Archive for June, 2011
(ORCL) Oracle Reports Strong Fourth Quarter Earnings Results
Oracle Corp. (ORCL) reported an impressive fourth quarter 2011, with quarterly revenues surpassing $10.0 billion for the first time in the company’s history. The robust top-line growth helped Oracle earn 71 cents per share in the quarter, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(CAG) Company News for June 24, 2011 – Corporate Summary
• ConAgra Foods (NYSE:CAG) posted adjusted Q4 EPS of $0.47, lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.48 per share. Revenues for the quarter rose 5.3% year-over-year to $3.21 billion • Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL) posted Q4 EPS of $0.75, surpassing the...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(XLE) Stock Market News for June 24, 2011 – Market News
On Thursday, markets rebounded from session lows as Greece agreed to implement a five-year austerity plan. Markets were dragged lower early in the day after a drop in oil prices. However, news from the domestic front was discouraging with disappointing economic reports on initial...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(VRTX) Vertex Pharmaceuticals Get Positive Data on Incivek
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) recently reported data from two late stage trials – ADVANCE and REALIZE – on Incivek (telaprevir). The data were published in the June edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. The trial results demonstrated that when patients suffering...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(PAYX) Paychex Disappoints in Fourth Quarter
Paychex Inc. (PAYX) reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2011 earnings of 33 cents per share, which came in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Though the quarter’s results indicate an improving client retention rate and higher checks per client, lower sale of new units remains...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(PEP) Pepsico Induces America to Clean Up
Pepsico Inc. (PEP) announced that through the ‘Dream Machine Recycling’ initiative it will introduce 2,500 Free Green Cans throughout the Chicago Park District. It will be available across 16 miles of downtown lakefront and increase public access to recycling bins in the...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(BP) BP Seeks $15B Project in Oman
BP Plc (BP) plans to make a $15 billion capital investment in Oman over a 10-year period to form one of its largest global ventures. The company plans to develop 300 wells over the period for its Block 61 tight gas field development project in Oman. Out of the proposed capital...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(GR) Goodrich and Boeing to Tango
Goodrich Corporation (GR) has been selected by The Boeing Company’s (BA) Defense, Space & Security to work on the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s Integrated Vehicle Energy Technology program. Goodrich’s Actuation Systems will design, develop and test an...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(LNC) Lincoln National Rating Action
Lincoln National Corp. (LNC) experienced ratings actions on its freshly issued senior unsecured notes from both Moody’s Investors Service of Moody’s Corp. (MCO) and A.M. Best. Accordingly, Moody’s has denoted these notes with a “Baa2” rating, while also promoted Lincoln’s...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(CLX) Clorox’s Risk-Reward Balances
We are maintaining a long-term Neutral recommendation on Clorox Corporation (CLX) with a target price of $71.00 per share. Moreover, the company has a Zacks #4 Rank, implying a short-term Sell rating on the stock. Clorox is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of consumer...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(MTW) Manitowoc Upgraded to Neutral
Manitowoc Co. Inc. (MTW) reported an adjusted loss per share of 10 cents in its first quarter ended March 31, 2011, flat year over year while revenues increased 7% year over year to notch $732.2 million. Given the recent recovery witnessed in the Crane segment alongside sustained...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(NEM) Indonesia Divesting Newmont Mining Stake
The Indonesian government announced that it will sell part of a 7% stake it will buy in the Indonesian unit of Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM) to local governments. According to Reuters, the move is aimed at diffusing opposition from some lawmakers against the central government’s...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(ALKS) Alkermes Evenly Poised
We are maintaining our Neutral recommendation on Alkermes, Inc. (ALKS) with a target price of $18.00. Alkermes is a drug delivery biotech company which uses its proprietary specialized drug delivery technologies to develop drugs for the treatment of central nervous system (CNS)...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(KR) Kroger First Quarter 2011Earnings Scorecard
Specialty retailer The Kroger Co. (KR) announced its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2011. Street analysts had almost a week to ponder on the news. In the paragraphs that follow, we cover the recent earnings announcement, subsequent analysts’ estimate revisions...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | ContinuedOptimism Jumps, But Pessimism Stays High – AAII Sentiment Survey
Bullish sentiment jumped 8.5 percentage points to 37.5% in the latest AAII Sentiment Survey. This is an eight-week high for optimism that stock prices will rise over the next six months. It is also, however, the 10th consecutive week that bullish sentiment has been below its...
24Jun2011 | Shawn | 0 comments | Continued(NKE) Money Isn’t Changing Hands Fast Enough – AAII Investor Update
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke continues to be the enemy of savers. On Wednesday, the Boston Red Sox fan reiterated his belief that interest rates should be kept at rock-bottom levels for an extended period of time. He views this as necessary in order to keep the economy...
24Jun2011 | Shawn | 0 comments | Continued(RDC) Rowan Companies Concludes LeTourneau Sale
Rowan Companies, Inc. (RDC) wrapped up the asset sale deal with a leading mining equipment maker, Joy Global Inc. (JOYG) for its manufacturing unit, LeTourneau Technologies, Inc. The all-cash transaction worth $1.1 billion is subject to adjustment mentioned in the Stock Purchase...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(DRQ) Dril-Quip Receives $39 Million Order
A wholly-owned subsidiary of Dril-Quip, Inc. (DRQ) has earned a contract worth approximately $39 million from Murphy Sabah Oil Company, Ltd. Under the term of the contract, Dril-Quip’s subsidiary, Dril-Quip Asia Pacific PTE Ltd. will deliver drilling and production equipment...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(ORCL) Oracle Earnings Typically Efficient
After the closing bell Thursday, Oracle Corp. (ORCL) beat earnings and revenue estimates for the company’s fiscal 4th quarter of 2011. Earnings of 75 cents per share easily beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 69 cents, and revenues in the quarter totaled $10.8 billion,...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(CMG) Chipotle Mexican Grill Shops Locally
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) has raised its target of using local produce to more than 10 million pounds for 2011 from about 5 million pounds set for 2010. Previous goals were 50.0% for 2010, 35.0% for 2009 and 25.0% for 2008. However, in 2010, the company purchased about...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(SKM) Spectrum on Auction in South Korea
The South Korean telecom regulator will hold an auction for radio spectrum in early August. The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) will raise roughly KRW 1.5 trillion ($1.1 billion) by providing several frequency bands to Korean mobile operators, thereby changing their competitive...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(IBKR) Interactive Downgraded to Neutral
We are downgrading our recommendation on Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (IBKR) to Neutral based on weak brokerage metrics for May. Primarily, a year-over-year decline in Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs) was disappointing. Interactive Brokers’ first quarter 2011 operating...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(GD) General Dynamics Wins Air Force Deal
General Dynamics Corporation (GD) declared that its unit General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems has received a contract worth $4.7 million to provide airborne advanced geospatial intelligence (‘AGI’) battlespace awareness support to the U.S. Air Force’s...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(BMY) Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer Report Positive Data on Blood Thinner Apixaban Drug
Recently, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMY) and partner Pfizer (PFE) announced encouraging top line data from a late-stage study (ARISTOTLE: n=18,201) which evaluated their blood thinner apixaban in patients suffering from an erratic heartbeat. This cardiac rhythm disorder is...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(AIG) Style Anomaly: Value versus Growth
Summer is heating up and some of the greatest baseball rivalries are in full swing. Think Cubs v Cardinals, Red Sox v Yankees and Dodgers v Giants. In the world of stock investing, however, the greatest rivalry is value v growth. One often hears how value stocks outperform growth...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(MRGE) Merge’s Senior Notes Offer Ends
Healthcare information software solutions provider, Merge Healthcare (MRGE) recently completed private offering of $52 million of 11.75% senior secured notes. The company offered the notes as additional debt securities under an indenture in connection to which the company earlier...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(KMB) Kimberly-Clark Promotes Cars 2
In order to promote the new release of Disney Pixar’s Cars 2 movie, Kimberly-Clark Corporation (KMB) plans to use CheckPoints LLC’s mobile shopping application as an innovative marketing strategy. Based in California, CheckPoints is a mobile shopping app that rewards ...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(S) Sprint Plans 4G Data Pricing
The third-largest U.S. wireless carrier Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) announced that it will roll out two new 4G tablet data plans with the launch of the first 4G tablet “HTC EVO View 4G” on June 24. Currently, Sprint offers three monthly data plans: 1 GB of data for $20, 3 GB...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(WFSL) Washington Federal Upgraded
We are upgrading our recommendation on Washington Federal Inc. (WFSL) to Neutral from Underperform based on improving credit quality and decreasing expenses. Though we remain concerned about the pressure on net interest margin (NIM) and the company’s considerable exposure to...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(CTIC) Cell Therapeutics Analyst Mintains Neutral on Shares
We are maintaining a Neutral recommendation on Cell Therapeutics Inc. (CTIC) with a target price of $2.25. Cell Therapeutics Inc. based in Seattle, Washington, is focused on developing drugs for cancer. The company’s lead pipeline candidate, pixantrone, is being developed for...
24Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued