24/7 Wall St. » EXPE

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (AONE, EXPE, RIMM, AMGN, MMM, AAPL, CSCO, AMSC, BG, DNKN, LO, PEP, PM, SIRI, TDC, IPSU, TSL, DMND, GRPN, TLEO, CZR)

Paul Ausick — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:07:40 +0000

The three major US stock indexes opened a bit higher this morning, and after some volatility have managed to get to the final half hour of trading with a modest gain. Some news is leaking out about the Greek debt swap deal being done, but what’s being reported is not likely to be welcomed in by ordinary Greeks. The dollar has been down most of the day as everyone seemed to believe an announcement on the Greek debt deal was imminent. The dollar index is down -0.187% — a slight uptick from its lower level this morning — at 78.591. Crude oil is up strongly, with WTI crude up 1.15% at $99.85/barrel and Brent crude up 1.16% at $118.56/barrel. Gold settled up 0.6% at $1,741.20/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up nearly 7 points to 12,890.61 (0.05%), the NASDAQ rose more than 11 points (0.39%) to 2,927.23, and the S&P 500 rose 0.15% or 2 points to 1,351.96.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including A123 Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: AONE) cut to ‘sell’ at Wunderlich; Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) cut to ‘hold’ at S&P Capital IQ; Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) reiterated as ‘hold’ with $15 target price at Cannacord Genuity; Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) cut to ‘perform’ at Oppenheimer and named ‘Bull of the Day’ at Zacks; and 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) cut to ‘hold’ at Deutsche Bank. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) got a lift from a target price increase to $665, which we cover here. We’ve also got a story on how Apple gets 80% of the operating profit among all the phone makers.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is down -2.1% at $20.00 (here’s our coverage); American Superconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: AMSC) is down -8.74% at $5.50; Bunge Ltd. (NYSE: BG) is up 5.9% at $63.25; Dunkin’ Brands Inc. (NASDAQ: DNKN) is down -2.35% at $28.33; Lorillard Inc. (NYSE: LO) is up 9.8% at $124.46 after posting a new 52-week high of $127.68 earlier today; Pepsico Inc. (NYSE: PEP) is down -3.6% at $64.37 (our coverage here); Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) is up 2.8% at $80.08 after setting a new 52-week high of $80.99 earlier today; Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is nearly flat at $2.19 (additional coverage here); and Teradata Corp. (NYSE: TDC) is up 10% at $63.85 after posting a new 52-week high earlier today of $64.97.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Imperial Sugar Co. (NASDAQ: IPSU) is up more than 79% at $6.02. The sugar refiner and marketer said it is nearing a sale of one of its divisions.

Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) is up 20% at $11.08. The solar panel maker is getting a big boost from a report that China will add about 3,000 megawatts of solar PV generation this year, although some analysts think the total will be double that. Other Chinese solar panel makers are also getting a nice bump from the news. We have another view of the sudden rise here.

Diamond Foods Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND) is down more than -36% at $23.36 after posting a new 52-week low of $21.44 earlier today. The snack food maker will re-state accounting and that jeopardizes the deal to purchase the Pringles brand from Proctor & Gamble (NYSE: PG). See our coverage here.

Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) is down more than -15% at $20.82. The Internet coupon company posted weak earnings last night. See our coverage here.

Taleo Corp. (NASDAQ: TLEO) is up more than 17% at $45.62 after posting a new 52-week high of $45.71. The maker of cloud-based software is being acquired by Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL). More coverage here and here.

Ceasars Entertainment Corp. (NASDAQ: CZR) is down about -3.8% at $14.80. The share price nearly doubled at yesterday’s IPO, to a high of $17.90, but the stock is coming back to earth today.

