Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer told attendees at the company’s annual shareholder meeting that Windows 7 sales were astonishingly high. According to a Wall Street Journal account of the gathering, “Microsoft Corp. has sold twice as many copies of Windows 7 in its first few weeks than any previous version of the operating system,” Ballmer said.
The news means that one of Microsoft’s five major operating units may do well and next year. That leaves four to go. Read More
Reuters: The Nielsen survey shows consumer confidence up in the US for the first time since 2007.
Reuters: Obama’s financial reforms are advancing in Congress.
Reuters: The pay czar said his authority should not be expanded.
Reuters: Obama’s “too big to fail” bill would curb bailouts. Read More
These are this Thursday morning’s top ten analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations we have seen from Wall Street research calls:
Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV) Raised to Neutral at UBS; Raised to Buy at Canaccord Adams.
Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
Novellus Systems (NASDAQ: NVLS) Raised to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) Cut to Neutral from Buy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
St. Jude Medical (NYSE: STJ) Raised to Buy at UBS.
STMicroelectronics NV (NYSE: STM) Cut to Sell at RBS.
Tractor Supply Co. (NASDAQ: TSCO) Cut to Underweight at Piper Jaffray.
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JON C. OGG
OCTOBER 22, 2009
Markets in Asia were sharply higher.
The Nikkei rose 1.7% to 10,444.
The Hang Seng was up 2.4% to 21,918.
The Shanghai Composite rose 2% to 3,060.
At the open in Europe, The FTSE rose .7% to 5,162. The Dax was up .6% to 5,737. SAP (SAP ) fell after Oracle’s (ORCL) earnings. The CAC 40 rose .6% to 3,837.
Data from MarketWatch and Reuters.
Douglas A. McIntyre
Several consulting firms post annual figures for the world’s most valuable brands. The two best known are probably the Interbrand and BrandZ surveys. They are notably different, up until now at least. BrandZ includes a number of large brands from Asia. Interbrand does not.
24/7 Wall St. has put together a list of the most valuable brands of 2009 by looking at valuation calculations from a number of sources. Then a base valuation was taken from the 2008 Interbrand data to fix values for this year and changes from last.
Most methods take into account the future earnings of a brand for its parent company. This is fundamentally a guess particularly during a turbulent period in the global economy. Interbrand’s rule is that a brand most get at least a third of its revenue from outside its country-of-origin. That is arbitrary, particularly as it apply to brands in China.
24/7 Wall St. has made the assumption that the value of most brands have been hurt log-term by the deep recession. Forward earnings estimates for many of the firms on this list show that. Those brands which post value improvements show much more modest increases than they would be in a stable economy.
Looking at the Interbrand list from last year, it is fair to ask why firms like Nissan, Wal-Mart (WMT) and Red Bull are not present.
Because the brands on this list are taken from names on the Interbrand survey, we have not made a calculation about which companies may be new to their list in 2009 or which may drop off.
Public firms which are part of this ranking include (KO)(IBM)(MSFT)(GOOG)(GE)(NOK)(TM)(INTC)(MCD)(DIS)(HPQ)(AXP)(C)(HMC)(ORCL)(AAPL)(SNE)(PEP)(HBC)(NKE)(UPS)(FDX)(SAP)(DELL)(JPM)(GS)(KL)(EBAY)(SI)(F)(AIG)(AMZN)(CAT)(AVP)(RIMM)(GPS)(TIF)(BP)(SBUX)(JNJ)(MAR)(V)
The 100: Read More
These are the top upgrades, downgrades, and new coverage calls from Wall Street analysts in technology and telecom this Thursday morning:
Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM) Cut to Hold at Jefferies; Cut to to Neutral from Buy at Merriman Curhan Ford.
Digital River (NASDAQ: DRIV) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Infineon (NYSE:IFX) Raised to Buy at RBS.
Leap Wireless (LEAP) Cut to Neutral at RW Baird.
MetroPCS (NYSE: PCS) Cut to Neutral from Outperform at RW Baird…
NetLogic (NASDAQ: NETL) Cut to Neutral from Outperform at RW Baird.
SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) Raised to Hold from Sell at Societe Generale.
Tyco Electronics (NYSE: TEL) Raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
Jon C. Ogg
July 30, 2009
These are the top ten pre-market analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations we have seen from Wall Street analysts this Wednesday morning with about two and a half hours until the market opens:
JON C. OGG
JULY 8, 2009
Markets in Asia were higher.
The Nikkei was up .4% to 9,590.
The Hang Seng rose 2% to 17,871.
The Shanghai Composite was up 1% to 2,922.
At the open in Europe, The FTSE was up .1% to 4,233. The Dax rose .4% to 4,722. The CAC 40 was up .1% to 3,120. SAP (SAP) rose on Oracle’s (ORCL) earnings. Rio Tinto (RTP) was higher as the mining sector traded up.
Data from Reuters and MarketWatch.
Douglas A. McIntyre
Reuters: Airlines are cutting back on first class seating.
Reuters: Xstrata wants merger talks with mining rival Anglo American.
Reuters: Employers are cutting 401 (K) plans.
Reuters: Brand loyalty is being hurt by the recession.
Reuters: The children of baby boomers may help the US housing market. Read More
Microsoft (MSFT) said it plans to make its first bond offering to raise an expected $3.75 billion. The move is extremely odd since the world’s largest software company has $25 billion and no debt. Net cash from operations was more than$6 billion last quarter, so the cash balance is growing quickly.
The rumors are swirling about Microsoft’s plans for the money, most centered on possible acquisitions. The most widely discussed deals are a partnership with Yahoo! (YHOO) or a buyout of SAP (SAP), one of the top enterprise software companies in the world. Yahoo! says it might like an advertising partnership with Microsoft. Microsoft says it does not want to own Yahoo!. SAP has a market cap of $48 billion, but putting the two companies together would cause antitrust investigations in the US and Europe. Microsoft’s track record with the regulatory groups that would handle those investigations has been extremely poor. Read More
According to Reuters, Bernanke says he was encouraged by the stress tests.
Reuters reports that GM (GM) will probably exit the Dow.
Reuters writes that Bank of America (BAC) will probably sell its CCB stage for $7.3 billion.
Reuters writes that the Administration says the stimulus package will save 3.5 million jobs by the end of next year.
Reuters writes that the CEO of AIG (AIG) will fight criticism of his employees. Read More
According to Reuters, Bank of America (BAC) shareholders voted to separate the chairman and CEO roles and Ken Lewis was replaced as chairman.
Reuters reports that talks to keep Chrysler out of Chapter 11 are on the rocks.
Reuters reports that the Fed sees the economic downturn easing. Read More
These are some of the top pre-market analyst upgrades from Wall Street this Monday morning with well over two hours until the open:
Ameristar Casinos (ASCA) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Barrick Gold (ABX) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Blackstone (BX) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
Janus Capital (JNS) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
Kinross Gold (KGC) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Repsol SA (REP) Raised to Buy at UBS.
SAP (SAP) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Tyco (TYC) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Wendy’s/Arby’s (WEN) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
JON C. OGG
Microsoft (MSFT) is pushing hard to show that it can be a viable competitor in the business of providing operating systems for smartphones. It has done a deal with handset giant LG which will put the new Microsoft mobile OS on many of the Korean company’s smartphones.
But, Redmond may be getting to the game too late. Read More
Wall St. is estimating that Microsoft (MSFT) will make $.40 a share in the current quarter and $1.77 for its fiscal year which ends in June. The company’s CEO is sending a signal that the firm won’t make those numbers. Read More
These are this Thursday’s early bird analyst downgrades and negative research calls with more than two hours until the market opens:
ASML (ASML) Cut to Neutral at B of A Merrill Lynch.
GSI Commerce (GSIC) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Level 3 Communications (LVLT) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
NYSE Euronext (NYX) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Pacer International (PACR) Cut to Underperform at Baird.
Petrobras (PBR) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Portugal Telecom (PT) Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
Qiagen (QGEN) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
SAP (SAP) Cut to Underperform at FBR.
Textainer (TGH) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
JON OGG
February 12, 2009
Shares in large software companies including Microsoft (MSFT) and Oracle (ORCL) have been selling off quickly over the last two quarters. The general forecasts for the firms is that a slowdown in IT spending at enterprises and governments will undermine revenue and compress gross margins.
Those afflicted companies got a bit of a lift today as SAP (SAP), the second largest business software operation in the world, reported earnings that demonstrated the appetite for its products and services has not died.
China reworked its 2007 GDP growth numbers and that put it ahead of Germany in total GDP, making it the third largest economy in the world. The revision seems a little out of the ordinary coming over a year after 2007, but why question it? By the end of the recession China may have even dropped a few places.
These are some of the top pre-market analyst downgrades and negative calls we are seeing this Friday morning:
Jon C. Ogg
December 12, 2008
These are the top downgrades and cautious calls we have seen from Wall Street analysts this Wednesday morning:
Jon C. Ogg
November 26, 2008
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