24/7 Wall St. » HGG

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (DVA, DNDN, GS, HGG, KEY, MCD, MS, ORCL, RF, SBUX, ZNGA)

Administrator — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:15:28 +0000

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

DaVita, Inc. (NYSE: DVA) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) maintained Neutral with $14.00 target at Zacks; Started as Hold at Cantor Fitzgerald.
Energy Partners Limited (NYSE: EPL) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
hhgregg, Inc. (NYSE: HGG) maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) Cut to Underperform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) Cut to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer (valuation call).
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) Cut to Neutral at Macquarie.
Regions Financial (NYSE: RF) Raised to Outperform at RBC Capital; Cut to Neutral at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Zynga, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) Started as Overweight at Barclays; Started as Overweight at JPMorgan; Started as Neutral at Bank of America Merrill Lynch; Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.

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: Analyst Calls Tagged: DNDN, DVA, GS, HGG, KEY, MCD, MS, ORCL, RF, SBUX, ZNGA

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (AWK, C, JPM, CAT, DE, VLO, PNX, NOR, HGG, CECO, END, VG, AMRS, DMND, PG, SINO, OXGN, RTK, RNF)

Paul Ausick — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:08:58 +0000

Stocks opened higher this morning and the gains held up pretty well all day. The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee report contained no big surprises, with interest rates continuing to be held between 0%-0.25%. The dollar is a bit weaker, leading to a small rise in oil and commodity stocks. Fed chairman Ben Bernanke’s prepared remarks were issued prior to his press conference, and the Fed has lowered its estimate of US economic growth for the year from 2.7%-2.9% to 1.6%-1.7%. The growth forecast for 2012 has also been trimmed, from 3.3%-3.7% to 2.5%-2.9%.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up nearly more than 177 points to 11,835.74 (1.52%), the NASDAQ rose more than 33 points (1.27%) to 2,639.98, and the S&P 500 rose 1.61% or more than 19 points to 1,237.89.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including American Water Works (NYSE: AWK) added to Zack’s Strong Buy List. Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) and JP Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) cut to ‘hold’ at S&P Capital IQ; Caterpillar Corp. (NYSE: CAT) started at ‘overweight’ at Morgan Stanley; Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) started at ‘underweight’ at Morgan Stanley; and Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) reiterated ‘buy’ at Argus with a price target of $35.

Here are today’s big post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: Phoenix Companies Inc. (NYSE: PNX) up more than 27%, at $1.73; Noranda Aluminum Holding Corp. (NYSE: NOR) is up more than 21%, at $10.44; hhgregg, Inc. (NYSE: HGG) up more than 16%, at $14.09; Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ: CECO) is down nearly -467%, at $8.38, a new 52-week low; Endeavor International Corp. (NYSE: END) is down nearly -14%, at $7.66; and Vonage Holding Corp. (NYSE: VG) is down about -15%, at $2.65.

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

Career Education Corp., in addition to posting an awful quarterly report, also got hit by the resignation of the company’s CEO. Shares are down more than -47%, at $8.38, to give the shares a new range of $8.68-$27.60.

Amyris Corp. (NASDAQ: AMRS) is down more than -20%, at $15.41, having posted a new 52-week low earlier to give the stock a new range of $15.21-$33.99. The company’s earnings report revealed an EPS loss of -$0.97, much worse than expected. Shares were downgraded by Robert Baird from ‘outperform’ to ‘neutral’.

Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND) is down more than -17%, at $53.01, in a 52-week range of $43.14-$96.13. The company’s board is reviewing how walnut growers are being paid and will delay the annual report into next year. The company’s deal to by Pringles snack foods from Proctor & Gamble (NYSE: PG) could be in jeopardy because the company planned to use stock to make the acquisition.

Sino-Global America Shipping, Ltd. (NASDAQ: SINO) is up more than 81%, at $3.05, in a 52-week range of $1.20-$9.16. The company has signed a memorandum of understanding with a South African firm to act as Sino’s agent in that country. In shipping these days, any positive signal is a rare treat.

