’s top analyst downgrades and cautious research notes from Wall Street.

American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) was cut to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: ANR) was cut to Sell from an already cautious Neutral rating at Goldman Sachs.

American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO) was cut to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) was cut to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Incyte Corp. (NASDAQ: INCY) was resumed in coverage with a Sell rating at Goldman Sachs.

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) was started as Underperform at Wells Fargo.

T-Mobile USA Inc. (NYSE: TMUS) was initiated as Underperform at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.

TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX) was cut to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) was cut to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Deutsche Bank said that it is time to sell industrial stocks to rotate back into banks and technology.

Filed under: Retail Tagged: AIG, ANR, COH, INCY, JCP, TIF, TJX, TMUS

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — April 23, 2013: Flash Crash Has No Impact on Rising Stocks

Paul Ausick — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 20:07:07 +0000

U.S. equity markets opened higher this morning despite low flash PMI readings from the eurozone. Germany’s manufacturing PMI reading was especially notable, falling to 47.9 from 49, and the country’s services PMI fell as well (more coverage here). In Asia, China’s flash manufacturing PMI fell from 51.60 last month to 50.50, which was worse than expected (more coverage here). In the U.S., the flash PMI reading fell from 54.6 to 52, which is still positive, but barely (more coverage here). U.S. house prices rose in February (more coverage here) and new home sales were also up after a drop in January (more coverage here). An afternoon “flash crash” followed a false report of an explosion at the White House caused by a hacker attack on the AP Twitter feed.

The U.S. dollar index is trading up 0.43% today, now at 83.032. The GSCI commodity index is flat at 609.10. WTI crude oil closed flat today, at $89.18 a barrel on the June futures contract. Brent crude trades down 0.1% at $100.26 a barrel. Natural gas is down 0.8% today at about $4.23 per million BTUs. Gold settled down 0.9% today at $1,408.80 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 152 points to 14,719.53 (1.05%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 36 points (1.11%) to 3,269.33, and the S&P 500 rose 1.04% or more than 16 points to 1,578.78.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Bankrate Inc. (NYSE: RATE) cut to ‘sell’ at Goldman Sachs; Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) cut to ‘underperform’ at BofA/Merrill Lynch; Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) raised to ‘overweight’ with a price target of $100 at J.P. Morgan; Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) raised to ‘buy’ with a price target of $25 at SunTrust Robinson Humphreys; and General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) reiterated as ‘buy’ with a price target of $25 at Argus.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in some price moves today, including these as of the last half hour of trading: Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) is up 24.9% at $217.81 after posting a new 52-week high of $219.38 earlier today (more coverage here); Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) is down 1.5% at $53.22; Stillwater Mining Co. (NYSE: SWC) is up 1.2% at $10.99; Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN) is up 2.5% at $35.67 after posting a new 52-week high of $36.23 earlier today (more coverage here); AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) is up 0.5% at $2.94; Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) is up 10.5% at $55.88; Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI) is down 5.2% at $19.94; Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) is up 1.5% at $97.24 after posting a new 52-week high of $99.49 earlier today (more coverage here); and RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) is up 2.1% at $3.21 (more coverage here).

Before markets open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear earnings reports from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM), Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW), Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR), Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM), Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE: ABX), Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG), and Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) is up 9.8% at $16.62. The air lines reported decent earnings today, but is forecasting lower fuel costs going forward. More coverage here.

American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) is up 5.2% at $40.60. The insurer won a lawsuit dismissal in California today.

Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) is down 5.9% at $4.60. The coal miner’s quarterly report came in as poorly as expected and its outlook is now particularly strong. More coverage here.

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

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
8:30 a.m. – Durable goods orders
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
1:00 p.m. – 5-year note auction

Filed under: Investing Tagged: AAPL, ABX, ACI, AIG, AKS, BRCM, CAT, COH, DAL, EW, F, GCI, GE, GILD, GLW, JNPR, LMT, MS, PG, RATE, RSH, S, SWC, T, TXN, VMW, YUM

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — April 22, 2013: Markets Close Higher After Rocky Start

Paul Ausick — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:03:55 +0000

U.S. equity markets opened higher this morning, but struggled to stay in positive territory for most of the morning. There was little economic data released today. In Asia, Hong Kong’s consumer price index rose to 3.6%. The weakening yen boosted the Nikkei again today and a press report that non-performing loans in China now total 20.7% of all loans weighed on Shanghai. In the U.S., the report on existing home sales was weaker than expected (more coverage here), and the Chicago Fed’s national activity index turned negative in March (more coverage here).

