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Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ARUN, CMI, DMND, ENZN, FCEL, FIG, HLF, KFT, MYGN, NTAP, OIS, PMTC, PTR, PETD, SWFT)

Administrator — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 12:23:53 +0000

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

Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARUN) Started as Buy at UBS.
Cummins, Inc. (NYSE: CMI) Reiterated Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Enzon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENZN) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Fortress Investment Group (NYSE: FIG) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
FuelCell Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: FCEL) Maintained Buy with $3 target at Canaccord Genuity.
Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $63 at Argus.
Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Myriad Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN) Raised to Buy at Auriga.
NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Oil States International, Inc. (NYSE: OIS) Reiterated Strong Buy as Value at Zacks.
Parametric Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: PMTC) Reiterated Buy with $28 target at Canaccord Genuity.
PetroChina Co. Ltd. (NYSE: PTR) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Petroleum Development Corporation (NASDAQ: PETD) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Swift Transportation Co., LLC (NYSE: SWFT) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.

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: ARUN, CMI, DMND, ENZN, FCEL, FIG, HLF, KFT, MYGN, NTAP, OIS, PETD, PMTC, PTR, SWFT

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AAPL, ATML, CTXS, CMI, ENZN, HD, HBC, PFCB, PLD, RSH, RS, RIMM, SCCO, S, TXN, XLNX)

Administrator — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:17:09 +0000

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

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Reiterated Buy with $415 target at Argus; Reiterated Buy and raised target to $485 at Canaccord Genuity.
Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML) Reiterated Buy with $17 target at Gleacher & Co.
Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTXS) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan after being raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day on Monday by Zacks.
Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Enzon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ENZN) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE: HD) Started as Overweight at Barclays.
HSBC Holdings (NYSE: HBC) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
P.F. Chang’s China Bistro (NASDAQ: PFCB) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
ProLogis (NYSE: PLD) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) Started as Underweight at Barclays.
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Company (NYSE: RS) Maintained Strong Buy as Value at Zacks.
Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) Cut to Market Perform at Morgan Keegan.
Southern Copper Corp. (NYSE: SCCO) Cut to Hold at Citi.
Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) Cut to Sell at Stifel Nicolaus.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) Reiterated Buy with $43 target at Gleacher & Co.
Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AAPL, ATML, CMI, CTXS, ENZN, HBC, HD, PFCB, PLD, RIMM, RS, RSH, S, SCCO, TXN, XLNX

December Buybacks Near $30 Billion Already, More For 2011 (T, AET, AZO, ADSK, CB, CAG, CCK, ECA, ENZN, HD, INTC, MAN, MKL, SWY, SYK, TEVA, TIBX, PKW, CSCO, GE, BAC, WFC, JPM)

Administrator — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:38:33 +0000

There is a long-standing debate over the effect and impact of share buyback plans. What is not up for debate is that many companies have given big updates or announced new buyback plans in the month of December. In less than two weeks we had some $15 billion in updated buybacks, but through December 22 we actually have a much larger number: almost $29 billion tracked in just these buybacks! The number is likely over $30 billion already.

We have updates for AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET), AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO), Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK), Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX), Chubb Corporation (NYSE: CB), ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE: CAG), Encana Corp. (NYSE: ECA), Enzon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ENZN), Franklin Resources Inc. (NYSE: BEN), The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE: HD), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), Markel Corp. (NYSE: MKL), Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY), Stryker Corp. (NYSE: SYK) and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NASDAQ: TEVA), TIBCO Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TIBX), and Trinity Industries Inc. (NYSE: TRN).

The buyback ETF is PowerShares Buyback Achiever Portfolio (NYSE: PKW), and we have highlighted that herein as well. We also took a look at the continuing situations in General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) and Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO). For buybacks in 2011, there is already evidence that Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) could begin significant buyback programs.

There is a long-standing debate over whether or not stock buybacks are an effective return of cash to shareholders. It’s a simple theory by lowering the number of outstanding shares to boosts the price of the stock. That does not always work, but many companies are willing to spend billions upon billions for this effort. Investors need to know that many new buyback plans are coming. We wanted to track December’s big buybacks now that we are likely over some $30 billion if you include the many smaller buybacks we either missed or eliminated due to size and the length of this already.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) announced last week that it plans to repurchase as many as 300 million shares. This would represent some $8.7 billion worth of stock at the time, or about 5% of its shares. The current market cap is close to $171 billion.

Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) approved the repurchase of $750 million of stock, which is actually in addition to roughly $257 million left in prior approvals. We’ll call it $1 billion for short, and that compares to a market cap of just over $12 billion at the time.

AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) added some $500 million into its buyback plan. The company noted, “Since the inception of the repurchase program in 1998, and including the above amount, AutoZone’s Board of Directors has authorized $9.9 billion.” Its market cap is currently just shy of $12 billion.

