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Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AAPL, IRE, BWLD, CYMI, DPZ, ETH, FITB, ISRG, JCP, LEG, MCD, RF, SYMC, TWC, UTX, WMT)

Administrator — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:17:11 +0000

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

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Raised to Outperform at Scotia; Maintained Buy with $775 target at Canaccord Genuity.

Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Cymer Inc. (NASDAQ: CYMI) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Domino’s Pizza (NYSE: DPZ) Raised to Neutral at BofA/ML.

Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. (NYSE: ETH) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) Started as Outperform at Raymond James; Named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

J. C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE: JCP) Raised to Market Perform at BMO.

Leggett & Platt, Inc. (NYSE: LEG) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) Cut to Hold at Argus.

Regions Financial (NYSE: RF) Raised to Buy at Rochdale Securities.

Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC.

Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) Started as Buy at Citigroup.

United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) Raised to Buy at Argus.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) Cut to Hold at Argus.

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JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AAPL, BWLD, CYMI, DPZ, ETH, FITB, IRE, ISRG, JCP, LEG, MCD, RF, SYMC, TWC, UTX, WMT

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ADSK, CCL, CHK, ENB, LEG, LULU, MU, NTAP, PRGO, QCOM, RCL, TD, TA)

Administrator — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:22:14 +0000

These are some of Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls.

Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) Raised to Buy with $47 target at Argus.
Carnival Inc. (NYSE: CCL) Started as Neutral at HSBC.
Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) Cut to Sell at Argus.
Enbridge Inc. (NYSE: ENB) Raised to Buy at TD.
Leggett & Platt, Inc. (NYSE: LEG) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer; Reiterated Outperform and raised target to $12 at Credit Suisse.
NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) Cut to Neutral at Collins Stewart; Maintained Outperform but estimates cut at Credit Suisse.
Perrigo Company (NASDAQ: PRGO) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) Reiterated Buy with $74 target at Canaccord Genuity.
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) Started as Neutral at HSBC.
Toronto Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
TravelCenters of America LLC (AMEX: TA) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ADSK, CCL, CHK, ENB, LEG, LULU, MU, NTAP, PRGO, QCOM, RCL, TA, TD

Deep Value Stocks in Consumer Goods (AVY, BMS, DF, JCI, KFT, LEG, NWL, PVH, RKT, SEE, XRX)

Administrator — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 14:07:56 +0000

24/7 Wall St. has been conducting reviews looking for value stocks now that the market has softened. Looking solely for “cheap stocks” on book value is very incomplete, so we have taken earnings growth, dividends, return on equity, and analyst data to create more of a complete review on these companies. Consumer Goods is perhaps a very broad sector which could easily be broken into many more sub-sectors, but we identified 11 companies with standout price to book values.

In alphabetical order of their ticker symbols: Avery Dennison Corporation (NYSE: AVY); Bemis Company, Inc. (NYSE: BMS); Dean Foods Co. (NYSE: DF); Johnson Controls Inc. (NYSE: JCI); Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT); Leggett & Platt, Incorporated (NYSE: LEG); Newell Rubbermaid Inc. (NYSE: NWL); Phillips-Van Heusen Corp. (NYSE: PVH); Rock-Tenn Co. (NYSE: RKT); Sealed Air Corporation (NYSE: SEE); and, Xerox Corp. (NYSE: XRX).

Price to book values range from Xerox’s 1.1 to Johnson Controls’ 2.4. Even though we identified these companies in searching for attractive price to book values, every one of them offers respectable next-year earnings growth. Analysts expect next-year earnings expansion ranging from Newell Rubbermaid’s 10.6% to Rock-Tenn’s 39%. All sport forward PE multiples below 14. Forward PE’s range from Xerox Corp’s 8.1 to Kraft Foods’ 13.9.

Seven of the eleven companies boast an implied upside price expansion exceeding 20%, based on current share prices versus consensus price targets. Leggett & Platt, Newell Rubbermaid, Xerox and Johnson Controls lead the rest with implied price expansions ranging from more than 27% to close to 31%. Each of these eleven companies has an average daily trading volume exceeding 750,000 shares. Except where otherwise noted, the source for all performance and financial data is Finviz.com.

