24/7 Wall St. » FRX

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (GDI, HBC, AGCO, WCRX, FRX, WIN, RYN, RS, AEM, BMI, K, SHLD, MCP)

Administrator — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:56:23 +0000

Finding analyst calls from Wall Street research and brokerage firms on the last trading day of the year is a bit like looking for four-leaf clovers. Still, there are a few analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this morning.

Gardner Denver, Inc. (NYSE: GDI) named as the Value Stock of the Day at Zacks Investment Research. HSBC Holdings PLC (NYSE: HBC) was named as the Bear of the Day and AGCO Corporation (NYSE: AGCO) was named as the Bull of the Day by Zacks Investment Research.

Warner Chilcott plc (NASDAQ: WCRX) lowered price target to $25 and Forest Labs Inc. (NYSE: FRX) target cut to $40 at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Windstream Corporation (NASDAQ: WIN) Started as Neutral at Piper Jaffray.

Rayonier Inc. (NYSE: RYN) and Reliance Steel & Aluminum (NYSE: RS) were added to the #1 (Strong Buy) List at Zacks Investment Research. The Zacks additions to the #5 (strong Sell List are as follows: Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (NYSE: AEM); Badger Meter Inc. (NYSE: BMI); Kellogg Co. (NYSE: K); and Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD).

Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP) is one where we said earlier in the week that the efficient market theory cannot be applied, and Zacks included it on the Strong Sell ratings list this morning to close out 2011.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AEM, AGCO, BMI, FRX, GDI, HBC, K, MCP, RS, RYN, SHLD, WCRX, WIN

24/7 Closing Bell (NFLX, FSLR, T, FRX, HWAY, JASO, LVLT, LOW, MMM, AKS, ARMH, CRDN, SHW, CI, ININ)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 20:18:41 +0000

Shares opened lower this morning on continuing concern about European bank debt. The Case-Shiller report on housing contributed to the weakness and then the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index came it at its lowest reading in three years. Shares of Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) continue to fall and First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) fired its CEO. Crude oil prices rose almost $2/barrel, and gold rose more than 3%, to top $1,700/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than 205 points at 11,707.91 (-1.73%), the NASDAQ fell more than61 points (-2.26%) to 2,638.42, and the S&P 500 fell -2% or more than 25 points to 1,229.06.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including a drop of AT&T (NYSE: T) to ‘market perform’ at Bernstein. Forest Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: FRX) was cut to ‘hold’ at Argus and Healthways Inc. (NASDAQ: HWAY) downgraded at 3 firms. Stocks getting a boost today included JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) raised to ‘overweight’ at Piper Jaffray, Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) raised to ‘neutral’ at Citigroup, and Lowe’s Companies (NYSE: LOW) raised to ‘buy’ at Janney.

Here are today’s big post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: Netflix is down nearly -35%, at $77.30; 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) fell more than -5.5%, to $77.45; AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) fell more than 13% to $7.52; ARM Holdings plc (NASDAQ: ARMH) up about 1%, at $27.98; Ceradyne Inc. (NASDAQ: CRDN) up nearly 10%, at $33.48; and Sherwin-Williams Co. (NYSE: SHW) up about 2.5%, at $83.62.

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

First Solar dropped more than -25%, to $43.40, a new 52-week low. The company has fired its CEO after the shares have been pummeled on falling prices for solar PV panels. The stock’s 52-week high is $175.45, and that may be in the rear-view mirror forever.

Healthways is down more than -43%, at $6.31, after posting a new 52-week low of $6.22 earlier. CIGNA Corp. (NYSE: CI) will be cutting its contract work with Healthways following Cigna’s announced acquisition of HealthSpring.

Interactive Intelligence Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: ININ) dropped more than -24%, to $25.66. The company was downgraded by two analyst firms. The company reported soft earnings this morning.

SMTC Corp. (NASDAQ: SMTX) is up more than 45%, to $2.11. The circuit board maker raised fourth quarter and fiscal year 2012 guidance.

Unisys Corp. (NYSE: UIS) is up more than 32%, at $26.54. Earnings beat expectations as foreign sales appear to be more than making up for weak federal government sales in the US.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. We have the following events noted:

7:30 a.m. — Mortgage Bankers Association mortgage purchase applications
8:30 a.m. — Durable Goods orders
10:00 a.m. — New home sales
10:30 a.m. — EIA Petroleum status report

Paul Ausick

Filed under: General, Market Close Tagged: AKS, ARMH, CI, CRDN, FRX, FSLR, HWAY, ININ, JASO, LOW, LVLT, MMM, NFLX, SHW, T

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (T, BK, CELL, FDO, FRX, HWAY, JASO, LVLT, LOW, NFLX, RGLD, VECO)

Administrator — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:26:08 +0000

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

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) Cut to Market Perform at Bernstein.
The Bank of New York-Mellon (NYSE: BK) maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Brightpoint, Inc. (NASDAQ: CELL) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Family Dollar Stores, Inc. (NYSE: FDO) named Growth & Income stock of the day at Zacks.
Forest Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: FRX) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Healthways Inc. (NASDAQ: HWAY) downgraded at William Blair, Barclays, and Piper Jaffray.
JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
Level 3 Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) Raised to Neutral at Citigroup.
Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) Raised to Buy at Janney.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) downgraded by Reed Hastings and everyone left who was still positive.
Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ: RGLD) Raised to Overweight at HSBC.
Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO) Cut to Neutral at Sterne Agee; Reiterated Sell ar Canaccord Genuity.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: BK, CELL, FDO, FRX, HWAY, JASO, LOW, LVLT, NFLX, RGLD, T, VECO

August’s New Massive Stock Buybacks… Over $30 Billion (LOW, CVS, CELG, COV, INTU, DISCA, HRS, LMT, RSG, LOW, ABC, MXIM, ANR, AVT, JAH, LUV, STJ, ECL, IPG, FRX, ACE, CLF, CTSH, KBR, NWL, VRX, AKAM, AOL, DLB, URBN, ACM, CHTR, MYGN, PFG, HSIC)

Administrator — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:00:52 +0000

The pace of stock buyback announcements in the month of August was almost unbelievable. The pace was stronger at the start of the month when earnings were still coming in droves, but the number of newly announced buyback plans and the extended or expanded buyback plans remained high throughout the entire month. Many companies announce share buybacks and never spend much on the actual plan. Today, these companies are by and large actually living up to their promises. These are The August Buyback Kings….

We would normally group these alphabetically, but not today. We grouped these in order of size and then we used an alphabetic order when it came to the same size of a buyback announcement. The first group is the billions of dollars.

We then grouped the stocks by size again from the under $1 billion down to $500 million, and then we grouped the buybacks of under $500 million down to $200 million. Usually we would cut the list off at buybacks of the $100 million and higher but the list was already too big so we cut the Buyback Kings off at $200 million for August. Lastly, we have a chart at the very end tallying it all up…. Some $28.7 billion for just the $200 million and higher in new or expanded buyback announcements. There were literally dozens of other buybacks that were closer to the $100 million mark and many more that were less than that.

The $1 billion and higher alone which were announced in August were as follows: Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW); CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS); Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG); Covidien plc (NYSE: COV); Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU); Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA); Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS); and Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT).

Filed under: Dividend, Shareholder Issues, Stock Buybacks Tagged: ABC, ACE, ACM, AKAM, ANR, AOL, AVT, CELG, CHTR, CLF, COV, CSCO, CTSH, CVS, CVX, DISCA, DLB, ECL, FRX, HRS, INTU, IPG, JAH, KBR, LMT, LOW, LUV, MXIM, MYGN, NWL, NWSA, PFG, RSG, STJ, URBN, VRX, XOM

Share Buyback Announcements Continue In Droves (PFG, BIN, CLF, LTM, ACM, FRX, IPG, MYGN, RSG, LO, NWL, TIVO)

Administrator — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 17:18:32 +0000

It was just last week that we had identified literally 25 big share buyback announcements from companies in the preceding two weeks. These companies were actually buying back the stock as well rather than the historic buybacks that are not required to spend a penny. It turns out that the trend for August remains. Many new buyback announcements have been announced and it seems like companies are unlocking cash to repurchase their shares in droves.

