Archive for June, 2011
(SJR) Shaw Communications Beats Earnings Estimates
Shaw Communications Inc. (SJR) declared its third quarter 2011 financial results, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate. In the reported quarter, the company laid off 550 employees including 150 managers. Although the business restructuring is estimated to cost between $29...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(NVS) Novartis AG Afinitor Backed in EU
Novartis AG (NVS) received a boost recently when the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended approval of its drug Afinitor for the treatment of subependymal giant cell astrocytomas (SEGA), a benign brain tumor associated...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(IT) International Business Machines Partners With Commercial Bank of Ethiopia
Information Technology (IT) major, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) recently signed a deal with the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE). Under the terms of the agreement, IBM will help CBE to employ new mobile and Internet banking programs by developing a platform to...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(UPS) UPS-Merck Expand Deal
United Parcel Services (UPS), the world’s largest package delivery company, inked a new deal with healthcare giant Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) to expand its distribution and logistics services. The companies did not reveal financial terms of the deal. UPS initially began...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(RLI) RLI Corporation Analyst Downgrades Shares
We are downgrading RLI Corp. (RLI) to Neutral from Outperform as its Casualty segment continues to remain under pressure owing to difficult economic conditions, especially in construction and transportation-related coverages. The Casualty segment was under pressure owing to difficult...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(FDO) Family Dollar Stores Misses – Earnings Up
Family Dollar Stores Inc. (FDO) recently posted third-quarter 2011 results. The quarterly earnings of 91 cents a share missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 95 cents, but jumped 18.2% from 77 cents earned in the prior-year quarter due to healthy sales witnessed in the Consumable...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(NVTL) Novatel Wireless Remains Neutral
We reiterate our long-term Neutral recommendation on Novatel Wireless Inc. (NVTL). Although the company fell below the Zacks Consensus Estimates in the first quarter of 2011, management has provided an optimistic outlook for the ensuing second quarter due to significant market...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(RF) Regions Teams with Western Union
Yesterday, Regions Bank, a subsidiary of Regions Financial Corp. (RF) entered into an agreement with Western Union Co. (WU), a leader in global payment services, to enhance services offered to its customers. Under the terms of the deal, Regions will provide Western Union global...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(GCO) Genesco Takes Over Schuh Group
Genesco Inc. (GCO) recently acquired UK-based Schuh Group Ltd., a specialty retailer of casual and athletic footwear, for £125 million. The purchase price was broken into three tranches plus a possible management bonus contingent upon performance worth up to another £25 million. From...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(SINA) SINA Teams with Find Japan
SINA Corp. (SINA) recently entered into a partnership with Find Japan Inc., to market its microblog service “weibo”, as reported by the news agency Bloomberg. Under the terms of the agreement, Find Japan Inc. will provide account verification services for Japanese businesses,...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(QSII) Quality Systems NextGen Healthcare Information Systems Unit Does Brisk Business
NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, a fully owned subsidiary of Electronic Health Record (“EHR”) service provider Quality Systems Inc. (QSII), recently revealed that Northeast Valley Health Corporation (“NEVHC”) and Community Health Center Network (“CHCN”) have...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(KBH) KB Home’s Loss Widens
KB Home (KBH) reported a net loss of $68.5 million or 89 cents per share in the second quarter of fiscal 2011, compared with a net loss of $30.7 million or 40 cents per share a year ago. However, excluding inventory impairments and land option contract abandonment charges of...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(R) Ryder System Leases Natural Gas Trucks
Ryder System Inc. (R) has announced that it has entered into a lease agreement for 87 heavy-duty natural gas trucks with customers. The company did not disclose any financial detail of the contract but mentioned that 65 of the trucks belong to Ryder’s current natural gas...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(PBR) Petrobras and Partners Strike Oil
Brazilian oil giant Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. or Petrobras (PBR) announced the discovery of two levels of high-quality crude oil at a well in the country’s ultra deepwater pre-salt Campos Basin. Apart from Petrobras, which has a 30% interest in the 1-REPF-11A-RJS well (informally...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(SYK) Stryker Closes Orthovita Buy
Stryker Corp (SYK) has completed its $316 million acquisition of Pennsylvania-based orthobiologic and biosurgery products maker Orthovita Inc. This follows the recent competition of its all-cash tender offer for the buyout. Shareholders holding roughly 87.6% of Orthovita’s...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(TWGP) Tower Group Declares Second Quarter Catastrophe Loss Estimate
