Analyst Upgrades

• Goldman upgraded Eaton (ETN) to conviction buy from neutral.
• AECOM Technology (ACM) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded Hologic (HOLX), Gen-Probe (GPRO) and Qiagen (QGEN) to overweight from neutral.
• GeoMet (GMET) was upgraded to accumulate from neutral at Global Hunter.
• Accretive Health (AH) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Reinsurance Group (RGA) to overweight from equal weight.
• BofA/Merrill upgraded Clearwire (CLWR) to neutral from underperform.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: BA, BBBY, CI, CLWR, DFS, DLTR, ETN, MET, MO, WSM ...

Analyst Calls: BA, BBBY, CI, CLWR, DFS, DLTR, ETN, MET, MO, WSM ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• State Street (STT) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Roth Capital upgraded Intel (INTC), Marvell Technology (MRVL) and Nvidia (NVDA) to buy from neutral.
• Bebe Stores (BEBE) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Janney Montgomery.
• W&T Offshore (WTI) was upgraded to buy from accumulate at Global Hunter.
• Citigroup upgraded International Rectifier (IRF) and Timberland (TBL) to hold from sell.
• Watson Pharma (WPI) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Atmel (ATML) was upgraded to strong buy from buy at Needham.
• Ashford Hospitality (AHT) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Oppenheimer upgraded MetroPCS (PCS) to outperform from perform.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: GDP, INTC, LVS, MON, MRVL, NTRS, NVDA, STT, WYNN ...

Analyst Calls: GDP, INTC, LVS, MON, MRVL, NTRS, NVDA, STT, WYNN ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 05 Nov 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Clearwire (CLWR - option chain) shares are rising today on reports that the company will auction some of its wireless spectrum in order to raise $2.5 billion to $5 billion. According to Bloomberg, potential bidders for the spectrum include AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ), Deutsche Telekom, Time Warner Cable (TWC) and Sprint (S). If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on CLWR.

Continue reading Clearwire May Auction Parts of Wireless Spectrum

Clearwire May Auction Parts of Wireless Spectrum originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 13 Oct 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Best Buy to Resell Clearwire's Mobile Broadband

Best Buy to Resell Clearwire's Mobile Broadband originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 02 Aug 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Clearwire (CLWR) a provider of 4G service called Clear, closed at $6.79. CLWR January option implied volatility is at 73, March at 68; near its 26-week average of 67 according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

CBOE Volatility Index-VIX at 22.51; 10-day moving average is 21.93.

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

Options Update: SPDR Gold Shares Volatility Flat on $1,122 Gold originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Kaufman Bros. upgraded Yahoo! (YHOO) to buy from hold after channel checks indicated display advertising is seeing continued improvement in pricing and demand. The firm finds the risk/reward profile on Yahoo! shares attractive at current levels and raised its price target on the stock to $20 from $19.
• Citigroup upgraded Edwards Lifesciences (EW) to buy from hold following the company's investor meeting as it believes new product launches will serve as catalysts in 2010. Citi raised its target on shares to $101 from $72.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded BWAY Holding (BWY) to buy from hold following the company's Q4 results and raised its target on shares to $22 from $17.
• Clearwire (CLWR) was upgraded to buy from sell at Soleil.
• Nokia (NOK) was raised to hold from sell at Societe Generale.
• NCR Corp. (NCR) was upgraded at JPMorgan to overweight from neutral.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: YHOO, EW, BWY, BRO, BNI, FFIV, AOL, CYPB, ATML ...

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: YHOO, EW, BWY, BRO, BNI, FFIV, AOL, CYPB, ATML ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The vision of Clearwire (CLWR) is definitely ambitious: to "give you faster Internet at home, at work and on the go, so that people everywhere will have the magic of the Internet with them all the time." This means building a sophisticated network across the country, which does not come cheap.

Tuesday, Clearwire announced yet another financing round, which comes to $1.56 billion. The investors include Sprint Nextel (S), Comcast (CMCSA), Time Warner Cable (TWC), Intel (INTC), Eagle River Holdings LLC, and Bright House Networks LLC.

Continue reading Clearwire nabs $1.5 billion

Clearwire nabs $1.5 billion originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Clearwire eases pressure on Sprint Nextel, says CEO Hesse

Clearwire eases pressure on Sprint Nextel, says CEO Hesse originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR) a provider of 4G service called Clear, closed at $9.09. CLWR over all option implied volatility of 76 is below a level of 216 on December 15, 2008 and above a level of 51 on September 26, 2008 according to IVolatility.

Vale SA volatility near 14-month lows as shares trend higher

Vale SA (NASDAQ: VALE), a metals and mining company, closed at $22.01. VALE options were active on total volume of 94,194 contracts. VALE October option implied volatility is at 43, December is at 45, below its 26-week average of 52 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

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

Options Update: Clearwire volatility at 76; shares near nine-month high originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 Sep 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Sprint steps up new WiMAX wireless offerings in 17 cities

Sprint steps up new WiMAX wireless offerings in 17 cities originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As earnings season begins to wind down, some apparel retailers are scheduled to report quarterly results this week. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters anticipate that Walmart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), the 800-pound gorilla in the space, will report that it earned $0.77 per share in the first quarter, about the same as in the first quarter of last year. But JCPenney Co. (NYSE: JCP), Kohl's Corp. (NYSE: KSS), Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN), and Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) are expected to report lower profits for the first quarter as consumers continued to hold off on spending. Macy's Inc. (NYSE: M) and Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) are expected to have swung to a loss year over year.

Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI) and Winn Dixie Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: WINN) are likewise expected to report declining earnings, while the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. (NYSE: GAP), parent of the A&P supermarket chain, is expected to have narrowed its net loss 68.9% to $0.28 per share.

Continue reading The week in preview: A peek at apparel retail earnings

The week in preview: A peek at apparel retail earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 10 May 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Kirkland, Wash. based Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) closed on a transaction in December which merged the Sprint/Nextel (NYSE: S) wireless Internet business with the WiMax business of CLWR.

In connection with the transaction, CLWR secured $3.2 billion from a group of investors linked to the development of the wireless broadband industry, including Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWX).

Clearwater is offering its broadband service under the label "Clear."

While operating in a competitive environment for WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), CWTR has an advantage over WiFi, which is limited to access in small areas, such as home or coffee shop. WiMax, on the other hand, offers access from a very broad area and while being mobile in a vehicle.

Though not as capitalized as competitors like Verizon (NYSE: VZ) or AT&T (NYSE: T), the company's relationship with its investors should give it access to capital when needed.

On Jan. 9, due to a significant drop in the market value of CLWR stock, Intel announced a writedown of its investment in CLWR of $950 million. Intel is only the first of the investment group to reflect this writedown in their guidance for the quarter.

Driven by accounting rules mandating that investments in stocks that decline significantly in value be written off, the other publicly traded companies with investments in CLWR will be required to follow suit.

In the face of these writedowns, investors have kept the price of CLWR depressed in spite of recent good news from the company. At around $4.60, the stock is trading near its 52-week low of $3.24, and well below its high of $7.20.

The company's balance sheet reflects its growth mode, with a long-term debt-to-equity ratio of 186 and a current ratio of 3.25.

Continue reading A 'Clear' buy at these levels

A 'Clear' buy at these levels originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 12 Jan 2009 12:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Despite Sprint Nextel Corp.'s (NYSE: S) share price being down more than 50% in the past year, shares were up 7.5% last week -- up 46.5% in the past montyh -- on all the buzz surrounding Sprint lately. There are rumors that Deutsche Telekom (NYSE: DT) may buyout Sprint and merge it into T Mobile. Then there were rumors that Sprint may spin off Nextel (i.e., undo its troubled merger). And there's the excitment around a joint venture with Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWR) to create a high-speed wireless internet network that covers most of the U.S.

But when Sprint reports its first-quarter results tomorrow, analysts polled by Thomson Financial expect the company to report earnings of a mere penny per share, down from the same period in 2007 when it earned 18 cents per share, and from the previous quarter's 21 cents per share. The company has beat quarterly estimates over the past year -- by 17.3% in the fourth quarter -- and it certainly has plenty of room to best analysts' low expectations for this past quarter.

Overland Park, Kansas-based Sprint Nextel operates a nationwide digital wireless network with more than 50 million subscribers. In the past year, Sprint's revenues were $40.1 billion. The company's long-term EPS growth forecast is 8.22%, which is less than the 8.67% of rival Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and the S&P 500. The consensus recommendation of analysts continues to be to hold Sprint.

Shares closed Friday at $9.39, up from a 52-week low of $5.48 in March, but still well off the 52-week high of 23.42 last June.

For news that could influence these results, see BloggingStocks' Sprint coverage.

Sprint buzz not shared by analysts originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 11 May 2008 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Merrill downgraded AMR Corp (NYSE:AMR), Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL), Continental Airlines (NYSE:CAL), US Airways (NYSE:LCC) and UAL Corp (NASDAQ:UAUA) to Neutral from Buy citing earnings risk this year from higher energy costs.
  
• Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Chelsea Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CHTP) to Perform from Outperform after their survey suggested physicians believe currently available generic treatments are adequate in neurogenic orthostatic hypotension, which could impact the company's lead drug Droxidopa.
  
• Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR) was cut to Sell from Hold at Citigroup on valuation, as they estimate fair value at $13.

• Goldman downgraded Kellogg (NYSE:K) to Neutral from Buy and Hershey Foods (NYSE:HSY) to Sell from Neutral.
  
• Piper lowered Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE:OWW) to Neutral from Buy.

Analyst downgrades: Airlines, CHTP and CLWR originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 08 May 2008 11:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

So, it is pleasing to think that if the new Sprint-Clearwire venture can build out is national presence successfully and capture customers tired of limited high-speed internet service, the world will be its oyster. Of course, other companies are contributing to the venture as well, including Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). Why would Google want to put money into this? Because this could be Google's most important investment ever.

Bypassing the telephone and cable companies that have a stranglehold on most of the high-speed internet business in the U.S. has long been the dream of Google. It doesn't want a middleman in the way of it connecting consumers and businesses with the information they seek. Although Google wasn't successful in the recent FCC radio auctions (maybe by design), finding a way to provide internet service directly to its customer base would give Google on a much more powerful perch than it has even today. Google could even buy the new Clearwire partnership outright once it's established.

I think they're starting to get giddy in the Google board room.

Sprint-Clearwire deal could give Google what it's always wanted originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 May 2008 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a July bear-call credit spread above the $42.50 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make an 8.7% return in ten weeks as long as VZ is below $42.50 at July expiration. Verizon would have to rise by more than 9% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

Continue reading Verizon (VZ) slips on Sprint-Clearwire deal

Verizon (VZ) slips on Sprint-Clearwire deal originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 May 2008 14:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal reported that an alliance of cable, Internet and chip titans will announce plans to invest $3.2B in a company that will deliver Web access for laptops and cellphones using WiMax. The venture, valued at over $12B, includes Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) and Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) and will be backed by Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA), Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE: TWC), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) and Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG).
• According to people familiar with the matter, Robert Verrone, one of the most zealous commercial real-estate lenders during the industry's boom, will leave Wachovia Corporation (NYSE: WB) within the next week, the Wall Street Journal reported.

• Bloomberg reported that the Department of Justice is probing whether UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) helped clients evade American taxes. In an e-mailed statement, the firm said one senior bank employee was "briefly detained" by authorities.
• Bloomberg also reported that Vallejo, California's city council voted to go into bankruptcy. Officials said that after talks with labor unions failed to win salary concessions from police and fire fighters, the city does not have enough money to pay its bills.
• According to a rumor, TechCrunch reported that the Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) board of directors yesterday authorized Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock, rather than CEO Jerry Yang, to call Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer about re-starting negotiations.

Newspaper wap-up: Tech firms to invest in wireless originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 May 2008 08:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There's been lots of buzz with Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) lately. And it's to be expected -- in light of the intense competition, heavy customer churn, and the ailing stock price. For example, there were rumors that Deutsche Telekom is mulling a buyout of Sprint. Another possibility is that the company will unwind its Nextel merger.

Such things may happen. But, in the meantime, it looks like there may be another mega deal. According to a piece in the Wall Street Journal [a paid publication], it looks like Sprint is about to announce a $12 billion joint venture with Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR). Some of the key investors would include Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC).

Essentially, the new entity will roll-out a massive footprint for high-speed wireless Net access. No doubt, such a thing would be a nice thing for Google -- which needs a stronger mobile strategy -- as well as Intel, which needs to sell more chips. In other words, it's ideal for a multi-billion dollar cash call.

As for Sprint, this deal looks like a must-have. In other words, it will provide a differentiator in the tough marketplace.

There are still some big-time risks. After all, coordinating a project among a variety of heavyweights is never easy to manage.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

Clearwire: Sprint-ing with $12 billion? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 06 May 2008 18:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

After hitting a one-year high of $29.41 in July, the stock hit a one-year low of $16.11 in January. This morning, CMCSA opened at $20.07. So far today the stock has hit a low of $19.30 and a high of $20.14. As of 12:15, CMCSA is trading at $19.59, down 0.95 (-4.6%). The chart for CMCSA looks bullish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell rating.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a July bear-call credit spread above the $22.50 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make an 11.1% return in 4 months as long as CMCSA is below $22.50 at July expiration. Comcast would have to rise by more than 15% before we would start to lose money.

Continue reading Comcast (CMCSA) falls on WiMax deal

Comcast (CMCSA) falls on WiMax deal originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal said the $19B privatization of Clear Channel Communications Inc (NYSE: CCU) was near collapse as the private-equity firms behind the deal and the banks financing it failed to resolve their differences over terms of the credit agreement, people familiar with the matter said.
• Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Time Warner Inc (NYSE: TWX) are in talks to fund a new nationwide wireless company that would be operated by Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) and Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR), and use WiMax technology, reported the Wall Street Journal. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) and Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) may also help with funding.
• The Wall Street Journal also reported federal regulators are handing out warnings to banks due to their exposure to development loans and commercial real-estate construction. Sources believe Corus Bankshares Incorporated (NASDAQ: CORS) is facing trouble in the near future due to increasing scrutiny by regulators and the fact that much of the fallout in the condo sector has yet to be felt by banks.
• Some banks in the government-sponsored Federal Home Loan Banking system want to guarantee municipal infrastructure projects, the Financial Times reported, thus fulfilling the role traditionally taken by monoline insurance groups such as MBIA Inc(NYSE: MBI).

Newspaper wrap-up: Sources say Clear Channel deal near collapse over loan term originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 26 Mar 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.