MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• UBS downgraded Merck & Co Inc (NYSE: MRK) to Neutral from Buy citing slowing Gardasil trends and vaccine supply issues.
• Merriman cut On2 Technologies Inc (AMEX: ONT) to Neutral from Buy to reflect the reduced visibility into financials and management changes.
• Baird downgraded shares of Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ: ZION) to Neutral from Outperform to reflect deteriorating credit quality and growing capital concerns. The firm lowered their target price to $32 from $43.

• AstraZeneca Plc (NYSE: AZN) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.
• JP Morgan lowered Marshall & Ilsley Corporation (NYSE: MI) to Underweight from Neutral.
• Acme Packet Inc (NASDAQ: APKT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Piper.

Analyst downgrades: MRK, AZN, MI, ONT and ZION originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• In a move to help turnaround its troubled business, General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) will sell or divest its appliance division, and could expect to receive between $5B and $8B for the unit, according to the Wall Street Journal. Potential buyers appliance makers BSH Bosch & Siemens Hausger of Germany and Haier Group of China, as well as private equity firms and Controladora Mabe, GE's partner in Mexico.
• The Wall Street Journal also reported that Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) will acquire Plaxo, a networking Web site, in an effort to increase its range of services. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
• To help improve its Ask.com search engine, the Wall Street Journal reported that IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI) will buy the Lexico Publishing Group, which owns Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com and Reference.com.

• Citing the New England Journal of Medicine, Bloomberg reported that migraine headache medicines, including Merck & Co Inc's (NYSE: MRK) Maxalt and GlaxoSmithKline Plc's (NYSE: GSK) Imitrex caused potentially fatal reactions in at least 11 people. The Journal said people using "triptans," an older class of migraine drugs, could develop serotonin syndrome, which may cause fever, shock, vomiting and rapid heartbeat.

Newspaper wrap-up: General Electric to sell its appliance business originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 May 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Drugmaker Schering-Plough Corp. (NYSE: SGP) reported this morning a drop of 48% in its fiscal first-quarter profit, hurt by higher costs tied to a buyout in the prior quarter. However, the company was able to post adjusted earnings well above analysts' predictions, pushing its shares up in morning trading.

Schering-Plough's profit during the first-quarter plunged to $291 million, or 15 cents a share, dragged down by charges related to its acquisition of Organon Biosciences NV. Excluding items, Schering-Plough's earnings figures would have come at 53 cents per share. Analysts' forecasts (which typically exclude one time items) were for 37 cents per share in the quarter.

The company's quarterly revenue jumped by a respectable 57% to $4.66 billion. For the period, the company benefited from strong gains from Organon, which came with sales of $1.3 billion. Anti-inflammatory Remicade sales also saw a growth of 36%, while allergy treatment Nasonex revenue saw a rise of 8%. Higher drug prices offset lower prescriptions in the U.S. Analysts, on average, expected Schering-Plough's revenue to be $4.52 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

Continue reading Schering-Plough (SGP) sees quarterly profit falling 48% on merger costs

Schering-Plough (SGP) sees quarterly profit falling 48% on merger costs originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Pfizer (PFE) reports disappointing Q1 earnings on weak drug sales

Pfizer (PFE) reports disappointing Q1 earnings on weak drug sales originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.