24/7 Wall St. » SYMC

Media Digest (2/8/2012) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg

247wallst — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:43:53 +0000

The Greeks try to get a financial aid package while some regional leaders say the eurozone does not need the southern European nation. (Reuters)

A House committee pushes through plans for a reconsideration of the Keystone XL pipeline. (Reuters)

The chairman of Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) to leave. (Reuters)

Nissan posts better earnings on strong sales. (Reuters)

An attempt to bolster money market funds may involve setting up a capital buffer and blocking redemptions for 30 days. (Reuters)

A hacker releases source code from security firm Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC). (Reuters)

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Viacom (NYSE: VIA) may close a transaction to allow the e-commerce company to stream premium video from Viacom properties. (Reuters)

The European Central Bank will change the treatment of its Greek debt to try to salvage a bailout deal. (WSJ)

Some large investors disapprove of a merger deal between Glencore and Xtrata. (WSJ)

General Motors (NYSE: GM) will again try to cut workers at Opel. (WSJ)

UBS (NYSE: UBS) to cut bonuses by 60%. (WSJ)

CalSTRS says it has concerns about the diversity of Facebook’s board. (WSJ)

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) asks the European Telecommunications Standards Institute to set rules for patent licensing among mobile device companies. (WSJ)

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti believes Europe must move beyond austerity to plans that will help create growth. (WSJ)

U.S. businesses upgrade plants and move jobs back to the U.S. (WSJ)

European sales of U.S. companies rose in the fourth quarter, which may cause a problem this year as the region’s economy slows. (WSJ)

Six Spanish banks to set aside €11.8 billion because of real estate trouble in the country. (WSJ)

India becomes more open to foreign investment as its economy slows. (NYT)

As Greece fails to set a deal on its debt, more workers go on strike. (NYT)

U.S. stocks reach a six-month high. (FT)

Collateralized mortgage obligations, one of the causes of the credit crisis, are again popular investments for banks. (FT)

Prices for Canadian oil drop sharply as supplies surge. (FT)

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) to fire 4,000 and move more production to Asia. (Bloomberg)

The Illumina (NASDAQ: ILMN) board rejects a $5.7 billion offer from Roche. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Press Digest Tagged: AAPL, AMZN, GM, ILMN, NOK, SYMC, UBS, VIA, YHOO

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AMGN, AON, EQT, EXEL, IPI, ERIC, MDVN, NKE, NIHD, NYX, POT, RAX, RRC, SYMC, TSLA, UA, UNH)

Administrator — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:27:50 +0000

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

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) Reiterated Buy and Raised target to $80 at Argus.
AON Corporation (NYSE: AON) Raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.
EQT Corporation (NYSE: EQT) Raised to Hold from Sell with $50 target at Canaccord Genuity.
Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXEL) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Intrepid Potash (NYSE: IPI) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC) Maintained Buy but target now at $14 from $19 at Argus.
Medivation, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDVN) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) Raised to Buy at Argus.
NII Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: NIHD) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC Capital.
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Rackspace Hosting Inc. (NYSE: RAX) named Momentum stock of the day at Zacks.
Range Resources Corporation (NYSE: RRC) Raised to Hold from Sell with $59 target at Canaccord Genuity.
Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) Reiterated Buy and $24.00 price target at Argus.
Tesla Motors, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA) Raised to Buy at Needham.
UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

If you enjoyed the top analyst calls, you can sign up in the box below to join our morning email list to receive news directly in your inbox each morning. We include major analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPO and M&A news, special situation developments, observations on Warren Buffett and key market gurus, as well as special exclusive feature stories.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: AMGN, AON, EQT, ERIC, EXEL, IPI, MDVN, NIHD, NKE, NYX, POT, RAX, RRC, SYMC, TSLA, UA, UNH

Oracle Fears and Risks Flow Downstream (ORCL, CSCO, IBM, EMC, VMW, RHT, SYMC, INTC, MSFT, IGV)

Administrator — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:11:36 +0000

What happens when the industry leader who never misses earnings manages a huge disappointment? This is the question regarding Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL). The company has a near-decade of history being very positive with earnings and showing increased market share with solid guidance. That was not the case, and the spillover is working its downstream to other technology and IT peers and competitors.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is a company which often mirrors Oracle’s business trends when times are normalized. While the companies have historically competed for different spending dollars from corporations and governments, a spending slowdown in the network is often the same on the customer relationship management side. Cisco shares are down only 2% at $18.03.