Oxigene, Inc. (NASDAQ: OXGN) is up nearly 12%, at $1.69, in a 52-week range of $0.82-$6.38. The company has set its third-quarter earnings release for next week, and investors are expecting good news on the company’s drug development efforts.

Rentech, Inc. (AMEX: RTK) is up about 21%, at $1.95, a new 52-week high, and a new 52-week trading range of $0.72-$1.95. The company continues to get a boost from the IPO of its spin-off of Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P. (NYSE: RNF).

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

8:30 a.m. – Initial unemployment claims
10:00 a.m. – Factory orders
10:30 a.m. – EIA Natural gas report
4: 30 p.m. – Federal Reserve Balance Sheet

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AMRS, AWK, C, CAT, CECO, DE, DMND, END, HGG, JPM, NOR, OXGN, PG, PNX, RNF, RTK, SINO, VG, VLO

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ALGN, BIDU, BRCD, DMD, FSLR, HL, HGG, ITMN, LTD, MFN, NOK, PCX, STX, VPRT)

Administrator — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 12:48:24 +0000

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

Align Technology, Inc (NASDAQ: ALGN) Started as Neutral with $19 target at Credit Suisse.
Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) Cut to Buy from Strong Buy at S&P Equity Research (late-Tuesday).
Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Demand Media, Inc. (NYSE: DMD) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Cut to Sell at Ticonderoga.
Hecla Mining Company (NYSE: HL) named Value stock of the day at Zacks.
hhgregg, Inc. (NYSE: HGG) cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
InterMune, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITMN) Reiterated Buy with $44 target at Canaccord Genuity.
Limited Brands, Inc. (NYSE: LTD) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Minefinders Corp. (NYSE: MFN) named growth stock of the day at Zacks.
Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) Raised to Neutral at Nomura.
Patriot Coal Corporation (NYSE: PCX) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Vistaprint N.V. (NASDAQ: VPRT) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ALGN, BIDU, BRCD, DMD, FSLR, HGG, HL, ITMN, LTD, MFN, NOK, PCX, STX, VPRT

Short Seller Swarm: Highest Days To Cover (CADX, DMND, TSLA, OMEX, PACR, MNKD, WAVX, ENER, NTRI, ZIXI, MR, ZZ, RCI, MNI, HGG, AM, BPI, LTM)

Administrator — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:13:51 +0000

Many investors track the largest increase in short selling, but there is another crucial way to look at short interest: the days to cover often tells just how actively shorted a stock is, as does a large percentage of its float. More importantly, these often represent a longer-term bias by the trading community. We have tracked the NASDAQ and NYSE short interest data today to screen for companies with the highest days to cover ratios (all are over one months of trading volume). We also looked for a high percentage of its shares outstanding or its float to be in the short interest. Almost all of these also had an increase in the period from August 31 to September 15 settlement dates.

The NASDAQ stocks which fit this bill are as follows: Cadence Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CADX); Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND); Tesla Motors, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA); Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (NASDAQ: OMEX); Pacer International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PACR); MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ: MNKD); Wave Systems Corporation (NASDAQ: WAVX); Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENER); NutriSystem Inc. (NASDAQ: NTRI); and Zix Corporation (NASDAQ: ZIXI).

The NYSE stocks which fit this bill, except for one, are as follows: Mindray Medical International (NYSE: MR); Sealy Corporation (NYSE: ZZ); Rogers Communication, Inc. (NYSE: RCI); The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI); HHGregg, Inc. (NYSE: HGG); American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM); Bridgepoint Education, Inc. (NYSE: BPI); and Life Time Fitness (NYSE: LTM).

We only looked at companies with an average volume of more than 250,000 shares and have added some loose color on these if applicable.

Filed under: Short Interest, Trading Alert Tagged: AM, BPI, CADX, DMND, ENER, HGG, LTM, MNI, MNKD, MR, NTRI, OMEX, PACR, RCI, TSLA, WAVX, ZIXI, ZZ

Best Buy’s Weak Results… When Bad News Looks Good (BBY, RSH, HGG, CONN, WMT, AMZN)

Administrator — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:03:44 +0000

If you can’t dazzle them with your brilliance, then try baffling them with your footwork. That appears to be how Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is selling its weak second quarter earnings this morning.

