24/7 Wall St. » EXC

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (LNKD, FDX, ALL, RHT, SKS, FSLR, SPWR, AES, DUK, EL, WPO, EXC, MSG, AWR, BBEP, DNDN, DISH, LPX, KID, JKS, TSN, BAGL, DLB, BODY)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 04 May 2012 20:07:31 +0000

The major US stock indexes opened lower this morning following a weak report on non-farm payrolls (our coverage here). The lack of any further data to chew over left the markets with nothing to do but worry about slowing growth. Energy stocks led the slide as crude prices continued to fall (more coverage here). The US dollar index rose today, now up 0.35% at 79.495. The GSCI commodity index is down about -1.3% at 6769.36, with commodities mixed on the gains for the dollar. WTI crude oil closed down -4.6% at $97.81/barrel, its lowest level since mid-February, and Brent crude trades down -2.48% at $113.20/barrel. Gold settled up 0.6% today, at $1,645.20/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than 168 points to 13,038.04 (-1.28%), the NASDAQ fell nearly 68 points (-2.25%) to 2,956.34, and the S&P 500 fell -1.62% or more than 22 points to 1,369.09.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD) target price raised to $140 at Susquehanna; FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) raised to ‘strong buy’ at Raymond James; The Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL) raised to ‘overweight’ at Barclays; Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) started as ‘outperform’ at BMO; and Saks Inc. (NYSE: SKS) reiterated ‘buy’ and target price of $14 at Argus.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) is down -6% at $16.98 after posting a new 52-week low of $16.80 earlier today (more solar coverage here); SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) is down -2.1% at $5.58; AES Corp. (NYSE: AES) is down -0.7% at $12.13 (more utilities coverage here); Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) is up 0.9% at $21.60; Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL) is down -5.8% at $60.44 (more coverage here); The Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO) is down -5.4% at $355.88; Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC) is down -0.7% at $38.54; and The Madison Square Garden Co. (NASDAQ: MSG) is up 3.7% at $37.87 after posting a new 52-week high of $38.38..

On Monday we get earnings from American States Water Co. (NYSE: AWR), Breitburn Energy Partners L.P. (NASDAQ: BBEP), Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN), Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH), Louisiana Pacific Corp. (NYSE: LPX), Kid Brands Inc. (NYSE: KID), Jinkosolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: JKS), and Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN).

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: BAGL) is up 19.9% at $16.84 after posting a new 52-week high of $17.68 earlier today. The bagel maker and restaurateur reported strong earnings and said it would begin to explore strategic options.

Dolby Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: DLB) is up 17.5% at $44.22. The company reported strong earnings and has signed a deal with Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT). More coverage here.

Body Central Corp. (NASDAQ: BODY) is down -47.8% at $15.11. The young women’s apparel seller reported poor earnings and forecast more of the same until at least back-to-school season.

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

11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6- month bill auction
3:00 p.m. – Consumer credit report

Have a great weekend.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AES, ALL, AWR, BAGL, BBEP, BODY, DISH, DLB, DNDN, DUK, EL, EXC, FDX, FSLR, JKS, KID, LNKD, LPX, MSG, RHT, SKS, SPWR, TSN, WPO

Diverging Outlooks on High Dividend Utility Sector (EXC, ETR, AEP, PEG, NVE, CPN, NRG, GEN)

Administrator — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:59:17 +0000

The utility sector is a favorite of dividend and income investors. The group was the best performing group of 2011 as investors snapped up higher dividends rather than Treasuries and CDs. So far, 2012 has been choppy for the sector as it faces higher EPS hurdles on emissions, the potentiality of far higher dividend taxes in 2013, and also an environment where investors are starting to expect higher interest rates sooner than previously expected.

Today we have seen a diverging set of calls in the utility sector. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has issued a somewhat cautious outlook, while Credit Suisse has talked up the risk-adjusted returns. This is on the heels of a deep value and growth screen we ran on Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC); Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR); American Electric Power Co., Inc. (NYSE: AEP); and Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (NYSE: PEG) as those utilities averaged dividend yields of close to 5%, were all large-cap, were down for the year so far, had operating margins of 15% or more, and a return on equity of at least 10%.

