24/7 Wall St. » TWB

52-Week High Club (AGO, SMTL, SINA, TWB)

247wallst — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:56:50 +0000

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE: AGO) over 32% to a yearly high of $28.14 after the company posted earnings of $0.44 per share, beating analysts estimates.

Semitool Inc (NASDAQ: SMTL) rose over 30% to a yearly high of $11.00 after Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ: AMAT) agreed to buy the company for $11.00 per share, or $364 million.

Sina Corp (NASDAQ: SINA) rose over 10% today to a yearly high of $47.95 after the Chinese internet portal beat earnings and projected margin improvements.

Tween Brands Inc (NYSE: TWB) rose over 11% today to a yearly high o $10.16 after the company posted a profite of $0.58 per share, beating analyst estimates.

Garrett W. McIntyre

Posted in Financial Stocks, Media, Mergers and Buy Outs, Retail, Semiconductor, Technology Companies Tagged: AGO, AMAT, SINA, SMTL, TWB

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AZN, BDN, CHA, HURN, PRU, PETM, RF, SOL, RDS-B, TWB, UA)

247wallst — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:48:52 +0000

These are Thursday’s top ten analyst research summary upgrades, downgrades, and initiations from Wall Street brokerage firms:

AstraZeneca (AZN) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Brandywine Realty (BDN) Cut to Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
China Telecom (CHA) Raised to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank.
Huron Consulting (HURN) Raised to Neutral from Underperform at at Baird.
Prudential (PRU) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
PetSmart (PETM) Cut to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Regions Financial (RF) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
ReneSola (SOL) Raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS-B) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Tween Brands (TWB) Raised to Hold from Sell at Citigroup.
Under Armour (UA) Cut to Underweight from Hold at KeyBanc.

JON C. OGG
August 20, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AZN, BDN, CHA, HURN, PETM, PRU, RDS-B, RF, SOL, TWB, UA

52-Week Low Club (CCJ, CPN, CECE, CROX, GGP, TWB)

247wallst — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:40:00 +0000

As the markets went back to triple-digit losses, there were many more new stocks (and repeat performers) on the 52-week low club today. Many of these look just like an explosion in a city at night. Not all of these closed on 52-week lows, but these did hit new intra-day lows of consequence:

Cameco (NYSE: CCJ)… Cigar Lake update showed more water entering the uranium mine hole.

Calpine (NYSE: CPN)… rose back above old $15.00 low, but shares down by one-third since July 1.

CECO Environmental Corp. (NASDAQ: CECE)… on added earnings concern; with a name like that you’d think they would do better as shares are down 70% from highs.

CROCS Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX)… barely a new low but still feels like a hammer on the toes.

General Growth Properties (NYSE: GGP), repeat performer, stock down over 50% from 2007 highs.

Tween Brands (NYSE: TWB)… bad earnings, bad name… pounced with 40% drop.

If you added in many of the European, Asian, and emerging market ADR’sor ETF/FUND categories this list could go on and on (and on…).

Jon C. Ogg
August 13, 2008

Early-Bird Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (PHM, TOL, CCOI, LVLT, PCZ, TWB, TWT, WCN, WW)

247wallst — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:34:46 +0000

These are not all of the analyst calls out there but these are some of the calls we see having an impact on trading this Wednesday morning with more than two hours to the market open:

Pulte Homes (PHM) Started as Buy at Citigroup.
Toll Brothers (TOL) Started as Buy at Citigroup.

Downgrades or negative calls as follows:

Cogent Communications (CCOI) Cut to Underperform at Oppenheimer.
Level 3 Communications (LVLT) Cut to Underperform at Oppenheimer.
Petro-Canada (PCZ) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Tween Brands (TWB) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
TW Telecom (TWT) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Waste Connections (WCN) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc. (WW) Cut to Neutral at Baird.

Jon C. Ogg
August 13, 2008

The Dangers Of Overreacting To The Current Economic Environment: Whole Foods Market (WFMI) And Tween Brands (TWB)

247wallst — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 04:53:42 +0000

Subprime lenders like New Century Financial, Novastar, and, to a large extent, Countrywide Financial, learned a hard lesson in the dangers of operating businesses as though the then-current good economic times would last forever.

Now the economy has taken a turn for the worse, and companies are struggling to react to new realities. Whole Foods Market (WFMI) is trying to convince shoppers that it actually can be a good place for value-conscious consumers, as its results disappoint Wall Street.

Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that Tween Brands (TWB) is converting 560 of its Limited Too stores into Justice stores, its lower-price point brand. According to The Journal, "The strategy shift by the New Albany, Ohio, retailer, which sells apparel aimed at 7- to 14-year-old girls, comes as the economic slowdown is causing preteens and teens, along with older consumers, to trade down to lower-priced goods."

I’m not sold on either of these ideas for responding to the economic environment. When times are good, few people realize that they can get bad and, now that they’re bad, it’s hard to imagine them getting good again. But history has demonstrated amply that economic conditions do bounce back and forth, with a general trend toward the good.

Whole Foods has built an empire over the past 25+ years with its emphasis on a unique upscale environment and high-quality, all-natural and organic products. Investors were rewarded with high margins and stunningly good stock market returns and, now after just a few quarters of that strategy not working in large part because of weak consumer spending, the company is changing course, possibly giving up a lot of what makes it unique in the first place.

Similarly, Tween Brands has struggled to meet its earnings and revenue guidance in recent quarters, and maybe this is one way to do that — or at least convince anxious investors that the company is doing something to respond to current problems. By switching over to its lower-priced label, the company is giving up its strong margins in a move that will probably look dumb once happy days are here again.

The obsession with quarterly results is forcing companies to "DO SOMETHING!" in response to temporarily weak results when, in reality, focusing on long-term value is what leads to strong returns for long-term shareholders.

Looking at a tough economic picture and making huge changes to the company to make it one that does well in a tough environment while ignoring the upside lost in a good environment is no less of a sin than operating as though the good times will last forever.

Zac Bissonnette

The 52-Week Low Club (TWB)(FMD)(CHS)(PTRY)(GSAT)(VMED)

247wallst — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:02:50 +0000

Tween Brands (TWB) Cuts Q1 outlooks. Sells down to $17.85 from 52-week high of $49.

First Marblehead (FMD) Investment deal from Goldman Sachs looks weak. Down to $3.12 from 52-week high of $45.70.

Chico’s FAS (CHS) Weak same-store sales. Falls to $5.42 from 52-week high of $27.94.

Pantry (PTRY) Brokerage downgrade. Sells off to $11.20 from 52-week high of $48.96.

Globalstar (GSAT) Raising money through note offering. Down to $3.98 from 52-week high of $12.35.

Virgin Media (VMED) Large bond offering and downgrade. Slips to $12.37 from 52-week high of $30.

Douglas A. McIntyre

The 52-Week Low Club

247wallst — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 15:02:42 +0000

Tween Brands (TWB) Specialty retailer has bad quarter and weak guidance. Drops to $27.35 from 52-week high of $49.00.

Superior Offshore (DEEP) Senior management enter into stock sales plans. Down to $10.30 from 52-week high of $19.58.

Gehl Co (GEHL) Maker of compact equipment for construction continues weak share price trend. Down to $22.10 from 52-week high of $33.17.

Oplink Communications (OPLK) Chip maker has bad quarterly guidance. Puts in new CFO. Falls to $12.65 from $22.38.

Douglas A. McIntyre