Some of the larger and more impacting buyback announcements have been made by the following companies: Principal Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: PFG); Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. (NYSE: BIN); Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF); Life Time Fitness Inc. (NYSE: LTM); AECOM Technology Corp. (NYSE: ACM); Forest Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: FRX); Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE: IPG); Myriad Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN); Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE: RSG); Lorillard, Inc. (NYSE: LO); Newell Rubbermaid Inc. (NYSE: NWL); and TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO).

By now you already know that the attitude of 24/7 Wall St. is that dividends offer better long-term value than buybacks. We have shown what the dividend yield is for each here, or we have shown that there is no dividend.

Principal Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: PFG) announced that its board of directors has authorized a share buyback plan for up to $200 million in common stock. This represents about 8.5 million shares at current prices when average daily volume is 2.7 million shares. Its market cap is about $7.4 billion. The dividend yield is roughly 2.3% as of today.

Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. (NYSE: BIN), also referred to as BFI Canada, announced a buyback of up to 4 million shares of common stock. That is about $80 million at today’s price. The market cap is $2.5 billion and the average daily volume is about 428,000 shares. The dividend yield is listed as being about 2.5%.

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) has announced the authorization to buy back up to 4 million shares, close to $300 million in total per today’s dollars. The market cap is nearly $11 billion and the average volume is 3.7 million shares. The company’s dividend yield is only 1.5%.

Filed under: Corporate Governance, Dividend, Shareholder Issues, Stock Buybacks Tagged: ACM, BIN, CLF, FRX, IPG, LO, LTM, MYGN, NWL, PFG, RSG, TIVO

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (BCS, BIIB, BSX, COG, DO, FFIV, FRX, FFN, JDSU, PHG, RL, UHS)

Administrator — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:26:15 +0000

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

Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS) Cut to Neutral at HSBC.
Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Cabot Oil & Gas (NYSE: COG) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE: DO) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Forest Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: FRX) Raised to Buy at Argus.
FriendFinder Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: FFN) Started as Buy at Ladenburg Thalmann.
JDS Uniphase (NASDAQ: JDSU) Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Philips Electronics NV (NYSE: PHG) Cut to Hold at S&P Equity Research.
Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE: RL) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Universal Health Services, Inc. (NYSE: UHS) Reiterated Strong Buy as Value Stock at Zacks.

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: BCS, BIIB, BSX, COG, DO, FFIV, FFN, FRX, JDSU, PHG, RL, UHS

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ARUN, CECO, CENT, DRYS, ETN, FDO, FRX, FRO, MPEL, PANL, UTI, V)

Administrator — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 12:34:06 +0000

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

Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARUN) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ: CECO) Raised to Market Perform at FBR.
Central Garden & Pet Co. (NASDAQ: CENT) Reiterated Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Eaton Corporation (NYSE: ETN) Reiterated Buy as Value at Zacks.
Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE: FDO) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Forest Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: FRX) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Frontline Ltd. (NYSE: FRO) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) Reiterated Outperform and Raised target at Credit Suisse.
Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ: PANL) Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Universal Technical Institute (NYSE: UTI) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $95 at Argus.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ARUN, CECO, CENT, DRYS, ETN, FDO, FRO, FRX, MPEL, PANL, UTI, V

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ALU, CPB, CYH, CS, FRX, GG, INTC, LDK, MSFT, OPEN, PMT, THC, TSO, TRLG)

Administrator — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 12:32:55 +0000

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

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) Maintained Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) named Bear of the Day with Neutral rating at Zacks.
Community Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE: CYH) Started as Hold at Jefferies.
Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS) Cut to Sell at SocGen.
Forest Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: FRX) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG) Cut to Underweight at HSBC.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Cut to Neutral at Roth Capital.
LDK Solar Co., Ltd. (NYSE: LDK) Started as Neutral at Roth Capital.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) Cut estimates ahead of earnings season at Credit Suisse.
OpenTable, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPEN) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE: PMT) Started as Buy at Citigroup.
Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE: THC) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Tesoro Corporation (NYSE: TSO) named as Bull of the Day with Outperform rating at Zacks.
True Religion Apparel Inc. (NASDAQ: TRLG) Started as Buy at BB&T.

