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Media Digest (12/13/2011) Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, Bloomberg

247wallst — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 11:35:24 +0000

Congress, close to a budget agreement, may avoid a government shutdown. (Reuters)

Washington Mutual shareholders and creditors set a deal that could allow an exit from bankruptcy. (Reuters)

The policy meeting of the Federal Reserve could end with no actions at all. (Reuters)

Low availability of water makes it a profitable investment for many global financial organizations. (Reuters)

AT&T (NYSE: T) may try to change its plan to buy T-Mobile due to government resistance. (Reuters)

Another MF Global official says he does not know what happened to $1 billion of the firm’s money. (Reuters)

Jive Software will post its IPO slightly above the expected range. (Reuters)

Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) will offer more concessions to close a merger deal. (Reuters)

Martin Marietta (NYSE: MLM) makes an offer of $4.8 billion to buy Vulcan Materials (NYSE: VMC). (Reuters)

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) softens its approach to selling its iAd inventory as Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has had success in the mobile ad market. (WSJ)

The euro reaches a 10-month low. (WSJ)

McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) begins delivery services in Asia. (WSJ)

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE JPM) and Citigroup (NYSE: C) try to settle charges of mortgage fraud. (WSJ)

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) increases its dividend and share buyout. (WSJ)

Italian unions stage strikes because of austerity plans. (WSJ)

Novartis’s (NYSE: NVS) multiple-sclerosis pill Gilenya has safety problems. (WSJ)

Diamond Foods (NASDAQ: DMND), faced with accounting problems, will delay its next quarterly filing. (WSJ)

LSE says it will buy the remaining 50% stake in FTSE that it does not already own from Pearson (NYSE: PSO). (WSJ)

The share of U.S. income earned by the top 1% dropped to 17% in 2009 from 23% in 2007. (NYT)

Experts prepare in case Greece leaves the eurozone. (NYT)

Google’s buyout of Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI) is delayed by EU authorities. (NYT)

Newspaper chain Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE) files for Chapter 11. (NYT)

Some EU-based banks are selling their most valuable assets as regional debt weighs upon their balance sheets. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Filed under: Press Digest Tagged: AAPL, BAC, C, DMND, GOOG, JPM, LEE, MCD, MLM, MMI, NVS, NYX, PFE, PSO, T, VMC

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (INTC, BA, AZO, DD, EPB, LEN, TOL, BRN, DMND, VMC, OXGN, HBP, PNCL, ROSE, NBG)

Paul Ausick — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:06:28 +0000

US equity markets opened sharply lower this morning and continued falling before levelling off at around 200 pts down on the DJIA. The downturn followed closer examination of the European Union’s agreement last week which traders hoped would put an end to the debt crisis in Europe. That turned out not to be the case, however, with both Moody’s and Fitch Ratings expressing doubts about the permanence of the deal. An announcement of lowered guidance from Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) weighed on the tech sector. WTI crude oil is trading at $97.94/barrel shortly before today’s close, down about -1.5%, and gold is up about 1.85% at $1,744.50.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than 162 points to 12,021.77 (-1.33%), the NASDAQ fell more than 34 points (-1.31%) to 2,612.26, and the S&P 500 fell nearly -1.5% or more than 18 points to 1,236.48.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) raised to overweight with an $82 target price at Morgan Stanley. Other ratings actions today include AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) maintained as ‘buy’ with a $381 target price at Argus, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. (NYSE: DD) cut to ‘neutral’ at Citigroup; El Paso Pipeline Partners L.P. (NYSE: ELB) started as ‘overweight’ at JPMorgan; Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN) and Toll Brothers, Inc. (NYSE: TOL) cut to ‘hold’ at KeyBanc.

Here are today’s post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: Barnwell Industries Inc. (AMEX: BRN) is down about -2.8% at $3.09. There were no other earnings report of note today.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Diamond Foods Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND) is down more than -22% at $31.45. The snack food company faces more questions about its accounting. See our coverage for more details.

Vulcan Materials Co. (NYSE: VMC) is up more than 15% at $38.84. The construction materials company received an unsolicited takeover bid from competitor Martin Marietta Materials Inc. (NYSE: MLM).

Oxigene, Inc. (NASDAQ: OXGN) is up nearly 20% at $1.21. The biopharmaceutical company has signed an agreement with a Danish pharmaceutical firm to provide one of Oxigene’s cancer drugs in Europe.

Helix Biopharma Corp. (AMEX: HBP) is down nearly -13% at $1.36. The cancer drug development company has appointed a special committee and engaged an outside auditing firm to investigate claims of unauthorized “representations and assurances” made by certain shareholders to European shareholders who purchased the company’s shares in a private placement.

Pinnacle Airlines Corp. (NASDAQ: PNCL) is down nearly -16% at 1.17, after posting a new 52-week low of $1.08 earlier today. The regional airlines is initiating a program to cut costs and raise cash, and shares were downgraded today at Dahlman Rose from ‘hold’ to ‘sell’ with a target price of $0.75.

Rosetta Resources Inc. (NASDAQ: ROSE) is down -11% at $45.00. The oil & gas exploration & production company experienced disappointing results from two wells in northern Montana.

National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE: NBG) is down more than -15% at $2.03, after posting a new 52-week low of $2.01 earlier today. The bank is the victim of the lack of enthusiasm that developed over the weekend for the Eurozone agreement.

Stay tuned for Tuesday. Here are some noteworthy events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

7:30 a.m. – NFIB small business optimism index
8:30 a.m. – Retail sales
10:00 a.m. – Business inventories
2:15 p.m. – Federal Reserve open market committee meeting announcement.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AZO, BA, BRN, DD, DMND, EPB, HBP, INTC, LEN, NBG, OXGN, PNCL, ROSE, TOL, VMC

Top Analyst Downgrades (DELL, MLM, NVTL, SWIR, UNT, VMC)

247wallst — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:22:00 +0000

These are this Tuesday’s top pre-market analyst downgrades or cautious research calls we have seen out of Wall Street early on:

Dell (DELL) downgraded to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Martin Marietta (MLM) downgraded to Neutral at UBS.
Novatel Wireless (NVTL) Started as Underperform at BMO Capital.
Sierra Wireless (SWIR) Started as Market Perform at BMO Capital.
Unit Corp. (UNT) Cut to Neutral at Sun Trust Robinson Humphrey.
Vulcan Materials (VMC) downgraded to Neutral at UBS.

You can join our open email distribution list which goes out several times per week for top analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader alerts, IPO’s, key secondary offerings, guru investor data on Buffett and others, mergers, and more.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: DELL, MLM, NVTL, SWIR, UNT, VMC

Secondary Issuers Getting Hit (AMP, ATPG, ERIC, MI, VMC)

247wallst — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:24:45 +0000

We are seeing some active trading in the stocks which raised capital via secondary offerings today. These are all down except for one and today’s hopper has Ameriprise Financial Inc. (NYSE: AMP), ATP Oil & Gas Corp. (NASDAQ: ATPG), LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC), Marshall & Ilsley Corporation (NYSE: MI), and Vulcan Materials Company (NYSE: VMC).

Ameriprise Financial Inc. (NYSE: AMP) priced a 36 million share secondary offering of common stock at $25.00 per share. That $900 million gross amount of proceeds compares to a market cap of roughly $5.4 billion before the offering. Shares are down about 4% at $24.65. Its 52-week trading range is $11.74 to $49.76, but this was a $30 stock just last week.

ATP Oil & Gas Corp. (NASDAQ: ATPG) priced its secondary offering of 8.75 million shares of common stock at $8.25 per share after closing at $8.64 yesterday and being north of $9.00 just two days ago.The size of this offering was increased from 7.25 million shares and it held up better than we might have guessed despite today’s drop. Shares are down by 4.5% at $8.25 and its 52-week range is $2.75 to $44.12. Before this offering, we show its market cap was around $300 million.

LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC) is down 1% at $9.53, but the drop may be on the Barclays downgrade as this is a refinancing of a bilateral loan with the Swedish Export Credit Corporation and partially backed by the Swedish Export Credit Guarantee Board. It intends to use the proceeds of the offering to refinance bonds maturing within the current and next year and for general corporate purposes. We say the downgrade has more to do with this than anything.

Marshall & Ilsley Corporation (NYSE: MI) sold 87 million shares of common stock in a secondary offering at $5.75 per share. This is trading above the price of the offering but is off 2% at $6.00 this morning after closing at $6.14 yesterday. Its 52-week range is $2.98 to $29.97 and its market cap before this offering is listed as almost $1.6 billion.

Vulcan Materials Company (NYSE: VMC) is actually a standout stock from the group, odd considering the unusual dividend activity. Its shares are higher after pricing 11.5 million shares of common stock at $41.00 per share. Based on the trading, it is a safe bet that underwriters took the 1.725 million additional shares in the overallotment (Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, J.P.Morgan, and Wachovia). This was a deep discount, but the good news for Vulcan is that shares are up 7.5% at $45.90.

Jon C. Ogg
June 12, 2009

Posted in Secondary Offering, Trading Alert Tagged: AMP, ATPG, ERIC, MI, VMC

Unusual Dividend Tracking (CAT, CLX, MSFT, TGT, TSCM, VMC, ACAS, IAF)

247wallst — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:08:29 +0000

Dividends in general are used as the historic underlying measurement of companies and their abilities to stay profitable at current levels. Today and last night we have seen some rather unusual dividend news or “in addition to the dividend news” from the likes of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT), Clorox Co. (NYSE: CLX), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT), TheStreet.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSCM), and Vulcan Materials Co. (NYSE: VMC). American Capital Ltd. (NASDAQ: ACAS) takes the cake for unusual dividends, and the payout at the Australia Equity Fund Inc. (AMEX: IAF) closed-end fund also borders one the unusual.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) gave a forecast last night that still shows an expected rebound. Otherwise, the $50 billion mark in sales within five years would not have been forecast. That $0.42 dividend was maintained, yet Caterpillar was one of the companies in late 2008 which we and many felt was at-risk for cutting the quarterly payout rate.

Clorox Co. (NYSE: CLX) raised its dividend by almost 9% to $0.50 per share from $0.46 and said it is on track to show numbers in-line with previous guidance for fiscal 2010. The range of $4.00 to $4.15 EPS compares to $4.16 estimates.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) is not an unusual dividend at $0.13, because at current share prices that represents only about 2.2%. What seems unusual on the surface is that the company announced that shareholders representing at least 25% of shares can call a special meeting. That formal notion will come up for vote at the shareholder meeting in November.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) must not care too much about its recent proxy fight nor must it be too concerned about retail sales ahead. The retail giant hiked its dividend to $0.17 from $0.16. Analysts are projecting $2.85 EPS for fiscal January 2010, so the company’s dividend coverage ratio is over 4 and more than sustainable.

TheStreet.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSCM) is still easily able to maintain its $0.025 quarterly dividend. This comes to a 5% yield today, and is interesting because the few analysts which follow this one are expecting the losses to continue both this year and next. Either the company thinks it will lose less money than Wall Street expects, or it does not mind picking away at its $76+ million in cash.

The most unusual dividend in the entire week has been the mystery at American Capital Ltd. (NASDAQ: ACAS), where a massive dividend of $1.07 was declared. This will either be paid in cash or in stock. The stock is up over 20% today, but based upon a $2.76 close yesterday this one is now paying a whopping 38% yield. After today’s gains, the yield is still north of 30%. Be advised, this dividend is higher than the entire earnings estimates for 2009 and 2010 and the company still has significant debt.

Vulcan Materials Co. (NYSE: VMC) cut its dividend in half, but said it was increasing its shares by about 10% via a $500 million estimated share offering. This has taken a 6% bite out of the shares today.

There is also the case of the Aberdeen Australia Equity Fund Inc. (IAF), which just declared a quarterly distribution of $0.23 for the quarter. While this still would get close to 10% in yield and while its dividends fluctuate wildly from quarter to quarter, this is actually the lowest payout since late-2006 and marks the fourth consecutive dividend cut. With a 52-week range of $5.15 to $16.77, it seems this fund has been a serious dividend yielding instrument for the investors in the $200 million closed-end fund.

Jon C. Ogg
June 11, 2009

Posted in Dividend, Shareholder Issues, Value Investing Tagged: ACAS, CAT, CLX, IAF, MSFT, TGT, TSCM, VMC

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (BHP, COST, DRIV, GT, PX, PZN, RAI, ROK, VIP, VMC)

247wallst — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:53:30 +0000

These are ten of the top analyst upgrades and downgrades we have seen from Wall Street early this Thursday morning:

BHP Billiton (BHP) Started as Outperform at RBC.
Costco (COST) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Digital River (DRIV) Raised to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Goodyear Tire (GT) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Praxair (PX) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Pzena Investment (PZN) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Reynolds American (RAI) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Rockwell Automation (ROK) Cut to Underperform at Baird.
Vimpel Comm (VIP) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Vulcan Materials (VMC) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: BHP, COST, DRIV, GT, PX, PZN, RAI, ROK, VIP, VMC

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (ADBE, AMB, BLKB, KO, EMCI, HSII, KFN, OMTR, PLD, VAR, VMW, VMC)

247wallst — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:36:21 +0000

These are some of the top downgrades we have seen this Monday morning with about 2 hours until the open:

Adobe Systems (ADBE) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
AMB Property (AMB) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Blackbaud (BLKB) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
Coca-Cola (KO) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
EMC Insurance (EMCI) Cut to Underperform at KBW.
Heidrick & Struggles (HSII) Cut to Underperform at Baird.
KKR Financial (KFN) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Omniture (OMTR) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
ProLogis (PLD) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Varian Medical (VAR) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
VMware (VMW) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
Vulcan Materials (VMC) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.

Jon C. Ogg
October 6, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: ADBE, AMB, BLKB, EMCI, HSII, KFN, KO, OMTR, PLD, VAR, VMC, VMW

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (CPHD, DRIV, FDRY, MAN, MLM, MPEL, MPS, SMOD, VMC)

247wallst — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 06:35:39 +0000

These are some of the top analyst downgrades we are seeing affecting shares of stock this morning:

Cepheid (CPHD) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
Digital River (DRIV) Cut to Market Weight at Thomas Weisel.
Foundry Networks (FDRY) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Manpower (MAN) Started as Sell at Deutsche Bank.
Martin Marietta (MLM) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Melco Crown (MPEL) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
MPS Group (MPS) Started as Sell at Deutsche Bank.
Smart Modular (SMOD) Cut to Hold at Needham.
Vulcan Materials (VMC) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.

Jon C. Ogg
September 10, 2008

More on Pending Merger Arb Spreads (FRK, LEND, ACXM, DJ, NWS, VMC, APPB, IHP)

247wallst — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 13:25:00 +0000

Earlier today, we sent out a couple pieces discussing some of the pending mergers and spreads still having wide ranges. This can be indicative of a deal at risk, but some will close and will offer significant opportunities for those willing to tread where others fear. Our first list included some of the larger names out there (ACS, URI, FDC, CCU) and then we covered a second batch (TXU, TRB,SLM, CEN). We’ll be sending out some specific calls to subscribers of our Special Situation Investing Newsletter ahead of Labor Day.

The Dow Jones (NYSE:DJ) buyout by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp (NYSE:NWS) isn’t aprivate equity transaction, but it might as well be. With a $60.00buyout, the current $58.70 price does not signal much perceived risk inthis deal closing. Rupert wants it and he has won the deal. There isa reason Murdoch made the list of entrenched leaders, and the fact that he gets his way is the largest part of it.

Florida Rock (NYSE:FRK) shareholders have already agreed to the buyoutby Vulcan Materials (NYSE:VMC), but at $61.00 this is well under the $68.03cash and stock deal. This was at a large 40+% premium, so the VMCshare price being lower not act as a hurdle and that old price and thisone should be expected to close.

Acxiom’s (NASDAQ:ACXM) $27.10 buyout offer from SilverLake and Value Actcurrently has only a $23.25 price, giving it a 14% discount to thebuyout price, or actually a 16.5% return from the current price for themerger-arbs.

Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co. (NASDAQ:LEND) is still a deal completelyat risk as the Lone Star buyout has been extended and no one expectsthat $15.10 price to be done. LEND is suing Lone Star to close thedeal, but if this one gets done at all it would be only logical that itwould close at a far lower price.

We still view the old Applebee’s (NASDAQ:APPB) acquisition by IHOP (NYSE:IHP) being a takeunder, and we didn’t see much premium value when that had spiked up earlier this year in hopes of a deal.

This is a mere sample of pending mergers we are covering to look for opportunities in the Special Situation Investing Newsletter our paid subscribers access. We will be covering some of these and others with exact plays ahead of the Labor Day holiday.

Jon C. Ogg
August 20, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Pre-Market Stock News (July 19, 2007)

247wallst — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 07:23:13 +0000

(AMTD) TD Ameritrade trading up 1% after beating and raising target.
(AVCI) Avici Systems trading up 29% on higher revenue guidance after earnings.
(BAC) $1.28 EPS vs $1.20 estimate.
(CAL) Continental $2.10 vs 1.84 estimate.
(CTXS) Citrix trading up 11% after beating revenues and two upgrades so far.
(EBAY) eBay trading down 1% after beating earnings, but lower listings.
(F) Ford bids due today for Rover and Jaguar units.
(HOG) Harley Davidson $0.14 EPS vs $0.13 estimate.
(IBM) IBM traded up 4% after beating earnings.
(JNPR) Juniper Networks trading up 8% after earnings and upgrade.
(LOGI) Logitech $0.14 EPS vs $0.16e.
(NAFC) Nash Finch $0.70 EPS vs $0.63 estimate.
(MOT) Motorola $0.02 EPS vs $0.00 estimate, but had already lowered.
(SAP) SAP trading up 8% after earnings rose 8% and a gain in market share.
(SCHL) Scholastic Corp. $0.93 EPS vs $1.02 estimate; sees 2008 $2.35-2.85 vs. $2.67 estimate.
(SPWR) SunPower $0.25 EPS vs $0.21e; down from $0.29 last year.
(UNH) UnitedHealth $0.87 vs $0.81 estimate.
(UNP) Union Pacific $1.65 EPS vs $1.62 estimate.
(VMC) Vulcan Materials lowerials lowered guidance.
(WIT) Wipro $0.12 EPS vs $0.12e.
(WMT) Wal-Mart is reportedly interested in acquiring China’s largest retailer Beijing Hualian, although companies have denied this.

Jon C. Ogg
July 19, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.