Posts for Ticker ‘WTR’

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (CROX, FTE, MMC, PCS, WTR, LEAP, NVO, RRGB, TI, TRI)

Everyone is on hold for jobs data, but there are still pre-market research calls.  These are the top ten analyst calls we saw for upgrades and downgrades this Friday morning:

Crocs (CROX) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
France Telecom (FTE) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Marsh & McLennan (MMC) Raised to Buy at UBS.
MetroPCS (PCS) Raised to Hold at Auriga.
Aqua America (WTR) Cut to Neutral at HSBC.
Leap Wireless (LEAP) Cut to Market Weight at Thomas Weisel; Cut to Hold at Soleil.
Novo Nordisk (NVO) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs; Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan; Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Red Robin Gourmet (RRGB) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Telecom Italia (TI) Cut to Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Thomson Reuters (TRI) Cut to Underperform at Jefferies.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: August 7, 2009 – 8:00 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (WTR, DL, EHTH, GYMB, MEOH, SHW, STT)

It is looking pretty thin in new great research calls from Wall Street today.  Here are the top analyst calls seen as of 7:30 AM EST this Tuesday morning:

Aqua America (WTR) Raised to Buy at Janney Montgomery Scott.
China Distance Learning (DL) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
eHealth (EHTH)  Cut to Underperform at Oppenheimer.
Gymboree (GYMB) Raised to Positive at Susquehanna.
Methanex (MEOH) Cut to Sector Perform at CIBC.
Sherwin Williams (SHW) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
State Street (STT) Raised to Top Pick at RBC.

JON C. OGG
May 19, 2009

Posted on: May 19, 2009 – 6:52 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , ,

The ‘Safety Premium’ In Water Investing (AWK, WTR, AWR, CWT)

water-image1We have been investigating several of the “safe sectors” for investing to identify which ones may have seen the worst or which ones could continue to have issues regardless of whether or not recent stock market strength holds up or not.  Water is supposed to be one of those immune sectors as people have to drink water every day and just about every aspect of life revolves around water.  So we are starting out with domestic water utilities, because this is the first line of defense in the water sector and the most defensive portion of the water sector.  In theory, these do not require any new community growth or new water-intensive industries for the “defensive” thesis to hold up.  We briefly wanted to review American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE: AWK), Aqua America Inc. (NYSE: WTR), American States Water Company (NYSE: AWR), and California Water Service Group (NYSE: CWT).
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Posted on: March 23, 2009 – 10:35 am in Defensive Stocks, Water, , , ,

Top Analyst Upgrades (AA, WTR, BEC, CWT, CHRT, CHA, GAS, NOK, PNY, WW)

money-stack-image44These are the top upgrades and positive research calls we have seen from Wall Street analysts so far early this Thursday morning:

Alcoa (AA) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Aqua America (WTR) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Beckman Coulter (BEC) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
California Water (CWT) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Chartered Semiconductor (CHRT) Raised to Neutral at HSBC.
China Telecom (CHA) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Nicor (GAS) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Nokia (NOK) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Piedmont Natural Gas (PNY) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Watson Wyatt Worldwide (WW) Started as Buy at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

-JON C. OGG

Posted on: March 19, 2009 – 6:23 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Water Profits Rise on Higher Rates (AWK, WTR)

Water_imageAfter the market closed yesterday, American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) reported third quarter EPS of $0.55 on revenues of $672 million. EPS was right on expectations, but revenues fell short by about 12%. The floods in the Midwest reduced water sales by 4.8% from the same period a year ago, reducing EPS by about 4%.

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Posted on: November 6, 2008 – 9:30 am in Earnings, Utilities, Water, ,

52-Week Low Club (WTR, BMY, CELL, DDS, EK, EXPE, GCI, GE, HST, NOK, PFE, Q, VLO, WY, WGO)

If you thought this was a bad day for the market with the DJIA trading well under that 12,000 psychological level, there were some 400 stocks that hit 52-week lows today when you include the closed end funds, preferred stocks, and ETF’s.  Today was ugly enough that we won’t even add our little personal prodding on these.  Here is just a partial list of fifteen active stocks on this list today that aren’t airlines, autos, or financials:

  • AQUA AMERICA INC (NYSE: WTR)
  • BRISTOL MYERS SQUIBB (NYSE: BMY)
  • BRIGHTPOINT INC (NASDAQ: CELL)
  • DILLARD’S INC (NYSE: DDS)
  • EASTMAN KODAK CO (NYSE: EK)
  • EXPEDIA INC. (NASDAQ: EXPE)
  • GANNETT CO INC (NYSE: GCI)
  • GENERAL ELECTRIC CO (NYSE: GE)
  • HOST HOTELS & RESORT (NYSE: HST)
  • NOKIA (NYSE: NOK)
  • PFIZER INC. (NYSE: PFE)
  • QWEST COMMUNICATIONS (NYSE: Q)
  • VALERO ENERGY (NYSE: VLO)
  • WEYERHAEUSER CO (NYSE: WY)
  • WINNEBAGO IND INC (NYSE: WGO)

Jon C. Ogg
June 21, 2008

Posted on: June 20, 2008 – 2:21 pm in HI/LOW, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

52-Week Low Club (AGN, WTR, CTB, ISLE, LPSN, OPTT, SGIC, SNCR)

Today turned out being an ugly day, but there were many stocks that fell sharply to new 52-week lows all on their own without help from the market working against them.

Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN) hit a new low today despite showing earnings growth that beat expectations and announcing positive guidance. Shares were at $2.31 after hitting a low of $51.00 intraday. The 52-week range is $52.26 to $70.40. Apparently it takes more than good earnings to boost the health of this healthcare stock.

Aqua America Inc. (NYSE: WTR) missed earnings estimates and suffered adowngrade by Wachovia this morning.  So much for water being the safestinvestment around.  Shares are sitting at $17.42 in the final minutestoday; prior 52-week range of $17.75 to $26.62. This water companyprobably needs a different beverage tonight after today.

Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: CTB) needs a tire change after first quarter income reported this morning dropped. Shares are sitting at $12.72 in the final minutes today. The 52-week range wass $12.85 to $28.50.

Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. (NASDAQ: ISLE) was down to $6.42 in the final minutes today. The 52-week range is $6.43 to $26.03. Who says the house always wins?

LivePerson Inc.’s (NASDAQ: LPSN) weak quarter one earnings and outlook is pushing this stock down to $2.51 compared to a 52-week range of $2.68 to $6.94.

Ocean Power Technologies, Inc (NASDAQ: OPTT) hitting yet another 52-week low today. Shares for this ocean wave renewable power generator are trading at about $8.25 in the final minutes today compared to a prior 52-week range of $8.56 to $19.75. So much for green always being the new gold.  This is actually a post-IPO low.

Silicon Graphics Inc. (NASDAQ: SGIC) dropped after third quarter losses widened. A contract with NASA to supply the next superconductor isn’t enough to pull this stock up. Shares are trading at $7.62 late in the day compared to a 52-week range of $8.00 to $29.73.

Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNCR) took a massive hit after they released guidance that the company is concerned with revenues by Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone. Tuesday, the company reported a 17% profit growth at $0.16 EPS on $29.1 million in revenues, meeting estimates; but guidance stank the place up.  Shares were down over 43% to $12.92 in late-day trading on extremely high relative trading volume. The 52-week range was $15.15 to $48.03.

Jon C. Ogg
May 7, 2008

Posted on: May 7, 2008 – 2:50 pm in HI/LOW, , , , , ,

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (WTR, BYD, CNET, CTRP, GOOG, SOLD, NITE, NYX, SOHU, VDSI)

These are ten of the top analyst calls we are focusing on this morning:

  • Aqua America (NYSE: WTR) cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
  • Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD) started as Sell at Banc of America.
  • CNET (NASDAQ: CNET) started as Buy at Kaufman Bros.
  • Ctrip.com (NASDAQ: CTRP) cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
  • Google (NASDAQ:    GOOG) started as Buy at Kaufman Bros
  • Housevalues (NASDAQ: SOLD) raised to Buy at Cantor Fitzgerald.
  • Knight Capital Group (NASDAQ: NITE) cut to Equal Weight at Lehman Brothers.
  • NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
  • Sohu.com (NASDAQ: SOHU) cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
  • VASCO Data Security (NASDAQ: VDSI) raised to Buy at Jefferies.

