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Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AFFX, AMCX, BRCM, CSIQ, CSCO, DECK, DANG, ELN, EL, FSLR, IVR, IPG, JNPR, OMC, OVTI, ONXX, PTR, RENN, RVBD, SI, YOKU)

Administrator — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:28:50 +0000

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

Affymetrix Inc. (NASDAQ: AFFX) Raised to Neutral from Sell with a $4.50 price target at Goldman Sachs.
AMC Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: AMCX) Started as Overweight at J.P.Morgan.
Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Canadian Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) named as Bear of the Day by Zacks Investment Research.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Started as Buy at Nomura.
Deckers Outdoor Corporation (NASDAQ: DECK) Cut to Underperform from Buy at Stern Agee.
E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. (NYSE: DANG) Started as Hold at Brean Murray.
Elan Corporation, plc (NYSE: ELN) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Estee Lauder Companies (NASDAQ: EL) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Cut to Neutral from Buy at R.W. Baird.
Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc. (NYSE: IVR) Cut to Market Perform from Outperform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.
The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE: IPG) Started as Overweight at Barclays.
Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) Started as Neutral at Nomura.
Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) Started as Equal Weight at Barclays.
OmniVision Technologies (NASDAQ: OVTI) lowered estimates again but maintained as Buy with $12.00 price target at Canaccord Genuity.
Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ONXX) Raised to the Conviction Buy List with a $47.00 price target objective at Goldman Sachs.
PetroChina Co. Ltd. (NYSE: PTR) Raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup.
Renren Inc. (NYSE: RENN) Started as Hold at Brean Murray.
Riverbed Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) Started as Neutral at Nomura.
Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) Cut to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Youku.com Inc (NYSE: YOKU) Started as Hold at Brean Murray.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AFFX, AMCX, BRCM, CSCO, CSIQ, DANG, DECK, EL, ELN, FSLR, IPG, IVR, JNPR, OMC, ONXX, OVTI, PTR, RENN, RVBD, SI, YOKU

Advertising Going Strong for Now, But Softness Ahead (WPPGY, IPG, OMC, PUBGY, GCI, NYT)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:12:40 +0000

Two of the world’s largest advertising agencies reported earnings this morning, and while the reports are good, the outlook for the current quarter is soft. Things are expected to get better in 2012, with major events like the London Olympics helping to boost ad spending. And of course there’s that ad-buying booster known as a US presidential election.London-based WPP plc (NASDAQ: WPPGY) reported revenue growth of 9% for the third quarter, compared with the third quarter of 2010.

Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE: IPG) reported EPS of $0.16, sharply above the consensus estimate of $0.10, on revenue of $1.73 billion, again higher than expectations of $1.64 billion. Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) and Paris-based Publicis Groupe SA (OTC: PUBGY) reported solid earnings last week. But all these companies are really looking past the fourth quarter, which all believe will be weak.

Interpublic’s earnings did not include about $132 million the company received from a private sale in August of about half the stock it held in Facebook. The buyer was not identified.

Interpublic also reiterated its outlook that revenue would grow by 4%-5% for the full year and that the company’s operating margin would be around 9.5%. WPP expects revenue growth for 2011 to be 5% and operating margin to reach 11%, up about 0.7% over 2010..

WPP notes the general state of the ad business this way: “Advertising as a proportion of GDP remains at depressed levels in mature markets post-Lehman and the faster growth markets remain under-branded and under-advertised.” Translated, that means going after markets in Brazil and China and other fast-growing developing economies. The company now expects to get 35%-40% of its revenues from the developing world, up from about 30% currently.

Online and mobile advertising is expected to grow by nearly 10% annually over the next five years. WPP said that it received 29% of its revenue from digital and interactive sources in the first nine months of the year.

That growth comes at the expense of print media, where ad spending continues to fall. Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI) said that ad revenue for its newspapers fell -8.5% in the third quarter and The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) reported a print advertising drop of -10% in the third quarter. Even though the Times got a boost from its online subscriber revenue and a boost in its online ad revenues, the percentage growth does not make up for the percentage losses in print advertising because the print chunk is so much larger.

WPP shares are up slightly in the first half-hour of trading this morning, to $55.08, in a 52-week range of $43.98-$69.50. Interpublic shares are up more than 14%, to $10.16, in a 52-week range of $6.73-$13.75.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Earnings, Media Tagged: GCI, IPG, NYT, OMC, PUBGY, WPPGY

Top Analyst Calls (BT, CSCO, EMC, HAS, ITW, MAT, NTAP, OMC, TEN, VECO)

247wallst — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:25:39 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market analyst upgrades and positive research calls we have seen from Wall Street with more than two hours until the market opens:

BT Group (BT) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) Started at Canaccord.
EMC Corp. (EMC) Started at Canaccord.
Hasbro (HAS) Started as Buy at KeyBanc.
Illinois Tool Works (ITW) Raised to Outperform at William Blair.
Mattel (MAT) Started as Buy at KeyBanc.
NetApp (NTAP) Started as Buy at Canaccord.
Omnicom (OMC) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Tenneco (TEN) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Veeco Instruments (VECO) Started as Buy at Merriman Curhan Ford.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: BT, CSCO, EMC, HAS, ITW, MAT, NTAP, OMC, TEN, VECO

Top Analyst Downgrades (APOG, BJS, BJ, HAL, KEG, NBR, OMC, PTEN, PCG, SLB, WMT)

247wallst — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:41:11 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market analyst downgrades and negative calls we have seen early this Tuesday morning:

Apogee (APOG) Cut to Sell at Piper Jaffray.
BJ Services (BJS) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC.
BJ’s Wholesale (BJ) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Halliburton (HAL) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC.
Key Energy (KEG) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC.
Nabors (NBR) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC.
Omnicom (OMC) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.
Patterson-UTI (PTEN) Cut to Underperform at RBC.
PG&E (PCG) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Schlumberger (SLB) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC.
Wal-Mart (WMT) Cut to Hold from Buy at Citigroup.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: APOG, BJ, BJS, HAL, KEG, NBR, OMC, PCG, PTEN, SLB, WMT

Pre-Market Stock News (June 26, 2007)

247wallst — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 06:59:06 +0000

(BEXP) Brigham Exploration increased natural gas production guidance from 42-45MCF to 44-46MCF.
(BLK) Blackrock will acquire the fund of funds business of Quellos for up to $1.7 Billion.
(BSC) Bear Stearns has report in WSJ that it is reluctant to bail out a second hedge fund from last year.
(CERS) Cerus announced a supply pact for its INTERCEPT blood system for platelets to French national blood service.
(EAS) Energy East $28.50 buyout from Spain
(ENCY) Encysive Pharma traded up on new CEO replacement.
(EYE) Advanced Medical Optics lowered 2007-2008 EPS guidance below consensus due to recall of its MoisturePlus.
(GGP) General Growth Properties will replace Mellon in S&P 500 after close on Friday June 29.
(GILT) Gilat Satellite gets SkyEdge broadband satellite network.
(ITT) ITT Industries is acquiring international Motion Control for $395 million.
(IXYS) IXYS Corp. lowered revenue target to $70 to $72 Million from $74.99 Million.
(LEN) Lennar posted a loss instead of a small gain, and revenues were down more than 30%; shares indicated down 2-5%.
(MO) Altria plans to maximize its savings on tobacco production; will see pre-tax savings of $355 Million.
(OMC) Omnicom trading ex-split to reflect a 2-1 stock split.
(OPTT) Ocean Power Tech named a new COO.
(RAIL) Freightcar America put EPS at $0.85 to $0.95 vs $1.18 estimate; announced new 1900 hopper railcar orders.
(RDYN) Replidyne announced positive Phase I results for topical antibiotic REP8839.
(SCMM) SCM Micro sees revenues down approximately 20%.
(SWSI) Superior Well Services announced that officers David Wallace, Jacob Linaberger and Rhys Reese each adopted 10b5-1 stock trading plans.
(TEK) Tektronix increased share buyback plan for $350 million worth of shares.
(TGT) Target guided sales to lower end of a 3-5% range.
(TLCV) TLC Vision purchased 20 million at average $5.75 per share.
(ULBI) Ultralife Batteries announced orders valued at approx $1.8 million to supply batteries and chargers to a major defense contractor.
(VMSI) Ventana gets $75 buyout offer from Roche, although Ventana declined talks.

Jon C. Ogg
June 26, 2007

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

Earlybird Analyst Calls (June 25, 2007)

247wallst — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 06:24:36 +0000

Stock Tickers: ABI, BBSI, BMY, CAP, CLUB, CVX, FCBP, GM, IPG, OMC, MIG, PER, PIR, SKH, SMSI, TRLG

ABI raised to Outperform at Baird.
BBSI raised to Strong Buy at JMP Securities.
BMY raised to Outperform at Bear Stearns.
CAP started as Buy at Jefferies.
CLUB cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
CVX raised to Buy at B of A.
FCBP raised to Outperform at FBR.
GM raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
IPG raised to Buy at B of A.
MIG raised to Outperform at FBR.
OMC raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
PER raised to Buy at KeyBanc/McDonald.
PIR raised to Buy at UBS.
SKH started as Outperform at Credit Suisse; started as Buy at B of A.
SMSI raised to Buy at Jefferies.
TRLG raised to Outperform at CIBC.

Jon C. Ogg
June 25, 2007

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

Today’s & Upcoming Stock Splits (June 19, 2007)

247wallst — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 06:36:51 +0000

Stock Tickers: CPKI, MRO, STR, PVA, AGN, ESRX, GILD, OMC, YUM

TODAY (June 19, 2007)
(CPKI) California Pizza Kitchen trades ex-split today to reflect a 3-2 stock Split.
(MRO) Marathon Oil trades ex-split today to reflect a 2-1 stock split.
(STR) Questar trades ex-split to reflect a 2-1 stock split.

THIS WEEK
(PVA) Penn Viginia will trade ex-split on June 20 to reflect a 2-1 stock split.

NEXT WEEK
Allergan (AGN), Express Scripts (ESRX) and Gilead (GILD) all trade ex-split to reflect their pending 2-1 stock splits on June 25.
Omnicom (OMC) will trade ex-split on on June 26 to reflect its pending 2-1 stock split.
YUM! Brands (YUM) trades ex-split on June 27 to reflect its pending 2-1 stock split.

Jon C. Ogg
June 19, 2007

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

What Can 24/7 Real Media Fetch in a Buyout?

247wallst — Thu, 10 May 2007 19:05:00 +0000

24/7 Real Media (TFSM-NASDAQ) is a stock that is sitting in a good position as a takeover candidate or on its own. We have already reported and shown an idea of what the company could be worth in a post Gooogle-DoubleClick online banner ad world. There could still be plenty of juice left to this one.

The company boosted revenue guidance from a $255 to $265 million range to what is now $265 to $275 million. This is only a 5% boost but could be just the beginning with its new overseas venture in Japan. The company only maintained pro forma operating earnings of $0.50 to $0.55 for the year, but the valuation may be cheap with a forward P/E ratio of about 22 and as the “Google Checker” for any of the other online ad firms. The company also said “we are assessing strategic alternatives” and that it hired Lehman Brothers as its financial advisor.

We had reported about the interest that should come into the name. WPP Group in London may be interested and Microsoft (MSFT) may be interested. But beyond this, who would really be able to work this? There are many firms that could play the land grab here, and these are merely the US-traded names: Microsoft (MSFT) is a natural fit and they could outbid almost anyone; Time Warner (TWX) could expand its already strong ad interest; Comcast (CMCSA) as it moves into more content; Yahoo! (YHOO) could but they may pass; IAC/Interactive (IACI) could step up its efforts here; aQuantive (AQNT) could decide this would broaden their base; and ValueClick (VCLK) could eat a competitor and strengthen its base.

There is also the angle that advertisers themselves could steal an instant presence in the online ad world and diversify from their traditional businesses: WPP Group (WPPGY) has already been fingered as a potential buyer. Other ad agencies could make the play too: Omnicom (OMC), Publicis Groupe SA (PUB), and Interpublic Group (IPG). You might even be able to make the argument that Lamar Advertising (LAMR) could jump from the billboards straight into the online world in one swoop here.

So what is the company worth? Talk was originally putting WPP interest at $600 million and then after the DoubleClick-Google tie up word came that Microsoft or others may pay up to $1 Billion. The company has only $73 million in total liabilities and most of those are just current liabilities, so there would not be the need to alter the equity figures by much.

TFSM had a market cap of $569 million based on an $11.20 stock price and shares already went up as high as $13.00 on the higher bid interest. $600 million would only be a 5.4% premium to the $11.20 price, which would only be an $11.81 implied price. That might have been enough a year ago or more, but that probably wouldn’t cut it today. But a $1 Billion price tag would imply a 76% premium to today’s price, so that would imply $19.75. Based on where the stock has been on its own and based on any recent history at all that number is still probably too high. The truth lies somewhere in the middle, but you can at least now quantify what some of this would be. $11.81 might be a “starting bid value” and the halfway mark in between would be just north of $15.00.

If a buyer does not emerge and based on the current prices and our past articles, an implied “no takeover play” valuation on this name is probably now closer to $9.50 to $10.00. The online ad world is just worth more than it was just a short time ago. If this truly does get gobbled up then $15.00, or $800 million, does seem feasible and seems a level that shareholders might not be able to fight too much. It is very possible that since it has just hired Lehman that the review would take some time. It shouldn’t be expected that this happens overnight, and today’s drop to $10.72 is evidence that Wall Street doesn’t think this will happen immediately.

Jon C. Ogg
May 10, 2007

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