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Another Utility Misses Estimates (ETR, D, AEP, CHK)

247wallst — Mon, 04 May 2009 13:11:02 +0000

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) joined the ranks of electricity generators that haven’t been able to reach consensus estimates for the first quarter of 2009.The company’s results resemble the earlier reports from Dominion Resources, Inc. (NYSE:D) and American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE:AEP), where lower demand, especially from industrial customers, really hurt sales.

The company reported EPS of $1.20, 23% below EPS for the same period last year, and more than 10% below average estimates of $1.35. Revenues for the quarter reached $2.79 billion, well below average estimates of $3.07 billion.

Entergy’s sales to industrial customers was off by 13.2% from the same period a year ago. AEP reported declines averaging 15% in industrial demand.

Entergy has reaffirmed its EPS guidance for 2009 at $6.70-$7.30, “assuming a business-as-usual operation for the full year.” What makes the company think that 2009 will reflect business-as-usual?

Entergy’s shares are unchanged this morning, at $66.90/share. The 52-week range is $59.87-$123.27.

Paul Ausick
May 4, 2009

Posted in Earnings, Utilities Tagged: AEP, CHK, D, ETR

Top Analyst Upgrades (AZN, BMR, ETR, MMM, NFLX, NVO, SWK)

247wallst — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:54:02 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market analyst upgrades we have seen from Wall Street early this Monday morning:

AstraZeneca (AZN) Raised to Buy at UBS.
BioMed Realty Trust (BMR) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Entergy (ETR) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
3M (MMM) Raised to Equal-Weight at BVarclays.
Netflix (NFLX) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Novo Nordisk (NVO) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Stanley Works (SWK) Raised to Outperform at Baird.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AZN, BMR, ETR, MMM, NFLX, NVO, SWK

Entergy Pulls Remarketing Offer (ETR)

247wallst — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:44:13 +0000

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) was unable to find buyers for $500 million worth of Senior Notes that are a component the company’s 7.625% Equity Units (NYSE:ETRPrA) due February 11, 2011. It has canceled the remarketing period for the notes.

The bad news is that Entergy had reported its fourth quarter earnings including the remarketed shares. Because that didn’t happen, the company will need to include the shares in its per share calculations for 2008, “causing the number of shares to increase compared to the amount reflected in the release.”

The purchase contracts that were part of the equity units require settlement by February 17th, and the holders of the units have a put option at a settlement rate of 0.6598 shares of Entergy’s common stock for each contract. According to the company, on February 17th, “each holder of the Equity Units will purchase from Entergy 0.6598 shares of Entergy common stock per equity unit for $50.00. No holder will be required to make any additional cash payment.” Entergy will issue 6.6 million new shares to make the settlement happen.

Ouch. At the end of October 2008, Entergy had about 189 million shares outstanding, so the share dilution here is about 3.5%. Not awful, but shares are down nearly 2% in early trading.

Paul Ausick
February 12, 2009

Posted in Bonds, Oil & Gas, Secondary Offering Tagged: bond offering, Entergy, Entergy bond offering, ETR

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (BPT, BSY, DELL, ETR, HTE, IFX, NVLS, PM, POWI, SBR, TXT, THQI)

247wallst — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 12:47:00 +0000

These are some of the top downgrades and negative calls we are seeing from Wall Street analysts this Thursday morning:

BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty (BPT) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
British Sky Broadcast (BSY) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
DELL (DELL) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Entergy (ETR) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Harvest Energy Trust (HTE) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
Infineon (IFX) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Novellus Systems (NVLS) Cut to Neutral at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.
Philip Morris International (PM) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Power Integrations (POWI) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
Sabine Royalty Trust (SBR) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
Textron (TXT) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
THQ Inc. (THQI) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.

Jon C. Ogg
February 5, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: BPT, BSY, DELL, ETR, HTE, IFX, NVLS, PM, POWI, SBR, THQI, TXT

Top Analyst Downgrades (AVP, CAH, ETR, ETFC, F, IP, ITRI, LAB, NDAQ, NYX, SNDK, WYN)

247wallst — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 12:45:14 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market analyst downgrades and negative calls we have seen on Wall Street this morning:

Avon Products (AVP) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Cardinal Health (CAH) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Entergy (ETR) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
E*TRADE (ETFC) Cut to Equal Weight at Barclays.
Ford (F) Cut to Underweight at Barclays.
International Paper (IP) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Itron (ITRI) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
LaBranche (LAB) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
NASDAQ: OMX (NDAQ) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
NYSE (NYX) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs; Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
SanDisk (SNDK) Cut to Sell at Auriga.
Wyndam Worldwide (WYN) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Jon C. Ogg
February 2, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AVP, CAH, ETFC, ETR, F, IP, ITRI, LAB, NDAQ, NYX, SNDK, WYN

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (AVR, BLL, CE, ETR, HCP, HR, MRK, PTNR, PTEN, UAUA, VSE)

247wallst — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 06:48:46 +0000

These are not all of the upgrades or positive analyst calls seen this morning but these are some of the top calls seen this Friday morning:

