24/7 Wall St. » PETM

Potential Upside for Specialty Retailers (SPLS, OMX, BKS, BID, PETM)

Paul Ausick — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:30:52 +0000

With the focus on holiday shopping, now is a good time to have a look at potential upside gains in specialty retail stocks. We’ve looked at five stocks that we’ve been watching in the sector, and some of the news is good and some is not. The stocks we’ve included are Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS), Office Max Inc. (NYSE: OMX), Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS), Sotheby’s (NYSE: BID), and PetsMart Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM).

Over the past four weeks, both Staples and Office Max have seen their target prices drop. At Staples, the median target price fell from $19.00 to $18.00. The share price today is $14.40, indicating a potential upside of 25%. At Office Max, the median price target fell from $7.50 to $6.75, indicating a potential upside of 42.1%. At its current earnings multiple of about 8, Office Max could be a contender, but the company is closing stores and only expects revenue to be flat with last fiscal year. The company’s price/book ratio is also a very low 0.62, but again, that could be deceptive.

Staples’ median target price has fallen further below its 52-week high in the past month and its price/book ratio is pretty high at 1.40. The company reported weak sales and earnings, and like all the office supply stores, traffic is down. The trend is particularly bad in Europe. Staples may hit its revenue and profit targets for the quarter and the year, but that’s only because the estimates have come down.

Barnes & Noble missed revenue and profit estimates yesterday, but the stock continues to rise because sales of the company’s Nook e-readers and tablets have risen sharply (85%, to $200 million) and investors believe the trade-off for book sales is a positive sign. B&N’s median target price rose from $15.50 to $20.00 over the past four weeks, and at today’s price of $16.15, the potential upside is 23.8%. Nook sales account for just over 10% of the company’s total revenue, so unless sales continue to climb at last quarter’s rate, B&N’s chances of fulfilling its promise are pretty slim. The company’s forward P/E is 37.42 and the price/book ratio is 1.09, which could lead one to believe that the stock may be approaching an overbought status. The company’s share price has risen by about 25% in the past 12 months.

Sotheby’s median price target fell from $51.00 to $45.00, and at a current price of $32.14, the stock’s potential upside is 40%. That figure would be cause for more joy if Sotheby’s share price hadn’t fallen by -7% in the past month and if the target price were still about the 52-week high. Sotheby’s forward P/E is 10.79, but its price/book ratio is 2.47. For the fiscal year ending this month, Sotheby’s EPS estimate has fallen by -$0.23 in the past 90 days. This does not look like a company about to bust its target price.

PetsMart has a median target price of $53.50, a rise of $3.50 over the past four weeks. At today’s share price of $48.95, the potential upside for the stock is 9.3%. The company beat third-quarter earnings and revenue expectations and boosted its fourth-quarter EPS estimate to $0.85-$0.89. Shares put up a new 52-week high of $49.03 today. The company’s forward P/E is 16.36, and its price/book ratio is a fairly high 4.66. But sales and profits have been growing, and the stock price is up about 25% this year.

Share price gains have fallen about equally on B&N and PetsMart in the past year. The other stocks we’ve looked at have lost between -25% and -75%, with Office Max the biggest loser. B&N also boasts a 5.7% dividend yield, compared with just 1.2% for PetsMart.

PetsMart’s 9.3% potential upside is within reach as long as the store sticks to its business, while B&N’s potential gain of nearly 24% depends on selling boatloads of its Nook devices, which is possible and perhaps even likely. But as that happens B&N cannibalizes its old business and that may be hard to make up quickly.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Retail Tagged: BID, BKS, OMX, PETM, SPLS

Expected Gains in Specialty Retail Stocks (ODP, OMX, SPLS, BKS, CSTR, BID, TSCO, TITN, PETM, LUX)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:26:34 +0000

The universe of specialty retail stocks is not terribly large, measured either by number of companies or market cap. The entire sector has a market cap of about $310 billion, less than Apple Inc. (NYSE: AAPL) or Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) alone. The companies represented in this group include pet supply stores, a bookstore chain, a DVD rental chain, office supply stores, a heavy equipment rental chain, an eyewear maker, and an auction house.

The companies we’re looking at include Office Depot, Inc. (NYSE: ODP), Office Max Inc. (NYSE: OMX), Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS), Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSTR), Sotheby’s (NYSE: BID), Tractor Supply Co. (NASDAQ: TSCO), Titan Machinery Inc. (NASDAQ: TITN), PetSmart Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM), and Luxottica Group S.p.A. (NYSE: LUX).

Diversity aside, most of these stocks have very high implied gains, which means either that they are worth a second look or that there is no hope that any will ever hit their targets and that a lower target is soon to come. Which result will occur depends to a large extent on competitors in the same business, the overall economy, and whether consumers regain some of their lost confidence.

All data from Yahoo! Finance, with current prices taken at about noon today.

Office Depot, Inc. (NYSE: ODP) has a median target price of $4.00 from 13 brokers. Shares are trading today at $2.30, for an implied gain of $1.70, or 74%. Office Depot’s forward P/E is 28.5 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $1.75-$6.25, and at today’s price that’s about 31% above its 52-week low, posted earlier this morning, and 63% below the 52-week high.

Analysts didn’t expect much from Office Depot in the third quarter, and the company failed to deliver even that. EPS was break-even compared with an expected EPS of $0.01. Revenue also missed estimates. The implied gain in this stock is purely illusory when you consider its earnings and its immodest forward P/E.

Office Max Inc. (NYSE: OMX) has a median target price of $7.50 from 14 brokers. Shares are trading today at $5.10, for an implied gain of $2.40, or 47%. Office Max’s forward P/E is 7.39 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $3.90-$19.20, and at today’s price that’s about 31% above its 52-week low, posted earlier this morning, and 73% below the 52-week high.

Office Max reported that net income rose last quarter but revenue fell, as a result of cost-cutting measures. The company expects full-year revenue to be flat with last year. The company also plans to continue closing stores. There’s little long-term happiness in store for the company.

Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) has a median target price of $19.00 from 16 brokers. Shares are trading today at $14.69, for an implied gain of $4.31, or 29%. Staples’ forward P/E is 9.58 and the company pays a 2.8% dividend yield. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $11.94-$23.75, and at today’s price that’s about 23% above its 52-week low, posted earlier this morning, and 38% below the 52-week high.

Staples has been rumored as a possible buyer of either Office Depot or Office Max or both. The company’s market cap of $10.5 billion is about 10X the market cap of the other two combined, so such a deal is not out of the question. Staples’ target price is now lower than its 52-week high, a sign that analysts don’t expect a lot of growth. That could either spur the company to go ahead with an acquisition or cause it to sit on its hands.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) has a median target price of $15.50 from 4 brokers. Shares are trading today at $11.52, for an implied gain of $3.98, or 35%. B&N’s forward P/E is 33.87 and the company pays a huge 8.1% dividend yield. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $10.30-$12.65, and at today’s price that’s about 12% above its 52-week low, posted earlier this morning, and 9% below the 52-week high.

B&N is trying to keep up with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) in the e-reader/tablet market. The company is set to announce a new entrant in its Nook device family on Monday. Somehow, taking on the two biggest players in the market with a device that costs more than a comparable device from Amazon and has far less capability than an Apple iPad just doesn’t seem like a long-term winning strategy.

