Archive for May, 2010
(CMG) Chipotle Mexican Grill Goes With Local Produce
In an effort to emphasize its commitment to cooking, preparing food with more sustainable ingredients and to serve locally grown produce, Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) recently announced its plans to raise its local produce goal to 50.0% for fiscal 2010, compared with 35.0% in...
21May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(CP) Canadian Pacific Railway Raises Dividend
Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (CP), Canada’s second largest railway, announced an increase in its quarterly dividend as well as capital spending driven by improvements in economic condition, healthy balance sheet, strong earnings and free cash flows. The increase in dividend...
21May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(PPL) PPL Corporation Gets Department of Energy Grant
PPL Electric Utilities, a subsidiary of PPL Corp. (PPL), signed a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy, receiving 50% funding for its $38 million Smart Grid project. The grant will help the company improve electric service reliability for more than 60,000 Harrisburg area...
21May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(ACC) American Campus Communities May Sell $150 Million Equity
American Campus Communities Inc. (ACC) announced the initiation of an at-the-market equity program on Thursday. Under the program, the company will be entitled to sell common stock with an aggregate offering price of up to $150 million on a discretionary basis. Bank of America...
21May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(AMSC) American Superconductor Reports 20% Ahead of Expectations
American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC) reported adjusted earnings per share of 12 cents for the first-quarter 2010. The results surpassed the Zacks Consensus of 10 cents. We have considered the impact of employee stock-based compensation in the adjusted quarterly results;...
21May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(CME) Chicago Board Options Exchange IPO to Raise at Least $292 Million
According to Reuters, on May 18, the final major private options exchange left in the U.S., the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) unveiled its estimation of raising at least $292 million from the forthcoming initial public offering (IPO), through a regulatory dossier filed...
21May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(AMGN) Amgen Submits to FDA for Denosumab
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) recently submitted a Biologics License Application (BLA) with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its key pipeline candidate, denosumab. The company is seeking approval for the use of denosumab in delaying skeletal related events in patients with advanced...
21May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(LMT) Lockheed Martin First Quarter 2010 Earnings Scorecard
Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT), the defense industry goliath, humbled market apprehensions on April 21 with its first quarter 2010 results. The company, however, revised downward its fiscal 2010 earnings range to $7.00 – $7.20 from the earlier guidance range of $7.15 –...
21May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(TGT) Target Corporation – Earnings Estimates Trending Higher
Target Corp. (TGT) has beaten the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last five quarters by an average of 12.7%. Growth and Income The company is expected to grow its earnings per share 15.4% in fiscal 2011, 15.3% in fiscal 2012, and 12.5% per year for the long term. Target’s...
21May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(DELL) Dell’s First Quarter 2001 Exceeds Expectations
Dell Inc. (DELL) reported first quarter 2011 EPS of 30 cents, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 26 cents. Revenue Revenue for the quarter was $14.9 billion, up 21.0% from $12.3 billion reported in the year-ago quarter and almost flat compared to $14.9 billion reported...
21May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(ISRG) Intuitive Surgical – Bull of the Day
Intuitive Surgical’s (ISRG) story is improving. A new product was developed as an upgrade to its da Vinci Surgical System. Furthermore, the company enjoys a virtual monopoly in robotic surgery without direct competition. The company’s razor/razor blade business model...
21May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(CPB) Uncertain Environment? Diversify and Seek Value – May 20, 2010
I spent most of this week at the 2010 CFA Institute Annual Conference, attending several great presentations and panels. Many of the topics centered around strategy, though the regulatory environment and Europe came up frequently during Q&A sessions. In terms of strategies...
21May2010 | Shawn | 0 comments | Continued(EVVV) ev3 Files for FDA Pre-Market Approval
ev3, Inc. (EVVV) has recently filed the final module of its Pre-market Approval (PMA) application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Pipeline Embolization Device. The company expects the FDA to schedule an advisory panel review of the proposal in late 2010...
21May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(NOK) Nokia Analyst Downgrades Stock – Lacks Catalyst
We downgrade our recommendation for Nokia Corp. (NOK) to Underperform due to lack of any immediate catalyst. The company is facing serious problems in the high-end smartphone segment. Smartphones are expected to become the next-generation choice, taking over the market share...
21May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(JPM) FDIC Report Shows Big Banks Boost Industry Profit $$
Following the dreadful phase of the economic downturn, the banking industry’s profits soared during the first quarter of 2010. However, this was primarily led by the big banks, while small banks remained strained due to deteriorating credit conditions. According to the quarterly...
