KIRK posts

Feed

Stock Futures Lower Following Asia and Europe Declines

U.S. stock futures are lower this morning, after the drop in Asian and European markets, due to worse-than-expected Chinese trade data. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 47 points to 12,127.00 and futures on the S&P 500 stock index fell 7 points to 1,308.40. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 15 points to 2,295.50.

Overseas, negative sentiment ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has dropped 0.69%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 1.10%.

Continue reading Stock Futures Lower Following Asia and Europe Declines

Analyst Calls: A, ARST, BAC, C, COST, CRM, DPS, GS, JPM, MS, MTB, VOD ...

Analyst Upgrades

  • Piper Jaffray upgraded Salesforce.com (CRM) to overweight from neutral, citing valuation following the recent sell-off and strong business trends. The firm has a $115 price target for shares.
  • Keefe Bruyette upgraded M&T Bank (MTB) to market perform from underperform on valuation after AIB sold its stake in the company. The firm has a $72 price target for shares.
  • Jefferies upgraded OGE Energy (OGE) to buy from hold following the announcement that ArcLight will purchase 9.9% of OGE's interest in Enogex for $183M and believes this deal highlights the hidden value associated with Enogex. The firm raised its price target to $51.50 from $43.
  • Thomas & Betts (TNB) was upgraded to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.
  • Bayer (BAYRY) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
  • Texas Roadhouse (TXRH) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Baird.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: A, ARST, BAC, C, COST, CRM, DPS, GS, JPM, MS, MTB, VOD ...

Analyst Calls: AKAM, HAS, ICE, KIRK, LM, PEET, RSH, WMT ...

Analyst Upgrades

  • FBR Capital upgraded Legg Mason (LM) to market perform from underperform, citing stabilizing outflows and an improved liquidity position.
  • Walmart (WMT) was upgraded to buy from hold by Citigroup on expectations the company will regain market share from aggressive price cuts.
  • Piper Jaffray upgraded Kirkland's (KIRK) to overweight from neutral following the company's Q4 results.
  • Greenbrier (GBX) was upgraded to buy from hold by KeyBanc as the company believes that railcar fundamentals have improved.
  • Citigroup upgraded WM Morrison (MRWSY) to buy from sell.
  • HSBC raised Millicom (MICC) to overweight from neutral.
  • HealthSouth (HLS) was raised to outperform from market perform by Raymond James.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: AKAM, HAS, ICE, KIRK, LM, PEET, RSH, WMT ...

The week in preview: Canadian banks in the earnings spotlight

Canadian banks are scheduled to step into the earnings spotlight this week, with third-quarter reports coming from Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO), Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE: BNS), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE: CM), Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY), and Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD). While Canadian banks on the whole held up better than their U.S. counterparts during the financial crisis, these five are expected to report that their earnings are still declining in the most recent quarter.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for EPS for these banks to have fallen from 15% to 25% from a year ago. Their long-term EPS growth forecast is for between 10% and 12%, which is in the same range as U.S. rivals JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), but better than Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) and Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C). Earnings multiples for these Canadian banks are 10x to 12x, but none of them have a First Call consensus recommendation is to buy. The Motley Fool, though, considers TD as a value stock and RY a stock poised to pop. All of them are trading much closer to their 52-week highs than lows, and shares of all are up more than 100% since March lows.

Continue reading The week in preview: Canadian banks in the earnings spotlight

The week in preview: Interest rates, manufacturing, earnings gainers

On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve's FOMC holds two-day meeting on interest rates and will announce its decision on Wednesday. The Fed's Ben Bernanke will still be out and about this week, discussing the failure of Lehman Brothers later today, and ending up the week speaking at the Independent Community Bankers of America National Convention and Techworld.

Manufacturing will be in focus this week, starting with industrial production numbers for February and the Empire State Manufacturing Survey Diffusion Index for March scheduled to be released Monday morning. Tuesday morning will bring us the Producer Price Index for February, and Thursday morning comes the Philadelphia Fed Outlook Survey -- Diffusion Index Manufacturing for March.

Continue reading The week in preview: Interest rates, manufacturing, earnings gainers

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA-74.9212,454.83
NASDAQ-1.852,837.53
S&P 500-2.861,317.82

Last updated: May 27, 2012: 01:11 AM

Hot Stocks

General Electric

19.20-0.05(-0.26)

Alcoa

8.630.00(0.00)

Apple Inc

562.29-3.03(-0.54)

Google Inc 'A'

591.53-12.13(-2.01)

Bank of America

7.15+0.01(+0.14)

Wal-Mart Stores

65.31+0.24(+0.37)

Exxon Mobil Corp

82.08-0.53(-0.64)

Ford

10.60+0.01(+0.09)

Citigroup

26.47-0.19(-0.71)

IBM

194.30-1.79(-0.91)

Yahoo

15.36+0.01(+0.07)

Starbucks

54.56-0.20(-0.37)

Microsoft

29.06-0.01(-0.03)

Home Depot

49.44-0.27(-0.54)

DailyFinance Headlines

AOL Business News

BioHealth Investor Headlines

Sponsored Links

My Portfolios

Track your stocks here!

Find out why more people track their portfolios on AOL Money & Finance then anywhere else.

BloggingStocks Partners

More from AOL Money & Finance

Page Loaded in 1338095509177 ms.