24/7 Wall St. » GWW

Top Analyst Upgrades and Stocks to Buy: AIG, Cisco, Corning and More

Jon C. Ogg — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:20:23 +0000

Investors and traders seem to be constantly looking for fresh research ideas that will lead to higher income or more profits. 24/7 Wall St. reviews many fresh research calls to find great ideas from value stocks to growth stocks to dividend stocks. We are breaking out the positive analyst calls and stocks to buy from the positive research calls. These are some of this Monday’s top analyst upgrades, initiations and positive analyst research calls seen from Wall Street today.

American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE: APO) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette Woods.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at FBR Capital Markets.

Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

Express Scripts Inc. (NASDAQ: ESRX) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.

Franklin Resources Inc. (NYSE: BEN) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Hartford Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: HIG) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

Sequenom Inc. (NASDAQ: SQNM) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.

T-Mobile USA Inc. (NYSE: TMUS) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

W.W. Grainger Inc. (NYSE: GWW) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James.

XL Group PLC (NYSE: XL) was named as Bull of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.

Fairway Group Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: FWM) saw its quiet period come to an end and was given mostly positive research calls: started as Outperform at Credit Suisse, started as Buy at BB&T, started as Buy at Jefferies and started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.

Oppenheimer strategist raises the firm’s year-end 2013 S&P 500 price and earnings targets to 1,730 for the index and $109.00 for the total earnings per share estimate.

Filed under: Active Trader, Analyst Calls, Value Investing Tagged: AIG, APO, BEN, CSCO, ESRX, FWM, GLW, GWW, HIG, SQNM, XL

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — October 16, 2012: Markets Up on Consumer Confidence, Homebuilders (S, RVBD, WPI, HAL, KR, PKG, WDFC, FRX, GS, JNJ, MAT, PNC, KO, UNH, GWW, WWW, C, INTC, IBM, CSX, URI, ABT, BK, BLK, CHKP, CMA, HAL, KCG, PEP, USB, CLWR, RATE, NOK, MSFT)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 20:05:00 +0000

The three major U.S. stock indexes opened higher this morning following a report that economic sentiment in Germany came in better than expected (more coverage here) and that U.K. inflation was lower than expected (more coverage here). There are also renewed expectations that Spain will accept a bailout from the European Central Bank. In Asia, markets had little data to chew on, and instead followed yesterday’s gains on Wall Street. In the U.S., the September CPI readings, both headline and core numbers, came in at 0.6% and 0.1%, respectively, a little higher than expected on the headline reading and a little lower on the core reading (more coverage here). The NAHB’s housing market index for October came in at a six-year high (more coverage here) and U.S. consumers also registered more economic confidence (more coverage here).

The U.S. dollar index fell today, now down 0.44% at 79.395, and the euro ticked back above $1.30. The GSCI commodity index is down fractionally at 663.08, with commodities prices mostly higher today on the weaker dollar. WTI crude oil closed 0.3% higher today, at $92.09 a barrel. Brent crude trades down 0.24% at $114.12 a barrel. Natural gas is down 1.4% today at about $3.44 per thousand cubic feet. Gold closed at $1,746.30 an ounce, up 0.5% for the day.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 127 points to 13,551.78 (0.95%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 37 points (1.21%) to 3,101.17, and the S&P 500 rose 1.03% or nearly 15 points to 1,454.93.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) raised to ‘market perform’ at Bernstein and raised to ‘neutral’ at R.W. Baird; Riverbed Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) cut to ‘neutral’ at Citigroup; Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NYSE: WPI) reiterated as ‘buy’ with target price of $100 at Canaccord Genuity; Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) started as ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse (more coverage here); and Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) raised to ‘buy’ at Jefferies.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in some price moves today, including these as of the last half hour of trading: Packaging Corp. of America (NYSE: PKG) is up 1.9% at $36.28 after posting a new 52-week high of $36.96 earlier today; WD-40 Co. (NASDAQ: WDFC) is down 6.8% at $47.56; Forest Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: FRX) is down 3% at $35.50; Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) is down 0.7% at $123.60 (more coverage here); Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is up 1.2% at $69.42 after posting a new 52-week high of $69.80 earlier today (more coverage here); Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT) is up 5.1% at $37.23 after posting a new 52-week high of $37.31 earlier today; PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: PNC) is down 4% at $60.42; The Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) is down 1% at $37.76 (more coverage here); UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) is down 1.2% at $56.81 (more coverage here); W.W. Grainger Inc. (NYSE: GWW) is down 2.6% at $210.34; and Wolverine Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: WWW) is down 2.5% at $44.50.

