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Consider Airgas, if you can tolerate near-term choppiness

It goes without saying that contrarian plays are not the preferred investment in these circle, but there are exceptions, and Airgas (NYSE: ARG) is one

Airgas is the U.S.'s largest distributor of packaged gases and welding, safety and related products. In general, analysts see a choppy FY2009 for Airgas, with revenue expected to fall 5-10%, on both lower demand and pricing pressure.

Continue reading Consider Airgas, if you can tolerate near-term choppiness

Options Update: Air Products volatility elevated at 68 into lower guidance

Air Products (NYSE: APD) reported Q1 EPS of 97 cents versus consensus estimates of 97 cents. APD sees Q2 EPS 80 cents -90 cents versus consensus estimates of $1.07. APD closed at $52.64. February option implied volatility of 68 is above its 26-week average of 50, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Praxair (NYSE: PX), a large industrial gas company, closed at $59.21. PX is scheduled to report Q4 EPS on January 28. PX February option implied volatility of 57 is above its 26-week average of 48, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Airgas (NYSE: ARG) closed at $37.03. ARG will release EPS on January 28. ARG February option implied volatility of 71 is above its 26-week average of 57, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Option Update: Specialty gas companies volatility elevated after sharp selloff (PX, APD, ARG)

Praxair (NYSE: PX) closed at $50.06 Monday. PX is scheduled to report Q3 EPS on October 29. Deutsche Bank lowered EPS estimates for PX to reflect the strengthening U.S. dollar and the slowdown in global GDP growth. PX November option implied volatility of 87 is above its 26-week average of 38 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Air Products (NYSE: APD) closed at $47.30 Monday. APD overall option implied volatility of 77 is above its 26-week average of 38 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Airgas (NYSE: ARG) closed at $31.40 Monday. ARG November option implied volatility of 97 is above its 26-week average of 44 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Earnings highlights: Anadarko, Disney, Coors, Unilever, Activision, Marvel and others

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

Continue reading Earnings highlights: Anadarko, Disney, Coors, Unilever, Activision, Marvel and others

Airgas (ARG): Share price defines bullish 'pennant'

Airgas Inc. (NYSE: ARG) is the largest U.S. distributor of industrial gases, medical gases, specialty gases and welding equipment. The firm is also one of the largest U.S. distributors of safety products, the largest U.S. producer of nitrous oxide and dry ice, the largest liquid carbon dioxide producer in the Southeast, and a leading distributor of process chemicals, refrigerants, and ammonia products. More than 14,000 employees work at over 1,100 locations, including branches, retail stores, gas fill plants, specialty gas labs, production facilities and distribution centers.

The firm surprised investors earlier in the week, when it reported fiscal Q4 EPS of 78 cents and revenues of $1.09 billion. Analysts had been looking for 73 cents and $1.07 billion. The CEO noted that strategic product categories (healthcare, research, environmental, food & beverage) posted 11% organic growth in the quarter. The EPS figure was a company record. Management also guided Q1 EPS to 79-81 cents (74 cent consensus) and FY09 EPS to $3.24-$3.40 ($3.10 consensus).

Continue reading Airgas (ARG): Share price defines bullish 'pennant'

Analyst downgrades: PRTS, TRAK and APPY

MOST NOTEWORTHY: U.S. Auto Parts, DealerTrack and AspenBio Pharma were today's noteworthy downgrades:
  • Piper downgraded shares of U.S. Auto Parts (NASDAQ: PRTS) to Neutral from Buy following the company's Q4 results.
  • JMP Securities cut DealerTrack (NASDAQ: TRAK) to Market Perform from Strong Buy as they believe future market share losses to RouteOne are more significant than previously believed.
  • Oppenheimer has concerns that most of AspenBio Pharma's (NASDAQ: APPY) market value is tied to the AppyScore test for appendicitis, while available clinical data may not be sufficient to drive adoption. The firm lowered APPY to Perform from Outperform.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:

Earnings highlights: Exxon, Boeing, Halliburton, Sony, UPS, Honda and others

The earnings crunch is in full swing, and here are a few of the highlights of this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

For additional BloggingStocks earnings highlights, see Yahoo!, Google, Amazon, Countrywide, Merck, UBS and others and McDonald's, Kraft, P&G, Verizon, MasterCard, 3M and others.

Continue reading Earnings highlights: Exxon, Boeing, Halliburton, Sony, UPS, Honda and others

Airgas (ARG): Shares defining bullish 'flag' consolidation

Airgas Inc. (NYSE: ARG) is the largest U.S. distributor of industrial gases, medical gases, specialty gases and welding equipment. The firm is also one of the largest U.S. distributors of safety products, the largest U.S. producer of nitrous oxide and dry ice, the largest liquid carbon dioxide producer in the Southeast, and a leading distributor of process chemicals, refrigerants, and ammonia products. More than 14,000 employees work at over 1,100 locations, including branches, retail stores, gas fill plants, specialty gas labs, production facilities and distribution centers.

The firm surprised investors earlier in the week, when it reported fiscal Q3 EPS of 67 cents and revenues of $1.01 billion. Analysts had been looking for 65 cents and $1.0 billion. Management also guided Q4 EPS to 72-74 cents, versus Street consensus of 71 cents.

Continue reading Airgas (ARG): Shares defining bullish 'flag' consolidation

Airgas Inc: A classical gas play

When corporate types start talking about expansion by acquisition, folks naturally think of the technology sector. The practice works just fine elsewhere, though. There is an outfit in Radnor, Pennsylvania that exerts much pressure in the gas distribution game, by virtue of more than 350 acquisitions over the past 21 years.

Airgas Inc. (NYSE: ARG) is the largest U.S. distributor of industrial gases, medical gases, specialty gases and welding equipment. It is also one of the largest U.S. distributors of safety products, the largest U.S. producer of nitrous oxide and dry ice, the largest liquid carbon dioxide producer in the Southeast, and a leading distributor of process chemicals, refrigerants, and ammonia products. More than 11,000 employees work at over 900 locations, including branches, retail stores, gas fill plants, specialty gas labs, production facilities and distribution centers.

Continue reading Airgas Inc: A classical gas play

Analyst upgrades 6-20-07: CEO, CL, HD, NYX and TWC

MOST NOTEWORTHY: CNOOC Ltd (CEO), NYSE EuroNext (NYX), Time Warner Cable (TWC), Digital River (DRIV) and Home Depot (HD) topped today's more noteworthy upgrades:
  • Credit Suisse upgraded shares of CNOOC Ltd (NYSE: CEO) to Outperform from Neutral to reflect projections for output growth...
  • Piper upgraded NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) to Market Perform from Underperform as they believe the risk/reward is balanced following the completion of the Euronext acquisition. They believe shares can move higher if the company's market share is stabilized...
  • Bear upgraded shares of Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) to Outperform from Peer Perform citing the integration of the L.A. systems, which they feel is progressing smoothly, and potential for increased equity returns...
  • Jefferies upgraded shares of Digital River (NASDAQ: DRIV) to Buy from Hold on valuation as they find the risk/reward attractive at current levels and believe new customers such as Microsoft (MSFT) and Electronic Arts (ERTS) will diversify the company's revenue base...
  • Home Depot (NYSE HD) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel following the company's sale of its HD Supply unit, as well as its $22.5B repurchase program...
OTHER UPGRADES:
  • Merrill Lynch was upgraded Centene Corp (NYSE: CNC) to Neutral from Sell.
  • BB&T upgraded Airgas (NYSE: ARG) to Buy from Hold.
Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA+20.0310,246.97
NASDAQ-2.982,151.08
S&P 500-0.071,093.01

Last updated: November 11, 2009: 09:20 AM

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