24/7 Wall St. » HRC

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (ALU, WBMD, URBN, RL, AWK, LEN, SVU, SHIP, LEDS, SNX, JASO, YRCW, CROX, HL, HRC)

Paul Ausick — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:05:20 +0000

Equities opened modestly down this morning and the three major indexes have stayed within a few points of flat all day. The NASDAQ composite has remained in positive territory as the technology sector has benefited from a sharp buying trend in solar stocks. The EIA’s weekly petroleum report came in with a crude build of 5 million barrels, way above an expected gain of 1 million barrels. The report weighed on energy stocks since mid-morning. The euro has also been weaker today, adding a bit of push to equity buying. Crude oil is ending the day down, with WTI crude down about -1.3% at $100.92/barrel and Brent crude is down 0.64% at $112.55/barrel. Gold closed higher, at $1,640.50/ounce, after posting a four-week high earlier today.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than 13 points to 12,449.08 (-0.11%), the NASDAQ rose more than 8 points (0.31%) to 2,710.76, and the S&P 500 rose 0.03% or less than 1 point to 1,292.44.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Alcatel-Lucent, S.A. (NYSE: ALU) raised to ‘buy’ at Deutsche Bank; WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ: WBMD) cut to ‘market perform’ at Wells Fargo; Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) cut to ‘sell’ at Citigroup; Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL) cut to ‘market perform’ at Wells Fargo; and American Water Works Co. Inc. (NYSE: AWK) raised to ‘buy’ at Ladenburg Thalmann.

Earnings reports since markets closed yesterday have led to some price changes: Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN) is up 6.3% at $22.07 after posting a new 52-week high of $22.53 earlier today; Supervalu Inc. (NYSE: SVU) is down nearly -13% at $7.33; Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHIP) is up more than 5.5% at $2.65; SemiLEDS Corp. (NASDAQ: LEDS) is more than 5% at $3.69; and Synnex Corp. (NYSE: SNX) is up more than 8% at $34.80.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) is up more than 37% at $1.97. The Chinese solar maker is among several Chinese solar companies getting a boost today from news that solar panel prices appear to be stabilizing. We have more coverage here.

YRC Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCW) is up nearly 16% at $11.38. The transportation company has said it will auction 62 of its surplus US sites.

Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) is up more than 17% at $18.73. The funny-shoe company has estimated that sales in the current fiscal year will top $1 billion for the first time.

Hecla Mining Co. (NYSE: HL) is down about -22% at $4.55, after posting a new 52-week low of $4.25 earlier today. The silver miner has lowered its production estimate due to a forced closure of a shaft at its Nevada mine.

Hill-Rom Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HRC) is down nearly -12% at $30.45. The medical equipment maker and services provider lowered fourth-quarter and full-year guidance last night.

Stay tuned for Thursday. Here are the noteworthy events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – Initial unemployment benefits claims report
8:30 a.m. – Census Bureau retail sales report
10:00 a.m. – Census Bureau business inventories report
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas status report
1:00 p.m. – 30-year bond auction
2:00 p.m. – US Treasury budget
4:30 p.m. – Federal Reserve balance sheet

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close, The Day Tagged: ALU, AWK, CROX, HL, HRC, JASO, LEDS, LEN, RL, SHIP, SNX, SVU, URBN, WBMD, YRCW

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (MO, AMZN, BLK, C, EBAY, GOOG, HANS, HDB, HNZ, HRC, NFLX, NOK, RAD, SLM, SYKE, TIF, WAG, YHOO)

Administrator — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 12:03:47 +0000

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

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO) Reiterated Buy and Raised target to $30 at BofA/ML.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Started as Equal Weight at Barclays.
BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) Started as Outperform at RBC.
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) Started as Equal Weight at Barclays.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Started as Overweight at Barclays.
Hansen Natural Corporation (NASDAQ: HANS) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
HDFC Bank Ltd. (NYSE: HDB) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
HJ Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: HRC) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Started as Overweight at Barclays.
Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs; Cut to Hold at Canaccord Genuity.
Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) Started as Neutral at UBS.
SLM Corporation (NYSE: SLM) Raised to Outperform at Bull of the Day at Zacks.
SYKES Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ: SYKE) Reiterated Strong Buy as Value at Zacks.
Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) Started as Buy at UBS.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) Started as Equal Weight 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: AMZN, BLK, C, EBAY, GOOG, HANS, HDB, HNZ, HRC, MO, NFLX, NOK, RAD, SLM, SYKE, TIF, WAG, YHOO

52-Week Low Club (ARTC, CORL, GEOY, HPGP, HLND, HRC, PDLI, SNN, TTWO)

247wallst — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:01:00 +0000

There are plenty of 52-week lows out there for the picking. These are some of the major lows we saw today which we have seen. Some are on specific news, and some are just on continued selling. ArthroCare Corporation (NASDAQ: ARTC), Corel Corp. (NASDAQ: CORL), GeoEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOY), Hiland Holdings GP, LP (NASDAQ: HPGP) and Hiland Partners, LP (NASDAQ: HLND), Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: HRC), PDL BioPharma Inc. (NASDAQ: PDLI), Smith & Nephew (NYSE: SNN), and Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO) are among today’s burnt stocks.

Here are some brief explanations on each stock:

ArthroCare Corporation (NASDAQ: ARTC) was down over 50% and that prior$11.90 low may be a figure for the history books now. It expandedrestatements of financial statements and withdrew previous adjustments;and it disclosed subpoenas for production of documents. Just whatevery investor wants to hear.
Corel Corp. (NASDAQ: CORL) broke under its old $3.01 lows, down about70% from highs. Too bad that old merger deal never worked.
GeoEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOY) fell another 5%. Satellite imagerycontracts may still be lucrative, but supporting the business is not acheap endeavor.
Hiland Holdings GP, LP (NASDAQ: HPGP) and Hiland Partners, LP (NASDAQ:HLND) both blew through prior lows. Wachovia cut it, seems not allMLP’s are created equally.
Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: HRC) put in a new 52-week low. So muchfor medical products being recession-proof, so much for that break-upbeing a great one.
PDL BioPharma Inc. (NASDAQ: PDLI) is spinning off its biotech unit andshares were down over 10% today as the company is being booted out ofthe S&P Mid-Cap 400 Index. This one’s nickname is "Pidly" as theticker acronym. Looks like the nickname may be the surname.
Smith & Nephew (NYSE: SNN)… so much for the knee and hipreplacements trends. Oh well, other medical products have been bitingthe dust on this list of lows as well.
Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO) fell again. That warning the otherday was just brutal. Signing the Rockstar team is only worth somestability it seems. Unfortunately, because of the magnitude of thedrop and because of actual GAAP LOSSES this only looks cheap becauseits stock is off so much.

Jon C. Ogg
December 19, 2008

Posted in HI/LOW, Trading Alert Tagged: ARTC, CORL, GEOY, HLND, HPGP, HRC, PDLI, SNN, TTWO

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (AGN, SCOR, BOOM, EQ, GPS, HRC, JWN, MORN, PCLN, RSH)

247wallst — Fri, 02 May 2008 06:55:41 +0000

These are ten of the analyst calls we see impacting shares this Friday morning:

Allergan (NYSE: AGN) cut to Hold at Jefferies.
ComScore (NASDAQ: SCOR) raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Dynamic Materials (NASDAQ: BOOM) cut to Neutral at JP Morgan.
Embarq (NYSE: EQ) raised to buy at Deutsche Bank.
Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) cut to Neutral at Banc of America.
Hill-rom (NYSE: HRC) started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Morningstar (NASDAQ: MORN) raised to Outperform at Keefe Bruyette
Priceline.com (NASDAQ: PCLN) cut to Hold at Citigroup.
RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) raised to Buy at Banc of America.

Jon C. Ogg
May 2, 2008