21May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(SYK) Stryker Resolves FDA Warning Letters
Stryker Corporation (SYK) recently resolved two warning letters issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA has given a clean certificate to Stryker after it found that the actions undertaken by the company to address issues raised in these letters were sufficient. In...
21May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(WIN) Windstream Expands Next-Generation VoIP Services
Leading rural telecom carrier Windstream Corporation (WIN) has expanded the coverage of its next-generation VoIP solutions (bundles voice, data and broadband Internet) as the carrier has reportedly launched the service in Omaha, Nebraska. This follows the company’s recent service...
21May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(CVX) Chevron First Quarter Earnings Scorecard
Late last month, Chevron Corporation (CVX) — the second largest U.S. oil company — announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2010. Now that the Wall Street analysts have had some time to digest the quarterly performance of Chevron, they...
20May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(STJ) St. Jude Medical Announces it Will Acquire LightLab
St. Jude Medical (STJ) recently entered into a definitive agreement to acquire LightLab Imaging (a subsidiary of Goodman Co.) for about $90 million in cash. This acquisition will provide St. Jude access to LightLab’s Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) technology. Earlier, in...
20May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(MET) MetLife First Quarter 2010 Earnings Scorecard
MetLife Inc. (MET) reported first quarter 2010 results on Apr. 30 with operating earnings of $834 million or $1.01 per share, which was significantly ahead of $131 million or $0.16 per share in the year-ago quarter. Results also modestly surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate...
20May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(AMZN) Amazon.com First Quarter Earnings Scorecard
Amazon.com (AMZN) reported first quarter earnings that beat the Zacks Consensus by 6.45%. The positive earnings surprise was less than in prior quarters, as estimates were already adjusted to reflect pre-recession type growth. First Quarter Highlights Earnings were negatively...
20May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(ETFC) E*TRADE Financial Corporation Sees Improved Activity
Online broker E*TRADE Financial Corporation (ETFC) released its Monthly Activity Report for April 2010 on Wednesday, recording a 17.0% sequential gain in average U.S. trades. For the month of April, 2010, Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs) were 181,556, up 17.0% sequentially,...
20May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(FNM) U.S. Employment Numbers Seem to Be Stalling
Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance, or “initial jobless claims,” rose by 25,000 last week to 471,000, well by 27,000 if you count the fact that last week’s claims were revised up by 2,000. That caused the four-week moving average, which is considered to be...
20May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(LLL) L-3 Communications Holdings First Quarter 2010 Earnings Scorecard
L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. (LLL) reported better-than-expected first quarter 2010 (ended Mar 26, 2010) results on April 22, 2010. In the reported quarter, the company achieved earnings of $1.87 per share (excluding a tax provision of $0.04), beating the Zacks Consensus...
20May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(OXY) Occidental Petroleum Corporation’s Earnings Scorecard
Following the earnings release for Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) on April 29, 2010, the company issued a detailed outlook in an analyst meeting held on May 19, 2010. Occidental’s better-than-expected performance in the first quarter was mainly driven by higher production...
20May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(CSC) Computer Sciences Corporation Beats Expectations
Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) reported fourth quarter 2010 EPS of $1.66, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.44. Revenue The company’s fourth quarter 2010 revenue of $4.2 billion was up 2.4% compared to the year-ago quarter, driven by strength across all segments...
20May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(TEF) Telefonica SA Announces Agressive Expansion in Brazil
Spanish telecom giant Telefonica SA (TEF) is aggressively preparing to delve deeper into the lucrative Brazilian telecom market, representing the principal growth engine for the carrier over the last few years. The operator recently revealed its plans to invest as much as R$5...
20May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(MTE) Indian 3G Wireless Auction Wrapped Up
The prolonged 3G spectrum (radio airwave) auction in India was finally wrapped up on May 19, 2010, according to the country’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The auction, which started on April 9 and lasted for 34 days with 183 rounds of aggressive bidding, has fetched...
20May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(NOC) Northrop Grumman Announces Increased Dividend
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC) raised its quarterly dividend by 9.3% to $0.47 per share from $0.43. This is the seventh consecutive annual increase in its quarterly dividend. The dividend is payable June 12, 2010, to shareholders of record as on June 1, 2010. Northrop Grumman’s...
20May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(ADSK) Autodesk First Quarter 2011 Results Easily Beat The Street
Autodesk, Inc. (ADSK) reported better-than-expected fiscal first quarter 2011 results, with diluted earnings per share and revenue increasing 58.8% and 11.5%, respectively, from the year-ago period. Net income on a non-GAAP basis was $64.5 million in the first quarter, up 58.4%...
20May2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued