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Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AGU, AEM, AXP, AMR, BHP, COF, CMG, SNP, CEO, JNY, ERIC, PTR, RVBD, SODA, SON, SWC, WRB)

Administrator — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 12:27:47 +0000

These are some of this Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen having an impact from Wall Street research calls. Despite the weakness, there are still upgrades taking place.

Agrium, Inc. (NYSE: AGU) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (NYSE: AEM) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
American Express Company (NYSE: AXP) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR) Raised to Outperform at Rodman & Renshaw.
BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) Started as Outperform with $370 target at Credit Suisse.
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (NYSE: SNP) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
CNOOC Ltd. (NYSE: CEO) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
The Jones Group Inc. (NYSE: JNY) Value stock of the day at Zacks.
LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
PetroChina Co. Ltd. (NYSE: PTR) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Riverbed Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) Cut to Equal-Weight at Barclays.
SodaStream International Ltd. (NASDAQ: SODA) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Sonoco Products Co. (NYSE: SON) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Stillwater Mining Company (NYSE: SWC) Removed from Focus List ar Credit Suisse.
W.R. Berkley Corp. (NYSE: WRB) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AEM, AGU, AMR, AXP, BHP, CEO, CMG, COF, ERIC, JNY, PTR, RVBD, SNP, SODA, SON, SWC, WRB

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (MDRX, ANR, AMCX, AEO, BAC, CBRL, EMR, JNY, LDK, PERY, PCLN, R, HOT, SXC, VPRT)

Administrator — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 12:08:36 +0000

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

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: MDRX) Reiterated Buy with $27 target at Argus.
Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE: ANR) Started as Neutral at JPMorgan.
AMC Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: AMCX) Started as Buy with $42 target at BofA/ML.
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE: AEO) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) Maintained Outperform with $14 target at Credit Suisse.
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBRL) Cut to Neutral at SunTrust.
Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR) Cut to Hold at Argus.
The Jones Group Inc. (NYSE: JNY) Raised to Buy with $14 target at BofA/ML.
LDK Solar Co., Ltd. (NYSE: LDK) Cut to Underperform at Wells Fargo.
Perry Ellis International (NASDAQ: PERY) Raised to Buy with $26 target at BofA/ML.
Priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN) Reiterated Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Ryder System, Inc. (NYSE: R) named Value stock of the day at Zacks.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: HOT) Maintained Outperform but cut target to $64 at Credit Suisse.
SunCoke Energy Inc. (NYSE: SXC) Started as Outperform with $19 target at Credit Suisse.
VistaPrint NV (NASDAQ: VPRT) Cut to Neutral as Bear of the Day at Zacks.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AEO, AMCX, ANR, BAC, CBRL, EMR, HOT, JNY, LDK, MDRX, PCLN, PERY, R, SXC, VPRT

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ALKS, AEO, ADM, BHP, CSCO, DOW, GBL, ITW, JNY, MRK, PHG, DGX, RGS, RIO, SKS, TSN, VIA-B)

Administrator — Tue, 10 May 2011 12:30:59 +0000

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

Alkermes, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALKS) Raised to Outperform at Leerink Swann.
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE: AEO) Cut to Neutral at Janney.
Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE: BHP) Started as Buy at RBS.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Started as Buy at boutique firm BGC Financial.
The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) Maintained Strong Buy as Value at Zacks.
GAMCO Investors, Inc. (NYSE: GBL) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Illinois Tool Works (NYSE: ITW) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
The Jones Group Inc. (NYSE: JNY) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) Reiterated Buy and $41 target at Argus.
Philips Electronics NV (NYSE: PHG) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Quest Diagnostics, Inc. (NYSE: DGX) reiterated Outperform but on Focus List at Credit Suisse.
Regis Corporation (NYSE: RGS) Kept at Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RIO) Started as Buy at RBS.
Saks Incorporated (NYSE: SKS) Raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Viacom, Inc. (NYSE: VIA-B) Raised to Buy at Argus.

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JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ADM, AEO, ALKS, BHP, CSCO, DGX, DOW, GBL, ITW, JNY, MRK, PHG, RGS, RIO, SKS, TSN, VIA-B

Ten Women Who Should Be Big Company CEOs

247wallst — Thu, 07 May 2009 01:46:00 +0000

Twelve of the Fortune 500 CEOs are women. Just twelve. Over the next year, that number is likely to go up considerably because of a confluence of economic and financial factors that have not existed in years. The first of those is that because of the economy there will probably be higher turnover rates of chief executives at large companies. Next, there are a relatively large number of extremely talented women in the tier of senior management just below the CEO level. Many of these women who are in the No.2 or No.3 spots at their firms are the same age or older than their current CEOs. It is then very unlikely that they will become CEO at their current firm.

This list of the ten women who should become CEOs of big American companies in is based on an overview of the industries which have many troubled companies and the women who are experienced enough to run big companies that need new chief executives. The major sectors in the 24/7 Wall St. survey are the financial services, technology, retail and airline industries which are likely to remain troubled for quite some time.
Financial services
Depending on the result of financial stress tests, corporate boards and the administration will have to look hard at the performance and future prospects of the current CEOs at Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC), SunTrust (STI), Regions Financial (RF), Fifth Third (FITB). All five look like they will do badly on the government’s “stress tests” JP Morgan recently downgraded the earnings prospects for all of these firms. If the federal government has to put substantial amounts of money into any company on the list or takes a larger equity position, it could lead to a de facto nationalization, a situation which would put the Treasury and Fed in a position where they could insist on choosing the next CEO. Depending on how badly some of these large banks perform over the next one or two quarters, chief executive jobs could open up at six or seven operations.
1) Heidi Miller will be the first person on most recruitment lists for large financial services company CEOs. She is currently the head of the JP Morgan’s (JPM) huge securities and treasury management operations. Before her current job she was CFO of Bank One. She is on the boards of Merck (MRK) and General Mills. Her boss, Jamie Dimon, is at an age where he is likely to run JP Morgan for another decade. She will be a bank CEO by the end of the year.

2) Sallie Krawcheck, who is only in her early 40s, was pushed out of Citigroup in a dispute with current CEO VIkram Pandit, a man she may end up replacing. She was extremely well respected on Wall St. when she was the chairman of the big financial research firm Sanford C. Bernstein. She served as CIti’s CFO for three years and then ran the company’s wealth management unit. She is as well qualified to run a large bank as anyone in America.

3) Pat Callahan is the other candidate who would have to be near the top of any recruiting list for large bank CEOs. She is the Wells Fargo executive vice president who is handling the merger integration of Wachovia, great training for running another large financial institution. Earlier in her career she ran wholesale banking operations and financial operations.

Technlology
There are a large number of companies in the tech and telecom sector that will probably replace CEOs in the next year. Disk drive maker Seagate (STX) may fire its CEO due to the company’s disappointing performance which has extended over a long period, exhausting shareholders. National Semiconductor (NSM) which is struggling with a huge debt load may well have to replace its CEO, especially if it wants to refinance its credit obligations. The same is true for AMD (AMD). Motorola (MOT) will not be able to keep its two top managers, especially if it plans to spin-off its handset unit. It has had too many disappointing quarters. Motorola will have to bring in an impressive replacement to run the company if it wants to have any chance of reclaiming its reputation on Wall St. A much longer shot, but one that its shareholders should hope for, is that Michael Dell (DELL) will admit that his tenure as CEO has been a mistake and move back to being non-executive chairman with a strong chief executive the way Bill Ford did when he brought in Alan Mulally from Boeing (BA) to run Ford (F).

4) Virginia Rometty, the head of global sales and distribution at IBM (IBM) was previously in charge of the company’s consulting and systems integration business. She may actually have such a large job now that she would not leave. But, 5) Linda Sanford, who runs IBM’s “on demand” initiatives would have to be high on the list of the National Semi, Seagate, and AMD positions.

5) Ann Livermore is the most sought-after female tech executive in the United States who is not a CEO. She runs Hewlett-Packard’s technology solutions group. Mark Hurd, HP’s CEO is still young enough that he is unlikely to leave Hewlett-Packard anytime soon. Livermore would be a candidate for most, if not all of the tech companies that are likely to replace their chief executives. If Michael Dell comes to his senses, Livermore would have to be his first choice.

Retail
A lot of retail executives will be replaced this year. Sears (SHLD) is run by an interim CEO. Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) is under-performing in the worst sector of the economy. Jones Apparel (JNY) has just closed 225 stores and barely broke even last quarter. Talbots (TLB) is in deep trouble and its same-store sales in the fourth quarter were down 25%.

7) Jenny Ming, who is a partner at private equity firm Advent International, would be on any headhunter’s retail CEO list. She was the head of the Old Navy unit of Gap (GPS) when it was still doing well. She will almost certainly end up running another large retailer.

8) Carol Meyrowitz, is the CEO of retailer TJX (TJX), the off-price retailer which has over 130,000 employees and 2000 store locations. The company has posted results which have bested most of its peers. She would be a strong candidate for the Sears job.

9) Claire Babrowski EVP of Toys “R” Us has held senior positions at RadioShack and McDonald’s (MCD) She is with a company which has a weak competitive position which would make her more likely to be willing to move than someone at a company with stable prospects.

Airlines
Airlines made a recovery late last year as fuel prices dropped. Since then, faltering traffic has put all of the carriers back into trouble. United (UAUA) and American (AMR) are considered in worse shape than their peers. Each needs new leadership either to take them out of trouble or take one through another airline Chapter 11.

10) Collen Barrett, the retired head of Southwest (LUV), would be perfect for either of these jobs. She is still works for Southwest and remains on the board and is the Corporate Secretary. Southwest has been the best run airline in the United States for more than two decades.

The number of Fortune 500 female CEOs could double by the end of the year, and based on the talent pool of senior executives, it should.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted in Airlines, Banking, Management Change, Retail Tagged: AMD, AMR, ANF, BA, BAC, C, DELL, F, FITB, GPS, HPQ, IBM, JNY, JPM, LUV, MCD, MOT, MRK, NSM, RF, SHLD, STI, STX, TJX, TLB, UAUA, WFC

Top Analyst Upgrades (BCS, IDTI, JNY, NTES, POR, SQNM, TRMB, UEC)

247wallst — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:51:10 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market analyst upgrades and positive research calls we have seen from Wall Street early this Wednesday morning:

Barclays (BCS) Raised to Overweight at HSBC.
Integrated Device Tech (IDTI) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Jones Apparel (JNY) Raised to Buy at Lazard.
Netease.com (NTES) Started as Outperform at Bernstein.
Portland General Electric (POR) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Sequenom (SQNM) Started as Buy at Auriga.
Trimble Navigation (TRMB) Raised to Buy at Needham.
Uranium Energy Corp. (UEC) Raised to Sector Perform at RBC.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: BCS, IDTI, JNY, NTES, POR, SQNM, TRMB, UEC

The 52-Week Low Club (GOOG)(AAPL)(BAC)(F)(GM)(C)(CLWR)(PLD)(JNY)(STP)

247wallst — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:01:48 +0000

Verifone (PAY) JP Morgan cut rating. Drops to $2.38 from 52-week high of $48.61.

Suntech (STP) Forecast below Wall St. estimates. Down to $5.60 from 52-week high of $90.

Jones Apparel (JNY) Part of retail sector sell-off. Sells off to $2.34 from 52-week high of $22.12.

Prologis (PLD) CEO is out and so are lots of employees. Falls to $2.25 from 52-week high of $71.79.

Clearwire (CLWR) Bad reaction to partnership with Sprint (S). Down to $3.77 from 52-week high of $18.26.

Citigroup (C) Investors still concerned about bank’s viability. Plunges to $4.39 from 52-week high of $35.29.

GE (GE) may be looking to raise money overseas. Later report denies it Down to $12.58 from 52-week high of $38.67.

GM (GM) Concerns about Chapter 11. Drops to $1.70 from 52-week high of $29.95.

Ford (F). Ditto. Drops to $1.01 from 52-week high of $8.79.

Bank of America (BAC) Market expects more losses and perhaps need for more capital. Sells down to $11 from 52-week high of $47.

Apple (AAPL) Could be its first rough holiday season in five years. Falls off to $80 from 52-week high of $202.96.

Google (GOOG) Down to $259.04 from 52-week high of $724.80 on word that search ads are not recession-proof.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted in HI/LOW Tagged: AAPL. GOOG, BAC, C, CLWR, F, GE, GM, JNY, PAY, PLD, STP

Major S&P Stocks On Decade Lows (AA, AMAT, AMD, DOW, EK, GCI, HOG, INTC, IP, JNY, M, MU, MSFT, NWL, NWS, SLE, STX, LUV, HOT, YRCW)

247wallst — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:39:59 +0000

Covering any part of the positives in this market has been literally as rewarding as jumping in the bear cage with the bears at the zoo. We have been refraining from doing as many stocks which are on 52-week lows as the list is just too many companies. But after the close we perused the entire S&P 500 and a few more large companies. We reached down in the barrel and found an extensive list of stocks which are now trading at lows of the entire decade. Fortunately for the seriously depressed, we took out the stocks which are financials, autos, housing, REIT’s, and penny stocks. Below is the full list.

Alcoa (NYSE: AA) back to late 1994.
Applied Materials (AMAT) back to levels not seen since late 1998.
Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) may be on the low’s going back to 1990.
Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) back to 1995.
Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK) back to pre-1980′s.
Gannett (NYSE: GCI) this may be the worst ever even before the 1990′s.
General Electric (NYSE: GE) back to April 1997
Harley Davidson (NYSE: HOG) is no auto company… it is a luxury item or status symbol and back to prices of the 1990′s.
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) lows since late 1996 or early 1997.
International Paper (IP) back to the 1980′s.
Jones Apparel (NYSE: JNY)… jonesing back to mid 1990′s.
Macy’s (NYSE: M) back to the early 1990′s.
Micron Tech (NYSE: MU)… DRAM manufacturing in U.S., like this one is a surprise.
Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) down to lows of April 1998, at least ifyou smooth out the September 2002 lows and account for the cashdividends.
Newell Rubbermaid (NYSE: NWL) down to early 1990′s
News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) back to at least 1995, although may be hard to compare with Fox and Dow Jones attached now.
Sara Lee (NYSE: SLE) back to the mid-1990′s.
Seagate Tech (NYSE: STX) post re-IPO lows… yep, disk drives and storage, now risk drive and porridge.
Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) looks like lows back to 1999. So muchfor all the rewards of great fuel hedging now that oil is so cheapagain.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: HOT) back to 1996.
YRC Worldwide (NASDAQ: YRCW) looks like an all-time low or at leastback into the 1980′s. Forget Yellow, forget Roadway… market cap isnow under $200 million.

As a reminder, some of these may have had special dividends which maynot have been screened out and some have engaged in spin-offs which mayalso have changed the numbers. But either way, you get the idea here.We are above and beyond 52-week lows now.

Jon C. Ogg
November 20, 2008

Posted in HI/LOW, Technical Analysis, Trading Alert Tagged: AA, AMAT, AMD, DOW, EK, GCI, HOG, HOT, INTC, IP, JNY, LUV, M, MSFT, MU, NWL, NWS, SLE, STX, YRCW

The 52-week Low Club (YHOO)(WY)(LLTC)

247wallst — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:57:09 +0000

Jones Apparel (JNY) Profit warning. Drops to $9.26 from 52-week high of $23.08.

Liz Claiborne (LIZ) Pulled down by JNY news. Falls to $9.75 from 52-week high of $31.93.

Weyerhaeuser (WY) Tried to raise prices. Customers said "no". Sells down to $37.16 from 52-week high of $78.

Linear Technology (LLTC) Forecast weak for next quarter. Plunges to $20.53 from 52-week high of $37.77.

Yahoo! (YHOO) Wall St. hates internet and possible AOL deal. Down to $11.88 from $34.88.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted in HI/LOW Tagged: JNY, LIZ, LLTC, WY, YHOO

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (NLY, CTV, ENDP, FSLR, HOV, JNY, OIIM, PDGI, V, YUM)

247wallst — Thu, 01 May 2008 07:24:17 +0000

These are not all of the analyst calls affecting shares but these are ten that we are focused on this Thursday morning:

Annaly Mortgage (NYSE: NLY) cut to Hold at Citigroup.
CommScope (NYSE: CTV) Raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
Endo Pharmaceuticals Cut to Neutral at R.W. Baird.
First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) cut to Perform at Oppenheimer
Hovnanian (NYSE: HOV) cut to Sell at UBS.
Jones Apparel (NYSE: JNY) Raised to Buy from Hold at Lazard.
O2Micro (NASDAQ: OIIM) raised to Buy at Piper Jaffray.
PharmaNet Development (NASDAQ: PDGI) downgraded to Hold at Jefferies; downgraded to Neutral at R.W. Baird.
Visa (NYSE: V) Started as Equal-weight at Lehman Brothers.
YUM! Brands (NYSE: YUM) cut to Neutral at UBS.

Jon C. Ogg
May 1, 2008

Jim Cramer’s Stimulus Package & Turnaround Stocks

247wallst — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 18:22:06 +0000

On tonight’s MAD MONEY on CNBC, Jim Cramer noted that selling stocks today isn’t a good idea and that this will be good for retail stocks and others too. You have to keep in mind the same-store-sales as the key metric, but here are his retail names he went through:

In retail, Cramer likes Guess? (NYSE: GES), J.Crew (NYSE: JCG), Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW), Liz Claiborne (NYSE: LIZ), Jones Apparel (NYSE: JNY), Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST), TJX Corp. (NYS: TJX), Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ: URBN)… and he likes Darden (NYSE: DRI) in restaurants.

Cramer actually talked positive about one homebuilder and a mortgage player:

Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) will actually be a winner on the higher GSE increase in the conforming loan price cap. In mortgages the increase in the cap will help Thornburg Mortgages (NYSE: TMA).

He thinks that takeovers are coming, and he is under the impression that Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) may actually get taken over after a huge drop. He thinks it is just too valuable to others. Just FYI, Cramer did discuss this Bear Stearns takeover possibility on TheStreet.com earlier this morning or this afternoon. In short, he thinks that this might merit a reason to stop being so cynical. He wants to buy something in retail and something in banking.

Last week Cramer went value fishing for technology companies that he thought were either overlooked during the meltdown or that had been oversold. Here were his picks in technology:

EMC Corp (EMC) for its intrinsic value of sub-$5.00;
Riverbed Tech (RVBD) for network optimization and he’s been on this stock before;
ADC Telecom (ADCT) on Wednesday with a $1 down $7 up call that he’s liked for some time;
Wind River Systems (WIND) for its strong embedded systems orders ahead;
Microsoft (MSFT) is the one he liked the most.

Jon C. Ogg
January 24, 2008