24/7 Wall St. » SFLY

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (AEO, RAM, TSRX, WAG, SCG, BASI, CAMP, RAM, NOA, FAC, PHH, MJN, SFLY)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 21:04:41 +0000

Today’s opening on equity markets lifted stocks slightly on mixed economic news. New home and durable goods sales rose more than expected, but personal income and spending didn’t meet expectations, with income growth at just 0.1% in November compared growth of 0.4% in October. The Santa Claus rally continued all day on very light volume. WTI crude oil is up about 0.3% at $99.83/barrel and Brent crude is up just 0.06% at $107.96. Gold continues to fall, down to $1,607.10, a drop of -0.22%.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 125 points to 12,294.68 (1.03%), the NASDAQ rose more than 19 points (0.74%) to 2,618.64, and the S&P 500 rose 0.9% or more than 11 points to 1,265.31.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO) cut from ‘buy’ to ‘hold’ at Standpoint Research; RAM Energy Resources Inc. (NYSE: RAM) raised from ‘market perform’ to ‘outperform’ at Rodman; Trius Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: TSRX) started as ‘outperform’ at Robert W. Baird; Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) maintained as ‘hold’ with a lowered price target of $36 at Jefferies; and Scana Corp. (NYSE: SCG) maintained as ‘buy’ with raised price target of $43 at Wunderlich.

Here are today’s post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: Bioanalytical Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: BASI) is up more than 15% at $1.60 and CalAmp Corp. (NASDAQ: CAMP) is down more than -19% at $4.13. All told a light day for earnings reports.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

RAM Energy Resources Inc. (NASDAQ: RAM) is up nearly 21% at $2.43. The independent oil & gas company continues its run from yesterday, when if finished up more than 70% on news of re-listing on Nasdaq and a $550 million private equity investment.

North American Energy Partners Inc. (NYSE: NOA) is up more than 33% at $6.98. The oil field services company will resume its contract with Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (NYSE: CNQ) pending a final contract signing.

First Acceptance Corp. (NYSE: FAC) is up nearly 33% at $1.36. A director of the insurance company bought 200,000 shares on Wednesday.

PHH Corp. (NYSE: PHH) is down more than -5% at $10.53. The mortgage servicer’s credit ratings were cut yesterday at S&P and the fallout continues.

Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. (NYSE: MJN) is down about -5.5% at $64.97. The food processing company had its Enfamil infant formula recalled at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) yesterday, and Walgreen’s, Safeway, Kroger, and Supervalu stores followed today.

Shutterfly Inc. (NASDAQ: SFLY) is down nearly -5% at $23.89. The Internet photo site cut its fourth-quarter guidance this morning.

Markets are closed Monday, December 26. Stay tuned for Tuesday. Here are the noteworthy events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

9:00 a.m. – S&P Case-Shiller housing price index
10:00 a.m. – Conference Board consumer sentiment index
10:00 a.m. – State Street investor confidence index

Have a Merry Christmas Day and great weekend.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AEO, BASI, CAMP, FAC, MJN, NOA, PHH, RAM, SCG, SFLY, TSRX, WAG

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (HD, GMCR, NFLX, STP, RIG, CPN, AEO, JOSB, SDRL, ARO, KKD, ZOLT, AATI, PCX, AVL, JASO, SFLY)

Paul Ausick — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:07:58 +0000

Strong reports from the Chicago purchasing managers index and pending home sales juiced the equity markets this morning, and the gains held up throughout the day. Part of the bounce is due to a lowering of China’s capital reserves requirements on its banks and to a weaker dollar. Crude oil prices rose nearly 2% this morning, but the EIA report of a large inventory increase sent prices back down by mid-morning. WTI crude is trading at $100.27/barrel, after posting a high this morning of $101.75/barrel. Gold is up sharply, at $1,745.30, a rise of nearly 2%. The three major indexes have all been trading more than 3% higher for virtually the whole day.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up nearly 489 points to 12,044.55 (4.23%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 105 points (4.17%) to 2,620.34, and the S&P 500 rose 4.33% or nearly 52 points to 1,246.94.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) reiterated as ‘buy’ with a $46 price target at Argus. Other ratings actions included Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) reiterated as ‘buy’ with a $94 price target at Canaccord Genuity; Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) cut to ‘underperform’ at Wedbush; Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) reiterated as ‘hold’ at Argus; Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) cut to ‘hold’ at Argus; and Calpine Corp. (NYSE: CPN) cut to ‘hold’ at Jefferies. See our story on Transocean’s stock offering and proposed debt offering.

Here are today’s big post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO) is up 3.3%, at $13.87; The Fresh Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: TFM) is up 5.7%, at $38.73; Jos. A. Banks Clothiers, Inc. (NASDAQ: JOSB) is down -6%, at $48.09; and SeaDrill Ltd. (NYSE: SDRL) is up 6.3%, at $34.82. After markets close today, Aeropostale, Inc. (NYSE: ARO) and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. (NYSE: KKD) will report earnings.

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

Zoltec Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZOLT) is up 41.5%, at $8.11. The advanced materials maker reported better-than-expected earnings after markets closed yesterday.

Advanced Analogics Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AATI) is up 32.5%, at $5.75. The power management chip maker is being acquired by Skyworks Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS) for $258.6 million, or about $6.05/share.

Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE: PCX) is up 18.7%, at $10.30. This coal miner, like virtually all its competitors, is down about -40% for the past 12 months. There’s no news to justify today’s price jump, but the company’s thermal coal does sell well in cold weather.

Avalon Rare Metals Inc. (AMEX: AVL) is up 20.3%, at $3.26. The rare earths miner made this big move on no news, but competitor Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP) did a deal with two Japanese companies to manufacture very powerful magnets in Japan for use in wind turbines and other high-tech products.

JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) is up 16.6%, at $1.80. The solar PV maker is among several Chinese solar companies moving up today, no doubt as these are considered the most likely to survive a shakeout in the solar manufacturing sector.

Shutterfly, Inc. (NASDAQ: SFLY) is down -12%, at $27.02, after posting a new 52-week low of $26.93 earlier today. The social media company is facing intense competition for its on-line photo products.

Stay tuned for Thursday. Here’s a list of other noteworthy events scheduled for tomorrow(all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – New unemployment claims
9:45 a.m. – Bloomberg consumer comfort index
10:00 a.m – Industrial Supply Management manufacturing index
10:30 a.m. – EIA natural gas weekly report
4:30 p.m. – Federal Reserve balance sheet
4:30 p.m. – Money supply report

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AATI, AEO, ARO, AVL, CPN, GMCR, HD, JASO, JOSB, KKD, NFLX, PCX, RIG, SDRL, SFLY, STP, ZOLT

Will Apple Lose Top Employees? The Great Brain Drain (AAPL, MSFT, GOOG)

Administrator — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 09:53:34 +0000

When great CEOs leave a company, an entire corporate culture is at risk to change, even when the new CEO is the favored replacement. Tim Cook is said to be more than able to fill the role of Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO permanently now that Steve Jobs has left. There is just one problem in thinking that all things will remain the same except for the “minus Steve Jobs” factor. It is not even that Steve Jobs is one of the most memorable, most hands on, and most influential CEOs out there. Of technology CEOs, he certainly shines. What Apple and its investors have to fear the most is the possible competitive threat of a brain drain.

Apple is not alone. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) have both already experienced this brain drain effect. The risks are not just top executives leaving. The risk is that other employees will follow executive defections in the months and years ahead. More importantly, even the underlings who do not follow former executives to the same destination are either more likely to accept calls from recruiters or are more likely to go pursue new challenges and opportunities. If those employees feel that the best days of growth have been seen or if they feel they have already been made millionaires on stock and options, then the incentive to stay may even be less.

Again, this has happened elsewhere. It is not a definite outcome at Apple, but if it does occur there it will not be the last such case in business history. Now the new destinations for talent are numerous, from gadget-makers, to social media, to internet and software, and to many aspects of hardware. Imagine how many executives at Facebook, Groupon, Zynga, Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), HP (NYSE: HPQ), Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL), EMC (NYSE: EMC) and elsewhere would love to bring in some of the Apple culture. These companies could certainly lure employees with salaries and stock options.

Microsoft has seen a large amount of brain drain over the past decade, and much was credited to the departure of Bill Gates, when employees could seek new challenges and after they had accumulated wealth. The departures were in the Windows design team, Windows Live, MSN, Xbox and Zune, and on. One of the most noted departures we tracked was Ray Ozzie as chief software architect, which Microsoft-Watch said was on the heels of other key departures. Business Insider gave a list in early 2011 of the top ten departures over the last ten years. What is funny about Microsoft is that the departures are often not usually over pay, but over pressure, lifestyle, and a desire to seek new challenges elsewhere.

Google has suffered a brain drain in recent years as well. The once best place in the world has peaked as far as its ability to grow, compared to the past. Google originally had been able to attract people seeking new challenges, but Google is not really known for being the top salary destination, and its workforce has expanded massively. Back in 2008, Wired wrote about the brain drain that occurs after a four-year or five-year option vesting plan. In late 2010, the company even reportedly instituted pay raises of about 10% to be more competitive. And now we have Larry Page as CEO without the full-time adult supervision of Eric Schmidt.

So, the focus on Apple …

Filed under: Activist Investor, Consumer Electronics, Corporate Governance, Economy, Editor's Picks, Labor & Unions, Management Change, Technology Companies Tagged: AAPL, DELL, GOOG, HPQ, JCP, MSFT, NATI, NTAP, ORCL, OSTK, SFLY

CafePress: An Old Dot-Com IPO Worth Considering (VPRT, SFLY)

Administrator — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 14:19:16 +0000

CafePress Inc. is one of the latest dot-com players that has filed to come public. What is interesting is that CafePress is far from an unknown internet player and it actually has a longstanding reputation that goes back to 1999 before the dot-come bubble of 2000. The company’s paperwork filed with the SEC does not list terms but it does plan to raise up to $80 million dollars in its initial public offering. No ticker was assigned and no exchange listing has yet been made.

CafePress’s product offerings include a wide array covering t-shirts, hats, canvas art prints, banners, stickers, iPhone and iPad cases, mugs, water bottles, GPS units, cards and calendars. It develops its products through such activities as: screen printing and garment printing; creative photo merchandising; promotional product marketing; and mass-customization services for retailers and product manufacturers. It is involved in E-commerce and a variety of other distribution channels. Company sales are subject to seasonal influences. Fourth quarter revenues regularly lead the year owing to holiday sales.

The company lists substantial competition, but the two most widely recognized competitors listed are going to be VistaPrint N.V. (NASDAQ: VPRT) for small businesses and Shutterfly, Inc. (NASDAQ: SFLY) for photographic products. Other competitors are Etsy, CustomInk, Spreadshirt, Threadless and Zazzle.

Upon completion of this IPO the company anticipates 28.4 million in outstanding shares. This total is subject to certain common share exclusions specified in the offering document including: 4.2 million shares subject to exercisable options; shares reserved for the company’s stock incentive plan and employee stock purchase plan; and conversion of 11.1 million shares of preferred stock).

CafePress’s net revenues had doubled from $64.1 million in 2006 to $127.9 million in 2010. Meanwhile net income tripled from $1.02 million in 2006 to $33.3 million for 2010. Net revenues and income rose roughly 40% for the quarter ending March 31, 2011 compared with March, 2010.

The selling stockholders are offering the shares through underwriters. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Jefferies & Company, Inc. and Cowen and Company, LLC with Morgan and Jefferies acting as joint book-running managers.

As far as a use of funds, it listed “to increase our working capital, create a public market for our common stock and facilitate our access to the public capital markets” and “…for general corporate purposes, including working capital and capital expenditures.”

The co-founders are Fred Durham with a 19.0% stake and Maheesh Jain with a 17.3% stake; Sequoia Capital Funds is also listed as a 20.4% owner.

The full preliminary IPO filing can be seen here.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Apparel, Consumer Goods, IPOs, Retail Tagged: SFLY, VPRT

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AMD, BAM, GENZ, KGC, NTAP, NVDA, OWW, PAAS, SLE, SFLY, SWK, HOT)

Administrator — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 13:39:53 +0000

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

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD) Reiterated Buy and $12 price target at Gleacher & Co.
Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (NYSE: BAM) Started as Outperform with $38 target at Credit Suisse.
Genzyme Corporation (NASDAQ: GENZ) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE: KGC) Cut to Hold at TD.
NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) Cut to Hold at Canaccord Genuity; Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray; Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: OWW) Cut to Underweight at Piper Jaffray.
Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS) Cut to Hold at TD.
Sara Lee Corporation (NYSE: SLE) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Shutterfly, Inc. (NASDAQ: SFLY) Cut to Neutral at Zacks.
Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (NYSE: SWK) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: HOT) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $74 at Argus.

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: AMD, BAM, GENZ, HOT, KGC, NTAP, NVDA, OWW, PAAS, SFLY, SLE, SWK

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (DISH, DTV, ECA, EXPE, MMM, NFLX, PIR, SFLY, UA, UAUA)

247wallst — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:01:08 +0000

These are some of the top 10 analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Friday morning:

Dish Networks (NASDAQ: DISH) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
DirecTV (NYSE: DTV) Started as Neutral at JPMorgan.
Encana Corp. (NYSE: ECA) Raised to Buy at Canaccord.
Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) Raised to Buy at Kaufman Bros.
3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) Cut to Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Started as Market Perform at BMO Capital.
Pier 1 Imports (NYSE: PIR) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
ShutterFly (NASDAQ: SFLY) Raised to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Under Armour (NYSE: UA) Started as Overweight at Barclays.
UAL Corp. (NASDAQ: UAUA) Cut to Hold at Jesup & Lamont.

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list to hear about top analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPOs and secondary offerings, ongoing day trader and options trader alerts, stock and market rumors, Buffett and guru investor news, M&A and more.