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Retail Tagged: BID, BKS, CSTR, LUX, ODP, OMX, PETM, SPLS, TITN, TSCO

24/7 Closing Bell (BP, DRYS, STX, PETM, BHP, F, MCD, GE, CMG, FSL, APKT, CALX, GMCR, PCYO, SYNA, RCON)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:27:58 +0000

A raft of good earnings reports pushed the markets higher at opening this morning, sending the Dow Industrials up about 200 points at mid-day. For some reason traders are hopeful that this weekend’s meeting between the leaders of France and Germany will lead to a resolution of the banking crisis in Europe. Equities also got a boost from a Federal Reserve governor who said that the Fed should try to push mortgage rates even lower with large-scale purchases of mortgage-backed securities. President Obama announced that nearly all US troops would be out of Iraq by the end of this year, giving the markets another late afternoon boost.The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 267 points to 11,808.87 (2.31%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 39 points (1.49%) to 2,637.46, and the S&P 500 rose 1.88% or nearly 23 points to 1,238.23.There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including a ‘neutral’ start for BP plc (NYSE: BP) at Nomura. DryShips, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) was started as ‘equal-weight’ at Barclays, and disk drive maker Seagate Technology LLC (NYSE: STX) was raised to ‘outperform’ at Baird and to ‘buy’ at ThinkEquity. Wells Fargo cut PetSmart Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM) to ‘market perform’. Mining giant BHP Billiton plc (NYSE: BHP) was cut to ‘hold’ at SocGen and to ‘neutral’ at HSBC. Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) received a debt upgrade to ‘BB+’ from S&P, which could mean that a dividend is on its way from the automaker.

Here are today’s big post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) is up almost 3.5% at $92.09, after hitting new 52-week high of $92.12 earlier in the day; General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is down about -2.2%, at $16.26; Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG) is up 7.25%, at $331.00; Freescale Semiconductor Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: FSL) is down about -2% at $11.89; Acme Packet, Inc. (NASDAQ: APKT) fell more than -20% and is trading at $30.37; and Calix Inc. (NYSE: CALX) is down nearly -19% at $6.82, after posting a new 52-week low earlier today of $6.39.

Several other standouts from today include …

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) began the day up about 5% following some harsh words from David Einhorn. The stock is finishing the day up about 1.5%, at $69.01, after dropping nearly -30% since the beginning of the week.

Pure Cycle Corp. (NASDAQ: PCYO) is up more than 27%, to $2.37, after several down trading sessions.

Synaptics Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNA) is up more than 19%, to $32.18, after posting a new 52-week high earlier today. The company has nearly completed its transition to a maker of chips for touchscreens, a much higher margin business than its touchpad chips.

Recon Technology Ltd. (NASDAQ: RCON) is down more than -5%, at $0.97, after getting a letter from Nasdaq for failing to file an annual report.

Stay tuned for Monday. We have the National Activity Index from the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank at 8:30 a.m. and a speech from Dallas Fed chief Richard Fisher at 9:00 a.m. The US Treasury has also scheduled three short-term T-bill auctions for late morning.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: General, Shareholder Issues Tagged: APKT, BHP, BP, CALX, CMG, DRYS, F, FSL, GE, GMCR, MCD, PCYO, PETM, RCON, STX, SYNA

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (BHP, BP, CIM, DRYS, FITB, GFA, HBAN, JCOM, JBHT, ERIC, MS, PLL, PETM, STX, STM, SYNA)

Administrator — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 12:19:00 +0000

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

BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) Cut to Hold at Societe Generale; Cut to Neutral at HSBC.
BP plc (NYSE: BP)Started as Neutral at Nomura.
Chimera Investment Corporation (NYSE: CIM) Cut to Underperform at Stern Agee.
DryShips, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) Started as Equal-Weight at Barclays.
Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) Reiterated Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Gafisa S.A. (NYSE: GFA) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.
Huntington Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: HBAN) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
j2 Global Communications (NASDAQ: JCOM) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
JB Hunt Transport Services Inc. (NASDAQ: JBHT) Started as Overweight at Barclays.
LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC) Reiterated Buy with $19 target at Argus.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Pall Corporation (NYSE: PLL) added to U.S. Focus List at Credit Suisse.
PetSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) Raised to Outperform at Baird; Raised to Buy at ThinkEquity.
STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) Raised to Hold at S&P Equity Research.
Synaptics Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNA) Raised to Buy at Stern Agee; Raised to Hold at Needham.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: BHP, BP, CIM, DRYS, ERIC, FITB, GFA, HBAN, JBHT, JCOM, MS, PETM, PLL, STM, STX, SYNA

Pets Are Recession-Proof! (PETM, PETS, WOOF)

Administrator — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:10:40 +0000

Whether or not the U.S. is truly going into another recession is still up for grabs. What is not up for grabs is that earnings are coming in less robust and companies are generally far less optimistic than they were at the beginning of this year. That is, except for the market around the household pets like cats, dogs, and other beasts of affection. PetSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM) has raised guidance and this has the sector tied to pets under the magnifying glass today.

PetSmart runs about 1,200 retail locations throughout North America and its market valuation is over $5.1 billion. Its shares recently traded above $46.00 today after it raised guidance and the 52-week trading range is $35.27 to $46.60. It is not normal for retail companies to be trading within 1% or 2% of year highs in the current environment.

PetMed Express Inc. (NASDAQ: PETS) is surprisingly not in the gaining crowd today, yet it aims to help pet owners to save money by buying animal drugs online or over the phone rather than via the pharmacy, pet store, or vet’s office. Shares are down almost 1% at $9.30 and its 52-week trading range is $8.51 to $18.87. This company trades close to the market at about 13-times expected earnings.

Then there is the king of veterinarian centers at 11:50AM EDT: 16.94 0.03 (0.18%) VCA Antech Inc. (NASDAQ: WOOF). This one is down 0.2% so far at $16.94 and its 52-week range is $14.73 to $26.29.

What got things going was that PetSmart lifted its sales targets for the third quarter to 5.5% to 6% growth in same-store sales. It also raised guidance to $0.46 to $0.48 EPS from a prior target of $0.41 to $0.45 EPS. For the year, that range was raised to $2.46 to $2.52 EPS from a prior range of $2.40 to $2.48 EPS.

All of this only highlights the private equity acquisition of PetSmart’s main rival, which is Petco Animal Supplies. Petco agreed to be acquired in a $1.7 billion private equity buyout in 2006 by Leonard Green & Partners and affiliates of Texas Pacific Group.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Consumer Goods, Earnings, Entertainment, Retail Tagged: PETM, PETS, WOOF

After-Hours Stocks on the Move (HOTT, IVR, JDSU, LTD, NTAP, PETM, SNPS, GENT)

Administrator — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 20:47:11 +0000

We have many stocks on the move after the close this Wednesday, many on earnings. The stocks on the move are as follows: Hot Topic Inc. (NASDAQ: HOTT); Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc. (NYSE: IVR); JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ: JDSU); Limited Brands, Inc. (NYSE: LTD); NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP); PetSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM); Synopsys Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS); and Gentium S.p.A (NASDAQ: GENT). We have included the news and the moves on each below.

Hot Topic Inc. (NASDAQ: HOTT) is higher as a turnaround stock, but it lost $6.2 million for the quarter to come in at -$0.14 EPS. The boost is from a $25 million share buyback plan. Shares fell 1% in regular trading to $6.95, but the stock is up 4% at $7.23 in the after-hours.

Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc. (NYSE: IVR) had already had one secondary offering not too long ago at the end of June, and now it has signaled that it will sell 20 million more in shares. Shares are trading down 3.3% at $18.65 in the after-hours session.

JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ: JDSU) is down considerably after turning in a mere $0.04 net EPS on $0.23 adjusted EPS. The guidance is where the trouble comes into play. Shares closed down 1.7% at $11.70 and the stock is now down what is approaching double-digits in percentage terms at $10.60.

Limited Brands, Inc. (NYSE: LTD) is bucking some of the margin issues in retail apparel stores. The company posted $0.48 EPS vs. $0.46 estimates and it raised 2011 guidance to $2.35 to $2.40 EPS after giving same-store sales guidance for the next quarter in the high single-digit range. Shares were down 1.4% at $34.34 today but the stock is now up 3.6% at $35.50 in the after-hours.

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) is hurting: The company reported earnings of $0.54 EPS before items and gave guidance for earnings down at $0.38 to $0.42 EPS for next quarter. The company also announced the retirement of its CFO. Shares were down over 3% at $41.66 today, but now the stock is down more than 11% more at $36.95 in the after-hours session. What will hurt more than anything is that the prior 52-week low was $38.00. So much for this one being immune to the market and economy.

PetSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM) looked ok on the surface at $0.54 EPS vs. $0.51 estimates. The company also put 2011 guidance at $2.40 to $2.48 EPS versus a prior target of $2.32 to $2.42 EPS. The problem is that Thomson Reuters was already at $2.43 EPS. Shares closed down $0.03 at $41.56 and the after-hours market is down more than 3% at $40.15 in the after-hours.

Synopsys Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS) said revenue rose almost 15% to $386.8 million and gave guidance for next quarter for revenues to be in a range of $386 to $392 million. It also gave guidance of $1.531 to $1.537 billion in 2011 sales, all of which are slightly above estimates from Thomson Reuters. Shares closed up 3.8% at $23.44 and the stock is up another 1.5% at $23.80 in the after-hours session.

Gentium S.p.A (NASDAQ: GENT) is getting whacked after announcing that the company was withdrawing its NDA for Defibrotide after recent correspondence from the FDA identifying numerous “Refuse to File” issues regarding the completeness of the datasets for both the treatment and prevention studies. The FDA has also requested that Gentium conduct additional quality reviews and requested additional details regarding the conduct and monitoring of the trials by the independent review committee. Ouch. Shares closed down 2% at $8.79 but the stock is down close to 30% at $6.30 in the after-hours session.

Some of these prices may be grossly different after the conference calls and by the morning.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: After-Hours Activity, Trading Alert Tagged: GENT, HOTT, IVR, JDSU, LTD, NTAP, PETM, SNPS

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (BBVA, STD, EP, EE, FNSR, FSLR, GFI, GS, HLIT, HCA, MENT, NFLX, PETM, RYAAY, S, TJX, VCLK)

Administrator — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 12:18:52 +0000

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

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (NYSE: BBVA) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Banco Santander S.A. (NYSE: STD) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
El Paso Corporation (NYSE: EP) Reiterated Buy as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
El Paso Electric Co. (NYSE: EE) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ: FNSR) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Maintained Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Gold Fields Limited (NYSE: GFI) Reiterated Buy as Value at Zacks.
The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) Reiterated Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ: HLIT) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
HCA Inc. (NYSE: HCA) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Mentor Graphics Corporation (NASDAQ: MENT) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Reiterated Outperform and raised target to $310 at Credit Suisse; Reiterated Sell at Janney Capital; Maintained as Buy with $300 target at Canaccord Genuity.
PetSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM) Started as Outperform at RBC.
Ryanair Holdings plc (NASDAQ: RYAAY) Cut to Market Perform at Raymond James.
Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) Raised to Outperform at RBC.
The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TJX) Started as Buy at BofA/ML.
ValueClick, Inc. (NASDAQ: VCLK) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray.

You are invited to 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: BBVA, EE, EP, FNSR, FSLR, GFI, GS, HCA, HLIT, MENT, NFLX, PETM, RYAAY, S, STD, TJX, VCLK

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ACH, ARW, HBAN, KIRK, MPEL, PETM, PHM SINA, STLD)

Administrator — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 12:16:04 +0000

Live from the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, or what is left of it, outside the NYSE Euronext HQ in Amsterdam… No Rembrandt, no Dutch East India Company, and not even Van Gogh… It is going to be a lite day on research calls as we are just ahead of a three-day weekend and some of us are already away. These are some of the top analyst upgrades and downgrades we have seen from Wall Street research calls this Thursday morning:

Aluminum Corporation Of China Limited (NYSE: ACH) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Arrow Electronics Inc. (NYSE: ARW) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Huntington Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: HBAN) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Kirkland’s, Inc. (NASDAQ: KIRK) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Melco Crown PBL (NASDAQ: MPEL) Reiterated Buy and target raised to $12.40 at UBS.
PetSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE: PHM) Cut to Hold at S&P Equity Research (late-Wednesday call).
SINA Corporation (NASDAQ: SINA) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) listed as a daily value stock at Zacks.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ACH, ARW, HBAN, KIRK, MPEL, PETM, PHM SINA, STLD

Top Day Trader Alerts (SYMC, CHKP, BRCD, BSDM, MNKD, NTAP, PETM, STEM)

Administrator — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:03:34 +0000

Day traders and active traders have many movers this Wednesday morning to choose from. The top alerts were seen in Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC), Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP), Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD), BSD Medical Corporation (NASDAQ: BSDM), MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ: MNKD), NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP), PetSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM), and StemCells Inc. (NASDAQ: STEM).

The Intel-McAfee deal already has the primary move taken care of, but the data-security peers are the ones to watch. Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) is a very troubled company with data security and storage, and its shares are now up 12% at $14.18 in the pre-market trading. Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP) is also up 5.4% at $36.14 in pre-market trading.

Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD) is getting squeezed this morning and shares are down 6.8% at $4.79 on more than 600,000 shares. This is worse than last night when Brocade went out in the after-hours session down 4.67% at $4.90 on 874,644 shares.

BSD Medical Corporation (NASDAQ: BSDM) is seeing a second day win after yesterday’s news of an FDA Approval that sent shares up about 100%. Shares are up another 6% at $3.15 on over 400,000 shares.

MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ: MNKD) is trading up almost 4% at $6.20 on about 200,000 shares after pricing $100 million in senior convertible notes amd entering into a share sale and share lending agreement. The secondary sale was at $5.55 versus a close of $5.97 yesterday.

NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) is down 3.1% this morning from $39.32 to $38.09 in pre-market trading on active volume after earnings disappointed.

PetSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM) is trading up after earnings and strong guidance and after Goldman maintained a neutral rating but raised the price target. Shares are seeing thin volume but the first indication was up almost 7% at $32.23. This one went out in the after-hours session last night up 7.2% at $32.33 on 144,000 shares.

StemCells Inc. (NASDAQ: STEM) is on the move after positive stem cell data in paralysis. Shares are up 24% at $1.08 on over 550,000 shares. Average volume is only 723,000 shares and a 52-week range of $0.84 to $1.79.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert Tagged: BRCD, BSDM, CHKP, MNKD, NTAP, PETM, STEM, SYMC

Higher Dividends & Share Buybacks From PetsMart (PETM)

Administrator — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 20:13:41 +0000

PetSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM) must be doing very well despite the renewed uncertainty out there. The pet specialty store destination just raised its dividend by 25% to $0.125 per quarter from a prior quarterly payout of $0.10. The company is also boosting what was already a fairly aggressive share buyback plan. After looking at a quick glance for projections, investing in Fido and Fifi may have room for even higher payouts down the road.

The company also announced a new $400 million stock buyback plan that expires in January 2012. The prior $350 million buyback plan was for $350 million and the current $350 million plan had $103 million remaining. Not bad, $247 million spent in a year versus a listed market cap of $3.75 billion. Add in the new buyback plan at the same rate as the prior buyback plan, and suddenly well over 10% of its float has been eliminated.

The company noted that PetSmart continues to generate cash “well above the amount needed for optimal reinvestment in our business” and said that this shows the stability of its cash flow.

The $0.50 annual rate gives the $31.68 price at the closing bell an implied dividend of 1.5%. The company ended last quarter with more than $300 million in cash and long-term investments. Thomson Reuters expects earnings at $1.90 EPS for this fiscal year and $2.18 EPS for the next fiscal year. If the company chooses to do so, it has a lot of implied room for more dividend hikes down the road.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Dividend, Retail, Stock Buybacks Tagged: PETM