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Strongest and Weakest S&P Technology Stock Charts (CCI, VRSN, RHT, INTU, CRM, FSLR, EA, SNDK, WIN, FTR)

Administrator — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:07:11 +0000

24/7 Wall St. has partnered with The Chart Lab to bring exclusive technical analysis. This report is on the five weakest and five strongest stock charts in the technology sector of the S&P 500 Index. A 5 is generally listed as the strong buy rating in technical analysis, while a 1 indicates a sell rating. The strong and weak readings are based upon the closing price of April 19, 2012. The rankings are not picked by the actual stock returns, but rather by their technical strength under the ChartLab Pro methodology.

The 5 strongest charts in the technology sector are as follows: Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE: CCI); VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN); Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT); Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU); and salesforce.com, Inc. (NYSE: CRM). These strongest names are up 31.4% year to date against a 8% gain for the S&P 500 Index.

The 5 weakest charts in the technology sector are currently the following: First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR); Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA); SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK); Windstream Corporation (NASDAQ: WIN); and Frontier Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: FTR). These weakest names are down 22.5% year to date and down almost 10% so far in April.

If you click on the chart and open it the chart can expand on your screen for a larger resolution for easier viewing.

The methodology here generates visual and contextual results for technical trading analysis and trading opportunities based upon custom criteria for investors. You can try the Chartlabpro.com for 30 days using promo code Chartp2p8i.

Filed under: Charts, Index, Semiconductor, Software, Technical Analysis, Technology Companies Tagged: CCI, CRM, EA, FSLR, FTR, INTU, RHT, SNDK, VRSN, WIN

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (CELL, CSCO, DECK, DO, FTE, HTS, HWAY, HERO, LVS, LULU, MPEL, NRG, PM, SLB, SAH, STFC, VE, VRSN, WFT, YUM)

Administrator — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:21:30 +0000

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

Brightpoint Inc. (NASDAQ: CELL) Reiterate as Buy with a $14 price target objective at Canaccord Genuity.
Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Reiterated as Buy with $24 price target objective at Argus.
Deckers Outdoor Corporation (NASDAQ: DECK) Reiterated as Buy with a $122 price target objective at Canaccord Genuity.
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE: DO) Started as Sell with a $70 target price objective at Goldman Sachs.
France Telecom (NYSE: FTE) Cut to Underperform and named as Bear of the Day by Zacks Investment Research.
Hatteras Financial Corporation (NYSE: HTS) Cut to Neutral at Stern Agee.
Healthways Inc. (NASDAQ: HWAY) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Hercules Offshore, Inc. (NASDAQ: HERO) Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) Cut to Neutral at Janney Capital Markets.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) Reinitiated as Buy at Stern Agee.
Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) Raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG) Cut to Neutral from Buy at UBS.
Philip Morris International, Inc. (NYSE: PM) Cut to Neutral from Buy at Nomura.
Schlumberger Limited (NYSE: SLB) Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Sonic Automotive, Inc. (NYSE: SAH) named as value stock of the day by Zacks Investment Research.
State Auto Financial (NASDAQ: STFC) Raised to Buy from Neutral at Janney Capital Markets.
Veolia Environnement S.A. (NYSE: VE) Cut to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.
VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) Raised to Outperform and featured as the Bull of the Day by Zacks Investment Research.
Weatherford International Ltd. (NYSE: WFT) Started as Buy with a $22 price target objective at Goldman Sachs.
Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM) Reiterated Buy with $65 fair value target at Janney Capital Markets.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: CELL, CSCO, DECK, DO, FTE, HERO, HTS, HWAY, LULU, LVS, MPEL, NRG, PM, SAH, SLB, STFC, VE, VRSN, WFT, YUM

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AGN, CRZO, XRAY, DWA, ERTS, IAG, GOOG, LLTC, ONXX, STX, SIG, VRSN, YHOO, DGI, GEOY)