Jon C. Ogg
May 7, 2008

Posted on: May 7, 2008 – 7:01 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

24/7 Wall St. On Water (WTR, INSU, PIO, KO, SMWIX)

We have partnered with Water.ca in Canada for a weekly Internet radio discussion about Water as an investing strategy for U.S. and Canadian investors.  The focus here is a discussion about the overall investing climate around water as a stock sector rather than a mechanism for giving many individual stock recommendations.  Jon Ogg of 24/7 Wall St. is interviewed in this Internet radio feature here at Water.ca.

The stocks and tickers discussed today were as follows:

  • Aqua America (WTR)
  • Insituform (INSU) 
  • SAM Sustainable Water Fund (SMWIX)
  • PowerShares Global Water (PIO)
  • American Water Works… upcoming IPO
  • Coca-Cola (KO)

If you are an investor that wants to invest in water or interested in learning about water investing you’ll want to listen to the report that lasts only about 9 minutes or so.  This is not covering only the bullish side and not meant as a tout for any single water stocks.

Posted on: October 17, 2007 – 3:47 pm in Water, , , , ,

Aqua America: A Growth Water Play, Or A Defensive Stock (WTR)

If Aqua America (NYSE:WTR) isn’t the ultimate water play in the U.S. and isn’t the ultimate sort of ‘defensive stock for a crummy market," then it is hard to imagine what is.  The problem is that even with the water investing angle the valuations make it feel like more of a growth stock.  That is the constant battle in the stock, particularly since it operates under mostly regulated markets.

The company met expectations with $0.18 EPS today and here are some other developments it has made:  Aqua America has been awarded rate increases in eight operating jurisdictions in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia and four other states designed to increase total operating revenues on an annual basis by approximately $13.8 million. Eight more rate cases have been filed and are pending for water and sewer systems located in Florida, North Carolina, Maine, Indiana and Virginia. Further cases are planned for filing this year for water and wastewater systems in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Missouri, New Jersey, Illinois, North Carolina and Ohio.

The company expects to invest approximately $250 million in capital projects this year.  Aqua America has recently acquired 13 utility systems that collectively serve more than 33,000 people, and realized new revenues of $15.4 million from these transactions and other acquisitions closed since the second quarter of 2006.

If Aqua America meets fiscal Dec-2007 targets, it trades at 29.5-times this years earnings (and 26-times 2008 projected earnings).  This is the go-to water name for those looking to cash in on water investing.  If toilet flushing, shower taking, and water drinking are not steady then it is hard to imagine what else is.  Historically this is a utility.  The earnings multiples are big, partially on the "water investing premium" and partially on the fact that you don’t have many competing interests for water once those systems go into place.  It will have to really push for these rate hikes and will have to manage costs better for it to keep these high multiples. 

Its 52-week trading range is fairly tight at $20.50 to $24.94.  Shares were slightly down at the open, and now shares have just crossed into positive territory.

Jon C. Ogg
August 6, 2007

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

Posted on: August 6, 2007 – 9:06 am in Earnings, Water, , ,

Defensive Stock ‘Havens’ For A Crummy Market (PEP, KO, MRK, NVO, PG, CAG, BUD, HRL, CL, MO, CG MCD, KFT, NVO, WTR)

It’s yet another crummy day in the markets with roughly a 280 DJIA point drop before the closing bell went off.  Bear Stearns added the most fuel at the end of the day, unemployment was not a big enough help, and American Home Mortgage (AHM) shut most operations.  There are many bulls still out there after the malaise ends, and the questions still seem to be around WHEN rather than IF.  As always, there are many unleveraged companies that make basic products that are deemed the defensive stocks.  We try to simplify the list of names down to the true economically immune names, although there in reality is no such thing as an immune stock.  Sell programs kicked in at the end of the day, and these probably got hit too. 

If you are looking for buys in a crummy market you want to usually look at the stocks that produce you goods you have to consume.  If you eat it, drink it, or smoke it, it’s a defensive stock.  We won’t stop using toiletries either.  There are many other defensive stocks, but here is a group of stocks from our classic list and we’ve removed the "leveraged names" and those which would do well only in a moderate economic drop.  Here goes:

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) and Pepsi (NYSE:PEP)….does anyone ever stop drinking sodas or water, or stop eating chips?

Anheuser Busch (NYSE:BUD)….if you drink alchohol, you only drink more when things are bad.

Hormel (NYSE:HRL)….canned meats, deemed on the cheap.  Spam is a delicacy somewhere, or at least that is people keep saying.

Kraft (NYSE:KFT)…. maybe it’s too tied to activists, Buffett, Phillip Morris, or whatever, but it’s monster play in the sector.

McDonalds (NYSE:MCD)….best fast food play off the mid to lower income, and they won’t always eat at home regardless.

ConAgra (NYSE:CAG)….food giant that is fairly valued.

Altria (NYSE:MO) & Loews Carolina Group (NYSE:CG)….who says smoking is all bad?  Smoking kills, but people insist on buying.

Merck (NYSE:MRK)….drug king did well on last earnings.

Proctor & Gamble (NYSE:PG) and Colgate-Polmolive (NYSE:CL)….they get into your pocketbook regardless of the market unless you stop shaving, washing hands, and brushing your teeth.

Here are two runner-ups:

Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO)…. This is a bit challenging since it’s an ADR based in Denmark, but they are virtually a pureplay on insulin and diabetics need it regardless of a market crash.

Aqua America (NYSE:WTR)….largest independent water and waste water play, although high P/E ratio.

As a final reminder, there is no such thing as a "HAVEN" if there is a total market crash.  If the market falls 5% in a day or two, these are probably going to get hit hard too.  But people will own stocks and many firms HAVE TO own stocks.  The defensive names are where they tend to flock to first.

Jon C. Ogg
August 3, 2007

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

Posted on: August 3, 2007 – 3:18 pm in HI/LOW, Large Cap Stocks, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Defensive Stocks For a Crummy Market (KO, MRK, PG, CAG, BUD, HRL, CL, MO, MCD, KFT, NVO, WTR)

Stock Tickers: KO, MRK, PG, CAG, BUD, HRL, CL, MO, MCD, KFT, NVO, WTR

If you are a long-term bull and aren’t feeling panic after seeing a huge down day (of over 400 DJIA points earlier), you will be looking at today’s huge drop as another great chance to get in.  If you can find any technical comfort in the VIX, here’s our earlier note today regarding the VIX and the past extreme levels.  You’ll also probably look for defensive companies that are at least perceived to have a sort of ‘quality premium’ and lack of credit risks to their models.

This list has been modified from a prior list of 20 Defensive Stocks we provided earlier this year during the first mini-meltdown, with some tweaking to take current ‘credit risks’ into consideration.  Remember, these are usually the ones you eat, drink, or smoke…..

Here is a hit list from that original larger group with the leveraged names taken out to reflect today’s "risk-base" in the decision making.  There is no specific order to any of these, and obviously some of their direct competitors could just as easily be included.  This is just a hypothetical list, and everyone has to do their own homework.  Also keep in mind that even these names get hit when the market reacts this poorly.  Here are the names:

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO)….does anyone ever stop drinking Coke or water?

Merck (NYSE:MRK)….drug king did well on last earnings.

Proctor & Gamble (NYSE:PG)….they get into your pocketbook regardless of the market.

ConAgra (NYSE:CAG)….food giant that is fairly valued.

Anheuser Busch (NYSE:BUD)….if you drink alchohol, you only drink more when things are bad.

Hormel (NYSE:HRL)….canned meats, deemed on the cheap.  Spam is a delicacy soemwhere.

Colgate-Polmolive (NYSE:CL)….they get into your pocketbook regardless of the market.

Altria (NYSE:MO)….who says smoking is all bad?  Product kills, but people insist on buying.

McDonalds (NYSE:MCD)….best fast food play off the mid to lower income, and they won’t always eat at home regardless.

Kraft (NYSE:KFT)…. maybe it’s too tied to activists, Buffett, Phillip Morris, or whatever, but it’s monster play in the sector.

Here are a couple more picks from the original second-line of defensive stocks, but this takes out some of the ‘perceived’ riskier names tied to financial impacts and the like:

Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO)….you won’t be seeing any diabetics cut their insulin treatments next week.

Aqua America (NYSE:WTR)….largest independent water and waste water play, although high P/E ratio.

Jon C. Ogg
July 26, 2007

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

Posted on: July 26, 2007 – 2:42 pm in HI/LOW, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Market Trades For Super-Bulls, Chicken-Bulls, and Outright Bears

Stock Tickers: AAPL, GOOG, RIMM, BA, UTX, ATI, RTP, RIO, FLR, SGR, PEP, KO, BUD, CAG, HNZ, CPB, HRL, K, GIS, KFT, MCD, MRK, PFE, ALO, PYX, HME, WTR, SNH, SRZ, PG, CL, MO, RAI, CLX, NVO, BRK/A, FLO, DLM, PSQ, DOG, SSO, SH, BIL, IEI, TLT, TLH

There is more than enough bantering back and forth out there about the week’s sell-off in reaction to long-term interest rates and the Bill Gross predictions for potentially higher rates longer-term.  So, if you are a super-bull then you’d want to use the leadership stocks to pile surplus cash into thinking the world didn’t really change.  If you are a chicken-bull (want to buy but not overly aggressive and still cautious) then you want to buy defensive stocks.  If you’re a bear, well at least you get the 5% interest.  We wanted to provide at least a partial list of the bull and bear go-to picks ahead of the weekend when many will be doing extra amounts of reading.

Aggressive Bullish Picks

IF this was just an unwarranted sell-off that came because of a rate spook and if Mr. Gross is wrong, then you go hard and fast into what has been working before.  Aerospace, Infrastructure, Metals & Mining, very selective Tech.  So out of selective tech the two most obvious names are Apple (AAPL) and either Google (GOOG) or Research-in-Motion (RIMM).  In Aerospace the go-to names are Boeing (BA) and United Tech (UTX).  In metals its Allegheny Tech (ATI), Rio Tinto (RTP), and Companhia Vale do Rio Doce ‘CVRD’ (RIO).  In infrastructure the go-to names are Fluor (FLR), Shaw Group (SGR).  This week Jim Cramer gave his New Four Horsemen of Technology and booted the old ones.

Defensive Stock Plays For Chicken-Bull

Because this sell-off is for a different reason, we have eliminated the power companies because of the tie being so geared toward higher rates.  We’ve also pulled out the debt collection companies because they ran so much after the last sub-prime scare.  Here was the first line of 20 defensive stocks back in February from the mini-Asian meltdown and here was the list of second-line defensive names.   This still leaves plenty of options, and we added in a few more.

First Line Defensive Stocks: Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP), Anheuser-Busch (BUD), ConAgra (CAG), Heinz (HNZ), Campbell Soup (CPB), Hormel (HRL), Kellogg (K), General Mills (GIS), Kraft (KFT), McDonalds (MCD), Merck (MRK), Pfizer (PFE), P & G (PG), Colgate-Polmolive (CL), Altria (MO), Reynolds American (RAI), and Clorox (CLX).

Second-Line Defensive Stocks:  Berkshire Hathaway (BRK/a), Flowers Foods (FLO), Del Monte Foods (DLM), Novo Nordisk (NVO), Alpharma (ALO), Playtex (PYX), Home Properties (HME), Aqua America (WTR), and Senior Housing (SNH), Sunrise Senior Living (SRZ).

The Bearish Trades

If you are still bearish or are completely bearish, then you’ve got Treasuries and all of the inverse ETF funds.  Some of the negative market ETF trades that move invesrely are the SHORT QQQ PROSHARES (PSQ), SHORT DOW30 PROSHARES (DOG), ULTRA S&P500 PROSHARES (SSO), SHORT S&P500 PROSHARES (SH), and more.  For short-term rate ETF’s you have the fairly new STREETTRACKS SERIES TRUST Lehman 1-3 MO T-BILL (BIL).  The more liquid interest rate ETF’s that actually trade are the iShares Lehman 20+ Year Treas Bond (TLT), iShares Lehman 10-20 Year Treas Bond (TLH), iShares Lehman 3-7 Year T-Note (IEI), and more.

As a reminder, defensive stocks still tend to get hit when the market gets so bad that they throw out the baby with the bath water, but they usually start to fall less and less and are usually the first stocks that traders commit money to at the turns.  Defensive doesn’t mean immune.  Also, all of these are merely part of a partial list and the list could have easily been 3-times the size.   

Jon C. Ogg
June 8, 2007

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

Posted on: June 8, 2007 – 2:14 pm in ETF, Economy, HI/LOW, Shareholder Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,