JON C. OGG
FEBRUARY 12, 2010

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: DISH, DTV, ECA, EXPE, MMM, NFLX, PIR, SFLY, UA, UAUA

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations (AOL, CBS, BEN, MYL, NWS, ORCL, RIMM, SFLY, VIA, DIS)

247wallst — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:05:53 +0000

These are ten of the most important analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Thursday morning. You will probably notice a substantial focus on media-related shares:

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) Started as Sell at Merriman Curhan Ford.
CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS) Started as Buy at Needham.
Franklin Resources Inc. (NYSE: BEN) Started as Hold at Jefferies.
Mylan Labs (NASDAQ: MYL) Started as Buy at SunTrust.
News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWS) Started as Buy at Needham.
Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) Reiterated Buy/$27 and raised 2010-12 estimates at Goldman Sachs.
Research-in-Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) Target cut to $120 from $150 at RBC.
Shutterly, Inc. (NASDAQ: SFLY) Raised to Buy at Janney.
Viacom (NYSE: VIA) Started as Buy at Needham.
Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) Started as Hold at Needham.

You can join our open email distribution list to hear more news on key analyst calls, top day trader alerts, mergers and acquisitions, Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls, Media, Trading Alert Tagged: AOL, BEN, CBS, DIS, MYL, NWS, ORCL, RIMM, SFLY, VIA

Shutterfly (SFLY): A Death Rattle From Web 2.0

247wallst — Thu, 01 May 2008 09:56:00 +0000

Shutterfly (SFLY) calls itself an Internet-based social expression and personal publishing service. In reality, it is a simple online photo storage, swapping, and printing service.

No matter what it is, the company is not doing very well. Its shares fell over 17% today after it announced Q1 earnings. The stock fell through its 52-week low and traded down to $12.65. The stock has been as high as $37 during the period.

Shutterfly is not growing like a Web 2.0 company. Revenue rose 29% to $34,3 million. The company forecast Q2 revenue to be up 17% to 27% to a revenue range of $35 to $38 million. In other words, no growth quarter-over-previous-quarter.

Shutterfly also displayed the uncanny ability to lose more money that it did last year. The company’s net loss went to $3.6 million from $1.1 million in the quarter a year ago.

A look at the company’s P&L shows another source of the trouble. Shutterfly is spending way too much money. Expenses rose from $17 million in Q1 last year to $28.4 million in the last quarter.

If the company is not going to grow very fast, at least it could control expenditures.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (BKS, BBY, CMO, COP, DBD, DDS, LLNW, NOVL, SFLY, VG)

247wallst — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 07:32:20 +0000

Below are the top analyst calls that 247WallSt.com is looking at this morning in early trading:

Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) downgraded to Underweight at JP Morgan.
Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) downgraded to Neutral at Banc of America.
Capstead Mortgage (NYSE: CMO) started as Outperform at Bear Stearns; started as Outperform at RBC Capital.
ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) downgraded to Equal-weight at Lehman Brothers.
Diebold (NYSE: DBD) raised to Outperform at Robert W. Baird; downgraded to Hold at Jefferies.
Dillards (NYSE: DDS) raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Limelight Networks (NASDAQ: LLNW) raised to Hold at Jefferies.
Novell (NASDAQ: NOVL) downgraded to Hold at Jefferies.
Shutterfly (NASDAQ: SFLY) started as Outperform at William Blair.
Vonage (NYSE: VG) raised to Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.

Jon C. Ogg
March 4, 2008

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (AUO, ESRX, FDO, GRMN, PBR, PZE, PPDI, SFLY, TSO, ZUMZ, CAL, DAL, NWA, UAUA, LCC, AMR)

247wallst — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 08:03:19 +0000

These are not the only key analyst calls coming out of Wall Street analysts today, but these are the key calls that 247WallSt.com is focusing on in pre-market hours:

AU Optronics (AUO) raised to Outperform at Lehman.
Express Scripts (ESRX) downgraded to Market Perform at Wachovia.
Family Dollar (FDO) downgraded to Underperform at Bear Stearns.
Garmin (GRMN) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Petrobras Brasiliero (PBR) downgrades to Sell from Hold at Citigroup.
Petrobras Energia (PZE) downgraded to Underperform from Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.
PPD Inc. (PPDI) raised to Buy at UBS.
Shutterffly (SFLY) raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Tesoro (TSO) downgraded to Underperform from Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.
Zumiez (ZUMZ) raised to Buy at Piper Jaffray.
UBS RAISED AIRLINES: Continental (CAL), Delta (DAL), Northwest Airlines (NWA), UAL (UAUA), and United (LCC) all raised to Buy from neutral; AMR (AMR) raised to Neutral from Sell. Incidentally, Bear Stearns also raised Delta (DAL) to an Outperform rating.

Jon C. Ogg
January 9, 2008