The U.S. dollar index is trading down 0.08% today, now at 82.650. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.3% at 607.50. WTI crude oil closed up 0.9% today, at $88.76 a barrel, closing the May futures contract. Brent crude trades up 0.8% at $100.45 a barrel. Natural gas is down 3.2% today at about $4.27 per million BTUs. Gold settled up 1.8% today at $1,421.20 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 20 points to 14,567.33 (0.14%), the NASDAQ rose more than 27 points (0.86%) to 3,233.55, and the S&P 500 rose 0.47% or more than 7 points to 1,562.50.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) cut to ‘sell’ at Argus; Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) cut to ‘sell’ at SocGen; Newmont Mining Co. (NYSE: NEM) cut to ‘sell’ at Deutsche Bank; Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) raised to ‘neutral’ at B. Riley (our Netflix earnings preview is here); and AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) raised to ‘overweight’ at Morgan Stanley.

Earnings reports since markets closed last Friday resulted in some price moves today, including these as of the last half hour of trading: Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) is up 2.9% at $82.78 (more coverage here); Check Point Software Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: CHKP) is up 0.7% at $45.62; Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) is up 5.5% at $39.26 (more coverage here); Hasbro Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) is up 3.5% at $46.60 after posting a new 52-week high of $48.46 earlier today; and NVR Corp. (NYSE: NVR) is down 8.7% at $919.04.

Before markets open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear earnings reports from Netflix Inc., Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD), Stillwater Mining Co. (NYSE: SWC), Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN), AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS), Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI), Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH), Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL), Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI), Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT), RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH), and VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

Power-One Inc. (NASDAQ: PWER) is up 56.4% at $6.32. The maker of solar inverters is being acquired by ABB (NYSE: ABB) for about $1 billion. More coverage here.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) is up 4% at $30.94. The software giant is up on news that an activist investor has poured some $2 billion into the company’s stock. More coverage here.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is down 2.1% at $21.30. The conglomerate’s stock was downgraded by analysts at J.P. Morgan today. More coverage here.

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

8:58 a.m. – Flash PMI manufacturing index
9:00 a.m. – FHFA house price index
10:00 a.m. – New home sales
10:00 a.m. – Richmond Fed manufacturing index
11:30 a.m. – 4-week bill auction
1:00 p.m. – 2-year note auction

Filed under: Investing Tagged: ABB, ABBV, ACI, AKS, BHI, CAT, CHKP, COH, DAL, ERIC, GCI, GE, GILD, HAL, HAS, LMT, MSFT, NEM, NFLX, NVR, PWER, RSH, SWC, TXN, VMW

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — April 19, 2013: After a Mixed Open, Markets Climb Slowly

Paul Ausick — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 20:06:24 +0000

U.S. equity markets opened mixed this morning as the DJIA was slammed by a number of weak earnings reports both last night and before markets opened this morning. The was no economic data out in Asia today, where markets closed higher. In Europe, Germany’s producer price index came in lower than expected, but industrial production reports from both Italy and Spain were weaker than forecast. There was no economic data released in the U.S. today. Events in Boston today dominated U.S. news.

The U.S. dollar index is trading up 00.22% today, now at 82.736. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.8% at 606.01. WTI crude oil closed up 0.3% today, at $88.01 a barrel, but closed the week down 3.6%, a third consecutive weekly loss. Brent crude trades up 0.2% at $99.69 a barrel. Natural gas is up 0.2% today at about $4.40 per million BTUs. Gold settled up 0.2% today at $1,395.60 an ounce, but posted a loss of 7% for the week, the fourth week in a row that the yellow metal has dropped.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 10 points to 14,547.51 (0.07%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 40 points (1.25%) to 3,206.06, and the S&P 500 rose 0.88% or nearly 14 points to 1,555.25.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Varian Medical Systems Inc. (NYSE: VAR) cut to ‘sell’ at Citigroup; Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL) raised to ‘buy’ at Keefe Bruyette & Woods; Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) raised to ‘market perform’ at BMO Capital Markets; Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN) cut to ‘market perform’ at Raymond James; and Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) cut to ‘neutral’ at R.W. Baird.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in some price moves today, including these as of the last half hour of trading: Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) is down 2.3% at $2.45; Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) is up 6.7% at $56.31; Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) is up 10.9% at $364.03; E*Trade Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC) is up 3.1% at $9.84; Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is up 4.5% at $800.35 (more coverage here); International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) is down 8% at $190.54 (more coverage here); Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) is up 3.4% at $29.76 (more coverage here); General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is down 4% at $21.78 (more coverage here); Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) is up 3.8% at $74.17; McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) is down 2.1% at $99.73 (more coverage here and our ‘Company of the Week’ story here); Rockwell Collins Inc. (NYSE: COL) is up 2.4% at $61.08, and Schlumberger NV (NYSE: SLB) is down 2.1% at $69.51 (more coverage here).

