24/7 Wall St. » EA

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (VMW, YHOO, SNE, EA, SRE, DLPH, CALM, DMAN, SHLD, CSC, PARL, WHR, MHR)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:04:38 +0000

US equity markets rose rather steeply in the first hour of trading this morning, but weren’t able to sustain the momentum for long. Consumer confidence indexes rose this month, but home prices fell according to the Case-Shiller index report this morning. The lower housing prices combined with a weaker dollar index held down equities but boosted most commodities. A renewed threat from Iran to close the critical Strait of Hormuz helped push up crude oil prices. WTI crude rose 1.61% to $101.28 and Brent crude is up 0.93% at $108.96. Gold prices fell again today, to $1,594.80, off -0.70%. Last minute selling appears to have pushed the DJIA to a lower close today.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 2 points to 12,291.73 (-0.02%), the NASDAQ rose more than 6 points (0.25%) to 2,625.20, and the S&P 500 rose 0.01% or less than 1 point to 1,265.47.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including VMWare Inc. (NYSE: VMW) raised to ‘outperform’ at Oppenheimer; Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) maintained ‘buy’ with a price target of $18 at BofA/Merrill Lynch; Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) Japanese target price cut by Barclays; Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) maintained ‘buy’ with a $28 price target at BofA/Merrill Lynch; and Sempra Energy Inc. (NYSE: SRE) reiterated as ‘buy’ with a $61 target price at Argus. Delphi Automotive (NYSE: DLPH) received four ratings this morning: initiated as ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse; started as ‘buy’ at BofA/Merrill Lynch; started as ‘overweight’ at JPMorgan; and started as ‘outperform’ at R.W. Baird.

Here are today’s post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: Cal-Maine Foods Inc. (NASDAQ: CALM) is up nearly 5% at $35.84; and DemandTec, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMAN), which is being acquired by IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM), is down about -0.04% at $13.13. This is the beginning of a very light week for earnings.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Sears Holding Co. (NASDAQ: SHLD) is down about -26% at $33.95, a new 52-week low. The department store has announced that it will miss its previous earnings forecast by at least 50% and that it will close another 100-120 stores. See more coverage here and here.

Computer Sciences Corp. (NYSE: CSC) is down more than -9% at $24.06. The technology and IT services company has said it may have to take a $1.5 billion writedown on a UK contract. More coverage here.

Parlux Fragrances Inc. (NASDAQ: PARL) is up more than 72% at $5.98, after posting a new 52-week high this morning of $6.60. The perfume maker is being acquired by Perfumania Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: PERF) for about $170 million.

Whirlpool Corp. (NYSE: WHR) is down more than -8% at $46.95. The appliance maker, which makes products for Sears, is caught in that company’s dismal announcement.

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. (NYSE: MHR) is up nearly 19% at $5.54. The oil & gas producer has raised its production estimate from 10,000 barrels/day of oil equivalent to 12,500 barrels/day.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. Here are the noteworthy events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
11:30 a.m. – Four-week T-bill auction

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: CALM, CSC, DLPH, DMAN, EA, MHR, PARL, SHLD, SNE, SRE, VMW, WHR, YHOO

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (CF, DLPH, EA, EL, MCK, RSH, SRE, SNE, TDC, VMW, YHOO)

Administrator — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 13:29:02 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Tuesday morning. It is generally light in analyst coverage the week between Christmas and New Years, but there are also some great hidden gems during this time.

CF Industries Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CF) named as value stock of the day by Zacks Investment Research.
Delphi Automotive (NYSE: DLPH) Initiated as Outperform at Credit Suisse; Started as Buy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch; Started as Overweight at J.P.Morgan; Started as Outperform at R.W. Baird.
Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) Maintained Neutral with $28.00 price target at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE: EL) raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day by Zacks Investment Research.
McKesson Corp. (NYSE: MCK) Reiterated Hold at Argus.
RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day by Zacks Investment Research.
Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE) Reiterated Buy with $61 price target objective at Argus.
Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE) target cut in Japan by Barclays.
Teradata Corporation (NYSE: TDC) added to US 1 focus list at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) Maintained Buy with $18.00 price target objective at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: CF, DLPH, EA, EL, MCK, RSH, SNE, SRE, TDC, VMW, YHOO

Media Digest 11/10/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

247wallst — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:57:50 +0000

Reuters: Markets hit their 2009 highs.

Reuters: Dodd is set to unveil his financial reform bill which calls for merging many bank regulators.

Reuters: Kraft’s (NYSE:KFT) bid for Cadbury turned hostile.

