The earnings season kicked off last week with better-than-expected results from Alcoa (AA) and Yum! Brands (YUM), while Marriott (MAR) and Pepsico (PEP) met consensus EPS estimates. This week, bellwether companies Intel (INTC), General Electric (GE), Google (GOOG) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) are scheduled to report their third-quarter results, and analysts polled by Thomson Reuters are looking for earnings growth from all of them.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel announced the acquisition of McAfee and joint ventures with General Electric and Nokia (NOK) during its third quarter. Analysts forecast earnings for that period to come to 50 cents per share, which is up 34.0% from the same period of last year. The number one semiconductor maker's revenue for the three months ended in September is expected to total $11.0 billion, or 17.1% more than a year earlier. Looking ahead to the full year, the forecast thus far is for earnings of $1.94 per share (+44.8%) and $43.3 billion in revenue (+23.4%). The per-share earnings topped analysts' expectations in the past four quarters, by as much as a dime per share.

Continue reading Week in Preview: Earnings Expectations for Intel, GE, Google and JPMorgan

Week in Preview: Earnings Expectations for Intel, GE, Google and JPMorgan originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 10 Oct 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Standpoint Research upgraded Bank of America (BAC) to accumulate from hold based on valuation.
• UBS upgraded First Solar (FSLR) to buy from neutral and raised its price target to $150 from $136. The firm believes global solar demand will be higher than expected in 2010 and 2011.
• Goldman upgraded Lowe's (LOW) to buy from neutral and has a $24 target on the stock. The firm upgraded shares given the company's margin recovery which will drive EPS growth in 2H10.
• Zep Inc. (ZEP) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Janney Montgomery.
• Rosetta Resources (ROSE) was upgraded to buy from neutral at SunTrust.
• Matrixx Initiatives (MTXX) was upgraded to buy from hold at Roth Capital.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: BAC, BIDU, COCO, FSLR, GPC, LOW, ROSE, SHIP, UTA ...

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Analyst Upgrades

• BMO Capital upgraded Concho (CXO) to outperform from market perform and has a $73 price target on the stock. The firm cites valuation and sustainable growth for the upgrade.
• Sterne Agee upgraded City Holding (CHCO) to buy from neutral based on valuation. The firm has a $34 target on the stock.
• UBS upgraded Werner Enterprises (WERN) to neutral from sell based on valuation. The firm raised its price target to $21.50 from $21.
• Nvidia (NVDA) was upgraded to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Colfax (CFX) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.
• Camden Property (CPT) was upgraded to top pick from outperform at RBC Capital.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: CHCO, CXO, EAT, EDMC, GPC, NVDA, PJC, WERN ...

Analyst Calls: CHCO, CXO, EAT, EDMC, GPC, NVDA, PJC, WERN ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Another earnings season kicks off with Alcoa's (AA) release of quarterly results Monday after the bell. Alcoa will be followed quickly by such other big names as Google (GOOG), Intel (INTC), JPMorgan (JPM), and General Electric (GE), which should provide a pretty good view of how the economic recovery has progressed across sectors in the first quarter (though it's worth noting that year-over-year comparisons are essentially based on the bottom of the recession, as far as the stock market is concerned).

Here's a closer look at what analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect from these companies.

Continue reading The Week in Preview: Alcoa, Google, Intel, GE Kick Off Earnings Season

The Week in Preview: Alcoa, Google, Intel, GE Kick Off Earnings Season originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 11 Apr 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Oppenheimer upgraded Boeing (BA) two notches to outperform from underperform to reflect, among other things, the company's plans to accelerate 777 and 747-8 production. The firm raised its price target for shares to $80 from $56. Boeing was also upgraded to outperform from neutral at Cowen.
• FBR Capital upgraded Waddell & Reed (WDR) to outperform from market perform on expectations the company will outperform peers. The firm raised its target for shares to $40 from $36.
• Morgan Keegan upgraded Standard Microsystems (SMSC) to outperform from market perform. The firm has increased optimism that the company will benefit from continued strength in the PC end market.
• Genuine Parts (GPC) was upgraded to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Halozyme Therapeutics (HALO) was upgraded to buy from hold at Brean Murray.
• Medtronic (MDT) was upgraded to buy from hold at Lazard Capital.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: BA, BZH, FTO, HANS, IACI, LMT, MT, SMSC, STI, TRNO, WDR ...

Analyst Calls: BA, BZH, FTO, HANS, IACI, LMT, MT, SMSC, STI, TRNO, WDR ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As so often happens at this point in the earnings season, focus begins to shift to the results from retailers. And the world's largest retailer is among those that step into the spot light this week.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), which was aggressively competitive during the holiday shopping season and also recently announced a new global strategy, to report fourth-quarter earnings of $1.12 per share, up from $1.03 per share in the year-ago period. Revenue for the three months that ended in January is expected to have risen 4.9% to $114.5 billion. The full-year forecast calls for earnings of $3.61 per share (+5.3%) on $409.1 billion in revenue (+0.9%). Walmart has not missed earnings estimates in the past five quarters.

Continue reading The Week in Preview: A First Look at Retail: Walmart, JCPenney and Others

The Week in Preview: A First Look at Retail: Walmart, JCPenney and Others originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 14 Feb 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Baird upgraded Nike (NYSE: NKE) to Outperform from Neutral on expectations the company will benefit from the drop in the U.S. dollar and continued solid trends in athletic footwear. The firm raised its target on shares to $69 from $61.
  
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Temple-Inland (NYSE: TIN) to Buy from Hold as it believes the company is well positioned for cyclical turnaround in the Paper/Building Products space. The firm raised its target on shares to $19 from $11.
  
• Goldman upgraded Diageo (NYSE: DEO) to Buy from Neutral to reflect the current valuation and the company's exposure to emerging markets.
• Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at ING Group.
  
• Banco Santander (NYSE: STD) was lifted to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
  
• Jackson Hewitt (NYSE: JTX) was upgraded at Oppenheimer to Outperform from Perform.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: NKE, DEO, CMG, UAL, DD, ERIC ...

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: NKE, DEO, CMG, UAL, DD, ERIC ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) started off the new earnings season with disappointing results that helped to stifle the recent rally. Was that enough of a sign of what's to come? No, probably not. But the earnings reports start to fly in earnest this week, which should provide a more detailed picture of the state of things.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters anticipate that some of the biggest names will prove to be holding their own. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is expected to post a profit of $4.91 per share, marginally higher than a year ago, and Johnson & Johnson's (NYSE: JNJ) expected $1.22 per share profit is slightly lower year over year. Even Mattel Inc.'s (NYSE: MAT) estimated loss of $0.13 per share is the same as in the year-ago period.

Continue reading The week in preview: The new earnings season ramps up

The week in preview: The new earnings season ramps up originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 12 Apr 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst upgrades:

• Canaccord upgraded Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) to Buy from Hold citing valuation following the severe price decline following BHP Billiton's (NYSE: BHP) dropped bid.
• UBS upgraded Itron (NASDAQ: ITRI) to Buy from Neutral citing valuation and defensive business mix.
• Jefferies upgraded shares of HealthSouth (NYSE: HLS) to Buy from Hold on valuation and maintains a $13.50 target.
• Melco PBL Entertainment (NASDAQ: MPEL) was raised to buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• PG&E (NYSE: PCG) was upgraded at Merrill Lynch to Buy from Neutral.
• HSBC Holdings (NYSE: HBC) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Analyst downgrades:

Continue reading Analyst calls: RTP, ITRI, HLS, BHP, BX, DT, UL, GPC, KND . . .

Analyst calls: RTP, ITRI, HLS, BHP, BX, DT, UL, GPC, KND . . . originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As the second quarter earnings crunch begins in earnest this week, the bear market has investors jittery and prognosticators spinning out dire warnings. In the wake of mixed results from Alcoa (NYSE: AA) and General Electric (NYSE: GE) kicking things off last week, here's a look at what Wall Street is expecting from many of the companies scheduled to report this coming week.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial are expecting the following companies to report a rise in earnings when compared to the same period of the previous year.

• Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE): $1.80 EPS (36.6%) on sales of $6.4 billion (+53.0%)
• Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG): $4.74 EPS (24.9%) on sales of $3.9 billion (+41.6%)
• Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK): 56 cents EPS (23.2%) on sales of $19.9 billion (+17.8%)
• CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX): 90 cents EPS (21.1%) on sales of $2.9 billion (+12.8%)
• Altera Corp. (NASDAQ: ALTR): 27 cents EPS (18.5%) on sales of $346.7 million (+8.4%)
• IBM (NYSE: IBM): $1.82 EPS (+17.6%) on sales of $25.9 billion (+9.0%)
• eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY): 41 cents EPS (17.1%) on sales of $2.2 billion (+18.0%)
• W.W. Grainger Inc. (NYSE: GWW): $1.46 EPS (17.1%) on sales of $1.7 billion (+8.0%)
• Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT): 47 cents EPS (17.0%) on sales of $15.7 billion (+17.0%)
• Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON): 94 cents EPS (17.0%) on sales of $9.2 billion (+7.9%)

Continue reading The week in preview: Expectations as the earnings crunch begins

The week in preview: Expectations as the earnings crunch begins originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 13 Jul 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• William Blair started the online health information portal, WebMD Health Corp (NASDAQ: WBMD) with an Outperform rating. The firm believes WebMD is positioned to benefit from various trends in the industry, including the increasing use of the Internet for information and patients' assuming more responsibility for their health care decisions.

• Pacific Growth initiated United Therapeutics Corp (NASDAQ: UTHR) with a Neutral rating. The firm sees potential revenue risk from patient switching and reduced new patient starts in response to reports about higher incidence of serious Gram negative infections resulting in a Dear Doctor letter being sent to all IV-Remodulin prescribers in September 2006.

• Soleil Securities started Genuine Parts Co (NYSE: GPC) with a Buy rating and $65 target, noting that Genuine has the highest yield in the auto sector.

• Nollenberger doesn't see a catalyst for double-digit growth in Lam Research Corp (NASDAQ: LRCX) for the next 12-18 months and initiated the company with a Neutral rating and $40 target.

• ConAgra Foods Inc (NYSE: CAG) was initiated with a Hold rating at AG Edwards on valuation.

Analyst initiations 2-13-07: WebMD, ConAgra Foods initiated today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 13 Feb 2007 11:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.