Avery Dennison Corporation (NYSE: AVY) has a price to book value near 2.3 to 1. The company’s market cap is just less than $4 billion giving it a middle-of-the-pack rank among these companies. Its forward PE is about 10.2. With a consensus target price of $46.71, the shares have an implied upside exceeding 25%. Shares of Avery Dennison closed Friday at $37.19, down 1.56%. The 52-week price range is $30.54 to $43.26. This outfit that makes labels and other office products recently took a downgrade to “Neutral” at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. It pays a nice dividend with a yield of close to 2.7% and shares were above $60 back in 2007 before the recession.

Bemis Company, Inc. (NYSE: BMS) has a price to book value of 1.8 to 1. The company’s market cap is just less than $3.4 billion. Its forward PE is near 12.5. With a consensus target price of $34.89, the shares have an implied upside of 8.6% among the lowest of these companies. Bemis Company shares closed Friday at $32.11, down 0.43. The 52-week price range is $25.79 to $33.57. The packaging materials company also has a respectable dividend yield of about 3%, even if Goldman Sachs did downgrade the rating to “Sell” in recent weeks..

Dean Foods Co. (NYSE: DF) boasts a price to book value of 1.4 to 1, ranking it second among these companies. The company’s market cap is $2.2 billion, the smallest of these companies. Its forward PE is near 13.2, among the highest on this list. With a consensus target price of $13.50, the shares have an implied upside 12.5%. In Friday trading Dean Foods closed at $12.00, down 1.80% for the day. The 52-week trading range is $7.13 to $13.90. This milk and dairy producer has been in recovery mode. It made this screen even after a recovery of more than 75% from the bottom. In 2007, shares were worth more than $40.00.

Johnson Controls Inc. (NYSE: JCI) has a price to book value of 2.4 to 1, a comparatively high price to book value ratio among these companies. With a market cap exceeding $26 billion, Johnson Controls is the second largest company ranked here. Its forward PE is a tad greater than 12. After robust expansion of earnings for the current year, analysts expect next-year earnings expansion exceeding 34%. With a consensus target price of $48.50, the shares have an implied upside of 23.8%. Shares of Johnson Controls closed Friday at $39.17, unchanged. The 52-week price range is $25.63 to $42.35. The car parts and systems manufacturer is one of the few which pay a dividend (about 1.6%) and this one has recovered mightily from the recession lows when shares fell to well under $10.00.

Filed under: Compensation, Consumer Goods, Corporate Governance, Dividend, Value Investing Tagged: AVY, BMS, DF, JCI, KFT, LEG, NWL, PVH, RKT, SEE, XRX

52-Week Low Club (December 28, 2007)

247wallst — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 15:01:00 +0000

Some of these stocks hit 52-week lows and recovered off of lows so they won’t have a low close. But these did all touch or breach the 52-week lows. At the end we also broke out retail stocks, financial stocks, airlines & transports, and hotels. A separate report could have been compiled for REIT’s as well, but many of those were left off because of room or volume. There were enough 52-week lows today that you might even wonder if there had been a mini-crash in the markets. Here are the 52-week lows for December 28, 2007:

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD)… imagine if the company got Hector Ruiz to leave.
American Greetings (NYSE: AM)…again.
AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN)… new entrant.
Carmike Cinemas (NASDAQ:CKEC)
ChipMOS (NASDAQ:IMOS)
Corp. Office Property (NYSE: OFC)
Cryptologic (NASDAQ: CRYP)
Diebold (NYSE:DBD)
Fortune Brands (NYSE:FO)
Group 1 Auto (NYSE: GPI)
Infinera Corp. (NASDAQ: INFN)
Introgen (NASDAQ:INGN)
Japan Smaller Cap Fund (NYSE: JOF)
Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ: LAMR)
Legget & Platt (NYSE: LEG)
Martha Stewart (NYSE: MSO)
Marvell Tech (NASDAQ:MRVL)
Mattel (NYSE:MAT)
McClatchy (NYSE:MNI)
Micron Tech (NYSE:MU)
NGAS Resources (NASDAQ:NGAS)
Nortel Networks (NYSE:NT)
Owens Corning (NYSE:OC)
Omnicare (NYSE:OCR)
Prestige Brand (NYSE: PBH)
PC-Tel (NASDAQ:PCTI)
Ruth’s Chris (NASDAQ:RUTH)
SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK)
Theravance (NASDAQ:THRX)
Tractor Supply (NASDAQ:TSCO)
Wendy’s (NYSE: WEN)
World Fuel Services (NYSE:INT)
U-Store-It (NYSE:YSI)

Retail Stocks on 52-week lows: Ann Taylor (NYSE:ANN), Big Lots (NYSE:BIG), Borders Group (NYSE:BGP), Bon Ton Stores (NASDAQ:BONT), Chico’s FAS (NYSE:CHS), Finish Line (NASDAQ:FINL), Liz Claiborne (NYSE: LIZ), Macy’s (NYSE: M), Office Max (NYSE:OMX), Petsmart (NASDAQ:PETM), Stage Stores (NYSE:SSI)

Financial stocks on 52-week lows: Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC), Citigroup (NYSE:C), Canseco (NYSE: CNO), Discover Financial (NYSE: DFS), Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB), Fortress Investment (NYSE: FIG), MBIA Inc. (NYSE: MBI), Washington Mutual (NYSE:WM)… urgh! When does it stop?

Airlines/Transports on 52-week lows: Airtran Holdings (NYSE: AAI)…again. Did they launch a Friends Die Free rewards plan? Continental Airlines (NYSE:CAL), Fedex (NYSE:FDX), Mesa Air (NASDAQ:MESA), Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA)… near $100 oil is a real pain.

Hotels Hitting 52-week lows: Host Hotels (NYSE: HST), Lasalle Hotel (NYSE: LHO), Starwood Hotels (NYSE:HOT), Sunstone Hotel (NYSE: SHO), Wydham Worldwide (NYSE:WYN). Maybe these all wish they could get the private equity buyers back in the sector. If only they could still borrow.

These CEO’s new year’s resolutions are all the same: "In 2008 I want to keep my stock off the 52-week low lists."

Jon C. Ogg
December 28, 2007

Pre-Market Stock News (December 20, 2007) (ACN, ATVI, ALTU, ARRY, ATHX, BSC, BX, CAKE, ECHO, INTU, FDX, MLHR, IDEV, LDK, LEG, LOCM, NKE, ORCL, PIR, RIMM, RAD, RUTH, SMOD, SCS, DEEP, TRB)

247wallst — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 08:02:20 +0000

This is not every bit of news on individual stocks but this is the major news affecting many shares in pre-market activity this Thursday morning:

Accenture (ACN) stock up 4% after posting $0.60 EPS vs. estimate of $0.56.
Activision (ATVI) again guided earnings higher.
Altus Pharmaceuticals (ALTU) traded down almost 20% after it reacquired ALTU-238 development and commercialization rights for North America from Genentech, an end to the development pact.
Array BioPharma (ARRY) traded down almost 20% after it announced initial results from a Phase II study comparing its monotherapy with temozolomide in the first-line treatment of advanced melanoma showed no apparent difference in efficacy for the primary endpoint.
Athersys (ATHX) and Angiotech announce authorization of Phase I stem cell trial for heart attacks.
Bear Stearns (BSC) expected to post first loss.
Blackstone (BX) plans to sell a $9 Billion CMBS offer backed by Hilton Hotels in Q1 2008.
Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) had a 10% stake taken by activist Nelson Peltz.
Electronic Clearing house (ECHO) getting acquired by intuit for $17.00 per share.
FedEx (FDX) $1.54 EPS vs. $1.50 estimates (had been lowered) but next quarter $1.15-1.30 vs. $1.38 est.; $6.40 to $6.70 for year bvs. $6.47 estimate.
Herman Miller (MLHR) $0.72EPS Vs. estimate of $0.59; stock rose about 10%.
Indevus Pharma (IDEV) trading down about 5% on a non-approvable letter from the FDA for VALSTAR NDA supplement (submitted May 2007).
Intuit (INTU) paying $131 Million for ECHO.
LDK Solar (LDK) $0.37 EPS on $157M revenues vs. $0.37/$143.22M est.; Q4 guidance $0.40-$0.41 on $180-$185M revenues vs. $0.41/$167.5M est.; stock indicated down 5%.
Leggett & Platt (LEG) stock down about 5% on lower guidance.
Local.com (LOCM) announced a strategic partnership with IAC/Interactive’s Citysearch; stock trading up 7% on news.
Nike (NKE) traded up 3% after $0.71 EPS on $4.3 Billion revenues vs. estimates $0.66/$4.3B.
Oracle (ORCL) traded up 6% after beating earnings and giving slightly higher guidance; sees enterprise spending lasting into 2008.
Pier 1 (PIR) -$0.11 EPS vs -$0.24 estimate.
Research-in-Motion (RIMM) reports earnings after the close today.
Rite Aid (RAD) indicated down about 5% after posting loss.
Ruths Chris (RUTH) gave an earnings warning.
Smart Modular Tech (SMOD) $0.18 EPS vs. $0.17 estimate.
Steelcase (SCS) $0.30 EPS vs. $0.28 estimate.
Superior Offshore (DEEP) signed a letter of intent with a strategic partner for ownership of a DP-III deepwater construction and dive support vessel expected to be delivered in late 2008.
Tribune (TRB) buyout supposedly set to close today.