Reuters: A survey of economists predicted strong GDP growth in 2010.

Reuters: The Fed says that 9 out of 10 of the largest banks that needed to raise capital have done so.

Reuters: The EC objected to the Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) deal to buy Sun (NASDAQ:JAVA).

Reuters: Energy construction companies reported diverging results with Flour (NYSE:FLR) doing poorly and McDermott (NYSE:MDR) doing well.

Reuters: The Activition (NADAQ:ATVI) “Call to Duty” video game is expected to have a huge debut.

Reuters: Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) will close an R&D facility and lay off more people.

WSJ: Investors are putting more money into commodities and junk bonds.

WSJ: Barclays (NYSE:BCS) was hit with an impairment charge.

WSJ: Congress is considering a bill to limit the size and scope of some of the largest banks.

WSJ: Buffett will sell his stake in Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) and Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NCS) now that he is buying Burlington Northern (NYSE:BNI).

WSJ: Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) will buy mobile ad company AdMob.

WSJ: New data show that few banks are tightening credit.

WSJ: Sprint (NYSE:S) will cut 2,500 jobs.

WSJ: Google (NYSE:GOOG) and Verizon (NYSE:VZ) are deepening their ties to fight Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and AT&T (NYSE:T).

WSJ: EA (NASDAQ:EA) will cut 17% of its staff and buy online game company Playfish.

WSJ: Big pay bonuses at banks could help the New York economy.

WSJ: China’s economy could be hurt by a credit crisis.

WSJ: A World Bank chief is against letting the yuan rise.

WSJ: Sony (NYSE:SNE) will break ranks with studios by allowing early rental of one of its films over the internet.

WSJ: Rising demand in China and Brazil is helping BMW and Mercedes.

NYT Even good customers are seeing credit card interest rates rise as banks try to make money on consumers.

NYT: Fuel from dismantled nuclear bombs including some from Russia provide about 10% of American electricity.

NYT: Renault-Nissan plan to release a low-cost car in India.

NYT: Obama said he will raise the yaun issue with China.

FT: Banks around the world are facing $7 trillion in short-term funding that will expire in the next three years.

FT: Murdoch of News Corp (NYSE:NWS) says he will sue the BBC and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) over copyright.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted in Press Digest Tagged: AAPL, BCS, BNI, EA, FLR, GOOG, JAVA, KFT, MDR, NCS, NWS, ORCL, PFE, S, SNE, T, UNP, VA

Media Digest 11/4/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

247wallst — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:34:08 +0000

Reuters: Opel must now arrange for GM’s unexpected ownership

Reuters: The Fed will probably keep its “easy money” program.

Reuters: Toyota (NYSE:TM) will pull out of Formula 1 racing.

Reuters: The IEA will cut its long-term oil demand outlook.

Reuters: Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) bought Burlington Northern (NYSE:BNI) in the biggest deal in its history

Reuters: A new poll shows China is America’s key global relationship but also a foe.

Reuters: Kraft (NYSE:KFT) says it will not overpay for Cadbury as the US firm missed revenue forecasts.

Reuters: The US is focusing on the size of big financial firms.

WSJ: The World Bank and IMF are cautioning the all the capital being put into markets by governments and central banks is forming new bubbles in real estate, stocks, and currency markets especially in Asia.

WSJ: The Obama Administration’s estimates of jobs created by the stimulus could be overstated by 20,000.

WSJ: Retailers are optimistic about October sales.

WSJ: China is backing a Disney (NYSE:DIS) theme park in Shanghai.

WSJ: Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) will sell its stake in CICC which will allow it to expand further in China.

WSJ: A dispute between eBay’s (NASDAQ:EBAY) Skype and its founders is coming to an end.

WSJ: Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) and EMC (NYSE:EMC) formed a data center venture.

WSJ: AT&T (NYSE:T) is suing Verizon (NYSE:VZ) over TV ads which it claims make false statements about its network

WSJ: Investors wonder if Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) has any positive news left.

WSJ: A BP (NYSE:BP) consortium with China signed a deal to drill in Iraq.

WSJ: J&J (NYSE:JNJ) plans to cut 8,200 jobs.

WSJ: Natural gas production is rising despite falling prices.

WSJ: Jeep sales outside the US will be key to Chrysler’s turnaround.

WSJ: Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) is planning to add timelier search results.

WSJ: Electronic Arts (NYSE:EA) will move into e-book publishing.

WSJ: Newspaper publishers are running out of costs to cut.

NYT: A deal with the Pentagon has increased jobs at Oshkosh

NYT: A House bill would assure workers sick days.