You can 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: ALU, CPB, CS, CYH, FRX, GG, INTC, LDK, MSFT, OPEN, PMT, THC, TRLG, TSO

BioHealth Daily: Forgetting Alzheimers (PRAN, PFE, NVS, FRX)

Administrator — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 13:39:36 +0000

It’s the BioHeath Daily for key developments in drugs, biotech, and medical developments. Prana Biotechnology Ltd. (NASDAQ: PRAN) is often overlooked here in the U.S. as it has such a small market cap. That may be about to change after yesterday’s move and after a continuation move so far this morning. Yesterday came word from the company that new data is being published on its ability of PBT2 to repair the damage in an Alzheimer’s affected brain. The claim is that it facilitates the restoration of cognition in Alzheimer’s Disease.

The data is published in the science journal PLoS ONE is entitled “Metal Ionophore Treatment Restores Dendritic Spine Density and Synaptic Protein Levels in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease.” The company noted that the findings help explain the rapid improvement in cognition previously reported in transgenic Alzheimer’s mice and in patients in a Phase IIa clinical trial with PBT2. The article describes the biochemical and anatomical changes occurring in the brains of transgenic Alzheimer’s mice treated with PBT2.

Prana shares soared on Monday with some 9.55 million shares and the stock gaining to $2.70 after a $1.47 close on Friday. What is amazing is that even after yesterday’s gain the market cap was a mere $65.3 million based upon the $2.70 close.

In pre-market trading the stock was up another 17% ay $3.17 on about 1.3 million shares as of 9:25 AM EST. At 9:33 AM EST we have shares trading up 31% at $3.55 on 2.45 million shares (with a market cap around $85 million). Today should be another very active day and the 52-week trading range is $1.09 to $3.64.

Some of the Alzheimer’s Disease medications are as follows, all aimed at various stages or aspects around the disease: Aricept was developed by Eisai Inc. and it was FDA approved in the 1990′s; currently co-promoted by Eisai Inc. and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE). Exelon is manufactured by Novartis (NYSE: NVS) and Razadyne is manufactured by Ortho-McNeil Neurologics. Forest Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: FRX) has Namenda.

If Prana has a REAL Alzheimer’s (and Parkinson’s) treatment on its hands, an $85 million market cap is very small.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Biotech, Drug companies Tagged: FRX, NVS, PFE, PRAN

The 24/7 Wall St./Flame Index: Google G-Mail Trouble, Itron Earnings

247wallst — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 16:23:16 +0000

Itron (NASDAQ: ITRI), the water and energy service provider, missed earnings last week and was hit with a wave of class action suits. This moved it to the top of the Flame Index of negative press. The Interior Department said it would examine the Helix Energy spill containment process, which does not assure any positive move on the part of the government. This caused the media to take a negative position on the firm. Warren Buffett comments about Well Fargo in his annual letter did not help the company’s press mentions.

Note: The Flame Index scans thousands of news sites 24 hours per day and ranks companies getting the most negative press right now. The Flame Index Media Analysis Algorithm crunches the data for an up-to-the-minute ranking of the hardest-hit companies.

The Flame Index started as a research tool in 2008 at the NY Innovation Design Lab (nyidlab). It was used as a general metric to evaluate companies and their risk in the media. Publicly traded Fortune 500 companies are used as a measure to calculate an overall market of negative news and the companies are ranked within that market.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Rank	Company	Ticker	Score	Change in Rank	Comments
1	Itron	ITRI	30.324	+10	Bad earnings. Class action suits
2	Google	GOOG	30.019	+8	Records from a number of G-Mail accounts lost
3	Forest Laboratories	FRX	29.562	+3	Clinical Data M&A lets down shareholders
4	Fannie Mae	FNMAS	28.061	-2	Still faces shut down and equity investors ruin
5	Helix Energy Solutions Group	HLX	27.337	+15	Interior Department reviews spill containment plans
6	Freddie Mac	FMCKJ	27.273	-5	Same as Fannie Mae
7	Toyota Motor Corporation	TM	26.523	+5	More recalls. Worries about February sales
8	Holly	HOC	25.277	-1	Fourth quarter profit disappoints
9	Walt Disney	DIS	24.628	-6	Comcast deal to control NBCU seen as negative.
10	Wells Fargo	WFC	23.687	+24	Mortgage documentation problems. Buffett’s unkind comments.

Data and ranking provided by the Flame Index.

Filed under: General, Research Tagged: FRX, GOOG, HLX, ITRI