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Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (CTRN, CSTR, FNFG, IBKR, LNKD, MFRM, NWS.A, UTX)

Administrator — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:28:26 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Thursday morning. The number of research calls is dropping significantly and this week is usually very light in research calls as many departments are on skeleton crews this week.

Citi Trends, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTRN) maintained Underperform and named Bear of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.

Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSTR) named as the value stock of the day at Zacks Investment Research.

First Niagara Financial Group Inc. (NASDAQ: FNFG) Started as Buy at Jefferies.

Interactive Brokers Group (NASDAQ: IBKR) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.

LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) Started as Buy at Collins Stewart.

Mattress Firm Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: MFRM) Started as Outperform at William Blair.

News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS.A) Raised to the Top Pick List at RBC Capital Markets.

United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX) Cut to Hold from Buy at Argus.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: CSTR, CTRN, FNFG, IBKR, LNKD, MFRM, NWS-A, UTX

Media Digest (10/31/2011) Reuters, WSJ, FT, Bloomberg

247wallst — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 10:08:43 +0000

Japan acts to lower the yen before the upcoming G20 meeting. (Reuters)

Beacon Power (NASDAQ: BCON), backed by U.S. funds, goes bankrupt. (Reuters)

Young and well-educated Greeks begin to leave the country. (Reuters)

Panasonic (NYSE: PC) cuts its annual earnings forecast. (Reuters)

MF Global’s (NYSE: MF) holding company may go bankrupt, with some assets sold to Interactive Brokers Group (NASDAQ: IBKR). (Reuters)

Many EU-based businesses have cut earnings forecasts as trouble in the region hurts the economy. (WSJ)

The U.S. may not sell more AIG (NYSE: AIG) stock until the share price rises. (WSJ)

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) will not charge debit card fees similar to Bank of America’s (NYSE: BAC). (WSJ)

Gamestop (NYSE: GME) to sell PCs. (WSJ)

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has a new product to compete with Groupon. (WSJ)

Natural gas shale drilling in Pennsylvania prompts fight over who owns rights and land. (WSJ)

Sentier Research reports that American’s do not feel the recession is over. (WSJ)

Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) increases marketing messages to women. (WSJ)

Porsche posts strong earnings. (WSJ)

Aol (NYSE: AOL) wants to catch the balance of mobile portal products creators. (WSJ)

Honeywell (NYSE: HON) throws off substantial cash but is unlikely to add new employees. (WSJ)

Federal Reserve members are at odds about whether the central bank should do more to help the economy. (WSJ)

Cable companies continue to block use of web TV. (WSJ)

Nebraska may try to block the construction of a huge pipeline that would run from Canada to the southern U.S. (WSJ)

Large corporations to lobby the G20 for more unity on economic issues. (FT)

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will begin to use Xbox Kinect to deliver more than game services. New software may create medical devices. (FT)

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says he can set budget cuts to balance Italy’s books and that new elections are not necessary. (Bloomberg)

Honda’s (NYSE: HMC) numbers miss forecasts and it eliminates earnings estimates. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Filed under: Press Digest Tagged: AIG, AOL, BAC, BCON, GME, GOOG, HMC, HOG, HON, IBKR, MF, MSFT, PC, WFC

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (BHI, BEAM, BA, CSCO, ECL, FXCM, GPS, GE, HPQ, IBM, IBKR, ITT, KMP, PAA, TAL, TER)

Administrator — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 12:31:47 +0000

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

Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) Cut to Market Perform at BMO.
Beam Inc. (NYSE: BEAM) Started as Hold at Argus.
Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Started as Buy at IS Group.
Ecolab Inc. (NYSE: ECL) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
FXCM Inc. (NYSE: FXCM) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) Started as Overweight at Barclays.
Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) Started as Buy at ISI Group.
International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM) Started as Outperform at Macquarie.
Interactive Brokers Group (NASDAQ: IBKR) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
ITT Corporation (NYSE: ITT) Started as Equal-Weight at Barclays.
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE: KMP) Started as Neutral at JPMorgan.
Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE: PAA) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
TAL International Group, Inc. (NYSE: TAL) named Value stock of the day at Zacks.
Teradyne, Inc. (NYSE: TER) lowered target to $12 as Bear of the Day at Zacks.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: BA, BEAM, BHI, CSCO, ECL, FXCM, GE, GPS, HPQ, IBKR, IBM, ITT, KMP, PAA, TAL, TER

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ADS, BSBR, BGFV, C, COST, DK, FSLR, IBKR, JDSU, JNJ, OKE, ORCL, PEP, PCLN, SPR, SBUX, V)

Administrator — Fri, 06 May 2011 12:17:44 +0000

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

Alliance Data Systems Corporation (NYSE: ADS) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Banco Santander (Brasil) S.A. (NYSE: BSBR) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Big Five Sporting Goods (NASDAQ: BGFV) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $88 at Argus.
Delek US Holdings Inc. (NYSE: DK) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Reiterated Buy with $180 target at Argus.
Interactive Brokers Group (NASDAQ: IBKR) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ: JDSU) Raised to Buy at Argus.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) Maintained Neutral at Zacks.
ONEOK Inc. (NYSE: OKE) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL) Reiterated Outperform and $42 target at Credit Suisse.
Pepsico, Inc. (NYSE: PEP) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs; raised estimates and target at BofA/ML.
Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc (NYSE: SPR) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) Reiterated Outperform and $44 target at Credit Suisse.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) Reiterated Underperform with $70 target 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: Analyst Calls Tagged: ADS, BGFV, BSBR, C, COST, DK, FSLR, IBKR, JDSU, JNJ, OKE, ORCL, PCLN, PEP, SBUX, SPR, V

The M&A Daily: Why Specialty Platforms Matter To Brokerage Firms (SCHW, OXPS, AMTD, ETFC, CBOE, NDAQ, NYX, MKTX, IBKR, TRAD)

Administrator — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 16:01:57 +0000

It is 12:00 Noon and that means it is time for The M&A Daily. While news came out on Monday that Charles Schwab Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHW) was acquiring optionsXpress Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: OXPS), this merger highlights the value of deals that could come in the options and derivatives space.

OptionsExpress was not acquired for a huge premium despite the $1 billion price tag. In a 1.02 share swap, the value was $17.91 before the effects of price changes in the shares. With Schwab shares at $17.76 this morning, the implied value would be closer to $18.10 for OptionsExpress. A month ago it was said that OptionsExpress had 385,200 customer accounts and about $8.1 billion in total client assets either in positions or on deposit.

The deal is long after the TD AMERITRADE Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: AMTD) acquisition of ThinkorSwim for some $606 million. This was one of those deals that sort of got the value track going again in options, but we can’t omit the deal where Citadel tied up so much of the options business of E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC).

Perhaps even more important is that the recent IPO from CBOE Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOE) leaves the exchange stock as perhaps “The Last Man Standing” if the NYSE Euronext, Inc. (NYSE: NYX) merges with either Deutsche Boerse or if NASDAQ OMX Group (NASDAQ: NDAQ) makes that rumored rival bid. It is still unsure whether or no the U.S. regulators will even allow the NYSE to be mostly foreign-owned or not.

The deal from Schwab for OptionsXpress makes sense. While it sounds expensive at almost $2,600.00 per account, the true die-hard options traders tend to be more active traders and tend to have more assets at other firms. This may allow for much cross-selling opportunities for Schwab to gather up more accounts from more active and advanced traders.

Schwab has seen a 52-week trading range of $12.64 to $19.95 and OptionsXpress has seen a 52-week range of $13.86 to $21.07. So far, the April and May options expirations in the $17.50 strike prices are not indicating that a higher premium buyout is coming either from Schwab or from another buyer.

We are not going to look at the currency-brokers because they often have many accounts funded with very small dollar amounts. Some other firms which are specialty brokerage firms are as follows:

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: MKTX) is a firm specializing in electronic trading of corporate bonds and other fixed-income assets and its market cap is $845 million with a $22.44 price and a 52-week range of $12.27 to $22.49.

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc (NASDAQ: IBKR) allows its clients to trade multiple securities classes and it seems to have a broader cross-border scope than many of its peers. At $15.99, it has a market cap of $675 million and a 52-week trading range of $15.23 to $19.49.

TradeStation Group Inc. (NASDAQ: TRAD) caters to more of the professional and active trading crowd and caters to stock, options, futures and more. With shares at $7.08, its market cap is $277 million and its 52-week trading range is $5.22 to $8.46.

There is value in the higher volume and higher trading activity accounts again. At least so it seems. There may be more consolidation ahead in the specialty online brokerage firms.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Brokerage Firms, Exchange News, Financial Stocks, Mergers and Buy Outs Tagged: AMTD, CBOE, ETFC, IBKR, MKTX, NDAQ, NYX, OXPS, SCHW, TRAD

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (CQP, DYN, ESV, FNSR, IBKR, LULU, MOS, BKU, POT, STP, RIG, TRIB, UNFI, WEN)

Administrator — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 13:05:20 +0000

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

Cheniere Energy Partners LP. (AMEX: CQP) Raised to Hold at Citigroup.
Dynegy Inc. (NYSE: DYN) Cut to Sell at S&P Equity Research (late-Tuesday call).
Ensco plc (NYSE: ESV) Raised to Outperform and $71 target at Credit Suisse.
Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ: FNSR) Target cut to $29 from $43 at Credit Suisse.
Interactive Brokers Group Inc. (NASDAQ: IBKR) Cut to Underperform and Short-Term Sell at Zacks Investment Research.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) Started as Buy at Stern Agee.
The Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE: BKU) Started as Market Perform at KBW; Started as Buy at BofA/ML; Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) Reiterated Underperform with $7.80 target at BofA/ML; Maintained Buy with $13 target Auriga.
Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) Started as Market Perform at Morgan Keegan.
Trinity Biotech plc (NASDAQ: TRIB) maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
United Natural Foods Inc. (NASDAQ: UNFI) Cut to Hold at Argus.
United Natural Foods Inc. (NYSE: WEN) Reiterated Sell at Argus.

You can 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: BKU, CQP, DYN, ESV, FNSR, IBKR, LULU, MOS, POT, RIG, STP, TRIB, UNFI, WEN

Pabrai’s Newest Stocks (ATSG, BRK-B, BPO, GS, HNR, ZINC, IBKR, ICO, LUK, PNCL, POT, TCK, TEX, WFC)

Administrator — Mon, 17 May 2010 19:31:10 +0000

Mohnish Pabrai is often thought of as a Warren Buffett-like investor when it comes to some investment philosophies. The fact that he has won the bidding for lunch with Warren Buffett has helped to add in that state of mind by the public. But Pabrai is also a value investor in much of his efforts and investors in the past have looked at his holdings when doing research. Today came his holdings on the as-of date of March 31, 2010 in a 13F filing as of worth a total of $332.8 million.
Air Transport Services Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATSG) 5,380,962 shares worth $18.02 million.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B) 319,851 shares worth almost $26 million.

Brookfield Properties Corporation (NYSE: BPO) 2,359,166 shares worth $36.2 million.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) 110,864 shares worth some $18.9 million.

Harvest Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: HNR) 4,771,814 shares worth about $35.9 million.

Horsehead Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: ZINC) 1,358,498 shares worth $16 million.

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: IBKR) 94,104 shares worth $1.5 million.

International Coal Group, Inc. (NYSE: ICO) 2,512,570 shares worth almost $11.5 million.

Leucadia National Corp. (NYSE: LUK) 791,074 shares worth $19.6 million.

Pinnacle Airlines Corp. (NASDAQ: PNCL) 2,002,902 shares worth $14.9 million.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) 331,603 shares worth $39.5 million.

Teck Resources Ltd. (NYSE: TCK) 5,501 shares worth $245K…

Terex Corp. NYSE: TEX) 530,876 shares worth $12 million.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) 374,415 shares worth $11.6 million.