Aventine Renewable (NYSE: AVR) Raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
Ball Corp (NYSE: BLL) Raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Celanese (NYSE: CE) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Entergy (NYSE: ETR) Raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.
HCP (NYSE: HCP) Raised To Buy From Neutral By Goldman Sachs.
Healthcare Realty Trust (NYSE: HR) Started as Outperform at Wachovia.
Merck (NYSE: MRK) Started as Buy at Citigroup.
Partner Communications (NASDAQ: PTNR) Started as Outperform at RBC Capital.
Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ: PTEN) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
UAL (NASDAQ: UAUA) Raised to Overweight from Underweight at JPMorgan.
Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) Raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia.
VeraSun Energy (NYSE: VSE) Raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Jon C. Ogg
July 18, 2008

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (CPST, CHKP, RIO, COCO, ETR, GM, IDTI, MGM, PCG, TEN)

247wallst — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:57:27 +0000

These are ten of the individual analyst calls we are looking at from Wall Street this Thursday morning:

Capstone Turbine Corp. (NASDAQ: CPST) started as Buy at Broadpoint Capital.
Check Point Software (NASDAQ: CHKP) raised to Overweight at Lehman Brothers.
Comp Vale Do Rio (NYSE: RIO) started as Overweight at Lehman Brothers.
Corinthian Colleges (NASDAQ: COCO) Raised to Overweight from Equalweight at Lehman Brothers.
Entergy (NYSE: ETR) Cut to Neutral from Buy at Banc Of America.
General Motors (NYSE: GM) downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Integrated Device Tech (NASDAQ: IDTI) Raised to Neutral from Underperform at Merrill Lynch.
MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) Cut to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.
PG&E (NYSE: PCG) Cut to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.
Tenneco (NYSE: TEN) and Lear Corp. (NYSE: LEA) were both downgraded at Goldman Sachs.

Jon C. Ogg
June 26, 2008

Energy Spin-Offs Still Outstanding (ETR, CVI)

247wallst — Mon, 19 May 2008 09:31:24 +0000

Last week, we noted in "Trouble Brewing in Oil & Gas MLP Land" that many MLP spin-offs had either not been coming public since their IPO filing dates, but there are more deals that are still either gone or still pending that would seem to be easy IPO’s in the current climate. Entergy (NYSE:ETR) and CVR Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVI) are two more that have pending deals, and others are canceled or pending.

Proposed MLP IPO’s are not the only ones that have either been withdrawn or are still pending. Forum Oilfield Technologies filed for an IPO in October 2007, but withdrew the filing on the same day that Plains pulled its proposed IPO. Forum cited "market conditions" as its reason from withdrawing.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) announced a plan to spin-off its nuclear generating facilities in November 2007. Entergy has announced names and logos for the new company, Enexus Energy Corp, and for the nuclear operating company that Entergy and Enexus will create, EquaGen L.L.C. This one is still likely to happen, despite the silly names.

CVR Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVI) announced plans in February to spin off an MLP to own and operate its nitrogen fertilizer plant and other projects. CVR Energy reports first quarter earnings after market close today. We also covered this one much more in-depth in our Special Situation newsletter. The company told us in a telephone call that the spin-off IPO is still pending, but that was also before the company warned on results.

The failure, or slow pace, of IPOs even affected the hot renewable market. Renewable Energy Group filed for an IPO in July 2007, and withdrew its offering in March.

Oil is north of $120.00 per barrel. Energy IPOs, whether for MLPs or not, are having a tough time. A logic class would surmise that investors don’t want to catch the top-tick in what may be an unproven entity after a monumental run.

You can join our open email distribution list to hear about other IPO’s, secondaries, financings, spin-offs, and mergers.

Paul Ausick
May 19, 2008

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (AU, APOL, CLF, DRI, ETR, EXC, EXPD, F, MELI, OSIP, STX, WDC)

247wallst — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:55:28 +0000

These are not all of the analyst calls out there affecting shares, but these are the top 10 analyst we are focusing on this Monday morning:

Anglogold (NYSE: AU) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Apollo Group (NASDAQ: APOL) cut to Sell at Banc of America.
Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE: CLF) started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI) raised to Outperform at Bear Stearns.
Entergy (NYSE: ETR) & Excelon (NYSE: EXC) raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Expeditors International (NASDAQ: EXPD) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Ford Motors (NYSE: F) cut to Sell at Citigroup.
MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI) raised to Outperform at RBC Capital.
OSI Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: OSIP) raised to Outperform at Wachovia.
Seagate Tech (NYSE: STX) raised to Overweight at JP Morgan; Western Digital (NYSE: WDC) downgraded to Underweight at JP Morgan.

Jon C. Ogg
March 3, 2008

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (AIG, TRAK, DECK, ETR, ITLN, MF, PFE, QSFT, REP, RHD)

247wallst — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 07:23:06 +0000

These are not the only analyst calls affecting shares of stock this morning, but these are the initial calls that 247WallSt.com is focusing on:

AIG (NYSE: AIG) cut to Market Perform at KBW.
DealerTrack (NASDAQ: TRAK) raised to Outperform at JP Morgan.
Deckers Outdoor (NASDAQ: DECK) raised to Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.
Entergy (NYSE: ETR) raised to Buy at UBS.
Intellon (NASDAQ: ITLN) started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
MF Global (NYSE: MF) downgraded to Equal-Weight at Lehman; downgraded to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) raised to Equal-Weight at Lehman.
Quest Software (NASDAQ: QSFT) raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Repsol S.A. (NYSE: REP) raised to Buy at UBS.
R.H. Donnelley (NYSE:RHD) downgraded to Peer Perform at Bear Stearns, downgraded to Sell at Deutsche Bank.

Jon C. Ogg
February 29, 2008