Yesterday, property and casualty insurer Tower Group, Inc. (TWGP) announced its catastrophe loss estimate for the second quarter of 2011. The company pegged the total pre-tax catastrophe loss (cat loss) estimate from the April-May storm at $8 million. Earlier during April, Tower...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(DMND) Procter and Gamble’s Fatless Food a Myth
Procter and Gamble (P&G) revealed in a study conducted by Purdue University that it has failed to keep the promise of helping customers remain fit and slim. As per the study, Orleans, the brand name for Olestra, a calorie-less, fat-free substitute discovered by P&G is...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(AHT) Ashford Hospitality Trust Mulls Secondary Offering
Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc. (AHT), the second largest lodging real estate investment trust (REIT) in the U.S., has recently announced its decision to issue 6.0 million common shares to raise cash and repay its debt. The company will also grant the underwriters an option to...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(BA) Boeing Assembly Line Extends for 787 Dreamliner
International Aerospace giant The Boeing Co. (BA) said that it has broken ground on another assembly line for its much awaited 787 Dreamliner at its production facility in Salt Lake City, Utah. This new assembly line follows the assembly line in North Charleston, South Carolina,...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(DOW) Dow Chemical’s Trinseo Files for IPO
Trinseo SA, the plastics maker owned by The Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) and Bain Capital LLC has announced that it has filed for an initial public offering to raise up to $400 million for repaying loans and other corporate purposes. Trinseo was previously known as Styron Corp and...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(BAC) Bank of America Mortgage Claims Cost $8.5 Billion?
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) has hit the headlines again and this time for a wrong reason. The company is said to be reaching an agreement to pay $8.5 billion to a group of investors who had suffered substantial losses for their investments in mortgage-backed securities sold by...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(SKT) Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Acquires Tanger Factory Outlet Centers
Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Inc. (SKT) recently acquired Prime Outlets at Jeffersonville from Ohio Factory Stores Partnership, a subsidiary of Simon Property Group Inc. (SPG) for approximately $134 million. The acquisition was funded with borrowings under the company’s...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(SFG) StanCorp Financial Group Upgraded
We are upgrading StanCorp Financial Group Inc. (SFG) to Neutral from Underperform based on its excellent underwriting track record, continued better performance at Asset Management segment as well as active share repurchases supported by a strong capital position. StanCorp’s...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(MCO) Moody’s Casts Shadow on Toyota Motor
Moody’s Investors Service, the credit rating arm of Moody’s Corp. (MCO), has cut the credit rating for Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) by one level to Aa3 on the back of its weakening market position and difficulties in operations emanating from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(AMSG) AmSurg Upgraded to Neutral
Recently, we upgraded AmSurg Corporation (AMSG) to Neutral with a target price of $27.00. AmSurg witnessed a 7.3% year-over-year decline in EPS to 38 cents in the first quarter of fiscal 2011, but it was in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Several challenges such as reimbursement...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(REGN) Bayer Seeks Eylea Approval in Japan
Germany’s Bayer (BAYRY) recently submitted an application to the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) seeking approval to market its eye treatment VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) trap-eye (proposed trade name: Eylea) in the country. The clearance...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(FITB) Fifth Third Bancorp Analyst Stays Neutral
We have reiterated our Neutral recommendation on Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) following a detailed analysis of the company’s fundamentals, strengths and weaknesses in the context of the current economic environment. Fifth Third’s first quarter 2011 earnings of 10 cents per...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(COO) Zacks #1 Rank with Sales Momentum
Upward earnings estimate revisions and positive earnings surprises tend to go hand in hand with a good Zacks Rank. That is certainly no surprise, as those are the key factors that go into determining the rank. However, in recent quarters, almost as much attention is being paid...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(GE) General Electric Aviation Gets Orders Worth $27 Billion
GE Aviation, a part of General Electric (GE) and Nexcelle have signed an agreement whereby Nexcelle’s nacelle system (a streamlined enclosure on an aircraft that provides shelter to the crew, cargo and the engine) will be included in the GE Passport 20 jet engine. This agreement...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(RCII) Rent-A-Center Expands
Rent-A-Center Inc. (RCII), in an attempt to expand its operational roots, is all set to entice the residents of Gulfport, Mississippi and New Orleans, Louisiana by opening new stores and providing them additional avenue to own luxury furnishings, electrical devices, electronics...
29Jun2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued