Posts for Ticker ‘GT’

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations (MT, BMRN, ELN, FITB, FSLR, GCI, GT, HAL, PVTB, URBN)

These are this Thursday morning’s top 10 analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations we have seen in early research calls from Wall Street:

ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT) Raised to Buy at Societe Generale.
BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: BMRN) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Elan Corp. plc (NYSE: ELN) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Fifth Third Bancorp Raised To Outperform From Neutral By Baird
First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Cut to Neutral at BofA/Merrill.
Gannett Co. (NYSE: GCI) Cut to Underperform at Wells Fargo.
Goodyear Tire (NYSE: GT) Cut to Underperform at BofA/Merrill.
Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
PrivateBancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: PVTB) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ: URBN) Raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.

You can join our open email distribution list to get updates on top analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader alerts, IPO’s, secondary offerings, Warren Buffett and other guru activity, M&A and more.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: October 29, 2009 – 7:45 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

The 100 Hardest Working Brands In The World

hersheyThere are a number of ways to rank brand values. One of the most important is the level at which a brand contributes to the market value of a public company.

24/7 Wall St. asked Corebrand, the brand research and consulting firm, to look at the top 100 brands based their contribution to market capitalizaton. Using this method, the hardest working brand was Hershey (NYSE:HSY), followed  by Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) and Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG)

Corebrand described the process briefly to 24/7 Wall. St.

24/7 Wall St.: Corebard often refers to the brands on this list as the”hardest working brands”. How did you come to that description?

Corebrand: There are a lot of people measuring and examining the “strongest brands” or the “most valuable brands”.  Our opinion is that examining one without the other is somewhat meaningless.  How “strong” a brand is nice to know but not very relevant unless you understand how that strength benefits business.  Similarly, “value” is little more than a measure of corporate size unless you understand the drivers of that value and how to influence it. By examining the strength of the brand and it’s contribution to total market value, we can help companies and their leadership manage that strength and value over time.

24/7 Wall St.: Is there any advantage or disadvantage to having a brand value be a very large percentage of market cap in the present and as an indication of a company’s future performance?

Corebrand: The brand will need to be in balance with the rest of the company’s assets.  A company should strive to have it’s brand strong enough to fend off competitors or changing market conditions but not so strong that it becomes overly dependent on the brand as a single driver of value.  If a company can achieve and maintain its appropriate maximum strength without becoming over-dependent, it will see greater returns in bull markets and retain greater value in bear markets.

The list: Read More »

Posted on: October 20, 2009 – 5:06 pm in Research, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Are CBS (CBS) And Sprint (S) At Risk For Bankruptcy?

bearAudit Integrity, a research firm, has come out with a list of the large American companies which are most likely to go bankrupt in the next year. The data behind the figures seem valid, but some of the companies on the list which include CBS (CBS), Sprint (S), AMD (AMD), and Sirius XM (SIRi) seem improbable candidates.

The corporate communications staffs of these companies and their outside public relation firms will tell their managements to keep quiet and not react. A reaction, they will argue, just makes it look like Audit Integrity knows what it is doing and that there is some validity to their analysis. Audit Integrity is probably counting on that. It will get a lot of exposure for the study and little ,if any, legitimate criticism.

Audit Integrity says its research services support risk management practices that help investors, insurers and others lower risk and improve performance with objective ratings and reports.

Read More »

Posted on: September 18, 2009 – 2:34 pm in Research, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Unusual Suspects (GT, CTB, S, DT, LOPE, BBY, ORCL, PALM, GLD, CSX, UNP, RGR)

bull-and-bear-image2We have a whole host of stocks and sectors to watch throughout this coming week.  We have Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: GT) and Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: CTB) to watch on some tariff news.  Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) will likely be a key mover on Monday on potential merger reports.  Grand Canyon Education Inc. (NASDAQ: LOPE) is supposed to have a secondary offering early this week.  Earnings are coming from Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY), Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL), Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) and others.  $1,000.00 gold is going to be key for the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD).  CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX), Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP), and Sturm, Ruger & Co. Inc. (NYSE: RGR) are all likely suspects to watch for catch-up trading based on news outside of those companies.  More details are provided on each of these.  Stay tuned this week.
Read More »

Posted on: September 13, 2009 – 12:27 pm in Autos, Calendar, Commodities, Earnings, Editor's Picks, Mergers and Buy Outs, Politics, Regulation, Rumors, Secondary Offering, Short Interest, The Week, Trading Alert, Transports, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (BHP, COST, DRIV, GT, PX, PZN, RAI, ROK, VIP, VMC)

These are ten of the top analyst upgrades and downgrades we have seen from Wall Street early this Thursday morning:

BHP Billiton (BHP) Started as Outperform at RBC.
Costco (COST) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Digital River (DRIV) Raised to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Goodyear Tire (GT) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Praxair (PX) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Pzena Investment (PZN) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Reynolds American (RAI) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Rockwell Automation (ROK) Cut to Underperform at Baird.
Vimpel Comm (VIP) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Vulcan Materials (VMC) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: April 30, 2009 – 6:53 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

The 52-Week Low Club (VCI)(SVR)(MDR)(ANN)(CRL)(GT)(NOBL)(THQI)

Sad_clownValassis Communications (VCI) Q3 loss and outlook cut. Plunges to $1.78 from 52-week high of $16.80.

Syniverse (SVR) Baird downgrades shares. Falls to $9.79 from 52-week high of $22.93.

McDermott International (MDR) Lower profit. Downgrades from Jefferies and Credit Suisse. Daily double. Off to $10.26 from 52-week high of $67.14.

Ann Taylor Stores (ANN) Grim outlook on sales. Sells down to $8.74 from 52-week high of $33.28.

Read More »

Posted on: November 6, 2008 – 3:49 pm in HI/LOW, , , , , , , ,

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (BIG, CSH, CS, ERIC, GT, MRVL, MMR, MNTA, NTRS, PCZ)

These are ten of the top analyst calls we see affecting shares in pre-market indications this Monday morning:

  • Big Lots (NYSE: BIG) Raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.
  • Cash America (NYSE: CSH) Cut to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.
  • Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) Raised to Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.
  • Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) raised to Neutral from to Sell at Goldman Sachs; downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Banc of America.
  • Goodyear Tire & Rubber (NYSE: GT) cut to Neutral at JP Morgan.
  • Marvell Tech (NASDAQ: MRVL) raised to Outperform at FBR (stock indicated +2%).
  • McMoRan Exploration (NYSE: MMR) Cut to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.
  • Momenta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MNTA) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
  • Northern Trust (NASDAQ: NTRS) Cut to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.
  • Petro-Canada (NYSE: PCZ) raised to Outperform at CINC World Markets.

Jon C. Ogg
April 28, 2008

Posted on: April 28, 2008 – 6:33 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Goodyear (GT) Earnings Preview

Goodyear (GT) shares are up 30% this year to just over $27. The company reports Q3 earnings tomorrow.

Goodyear said in August that it completed the sale of nearly all of its engineered products business for $1.48 billion.

The company has lowered costs by setting up manufacturing in Eastern Europe and Asia.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expect a profit of 53 cents per share on $4.92 billion in revenue.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: October 29, 2007 – 2:20 pm in Uncategorized,

Tire Inflation Coming? (TWI, GT, CTB)

Titan Tire Corporation, a subsidiary of Titan International, Inc. (NYSE: TWI), will implement a price increase on Titan and Goodyear branded farm and construction tires, effective November 1, 2007.  The increase of up to 5% will offset rising raw material and energy costs, but certain tire prices may rise more than 5% due to repositioning of the product.

Goodyear Tire (NYSE:GT) and Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE:CTB) probably just got some more pricing power.  With oil at $80.00+ and rising commodity costs, they are going to need it.  Granted, this is in the larger industrial and agricultural tires rather than full scale consumer auto tires, but where there is smoke…..there’s a tire.

Jon C. Ogg
September 27, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he produces the Special Situation Investing Newsletter and does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: September 27, 2007 – 3:56 pm in Autos, , ,

GM: Just Take The Job Cuts

GM (GM) and its Detroit peers have been pushing the UAW to consider establishing a fund to handle the health care costs of its members. The car companies would contribute as much as $60 billion to this fund, but its would take huge employee liabilities off of their balance sheets. A similar system was set-up between Goodyear (GT).

Now the news has emerged that GM has offered an alternative. No fund. Deep job cuts. According to The Wall Street Journal this proposal calls for "more-painful cuts in several areas so that GM can inch closer to labor-cost parity with its chief rival, Toyota (TM)."

The options of taking large numbers of jobs out of the GM workforce presents a real problem for the UAW leadership. A number of local unions have voted to authorize a strike. Who pays their benefits is secondary to whether they have jobs or not.

The negotiations between the union and the so-called Big Three will almost certainly move past their deadline on September 14. It is still not clear that any progress has been made on setting up a UAW run fund for pensions. If the car companies cannot have that, job cuts are the only other bargaining position that they can take.

A bit of a revolt among the rank and file could lead to labor stoppages. This would be short of a full-blown strike, but it could disrupt vehicle supply nonetheless. UAW members know which plants produce the best-selling vehicles.

If "mini-strikes" being, there is no telling where they will stop.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: September 11, 2007 – 3:32 am in Autos, ,

Pre-Market Earnings Gappers (July 26, 2007)

(AAPL) Apple traded down initially, but shares are up 7% pre-market after earnings and maintaining 2008 iPhone sales.
(AKAM) Akamai Tech $0.30 EPS vs $0.30 estimate; shares down over 10% pre-market on guidance being in-line and after broker downgrades.
(AN) Auto Nation $0.38 EPS vs $0.42 estimate.
(APA) Apache $1.89 EPS before items vs $1.90.
(ARTG) Art Tech $0.00 EPS vs $0.01 estimate.
(BC) Brunswick $0.65 EPS vs $0.64 estimate.
(BDK) Black & Decker $1.75 EPS versus $1.73 estimate.
(BIDU) Baidu.com posted over 100% growth in earnings and revenues; $0.54 EPS equivalent versus $0.43 estimate; trading up 17% pre-market.
(BZH) Beazer Homes -$0.06 EPS versus -$0.46 estimate, although estimates are all over the place.
(CMCSA) Comcast $0.19 EPS & $7.71 Billion revenues versus $0.19/$7.71B estimates; shares trading down 3% pre-market.
(CMI) Cummins $2.13 EPS versus $1.58 estimate.
(CNX) Consolidated Energy $0.83 EPS vs $0.60 estimate; unsure if comparable.
(COL) Rockwell Collins $0.86 EPS vs $0.83 estimate.
(F) Ford $0.13 EPS versus -$0.36 estimate; unsure if comparable; shares trading up 2% pre-market.
(GT) Goodyear Tire $0.35 EPS vs $0.37 estimate.
(ICE) IntercontinentalExchange $0.85 EPS versus $0.76 estimate.
(IKN) IKON Office $0.23 EPS vs. $0.23 estimate; sees next quarter $0.22 EPS vs $0.23 estimate.
(KEI) Keithly -$0.03 EPS vs -$0.01 estimate.
(KLIC) Kulicke & Soffa $0.08 EPS versus $0.08 estimate; shares down 1% pre-market.
(LLL) L-3 Communications $1.49 EPS versus $1.43 estimates.
(MMM) 3M $1.25 EPS vs $1.18 estimate.
(ODFL) Old Dominion Freight Line $0.57 EPS versus $0.55 estimate.
(PCCC) PC Connection $0.21 EPS versus $0.19 estimate.
(PMTI) Palomar Meed $0.43 EPS vs $0.29 estimates.
(QCOM) Qualcomm $0.55 EPS vs $0.51 estimate; fiscal guidance raised to $1.95 to $1.97 versus prior $1.84 to $1.88 range; shares up 1.5% pre-market.
(QLTI) QLT Inc. $0.08 EPS vs $0.07 estimate.
(RAIL) Freightcar America $0.93 EPS vs $0.92 estimate.
(RCL) Royal Caribbean $0.60 EPS vs $0.60 estimate.
(RTN) Raytheon $0.79 EPS versus $0.68 estimate; unsure if comparable.
(TEN) Tenneco $0.87 EPS vs $0.77 estimate.
(UST) UST Inc. $0.90 EPS vs $0.85 estimate.
(UTEK) Ultratech $0.04 EPS vs -$0.04 estimate.
(WEN) Wendy’s $0.33 EPS vs $0.33 estimate.
(XOM) Exxon Mobil $1.83 EPS vs $1.96 estimate; trading down 2% pre-market.
(XMSR) XM Satellite Radio -$0.45 EPS and $277M revenues versus estimates of -$0.44/$274.75M; added about 338,000 net subscribers; shares down 1.75%.

Jon C. Ogg
July 26, 2007

Posted on: July 26, 2007 – 7:58 am in Earnings, Pre-Market Activity, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,