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Banking, Corporate Governance, Dividend, Economy, Editor's Picks, Large Cap Stocks, Mergers and Buy Outs, Shareholder Issues, Stock Buybacks, Trading Alert, Value Investing Tagged: ADSK, AET, AZO, BAC, CAG, CB, CCK, CSCO, ECA, ENZN, GE, HD, INTC, JPM, MAN, MKL, PKW, SWY, SYK, T, TEVA, TIBX, WFC

Can Carl Icahn Fix Broken Biotechs? (ANX, BIIB, ENZN, IMCL, TELK, FOLD, AMLN, REGN)

247wallst — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:43:33 +0000

Carl Icahn is a billionaire financier, activist, and investor. Most think of Icahn as an activist investor that wants to get inside and drive value without having to acquire the whole company to resell it later. This strategy works and works well, so long as the right strategies and efforts are applied properly to each stock. The underlying sector a company is in is critical too, and for some reason Carl Icahn has been trying to do this in biotech stocks. We took the biotech filings from both Mr. Icahn’s own holdings and from Icahn Capital LP to see what Mr. Icahn thinks he has up his sleeves.

CARL ICAHN direct holdings, via several investment vehicles:

Adventrx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AMEX: ANX) down 80% from highs

$467,000.00 for 864,865 shares

Biogen-Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) down about 25% from highs

$153.4M for 2,487,181 shares

Enzon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ENZN) down only 16% from highs

$5.6M for 614,420 shares

ImClone Systems (NASDAQ: IMCL) down 18% from highs

$494.9M for 11,669,544 shares

Telik Inc. (NASDAQ: TELK) down over 50% from highs

$2.536M for 1,039,165 shares

ICAHN CAPITAL LP direct holdings:

Adventrx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AMEX: ANX) down 80% from highs

$1.8M for 3,459,459 shares

Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: FOLD) down 45% from highs

$2.16M for 201,940 shares

Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AMLN) down 40% from highs

$185.1M for 6,339,653 shares

APPLERA (NYSE: ABI) down 10% from highs

$21.3M for 649,026 shares

Biogen-Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) down about 25% from highs

$613.7M for 9,948,723 shares

Enzon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ENZN) down only 16% from highs

$22.6M for 2,457,683 shares

Regenron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: REGN) down about 28% from highs

$48.1M for 2,508,001 shares

Telik Inc. (NASDAQ: TELK) down over 50% from highs

$10.1M for 4,156,663 shares

*** percentage down from highs means the 52-week highs, so many are off much more than all-time or historical highs.

It may not be fair to refer to all of these as broken, because many aren’t. What is interesting here is that if you follow biotech stocks and if you know these companies, most of these have fallen from their former glory.

Here is the problem with biotech stocks: They almost HAVE to be public to live up to expectations, so they very rarely go private because of the need for capital. The mere nature of putting molecules and modified products into your body has risks, and many companies cannot control what happens or how people their meds after a while. Biotech companies cannot control the FDA and they cannot control independent verification or investigative studies. No company can control whether or not a competitor comes out with a greater product. Biotechs are different in that investors would rather see a biotech spend cash to acquire another biotech rather than engage in a share buyback or pay out a dividend. When was the last time you heard a broker or an investor discuss the high dividend check they expect from their biotech? Me neither…

Mr. Icahn has a great track record of influencing companies. He made a fortune off the move in Time Warner. Motorola has so far been a flop and Yahoo! is just getting started. But he didn’t become a billionaire by throwing darts nor by investing in mutual funds.

But there is a real discourse here from biotechs to other sectors, and it would just seem much easier for Mr. Icahn to get better returns elsewhere. It might be easier backing high-risk and high-reward biotech ventures from scratch instead of trying to fix existing biotechs with problems.

You can join our open email distribution list to hear about activist investing, special financings, M&A, IPO’s, secondary offerings, and other special situations.

Jon C. Ogg
May 16, 2008

Icahn Takes Larger Stake in Enzon (ENZN, IEP)

247wallst — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:43:14 +0000

In an SEC Filing, it was disclosed that Carl Icahn has taken a larger stake as an activist in Enzon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ENZN). The stake is listed as 6.93% for just over 3.07 million shares.

Icahn Capital was already a holder as of last year. Icahn is suggesting disappointment over the price of the company and he has suggested strategic alternatives including a sale of the company. The group has held talks with management and plans to seek further discussions.

Enzon shares were in negative territory for the day, but now shares are up almost 5% at $8.90. The 52-week trading range is $6.31 to $10.36.

This is via entities such as High River Limited Partnership, Hopper Investments LLC, Barberry Corp., Icahn Partners Master Fund LP, Icahn Partners Master Fund II LP, Icahn Partners Master Fund III LP, Icahn Offshore LP, Icahn Partners LP, Icahn Onshore LP, Icahn Capital LP, IPH GP LLC, Icahn Enterprises Holdings L.P. (NYSE: IEP), Icahn Enterprises G.P. Inc., Beckton Corp., and Carl C. Icahn himself.

Jon C. Ogg
March 14, 2008