Credit Suisse’s outlook noted that there are still plenty of risk adjusted returns with the regulated utility group offering annual rates of return of 7% to 11%. The breakdown is roughly 3% to 7% in earnings per share plus the $% to 5% in the dividend yields. And on the risk side of the equation, CRedit Suisse sees a beta range of only 0.6 to 0.7 for the group. The firm noted that this is a very compelling return in a low interest rate environment and fundamentally against the S&P 500 Index that would “require a minimum growth rate of 7% plus the 2.1% dividend yield to match the Utility stocks.”

Bank of America gave an earnings preview for the first quarter for utilities and brought up no winter, low earnings, and updating gas curves. The mild weather is expected to drag down first quarter utility earnings by 6%. The low natural gas price adjustments have been ratcheted down significantly from 2012 to 2014. NV Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NVE) is noted as being expected to have a large dividend hike.

BofA also noted that Calpine Corporation (NYSE: CPN) has risen sharply and NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG) and GenOn Energy, Inc. (NYSE: GEN) have both dropped sharply on the coal/gas switching theme, but the firm’s take is that the stocks may be extended too far on both sides as it does not see much change in guidance from any of the three companies.

It is always interesting when you see different calls when the same data is available. It is a part of what makes a horserace.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Dividend, Utilities Tagged: AEP, CPN, ETR, EXC, GEN, NRG, NVE, PEG

The Best Value High-Yield and High-Return Utilities (XLU, EXC, ETR, AEP, PEG)

Administrator — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:35:43 +0000

The utility sector has been a rather poor performer so far in 2012, as investors have sought growth and less dependence on high payouts, and higher dividend taxes could be a possibility after this year. What had been an overbought index at the end of 2011 became a very oversold index recently, and the major utilities have been in most cases trying to find a bottom after challenging some support levels.

24/7 Wall St. has formed a screening on the sector to see which high-yielding utilities may have finally priced in the worst of the news. We ran a screen on Finviz.com looking for the best of the best utilities. In our screen, we chose the following criteria:

Market cap of $5 billion or more
Daily trading volume of at least 1 million shares
Dividend yield of 4%
Year-to-date stock performance was negative
Return on equity was at least 10%
Operating margin of 15% or more
Debt-to-equity under 1.4-times

The Utilities Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLU) managed to close up 0.6% at $34.87. Our screen turned up only four of the following utility leaders, with the key criteria being by dividend yield (highest to lowest): Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC); Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR); American Electric Power Co., Inc. (NYSE: AEP); and Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (NYSE: PEG).

With the fear of rising interest rates ahead and higher dividend taxes, investors have tended to shy away from the steady earnings, yields and returns of utilities. The two questions that might matter the most are: 1) What if rates do not rise as much as investors hope? And 2) What if dividend taxes are not going to rise to over 40% for the high-income earners? Another question to ask is: What if the regulatory climate lightens up a tad against the utility sector? If one or two of these possibilities start to become reality, then there may be a huge opportunity in this sector. Even if these issues remain, it may be that most of the bad news is getting close to being factored in.

Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC) is the leader of the pack due to its 5.55% dividend yield. It has a market cap of $25 billion and trades more than 7 million shares per day. Year-to date its shares have fallen by 11.6%. The utility’s return on equity was listed as 17.9%, its operating margin is 23.6% and its debt-to-equity ratio was less than 1 at 0.94. Exelon closed up 0.6% at $38.06 against a 52-week range of $37.48 to $45.45.

Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) has a market cap of $11.7 billion and trades 1.2 million shares per day. It has a dividend yield of 5% and year-to date its shares have fallen by 8.4%. The utility’s return on equity was listed as 15.4%, its operating margin is 17.9% and its debt-to-equity ratio was 1.34. Entergy recently closed up 0.5% at $66.43 against a 52-week range of $57.60 to $74.00.

