24/7 Wall St. » HUN

24/7 Wall St. Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades of the Week (MO, ANGI, AAPL, CIT, GS, GMCR, HUN, KKD, LULU, NOK, SHLD, URBN, VZ, WSM, HOGS)

Administrator — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 13:35:49 +0000

This was the first week after the holidays and many analyst calls were made this week with updated outlooks for 2012. 24/7 Wall St. saw many influential analyst calls this week with either long term ramifications or which caused big moves in the underlying stocks.

We have covered this in more detailed summaries below, but the following included the top stock upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in this last week: Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO); Angie’s List, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI); Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL); CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT); Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS); Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR); Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN); Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. (NYSE: KKD); Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU); Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK); Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD); Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN); Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ); Williams-Sonoma Inc. (NYSE: WSM); and Zhongpin, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOGS).

We have given a summary and notes on each below.

Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) could be in for a 15% drop now that shares became overvalued per the Barron’s cover story to kick off 2012 and Davenport downgraded the stock also.

Angie’s List, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI) had a rough week after its quiet period ended from its late 2011 IPO. The stock closed out 2011 at $16.10 and ended the week down at $13.23 for a loss of about 18%. Analyst initiation summary as follows:

Neutral with $18 target at BofA/ML;
Sector Perform with $17 target at RBC;
Perform with $16 target at Oppenheimer;
Buy with $22 target at ThinkEquity;
Buy with $21 target at Stifel Nicolaus;
Buy with $19 target at Janney Capital Markets.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) may have just been a reiterated call, but this was the $560 price target call from Canaccord Genuity. Apple’s price target was also lowered to $513 from $530 at Morgan Keegan.

CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) was noted as a “if, then” possible takeover candidate in a SunTrust Robinson Humphrey call this week that is frankly hard to agree with.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) was among the banking sector downgrades this week, although shares still managed to close on a positive note if you just compare the price to the prior Friday. Meredith Whitney, Wells Fargo, and Credit Suisse all gave negative calls with downgrades or lower sales and earnings.

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Research, The Week, Trading Alert Tagged: AAPL, ANGI, CIT, GMCR, GS, HOGS, HUN, KKD, LULU, MO, NOK, SHLD, URBN, VZ, WSM

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AGCO, APOL, BSX, CECO, DNDN, FDX, GS, HUN, ITW, INTC, KSS, SNDK, AMTD, TRV, UPS, URBN, VOD, HOGS)

Administrator — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:19:44 +0000

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

AGCO Corporation (NYSE: AGCO) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) Reiterated Outperform and Raised Target to $60 at Credit Suisse.
Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) Maintained Hold but lowered estimates at Argus.
Career Education Corporation (NASDAQ: CECO) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) Reiterated Neutral with $10 target at Baird.
FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) Cut to Market Perform by Wells Fargo.
Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN) named as Value Stock of the Day at Zacks.
Illinois Tool Works. Inc. (NYSE: ITW) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Cut to Neutral at Stern Agee.
Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE: KSS) Cut to Hold at Argus.
SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) Raised to Buy at Stern Agee.
TD AMERITRADE Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: AMTD) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TRV) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE: UPS) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) Started as Underperform and named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Vodafone Group PLC (NYSE: VOD) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Zhongpin, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOGS) Started as outperform at Oppenheimer.

If you enjoyed this morning’s Wall Street research notes, you can sign up to receive these directly in your inbox each morning by joining our free email list in the box below. We also include major movers, key stock calls, news on Warren Buffett and other gurus, as well as special exclusive feature stories.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AGCO, AMTD, APOL, BSX, CECO, DNDN, FDX, GS, HOGS, HUN, INTC, ITW, KSS, SNDK, TRV, UPS, URBN, VOD

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AMAT, CAR, BMY, BRCM, CTRN, CL, ENB, HUN, LRCX, MU, PIR, RENN, TEF)

Administrator — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 12:19:06 +0000

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

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Avis Budget Group (NYSE: CAR) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) Raised to Outperform at William Blair.
Citi Trends, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTRN) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) Added to Focus 1 List at BofA/ML.
Enbridge Inc. (NYSE: ENB) Started as Outperform at Scotia.
Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN) Reinstated as Neutral at BofA/ML.
Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ: LRCX) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Pier 1 Imports, Inc. (NYSE: PIR) Raised to Buy at KeyBanc.
Renren Inc. (NYSE: RENN) Started as Underperform at Macquarie.
Telefonica, S.A. (NYSE: TEF) Raised to Buy at UBS.

See last week’s top analyst calls here.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AMAT, BMY, BRCM, CAR, CL, CTRN, ENB, HUN, LRCX, MU, PIR, RENN, TEF

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (MTGE, AMAT, BX, BRCM, DOW, DD, FITB, GNW, GS, HUN, JPM, LYB, M, MCD, SPWRA, TWI, VRSN)

Administrator — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:12:53 +0000

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

American Capital Mortgage Investment Corp. (NASDAQ: MTGE) Started as Hold at Citigroup; Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) Raised to Strong Buy at S&P Equity Research (late Monday call).
The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) Started as Buy at Ticonderoga.
Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCM) Reiterated Buy with $46 target at Argus.
Dow CHemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
EI DuPont de Nemours & Co. (NYSE: DD) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) Raised to Outperform at RBC.
Genworth Financial (NYSE: GNW) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) Started as Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
LyondellBasell Industries NV (NYSE: LYB) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE: M) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) Cut estimates but maintained Outperform at Credit Suisse.
SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWRA) Raised to Buy at Auriga.
Titan International Inc. (NYSE: TWI) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.
VeriSign Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) Raised to Buy at S&P Equity Research (late Monday call).

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AMAT, BRCM, BX, DD, DOW, FITB, GNW, GS, HUN, JPM, LYB, M, MCD, MTGE, SPWRA, TWI, VRSN

CEOs Buying Their Own Companies At A Discount (NLY, CHTR, D, EQY, GBX, HUN, LEAP, LGND, MBRG, MS, TIE, WIN)

Administrator — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 19:49:46 +0000

Investors couldn’t have missed seeing the recent waves of new corporate share buyback plans. What they may have not noticed as clearly is the increasing trend in “legal insider trading” — when CEOs and corporate insiders are buying stock in the open market — now that shares have come so far off the highs. 24/7 Wall St has tracked some of the key insider trades in recent days, and the numbers are impressive.

Insiders may sell shares for a myriad of reasons that have nothing to do with the underlying fundamentals of a company. But when insiders buy shares of the company in the open market, it is almost certainly because they think the shares are undervalued or will rise in the future.

We therefore ignored the large acquisitions by a holding company or an activist. We aimed to identify the top insiders who bought shares in the open market, taking the action as a statement they think shares are cheap, or at least oversold. Some of these CEOs and Officers are already up huge on their purchases. Maybe they are on to something and understand how their companies will fare in this economy better than what overall market panic might indicate.

Companies Whose Own CEOs Are Now Buying:

Titanium Metals Corporation’s (NYSE: TIE) chairman Harold Simmons grabbed his checkbook to buy shares. Simmons spent some $8.2 million to buy 600,000 shares of common stock at a volume-weighted average price (VWAP) of $13.6492. Simmons owns millions of shares with his spouse and via other entities under his control. Other officer and insider purchases were recorded as well in recent days. Shares are back up to $14.85, and the 52-week range here is $13.80 to $22.93. TIE was an $18 stock as recently as August 2.

Equity One Inc. (NYSE: EQY) is a community shopping center REIT, and the Chairman, Chaim Katzman, has spent another $5.5 million or so on multiple days at multiple prices to buy shares. One day alone was a 215,168 share buy at a VWAP of $17.40, and other prices were below $17.00. Katzman now holds more than 52 million shares, and the price is back up above $17.50. The 52-week range is $15.07 to $20.27, and the REIT has a current dividend north of 5%. Keep in mind that the stock traded around $20 as recently as July 22.

Amphenol Corpration’s (NYSE: APH) chairman Martin Loeffler spent $4.99 million buying 115,300 shares of the cabling company on August 5 at a VWAP of $43.31. Shares are already back up to $46.75, and the 52-week trading range was $39.61 to $59.11. It is interesting to know that insiders were selling shares early in 2011 at prices closer to $55.00. The Chairman must think Amphenol has sold off too much.

Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) has been pounded of late, but chairman of the board Mark Rachesky bought shares under the “MHR” entities, where he effectively raised his stake by another 166,000 shares bought at a price of $7.1434 (VWAP), and took the stake to 25.9%. He previously purchased 500,000 shares at $6.46 for some $3.22 million. Shares are now at $7.65, and the 52-week range is $5.78 to $17.66. What matters here is that LEAP was a $10.00 stock as recently as August 3 and a $15.00 stock as recently as July 22 before the huge selling wave hit. Dr. Rachesky is the co-founder and president of MHR Fund Management LLC, which is an investment manager of various private investment funds.

Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN) is a former buyout target that did not get acquired. It turns out the Huntsman family sees value here: Officers Peter Huntsman bought 100,000 shares at $11.37 for over $1.1 million, and Jon Huntsman bought 200,000 shares at $11.48 per share for proceeds of $2,296,000.00. Shares of this $3.3 billion chemical company are already back up at $13.93, and the 52-week trading range is $8.47 to $21.52.

Morgan Stanley’s (NYSE: MS) CEO James Gorman last week showed his conviction and confidence in the company … albeit a bit too early. Gorman spent more than $2 million in open market transactions for 100,000 shares at VWAP of $20.6207. The shares were purchased in multiple transactions at prices ranging from $20.555 to $20.73, and the date of the transaction is August 4. Morgan Stanley shares fell below $16.50 at the peak of the selling panic this week, but the stock is back up to $17.50. Gorman was making a statement, but he jumped in a bit too early — before the U.S. downgrade and before the E.U. bank mess.

Greenbrier Companies Inc. (NYSE: GBX) saw waves of insider buying from its president & CEO William Furman this week. He bought roughly 100,000 shares of stock at prices of $12.92 to $15.00. He now holds about 1.3 million shares. Greenbrier manufactures railroad car equipment as well as marine barges. The 52-week trading range is $9.10 to $30.38.

Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) is freshly under a share buyback plan now that it has emerged from Chapter 11. CFO Christopher Winfrey purchased some 25,000 shares at $46.02 for a total of about $1.15 million. Shares are back up to $47.50, and the 52-week trading range is $31.36 to $61.15. With the CFO buying shares as well as a $200 million share buyback plan, it seems the company may actually believe in its own worth.

Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE: NLY) is going to benefit from the new perpetually low rates courtesy of Ben Bernanke and for the fact that the debt ceiling issue is behind us. Kevin Keyes, chief strategic officer and head of capital markets, has decided that Annaly will be able to keep borrowing at next to nothing rates, and buying mortgage products so that the REIT can pay out 90% of its income for massive yields. He spent more than $850,000, buying 50,000 shares on August 8 at $17.13 VWAP. With this purchase, he doubled his stake in the company. Shares are back up to almost $18, and the 52-week trading range is $14.05 to $18.79. NLY one has a double-digit dividend yield at the current payout.

Dominion Resources, Inc. (NYSE: D), a producer and transporter of power, had a buy in window open up when five insiders acquired more than 15,000 shares in direct market purchases. The insiders included the CEO and CFO as well as as directors. They bought at share prices of $46.11 to $48.21. Shares are back up to $48.00, and the 52-week range is $41.13 to $50.45. Keep in mind that Dominion is a $27 billion company.

Windstream Corporation (NASDAQ: WIN), the rural telecommunications services provider acquiring Paetec Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: PAET), has seen president & CEO Jeffery Gardner buy 17,800 shares along with VP Grant Raney. Chairman Dennis Foster bought 10,000 shares as well. The various purchases were a mix of ‘non open market’ and direct purchases at prices between $11.00 and $11.50. These same insiders had also made indirect and direct purchases of shares in May and June at prices closer to $13.00. What is interesting is that these insiders are growing shares during the midst of an acquisition of broadband provider Paetec for more than $700 million.