Today’s shocker was the sudden resignation of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) CEO Vikram Pandit (more coverage here). We suggested 10 reasons for the abrupt departure and covered Pandit’s comments here.

Before markets open tomorrow we are scheduled to hear from Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM), CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX), United Rentals Inc. (NYSE: URI), Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT), Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK), BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK), Check Point Software Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: CHKP), Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA), Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL), Knight Capital Group Inc. (NYSE: KCG), PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP), and U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWR) is down 19.7% at $2.24. Reality set in for investors after Sprint and SoftBank denied speculation that one would make a larger investment in the wireless carrier. More coverage here.

Bankrate Inc. (NYSE: RATE) is down 24.8% at $10.90 after posting a new 52-week low of $10.30 earlier today. The personal finance company guided revenue and earnings lower after markets closed last night. More coverage here.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) is up 6% at $2.84. The mobile phone maker might have gotten a boost from Microsoft Corp.’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) announced availability of the Surface tablet — either that or the company’s earnings results, which are due Thursday. Most likely reason – short covering.

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

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
8:30 a.m. – Housing starts
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: ABT, BK, BLK, C, CHKP, CLWR, CMA, CSX, FRX, GS, GWW, HAL, IBM, INTC, JNJ, KCG, KO, KR, MAT, MSFT, NOK, PEP, PKG, PNC, RATE, RVBD, S, UNH, URI, USB, WDFC, WPI, WWW

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — October 15, 2012: Markets Hold onto Gains (C, KO, ORCL, RIO, SNDK, HAS, GCI, INTC, IBM, PKG, WDFC, FRX, GS, MAT, OMC, PNC, UNH, GWW, WWW, CLWR, S, CYCC, YONG)

Paul Ausick — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 20:05:19 +0000

The three major U.S. stock indexes opened higher this morning, aided by a better-than-expected report on U.S. retail sales and a smaller-than-expected rise in the Empire State manufacturing survey (more coverage here). European markets closed higher today following comments by an EU commissioner that Greece may get more time to let its economic reforms work, that Spain has not foregone the bailout option, and that the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) can be leveraged. Greece’s 10-year benchmark yields dropped 60 basis points on the comments (to just above 17%!). In Asia, China’s trade surplus grew as exports increased and imports decreased, and inflation ratcheted down to below 2% (more coverage here). Financial stocks were higher today, following a positive earnings report from Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), and healthcare stocks were up nearly 1% with about an hour of trading left in today’s session.

The U.S. dollar index rose today, now up 12% at 79.760. The GSCI commodity index is down about 1% at 665.30, with commodities prices mostly lower today on the stronger dollar. WTI crude oil closed flat today, at $91.85 a barrel. Brent crude trades up 1% at $115.78 a barrel. Natural gas is down 3.6% today at about $3.48 per thousand cubic feet. Gold closed at $1,737.60 an ounce, down 1.3% for the day.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 95 points to 13,424.23 (0.72%), the NASDAQ rose about 20 points (0.66%) to 3,064.18, and the S&P 500 rose 0.81% or nearly 12 points to 1,440.12.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including The Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) cut to ‘underperform’ at CLSA; Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) reiterated as ‘buy’ with target price of $39 at Argus; Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RIO) cut to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs; SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) raised to ‘outperform’ at Wedbush; and Hasbro Inc. (NYSE: HAS) cut to ‘sell’ at Goldman Sachs.

Earnings reports since markets closed Friday resulted in some price moves today, including these as of the last half hour of trading: Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) is up 5% at $36.48 (more coverage here) and Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI) is down 0.6% at $17.80 (more coverage here).

Here’s our preview of tomorrow’s earnings report from five components of the DJIA, including Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) and International Business Machines Inc. (NYSE: IBM).