Administrator — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:34:55 +0000

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

Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN) Raised to Buy at Argus.
Carrizo Oil & Gas (NASDAQ: CRZO) is named as a top small cap idea with multiple ways to win and with a “valuation too tepid” and firm reiterated a Buy rating and gave a new target of $49.00 by Canaccord Genuity.
DENTSPLY International (NASDAQ: XRAY) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. (NASDAQ: DWA) Cut to Average at Caris & Co.
Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) Raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup.
IAMGOLD Corp (NYSE: IAG) Started as Outperform with $25.00 price target objective at Credit Suisse.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Linear Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: LLTC) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ONXX) Cut to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Seagate Technology PLC (NYSE: STX) Raised to Buy at Argus.
Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE: SIG) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.
VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) named as aggressive growth stock of the day at Zacks.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) maintained Buy with an $18.00 price target objective at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

In the field of satellite imaging, Canaccord Genuity cut its ambitions due to austerity cuts: DigitalGlobe (NYSE: DGI) was maintained at Buy but the target was cut to $23.50; GeoEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOY) was maintained as Hold and the target wass lowered to $22.00 per share.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AGN, CRZO, DGI, DWA, ERTS, GEOY, GOOG, IAG, LLTC, ONXX, SIG, STX, VRSN, XRAY, YHOO

13 Technology Stocks To Outperform Apple (AAPL, AKAM, BIDU, BMC, CLS, GLW, EMC, JNPR, MRVL, MU, NTAP, STX, VRSN, WDC)

Administrator — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:23:37 +0000

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has been the king of tech stocks. While Apple’s results still showed rapid earnings and revenue growth, the report disappointed and results were below Wall Street’s expectations. And without Steve Jobs many investors are wondering whether Apple can continue to “wow” investors as it has over the last decade. Most analysts are tying Apple’s first earnings miss in years to customer delays of iPhone purchases as they waited for the new model introduced last week. Still, the media, and a few analysts, have brought up the question of whether this could be the end of an era. 24/7 Wall St. has identified 13 technology stocks that are expected to outperform Apple in the year ahead, especially now that Apple’s earnings have stumbled.

Apple hit an all-time high this week at $426.70. The stock closed at $422.20 on Tuesday just ahead of earnings. After the announcement, shares fell to about $400, which is where they are likely to open today. Analysts have a consensus price target of roughly $499.00 on the stock, which implies an upside of about 18% from Tuesday’s close, and an upside of 24.5% from $400. 24/7 Wall St. looked at these analyst numbers and found more than ten technology stocks with more implied upside.

In our screen, we only included companies with a market cap of $1 billion and higher. We also restricted the list to companies that are expected to post positive earnings this year and next and to those with long-term operating histories. We used consensus data on earnings and consensus analyst price targets from Thomson Reuters. We did additional analysis of our own on each company. Oddly enough, several of these companies are even tied to Apple’s businesses.

We include the most recent closing share prices, a 52-week range for comparison, and the Thomson Reuters consensus price target for the next twelve months. We have identified what the implied upside is to that price target, shown a year-to-date change from Finviz.com, and given a forward P/E ratio based on next year (2012 in most cases) earnings estimates.

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Consumer Electronics, Corporate Governance, Editor's Picks, PC Companies, Semiconductor, Shareholder Issues, Software, Technology Companies, Value Investing Tagged: AAPL, AKAM, BIDU, BMC, CLS, EMC, GLW, JNPR, MRVL, MU, NTAP, STX, VRSN, WDC

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ADSK, DG, GTIV, HUM, JEF, LVS, ORCL, OREX, HOT, TOT, VRSN, WYNN, YNDX)

Administrator — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 12:18:36 +0000

These are some of this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen having an impact from Wall Street research calls.

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG) Started as Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Gentiva Health Services Inc. (NASDAQ: GTIV) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Humana, Inc. (NYSE: HUM) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Jefferies Group Inc. (NYSE: JEF) Cut to Neutral at Ticonderoga.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) Reiterated Buy with $32 target at BofA/ML; maintained Buy with $38 target at Canaccord Genuity.
Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: OREX) Raised to Outperform at Leerink Swann; Maintained Neutral but target raised to $4 from $2 at BofA/ML.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: HOT) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Total SA (NYSE: TOT) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
VeriSign Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Yandex N. V. (NASDAQ: YNDX) Started as Buy at Jefferies.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ADSK, DG, GTIV, HOT, HUM, JEF, LVS, ORCL, OREX, TOT, VRSN, WYNN, YNDX

24/7 Wall St. Top Analyst Calls of the Week (MTGE, AAPL, AMAT, ABX, BP, CSCO, JPM, C, LNKD, NOK, OPEN, ORCL, RIMM, UAL, VRSN, MHR, OAS)

Administrator — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 14:01:03 +0000

Each morning we review our top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations from Wall Street research notes. We then look back over these at the end of the week to more closely review calls which highlight underlying catalysts or developments that go far beyond just a one-day impact. Many calls turn out to offer keen insight, but some get a failing grade. These become the top analyst calls of the week.

This last week’s top analyst calls of the week were in the following: American Capital Mortgage Investment Corp. (NASDAQ: MTGE); Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL); Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT); Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE: ABX); BP PLC (NYSE: BP); Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO); J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM); LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD); Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK); OpenTable, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPEN); Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL); Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM); United Continental Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: UAL); VeriSign Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN); Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. (AMEX: MHR); and Oasis Petroleum Inc. (NYSE: OAS).

We have outlined the calls and added in color on each, and we also included links to more detail on a few of the calls.

American Capital Mortgage Investment Corp. (NASDAQ: MTGE) is a newly issued REIT that invests in and manages a leveraged portfolio of agency and non-agency mortgage investments. In short, it is a mortgage-REIT. Its post-IPO quiet period ended and at $18.47 it has a post-IPO range of $16.40 to $20.00. Analysts initiated coverage mostly with a positive bias: Buy at Deutsche Bank; Buy at UBS; and Outperform at Wells Fargo. The cautious call was the “Hold” issued by Citigroup.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) usually gets several reiterations a week, but this last week was a less routine call. Morgan Stanley now believes that the company is closer than ever to a dividend or large share buyback announcement.

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) is in the rough and tough chip cap-ex sector, which is still under pressure. The recent guidance was not great but the stock trades at a valuation that is low even for a stock that usually trades cheap to the market. There were two upgrades this week as it was raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer and even raised to Strong Buy by S&P Equity Research. This one closed down on Friday but the weekly gain was almost 8%.

Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE: ABX) is a monster gold player worth over $50 billion. You do not usually hear the term “Value” with gold any more, but late in the week Barrick was named the value stock of the day by Zacks this last week. Shares closed up 1.3% at $53.58 on Friday and the 52-week range is $42.50 to $55.95.

Filed under: Analyst Calls, The Week Tagged: AAPL, ABX, AMAT, BP, C, CSCO, JPM, LNKD, MHR, MTGE, NOK, OAS, OPEN, ORCL, RIMM, UAL, VRSN

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (MTGE, AMAT, BX, BRCM, DOW, DD, FITB, GNW, GS, HUN, JPM, LYB, M, MCD, SPWRA, TWI, VRSN)

Administrator — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:12:53 +0000

These are some of this Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen having an impact from Wall Street research calls.

American Capital Mortgage Investment Corp. (NASDAQ: MTGE) Started as Hold at Citigroup; Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) Raised to Strong Buy at S&P Equity Research (late Monday call).
The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) Started as Buy at Ticonderoga.
Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCM) Reiterated Buy with $46 target at Argus.
Dow CHemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
EI DuPont de Nemours & Co. (NYSE: DD) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) Raised to Outperform at RBC.
Genworth Financial (NYSE: GNW) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) Started as Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
LyondellBasell Industries NV (NYSE: LYB) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE: M) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) Cut estimates but maintained Outperform at Credit Suisse.
SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWRA) Raised to Buy at Auriga.
Titan International Inc. (NYSE: TWI) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.
VeriSign Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) Raised to Buy at S&P Equity Research (late Monday call).

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AMAT, BRCM, BX, DD, DOW, FITB, GNW, GS, HUN, JPM, LYB, M, MCD, MTGE, SPWRA, TWI, VRSN

Evaluating the VeriSign Rumor Mill (VRSN)

Administrator — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 18:25:24 +0000

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) is up a second day in a row on strong volume after the company has cancelled two investor presentations. The hope is that there is some M&A development brewing as many have believed for years that the company would make an attractive buyout target.

The current speculation may be more around announcing a new CEO for the company. By canceling both at ThinkEquity and at Citigroup, the rumor mongers came out on this one. What is funny is that some companies cancel meetings due to negative developments as well.

VeriSign has head leadership gaps on and off in its history and the company lost its CEO Mark McLaughlin over the summer as he left to go run another tech outfit called Palo Alto Networks. Founder and Chairman Jim Bidzos took the head job as CEO back over on an interim basis, as we saw back in 2008 when the company lost its prior CEO.

The Washington Business Journal reported today that the company is buying its new Reston headquarters for $118 million. The report showed that the lease had only been signed a year ago and that it was a previous headquarters of Sallie Mae.

After the move today, VeriSign is up 9.4% at $35.07 and the market cap is just over $5.8 billion with a 52-week trading range of $27.65 to $37.73. Stock option trading has been very active as well.

Thomson Reuters has a consensus price target objective of $40.40 today. The consensus earnings targets are $1.46 EPS in 2011 and $1.82 EPS for 2012. A blended 2011-2012 forward P/E ratio of 21.6 is not exactly cheap for private equity and for technology valuations these days.

Shares closed at $30.01 before the Labor Day weekend and yesterday was a close of $32.06 on more than 11.6 million shares. Even with almost two hours to go before the closing bell, there have been 11.1 million shares traded today. The last time we saw a 10+ million shares day was December 15, 2010.

Another day, another would-be rumor. We stress this caveat with each rumor out there that we hear, even when the rumors seem credible: Consider all market rumors as hearsay until you get an announcement from the companies.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Accounting, Activist Investor, Corporate Governance, Internet, Management Change, Software, Technology Companies, Trading Alert Tagged: VRSN

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ALTR, BSX, COH, CMCSA, GFA, KKR, MAS, MU, ORCL, POM, RHT, SO, TSM, TIF, VRSN)

Administrator — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 12:32:58 +0000

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

Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) Cut to Neutral at HSBC.
Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) Added to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Gafisa SA (NYSE: GFA) Reiterated Buy as Value at Zacks.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (NYSE: KKR) Started as Neutral with $18 target at Credit Suisse.
Masco Corporation (NYSE: MAS) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) Maintained Buy but Cut target to $12 at Gleacher & Co.
Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) Reiterated Outperform and $42 target at Credit Suisse.
Pepco Holdings Inc. (NYSE: POM) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT) Raised to Buy at S&P Equity Research (late Thursday).
Southern Company (NYSE: SO) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (NYSE: TSM) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) Cut to Neutral at HSBC.
VeriSign Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) Raised to Hold at S&P Equity Research (late Thursday).

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: ALTR, BSX, CMCSA, COH, GFA, KKR, MAS, MU, ORCL, POM, RHT, SO, TIF, TSM, VRSN

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AEE, ADM, BAC, CHTR, CMA, PGN, GOLD, RTN, RF, JOE, HOT, TLB, TSN, VRSN, WYNN)

Administrator — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 13:56:29 +0000

These are some of this Wednesday’s key analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls. This morning we have two key updates from late yesterday afternoon, followed by our normal morning calls.

Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) Started as Hold at Jefferies.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) Started as Sector Perform at RBC.
Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo; Cut to Market Perform at KBW; Cut to Hold at S&P Equity Research late-Wednesday.
Progress Energy Inc. (NYSE: PGN) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
Randgold Resources Ltd. (NASDAQ: GOLD) Raised to Strong Buy at S&P Equity Research (late Wednesday call).
Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) Raised to Buy at S&P Equity Research (late Wednesday call).
The St. Joe Company (NYSE: JOE) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: HOT) Raised to Neutral at Baird.
The Talbots Inc. (NYSE: TLB) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Verisign Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ADM, AEE, BAC, CHTR, CMA, gold, HOT, JOE, PGN, RF, RTN, TLB, TSN, VRSN, WYNN