Middleburg Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: MBRG) is interesting, even if it might not seem the biggest buy in the world. Ousted Berkshire Hathaway executive David Sokol spent about $260,000 to buy 8,317 more shares of Middleburg at $14.56, and another 11,000 shares at $14.38. Sokol now has over 1.4 million shares, direct and indirect, and he has been thought of as a buyer of the banking and financial services company. MBRG trades only about 10,000 shares a day, and has a $101 million market cap. Its 52-week trading range is $13.33 to $19.00.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: LGND) may seem like a light purchase on the surface, but the purchase is after a period of real weakness, when shares fell from $13.50 to $11 before the recent market stabilization. Todd Davis, a director, bought 15,000 shares at a VWAP price of $10.90 in multiple transactions at prices ranging from $10.668 to $11.239. The transaction doubled his direct ownership stake of 29,201 shares. Another director, Jason Aryeh, bought 2,000 shares at $10.57, and another director, Sunil Patel, bought 5,000 shares at a VWAP of $10.74. The transaction was after earnings. The 52-week trading range of $8.14 to $14.80. Ligand also trades only about 133,000 shares a day, so this stood out more than many investors might have given it credit for.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Insider Activity, Shareholder Issues, Stock Buybacks Tagged: CHTR, D, EQY, GBX, HUN, LEAP, LGND, MBRG, MS, NLY, TIE, WIN

The 25 Companies Spending Billions On Buybacks (ACE, AKAM, ABC, AOL, AVT, CBOE, CHTR, CSCO, COV, DISCA, DLB, XOM, CVX, HRS, HUN, JASO, JAH, NWSA, RDC, LUV, STJ, BSX, MSI, V, HPQ)

Administrator — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:56:25 +0000

It is no secret that the market volatility has many investors rattled. What is very counter-intuitive is that many companies are continuing with most or all of their investor friendly plans regardless of the market. That means keeping balance sheets strong, but it also means buying back stock and paying out dividends. In fact, some companies have signaled that they just do not believe the current mayhem will turn into a new 2008 or 2009 situation.

The fresh buybacks we have featured are only the big buybacks which are large in size or large in percentages of the market capitalization of the underlying companies. The best buyback announcements in August have come from the following: Ace Ltd. (NYSE: ACE); Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM); AmerisourceBergen Corporation (NYSE: ABC); AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL); Avnet Inc. (NYSE: AVT); CBOE Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOE); Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR); Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO); Covidien plc (NYSE: COV); Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA); Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE: DLB); Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM); Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX); Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS); Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN); JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO); Jarden Corporation (NYSE: JAH); News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA); Rowan Companies, Inc. (NYSE: RDC); Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV); and St. Jude Medical Inc. (NYSE: STJ).

We also saw some large and interesting buybacks in the last week of July from the likes of Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX); Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MSI); Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V); and Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ).

The companies are using their balance sheets to take advantage of distressed situations. Ultimately, this could even signal M&A opportunities arising. As a reminder, companies are not under any obligation to spend a single dollar to repurchase stocks. These buybacks actually look real, and many have a solid history of buying back shares. Who needs activist investors when you see these billions and billions being made available to purchase stock.

Here are the companies buying billions in their own stock.

Filed under: Accounting, Activist Investor, Business Services, Compensation, Corporate Governance, Dividend, Economy, Editor's Picks, Insider Activity, Mergers and Buy Outs, Private Equity, Shareholder Issues, Value Investing Tagged: ABC, ACE, AKAM, AOL, AVT, BSX, CBOE, CHTR, COV, CSCO, CVX, DISCA, DLB, HPQ, HRS, HUN, JAH, JASO, LUV, MSI, NWSA, RDC, STJ, V, XOM

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AIXG, BMY, DKS, HEV, GNC, HMY, HBAN, HUN, JASO, JNJ, NTAP, NYB, QIHU, SBUX, UTI, WMB)

Administrator — Wed, 11 May 2011 12:29:28 +0000

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

Aixtron SE (NASDAQ: AIXG) Cut to Sell at Canaccord Genuity.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Ener1, Inc. (NASDAQ: HEV) Cut to Sell at Wunderlich.
GNC Holdings Inc. (NYSE: GNC) Started as Market Perform at BMO; Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs; Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley; Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse; Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd. (NYSE: HMY) Raised to Neutral at HSBC.
Huntington Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: HBAN) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Huntsman Chemicals Corp (NYSE: HUN) Maintained Strong Buy and Value at Zacks.
JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) Raised to Outperform at RBC.
New York Community Bancorp (NYSE: NYB) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. A (NYSE: QIHU) Started as Buy at Citigroup (late-Tuesday).
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) Reiterated Buy and $42 target at Argus.
Universal Technical Institute (NYSE: UTI) maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
The Williams Companies (NYSE: WMB) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day 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: AIXG, BMY, DKS, GNC, HBAN, HEV, HMY, HUN, JASO, JNJ, NTAP, NYB, QIHU, SBUX, UTI, WMB