Before markets open tomorrow we are scheduled to hear from Packaging Corp. of America (NYSE: PKG), WD-40 Co. (NASDAQ: WDFC), Forest Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: FRX), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT), Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC), PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: PNC), The Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO), UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH), W.W. Grainger Inc. (NYSE: GWW), and Wolverine Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: WWW)

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWR) is us 13.4% at $2.64 after posting a new 52-week high of $2.96 earlier today. The wireless carrier is getting a bounce from the announcement that SoftBank will acquire 70% of Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S). More coverage here.

Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CYCC) is up 25.6% at $6.87 after posting a new 52-week low of $7.93 earlier today. The biopharmaceutical maker reported good results on a study of survival rates on its sapacitabine capsules for treatment of a blood disease.

Yongye International Inc. (NASDAQ: YONG) is up 17.3% at $5.62. The Chinese fertilizer maker got an offer of $6.60 a share to take the company private. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Tuesday. Fed Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin is giving a speech. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – Consumer price index
9:00 a.m. – Treasury international capital (TIC) data
9:15 a.m. – Industrial production
10:00 a.m. – Housing market index
11:30 a.m. – 4- and 52-week bill auctions

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: C, CLWR, CYCC, FRX, GCI, GS, GWW, HAS, IBM, INTC, KO, MAT, OMC, ORCL, PKG, PNC, RIO, S, SNDK, UNH, WDFC, WWW, YONG

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — July 18, 2012: Markets Rise on Lack of Bad News

Paul Ausick — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 20:06:52 +0000

The three major US stock indexes opened modestly lower this morning as there was little news out of Europe and Asian markets closed mixed. Traders were waiting to hear more from Fed Chairman Bernanke during his appearance before a House committee this morning. This afternoon’s release of the Fed ‘Beige Book’ failed to move markets much either (our coverage here). In general, Bernanke’s comments yesterday that the Fed was ready to step in with more easing if needed seemed to be driving the positive gains we’ve seen today. That, and a blizzard of earnings results which we’ll look at later in this report.

The US dollar index rose slightly today, now up 0.07% at 83.088 after posting a high of 83.34 earlier this morning. The GSCI commodity index rose about 0.2% to 632.52, with commodities prices mostly higher today. Corn prices rose a modest 1.2%. WTI crude oil rose 0.7% today, closing at $89.87/barrel, a seven-week high. Brent crude trades up 1.1% at $105.11/barrel. Natural gas is up 6.3% today to $2.972/thousand cubic feet on an expected drop in tomorrow’s storage report. Gold settled at $1,573.00/ounce, down 1%.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 103 points to 12,908.70 (0.81%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 33 points (1.12%) to 2,942.60, and the S&P 500 rose 0.67% or more than 9 points to 1,372.78.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) cut to ‘hold’ at Jefferies; Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) started as ‘overweight’ at JPMorgan; Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) cut to ‘sell’ at Argus; Saks Inc. (NYSE: SKS) cut to ‘sell’ at Goldman Sachs; and Hillshire Brands Co. (NYSE: HSH) raised to ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) is up 3.8% at $26.35; CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) is down -0.9% at $22.59; United Rentals Inc. (NYSE: URI) is down -14.4% at $29.46; Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) is down -1.1% at $96.34; Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) is down -0.7% at $66.00 after posting a new 52-week high of $66.80 earlier today (more coverage here); Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) is down -4.2% at $7.59 (more coverage here); BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) is down -0.5% at $175.19; Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP) is up 7.4% at $49.00; Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) is up 6.7% at $58.20; and W.W. Grainger Inc. (NYSE: GWW) is up 11.2% at $210.16.

After markets close today we are set to hear from American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP), Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF), eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY), International Business Machines Inc. (NYSE: IBM), Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: KMP), Noble Corp. (NYSE: NE), and Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM).

Before markets open on Thursday we are scheduled to get earnings results from AutoNation Inc. (NYSE: AN), Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE: DO), Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB), Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE), NVR Inc. (NYSE: NVR), Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM), Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY), and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

Vivus Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) is up 9.8% at $29.04 after posting a new 52-week high of $32.49 earlier today. The biopharmaceutical firm received FDA approval for its anti-obesity drug. More coverage here.

Supernus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: SUPN) is up 36.1% at $14.55. The drug maker expects to launch two new drugs next year, now than an issue with the FDA has been cleared up.

Rovi Corp. (NASDAQ: ROVI) is down -42.8% at $10.10, after posting a new 52-week low of $10.05 earlier today. The digital entertainment technology company warned on earnings today.

EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) is up 9.8% at $25.17. The enterprise storage maker, which owns 80% of VMWare Inc. (NYSE: VMW), replaced VMWare’s CEO today in a management shake-up that was well received by investors.

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

8:30 a.m. – New claims for unemployment benefits
10:00 a.m. – Existing home sales
10:00 a.m. – Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey
10:00 a.m. – Leading economic indicators
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report
1:00 p.m. – 10-year TIPS auction
4:30 p.m. – Fed balance sheet and money supply

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Active Trader, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: ABT, AMEX, AN, BAC, BLK, CAT, CHKP, COF, CSX, DO, EBAY, EMC, F, FCX, FITB, GWW, HON, HSH, IBM, INTC, KMP, MS, NE, NUE, NVR, PM, ROVI, SKS, SUPN, SWY, TSLA, URI, VMW, VVUS, VZ, WYNN, YUM

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — July 17, 2012: Markets Higher After Bernanke Speaks

Paul Ausick — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 20:03:53 +0000

The three major US stock indexes opened higher this morning in advance of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s semi-annual report to Congress and following some data on inflation (more coverage here), industrial production, and the housing market (more coverage here). Bernanke’s comments were pretty much inline with expectations, but investors were hoping for a more upbeat presentation than they got (our coverage here).

The US dollar index fell slightly today, now down -0.03% at 83.075. The GSCI commodity index rose about 1.5% to 6121.19, with commodities prices mostly lower today. Even corn prices fell as drought news got worse (our coverage here). WTI crude oil rose 0.9% today, closing at $89.22/barrel. Brent crude trades up 0.5% at $103.85/barrel. Natural gas is down -0.11% today to $2.798/thousand cubic feet. Gold settled at $1,589.50/ounce, down -0.1%.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 77 points to 12,804.41 (0.61%), the NASDAQ rose more than 13 points (0.45%) to 2,910.04, and the S&P 500 rose 0.74% or 10 points to 1,363.64.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) cut to ‘underperform’ at Jefferies; The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) cut to ‘neutral’ at Janney; Melco Crown PBL (NASDAQ: MPEL) started as ‘outperform’ at RBC Capital; Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) cut to ‘underweight’ at JPMorgan; and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), started as ‘buy’ at Lazard.

Earnings reports since markets closed last Friday have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (NASDAQ: JBHT) is down -5.8% at $54.96; Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) is up 3.4% at $31.87; Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) is up 0.7% at $98.36 (more coverage here); Forest Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: FRX) is up 1.7% at $35.79 (more coverage here); Host Hotels and Resorts Inc. (NYSE: HST) is up 0.5% at $15.46; Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) is down -0.3% at $68.65; Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is up 0.9% at $69.03 after posting a new 52-week high of $69.18 earlier today (more coverage here); Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) is up 5.1% at $58.18 (more coverage here); The Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) is up 1.5% at $77.63 (more coverage here); and State Street Corp. (NYSE: STT) is down -6.5% at $41.28.

After markets close today we are set to hear from Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX), United Rentals Inc. (NYSE: URI), and Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN).

Before markets open on Wednesday we are scheduled to get earnings results from Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK), Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP), Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON), and W.W. Grainger Inc. (NYSE: GWW).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) is up 5.2% at $3.64. The telecom company started its 4G LTE network this weekend in a number of cities. More coverage here.

CSR plc (NASDAQ: CSRE) is up 29.8% at $17.60 after posting a new 52-week high of $18.23 earlier today. The chip maker is being acquired by Samsung Electronics for $310 million.

Lime Energy Co. (NASDAQ: LIME) is down -46.3% at $1.09 after posting a new 52-week low of $0.83 earlier today. The clean energy company may have to cut reported revenue for the past two fiscal years by as much as $15 million.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE: EDU) is down -37.2% at $13.98 after posting a new 52-week low of $13.86 earlier today. The language and test training company announced an SEC investigation into the company’s accounting practices.