NYT: The EU lifted its growth forecasts for 2010.

FT: The Senate may take up a bill to cut the number of US bank regulators to one from four rolling up the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the FDIC, and the Fed.

FT: Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) is ready for an EU challenge to its Sun (NASDAQ:JAVA) deal.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted in Press Digest Tagged: BNI, BP, BRK-A, DIS, EA, JAVA, JNJ, KFT, ORCL, T, TM, VZ, YHOO

Media Digest 9/2/2008 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

247wallst — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 02:59:55 +0000

According to Reuters, the manufacturing sector probably did not grow in August

Reuters reports that it appears Gustav did little damage to oil rigs and refineries.

Reuters reports that the Korea Development Bank confirmed it was in talks with Lehman (LEH).

Reuters writes that Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) named new management.

Reuters writes that Google (GOOG) will offer a new video-sharing service for businesses.

Reuters writes that one Fed governor said that the ageny’s intervention in the credit crisis hurt its role of managing inflation.

Reuters writes that Commerzbank will cut 9,000 jobs when it takes over Dresdner Bank.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Google will launch an internet browser to compete with Micorosft (MSFT).

The Wall Street Journal reports that Boeing (BA) and its union are in a stand-off.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Electronic Arts (EA) has a great deal bet on its new game, Spore.

The New York Times reports that airlines are still faced with major problems due to the price of oil.

The New York Times reports that the toll taken by Gustav on insurance companies looks much smaller than Katrina.

The New York Times writes that oil dropped below $109 as concerns about Gustav receded.

The FT writes that retail investment in stocks hit a new low.

Bloomberg writs that hedge funds including SAC Capital Advisors LLC and Citadel Investment Group are picking up talent as other hedge funds fail.

Douglas A. McIntyre

EA Guidance Sees Weakness From Halo 3 & Grand Theft Auto Competition (ERTS, THQI, TTWO, MSFT)

247wallst — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 15:42:14 +0000

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) has posted results with a gross profit of $229 million, but its actual net loss was $132 million. Its diluted EPS was -$0.42 net and -$0.22 on a non-GAAP basis on a 4% drop on revenues to a total of $395 million. First Call estimates were -$0.34 non-GAAP and revenues were expected at $389.5 million. The stock was down somewhat in sympathy with THQ Interactive (NASDAQ:THQI) after a lower loss but forecasts including higher spending.

Fiscal March-2008 Guidance: revenues $3.2 to $3.5 Billion, up $100 million from prior guidance and net revenue excluding impact of deferrals $3.65 to $3.85 Billion (up $50 million from prior guidance). Non-GAAP EPS $0.90-$1.20, in line with prior guidance. Unfortunately its GAAP EPS is still a loss, even if narrower: -$0.63 to -$0.10 instead of -$0.77 to -$0.23 prior. First Call estimates for Fiscal march-2008 are $1.14 EPS and $3.7 Billion revenues, so the mid-point is under EPS targets and somewhat in-line to a tad under the mid-point on revenues.

Next quarter guidance: $465 to $570 million revenues, but $825 to $910 million excluding impact of change in deferred net revenue. Non-GAAP EPS targeted at $0.10 to $0.20 outside of deferrals. First Call pegs estimates at $0.33 EPS and $960 million revenues, so it looks like that is a shortfall.

The truth is that these are the throw-away quarters for video game companies. The companies have slower sales in this quarter so the only issue at hand is each company’s outlook. The most important issue to watch for all videogame producers in the next couple or three months is if the mega-hit releases of Halo 3 from Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and the new Grand Theft Auto release from Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ:TTWO). Halo 3 comes in late September and GTA comes in October as of now, and these two releases at the last coincidental calendar timing caused available gaming dollars to migrate away from all other producers for a period of 60 to 90 days as game players dwelled on those titles. It looks like Halo 3 and GTA spending are going to exact a toll again against the other gamers.

Here is the ‘feel good ahead’ commentary part from Warren Jenson, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer: "Looking ahead, we have a strong slate. In the balance of the fiscal year, we plan to launch our full EA SPORTS lineup, Need for Speed Pro Street, MySims, Medal of Honor Airborne and ten new properties, including Army of Two, The Simpsons, SKATE, Boogie and Rock Band."

Shares closed down 1.1% at $48.10 in normal trading, and shares are down over 1% more in after-hours trading to about $47.50. That is within spitting distance of the $46.14 and well under the $58.85 highs seen in the last 52-weeks.

Jon C. Ogg
August 1, 2007

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