The company reported diluted EPS of $0.47, compared with $0.60 in the same period a year ago and a consensus analysts’ estimate of $0.53. Revenue totaled $11.35 billion in the quarter, essentially flat with a year ago, and lower than the estimate of $11.52. This is a pretty woeful showing for a retailer that competes directly with such smaller companies as RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH), hhgregg, Inc. (NYSE: HGG), and Conns Inc. (NASDAQ: CONN).

Those much smaller companies aren’t Best Buy’s biggest problem. That comes from the massive players it really competes with: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), among others. Best Buy said that sales of tablets, eReaders, and appliances rose but that sales of televisions, game controllers, digital media devices, and physical media (blank CDs and DVDs) were lower and offset other gains.

Perhaps worse, the company’s sales of mobile phones fell -5%, but it wasn’t Best Buy’s fault. The company said the decline was “due to industry softness driven by the lack of significant new phone launches during the quarter” when compared to same period a year ago. The facts notwithstanding, Best Buy said that it “believes that it continued to grow share in mobile phones in the second quarter.” Whatever.

In order to get investors to believe that line, the company touted its buyback of $358 million worth of its stock during the quarter, bringing its total buyback for the year to $863 million. Best Buy expects to buy back $1.5 billion of its stock in the 2012 fiscal year, which the company says adds $0.20-$0.25 of “annual EPS benefit.”

Then in a fit of honesty, Best Buy notes that if you back out the buyback benefit, the company’s EPS range is $3.30-$3.55, unchanged since its original FY2012 forecast in March. Analysts were expecting full-year EPS of $3.48.

From a high of around $32/share in mid-June, Best Buy shares have fallen by about -25%. That’s the primary reason the stock is getting a little pre-market boost this morning — the results weren’t terrible and there’s plenty of room for the stock to go up. Of course with the bar set very low, lukewarm results don’t look so bad.

Best Buy’s shares are up about 0.75%, at $25.15, at 40 minutes before the market opens this morning. That tiny bump is not likely to last.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Consumer Electronics, Earnings, Retail Tagged: AMZN, BBY, CONN, HGG, RSH, WMT

Top Analyst Upgrades (ALL, AMT, AAPL, CCI, ETFC, HGG, KBH, MFE, PCG, PG, SBUX, TOL, VMW)

247wallst — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:10:46 +0000

These are this Friday morning’s top pre-market analyst upgrades and positive research calls from Wall Street affecting shares:

Allstate (ALL) Raised to Buy at Argus.
American Tower Corp. (AMT) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Apple (AAPL) Raised to Outperform at Macquarie.
Crown Castle International (CCI) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
E*TRADE Financial (ETFC) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Hhgregg (HGG) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
KB Home (KBH) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
McAfee (MFE) Started as Outperform at William Blair.
PG&E Corp. (PCG) Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Procter & Gamble (PG) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Starbucks (SBUX) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
Toll Brothers (TOL) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
VMware (VMW) Target raised to $32 from $23 at Auriga.

You can join our open email distribution list which goes out several times per week for top analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader alerts, IPO’s, key secondary offerings, guru investor data on Buffett and others, mergers, and more.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls, Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert Tagged: AAPL, ALL, AMT, CCI, ETFC, HGG, KBH, MFE, PCG, PG, SBUX, TOL, VMW

Secondary Offerings Come Back Fast (CEDC, HGG, EWBC, BMS, INTC, STSA, CVBF, RT)

247wallst — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:30:49 +0000

Now that markets are back up, we are starting to see many syndicate offerings come in. That is not a huge surprise, but the volume of companies is rather strong. We have seen priced offerings from Central European Distribution Corp. (NASDAQ: CEDC), hhgregg, Inc. (NYSE: HGG), and from East West Bancorp (NASDAQ: EWBC). We have also seen filings from Bemis Co., Inc. (NYSE: BMS), Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), Sterling Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: STSA), and CVB Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: CVBF). Ruby Tuesday Inc. (NYSE: RT) is also on deck with a 10 million share offering taht may come this week.

Central European Distribution Corp. (NASDAQ: CEDC) had an 8.35 million share secondary priced at $24.00 after closing at $25.43.

hhgregg, Inc. (NYSE: HGG) had a 3.5 million share secondary priced at $16.50, after closing at $17.06 yesterday.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ: EWBC) had a 11 million share Secondary price at $6.35 after closing at $6.72 yesterday.

Bemis Co., Inc. (NYSE: BMS) filed to sell 7.5 million shares.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) filed to sell $1.5 billion of 30-Year junior subordinated convertible debt.

Sterling Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: STSA) filed for a $500 million shelf registration, yet its market cap is only $167 million.

CVB Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: CVBF) filed to sell $135 million worth of common stock, and its market cap is $511 million.

Ruby Tuesday Inc. (NYSE: RT) is likely to sell 10 million shares that may come this week.

JON C. OGG
JULY 21, 2009

Posted in Secondary Offering Tagged: BMS, CEDC, CVBF, EWBC, HGG, INTC, RT, STSA

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (AIG, AU, AAPL, BLKB, CREE, GENZ, HGG, LL, RDS.A, WBD)

247wallst — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 06:28:26 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades and positive calls we are seeing this Tuesday morning:

American International Group (AIG) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Anglogold (AU) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Apple (AAPL) Started as Buy at UBS.
Blackbaud (BLKB) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Cree (CREE) Raised to Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
Genzyme (GENZ) Started as Buy at Banc of America.

Hhgregg (HGG) Started as Buy at KeyBanc.
Lumber Liquidators (LL) Started Aa Buy at KeyBanc.
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) Raised to Overweight at HSBC.
Will-Bill-Dan Foods ADR (WBD) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.

Jon C. Ogg
August 5, 2008

Top Pre-Market Stock News (January 7, 2008)

247wallst — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 08:32:09 +0000

Below is a snapshot of some of the key impact news affecting stocks in pre-market trading this Monday, January 7, 2008:

AllianceBernstein (AB) noted as a hidden gem in Barron’s cover story.
Answers Corp. (ANSW) announced a collaboration with Nokia for Series 40 and S60 mobile devices.
Avocet (AVCT) lowered guidance
Biogen-Idec (BIIB) and Elan (ELN) say that the safety data continues to support a favorable benefit-risk profile for TYSABRI.
Celgene Corp. (CELG) trading up 5% after guidance is in-line for 2007 and issued new guidance for 2008.
CNET (CNET) had a Jana Partners-led investor group take a 21% stake and try to oust the board of directors.
Diana Shipping (DSX) trading up almost 2% on positive Barron’s article over weekend.
8X8 Inc. (EGHT) introduced a free international mobile calling plan with its new Packet8 MobileTalk trial.
hhgregg (HGG) reaffirmed 2008 EPS guidance of $0.95 to $1.03 vs. $1.00 est.; s-s-s up 3%.
JA Solar (JASO) announced a 3 for 1 stock split.
Jefferies (JEF) issued earnings warning.
Krispy Kreme (KKD) announced it has elected a new CEO.
Microsoft (MSFT) said at "CES" it had 100 million licenses sold of Windows Vista; 17.7 million Xbox 360′s, 10 million Xbox live users; will have new content downloads.
Napster (NAPS) will sell music with less copyright protection as MP3 files.
Nice Systems (NICE) received multi-million dollar orders from 2 of the top-3 US banks for fraud alert.
Rogers Communications (RCI) raised annual dividend from $0.50 to $1.00 and put 2008 revenues $11.2 to $11.5 Billion versus $11.25 Billion estimates; announced share buyback.
Schnitzer Steel (SCHN) missed earnings and revenue targets; stock trading down 1% so far.
Sony (SNE) introduces new tri-recording video Camcorder at "CES".
TASER (TASR) unveils its new leopard print TASER C2 personal protection device at the 2008 International Consumer Electronic tradeshow in Las Vegas today.
Zumiez (ZUMZ) said December s-s-s was +3.9%, but guided lower; shares down over 1%.

Jon C. Ogg
January 7, 2007