Before markets open Monday morning we are scheduled to hear earnings reports from Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT), Check Point Software Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: CHKP), Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL), Hasbro Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS), and NVR Corp. (NYSE: NVR).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX) is up 58.9% at $84.00 after posting a new 52-week high of $85.90 earlier today. The biopharmaceuticals maker reported positive mid-stage data on a treatment for cystic fibrosis.

SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: SEAS) is up 25% at $33.76. The theme park company held its IPO today, going out at $27 a share for 26 million shares. More coverage here.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is down 3.7% at $13.44. The PC maker’s share price fell below the offer price from Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners after Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) announced that it would not make a bid for the company. More coverage here.

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

8:30 a.m. – Chicago Fed national activity index
10:00 a.m. – Existing home sales
11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6-month bill auctions

Have a safe weekend!

Filed under: Investing Tagged: AMD, BX, CAT, CHKP, CMG, COF, COH, COL, DELL, ETFC, GE, GOOG, HAL, HAS, HON, IBM, MCD, MSFT, NOK, NVR, SEAS, SLB, TOL, TXN, VAR, VRTX

Top Analyst Downgrades and Cautious Views from Wall Street

Jon C. Ogg — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 12:35:08 +0000

Investors usually see many Wall St. analysts issuing Buy ratings, but they often overlook or do not see when Wall St. analysts give lists of stocks to sell or when they have very cautious comments about companies. We review many fresh research calls to find great ideas from value stocks to growth stocks to dividend stocks. We are breaking out the negative analyst calls of stocks to sell as well cautious calls.

These are this Friday’s top analyst downgrades and cautious research notes from Wall St.

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) was downgraded late on Thursday and the rating is still technically positive. S&P Capital IQ’s research team downgraded the largest semiconductor cap-ex player to Buy from the firm’s prior Strong Buy analyst rating.

Avalon Rare Metals Inc. (NYSEMKT: AVL) cut to Sector Perform from Sector Outperform by CIBC.

Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at R.W. Baird.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN) was cut to Market Perform from Outperform by Raymond James.

Varian Medical Systems Inc. (NYSE: VAR) was downgraded to Sell from an already cautious Neutral rating at Citigroup.

We have shown the analyst calls of stocks to sell, and here are this morning’s top upgrades, downgrades and initiations from Wall St. analysts.

Filed under: Investing Tagged: AMAT, AVL, COH, TXN, VAR

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AAPL, AMX, BBY, BKD, COH, CVS, DKS, LTM, MOS, P, RSH, RHT, SHW, SFD, TJX, URI, PAY, XOOM)

Jon C. Ogg — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 12:35:12 +0000

These are some of this Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall St. research calls.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) maintained Hold but price target cut to $420 from $500 at Jefferies.

America Movil SAB (NYSE: AMX) cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Brookdale Senior Living Inc. (NYSE: BKD) cut to Underperform at Macquarie.

Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) maintained Buy on Focus List with $65 target at Argus.

CVS Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS) cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS) raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs and maintained Buy with $60 target at Argus.

Life Time Fitness Inc. (NYSE: LTM) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) raised to Outperform at BMO.

Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) started as Outperform at Pac-Crest.

RadioShack Inc. (NYSE: RSH) cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.

Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) cut to Neutral at Citigroup.

Sherwin-Williams Co. (NYSE: SHW) raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD) maintained Outperform and raised target to $31 from $26 at Credit Suisse.

TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX) started as Overweight at Barclays.

United Rentals Inc. (NYSE: URI) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

VeriFone Systems Inc. (NYSE: PAY) raised to Positive at Susquehanna.

Xoom Corp. (NASDAQ: XOOM) started as Buy at Needham, started as Market Perform at Raymond James, started as Outperform at William Blair and started as Overweight at Barclays.

UBS came out with a list of eight stocks to buy now.

Here are 11 stocks which analysts expect to rise 50% to 100% (or more) over the next year.

Filed under: Investing Tagged: AAPL, AMX, BBY, BKD, COH, CVS, DKS, LTM, MOS, P, PAY, RHT, RSH, SFD, SHW, TJX, URI, XOOM

Argus Adds Costco and Coach to Model Portfolios

Jon C. Ogg — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 14:00:04 +0000

We have seen some key changes to the Argus Research Institutional Model Portfolio this morning. It is suggesting that investors add shares of Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) and Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST), and it is selling shares of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) and H.J. Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ).

Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) was started with a 2% weighting of the portfolio. Argus said that despite the problems:

Coach is the company that appears to be best positioned to capitalize on the growth of China’s status-conscious middle class. Next, Coach’s well-developed brand and emphasis on quality and innovation differentiate its products in an era when internet shopping is compressing margins on all but unique merchandise.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) was added as a 2% weighting and the firm said, “We believe that Costco’s financial strength and ability to deliver extreme values are key differentiators for the stock in the current market environment.” Argus has a Buy rating and said that Costco is one of its favorite merchants.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) was being sold out as a position entirely, as the shares have underperformed the S&P 500 by 20% since it was added to the model portfolio last summer. H.J. Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ) is being sold out entirely due to the acquisition, so any other explanation is immaterial.

Filed under: Retail Tagged: BBBY, COH, COST, HNZ

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AMAG, AON, BMY, SCHW, COH, BVN, DF, GPS, HGG, LXK, MRK, KORS, NS, RRGB, TIF, TJX, YHOO)

Jon C. Ogg — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 13:45:09 +0000

These are some of this Monday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall St. research calls.

AMAG Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAG) raised to Neutral at J.P. Morgan.

AON Corp. (NYSE: AON) cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) cut to Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE: SCHW) raised to Outperform at Bernstein.

Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) started as Buy at Stern Agee.

Compania de Minas Buenaventura (NYSE: BVN) started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Dean Foods Co. (NYSE: DF) raised to Buy at KeyBanc.

Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) started as Underperform at Stern Agee.

hhgregg Inc. (NYSE: HGG) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Lexmark International Inc. (NYSE: LXK) raised to Equal Weight at Barclays.

Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: KORS) started as Neutral at Stern Agee.

NuStar Energy L.P. (NYSE: NS) cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. (NASDAQ: RRGB) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) started as Neutral at Stern Agee.

TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX) started as Buy at Stern Agee.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) raised to Overweight at Barclays.

Deutsche Bank says to buy the eight enduring tech stocks.

Filed under: Investing Tagged: AMAG, AON, BMY, BVN, COH, DF, GPS, HGG, KORS, LXK, MRK, NS, RRGB, SCHW, TIF, TJX, YHOO

Coach Sale Rumors Trump New Creative Director Announcement

Jon C. Ogg — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:00:36 +0000

Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) is trading higher on Wednesday on unconfirmed reports from the site DealReporter that the luxury goods purveyor is exploring a sale of the company. The first thing we would note about this report is that shareholders may have every right to revolt, because it would take a really large premium to buy the company and not bury the existing shareholder base with forced losses.

Another issue is that the company has a very fresh press release, not even two hours old, in which the company said it has appointed Zach Augustine to executive vice president of Global Environments and also has named Erin Thomson as vice president and Artistic Director of Global Environments. Augustine comes from Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) and will oversee the new visual presentation inside Coach stores and the architecture or design of the stores.

So here is why the deal would be hard to do. Shares closed at $46.50 on Tuesday, against a 52-week range of $45.87 to $79.70. That would take a 71% premium to get up to a year high. Even if the buyout did not have to come up at that high of a level, you would expect that a serious premium would have to be paid. The other issue is that, even this close to a 52-week low, the market capitalization rate of Coach is just above $13 billion. A buyout at the 52-week high would imply a $22.2 billion deal, and that seems unlikely in this space.

Maybe Coach needs to consider the other alternative of breaking up its units. That comes with a huge risk, but Coach may just be too big to buy.

Speculators are proving that they are willing to chase any rumors all over again. The stock was up more than 5% at $49.00 in the premarket trading.

Filed under: Retail Tagged: COH, NKE