MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Citigroup upgraded shares of Fluor (NYSE: FLR) to Buy from Hold to reflect the company's strong performance and backlog in Q4 and raised their target to $190.50 from $158.
  
• Baird upgraded Forward Air (NASDAQ: FWRD) to Outperform from Neutral citing near-term growth initiatives that are gaining traction.
  
• Citigroup also upgraded shares of McDermott (NYSE: MDR) to Buy from Hold to reflect the company's strong Q4 performance and rising commodity prices.

• RBC Capital upgraded Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR) and ProLogis (NYSE: PLD) to Top Pick from Outperform.
  
• Credit Suisse raised China Unicom (NYSE: CHU) to Outperform from Neutral.
  
• Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) and Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) were upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.

Analyst upgrades: FLR, FWRD and MDR originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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

• CEC Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: CEC) reported a profit loss and flat revenue for the fourth quarter.
• Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI) raised its third-quarter and full-year earnings forecasts.
• Forward Air Corp. (NASDAQ: FWRD) beat earnings estimates and offered guidance.
• General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS) raised its 2008 and 2010 earnings forecasts on strong sales.
• Hewlett-Packard Co. (NASDAQ: HPQ) reported better-than-expected earnings and offered bullish guidance.
• Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) second-quarter profits fell and it offered meager guidance.
• JC Penney Inc. (NYSE: JCP) reported a smaller-than-expected profit decline for the fourth quarter.
• Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT) third-quarter profit and revenue beat analysts' expectations.
• OfficeMax Inc. (NYSE: OMX) easily beat fourth-quarter earnings expectations on lower costs.
• TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX) fourth-quarter profit beat estimates and helped raise the retail outlook.
• Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI) earnings were dragged down by the Wild Oats acquistion.

Also, Douglas McIntyre examines how a slowdown in orders is likely to affect the earnings of Airbus and Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), and Brian White looks at how HP might "do better" for the rest of this year.

Upcoming results to watch for include Lowes Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW), Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP), Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD), AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO), Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA), and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

Earnings highlights: HP, General Mills, Whole Foods, OfficeMax and others originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 23 Feb 2008 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Forward Air Corporation (NASDAQ: FWRD) provides time-definite surface transportation and related logistics services to the North American deferred air freight market. The firm typically receives freight that has been transported by plane, sends it to a sorting facility, then dispatches it by truck to a terminal near its destination. Forward Air operates through a network of 85 terminals near major airports in the United States and Canada, contracting to cargo airlines and air freight forwarders.

The company surprised the Street last week, when it reported Q4 EPS of 43 cents and revenues of $114.5 million. Analysts had been looking for 38 cents and $104.8 million. Management also guided Q1 EPS to 32-36 cents (33 cent consensus). William Blair subsequently upgraded the issue to "outperform".

Continue reading Forward Air Corporation (FWRD): Shares forming bullish 'flag'

Forward Air Corporation (FWRD): Shares forming bullish 'flag' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Forward Air Corp.: Taking your portfolio forward

Forward Air Corp.: Taking your portfolio forward originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 30 Jul 2007 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Bear Sterns downgraded Roche Holdings AG (OTC: RHHBY), to Peer Perform from Outperform after they lowered estimates to reflect higher taxes, slowing pharmaceutical sales, increased payments to third-party groups and reduced diagnostics profitability. Bernstein also downgraded Roche to Market Perform from Outperform.

• CIBC downgraded U.S. Steel Corp (NYSE: X) to Sector Performer from Sector Outperformer based on valuation. Bank of America also downgraded shares to Neutral from Buy with a $90 target citing the good news is reflected in the valuation.

• Penn National Gaming (NASDAQ: PENN) was downgraded to Hold from Buy on valuation with a $48.50 target.

• Silicon Image Inc (NASDAQ: SIMG) was downgraded to Underperform from Hold with a $7.50 target at Jefferies to reflect slow 1.3 HDMI adoption, aggressive 2007 guidance and deteriorating ASPs and margins; the firm recommends investors sell the stock. Silicon Image was also downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stanford and Needham, to Sector Performer from Outperformer at CIBC and to Neutral from Buy at DA Davidson.

• Spectrum Brands Inc (NYSE: SPC) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral with a $7 target at Prudential following the company's disappointing first quarter results.

• Bear Stearns downgraded Forward Air Corp (NASDAQ: FWRD) to Underperform from Peer Perform.

• AG Edwards downgraded Callaway Golf Corp (NYSE: ELY) to Hold from Buy on valuation.

Analyst downgrades 2-09-07: Roche & Callaway Golf downgraded originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 09 Feb 2007 11:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.