Other holdings are as follows:

Capital Source Inc. (?)
Cresud S A (CRESY)
FAIRFAX FINL HLD SUB (FRFHF.PK)

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Activist Investor, Mutual Funds, Value Investing Tagged: ATSG, BPO, BRK-B, GS, HNR, IBKR, ICO, LUK, PNCL, POT, TCK, TEX, WFC, ZINC

Top Analyst Downgrades (AMT, AXA, NILE, CA, FDS, IBM, IBKR, ICE, NOVL, SBAC, VIA)

247wallst — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:33:37 +0000

These are the top analyst downgrades and cautious calls we have seen from Wall Street analysts this Monday morning:

American Tower (AMT) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC.
AXA (AXA) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Blue Nile (NILE) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
CA Inc. (CA) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
FactSet (FDS) Started as Sell at Auriga.
IBM (IBM) Cut to Hold at Canaccord Adams.
Interactive Brokers (IBKR) Cut to Underperform at KBW.
IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) Cut to Underperform at KBW.
Novell (NOVL) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
SBA Communications (SBAC) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC.
Viacom (VIA) Cut to Equal Weight at Barclays.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AMT, AXA, CA, FDS, IBKR, IBM, ICE, NILE, NOVL, SBAC, VIA

Online Brokers Catch A Bid (SCHW, AMTD, ETFC, IBKR)

247wallst — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 08:24:06 +0000

This is the new official 48-hour period to be known in the future as GOVERNMENT BACKSTOP DAYS. While financial stocks are a big beneficiary of this, the moves being seen in online trading firms are just as large or even larger. Here are some of the pre-market moves and we also included a change from the intraday lows of yesterday morning.

Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW) up 11% at $26.52 pre-market, up 33% from yesterday’s low.
TD AMERITRADE (AMTD) up 7% at $20.90 pre-market, up 25% from yesterday’s lows.
E*TRADE (ETFC) up 21% at $4.00 pre-market, up 54% from yesterday’s lows.
Interactive Brokers (IBKR) up 19.5% at $23.51 pre-market, up 28% from yesterday’s lows.

Jon C. Ogg
September 19, 2008

Posted in Brokerage Firms, HI/LOW, Internet Tagged: AMTD, ETFC, IBKR, SCHW

TD AMERITRADE (AMTD): S.A.C. & JANA Outline Benefits For Merger Pressure

247wallst — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 10:08:46 +0000

Stock Tickers: AMTD, ETFC, SCHW, IBKR

S.A.C. and JANA have issued a response to TD AMERITRADE’s (AMTD-NASDAQ) noting that this was not necessarily the best time to pursue a combination. Of course they are in disagreement, with an 8% stake bet you could have guessed that. They have what is actually a 21 page presentation plan you can read through for the full details. It is admittedly a detailed plan, but many would still question this.

Here are some of the synergies in an E*TRADE (ETFC-NASDAQ) combination:

Cost synergies of $600 million;
Revenue synergies $100 million;
Expected cost Increase $108 million;
Claims single to double-digit EPS growth in 2008 & 2009;
Could be 100% stock or 75% stock and 25% cash.

Here are some of the Synergies outlined in a Charles Schwab (SCHW-NASDAQ) merger:

Cost synergies of $550 million;
Revenue synergies $450 million;
Expected cost Increase $220 million;
Claims double-digit EPS growth in 2008 & 2009;
Could be 100% stock or 50/50 stock/cash, although more concerns on this potential.

Here is the FULL PRESENTATION. The questions behind the motivation behind this are numerous. Obviously the first and foremost answer is to make money on the stock. But this does not seem as straight forward as other merger proposals on the reasoning behind this, and it feels like very premature ‘activist investor’ activity. There have been so many mergers that led up to the point where these companies are now that making a super-merger of online discount trading firms may be horrible for the trading consumer. The truth is that this would probably not be noticed immediately, but this would leave customers with far fewer choices for a wide spectrum online and discount trading platform.

Jon C. Ogg
June 8, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.