Jon C. Ogg
December 20, 2007

Massive List of 52-Week Lows (June 20, 2007)

247wallst — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:38:06 +0000

Stock Tickers: AVR, BCRX, CACH, CHCI, COLY, CTIC, FSII, HOV, HR, INFS, LEG, MTH, PEIX, RSYS, SCSS, SEPR, SNY, STAA, USBE, UTSI, VSE, YSI

Once again, many many more losers…..This list is larger than most of recent note. There is just about any given day where there are fresh 52-week lows:

Aventine Renewable (AVR)…-3.9% to $14.09; $14.60 prior low. Watch the renewable energy names as they are plentiful on 52-week lows.

BioCryst Pharma (BCRX)…-3.3% at $6.92; prior 52-week low $7.13; follow-on weakness from Peramivir Monday.

Cache (CACH)…-2.7% to $13.92; not lowest intraday but low close.

Comstock Homebuilders (CHCI)…-4.4% to $2.83; another stinking homebuilder.

Coley Pharma (COLY)….-59% to $3.46; $8.00 prior lows; intra-day implosion as Pfizer ditches its cancer drug.

Cell Therapeutics (CTIC)…-9.4% to $3.09; prior 52-week low was $3.38.

FSI International (FSII)….-13% to $3.43; $3.91 was prior low; weak guidance; hedge fund pressures CEo.

Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV)…-3% to $19.08; prior 52-week low $19.53; another stinking homebuilder.

Healthcare Realty (HR) -2.2% to $28.34; prior 52-week low was $28.57; this one goes lower and lower each week it feels like.

InFocus (INFS) -4% to $2.33; follow-on weakness after CFO quit; stock imploding….

Leggett & Platt (LEG)…-0.7% to $21.92; not tru 52-week low but low close; continued weakness after estimates cut from housing.

Meritage Homes (MTH)..-1.5% to $28.75; another stinking homebuilder.

Pacific Ethanol (PEIX)…-2.35 to $12.35; lowest close of late; and we thought ethanol was king…..

Radisys (RSYS)…-3.8% to $12.80; not true low but low close and hit intraday lows; no news today.

Select Comfort (SCSS)…-2.1% to $16.03; prior low $16.09; weak housing must mean weak bed sales; maybe hamocs are the new rage?

Sepracor (SEPR)…-2.5% to $43.67; prior 52-week low $43.84; insiders exercising stock options this week; P/E ratio drifting lower and lower; now down 33% from highs.

Sanofi-Aventis (SNY)…-1.8% to $40.84; prior low $41.09; drug woes continue; worries they’ll dilute to buy Bristol-Myers.

Staar Surgical (STAA)…-2.85% to $4.09; $4.14 prior 52-week lows; no news, but not a ‘staar’ after all.

US Bioenergy (USBE)…-2.6% to $10.67; $10.78 prior low; busted IPO looks like worse getting even worse.

UTSarcom (UTSI)…-3.8% to $5.28; $5.43 was prior 52-week low; down more than 50% in last year; the beatings will continue until leadership improves AND until they actually report and open the books.

VeraSun (VSE)…-4.7% to $13.08; $13.69 was prior 52-week low; ethanol slide continues.

u_Store-It Trust (YSI)…-2.9% to $16.97; $17.05 was prior intra-day low; no news, but they obviously aren’t storing enough.

Jon C. Ogg
June 20, 2007

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