Angie’s List, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI) Started as Outperform at Raymond James.

Bankrate, Inc. (NYSE: RATE) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) Started as Sell at Maxim.

Las Vegas Sands Corporation (NYSE: LVS) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) Reiterated Buy with $135 target at Canaccord Genuity.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) Started as Buy at ThinkEquity.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) Raised to Buy at UBS.

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) Started as Buy at UBS.

Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Reiterated Buy with $180 target at Canaccord Genuity.

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) Started as Hold at ThinkEquity.

Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) Raised to Buy at Guggenheim.

Tupperware Brands Corporation (NYSE: TUP) Cut to Hold at Argus.

Yelp, Inc. (NYSE: YELP) Started as Market Perform at Raymond James.

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JON C. OGG

Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) posted -20% lower revenues for its first quarter of 2012 compared with revenues in the same period in 2011. Both Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) and MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) managed to stay about even with last year’s take in the first quarter. Most of the increase was due to higher room rates and a slightly higher number of visitors and conventions. Recently public Ceasars Entertainment Corp. (NASDAQ: CZR) posted an EPS loss of -$2.24.

EPS estimates for Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts are moving higher, while estimates for MGM and Ceasars are falling. The prospects for significant short-term growth are not strong, and in the state with the highest unemployment rate in the country and the second-highest number of mortgage delinquencies, state government may not get any relief from low fee collections on gambling for a while yet.

In March, the state collected about $71.5 million in fees from its gambling businesses, down -10.3% from March of 2011. February’s collections were 69.3% higher than a year ago, however, probably due to convention business. Collections in the current fiscal year are up 2.26%, mostly due to a huge bump in July of 2011.

Paul Ausick

Exports from Japan improve. (Reuters)

The Fed’s Beige Book reports concern about energy costs. (Reuters)

The World Bank expects China’s expansion to slow this year. (Reuters)

Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO) and BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) ore output will drop because of low demand in China. (Reuters)

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) tries to fix malware problems with some Macs, but the PR fallout has been significant. (Reuters)

BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) will set its own bond trading platform to bypass normal markets. (WSJ)

The Justice Department claims Apple and five publishers illegally set e-book prices. (WSJ)

More fast-food chains sell company outlets to franchisees as a way to cut costs. (WSJ)

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) launches a $4.4 billion casino complex in Macau. (WSJ)

The federal deficit narrows as tax receipts rise. (WSJ)

Competition in the locomotive business rises between General Electric (NYSE: GE) and Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT). (WSJ)

The CFO of JCPenney (NYSE: JCP) is pushed out. (WSJ)

Record labels and digital sites reach an agreement on royalties. (WSJ)

California solar-power developer BrightSource Energy will go public. (WSJ)

Volkswagen and BMW set sales records in the first quarter on improved luxury demand. (WSJ)

China Q1 auto sales fall 3.4% (WSJ)

The Greek crisis leaves Cyprus with huge debts. (NYT)

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) will cut e-book prices. (NYT)

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is fined $1.2 billion for its promotion of drug Risperdal. (NYT)

A report by the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program says the Treasury has done a poor job of helping the housing markets. (NYT)

A board investigation into conduct by Best Buy’s (NYSE: BBY) former CEO Brian Dunn will continue. (NYT)

Spotify opens its streaming system to other websites. (FT)

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) may have to split its low-end handset business from its smartphone operations. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up nearly 20 points to 13,145.51, the NASDAQ fell by 9.6 points to 3,095.36, and the S&P 500 fell 2.29 to 1,403.26.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) started as ‘buy’ at ThinkEquity; Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) cut to ‘hold’ at Argus; HollyFrontier Corp. (NYSE: HFC) cut to ‘neutral’ at Credit Suisse; Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) reiterated as ‘buy’ and price target raised to $65-$67 at BofA/ML; and Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) cut to ‘neutral’ at Baird.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) is down -4.7% at $55.49; Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) is up 18.7% at $61.02 after posting a new 52-week high of $61.37 earlier today (more coverage here); Sanchez Energy Corp. (NYSE: SN) is down -2.5% at $22.01; Shaw Group Inc. (NYSE: SHAW) is up 3.9% at 32.05; and Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is down -6.6% at $24.86 (more coverage here). After markets close today China Ming Yang Power Group Ltd. (NYSE: MY), Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) (our coverage here), and Finish Line Inc. (NASDAQ: FINL) will report earnings.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

PulteGroup Inc. (NYSE: PHM) is down -2.5% at $9.24. The homebuilder was downgraded to ‘strong sell’ at S&P Capital IQ. More coverage here.

Chelsea Therapeutics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHTP) is down more than -28% at $2.63. The FDA rejected the company’s low blood pressure drug. More coverage here.

Millennial Media Inc. (NYSE: MM) concluded its IPO today at $24.74, up from the initial price of $13/share. Shares traded as high as $27.90 earlier in the day. More coverage of the recent IPO market here.

Stay tuned for Friday. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 8:30 a.m. – Personal income and spending report
• 9:45 a.m. – Chicago purchasing managers’ index
• 9:55 a.m. – Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index

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Paul Ausick

Alcatel-Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU) Maintained Sell with $2.00 target at S&P.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Started as Buy at ThinkEquity.

Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) Cut to Hold at Argus.

ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT) Raised to Neutral at BNP Paribas.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) Cut to Neutral at Baird.

Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: CY) Raised to Buy at Lazard (late Wednesday call).

Delek US Holdings Inc. (NYSE: DK) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse; named as value stock of the day at Zacks.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) Started as Buy at ThinkEquity.

Express Scripts Inc. (NASDAQ: ESRX) Reiterated Buy and raised target from $65 to $67 at BofA/ML.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Started as Buy at ThinkEquity.

HollyFrontier Corporation (NYSE: HFC) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Janus Capital Group, Inc. (NYSE: JNS) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) Reiterated Buy and raised target from $60 to $65 at BofA/ML.

Logitech International (NASDAQ: LOGI) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) Started as Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) Cut to Neutral at Baird.

The Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) Started as Hold at ThinkEquity.

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JON C. OGG

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down nearly 15 points to 12,962.81(-0.11%), the NASDAQ fell nearly 26 points (-0.86%) to 2,950.48, and the S&P 500 fell -0.39% or more than 5 points to 1,634.33.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) raised to ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse, Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) reiterated as ‘outperform’ and target price raised to $64 at Credit Suisse; Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) raised to ‘buy’ at Stifel Nicolaus; Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW) started as ‘outperform’ at BMO; and MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS) and Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) cut to ‘market perform’ at Bernstein.

Earnings reports since markets closed last Friday have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Calavo Growers Inc. (NASDAQ: CVGW) is down -1.37% at $26.63; Cross Country Healthcare Inc. (NASDAQ: CCRN) is up 0.19% at $5.39; Superior Industries International Inc. (NYSE: SUP) is up 7% at $19.06; Verenium Corp. (NASDAQ: VRNM) is down -10% at $3.10; and Nature’s Sunshine Products Inc. (NASDAQ: NATR) is up more than 16% at $17.00.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: KERX) is up nearly 34% at $4.95. The biopharma company is expected to win FDA approval soon for a cancer drug.

TranS1 Inc. (NASDAQ: TSON) is up about 22% at $4.00. The medical device maker received a code-change approval from the American Medical Association that incorporates one of TranS1’s devices.

Archipelago Learning Inc. (NASDAQ: ARCL) is up more than 22% at $11.05 after posting a new 52-week high of $11.21. The subscription-based provider of education products is being acquired for $291 million ($11.10/share) by a privately held competitor.

GreenHunter Energy Inc. (AMEX: GRH) is down about -12% at $2.75. The independent oil & gas company had no news today, but early weakness in crude prices moved share prices down for several small energy companies.

Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) is down nearly -14% at $21.18. The social networking company is seeing some profit-taking today following its successful IPO last Friday that saw shares gain about 64%.

Stay tuned for Tuesday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

11:30 a.m. – 4- and 52-week Treasury bill auction
3:00 p.m. – US Treasury STRIPS

Paul Ausick

Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) Raised to Buy and $36 target at Argus.

Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE: GWRE) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank; Started as Neutral at Citigroup; Started as Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.

Kennametal Inc. (NYSE: KMT) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) Reiterated Outperform and raised target to $64 at Credit Suisse.

Leap Wireless International, Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) Cut to Market Perform at Bernstein.

Lorillard, Inc. (NYSE: LO) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NYSE: PCS) Cut to Market Perform at Bernstein.

Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: MWW) Started as Outperform at BMO.

Pandora Media, Inc. (NYSE: P) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.

Pier 1 Imports (NYSE: PIR) raised estimates and target to $20 by Oppenheimer.

Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE: TM) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.

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JON C. OGG

The casino and resort giant sold 1,811,313 shares of its common stock at $9.00 per share to raise gross proceeds of about $16 million before fees and discounts.  Keep in mind that this is the Harrah’s-Caesars deal which was a $15 billion buyout back at the peak of private equity.

$16 million… $15 billion… $28 billion.  Whatever it boils down to…  The figure we were counting on was up to $223.4 million in additional stock, the overwhelming majority of which would be coming from private equity owners. Apollo Global Management, LLC (NYSE: APO) is not even reacting positively to the news with a 0.8% drop down to $14.97 so far today, probably because it is not selling shares.  Paulson & Co. has the right to sell along with affiliated groups of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS).

Even a $500 million offering could have set the pace for up to a decade for all of the backers to exit their positions.

The reason that the company chose this model is likely to keep an initial higher value for a limited share float.  That establishes a fair market value that is probably higher than if the firms all sold shares in a huge offering for the market to absorb.  It allows private equity firms to liquidate in batches and it also gives those private equity firms an ability to peg a true market value to the shares rather than a theoretical value of the shares based solely upon other casino stock values.

Our take: The private equity firms should dismantled the assets into separate companies and sold them off or brought them public as smaller casino properties.

In some manner of speaking, this is far less transparent than exactly the ‘unlocking of Singapore and Macau’ values from Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ: WYNN) and Las Vegas Sands Corporation (NYSE: LVS).