Speaking of identical issues, if Oracle is slowing then “The Baby Oracle” of Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) has to be facing many of the same issues. Its shares are down 8% at $95.75 so far today.

If things are bad at Oracle, SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) is likely having a very hard time as well in the enterprise and CRM markets. Its ADRs are the proof as they are down 5.4% at $52.70.

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM) is down 3.6% at $180.50 and shares are now down more than $10 from when the Warren Buffett investment news hit. The company has a new CEO starting as well and it is hard to imagine that its IT operations on the enterprise and government side are not that different from how Oracle described its quarter and guidance.

What about enterprise storage, and what about enterprise virtualization? EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) and VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW) are the perfect examples as much of the same spending dollars overlap here. EMC shares are down 4% at $21.55 and VMware shares are down 8% at $78.00.

Ditto for Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT) with shares down 5.6% more at $39.65, although Red Hat shares had already been spanked yesterday after disappointing earnings as the stock went from about $46 to $42 on the news.

And what about Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) for security and storage solutions? After another failed attempt at a share price breakout it shares are already back down at the bottom of a long-term trading range. Symantec shares are trading down 3.1% at $15.15 and hit a new 52-week low.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) and others had all indicated a slower spending climate but Oracle is not likely able to use the “Thailand flooding” example. Intel is lower by less than 1% at $23.64. Another surprise “only down a tad” is Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) with shares down only 0.55% at $25.88 on the day. If things are slow on the consumer PC business and if enterprise spending and international currency woes are facing Oracle it would seem logical that Microsoft’s O/S sales are at risk too.

The iShares S&P North Amer Tech-Software (NYSE: IGV) are not super-active in trading volume but the ETF shares are down 4.5% at $53.33 on the day.

This is only a snapshot of the downstream fallout. The real situation is much broader and now the hope has to reside that Oracle’s earnings debacle was a fluke. Or maybe it is the curse of Sun Microsystems hanging over the company.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Earnings Warning, Software, Technology Companies Tagged: CSCO, EMC, IBM, IGV, INTC, MSFT, ORCL, RHT, SYMC, VMW

The Ten Best Cities For Educated Workers

247wallst — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 08:55:38 +0000

The job market has remained relatively stagnant since 2009. To make matters worse, the educational requirements of the average U.S. employer have increased consistently from 2005 to 2009, recently outpacing the growth of educated labor, a new report shows. This means that the average job now requires a higher level of education than the average worker possesses — a bad sign for much of America’s labor force.

Read The Ten Best Cities For Educated Workers

However, there are a number of metropolitan areas in the country that have exceptionally small education gaps, or “shortages of educated workers relative to employer demand,” according to the report “Education, Demand, and Unemployment in Metropolitan America” by the Brookings Institution. These areas tend to have a large number of highly educated workers available to meet rising demand.

As a result, these cities often have lower unemployment rates than the national average, which was 9.1% as of July 2011. “Highly educated metropolitan areas like Salt Lake City, Raleigh, Indianapolis, and Knoxville have avoided very high unemployment rates despite having high concentrations of jobs in industries that were hit hard during the recession,” Jonathan Rothwell, one of the report’s authors, told 24/7 Wall St. “The reason, in large part, is that the average worker in those areas has enough education to meet the needs of the average job.” In cities such as Boston and Madison, which are major educational hubs, a cycle is formed. They produce lots of educated people and provide lots of jobs for educated people.

There are still some cities with small education gaps that do not have exceptionally low unemployment rates. This is the result of unavoidable economic forces. San Francisco, for instance, was badly damaged when the housing bubble burst — the same crash that has hurt so much of California. San Jose’s unemployment rate remains high because its manufacturing base was hit especially hard during the recession.

24/7 Wall St. has analyzed the ten metropolitan areas in the Brookings report with the smallest education gaps. We looked at what causes these areas to have highly educated residents and how their education levels are affecting the areas’ unemployment rates. We then looked at numbers for median household income from the Census Bureau, all of which were higher than the national average of $51,425.

These are the cities where people are most qualified to work.

Filed under: General Tagged: AMP, AMZN, BA, CSCO, IBM, MSFT, SBUX, SYMC, TGT, USB

Global Cybercrime Costs $114 Billion a Year

247wallst — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 10:30:31 +0000

Consumers and corporations may want to turn off their PCs and return to the days when all transactions were done with paper and cash.

“For the first time a Norton study calculates the cost of global cybercrime: $114 billion annually,” parent company Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) reports. The problem affected a total of 431 million people last year. The online security company has no real solutions to offer other than that people can buy its software. “Forty-one percent of adults indicated they don’t have an up to date security software suite to protect their personal information online.” The research, in other words, is an excellent marketing tool.

The data, Symantec says, point to two other important trends. Nearly 70% of people online have been victims of cybercrime during their lifetimes. And the people most at risk are men ages 18 to 34 who use mobile devices to connect to the internet. In other words, PCs pose a broadly dangerous entry point for cybercriminals, but smartphones are worse. The information is especially troubling because people use smartphones with increasing frequency as the primary tools for their online work and play.

What do people expect? Hackers can break down firewalls at large government agencies, major corporations, and software companies like Google (NASDAQ: GOOG). Consumers can take precautions, but theft is part of the price people pay to use online technology and e-commerce. It used to be that those who use cash machines were at risk. Before that, criminals would forge checks. And before that one of the risks was counterfeit money. People who want to steal generally can stay one step ahead of those they want to steal from.

The Symantec research only tells people what they know, or should know. Other than under a mattress, there is no safe place to protect money. The costs of progress come with the costs of fraud and mischief. That has not changed and will not.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Filed under: General Tagged: GOOG, SYMC

24/7 Wall St. Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades of the Week (BAC, BRCD, DNDN, DG, LNKD, HK, POT, RSH, SNDK, SYMC, MCD, TEVA, TA, WMT, YHOO)

Administrator — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 15:36:16 +0000

Each morning we cover numerous analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations from Wall Street research firms which we think will have an impact on stocks and sectors. After each week we review those research calls and other research calls to see which ones really stood out or which ones had the most impact on each company and sector. With a week of a 500 point drop on the DJIA in a day and almost 700 points down for the week, let’s just say that some of the calls can look a bit distorted.

The top analyst research calls of the week were as follows: Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC); Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD); Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN); Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG); LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD); Petrohawk Energy Corporation (NYSE: HK); Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT); RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH); SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK); and Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC). We also highlighted some other key research calls which may have gotten lost in the market shuffle this week as follows: McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD); Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NASDAQ: TEVA); TravelCenters of America LLC (AMEX: TA); Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT); and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO).

Each call has been shown in the research summery along with a price target, and color or background data has been added if applicable.

The first measure is one we had already assumed was coming sooner or later. The S&P downgrade of the United States to “AA+” from “AAA.” Earlier this week we handicapped the other Triple-A nations and pointed to the other countries that would soon be at-risk as well. Warren Buffett has chimed in noting that the impact should be limited.

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) was an interesting downgrade on Friday, where Wells Fargo cut its rating to Cut to Market Perform from Outperform. It just could not take the pain any longer. As a reminder, our own theory is that one big bank upgrades or downgrades a rival bank they are really issuing the same call on their own bank. S&P Equity Research also cut its rating on BoFA on Friday to Hold from “Strong Buy.” Whoops! BofA was as high as $10.05 on Monday, but shares closed down at $8.17 on Friday.

Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD) tanked some 28% on Friday to hit a new 52-week low of $3.52 at the closing price but hitting $3.28 during the trading day. Janney Capital threw in the towel and cut the rating to “Neutral” from “Buy.” This is just one more bull losing faith and now the hope of a buyout cannot occur for quite some time.

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) was the unexpected implosion of the week. Had it not been for a deadly stock market, this would have garnered far more media coverage as the biotech disappointment of the year. The news caught us off guard and it caught almost all of the analyst community as you can see with this whole spread of analyst downgrades in unison. By the way, some solid applause should be given to Credit Suisse since it has been very negative all along on this one.

Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG) has more than 30% upside if BMO is correct. It started coverage of the king of dollar stores as Outperform with a $40.00 price target. This is one of our ten stocks to own for the next decade, but we would note that the consensus target from Thomson Reuters is currently about $37.25 but the $40 target is still well short of the $49.00 ‘street high’ target out there.

LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) lost one more of its bullish cheerleaders. Morgan Stanley cut its rating to “Equal Weight” from Overweight due to just how realistic a $9 billion valuation is whether it has grown 20% more in a short period of time or not. This downgrade came after the online social networking site for business beat earnings and said sales had more than doubled. Morgan Stanley was one of the book-runners of the LinkedIn IPO.

Petrohawk Energy Corporation (NYSE: HK) has lost one of its bullish firms after one massive rally. Petrohawk is in the process of being acquired by BHP for about $12.1 billion, but some investors have said they think it is worth more. Credit Suisse does not think so as it cut the rating to “Neutral” from “Outperform.” In short, “Take your money and run” is what they are saying after nearly a 200% rise in the last year due to the buyout.

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Research, The Week Tagged: BAC, BRCD, DG, DNDN, HK, LNKD, MCD, POT, RSH, SNDK, SYMC, TA, TEVA, WMT, YHOO

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ANDE, AINV, AMAT, BAC, BYD, CSTR, EXH, FSLR, HMA, KLAC, LNKD, MU, POT, HK, RCL, SNDK, CRM, SYMC, VMW)

Administrator — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 12:01:10 +0000

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

The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANDE) Maintained Buy as Value at Zacks.
Apollo Investment Corporation (NASDAQ: AINV) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) Started as Perform at Oppenheimer.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Boyd Gaming Corp. (NYSE: BYD) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Coinstar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSTR) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Exterran Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EXH) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Cut to Hold at ThinkEquity.
Health Management Associates Inc. (NYSE: HMA) Cut to Hold at Argus.
KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) Started as Perform at Oppenheimer.
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) Raised to Outperform at Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Petrohawk Energy Corporation (NYSE: HK) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE: RCL) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.

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: AINV, AMAT, ANDE, BAC, BYD, CRM, CSTR, EXH, FSLR, HK, HMA, KLAC, LNKD, MU, POT, RCL, SNDK, SYMC, VMW

Changing of the Guard at Symantec, John Thompson Exits Chairman Role (SYMC, INTU, AMR, QCOM)

Administrator — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:18:29 +0000

Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) is announcing the changing of the guard at its Chairman position. Independent board member Steve Bennett will be elected to succeed former CEO John W. Thompson as Chairman with an effective date of October 25, 2011.

Thompson was formerly one of our “CEOs To Go” with the caveat that he could drop the day-to-day operational role as CEO and still remain on as Chairman. The reasons given for Thompson’s departure was to “pursue other business and personal interests.”

Bennett has been a Symantec board of directors member since February 2010. He previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer at Intuit and he currently serves on the boards at AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR), Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM), and Vertafore.

This replacement matters. Thompson was formerly deemed a great CEO and he has been a respectable Chairman. The problem is that Symantec got bogged down with its Veritas acquisition and its stock has been stuck in the mud ever since that key merger was announced.

Our recommendation to the incoming Chairman: Institute a dividend policy immediately as your first order of business.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Corporate Governance, Management Change, Software Tagged: AMR, INTU, QCOM, SYMC

More Than 20 Great Companies Which Refuse To Pay Dividends (AMZN, AMGN, AAPL, BBBY, BRK-A, CBB, DELL, DG, DLTR, EBAY, ERTS, EMC, ESRX, FLEX, GOOG, JACK, NDAQ, SYMC, UAL, URBN, WDC, YHOO, ZBRA, CSCO, VMW, MHS)

Administrator — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 15:05:03 +0000

No money was injured while filming

If you have been a reader of 24/7 Wall St. for long, you know that we appreciate companies that pay dividends just about as much the investors who buy companies because of their great dividends. With all of the uncertainty in today’s markets and in today’s economy, having a solid dividend policy may be the key to keeping nervous investors from fleeing and going into cash or other assets that actually pay no income at all. Some of the greatest companies of today and yesteryear actually refuse to pay dividends to shareholders. For some companies, they can get away without paying a cent to owners because the value and growth is so strong. There is another list of “Dividend Sinners” which should be paying a dividend to holders and have just decided to control that cash in-house instead.

We have identified more than twenty Dividend Sinners. Our review focuses on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A), Cincinnati Bell Inc. (NYSE: CBB), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG ), Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR), eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY), Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC), Express Scripts, Inc. (NASDAQ: ESRX), Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Jack In The Box Inc. (NASDAQ: JACK), Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ), Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC), United Continental Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: UAL), Urban Outfitters, Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN), Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), and Zebra Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: ZBRA).

You can see that many of these are not technology giants. Many are. The aim is to handicap which companies still can get away without paying out income to their shareholders versus those which can and should. Some of the more obvious Dividend Sinners are the same as you have seen criticized before, but many of these are overlooked by the media and by investors alike. In some cases the lack of dividend payments is just ludicrous. Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) waited far too long to adopt a dividend policy and look what happened to its shares after inaction. Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE: KSS) took until this year before finally declaring a dividend while its direct competitors have paid dividends for years.

