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The 24/7 Wall St./Flame Index: Companies With The Worst Press (May 31)

247wallst — Tue, 31 May 2011 14:47:07 +0000

Chiquita Brands (NYSE: CQB) was sued for supporting dangerous para-military groups in Columbia in 2007. The EU began what is likely to be a vigorous examination of the Western Digital (NYSE: WDC) takeover of Samsung’s disk drive business. The Flame Index started as a research tool in 2008 at the NY Innovation Design Lab (nyidlab). It was used as a general metric to evaluate companies and their risk in the media. Publicly traded Fortune 500 companies are used as a measure to calculate an overall market of negative news and the companies are ranked within that market.

Rank	Company	Ticker	Score	Change in Rank	Comments
1	Google	GOOG	35.86	+4	More concerns that Android does not make money
2	Chiquita Brands International	CQB	35.729	+656	Columbia paramilitary payoffs
3	Research In Motion Limited	RIMM	34.034	-1	Still being beaten down by Apple
4	Massey Energy	MEE	30.687	+3	West Virginia may block M&A
5	General Motors	GM	29.789	-2	May auto sales will be weak
6	Western Digital	WDC	28.731	+326	EU may stop purchase of Samsung disk unit
7	Hewlett-Packard	HPQ	28.166	+6	Management turnover grows
8	Comerica	CMA	27.804	-4	Bank gets low rating in new reputation report
9	Pfizer	PFE	26.891	+6	About to buy Ferrosan’s consumer healthcare business.
10	Fannie Mae	FNM	26.442	-1	Will almost certainly be shuttered
2	Chiquita Brands International	CQB	35.729	+656	Trouble with Columbian payments
6	Western Digital	WDC	28.731	+326	EU scrutiny of deal
14	Freddie Mac	FMCC	25.297	+168	Issues new three-year reference notes
15	BB&T Corp.	BBT	23.24	+181	Criticism of bank’s trust preferred securities
21	Exxon Mobil	XOM	21.617	+42	Restarts key LA refinery

Data and ranking provided by the Flame Index.

Filed under: General, Research Tagged: CMA, CQB, GM, GOOG, HPQ, MEE, PFE, RIMM, WDC

The 24/7 Wall St./Flame Index: Companies With The Worst Press (5/3/2011)

247wallst — Tue, 03 May 2011 15:29:01 +0000

The Flame Index started as a research tool in 2008 at the NY Innovation Design Lab (nyidlab). It was used as a general metric to evaluate companies and their risk in the media. Publicly traded Fortune 500 companies are used as a measure to calculate an overall market of negative news and the companies are ranked within that market

Rank	Company	Ticker	Score	Change in Rank	Comments
1	Sony Corporation	SNE	93.604	+1	Playstation. Hacker. Say no more.
2	Berkshire Hathaway	BRK.A	68.05	-1	Reputation problems with Sokol mess begin to disappear
3	DISH Network	DISH	42.107	+64	Cuts deal to be law suits with Tivo
4	Cephalon	CEPH	40.227	+710	Teva buyout but shareholders want a lot more money
5	Community Health Systems	CYH	38.114	+5	Raises off for Tenet
6	Arch Coal	ACI	37.101	+91	Investors don’t like bid to purchase ICG
7	Massey Energy	MEE	35.388	-4	Bad earnings, memory of mine disaster
8	Google	GOOG	34.954	+5	South Korea raids search company’s offices
9	Rite Aid	RAD	34.164	-2	Concern about ongoing same-store sales stagnation
10	American Electric Power	AEP	30.215	+9	Nuclear power victim
4	Cephalon	CEPH	40.227	+710	Teva deal.
17	Hartford Financial Services	HIG	23.929	+691	A profit, at last
18	Fannie Mae	FNM	23.028	+92
20	Abbott Laboratories	ABT	21.593	+677	Rivals Pfizer and BSX do well.
25	Toyota Motor Corporation	TM	20.147	+236	Car sales in Japan home market trashed.

Data and ranking provided by the Flame Index.

Filed under: General, Research Tagged: ACI, BRK-A, CEPH, CYH, DISH, GOOG, MEE, RAD, SNE

Merger Bonanza, The Shrinking Coal Sector (ACI, ICO, ANR, MEE, WLT, RIO, RFLMF, CNX, BTU, PCX, JRCC, KOL)

Administrator — Mon, 02 May 2011 14:12:14 +0000

Arch Coal, Inc. (NYSE: ACI) has finally pulled the trigger on an acquisition that has probably been in the works for months. The coal miner has announced an all-cash acquisition of International Coal Group, Inc. (NYSE: ICO) worth $3.4 billion. The mystery is why it took so long.

When Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE: ANR) acquired Massey Energy Co. (NYSE: MEE) at the end of January, Alpha paid about $8.5 billion for a company that had suffered a mine explosion that killed 29 miners and that had just fired its long-time CEO. The Alpha-Massey deal was no bargain, and that might have been what cooled Arch’s desire to jump into the M&A game.

Consolidation in the coal sector has been running pretty hot since the middle of last year. Walter Energy, Inc. (NYSE: WLT) paid about $3.3 billion for Canadian miner Western Coal Corp. in a deal that closed in early March. Mining giant Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RIO) recently raised its stake in Australian coal miner Riversdale Mining Ltd. (OTC: RFLMF) to 72%.

There is also some speculation that Consol Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX) could be looking to sell its metallurgical coal reserves in Australia to focus more on natural gas production in the Marcellus shale play. A possible buyer for those assets would be Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE: BTU), which already has a substantial mining presence in Australia.

International Coal had been mentioned last year as a possible takeover target for Massey. That happened under the leadership of Massey’s former CEO who was struggling to keep the company independent. When he was fired, Massey’s acquisition by Alpha was just a matter of time.

And there sat International Coal, with a market cap then of around $1.7 billion. Paying a 30% premium, Arch could have bought the company then for about $2.2 million. Instead, Arch decided to dither around and pay $3.4 billion now. A fair part of the increase in International Coal’s market cap is the result of speculation for a takeover.

The next speculative targets will probably be Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE: PCX) and James River Coal Co. (NASDAQ: JRCC). James River just completed its acquisition of privately held International Resource Partners, a West Virgina miner with metallurgical coal assets.

James River also recently failed to complete a tender offer for outstanding 9.375% senior notes due in 2012. The company instead will redeem the notes on June 1, 2011. James River’s market cap is around $800 million.

Patriot Coal’s market cap is about $2.3 billion, and it will certainly get some attention as a takeover. The company was spun-off from Peabody in 2007, and focused on domestic growth while Peabody started looking at international opportunities. Whether or not Peabody will want to bring Patriot back into the fold is questionable.

If Peabody passes on Patriot, perhaps an international buyer will turn up. US companies that are large enough to swallow Patriot are already busy digesting earlier deals. Of course Patriot could merge with another coal company, say James River. But that doesn’t make an awful lot of sense.

In any event, International Coal is up more than 30% today, having posted a new 52-week high of $14.46, just shy of the $14.60/share price offered by Arch. Arch shares are down fractionally. Patriot Coal is up nearly 7%, to $26.94, near the top of its 52-week range of $9.76-$29.20. James River is also up, more than 5%, to $24.50, within its 52-week range of $14.44-$25.12. The Market Vectors Coal ETF (NYSE: KOL) is up about 0.5%, to $51.22, close to its high in a 52-week range of $28.35-$51.87.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Commodities Tagged: ACI, ANR, BTU, CNX, ICO, JRCC, KOL, MEE, PCX, RFLMF, RIO, WLT

The 24/7 Wall St./Flame Index: April 5 The Companies With The Most Bad News

247wallst — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 14:00:41 +0000

Note: The Flame Index scans thousands of news sites 24 hours per day and ranks companies getting the most negative press right now. The Flame Index Media Analysis Algorithm crunches the data for an up-to-the-minute ranking of the hardest-hit companies.The Flame Index started as a research tool in 2008 at the NY Innovation Design Lab (nyidlab). It was used as a general metric to evaluate companies and their risk in the media. Publicly traded Fortune 500 companies are used as a measure to calculate an overall market of negative news and the companies are ranked within that market

Rank	Company	Ticker	Score	Change in Rank	Comments
1	Southwest Airlines	LUV	58.047	0	Holes in planes
2	Massey Energy	MEE	52.169	+14	More mining liability
3	Transocean Ltd	RIG	51.796	+1	Stupid safety bonuses for management after Deepwater
4	Kroger	KR	44.957	-1	High prices of groceries
5	Johnson & Johnson	JNJ	41.317	+2	Market concern about OTC drug recalls
6	Best Buy	BBY	38.966	+9	Huge data breach reaches its customers
7	Google	GOOG	36.728	-5	New CEO rattles market
8	BP	BP	35.778	+3	Gulf drilling rumor not true.
9	Capital One Financial	COF	33.958	+1	Epsilon data breach hits customers
10	Toyota Motor Corporation	TM	33.562	-1	No part, US plants close
14	General Dynamics	GD	27.209	+608	Gulfstream jet crashes in test
16	National Semiconductor	NSM	26.124	+471	Bought out by Texas Instruments
20	AirTran Holdings	AAI	25.423	+231	Gets good marks for service
21	Symantec	SYMC	24.779	+81	More data breaches make services more valuable. Predicts that world of online security will get more dangerous
25	Alliance Data Systems	ADS	23.162	+141	Data breach hits Alliance, too.

Data and ranking provided by the Flame Index.

Filed under: General, Research Tagged: GD, GOOG, JNJ, KR, LUV, MEE, NSM, RIG, SYMC

The 24/7 Wall St./Flame Index, The Companies With The Worst PR: March 16

247wallst — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:21:51 +0000

Healthnet was hammered on news that it “missplaced” data on 2 million customers. Toyota (NYSE: TM) remained high on the list due to concerns about Japanese production and sales. Regulatory problems and costs may crush margins at Massey (NYSE :MEE)

Note: The Flame Index scans thousands of news sites 24 hours per day and ranks companies getting the most negative press right now. The Flame Index Media Analysis Algorithm crunches the data for an up-to-the-minute ranking of the hardest-hit companies.
The Flame Index started as a research tool in 2008 at the NY Innovation Design Lab (nyidlab). It was used as a general metric to evaluate companies and their risk in the media. Publicly traded Fortune 500 companies are used as a measure to calculate an overall market of negative news and the companies are ranked within that market

Rank	Company	Ticker	Score	Change in Rank	Comments
1	Health Net	HNT	50.89	+4	Loses data on 2 million customers
2	Fannie Mae	FNMAS	50.794	0	Investors frantic about stock losses
3	Toyota Motor Corporation	TM	42.803	+9	Japan earthquake
4	Consol Energy	CNX	36.695	0	Worries about companies with reactors
5	Massey Energy	MEE	36.304	+69	Regulatory costs could be huge after mine disaster
6	Lubrizol	LZ	35.914	-5	Buyout by Buffett riles investors
7	General Electric	GE	35.211	+3	Large reactor builder faces liability costs
8	Duke Energy	DUK	33.883	+5	Another nuclear facility operator
9	Bank of America Corp.	BOA	33.467	-2	Leaks of internal memos may embarrass
10	Freddie Mac	FMCC	33.137	+181	Mortgage problems and losses deepen

Data and ranking provided by the Flame Index.

Filed under: General, Research Tagged: CNX, HNT, MEE, TM

The 24/7 Wall St./Flame Index: March 10 GM CFO Goes

247wallst — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:55:36 +0000

BP (NYSE: BP) stayed at the top of the list of companies receiving the most negative news after skepticism about its CEO’s apology about Deepwater Horizon. Dynegy (NYSE: DYN) threatened a Chapter 11 filing. GM (NYSE: GM) jumped up the list when it disclosed it CFO would leave

Note: The Flame Index scans thousands of news sites 24 hours per day and ranks companies getting the most negative press right now. The Flame Index Media Analysis Algorithm crunches the data for an up-to-the-minute ranking of the hardest-hit companies.
The Flame Index started as a research tool in 2008 at the NY Innovation Design Lab (nyidlab). It was used as a general metric to evaluate companies and their risk in the media. Publicly traded Fortune 500 companies are used as a measure to calculate an overall market of negative news and the companies are ranked within that market

Rank	Company	Ticker	Score	Change in Rank	Comments
1	BP	BP	34.287	0	CEO sorry for oil spill, not
2	Dynegy	DYN	31.666	+31	Elects four new board members and warns of Chapter 11
3	Massey Energy	MEE	24.993	-1	Concerns about lawsuits after mine disaster
4	Rite Aid	RAD	24.007	+2	Supreme Court decisions could hurt sales
5	Toyota Motor Corporation	TM	22.364	+7	High gas prices will gash sales
6	General Motors	GM	21.853	+16	CFO leaves
7	Fannie Mae	FNMAS	20.619	+2	May be dissolved
8	Exxon Mobil	XOM	20.524	+7	Increase capital budget for exploration
9	Johnson & Johnson	JNJ	20.232	+1	Potential suit over hip replacement recalls
10	Alpha Natural Resources	ANR	20.057	-3	Buying Massey, suit fall-out

Data and ranking provided by the Flame Index.

Filed under: General, Research Tagged: ANR, BP, DYN, GM, JNJ, MEE, RAD, TM, XOM

The 24/7 Wall St./Flame Index: March 9 BP Apology

247wallst — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 15:36:25 +0000

BP plc (NYSE: BP) CEO Dudley apologized for the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The gesture apparently did not go over well. Negative press on the UK-based oil firm moved it to the top of the Flame IndesxNote: The Flame Index scans thousands of news sites 24 hours per day and ranks companies getting the most negative press right now. The Flame Index Media Analysis Algorithm crunches the data for an up-to-the-minute ranking of the hardest-hit companies. Alpha Natural Resource took an image hit as Massey Energy, which it is acquiring was sued for deaths in a mine explosion

Rank	Company	Ticker	Score	Change in Rank	Comments
1	BP	BP	34.37	+15	CEO apology not taken seriously
2	Massey Energy	MEE	31.123	+4	Sued for mine explosion deaths
3	Chevron	CVX	30.54	-2	Fighting environmental suit in Ecuador
4	PG&E Corp.	PCG	28.701	+19	Regulators examine gas line explosion
5	J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.	JPM	26.97	-2	Lawsuit over participation in Madoff matter
6	Fannie Mae	FNMAS	25.625	+30	Ongoing concerns about liquidation
7	Johnson & Johnson	JNJ	25.598	+4	Takes 384,000 insulin pump cartridges off the market
8	Toyota Motor Corporation	TM	25.06	0	Prius sales hit 3 million, but long term plan has few believers
9	Rite Aid	RAD	24.127	-7	Supreme Court passes on case that would help sales
10	Alpha Natural Resources	ANR	23.974	+54	Firm that will buy Massey damage by troubles at miner

Data and ranking provided by the Flame Index.

Filed under: General, Research Tagged: BP, CVX, JNJ, JPM, MEE

The 24/7 Wall St./Flame Index: March 8 Coal Drop Hits Massey

247wallst — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 15:11:38 +0000

Bad press about Chevron (NYSE: CVX) rose on news that a federal judge would delay an $18 billion damage judgement made in Ecuador. Rite Aide was hit by poor press as the Supreme Court said it will not hear “pay for delay” drug settlements. JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) closed part of its European trading desk. One of Massey Energy’s rivals bought a smaller firm. Note: The Flame Index scans thousands of news sites 24 hours per day and ranks companies getting the most negative press right now. The Flame Index Media Analysis Algorithm crunches the data for an up-to-the-minute ranking of the hardest-hit companies.

Rank	Company	Ticker	Score	Change in Rank	Comments
1	Chevron	CVX	37.166	+123	More news on $18 billion environment judgment
2	Rite Aid	RAD	32.556	+42	Supreme court rejects case that would have protected sales
3	J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.	JPM	31.228	+48	Closes important trading desk
4	Target	TGT	25.368	+36	Concerns grow over cost of energy and impact on retail traffic
5	Intel	INTC	25.289	0	Increased competition from Nvidia in portable device market
6	Massey Energy	MEE	24.153	+726	Price of coal drops and rival makes good M&A deal
7	Goldman Sachs Group	GS	23.199	+12	Lingering concern about size of legal judgments for derivative instrument sales
8	Toyota Motor Corporation	TM	22.904	-4	High gas price will hurt dealer traffic
9	AFLAC	AFL	22.813	+14	Lands on Fortune’s most admired companies list
10	Symantec	SYMC	22.745	+652	Number of visible cyber-attacks increases.

Data and ranking provided by the Flame Index.

Filed under: General, Research Tagged: AFL, CVX, GS, INTC, JPM, MEE, RAD, SYMC, TGT, TM

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AMD, ADP, COF, LNG, XOM, INTC, JBLU, MEE, RAD, PCL, GOLD, VLO, YHOO)

Administrator — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 13:25:48 +0000

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

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD) Raised to Buy at Stern Agee.
Automatic Data Processing Inc. (NYSE: ADP) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $54 at Argus.
Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE COF) Reiterated Sell at Argus.
Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE: LNG) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) Maintained Neutral but raised target to $84 at Credit Suisse.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Maintained Outperform on Focus List with $28 target at Credit Suisse.
JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Massey Energy Co. (NYSE: MEE) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE: RAD) Maintained Underperform at Zacks Investment Research and named the Bear of the Day.
Plum Creek Timber Co. Inc. (NYSE: PCL) Cut to Sell at UBS.
Randgold Resources Ltd. (NASDAQ: GOLD) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) Started as Buy with $23 target at Gabelli.

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: ADP,, AMD, COF, gold, INTC, JBLU, LNG, MEE, PCL, RAD, VLO, XOM, YHOO

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (APA, BRCM, BG, CIEN, HD, LOW, MEE, PETS, PWER, DGX, SAP, SBUX, RDS-A)

Administrator — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 13:35:42 +0000

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

Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA) Removed from Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy List.
Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) Reiterated Buy with $55 target at Gleacher & Co.
Bunge Ltd. (NYSE: BG) Cut to Market Perform at BMO.
Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) Cut to Sell at UBS.
The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE: HD) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Massey Energy Co. (NYSE: MEE) Cut to Hold at Brean Murray.
PetMed Express Inc. (NASDAQ: PETS) Reiterated Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
Power-One Inc. (NASDAQ: PWER) reiterated BUY with $14 target at Auriga.
Quest Diagnostics Inc. (NYSE: DGX) Raised to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.
SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) Reiterated Buy with $39 target at Argus.
Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse; Raised to Outperform and called the Bull of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: APA, BG, BRCM, CIEN, DGX, HD, LOW, MEE, PETS, PWER, RDS-A, SAP, SBUX