Does us calling it a sham of an IPO mean that it will flop?  Not at all.  As we are publishing this, the value is up 50% from the $9.00 pricing at $13.70 on almost 3.9 million shares.  With such a low float, who knows how high it could go.  Still, if you are a ‘widows and orphans’ investor you probably better look elsewhere.

At least this IPO did not launch on the Ides of March.

JON C. OGG

Glencore offers an 8% deal to close a buyout of Xstrata. (Reuters)

HTC has trouble demonstrating that its stock is worth its premium. (Reuters)

The head of Deutsche Boerse says there will be industry consolidation despite the failure of a deal with NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX). (Reuters)

U.S. corporate profits for the past quarter were choppy. (WSJ)

Greek leaders still have not settled disagreements to close a round of financing. (WSJ)

Federal and state prosecutors are set to settle a mortgage fraud deal with five banks. (WSJ)

A JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) banker will be named head of the FDIC. (WSJ)

Chinese leaders offer aid to the EU but try to make certain it is understood they do not want to “takeover” European finances. (WSJ)

The International Monetary Fund cuts its target for China GDP growth. (WSJ)

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) and Malaysia’s Genting continue to press for casinos in Florida. (WSJ)

The National Automobile Dealers Association says used car prices could rise 1.2% in 2012. (WSJ)

Activists get Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) to agree to a deal that would make it easier for shareholders to push out board members. (WSJ)

Individual investors take on more risk because of low bond yields. (WSJ)

Retail shoppers likely will cut activity. (WSJ)

High Chinese export prices help Mexico. (WSJ)

An increasing number of print and online media turn to video content. (NYT)

Facebook has not found a way to make money on its mobile users. (NYT)

Greece says it would cut its budget further to get a rescue package. (NYT)

The European Central Bank will challenge capital structures of a number of the region’s banks. (FT)

Iran may not cut oil supplies to Europe as it said it would. (FT)

Global sales of junk bonds hit record levels. (FT)

The IMF says China’s growth could drop 4% from the current projection of 8.2% if global economic problems persist. (Bloomberg)

Many hedge funds will be hurt badly if their bets on Greece go wrong. (Bloomberg)

Indonesia’s economy hits its best growth rate since 1996. (Bloomberg)

The ECB may drop some sovereign debt demands for the region’s banks. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

We have provided estimates from Thomson Reuters on each and offered commentary and guidance on some of these companies.  More detailed previews will be available Tuesday morning for the reports due after the closing bell:

Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) estimates are $0.98 EPS and $8.49 billion.  Watch the medical loss ratio here as it seems to be in quarters past that insurance outfits have been making more money than they were supposed to be making once the new healthcare laws go into effect.  With shares around $44, the year high is $46.01.

The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) will prove if it has everyone in good hands or not.  Thomson Reuters has estimates of $0.97 EPS.  With shares around $29, its 52-week range is $22.27 to $34.40.

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) has now seen shares bounce 60% off of the bottom and that is despite the recent news that Facebook is taking much of the new advertising market share.  Estimates are $0.16 EPS per Thomson Reuters data but we just saw $0.28 noted in a Dow Jones preview yesterday.  That being said, we are staying out of this one.

BMC Software Inc. (NASDAQ: BMC) is expected to post $0.82 EPS on almost $556 million in sales.

Capstead Mortgage Corp. (NYSE: CMO) is not a market moving stock, but investors who are into the world of high-yielding mortgage REITs will be watching.  The estimate is $0.41 EPS (actually FFO) and the next dividend will be likely dependent upon that report.  Its dividend yield screens north of 13% today.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) is a cult stock if there every was one and now its valuation is close to $11.5 billion and the stock is within 2% of its all-time high. Thomson Reuters has a consensus of $1.83 EPS and $591.1 million in sales.  For 2012, the estimates are $8.68 EPS and 2.7 billion in revenues.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) is another huge cult stock down on its luck from recent highs.  The stock is still down by more than half.  Thomson Reuters has estimate at $0.36 EPS and $1.06 billion in sales.

JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ: JDSU) still has a huge shareholder base that got buried in the first big tech bubble.  At $12.75, the 52-week range is $8.59 to $29.12.  Thomson Reuters has a consensus of $0.10 EPS and $390.9 million.

Las Vegas Sands Corporation (NYSE: LVS) is also within striking distance of a near-term high as shares are currently around $49.00 against a 52-week range of $36.05 to $50.68.  The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters are $0.57 EPS and $2.46 billion in sales. 

NASDAQ OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) is a value stock when it comes to the exchanges and it is not supposedly trying to do any crazy merger right now.  At $25.00 the 52-week range is $20.32 to $29.71.  The consensus estimate is $0.62 EPS and $417.8 million. 

QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM)is within striking distance of its yearly high as shares are around $58.80 and the 52-week range is $45.98 to $59.84.  Thomson Reuters has estimates of $0.90 EPS on $4.57 billion in revenues. Next quarter estimates are $0.89 EPS and $4.49 billion in sales.  Keep in mind that if it rallies much more than the current $98.8 billion market cap will be $100 billion.

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