Again, some companies can get away without paying holders a penny. Our aim was to identify the highly able companies and those which lag peers enough that the dividend trend just needs to be considered by management of these companies. We looked at forward P/E ratios based upon next year’s estimates from Thomson Reuters, the return on equity (ROE) from Finviz.com, the current share price and a 52-week trading range, along with the market cap of each company. If applicable, we handicapped competitor and peer dividends and even noted how high of a dividend these companies could pay out.

Activist investors could have a field-day with at least a few of these dividend sinners…

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is the online retail king. It has a forward price earnings multiple of 56 and a return on equity (ROE) of 16.3%. Its market cap is $100 billion. The recent share price was $222 and the 52-week trading range is $114.51 to $227.20. While much of the tone of this article might seem to be geared around a negative impact of a no-dividend policy, Amazon.com is actually in a different camp. At 58-times 2012 projected earnings, the question to ask is “how high of a dividend could it pay anyway?”… Wall Street has even been able to absorb habitually lower and lower margins as it ramps up its capital spending. With shares having now hit the $100 billion market cap and having hit fresh all-time highs, is there are reason to criticize the company right now? We predicted that it would be on of the next mega-cap stocks for a reason.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) is due with earnings shortly and its path has been a boring one for long enough. The largest independent biotech outfit has a forward price earnings multiple of 9.7 and a return on equity (ROE) of 19.4%. Its market cap is $51 billion. The recent share price was $54.00 and the 52-week trading range is $50.26 to $61.53. Investors hope and pray that Amgen will be the first of the big biotechs to finally declare a dividend. The call has been a longstanding call and the company has more than enough ample cash and patent protection to justify a healthy payout. With about $15 billion in liquidity and $10 billion in long-term debt, investors should ask the company to stop wasting the cash by repurchasing shares in the open market. It hasn’t worked as is the case with most share buyback plans. If it is not going to have a dividend, maybe it should consider growing into new arenas with a substantial acquisition. Our take is that Amgen is going to have to do something at some point soon and a dividend will do far better than a stock buyback plan.

Filed under: Activist Investor, Compensation, Conglomerates, Consumer Electronics, Corporate Governance, Dividend, Editor's Picks, Insider Activity, Internet, Large Cap Stocks, Mutual Funds, Personal Finance, Regulation, Retail, Shareholder Issues, Stock Buybacks, Stock Splits, Technology Companies, Turnarounds, Value Investing Tagged: AAPL, AMGN, AMZN, BBBY, BRK-A, CBB, CSCO, DELL, DG, DLTR, EBAY, EMC, ERTS, ESRX, FLEX, GOOG, JACK, MHX, NDAQ, SYMC, UAL, URBN, VMW, WDC, YHOO, ZBRA

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AES, AIV, APO, ADSK, BRFS, CAP, CRAI, GPS, INTU, JPM, LEAP, PCS, MMI, PM, QIHU, RRGB, RGS, CRM, S, SYMC, TSN, ZLC)

Administrator — Fri, 20 May 2011 12:25:12 +0000

It is a big day for analyst research calls. These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Friday morning.

The AES Corporation (NYSE: AES) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Apartment Investment & Management Co. (NYSE: AIV) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Apollo Global Management, LLC (NYSE: APO) Started as Outperform at KBW.
Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) reiterated Buy and raised target to $50 at Canaccord Genuity.
BRF - Brasil Foods S.A. (NYSE: BRFS) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
CAI International Inc. (NYSE: CAP) Maintained Strong Buy as Value at Zacks.
CRA International (NASDAQ: CRAI) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) Cut to Hold at Canaccord Genuity.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) Started as Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NYSE: PCS) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI) Started as Outperform at Macquarie.
Philip Morris International, Inc. (NYSE: PM) Raised to Strong Buy at S&P Equity Research (late-Thursday).
Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. (NYSE: QIHU) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. (NASDAQ: RRGB) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Regis Corporation (NYSE: RGS) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Maintained Buy with $170 target at Canaccord Genuity.
Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $24 at Argus.
Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) Raised to Buy at KeyBanc.
Zale Corporation (NYSE: ZLC) Raised to Buy with $4.75 at BofA/ML.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ADSK, AES, AIV, APO, BRFS, CAP, CRAI, CRM, GPS, INTU, JPM, LEAP, MMI, PCS, PM, QIHU, RGS, RRGB, S, SYMC, TSN, ZLC