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (COP, GPI, HUN, IPG, MRO, MUR, OSG, PM, PCG)

Administrator — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 12:31:45 +0000

The key analyst calls are a little light this Monday morning ahead of the flurry of earnings. These are some of this Monday’s key analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) Started as Neutral at JPMorgan.
Group 1 Automotive Inc. (NYSE: GPI) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Murphy Oil Corp. (NYSE: MUR) Started as Underweight at JPMorgan.
Overseas Shipholding Group (NYSE: OSG) Cut to Hold at Cantor Fitzgerald.
Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
PG&E Corp. (NYSE: PCG) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: COP, GPI, HUN, IPG, MRO, MUR, OSG, PCG, PM

The Unusual Suspects (AMZN, AAPL, COST, FTR, HUN, SOMX, S, TTWO, WFC, BAC, BRK-A, YHOO)

247wallst — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 15:41:23 +0000

This was a wild week, and perhaps a disappointment that the news did not propel stocks even higher. There were many key movers though, and we have a very active panel of very active and widely held shares for traders and investors to keep an eagle eye on in the coming week. This coming week’s unusual suspects are Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST), Frontier Communications Corp (NYSE: FTR), Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN), Somaxon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SOMX), Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S), Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A), and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO).

We have given a full run down on each company and links to even more detailed data where appropriate.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) may have finally crossed a threshold of caution versus exuberance from investors. This week we outlined some issues that run against the overly bullish call from Jim Cramer with his $214 price target, mainly that he left no room for any missteps or any other issues out there. After the Cramer call, JMP Securities began coverage with a “Market Perform” rating. At a minimum Cramer just caught a near-term top because in 48 hours shares closed down over $5.00 with a 2-day losing streak after shares had been putting in close to a $1.00 gain on average per day since the start of November. There are also added rumors that it may make a $3 billion acquisition of Vente-Privee in fashion and eCommerce.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is one of the unusual suspects. What is getting interesting here is that a rather influential technician gave an audio/video presentation yesterday calling for an exit on the long-side trade that they have been in for months and months. We looked further into this and it turns out that Apple is right at the point that it is at least exiting the last step of that long-term uptrend that has been in place. In fact, after Adam Hewison’s call, this closed under the 50-day moving average for the first time in over 6-months. Options trading on Friday also reached the point that the closest out of the money call and put options traded what is effectively the entire open interest that was there. Friday was also the most volatile day in over a month with almost a 5% intra-day price band from high to low. And now there are reports it is buying Lala for cloud-based music.

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) will be the big retail earnings to watch this week with earnings due this coming Thursday. The company posted a gain of 6% in same store sales for November, but Thomson Reuters had estimates of about 8%. The real problem was that domestic same store sales were up only 2%. Still this was a gain and it may lend credibility that the earnings could post an upside to the $0.60 EPS and $17.2 billion expected from Thomson Reuters. The big box retailer will have to probably do even better than its most recent upside surprise on earnings though compared to estimates for the stock to run up. Shares only lost about 1% this last week and at $59.19 they are only 4% under the $61.25 high (Nov. 16) of the last 52-weeks.

Frontier Communications Corp (NYSE: FTR) had astronomically unusual trading volume on Friday. Shares closed up 1% at $8.46 but on over 11.8 million shares. That was on top of 8.4 million on Thursday and on top of 6 million shares on each Wednesday and Tuesday. Average volume had been 3 million shares before this week’s interest. Friday’s stock options trading was 16,684 contracts of the DEC $7.50 CALLS versus an open interest of only 1,128 contracts. But the huge options trade was 144,000 of the JAN-2010 $7.50 CALLS versus a prior open interest of 9,576 contracts. Gee, what do you think that’s all about.

Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN) may be back in play and it has seen 5 days of consecutive run-ups. We noted on Thursday how options activity was spiking on buyout rumors with the stock. It turns out that options were again active on Friday. Private equity tried to acquire this for $28.00 back in the M&A day, so this might make sense as DuPont (NYSE: DD) was one the rumored acquirer. If there is no deal or continued talk of a deal on Monday, then Huntsman might have to give back some of the 15% gain it saw this last week.

Somaxon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SOMX) did not, nor did the FDA, post whether or not Silenor was approved for insomnia. We and other websites had earmarked a December 4 deadline for the FDA. A search over Somaxon site, the FDA site, and message boards… we saw nothing of any approval or rejection. Be advised if this is approved or given a solid nod… Somaxon has an effective shelf registration that would allow it to raise up to $150 million in mixed securities sales.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) has two things going for it. First and foremost Barron’s gave this a thumbs up over the weekend saying it is starting to hit its stride after past missteps and shares could be 50% undervalued. We also noted yesterday that the iPCS deal closure effectively formally and permanently eliminates its lawsuits over competing against affiliates. It said it bought 700,000 subscribers, but it effectively bought hundreds of millions of dollars of open-ended liabilities had that suit gone against it in the manner we thought it would go. Our take: look for a 2% pop on Monday morning if no new data comes out between now and Monday morning.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) may have highlighted its own woes and the woes of the video game sector. But we think this might be at least a start for some of the longer-term investors to get to look at some of the top video game stocks if they have a very long-term outlook without the goal of trying to make a quick buck in the short term.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) could be the next TARP re-payer after Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) made its TARP sale that went so well according to discussions we have had with traders. BofA’s success gave a blueprint and this was able to be closed much faster, more successfully, and without any damage to the share price from major dilution that this actually makes sense. The caveat here is that Wells Fargo has not been as public over compensation and over the woes of the public criticism, but it also had a $25 billion TARP sum rather than $45 billion from BofA. The market caps were close enough before the effects of the new Bank of America shares issued, that this would be even less dilutive to Wells Fargo. The bank could probably even get Uncle Warren Buffett to get Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) to step in to assist as an investor on top of its already-large holdings in Wells Fargo. Imagine entering 2010 without Uncle Sam up your… well in your back pocket.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) may have gotten the question mark taken off its shares. The company announced after the close on Friday that it has “finalized and executed” its definitive Search and Advertising Services and Sales Agreement and License Agreement with Microsoft. While most agreed this was coming, that clears up the last hurdles. Shares rose marginally after-hours, but all things being equal and barring no new data between now and Monday we’d be looking for a gain of close to 1% Monday morning.

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JON C. OGG

Posted in Banking, Buffett, Calendar, Charts, Consumer Electronics, Cramer, Cult Stock, Editor's Picks, Internet, Mergers and Buy Outs, Options, Private Equity, Regulation, Rumors, Secondary Offering, Shareholder Issues, Technical Analysis, Technology Companies, Telecom, Trading Alert, Video Games Tagged: AAPL, AMZN, BAC, BRK-A, COST, FTR, HUN, S, SOMX, TTWO, WFC, YHOO

Today’s Best Market Rumors (12/3/2009) (S)(HUN)(GE)(AAPL)(F)(TWX)

247wallst — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:44:06 +0000

Updated throughout the day.

Updated 1.17 PM EST: Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) may sign up Sprint (NYSE:S) and T-Mobile to market the iPhone in the US (Barron’s)

Updated 11.29 PM EST: Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) may be a takeover target for DuPont (NYSE:DD) (VSInvestor)

Commercial real estate will ruin bank earnings next year (The Street)

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) convinced GE (NYSE:GE) to sell a majority of NBCU in a series of secret meetings (NY Times)

Pension funds are pulling out of stocks and putting as much as $40 billion into corporate bonds (Bloomberg)

The SEC may increase its investigations of hedge funds (NYTimes).

A group including two former Ford (NYSE:F) executives is trying to buy Volvo. (WSJ)

Siemens (NYSE:SI) may sell its hearing aid unit for $3 billion (Bloomberg)

The Time, Inc unit of Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) is working on content for the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) tablet PC (MacRumors)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted in Rumors Tagged: AAPL, CMCSA, DD, F, GE, HUN, S, SI, TWX