24/7 Wall St. » NCTY

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (XOM, WDC, RAX, NLY, EMR, BBX, CAG, GME, IHS, LULU, PERY, SONC, NCTY, DG, DISCA, RGR, SWHC, BTFG, DMND)

Paul Ausick — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 20:06:33 +0000

Markets opened sharply this morning and remained in negative territory all day. Purchasing managers’ indexes in the eurozone and in China came in lower than expected this morning, weighing European and Asian shares. The US dollar index rose slightly today, now up 0.10% at 79.733. Commodities were mixed on the dollar strength, with grains and sugar higher, and most other commodities lower. The US EIA weekly natural gas storage report showed a gain of 11 billion cubic feet in US inventories, sending natural gas prices tumbling nearly -4%. (our coverage here). WTI crude oil closed down -1.8% at $105.35/barrel, and Brent crude trades down -0.88% at $123.11/barrel. Gold settled down -0.5% today, at $1,642.50/ounce, a nine-week low.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than 78 points to 13,046.14 (-0.60%), the NASDAQ fell 12 points (-0.39%) to 3,063,32, and the S&P 500 fell -0.72% or about 10 points to 1,392,79.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) raised to ‘neutral’ with a $92 target price at JPMorgan; Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) raised to ‘strong buy’ at Needham; Rackspace Hosting Inc. (NYSE: RAX) cut to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs; Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY) cut to ‘underperform’ at Sterne Agee; and Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR) raised to ‘buy’ at Nomura.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: BBX) is down -1.7% at $3.97; ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG) is down -0.6% at $26.21; Gamestop Corp. (NYSE: GME) is down -6% at $23.17; IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS) is down -4.9% at $92.89; Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) is up 2.9% at $76.20 after posting a new 52-week high of $76.66 earlier today; Perry Ellis International Inc. (NASDAQ: PERY) is up 3% at $18.42; Sonic Corp. (NASDAQ: SONC) is down -6.8% at $7.50; and The9 Ltd. (NASDAQ: NCTY) is down -5% at $7.01.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG) is up 3.33% at $46.24 after posting a new 52-week high of $46.95 earlier today. The discount retailer posted better than expected earnings results. More coverage here.

Discovery Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA) is down -0.35% at $48.16. The cable network may take a big loss its investment in the Oprah Winfrey Network. More coverage here.

Sturm, Ruger & Co. (NYSE: RGR) is up 13.4% at $47.95 after posting a new 52-week high today of $48.24. Smith & Wesson Holdings Co. (NASDAQ: SWHC) is up nearly 14% at $7.84 after posting a new 52-week high of $8.00. The gunmakers are rising on Ruger’s announcement that it will not be accepting any new orders until May because it is fully booked. More coverage here.

Banc Trust Financial Group Inc. (NASDAQ: BTFG) is down more than -18% at $1.22. The bank holding company warned on earnings this morning. More coverage here.

Diamond Foods Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND) is down -8% at $23.59. The snack food maker is suspending its dividend. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Friday. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart, and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard are giving speeches. We have also noted the following event on the schedule (all times Eastern):

10:00 a.m. – New home sales

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close, The Day Tagged: BBX, BTFG, CAG, DG, DISCA, DMND, EMR, GME, IHS, LULU, NCTY, NLY, PERY, RAX, RGR, SONC, SWHC, WDC, XOM

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations (ADBE, FDX, JNPR, LVS, MSFT, ORCL, QCOM, CRM, NCTY, WYNN)

247wallst — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:59:16 +0000

These are this Friday’s top early analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations from Wall Street research calls which may be moving shares of the underlying stocks:

Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE) Started as Buy at UBS.
FedEx (NYSE: FDX) Started as Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
Juniper Networks (NASDAQ: JNPR) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) Started as Buy at UBS.
Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) Started as Buy at UBS.
QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Started as Neutral at UBS.
The9 Ltd (NASDAQ: NCTY) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.

You can join our open email distribution list which goes out several times per week to be notified of key merger news, key analyst calls, top early morning day trader alerts, along with news of IPO’s, key offerings, guru investor data on Buffett and others, mergers, and more.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls, Technology Companies Tagged: ADBE, CRM, FDX, JNPR, LVS, MSFT, NCTY, ORCL, QCOM, WYNN

Top 10 Early Bird Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (COGT, PSUN, RMD, NCTY, SAFM, UTHR, ARB, CS, CTRP, SUN)

247wallst — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 07:11:25 +0000

These are ten of the early bird analyst upgrades and downgrades we are seeing from Wall Street this Wednesday morning:

Cogent Inc. (COGT) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Pacific Sunwear (PSUN) Raised to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
ResMed (RMD) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
The9 Ltd. (NCTY) Raised to Hold from Sell at Citigroup.
Sanderson Farms (SAFM) Raised to neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan.
United Therapeutics (UTHR) Raised to Neutral from Sell at Piper Jaffray.
Arbitron (ARB) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Credit Suisse (CS) Cut to Sell from Neutral at UBS.
CTrip.com (CTRP) Cut to Sell from Buy at Citigroup; price target cut to $30.40 at Credit Suisse.
Sunoco (SUN) Cut to Sell from Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Jon C. Ogg
November 19, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: ARB, COGT, CS, CTRP, NCTY, PSUN, RMD, SAFM, SUN, UTHR

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (ANF, AFFY, T, CPHD, DAI, RF, STJ, TASR, NCTY, TIF, WTSLA)

247wallst — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:30:24 +0000

These are some of the top analyst Downgrades and negative calls we are seeing early this Friday morning:

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) Cut to Neutral at Banc of America.
Affymax (AFFY) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
AT&T (T) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Cepheid (CPHD) Cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
Daimler (DAI) Cut to Neutral at HSBC.
Regions Financial (RF) Cut to Neutral at Banc of America.
St. Jude Medical (STJ) Started as Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
TASER (TASR) Cut to Neutral at Merriman Curhan Ford.
The9 Ltd. (NCTY) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Tiffany (TIF) Cut to Sell at Banc of America.
Wet Seal (WTSLA) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.

Jon C. Ogg
July 25, 2008

Pre-Market Stock News (May 21, 2007)

247wallst — Mon, 21 May 2007 06:37:45 +0000

(ASD) American Standard is reaffirming guidance.
(AT) Alltel agreed to a $27.5 Billion buyout offer, or $71.50 per share.
(CATT) Catapult believes it will miss its earnings estimates for the quarter.
(CRM) Salesforce.com in talks for another technology integration pact with Google.
(CYTC) Cytyc being acquired by Hologic for $46.46 in cash and stock; stock up almost 30%.
(DNDN) Dendreon announces presentation of data at American Urological Association annual meeting; stock up 8%.
(EAGL) EGL announced that CEVA Group increased its offer to $47.50.
(ELN) Elan and Wyeth are starting Phase III clinical trial of Bapineuzumab in Alzheimer’s disease.
(FBN) Furniture Brands CFO is leaving to join ITT.
(GE) GE’s plastics unit sale could be announced as soon as today.
(GRRF) China Grentech announced its first bulk production order to supply TD-SCDMA RF power amplifier modules
(KO) Coca-Cola’s CEO was named the final transformational CEO by Cramer.
(NCTY) The9Ltd. in pact for sports games with Electronic Arts.
(NHY) Norsk Hydro is selling its polymers group.
(PFE) Pfizer CFO is leaving; head of R&D is retiring.
(PONR) Pioneer Companies being acquired for $35.00 per share in cash by Olin (OLN).
(QTWW) Quantum Fuel awarded diesel hybrid vehicle pact from US Army.
(RTLX) Retalix $0.09 EPS vs -$0.01e; unsure if comparable.
(TSL) Trina Solar $0.22 EPS vs $0.15e.

Jon C. Ogg
May 21, 2007