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

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
8:30 a.m. – Housing starts
10:00 a.m. – Fed Chairman Bernanke appears before House Financial Services Committee
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
2:00 p.m. – Beige Book released

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Active Trader, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: ABT, AMZN, BAC, BLK, CHKP, CMA, CSRE, CSX, DE, EDU, FRX, GS, GWW, HD, HON, HST, INTC, JBHT, JNJ, KO, KSU, LIME, MOS, MPEL, NOK, S, STT, URI, WYNN

Amazon Wants Online Industrial Goods Market, Other Markets Too! (AMZN, GWW, EBAY, RBA)

Jon C. Ogg — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:55:51 +0000

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) must have the goal that if you can sell it online then it wants a piece of it. After many specialty online sales initiatives, now it seems that the online industrial tools business is a focus.

Amazon’s new AmazonSupply.com is selling a broad array of scientific, industrial, and business supplies, occupational safety, tools, and many other large-scale parts and equipment. The aim here is to capture a small piece of the materials, hydraulic equipment, fasteners, lab & scientific equipment. The amazonsupply.com site claims some 500,000 items with more added every day.

A report from Citigroup is claiming that this is direct competition for W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE: GWW) for its 27% sales that come from online as the Amazon site is said to often have lower prices for the direct same products of Grainger on the informal price comparison. Citigroup maintained a ‘Sell” rating and shares are down 4% at $202.64. Now we know at least one more reason as to why Amazon was buying that robotics company for warehouses.

There is perhaps a larger concern here. Amazon has often competed against the “Buy It Now” feature of eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) because after all this is a store offering versus a store offering. Amazon is branching out further and further and no one knows where it will stop. Perhaps another question is whether or not Amazon (or others) go after Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Incorporated (NYSE: RBA) for its on-site and online bidding process. Ritchie Bros. sells used and unused heavy industrial equipment, trucks, and other machinery. It has a market cap of just under $2.2 billion but sales were $348 million in 2011.

If you have an online products marketplace or an online exchange of goods, chances seem high that Amazon or other giants want a piece of it. Amazon has bought Zappos.com for an online shoe market and it has entered into many other online sales as well. It now even has a large area for sports collectibles and memorabilia. Jeff Bezos wants a piece of anything and everything you can buy or sell.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Industrials, Industry, Internet Tagged: AMZN, EBAY, GWW, RBA

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (AAPL, FSLR, VLO, TIF, C, CMA, GS, JNJ, MMR, GWW, YHOO, SYK, STX, URI, SRSL, ENOC, LEE)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 20:07:31 +0000

Markets opened higher this morning and by late-morning equities were trading down about 1.5% across the board, where they have mostly remained for the rest of the day. An upbeat auction on short-term Spanish bonds and several positive earnings reports this morning led the market higher. China reported a sharp decline in foreign direct investment, but the impact on European and US markets was negligible. The US dollar index fell today, now down -0.11% at 79.467. The GSCI commodity index is down about -0.03% at 675.59, with most commodities gaining on the falling dollar. WTI crude oil closed up 1.2% at $104.20/barrel, and Brent crude trades down -0.06% at $118.61/barrel. Gold settled up 0.01% today, at $1,651.10/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 194 points to 13,115.54 (1.50%), the NASDAQ rose more than 54 points (1.82%) to 3,042.82, and the S&P 500 rose 1.55% or more than 21 points to 1,390.78.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) started as a ‘strong buy’ with a target price of $800 at Raymond James; First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) cut to ‘hold’ at Goldman Sachs; Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) reiterated as ‘outperform’ with a target price of $37 at Credit Suisse; Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) started as ‘neutral’ at Macquarie; and Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) reiterated as ‘outperform’ with a target price of $48 at Credit Suisse.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) is up 3.6% at $31.98; Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) is down about -1% at $116.59; Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is up 0.30% at $64.17; McMoRan Exploration Inc. (NYSE: MMR) is up 4% at $9.07; and W.W. Grainger Inc. (NYSE: GWW) is up 0.01% at $215.80;

After markets close today, we’ll hear from Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), Stryker Corp. (NYSE: SYK), Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX), and United Rentals Inc. (NYSE: URI).

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

SRS Labs Inc. (NASDAQ: SRSL) is up almost 37% at 9.38. The audio and voice technology company is being acquired by DTS for about $134 million.

EnerNOC Inc. (NASDAQ: ENOC) is up nearly 17% at $7.61. The smart metering company has a contract to provide natural gas metering services for 4,000 non-residential buildings in Brooklyn and Queens, New York.

Lee Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: LEE) is down -12% at $1.15. The newspaper publisher posted a wider loss in its second fiscal quarter.

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

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers’ Association purchase applications
10.30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Active Trader, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AAPL, C, CMA, ENOC, FSLR, GS, GWW, JNJ, LEE, MMR, SRSL, STX, SYK, TIF, URI, VLO, YHOO

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AKS, ALTR, BRCM, CPN, CTL, DELL, EW, JDSU, MRVL, NMR, STLD, GWW)

Jon C. Ogg — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:32:39 +0000

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

AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) Started as Buy at Canaccord Genuity.
Calpine Corporation (NYSE: CPN) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE: EW) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
JDS Uniphase (NASDAQ: JDSU) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) Started as Buy at Canaccord Genuity.
Nomura Holdings Inc. (NYSE: NMR) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE: GWW) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

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JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: AKS, ALTR, BRCM, CPN, CTL, DELL, EW, GWW, JDSU, MRVL, NMR, STLD

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AET, AIXG, CTSH, FFIV, GDOT, HFC, ITW, IBM, LXK, MWV, NTAP, OPTR, ORCL, PIR, TYC, UA, UIS, V, VMW, GWW)

Jon C. Ogg — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 12:18:37 +0000

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

Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) Reiterated Buy with $51 target at Argus.
Aixtron SE (NASDAQ: AIXG) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ: CTSH) Removed from Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Green Dot Corporation (NYSE: GDOT) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
HollyFrontier Corporation (NYSE: HFC) Reiterated Buy as Value at Zacks.
Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE: ITW) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Lexmark International Inc. (NYSE: LXK) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
MeadWestvaco Corporation (NYSE: MWV) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
Optimer Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: OPTR) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) Raised to Top Pick at FBR.
Pier 1 Imports, Inc. (NYSE: PIR) Cut to Equal-Weight at Barclays.
Tyco International Ltd. (NYSE: TYC) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
W.W. Grainger Inc. (NYSE: GWW) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.

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: Accounting, Annual Report Tagged: AET, AIXG, CTSH, FFIV, GDOT, GWW, HFC, IBM, ITW, LXK, MWV, NTAP, OPTR, ORCL, PIR, TYC, UA, UIS, V, VMW

S&P Defends Top U.S. Six Corporate Issuer Ratings (ADP, XOM, JNJ, MSFT, GE, GWW)

Jon C. Ogg — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 19:22:13 +0000

Standard & Poor’s may have done the inevitable move of a U.S. credit ratings downgrade and it may have followed with the downgrade of the insurance companies and with many government agencies and dependent entities. Generally speaking, S&P does not allow “AAA” ratings for companies in nations where the “AAA” rating does not exist for the sovereign nation. We had been given indications that there would be exceptions on this downgrade, but S&P has said that it is not downgrading six of the highest rated non-financial corporate issuers:

Automatic Data Processing Inc. (NYSE: ADP) at AAA/Stable/A-1+
ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) at AAA/Stable/A-1+
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) at AAA/Stable/A-1+
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) at AAA/Stable/A-1+
General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) at AA+/Stable/A-1+
W.W. Grainger Inc. (NYSE: GWW) at AA+/Stable/A-1+

S&P noted that these companies would be able to meet their ability to fulfill their financial obligations even if a sovereign default scenario arises. S&P called these out as having excellent business risk profiles.

Even before the downgrade from S&P, it was our assumption that a downgrade was coming. We even gave a list of the other “AAA” nations and outlined four more nations we think may lose their “AAA” ratings based on collateral damage. If we are not “AAA” there are other “AAA” ratings that aren’t deserved as well.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Banking & Finance, Bonds Tagged: ADP,, GE, GWW, JNJ, MSFT, XOM