American Electric Power Co., Inc. (NYSE: AEP) has a market cap of $18 billion and trades 4.9 milllion shares per day. It has a dividend yield of 5% and year to date its shares have fallen by 7.5%. The utility’s return on equity was listed as 11.1%, its operating margin is 18.4% and its debt-to-equity ratio was 1.24. Shares closed up 0.5% at $37.97 and the 52-week range is $33.09 to $41.98.

Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (NYSE: PEG) has a market cap of $15 billion and trades 3.6 milllion shares per day. It has a dividend yield 4.9%. Year to date, its shares have fallen by 8%. The utility’s return on equity was listed as 14.1%, its operating margin is 24.4% and its debt-to-equity ratio was the lowest of the group at only 0.80. Public Service Enterprise closed up 1% at $30.33 against a 52-week range of $27.97 to $35.48.

What is interesting about this group is that AEP is the only member of the four that is not down more than 10% from its 52-week high, and all of these are closer to their 52-week lows than their highs.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Dividend, Regulation, Tax, Utilities, Value Investing Tagged: AEP, ETR, EXC, PEG, XLU

More Short Covering Bolsters First Solar & Peers (FSLR, EXC, SPWR, WFR, TAN)

Administrator — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:42:59 +0000

First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) has become Wall Street’s whipping boy and was recently considered the worst S&P performer over the last year. After shares recently were challenging $20.00, the stock would have almost been considered a busted IPO if it had not been public for so long. The low of $20.02 this week was an all-time low.

Now the deal with Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC) appears to have been funded by the Department of Energy and that start one monster covering effort by short sellers that is carrying over again today. The stock’s move to above $23.00 amounts to a 15% move if you include the 7.7% move today. That is nothing considering how much the drop has been as this was above $150 earlier last year.

A review of the NASDAQ short interest showed some 21.23 million shares short at the most recent settlement date (March 15). That is not the largest absolute share count in the short interest and it certainly is not the highest “dollars short” by any means, but it is still a large bet against the company.

A rising industry leader causes all ships to rise and we are seeing that today. SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWR) is up 7% at $5.95 on thin volume and MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR) is up 10% at $3.67 on heavy volume. Guggenheim Solar (NYSE: TAN) is up 4.5% at $23.17.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Alternative Energy, Green Biz, Short Interest, Trading Alert Tagged: EXC, FSLR, SPWR, TAN, WFR

Will DOE Save First Solar? (FSLR, EXC)

Administrator — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:13:48 +0000

First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) was facing a nearly busted IPO situation just yesterday. No 52-week low worries. Try nearing the worst of the worst as its shares were danger-close to that $20.00 price. Now we have shares rallying on an otherwise very weak trading day after Forbes.com reported that the funds have started coming in from the Department of Energy for the company’s Antelope Project.

First Solar’s 230 Megawatt Antelope project fears are being alleviated with Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC) as the buyer. The hold up was said to be fears that DOE had regarding local permitting, but recent DOE loan guarantee failures (Solyndra for one) have likely made the DOE be more careful about throwing money into projects if there is obvious trouble. Had the deal not closed, First Solar could have been forced to buy the project back. The DoE had approved $646 million in loans for the project.

After the deal is closed, First Solar’s only involvement will be in the construction and operation of the facility.

First Solar closed unofficially up 5.9% at $21.38 against a prior 52-week range of $20.05 to $147.20.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Alternative Energy, Green Biz, Utilities Tagged: EXC, FSLR

First Solar Finally Gets Federal Loan (FSLR, EXC)

Paul Ausick — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 18:33:51 +0000

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) and Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC) announced today that the Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One project has received the first installment on a federal loan that could eventually total $646 million to construct the 230-megawatt solar PV project. Exelon bought the project from First Solar last September, contingent on receipt of the federal loan money.

Now that the first payment has come through, Exelon owns the project, which will be constructed and operated by First Solar.

Receipt of the funds hasn’t done anything to help First Solar’s share price, which is down nearly -4% today at $20.87 after posting a new 52-week low of $20.50 earlier in the day. The stock’s 52-week high is $150.69.

Filed under: Alternative Energy, Green Biz Tagged: EXC, FSLR

Chasing High Dividends: Utilities Approaching Bargain Territory (AEP, EXC, CEG, PEG, XLU)

Administrator — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 20:33:20 +0000

2011 was the year of the utility stocks offering investors high dividend yields of well over 4.0%. 2012 has not gone so well for the sector, with 25 of the 34 S&P 500 Index utilities down for the year in data from Finviz.com. As it turns out, some are down worse than others. A few of these are starting to look like bargains now that they are down about 10% from their 52-week highs. We have highlighted the valuation, targets, and performance of American Electric Power Company (NYSE: AEP); Constellation Energy Group, Inc (NYSE: CEG); Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC); and Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE: PEG).

After the group of utilities we have added some color on why these stocks are performing the way they are, what the upside could still be, and other macro issues. To show how bad the group has been with many of its top components down about 10% from their recent highs, the Utilities Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLU) is down almost 3.5% from its recent highs.

American Electric Power Company (NYSE: AEP) trades around $38.00 and the stock is down from a 52-week high of $41.98. Its dividend now screens out at roughly 5% and the consensus analyst price target is $41.67. AEP trades at 12.1-times expected 2012 earnings estimates. While it may have had an issue over rate hikes in Ohio, this one is very diversified and our take is that the fears of its coal plants may have gone too far as analysts are playing tug of war.

Constellation Energy Group, Inc (NYSE: CEG) trades around $36.40 and the stock is down just from a 52-week high of $40.97. Its dividend now screens out at roughly 2.6%, which has been under our dividend criteria for this sector. The consensus analyst target is $41.25. Constellation trades at 15-times expected 2012 earnings estimates. This one is outside of our parameters except that it was down the most in the Finviz.com screen on a year to date basis.

Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC) trades around $39.20 and the stock is down just over 10% from a 52-week high of $45.45. Its dividend now screens out at roughly 5.3% and the consensus analyst price target is $43.65. Exelon trades at 12.9-times expected 2012 earnings estimates.

Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE: PEG) trades around $30.65 and its stock is down over 13% from its 52-week high of $30.65. Its dividend yield is about 4.7% and the consensus price target is $33.07. This one trades at about 12.7-times expected 2012 earnings estimates.

The good news on coal is that prices are cheap. Ditto for nat-gas. The bad news is that the EPA and other pressuring forces are trying to move to less coal in a manner which may be too fast. AEP and others in this sector are already lobbying to alleviate some pressures.

You see that the ones we generally prefer tend to have dividend yields of close to 5%. This sounds great and it is better than our median targets in our 2012 Model Dividend Portfolio of which AEP is a member. One critical issue is that Obama’s dividend tax aspirations could significantly lower the need to chase yield among the high-income earners in America. Could the wealthy dividend investors feel crowded out of income stocks?

Oil prices have risen enough that if they remain high you should just expect that the rest of the energy basket will rise. Can nuclear really get a foothold ahead? We think so, but it won’t happen overnight.

There are two more pieces of macroeconomic bits working in favor of these utilities. Unemployment is getting better and that allows younger workers to go out and rent houses, townhouses, or apartments. The U.S. is not appearing to slide into a new recession as so many investors believed was happening in late-2011. Overall business activity is holding up, and that in turn means more electric power consumption.

The downside of the better economy is that the current environment is favoring a “risk-on” mentality among investors. In a climate of risk-on, investors want growth over safety in dividends with earnings stability.

The reversal in Ohio is far from a welcome wagon and we have seen some ratings agencies weigh in that this could impact some utilities.

After it is all said and done, investors have to always pick their poison. Many of these great companies almost never pull back more than 10% from their highs except in points of market crisis or in a real bear market. When that happens, investors who want equity exposure at least increase their weighting in utilities because of the high yields and defensive stock positions.

What poses the biggest risk to utilities in our view? Another 10% market rally ahead of continued recovery.

Picking an exact bottom is a fool’s game. You probably haven’t seen the exact bottom on the utility sector, but these are getting very close to being true bargains for investors with a long-term investing outlook in what is likely to still be a low-growth environment.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Defensive Stocks, Dividend, Personal Finance, Tax, Utilities Tagged: AEP, CEG, EXC, PEG, XLU

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AZN, BLK, BRCM, CEG, ED, EBAY, ERIC, EXC, GOOG, NFLX, NOK, PSUN, SOL, SAP, SNY, TRN, UPS, VVUS, VMW)

Administrator — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:21:46 +0000

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

AstraZeneca PLC (NYSE: AZN) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Cut to Neutral at Stern Agee.
Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) Reiterated Buy with $46 price target at Argus.
Constellation Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE: CEG) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
Consolidated Edison Inc. (NYSE: ED) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) Reiterated Buy with $40 price target at Argus.
LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) downgraded to Hold at Benchmark; Raised targets at boutique firm Global Equities Research.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Maintained Underperform and cut estimates at Needham.
Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse (full summary).
Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. (NASDAQ: PSUN) Raised to Buy at Janney Capital Markets.
ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL) named as the Bear of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) Raised to Neutral at BNP Paribas.
Sanofi (NYSE: SNY) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Trinity Industries, Inc. (NYSE: TRN) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.
United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE: UPS) Cut to Neutral at HSBC.
VIVUS Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) Started as Perform at Rodman & Renshaw.
VMware Inc. (NYSE: VWM) Started as Buy at Stern Agee.

If you enjoyed the morning Wall Street research notes, you can sign up to receive these directly in your inbox each morning by joining our free email list in the box below. We also include major movers, key stock calls, news on Warren Buffett and other gurus, as well as special exclusive feature stories.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AZN, BLK, BRCM, CEG, EBAY, ED, ERIC, EXC, GOOG, NFLX, NOK, PSUN, SAP, SNY, SOL, TRN, UPS, VMW, VVUS

Media Digest (12/22/2011) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg

247wallst — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:47:18 +0000

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Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) is working on a deal with Alibaba to sell part of its stake in the Chinese company. (Reuters)

Toyota (NYSE: TM) expects record sales next year of 8.48 million, up 20% from this year. (Reuters)

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) will pay $335 million due to a lending bias charge against its Countrywide operation. (Reuters)

Fitch warns the U.S.’s AAA rating is under pressure because of debt load. (Reuters)

EU antitrust officials have not been convinced by arguments that the NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) and Deutsche Boerse should merge. (Reuters)

A study by Exane BNP Paribas shows that only a few people in Europe would buy the new Nokia (NYSE: NOK) Lumia smartphone. (Reuters)

Airbus should deliver 1,600 planes this year, which would significantly push down the market share of Boeing (NYSE: BA). (Reuters)

Hundreds of eurozone lenders have tapped the European Central Bank for $640 billion in low interest loans, a sign of trouble in the financial sector there. (WSJ)

Former Avon (NYSE: AVP) CEOs James Preston and David Mitchell say they are upset that current CEO Andrea Jung will stay as executive chairman after she steps down as CEO. (WSJ)

American Express (NYSE: AXP) looks at businesses beyond credit cards. (WSJ)

Nevada may allow online poker within its borders. (WSJ)

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he will not back a proposal to eliminate use of cellphones in cars. (WSJ)

Michigan will further look into Detroit’s finances as it considers a takeover of the city. (WSJ)

The Justice Department says Exelon (NYSE: EXC) and Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEG) could merge if they sell several plants. (WSJ)

Aol (NYSE: AOL) says criticism of management’s plans by Starboard Value is misplaced. (WSJ)

The head of TheStreet.com (NASDAQ: TST) to depart. (WSJ)

The National Association of Realtors says home sales were 14% below forecasts from 2007 to 2010. (NYT)

M&A activity drops because of sovereign debt and economic slowdowns. (FT)

Greece’s creditors resist IMF pressure to take more write-offs on sovereign paper. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Filed under: Press Digest Tagged: AOL, AXP, BA, BAC, CEG, EXC, NYX, TM, TST, YHOO

24/7 Closing Bell (BA, GLW, AMZN, FSLR, MMM, BBBY, NYT, AEP, COP, EXC, CPX, LNG, FFCH, RTK, HGSI, DV, RSH)

Paul Ausick — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:07:26 +0000

Markets opened higher this morning on renewed hope for a deal on Europe’s debt debacle. At a meeting of EU leaders, the group approved a 9% capital buffer to go into effect by June 2012. That’s a start, but hardly the end of the long-running disagreement on how the continent should deal with its banking problems. Stocks got a boost from solid earnings from Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) and Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW). Oil prices have dropped more than $2.50/barrel following the weekly EIA report that US crude inventories increased by 4.7 million barrels. New home sales were also up for the first time in five months, following price cuts averaging 3.1%.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up nearly more than 162 points to 11,869.04 (1.39%), the NASDAQ rose more than 12 points (0.46%) to 2.650.67, and the S&P 500 rose 1.05% or nearly 13 points to 1,241.97.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including target price and estimate cuts on Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) at BofA/ML, but the firm maintained its ‘Buy’ rating on the stock. Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) was maintained at ‘buy’ with a raised target price of $70 at Argus; First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) was cut to ‘hold’ at both Kaufman and Jefferies, and cut to ‘sell’ at S&P Capital IQ; 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) was lowered to ‘market perform’ at William Blair; and The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) was cut to ‘neutral’ by Citigroup.

Here are today’s big post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: Boeing is up more than 5% at $66.91; Corning is up 3.6% at $14.22; American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP) is up 0.67%, at $38.91; ConocoPhillips Corp. (NYSE: COP) is up nearly 2%, at $72.03; Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC) is up 1%, at $42.75; and Complete Production Services, Inc. (NYSE: CPX) is up slightly, at $31.06, after trading lower for most of the day.

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

Cheniere Energy, Inc. (AMEX: LNG) is up about 70%, to $10.41. The company signed a 20-year agreement with BG Group plc to sell the British company 3.5 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas annually. The deal is worth about $8 billion, and deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2015.

First Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFCH) is up more than 24%, at $6.76. The company has sold $198 million of some performing loans and other classified assets.

Rentech, Inc. (AMEX: RTK) is up more than 25%, to $1.51. The company successfully launched an IPO today of Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P. (NYSE: RNF) at an offering price of $15-$19/share. RTK owns about 61% of RNF and all of the general partner interests in the new company.

Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) is down about -21%, at $10.05, after posting anew 52-week low of $9.68 earlier in the day. The company reported weak earnings today, and its lupus drug failed to meet already low sales expectations.

DeVry Inc. (NYSE: DV) is down-17%, at $38.36. The company’s earnings failed to meet analysts’ estimates and enrollment also declined in its undergraduate degree programs.

Radioshack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) is down nearly -12%, at $11.80. The company missed earnings expectations as it transitions from being a T-Mobile reseller to a Verizon Wireless reseller.

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

8:30 a.m. – Third quarter GDP report
8:30 a.m. – Unemployment claims
10:00 a.m. – Pending home sales from National Association of Realtors
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas report
1:00 p.m. – Seven-year US Treasury note auction
4:30 p.m. – Federal Reserve balance sheet released

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Market Close Tagged: AEP, AMZN, BA, BBBY, COP, CPX, DV, EXC, FFCH, FSLR, GLW, HGSI, LNG, MMM, NYT, RSH, RTK