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Pets Are Recession-Proof! (PETM, PETS, WOOF)

Administrator — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:10:40 +0000

Whether or not the U.S. is truly going into another recession is still up for grabs. What is not up for grabs is that earnings are coming in less robust and companies are generally far less optimistic than they were at the beginning of this year. That is, except for the market around the household pets like cats, dogs, and other beasts of affection. PetSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM) has raised guidance and this has the sector tied to pets under the magnifying glass today.

PetSmart runs about 1,200 retail locations throughout North America and its market valuation is over $5.1 billion. Its shares recently traded above $46.00 today after it raised guidance and the 52-week trading range is $35.27 to $46.60. It is not normal for retail companies to be trading within 1% or 2% of year highs in the current environment.

PetMed Express Inc. (NASDAQ: PETS) is surprisingly not in the gaining crowd today, yet it aims to help pet owners to save money by buying animal drugs online or over the phone rather than via the pharmacy, pet store, or vet’s office. Shares are down almost 1% at $9.30 and its 52-week trading range is $8.51 to $18.87. This company trades close to the market at about 13-times expected earnings.

Then there is the king of veterinarian centers at 11:50AM EDT: 16.94 0.03 (0.18%) VCA Antech Inc. (NASDAQ: WOOF). This one is down 0.2% so far at $16.94 and its 52-week range is $14.73 to $26.29.

What got things going was that PetSmart lifted its sales targets for the third quarter to 5.5% to 6% growth in same-store sales. It also raised guidance to $0.46 to $0.48 EPS from a prior target of $0.41 to $0.45 EPS. For the year, that range was raised to $2.46 to $2.52 EPS from a prior range of $2.40 to $2.48 EPS.

All of this only highlights the private equity acquisition of PetSmart’s main rival, which is Petco Animal Supplies. Petco agreed to be acquired in a $1.7 billion private equity buyout in 2006 by Leonard Green & Partners and affiliates of Texas Pacific Group.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Consumer Goods, Earnings, Entertainment, Retail Tagged: PETM, PETS, WOOF

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (NLY, BHP, CELL, FTE, FIO, IVR, MDT, OKE, TLB, THOR, WOOF, WBMD)

Administrator — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:35:35 +0000

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

Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE: NLY) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
BHP Billiton Limited (NYSE: BHP) Reiterated Strong Buy as Value at Zacks.
Brightpoint Inc. (NASDAQ: CELL) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
France Telecom (NYSE: FTE) Raised to Neutral at UBS.
Fusion-io Inc. (NYSE: FIO) Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs; Started as Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley; Started as Neutral at JPMorgan; Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc. (NYSE: IVR) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
ONEOK Inc. (NYSE: OKE) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
The Talbots Inc. (NYSE: TLB) Raised to Neutral at Janney Capital.
Thoratec Corporation (NASDAQ: THOR) Started as Outperform with $43 target at Credit Suisse.
VCA Antech Inc. (NASDAQ: WOOF) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ: WBMD) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup; maintained Buy but cut target to $44 at Canaccord Genuity.

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: BHP, CELL, FIO, FTE, IVR, MDT, NLY, OKE, THOR, TLB, WBMD, WOOF

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (GLW, CPN, DYN, DE, EIX, IR, LM, STX, SLM, WOOF)

247wallst — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:37:42 +0000

These are this Thursday’s top ten independent analyst calls with upgrades, downgrades and initiations from Wall Street brokerage firms with more than two hours until the market opens:

Corning (GLW) Started as Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
Calpine (CPN) Cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
Dynegy (DYN) Cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
Deere (DE) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Edison (EIX) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Ingersol-Rand (IR) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Legg Mason (LM) Raised to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Seagate Tech (STX) Raised to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
SLM Corp. (SLM) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
VCA Antech (WOOF) Raised to Buy at Sun Trust Robinson Humphrey.

Jon C. Ogg
June 25, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: CPN, DE, DYN, EIX, GLW, IR, LM, SLM, STX, WOOF

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (ASML, ATMI, WFR, PALM, PFCB, PRAA, RAH, TXN, WOOF, XEL)

247wallst — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:45:23 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market analyst calls we have seen this Friday morning…. Friday the 13th:

ASML (ASML) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
ATMI (ATMI) Raised to Buy at UBS.
MEMC Electronics (WFR) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Palm (PALM) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
PF Chang’s (PFCB) Raised to Outperform at William Blair.
Portfolio Recovery Associates (PRAA) Raised to Market Perform at KBW.
Ralcorp Holdings (RAH) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Texas Instruments (TXN) Raised to Buy at UBS.
VCA Antech (WOOF) Raised to Hold at Jefferies.
Xcel Energy (XEL) Started as Outperform at Wachovia.

Jon C. Ogg
February 13, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: analyst upgrades, ASML, ATMI, independent research, PALM, PFCB, PRAA, RAH, TXN, upgrades, WFR, WOOF, XEL

Top Pre-Market Downgrades (AMSF, SQM, TRI, TSCO, WOOF, VOLVY)

247wallst — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 07:44:55 +0000

There were not as many analysts calls today, and you will see that the upgrades and downgrades from Wall Street analysts are just not as robust as some might have expected. Here are this Wednesday’s early bird downgrades:

Amerisafe (NASDAQ: AMSF) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Sociedad Quimica (NYSE: SQM) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI) Cut To Sector Perform By Scotia
Tractor Supply (NASDAQ: TSCO) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
VCA Antech (NASDAQ: WOOF) Cut to Market Perform at Morgan Keegan.
Volvo (NASDAQ: VOLVY) Cut to Sell at UBS.

Jon C. Ogg
January 7, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AMSF, SQM, TRI, TSCO, VOLVY, WOOF

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (ANN, CVC, COF, CELG, GME, PPDI, STJ, STI, THQI, WOOF, WU)

247wallst — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 06:18:43 +0000

These are some of the many research upgrades we have seen from Wall Street analysts this Monday morning with more than two hours to the open:

Ann Taylor (ANN) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs
Cablevision (CVC) Raised to Hold at S&P Equity Research
Capital One Financial (COF) Raised to Market Perform at KBW
Celgene (CELG) Raised to Outperform at Baird
GameStop (GME) Raised to Buy at Piper Jaffray
Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPDI) Raised to Outperform at Baird
St. Jude Medical (STJ) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan
SunTrust Banks (STI) Raised to Market Perform at KBW
THQ (THQI) Raised to Buy at Piper Jaffray
VCA Antech (WOOF) Raised to Buy at Piper Jaffray
Western Union (WU) Raised to Buy at S&P Equity Research

Jon C. Ogg
October 13, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: ANN, CELG, COF, CVC, GME, PPDI, STI, STJ, THQI, WOOF, WU

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (ANF, ASTI, ASMI, NILE, CHU, CSX, DPS, LLTC, QCOM, WOOF )

247wallst — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 06:48:34 +0000

These are ten of the analyst calls we are focusing on this Tuesday morning in pre-market trading:

Abercrombie (NYSE: ANF) cut to Market Perform at FBR.
Ascent Solar (NASDAQ: ASTI) started as Neutral at Jefferies.
ASM Intl NV (NASDAQ: ASMI) started as Underperform at Jefferies.
Blue Nile (NASDAQ: NILE) Started as Underweight at Thomas Weisel.
China Unicom (NYSE: CHU) cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
CSX Corp (NYSE: CSX) cut to Neutral at UBS.
Dr Pepper Snapple (NYSE: DPS) started as Underweight at JP Morgan.
Linear Tech (NASDAQ: LLTC) cut to Neutral at UBS.
Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.
VCA Antech (NASDAQ: WOOF) Started as Neutral at Piper Jaffray.

Jon C. Ogg
June 3, 2008

The 52-Week Low Club (MPG)(MTG)(WLP)(APOL)(WOOF)

247wallst — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:01:23 +0000

Maguire (MPG) Possible sale of the company fails. Shares sell down to $12.42 from 52-week high of $38.08.

MGIC (MTG) Company closes common stock offering, dilution. Stock off to $9.60 from 52-week high of $67.05.

Wellpoint (WLP) Dowgrade from Lehman. Sells down to $43.02 from 52-week high of $90.

Apollo Group (APOL) Misses quarterly numbers. Down to $39.41 from 52-week high of $81.68.

VCA Antech (WOOF) No real news. Just drifting down. Hits low of $26.55 from 52-week high of $46.23.

Douglas A. McIntyre

The 52-Week Low Club (SIRF)(RMKR)(WOOF)

247wallst — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 16:10:32 +0000

Primus Guaranty (NYSE: PRS) Bad quarterly earnings. Shares drop to $3.64 from 52-week high of $12.96.

SiRF Technology (NASD: SIRF) Big miss on earnings takes half of stock’s value in one day. Trades down to $6.97 from 52-week high of $34.15.

Rainmaker Systems (NASD: RMKR) Company loses biggest client and is downgraded. Drops to $2.81 from 52-week high of $11.08.

ARM Holdings (NASD: ARMHY) Weak quarterly numbers.Down to $5.57 from 52-week high of $10.07.

VCA Antech (NASD: WOOF) Quarterly guidance is off the mark. Falls to $31.40 from 52-week high of $46.23.

Douglas A. McIntyre: