Continue reading Banc of America gives eBay a lift

Banc of America gives eBay a lift originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• Friedman Billings started shares of Cypress Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ: CYPB) with an Outperform rating and $22 target, and is positive on the company's lead product milnacipran, in Phase III studies for fibromyalgia. The firm expects a 1Q09 launch and believes the U.S. market could be as large as $7B.
  
• Goldman resumed coverage of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) with a Buy rating and $63 target as they believe the company has around $22.5B of unrealized gains in its strategic investment portfolio. Goldman also added BAC to their Americas Buy List.
  
• Insulet Corporation (NASDAQ: PODD) was initiated at William Blair with an Outperform rating. The firm believes the unique features of the OmniPod will allow PODD to capture a meaningful portion of the 300,000 current insulin pumpers in the United States.
  
• Soleil started shares of Taleo Corporation (NASDAQ: TLEO) with a Buy rating and $35 target and believes the company's recent growth pace can continue.
  
• Shares of Vocus Inc (NASDAQ: VOCS) were also initiated at Soleil with a Buy rating and $39 target. The firm believes the company can gain share in the early stage market for public relations software given its on-demand model and low price entry point.

• Cowen initiated shares of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp (NYSE: LGF) and Marvel Entertainment Inc (NYSE: MVL) with an Outperform rating and shares of Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc (NYSE: DWA) with a Neutral rating.
  
• Goldman resumed coverage of Nintendo Co Ltd (OTC: NTDOY) with a Buy rating.

Analyst initiations: CYPB, BAC, PODD, TLEO and VOCS originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• Stifel initiated Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) with a Buy rating and $41 target as they believe the company is best in class given its strong capital position, effective risk management and better than average EPS growth rates.
• Stifel initiated with a Hold rating: Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Wachovia (NYSE: WB) and Fifth Third (NASDAQ: FITB).
• Stifel transferred coverage of the following names with Hold ratings: BB&T Corp (NYSE: BBT), Comerica IncCMA), SunTrust Banks (NYSE: STI), US Bancorp (NYSE: USB). Note USB was transferred and downgraded to Hold from Buy.
• Stifel initiated Regions Financial (NYSE: RF) with a Sell rating and $33 target as they believe the AmSouth merger is likely to prevent a near-term catalyst, and transferred coverage of National City (NYSE: NCC) with a Sell rating and $33 target, downgraded from Hold, as they believe consensus estimates need to come down to reflect several challenging trends.

• JMP Securities started TiVO Inc (NASDAQ: TIVO) with a Market Outperform rating, expecting the company to gain a larger piece of the DVR market in the late spring/early summer.

• Wedbush initiated Lions Gate Entertainment Corp (NYSE: LGF) with a Buy rating and $13 target.

• BMO Capital started Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY), Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) and Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) with Market Perform ratings and Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), Merck & Co (MRK) and Schering Plough (NYSE: SGP) with Outperform ratings.

Analyst initiations 4-13-07: BAC, BMY, LLY, MRK, PFE and WB initiated today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 13 Apr 2007 11:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Kohl's Corp. (NYSE:KSS) opened at $72.10. So far today the stock has hit a low of $71.10 and a high of $72.95. As of noon today, KSS is trading at $72.50, up $1.75 (2.47%).

After hitting a one year high of $75.54 in November, the stock has traded within a range with support above $65 but resistance just below $75. Banc of America Securities upgraded KSS from neutral to buy, citing new products expected to improve performance. The firm also raised its price target on KSS from $72 to $84. The technical indicators for KSS have been bullish but deteriorating, while S&P gives the stock a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold rating.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider an April bull-put credit spread below the $65 range. KSS hasn't been below $65 since September and has shown support around $67.50. This trade could be risky if Americans slow down the rate of their discretionary spending, but there have been no recent signs that this is likely to happen any time soon.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer. (Free Subscription)

DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about.

Kohl's boosted by upgrade, plus a trade idea originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 Mar 2007 13:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Share prices of both satellite radio broadcasters rose for a time in January as rumors swirled that XM and Sirius might merge, even though it would require changes to FCC rules to make the merger possible. Analysts' reactions to the possible merger were mixed, depending on whether they thought the merger was likely to pass muster, when it might happen, and what such a merger might do the value of the resulting stock:

Continue reading XM Satellite Radio's earnings forecasts are all over the map

XM Satellite Radio's earnings forecasts are all over the map originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 08 Feb 2007 16:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Second analyst cautions on Sirius (SIRI) numbers originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 28 Nov 2006 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

eBay, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) started the week at $30.49 and finished it at $32.07, that's a 5.17% return. Not too shabby. In fact, EBAY stock 3-months return is over 35%. Alas, year-to-date and 52-week returns are still in negative territory of over -25% and -18% respectively.

eBay's forward multiple is still cheaper vis-a-vis other Internet companies such as Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Google, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Yahoo!, Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), implying room for further gains.

This week, the biggest news came from two fronts: the business side and the Street.

On the business side we heard the good news that Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ) has began offering eBay's PayPal as a payment option. Each such endorsement solidifies PayPal's position as the market leader in online payment.

From the Street came the endorsement from Banc of America that imitated eBay with a Buy rating and a target price of $40. While B of A sees short term challenges, they also find potential for new monetization ways, which in turn would bring new revenue streams. The Banc is optimistic about PayPal too.

I don't know how many of you know I'm Canadian, and I also don't know how many of you know that Canada has two official languages, English and French. What does this have to do with eBay? Well, eBay Canada now offers its site in both languages, which is the norm here. And yet, in Canada, eBay may also find itself facing a rival in the form of MightyBid.com, which was started by two former eBay power sellers.

Weekly wrap-up for eBay October 23-27: Up over 5% this week originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 28 Oct 2006 10:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

After another record close for the Dow yesterday, less than 8 points to go to the 12,000 level. But will today be the day?

No less than five Dow components are due to report earnings before the market opens and finally today the market will also hear the results of the long awaited OPEC meeting.

Oil prices rose slightly this morning as the possible outcome of the OPEC meeting is to cut of 1 million barrels a day in an attempt to prop oil prices higher. In July oil prices peaked at $78 a barrel and declined 25% since. This would be the first cut since December 2004 when oil was around $40 a barrel. Apparently there is consensus among the member nations for the move, but a detailed arrangement hasn't been reached.

Yesterday, after the bell, after Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) topped expectation, eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) reported good results that also beat some expectations, but Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD) improvement wasn't enough.

This morning we have five Dow components reporting:

• Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) - third-quarter profit fell 23% but operating earnings climbed 6%. However, the earnings decline wasn't as bad as analysts had feared.
• Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) - third-quarter net income rose to $1.46 billion, or 62 cents a share, from $1.28 billion, or 54 cents a share, a year ago. Analysts were expecting 59 cents per share.
• Pfizer, Inc. (NYSE: PFE) - third quarter earnings of $3.36 billion, or 46 cents per share, compared with $1.59 billion, or 22 cents per share, a year earlier.
• Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) and McDonald's Corp (NYSE: MCD) are also due to report soon

Banc of America Corp (NYSE: BAC) also reported third-quarter results with net income rising to $5.42 billion, or $1.18 a share, in the latest quarter, compared with $3.84 billion, or 95 cents a share, the year earlier. Results beat expectations of $1.15 EPS on revenue of $17.97 billion.

Overseas, Nokia Corp (NYSE: NOK), SAP (NYSE: SAP) and Sony Corp (NYSE: SNE) also reported earnings.

Finally, Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is to report its third-quarter earnings after the bell today.

In economic news, weekly initial claims is due at 8:30 (expected - an addition of 310,000), September leading indicators at 10:00 a.m. (expected - 0.3% rise) and October Philadelphia Fed Index at noon (expected - 6.5 increase).

Yesterday, bonds rose, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury falling to 4.76% from 4.77% late Tuesday. Treasury prices were little changed this morning.

Overseas, Asian markets closed mostly lower. European markets are also lower at the moment.

Futures are mixed in early morning trade (8:00 a.m.), pointing to a higher start for the S&P 500 and a lower start for the NASDAQ.

Here's a look at some key Blogging Stocks:

Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) closed at $74.53 yesterday. After Apple reported great results yesterday, Sony's results weren't that great, affected by the battery recall.

General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) closed at $35.56 yesterday. NBC Universal plans to cut US$750 million in operating expenses by the end of 2007 by laying off employees, cutting back on scripted shows, and slashing its news budget, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) closed at $19.59 yesterday. AOL will lay off 1,300 employees by closing call centers in New Mexico and Arizona as part of a previously announced restructuring plan.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) closed at $48.35 yesterday. Wal-Mart is expanding its $4 generic prescription drugs for some to 14 more states, two weeks after rolling out the low-cost program in Florida.

Before the bell 10-19-06: AAPL, GE, TWX, WMT originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 19 Oct 2006 08:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Online trading margins heading lower originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 11 Oct 2006 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.