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Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AMAT, ARBA, BX, CPLA, CHA, DELL, DNDN, EMC, FB, GMT, ICE, JAZZ, NDAQ, PCX, PG, SBUX, WY)

Administrator — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:22:37 +0000

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

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Ariba Inc. (NASDAQ: ARBA) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) Raised to Buy at Stern Agee.

Capella Education Co. (NASDAQ: CPLA) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

China Telecom (NYSE: CHA) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) Cut to Neutral at Mizuho; Maintained Underperform and target cut to $14 at Credit Suisse.

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) Started as Underperform at Jefferies; Maintained Hold with $11 target at Canaccord Genuity.

EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) Reiterated Buy with $36 target at Argus.

Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) Started as Buy with $40 target at Needham.

GATX Corporation (NYSE: GMT) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: JAZZ) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

NASDAQ OMX Group (NASDAQ: NDAQ) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Patriot Coal (NYSE: PCX) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) Reiterated Buy with $70 target at Argus.

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.

Weyerhaeuser Co. (NYSE: WY) Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.

If you enjoyed the top analyst upgrades and downgrades, you can join our free email newsletter that includes analyst summaries each morning sent right to your inbox. We also cover top issues such as IPOs, special financial exclusives, mergers and more. Sign up in the box below.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AMAT, ARBA, BX, CHA, CPLA, DELL, DNDN, EMC, FB, GMT, ICE, JAZZ, NDAQ, PCX, PG, SBUX, WY

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (BBY, BWLD, CR, EMC, EXLP, GPS, IBN, INVN, LULU, MU, PAAS, BTU, RTN, RIMM, VVUS)

Administrator — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:07:22 +0000

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

Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) Maintained Hold at Argus.

Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD) Started as Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Crane Company (NYSE: CR) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.

EMC Inc. (NYSE: EMC) Reiterated Buy and Raised target to $36 at Argus.

Exterran Partners L.P. (NYSE: EXLP) Started as Neutral with $23 target at Credit Suisse.

Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) Raised to Buy at Janney.

ICICI Bank Ltd. (NYSE: IBN) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

InvenSense, Inc. (NASDAQ: INVN) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer; Started as Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) Started as Buy at UBS.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) Reiterated Buy with $11 target at Jefferies.

Pan American Silver Corporation (NASDAQ: PAAS) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE: BTU) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC.

Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) Maintained Underperform with $12 target at Jefferies.

VIVUS Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) Raised to Buy at Brean Murray.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: BBY, BTU, BWLD, CR, EMC, EXLP, GPS, IBN, INVN, LULU, MU, PAAS, RIMM, RTN, VVUS

7 Big Tech Companies That Need To Follow Apple’s Dividend Policy (AAPL, MSFT, INTC, ADBE, DELL, EBAY, EMC, GOOG, SYMC, YHOO)

Administrator — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:05:35 +0000

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has finally listened to the call from Wall Street and Main Street to start using its cash for dividends. With a yield of about 1.8% a the launch, Apple has left the ‘dividend sinners club’ from the S&P 500 Index and technology peers to join Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) in paying a dividend out. Apple should not be alone in this call to pay dividends and there are many more S^&P 500 components which should consider paying a dividend. Some of these companies almost have no excuse to not be paying a dividend.

The key technology dividend sinners are as follows: Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE); Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL); eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY); EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC); Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG); Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC); and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO).

We have given some detail on each here, including the history and how able a company is to begin paying a dividend. In the total liquidity calculations we have included what the companies list as their cash, cash equivalents, short-term investments, and also included the long-term investments. No consideration has been made for inventory, receivables, and other hard assets. Another metric we used was a 40% income payout model to see what sort of yields investors could get without even touching the capital reserves. We have used operating and non-GAAP estimates for calculating theoretical dividend yields.

Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) is in the dividend sinning club out of the S&P 500 technology group. The company has a market value of close to $16 billion and it has been a public company since the 1980′s if you can believe it. The company does not pay a dividend currently and it has not indicated any intention to. With markets being mostly established, we would wonder if it needs to hold back more capital for even more acquisitions. The company has over $3 billion in liquidity on its books. Adobe could offer a yield of about 2.9% if it were to adopt a 40% adjusted income payout to shareholders.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) has been making acquisitions here and there to bolster its move from just being a PC company into a PC and information technology company. While it has more than $6 billion in direct long-term debt, Dell also has what is close to $20 billion in total liquidity. Rivals HP and IBM pay dividends and now Apple pays a dividend. What is so interesting here is that with a $30 billion market value, Dell could be a candidate for a solid one-time dividend this year and a hefty payout ratio going forward. It is just too hard to argue that its core market is growing. What is amazing is that Dell could pay out roughly a 4.9% dividend yield if it adopted a 40% of adjusted earnings to be paid out as dividends with touching a penny of its cash on hand.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) is a dividend sinner of epic proportions. It has made acquisitions and it has made sales, and the real growth now lies in the PayPal market rather than in the auction markets. The only real need for eBay to keep a hold of its $8+ billion in total liquidity is if it can find a huge international outfit to buy. If eBay adopted a 40% payout ratio of income, without even considering its mountain of cash today on the books, eBay could be offering shareholders a 2.4% yield without denting its cash and reserves.

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) has proven to grow and grow in the world of storage. With the cloud growth and with storage being nearly infinite, the company has been able to grow organically and via acquisitions and has preferred to use its capital for growth over dividends. It also owns a super-majority stake in VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW). The storage leader has almost $11 billion in total liquidity and it carries almost no long-term debt. Without touching a penny of its cash and liquidity, a 40% adjusted income payout would generate a dividend yield of almost 2.4%.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) may be in the midst of a Motorola integration and acquisition, but it seems unlikely that it will need its cash arsenal in order to make a large acquisition. With such a huge amount of the search market, other acquisitions might be just yet another distraction from the core markets. As of December 31, 2011, its total liquidity was a whopping $44.6 billion against a market cap of just over $200 billion. Google could easily pay a 10% one-time dividend while dividend tax rates are low and could offer a hefty quarterly dividend and still grow its cash in the years ahead. If Google paid out 40% of its adjusted income without considering one-cent of its mountain of cash it could offer a 2.6% dividend yield today.

Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) has such little shareholder enthusiasm that it needs to consider more return of capital. It did just recently announce a $1 billion share buyback against its $13.3 billion market cap. The company has about $2.4 billion in liquidity, but it also has about $2 billion in direct long-term debt. If the company did not use any leverage, a 40% income payout ratio would actually give a dividend yield of about 3.5% as of today. With shares around $18.00, this one has been stuck like chuck in a long-term range of $15 to $20 since its huge Veritas acquisition.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is the obvious candidate for a dividend. Management has decided to keep that liquidity arsenal of more than $7 billion at bay to help fund its turnaround. It is also hard to know what will become of the Alibaba and Yahoo! Japan stakes for liquidity in the equation. If Yahoo! were to just pay out 40% of its expected earnings from operations without tapping any cash on hand then it could offer a 2.1% dividend yield today without much worry. This is an ongoing call and it will not likely be answered until the international assets are properly monetized.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Accounting, Compensation, Corporate Governance, Dividend, PC Companies, Semiconductor, Shareholder Issues, Software, Stock Buybacks, Stock Splits, Technology Companies Tagged: AAPL, ADBE, DELL, EBAY, EMC, GOOG, INTC, MSFT, SYMC, VMW, YHOO

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (NFLX, PAAS, HAL, HD, KORS, APD, BHI, CLWR, APD, BHI, CLWR, EMC, WDC, CSX, ZION, AAPL, BLRX, LEE, BONT, IDCC, ACHN)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:11:04 +0000

All three major equity indexes opened lower this morning and while all have tracked back to last night’s close, only the Nasdaq Composite has managed to wobble to a small gain for the day. The stalled negotiations between Greece and its bondholders are weighing down European markets and the effects are felt on this side of the Atlantic. Earnings reports haven’t boosted the market at all today, even though some have been quite good. The euro has hit $1.30 again. In commodities, WTI crude oil is down -0.51% at $99.07/barrel and Brent crude is down -0.36% at $110.18/barrel. Gold closed off -0.77% at $1,665.30/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 33 points to12,675.75 (-0.26%), the NASDAQ rose just 2 points (0.09%) to 2,786.64, and the S&P 500 fell -0.10% or just more than 1 point to 1,314.63.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) maintained as ‘outperform’ with a $100 target price at Credit Suisse; Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS) maintained as ‘outperform’ but estimates lowered at Credit Suisse; Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) maintained as ‘buy’ but target price lowered to $54 at Argus; Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) reiterated as ‘buy’ and target price raised to $51 at Argus; ;and Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: KORS) started as ‘overweight’ at Morgan Stanley, as ‘outperform’ at Baird, and as ‘buy’ at Goldman Sachs.

Earnings reports since markets closed on last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (NYSE: APD) is down nearly -3% at $87.29; Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) is down -0.57% at $47.46; Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWR) is up 2% at $1.79; EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) is up 6.7% at $25.01; Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) is up 6.2% at $36.85; CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) is down -3.5% at $21.89; and Zions Bancorp. (NYSE: ZION) is down -7.6% at $17.15. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) reports earnings after markets close today. See our coverage here.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

BioLineRx Ltd. (NASDAQ: BLRX) is up nearly 79% at $5.88 after posting a new 52-week high today of $6.87. The biopharmaceutical company has signed an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with a French company to develop and market its hepatitis C drug.

Lee Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: LEE) is up more than 26% at $1.39. The newspaper company has been granted permission to exit bankruptcy protection.

The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: BONT) is up nearly 18% at $3.81. The department store operator has hired a new CEO who was previously the CEO at Lord & Taylor, before that chain was acquired by a Canadian company.

InterDigital Inc. (NASDAQ: IDCC) is down nearly -20% at $35.68. The wireless technology developed has shut down its “strategic review” without finding a buyer and will continue to seek additional patent sales and licensing agreements.

Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ACHN) is up more than 17% at $10.79. The drug company, which is developing its own hepatitis C drug, is enjoying a halo effect from BioLineRx’s announcement.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. President Barack Obama delivers his state of the union address at 9:00 P.M ET tonight. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
10:00 a.m. – Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) house price index
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
10:30 a.m. – 5-year Treasury note auction
2:15 p.m. – Fed chairman Ben Bernanke press conference

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close, The Day Tagged: AAPL, ACHN, APD, BHI, BLRX, BONT, CLWR, CSX, EMC, HAL, HD, IDCC, KORS, LEE, NFLX, PAAS, WDC, ZION

Top After-Hours Stocks on the Move (IDCC, NVDA, PLCM, TXN, VMW, EMC, WDC, ZION)

Administrator — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:27:36 +0000

We have several stocks on the move in Monday’s after-hours trading session. Most of these are on earnings as follows: InterDigital Inc. (NASDAQ: IDCC); NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA); Polycom Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCM); Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN); VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW); EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC); Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC); and Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ: ZION). We have given a news summary and the current moves on each.

InterDigital Inc. (NASDAQ: IDCC) was down 3.3% today as is, but now the company is getting slashed and burned on news of what many had considered an obvious coming outcome. The company ended its strategic review process and it did not find a buyer for its deep patent collection. Now it is going to proceed on its own licensing or selling patents. Shares are down over 16% at $37.10 in the after-hours against a 52-week range of $34.61 to $82.50.

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) was down 3% after the Texas Instruments earnings but now shares are down “only” about 0.6% after closing up 2.7% on the day.

Polycom Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCM) has a history of big hits and bad misses, but tonight’s reaction has shares on the up and up. After beating earnings handily, Polycom shares are up 9.6% at $20.29 and that is after closing up almost 4% today.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) was down initially due to headlines showing GAAP earnings above estimates but the chip giant is now up over 3% ay $34.25 in the after-hours session against a 52-week range of $24.34 to $36.71.

VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) closed down 2.4% at $86.00 today but shares are up 5% at $90.50 on almost 1 million shares after just over an hour after the 4PM closing bell. The virtualization leader said sales rose 27% to $1.06 billion and it sees revenues of $1.015 billion to $1.04 billion for the first quarter of 2012. These are being taken as above plan. The news has the (former) parent company of EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) up about 1.8% at $23.87 on over 2 million after-hours shares.

Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC) may have seen earnings drop almost 36%, but the update is proving to be above plan and it claims to be making much more progress in Thai floods. Shares closed up marginally today and the after-hours reaction has shares up 4.4% at $36.25 versus a 52-week range of $22.64 to $41.87.

Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ: ZION) posted earnings light at $0.30 versus estimates of $0.33. Its book value per common shares grew to $25.02 from $24.78 one quarter earlier and shares are down 3% at $17.98 in the after-hours.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, After-Hours Activity, Trading Alert Tagged: EMC, IDCC, NVDA, PLCM, TXN, VMW, WDC, ZION

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (BLK, EMC, GOOG, HUM, IBN, INTC, JDSU, JCI, NCIT, TNP, TXN, TSCO, VLO, WU, CCL, RCL)

Administrator — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:22:36 +0000

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

BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) Reiterated Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Maintained Buy but cut target to $700 at Canaccord Genuity.
Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
ICICI Bank Ltd. (NYSE: IBN) Cut to Underperform and named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Cut to Hold at Kaufman; Reiterated Outperform and raised target to $35 at Credit Suisse; Maintained Hold with $24 target at Canaccord Genuity.
JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ: JDSU) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Johnson Controls Inc. (NYSE: JCI) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
NCI. Inc. (NASDAQ: NCIT) Cut to Underperform at Wells Fargo.
Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd. Co. (NYSE: TNP) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN) Cut to Hold at Needham.
Tractor Supply Co. (NASDAQ: TSCO) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $92 at Argus.
Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) Reiterated Buy with $35 price target at Argus.
Western Union Co. (NYSE: WU) Reiterated Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) lowered targets and estimates by Credit Suisse.

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: Analyst Calls Tagged: BLK, CCL, EMC, GOOG, HUM, IBN, INTC, JCI, JDSU, NCIT, RCL, TNP, TSCO, TXN, VLO, WU

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (F, GM, TM, EMC, GD, GMCR, POT, TIVO, UNF, PRGS, STZ, MON, FDO, LCAV, REE, NFLX, APKT, LPHI)

Paul Ausick — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:04:24 +0000

Markets opened lower today and stayed in negative territory until mid-afternoon. Car makers reported December sales throughout the day, with Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) both showing gains in the morning. Toyota Motor Co. (NYSE: TM) posted lower sales in the afternoon. Developments in Europe did nothing to boost shares today, with a new rights issue coming from Italy’s UniCredit and a requirement for additional reserves against bad loans coming in Spain. Crude oil gained on word that Europe is nearing a decision to stop crude imports from Iran, possibly sparking a confrontation in the Persian Gulf. WTI crude is up 0.25% at $103.22/barrel and Brent crude is up 1.34% at 113.63/barrel. Gold is up about 0.8% at $1,613.20.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 21 points to 12,418.57 (0.17%), the NASDAQ fell less than 1 point (-0.01%) to 2,648.36, and the S&P 500 rose 0.02% or less than 1 point to 1,277.31.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) added to ‘US Focus List’ at Credit Suisse; General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) raised to ‘overweight’ at JPMorgan; Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) reiterated ‘buy’ with $94 target price at Canaccord Genuity; Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. (NYSE: POT) started as ‘underperform’ at National Bank; and Tivo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) raised to ‘overweight’ at Evercore Partners.

Earnings reports of note since markets closed yesterday include: Unifirst Corp. (NYSE: UNF) is up more than 3% at $59.83; and Progress Software Corp. (NASDAQ: PRGS) is down more than -11% at $17.55. Tomorrow sees earnings from Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ), Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON), and Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE: FDO) among others.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

LCA-Vision Inc. (NASDAQ: LCAV) is up more than 40% at $4.33. The laser vision correction system provider said that it performed more than 14,000 procedures in the fourth quarter, up 30% year-over-year.

Rare Element Resources Ltd. (AMEX: REE) is up more than 27% at $4.53. The rare earths miner announced that its resource at the company’s Bear Lodge project is 38% higher than previously believed.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) is up nearly 11% at $80.02. The video distributor reported that it streamed more than 2 billion hours of video in the fourth quarter. More details on this story are available here.

Acme Packet Inc. (NASDAQ: APKT) is down more than -19% at $25.65, after posting a new 52-week low of $25.20 early this morning. The networking company warned on earnings last night. We have more coverage here.

Life Partners Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LPHI) is down more than -15% at $5.38. The life insurance company has been accused of accounting fraud by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

7:30 a.m. – Challenger Gray & Christmas job-cut report
8:15 a.m. – ADP employment report
8:30 a.m. – Weekly initial unemployment benefits claims report
10:00 a.m. – ISM non-manufacturing index
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas report
11:00 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
4:30 a.m. – Federal Reserve balance sheet and money supply reports

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: APKT, EMC, F, FDO, GD, GM, GMCR, LCAV, LPHI, MON, NFLX, POT, PRGS, REE, STZ, TIVO, TM, UNF

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (APKT, AFFX, AKS, AAPL, CCI, EMC, GD, GMCR, LMT, MOS, NTAP, OFG, POT, STLD, TIVO)

Administrator — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:28:08 +0000

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

Acme Packet, Inc. (NASDAQ: APKT) Cut to Neutral at Wedbush; estimates and targets lowered after revenue warnings from Morgan Keegan and Wells Fargo.
Affymetrix Inc. (NASDAQ: AFFX) Raised to Neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan.
AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE: AKS) Raised to Neutral at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Reiterated Outperform with $500 target and raised estimates at Credit Suisse.
Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE: CCI) Started as Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) added to the U.S. Focus List at Credit Suisse.
General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE: GD) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) Reiterated Buy with $94 target at Canaccord Genuity.
Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT) Cut to Underperform by RBC Capital Markets.
Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) Cut to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, Inc. (NYSE: POT) Started as Underperform at National Bank.
Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) Raised to Buy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) Raised to Overweight at Evercore Partners.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AAPL, AFFX, AKS, APKT, CCI, EMC, GD, GMCR, LMT, MOS, NTAP, OFG, POT, STLD, TIVO

Oracle Fears and Risks Flow Downstream (ORCL, CSCO, IBM, EMC, VMW, RHT, SYMC, INTC, MSFT, IGV)

Administrator — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:11:36 +0000

What happens when the industry leader who never misses earnings manages a huge disappointment? This is the question regarding Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL). The company has a near-decade of history being very positive with earnings and showing increased market share with solid guidance. That was not the case, and the spillover is working its downstream to other technology and IT peers and competitors.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is a company which often mirrors Oracle’s business trends when times are normalized. While the companies have historically competed for different spending dollars from corporations and governments, a spending slowdown in the network is often the same on the customer relationship management side. Cisco shares are down only 2% at $18.03.

Speaking of identical issues, if Oracle is slowing then “The Baby Oracle” of Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) has to be facing many of the same issues. Its shares are down 8% at $95.75 so far today.

If things are bad at Oracle, SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) is likely having a very hard time as well in the enterprise and CRM markets. Its ADRs are the proof as they are down 5.4% at $52.70.

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM) is down 3.6% at $180.50 and shares are now down more than $10 from when the Warren Buffett investment news hit. The company has a new CEO starting as well and it is hard to imagine that its IT operations on the enterprise and government side are not that different from how Oracle described its quarter and guidance.

What about enterprise storage, and what about enterprise virtualization? EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) and VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW) are the perfect examples as much of the same spending dollars overlap here. EMC shares are down 4% at $21.55 and VMware shares are down 8% at $78.00.

Ditto for Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT) with shares down 5.6% more at $39.65, although Red Hat shares had already been spanked yesterday after disappointing earnings as the stock went from about $46 to $42 on the news.

And what about Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) for security and storage solutions? After another failed attempt at a share price breakout it shares are already back down at the bottom of a long-term trading range. Symantec shares are trading down 3.1% at $15.15 and hit a new 52-week low.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) and others had all indicated a slower spending climate but Oracle is not likely able to use the “Thailand flooding” example. Intel is lower by less than 1% at $23.64. Another surprise “only down a tad” is Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) with shares down only 0.55% at $25.88 on the day. If things are slow on the consumer PC business and if enterprise spending and international currency woes are facing Oracle it would seem logical that Microsoft’s O/S sales are at risk too.

The iShares S&P North Amer Tech-Software (NYSE: IGV) are not super-active in trading volume but the ETF shares are down 4.5% at $53.33 on the day.

This is only a snapshot of the downstream fallout. The real situation is much broader and now the hope has to reside that Oracle’s earnings debacle was a fluke. Or maybe it is the curse of Sun Microsystems hanging over the company.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Earnings Warning, Software, Technology Companies Tagged: CSCO, EMC, IBM, IGV, INTC, MSFT, ORCL, RHT, SYMC, VMW

13 Technology Stocks To Outperform Apple (AAPL, AKAM, BIDU, BMC, CLS, GLW, EMC, JNPR, MRVL, MU, NTAP, STX, VRSN, WDC)

Administrator — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:23:37 +0000

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has been the king of tech stocks. While Apple’s results still showed rapid earnings and revenue growth, the report disappointed and results were below Wall Street’s expectations. And without Steve Jobs many investors are wondering whether Apple can continue to “wow” investors as it has over the last decade. Most analysts are tying Apple’s first earnings miss in years to customer delays of iPhone purchases as they waited for the new model introduced last week. Still, the media, and a few analysts, have brought up the question of whether this could be the end of an era. 24/7 Wall St. has identified 13 technology stocks that are expected to outperform Apple in the year ahead, especially now that Apple’s earnings have stumbled.

Apple hit an all-time high this week at $426.70. The stock closed at $422.20 on Tuesday just ahead of earnings. After the announcement, shares fell to about $400, which is where they are likely to open today. Analysts have a consensus price target of roughly $499.00 on the stock, which implies an upside of about 18% from Tuesday’s close, and an upside of 24.5% from $400. 24/7 Wall St. looked at these analyst numbers and found more than ten technology stocks with more implied upside.

In our screen, we only included companies with a market cap of $1 billion and higher. We also restricted the list to companies that are expected to post positive earnings this year and next and to those with long-term operating histories. We used consensus data on earnings and consensus analyst price targets from Thomson Reuters. We did additional analysis of our own on each company. Oddly enough, several of these companies are even tied to Apple’s businesses.

We include the most recent closing share prices, a 52-week range for comparison, and the Thomson Reuters consensus price target for the next twelve months. We have identified what the implied upside is to that price target, shown a year-to-date change from Finviz.com, and given a forward P/E ratio based on next year (2012 in most cases) earnings estimates.

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Consumer Electronics, Corporate Governance, Editor's Picks, PC Companies, Semiconductor, Shareholder Issues, Software, Technology Companies, Value Investing Tagged: AAPL, AKAM, BIDU, BMC, CLS, EMC, GLW, JNPR, MRVL, MU, NTAP, STX, VRSN, WDC