Stay tuned for Friday. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Cleveland Fed president Sandra Pianalto are speakingWe have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – International trade report
9:55 a.m. – Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment report
2:00 p.m. – US Treasury budget report

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire Tagged: AAPL, AMGN, AMSC, AONE, BG, CSCO, CZR, DMND, DNKN, EXPE, GRPN, IPSU, LO, MMM, PEP, PM, RIMM, SIRI, TDC, TLEO, TSL

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AMGN, AUO, AONE, ELN, EXPE, IR, MMM, MRH, NYX, POST, RIMM, SOHU, AAPL)

Administrator — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:29:44 +0000

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

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer; named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
AU Optronics Corporation (NYSE: AUO) targets raised by Nomura and also by Credit Suisse.
A123 Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: AONE) Cut to Sell at Wunderlich.
Elan Corp. (NYSE: ELN) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) Cut to Hold at S&P Capital IQ.
Ingersoll-Rand plc (NYSE: IR) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Montpelier Re Holdings (NYSE: MRH) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) Resumed as Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Post Holdings Inc. (NYSE: POST) Started as Overweight at Barclays.
Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) Reiterated Hold with $15 target at Canaccord Genuity.
Sohu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: SOHU) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

See the new high $665 price target on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) from this morning.

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: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: AAPL, AMGN, AONE, AUO, ELN, EXPE, IR, MMM, MRH, NYX, POST, RIMM, SOHU

Top Earnings Previews For Thursday (ATVI, BG, CBOE, DNKN, EXPE, LNKD, MPEL, NUAN, PEP, PBR, PM, RSG, SIRI, SON, TDC)

Administrator — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:20:47 +0000

This week should be the last waves of the normalized quarterly earnings reports for companies with December 31 quarter-end dates. We are also starting to get a few of the first waves of the earnings reports from companies with off-normal quarter-ends. Wednesday is going to be another busy day with many earnings. The earnings previews are for the following: Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI); Bunge Ltd. (NYSE: BG); Carbonite Inc. (NASDAQ: CARB); CBOE Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOE); Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. (NASDAQ: DNKN); Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE); LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD); Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL); Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN); PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP); Petroleo Brasileiro (NYSE: PBR); Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM); Republic Services Inc. (NYSE: RSG); Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI); Sonoco Products Co. (NYSE: SON); and Teradata Corporation (NYSE: TDC).

We have compiled earnings preview on each company using Thomson Reuters consensus estimates and added color on each if applicable. Some of these are market moving, some are sector moving, and some are just interesting for traders to watch around the earnings reports.

Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) estimates are $0.56 EPS and $2.2 billion in revenues. At $12.55, the maker of World of Warcraft has been very range bound.

Bunge Ltd. (NYSE: BG) estimates are $1.57 EPS and $13.73 billion in revenues.

Carbonite Inc. (NASDAQ: CARB) estimates are -$0.23 EPS and $16.78 million in revenues. This will be a first real look of a full quarter and unfortunately this one has been cut in half as investors have tempered expectations for the personal data backup service provider.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Calendar, Earnings Tagged: ATVI, BG, CBOE, DNKN, EXPE, LNKD, MPEL, NUAN, PBR, PEP, PM, RSG, SIRI, SON, TDC

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (CCL, CHK, LNG, CQP, CREE, EXPE, FTE, GOOG, JNS, KR, MGM, ODP, OMX, PVH, RL, TEF, TXT)

Administrator — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:28:25 +0000

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

Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) Maintained Hold but cut estimates at Argus.
Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) Cut to Hold at Brean Murray.
Cheniere Energy Inc. (NYSE: LNG) Started as Outperform with $13.50 target at Credit Suisse
Cheniere Energy Partners, LP (NYSE: CQP) Started as Neutral with $20 target at Credit Suisse.
Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) maintained Buy with $33 target at Canaccord Genuity; Raised to Buy at ThinkEquity; Cut to Neutral at Ticonderoga.
Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) Started as Underweight at JPMorgan.
France Telecom S.A. (NYSE: FTE) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Cut to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Janus Capital Group, Inc. (NYSE: JNS) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) Cut to Market Perform at BMO Capital.
MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Office Depot, Inc. (NYSE: ODP) Raised to Equal-weight at Barclays.
OfficeMax Inc. (NYSE: OMX) Raised to Equal-weight at Barclays.
PVH Corporation (NYSE: PVH) Started as Neutral with $72 target at Credit Suisse.
Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE: RL) Started as Outperform with $168 target at Credit Suisse.
Telefonica SA (NYSE: TEF) Cut to Sell at UBS.
Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: CCL, CHK, CQP, CREE, EXPE, FTE, GOOG, JNS, KR, LNG, MGM, ODP, OMX, PVH, RL, TEF, TXT

Google E-commerce Plan May Further Damage Traditional Retailers

247wallst — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:23:31 +0000

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) will start an e-commerce business to compete with Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN). Amazon is the devil to struggling bricks-and-mortar companies that want more online sales. But Google eventually may be just as difficult an enemy.

Google in in talks with traditional retailers like Gap (NYSE: GPS). The strength of the new service Google would offer is that one-day free shipping would be part of the product the search company brings to bricks-and-mortar outfits. This would compete with the Amazon Prime service that offers frequent shoppers at its site free two-day shipping.

Traditional retailers may find that Google poses dangers to them as a partner. Google earns much of its revenue on retail ads. The new free shipping service will tether these retailers and Google closer together. Most of the same retailers have their own e-commerce sites. They need to be concerned about the extent to which Google’s service may pull away traffic to their own sites. It is not unlike the probably that many airlines have with online travel sites like Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE). Expedia brings them business but takes a piece of the revenue. At the same time, it cuts visits directly to airline sites where comparison shopping for tickets is not available. Music publishers have had a related problem with Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iTunes. It enhances song sales, but at a cost to profit margins as Apple takes part of the money from each sale.

Traditional retailers have become desperate. Yesterday, Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) posted worse-than-expected earnings. Traditional sales were off. Its investment in e-commerce systems rose. Barnes & Noble is in a race it probably cannot win. Amazon.com has too much of the online book and e-reader business. Now, Barnes & Noble must ask itself whether an alliance with Google will help sales — and at what cost.

The move to e-commerce has been only a modest success for companies like Barnes & Noble and Gap. They may find that a partnership with Google improves their prospects but takes away their independence.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Filed under: Retail Tagged: AAPL, AMZN, BKS, EXPE, GOOG, GPS

TripAdvisor Names Financial Leadership Before IPO (EXPE)

Administrator — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:05:05 +0000

TripAdvisor is supposed to be the next spin-off IPO and it in theory has kept a phantom premium under Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) during the market carnage of the last quarter. Today came news that TripAdvisor has appointed Julie M.B. Bradley as chief financial officer, effective immediately. If a company has to have one officer behind a CEO before coming public, it is a CFO.

The company noted that this is a newly-created role. She will oversee corporate finance, investor relations, accounting, corporate development, human resources and real estate. She previously served as CFO of Art Technology Group (ATG) and she oversaw the acquisition of the company by Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL); and she was also vice president of finance at Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) and she also worked at Deloitte. Bradley is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a BA in Economics from Wheaton College.

TripAdvisor claims to be the world’s largest travel site which attracts more than 65 million unique monthly visitors over its 19 popular travel brands. The company also noted that its branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world with more than 50 million unique monthly visitors, 20 million members, and over 50 million reviews and opinions.

If you break out the TripAdvisor Media Group revenues in 2010, that came to about $486 million versus the total revenues of nearly $3.35 billion for the larger Expedia.

How the breakout comes on earnings will be reviewed closer to the TripAdvisor IPO. On a revenue basis alone, TripAdvisor would account for nearly 15% of the Expedia revenue.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Casinos, Compensation, Corporate Governance, Entertainment, Internet, IPOs, Management Change, Shareholder Issues Tagged: EXPE

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AMD, ALKS, AMSG, ERTS, EXPE, FSLR, GXP, GMCR, GPRE, ITRI, NFLX, OXY, SLE, UTX)

Administrator — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 12:25:05 +0000

These are some of this Monday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen having an impact from Wall Street research.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Alkermes plc (NASDAQ: ALKS) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
AmSurg Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSG) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) Maintained Neutral but raised estimates at Janney.
Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Raised to Hold at Maxim Group.
Great Plains Energy Incorporated (NYSE: GXP) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) Started as Buy with $130 target at Argus.
Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRE) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Itron Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Raised to Buy at Merriman.
Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: OXY) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Sara Lee Corporation (NYSE: SLE) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Also, here are the top analyst calls of the last week which carry over far beyond just the day and week.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ALKS, AMD, AMSG, ERTS, EXPE, FSLR, GMCR, GPRE, GXP, ITRI, NFLX, OXY, SLE, UTX

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ADTN, AGN, AAPL, ADP, ABX, C, EXPE, GILD, LNKD, MA, NOK, OPEN, PWRD, RIMM, RGLD, TSM, AMTD, VECO)

Administrator — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 12:07:20 +0000

These are some of this Friday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen having an impact from Wall Street research calls.

Adtran Inc. (NASDAQ: ADTN) Reiterated Buy and $49 target at Argus.
Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Maintained Buy with $490 target at BofA/ML.
Automatic Data Processing Inc. (NYSE: ADP) Reiterated Buy and $60 Target at Argus.
Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE: ABX) named value stock of the day at Zacks.
Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) Started as Overweight at Barclays.
Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) Raised to Buy at Societe Generale.
OpenTable, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPEN) Started as Underweight at Barclays.
Perfect World Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: PWRD) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) Cut to Market Perform at Raymond James; Maintained Neutral but cut target to $30 at BofA/ML.
Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ: RGLD) Cut to Neutral at HSBC.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (NYSE: TSM) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
TD AMERITRADE Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: AMTD) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AAPL, ABX, ADP,, ADTN, AGN, AMTD, C, EXPE, GILD, LNKD, MA, NOK, OPEN, PWRD, RGLD, RIMM, TSM, VECO

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (CRL, CSCO, GLW, EXPE, PPDI, RL, PCLN, REGN, RIMM, RPM, BID, TSO, TIVO, URI)

Administrator — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 12:06:01 +0000

These are some of this Friday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen having an impact from Wall Street research calls.

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE: CRL) Started as Hold at Citigroup.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Raised to Sector Perform at RBC.
Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) Maintained Buy but cut target to $25 at BofA/ML.
Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) Started as Outperform at Wedbush.
Pharmaceutical Product Development Inc. (NASDAQ: PPDI) Started as Hold at Citigroup.
Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN) Started as Outperform at Wedbush.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) Cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
RPM International (NYSE: RPM) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Sotheby’s Inc. (NYSE: BID) called the value stock of the day at Zacks.
Tesoro Corporation (NYSE: TSO) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) Started as Buy at Brean Murray.
United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE: URI) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: BID, CRL, CSCO, EXPE, GLW, PCLN, PPDI, REGN, RIMM, RL, RPM, TIVO, TSO, URI

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AET, AMR, ADM, MT, BG, CINF, COH, EXPE, FAST, HGSI, NSIT, JNPR, KMB, PCLN, RYL, LCC, SAFM, WAG)

Administrator — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 12:11:21 +0000

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

Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) Raised to Neutral at BofA/ML.
Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) Started as Equal-Weight at Barclays.
Arcelor Mittal (NYSE: MT) Cut to UNderperform at BNP Paribas.
Bunge Limited (NYSE: BG) STarted as Overweight at Barclays.
Cincinnati Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: CINF) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Fastenal Company (NASDAQ: FAST) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) Started as Buy at Brean Murray.
Insight Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ: NSIT) Reiterated Buy as Value at Zacks.
Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) Raised to Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE: KMB) Raised to Equal-Weight at Barclays.
Priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN) Started as Outperform with $720 target at Credit Suisse.
Ryland Group Inc. (NYSE: RYL) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
US Airways Group, Inc. (NYSE: LCC) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Sanderson Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ: SAFM) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) Cut to Underweight at Barclays.

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: ADM, AET, AMR, BG, CINF, COH, EXPE, FAST, HGSI, JNPR, KMB, LCC, MT, NSIT, PCLN, RYL, SAFM, WAG