Analyst Upgrades

• Goodyear Tire (GT) to Overweight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Salix (SLXP) to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
• Euroseas (ESEA) to Outperform from Market Perform at FBR Capital.
• Norfolk Southern (NSC) and Hexcel (HXL) to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital.
• BB&T (BBT) and Triangle Capital (TCAP) to Buy from Neutral at Janney Capital.
• Mobile TeleSystems (MBT) to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Affymax (AFFY) to Buy from Hold at Auriga.
• Vanguard Natural (VNR) and Tortoise Energy (TYY) to Outperform from Neutral at RW Baird.
• Protective Life (PL) to Neutral from Underperform at BofA/Merrill.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: ARO, BBT, CSX, GT, KR, NSC, ORCL, SWHC ...

Analyst Calls: ARO, BBT, CSX, GT, KR, NSC, ORCL, SWHC ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 11 Mar 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"I've put together a retirement blue print that will allow anyone who is 20 years old or younger to retire a multi-millionaire," says Steve Christ.

The editor of The Wealth Advisory explains, "This diversified portfolio, contains a transport, a utility, a tech company, a health care giant, and a defense contractor, all of which pay nice steady dividends with room for growth.

"All you need to start is $15,000 initial investment to go along with an additional $100 bucks a week in total contributions divided among the five stocks.

Continue reading A 'Fool-Proof' Retirement Plan for 20-Year-Olds

A 'Fool-Proof' Retirement Plan for 20-Year-Olds originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

PTC technology will automatically stop the train if a conductor misses its stop signal, coming in light of a 2008 train collision which killed 25 people.

This could possibly add 25% to CSX's free cash flow, which at these levels would make CSX and other rail companies undervalued by these metrics.

Jason is a co-founder of Benzinga.com.

All Aboard the Rails originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 00:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Xilinx (XLNX) to buy from hold at Auriga.
• Orion Energy (OESX) to buy from neutral at Roth Capital.
• Goodyear Tire (GT) to buy from fair value at CRT Capital.
• RadioShack (RSH) to neutral from underperform at Wedbush.
• Novo Nordisk (NVO) to buy from neutral at Goldman.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: ADBE, CE, CISG, DOW, ELN, GT, NSC, NVO, RSH, XLNX ...

Analyst Calls: ADBE, CE, CISG, DOW, ELN, GT, NSC, NVO, RSH, XLNX ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 25 Jan 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Union Pacific Corp. (UNP), a railway concern whose colleagues include CSX Corp. (CSX) and Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC), was down 2.6% to $94.78 at one point during today's afternoon session. Why is the market unhappy with the stock? The catalyst was an earnings report. Were the numbers so bad?

After reading a summary of the company's fourth quarter by the Associated Press, I came away thinking that the stats were actually quite attractive. Net income jumped 44% to $1.56 per share. This figure was eight pennies ahead of the overall projection.

Continue reading Union Pacific Down Following Quarterly Report

Union Pacific Down Following Quarterly Report originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 20 Jan 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC) February 65 calls and March 70 calls are active on total call volume of 14K contracts compared to 2K puts. January call option implied volatility is at 18, February and March is at 23. This is below its 26-week average of 28, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Intel Corporation (INTC) is expected to report Q4 EPS on January 13. January call option implied volatility is 31, March is at 22, April is at 23. That's compared to its 26-week average of 29, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement after EPS.

Options Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Options Update: Norfolk Southern Shares at 27-Month High originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Goldman upgraded CSX (CSX) to neutral from sell.
• General Cable (BGC) was upgraded to buy from hold at KeyBanc.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Chart Industries (GTLS) and Dresser Rand (DRC) to overweight from equal weight.
• Blackrock (BLK) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.
• Credit Suisse upgraded Zions Bancorp (ZION) to neutral from underperform and GameStop (GME) to outperform from neutral.
• Honeywell (HON) was upgraded to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• Panera Bread (PNRA) was upgraded to buy from neutral at SunTrust.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: AMD, BLK, CSX, DKS, GME, HGSI, HON, KEY, NSC, STP, ZION ...

Analyst Calls: AMD, BLK, CSX, DKS, GME, HGSI, HON, KEY, NSC, STP, ZION ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 17 Nov 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Norfolk Southern (NSC) to overweight from neutral, citing the company's leverage to coal and position relative to peers. The firm has a $68 price target for shares.
• Benchmark upgraded Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) to hold from sell based on a more favorable earnings outlook and reduced dividend risk.
• UBS upgraded Costco (COST) to buy from neutral based on valuation. The firm raised its price target to $63 from $62.
• Visa (V) was upgraded to gonviction buy from buy at Goldman.
• KLA-Tencor (KLAC) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Texas Instruments (TXN) was upgraded to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: AMD, BBY, COST, INTC, MRVL, MYGN, NSC, RDS.A, TXN, V ...

Analyst Calls: AMD, BBY, COST, INTC, MRVL, MYGN, NSC, RDS.A, TXN, V ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded AstraZeneca (AZN) to neutral from underweight after the company's U.S. Crestor patent was ruled valid. The firm believes the ruling could lead to AstraZeneca announcing a sizeable share buyback program. AstraZeneca was also upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill and to hold from underperform at Jefferies.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Peabody Energy (BTU) to buy from hold, citing valuation and attractive fundamentals in the coal sector. The firm has a $57.50 price target for shares, and also maintains buy ratings on Arch Coal (ACI) and Alpha Natural (ANR).
• Oppenheimer upgraded NextEra Energy (NEE) to outperform from perform, citing valuation and an improving regulation outlook in Florida. The firm maintains a $55 price target for shares.
• Eaton Vance (EV) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Dynamex (DDMX) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Stephens.
• Soleil upgraded RPM (RPM) to buy from gradually accumulate.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: AZN, BTU, CSX, FTE, HCBK, NEE, NFLX, STJ, UNP ...

Analyst Calls: AZN, BTU, CSX, FTE, HCBK, NEE, NFLX, STJ, UNP ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 30 Jun 2010 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Wells Fargo upgraded Norfolk Southern (NSC) to outperform from market perform following the company's Q1 results.
• RBC Capital transferred coverage on Gildan Activewear (GIL) with an outperform from sector perform. The firm is positive on Gildan's low-cost producer strategy and free cash flow generation. The firm raised its target to $35 from $26.
• Wunderlich upgraded Delphi Financial (DFG) to buy from hold following the company's Q1 results and raised its target for shares to $31 from $29.
• Aflac (AFL) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Sterne Agee.
• Time Warner (TWX) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Cowen.
• Pride International (PDE) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: NSC, GIL, DFG, F, DVA, PFWD, PGN, TDS, PSSI ...

Analyst Calls: NSC, GIL, DFG, F, DVA, PFWD, PGN, TDS, PSSI ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The contributing analyst with Internet Wealth Builder explains, "An upward movement in the Dow Industrials is only sustainable if confirmed by the Transports. As traders say, one 'makes', one 'takes'. Further, the Transports have led every major rally since 2004. So with our canary alive and well, I remain very encouraged."

Continue reading Ride the Rails: Canadian Railway (CNI) and Norfolk Southern (NSC)

Ride the Rails: Canadian Railway (CNI) and Norfolk Southern (NSC) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 31 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The editor of The Moneypaper explains, "The pair developed a Net Current Asset Value (NCAV) model to determine if a company was worth its market price. Their formula subtracts all liabilities, including short-term debt and preferred stock, from a company's current asset balance"

Continue reading A Value Shopper's List of Graham and Dodd Stocks

A Value Shopper's List of Graham and Dodd Stocks originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Piper Jaffray upgraded Tractor Supply Co. (TSCO) to neutral to underweight ahead of the company's investment meeting Tuesday and raised its target on shares to $55 from $46.
• Barclays upgraded Norfolk Southern (NSC) to overweight from equal weight, citing earning potential and core price fundamentals. The firm raised its target to $52 from $55.
• KeyBanc upgraded Denbury Resources (DNR) to buy from hold based on expectations that the EAC acquisition has material value that is not reflected in shares. The firm has a $19 target on shares.
• BP Plc (BP) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at Cowen.
• Rowan Companies (RDC) was upgraded to sector perform from underperform at RBC Capital.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: ALK, ANF, BP, BRK.A, DNR, GPN, NSC, TSCO ...

Analyst Calls: ALK, ANF, BP, BRK.A, DNR, GPN, NSC, TSCO ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

CSX (NYSE: CSX), a railway entity similar to companies such as Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (NYSE: BNI), Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC), and Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP), saw a nice bid during Tuesday's after-hours session. The market enjoyed CSX's Q3 earnings report so much it sent shares of the company higher by 2.6%.

What was so good about the data? According to TheStreet.com, CSX made 74 cents per share from continuing operations. The analyst community was counting on 71 cents per share. Perhaps more importantly, management seemed pretty upbeat on the state of the economy. Like a lot of other pundits, CEO Michael Ward thinks that the recession will eventually start to wane, and that we may have already experienced the bottom of the cycle.

Continue reading CSX experiences a drop in Q3 income, but are better times ahead?

CSX experiences a drop in Q3 income, but are better times ahead? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

From TheStreet.com Network

• Retail Investors Bracing for Back-to-School Blues
• Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street: July 31

Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: You can't afford to be certain

Cramer on BloggingStocks: You can't afford to be certain originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

CSX (NYSE: CSX), a railway company whose peers include Burlington Northern Santa Fe (NYSE: BNI), Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP) and Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC), reported earnings for the second quarter on Monday after the bell. Net sales declined 25%, and earnings from continuing operations declined 24% to 72 cents per share.

Declines are never nice, but for a company like CSX, it's only to be expected. The recession continues to have an impact on operations. Management said that volumes decreased; it also mentioned how CSX is doing its best to run as efficiently as possible to combat the dropping top line. Maybe it's working out, because according to Reuters, the company beat Wall Street estimates by 10 cents.

Continue reading CSX: Buy now, or wait for a better price?

CSX: Buy now, or wait for a better price? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Chasing Value: Watch BNI -- the heck with Citigroup

Chasing Value: Watch BNI -- the heck with Citigroup originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

CSX (NYSE: CSX), a railway company whose colleagues include Burlington Northern Santa Fe (NYSE: BNI), Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC) and Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP), issued its Q1 report on Tuesday after the bell. As one might imagine, there was a drop in both sales and net income. The top line declined by 17%. The bottom line, on an adjusted basis (taking into account an item from last year's similar quarter), dropped 23% to $0.62 per share.

The economy is still taking its toll, obviously. Volumes were down during the quarter. However, the market sometimes cares about only one thing: beating expectations. CSX actually beat the analyst expectations of $0.51 per share. This significant difference led traders to push shares of CSX higher by 6.5% during Tuesday's after-hours session.

Continue reading CSX's earnings engine was powerful in Q1

CSX's earnings engine was powerful in Q1 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Merriman upgraded Taser (NASDAQ: TASR) to Buy from Neutral as it believes current valuation levels do not reflect the company's market opportunities and that the law enforcement funding in President Obama's stimulus plan will boost sales in Q4 and FY10.
  
• Goldman upgraded Macy's (NYSE: M) to Buy from Neutral and added shares to its Conviction Buy List based on reduced balance sheet concerns and improved risk/reward. The firm also raised their target to $8.25 from $8.
  
• JP Morgan upgraded Family Dollar (NYSE: FDO) to Neutral from Underweight and raised its target to $29 from $19 following the better-than-expected Q2 report. The analyst continues to prefer Dollar Tree (NASDAQ: DLTR) and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT).
• Goldman removed Universal Am (NYSE: UAM) from the Conviction Sell List.
  
• McDermott (NYSE: MDR) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.
  
• Canadian Natural (NYSE: CNQ) was upgraded to Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer at CIBC.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: TASR, M, FDO, NVDA, DGX ...

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: TASR, M, FDO, NVDA, DGX ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 06 Mar 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Lots of quarterly reports to come this week, and if you're one of those looking to earnings for signs of the direction of the markets or of the economy, well its going to be a rough week. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, by and large, expect earnings declines to be deeper and more numerous than earnings gains. And that's true across sectors: Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT), Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), U.S. Steel Corp. (NYSE: X), Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT), Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX), Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: HOT), American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP), Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO), and Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) are all expected to post double-digit declines this week.

Even the petroleum industry is not immune, with Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO), ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), Murphy Oil Corp. (NYSE: MUR), ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY), and Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) expected to report profits that were as much as 65.3% lower in the fourth quarter.

And analysts expect Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX), Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN), DuPont (NYSE: DD), and Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) to have swung to losses for the most recent quarter, from profits in the same period a year ago. And Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is expect to have deepened its net loss.

But not all is doom and gloom. There are some anticipated EPS gainers as well. Here's a closer look at a few of them.

Continue reading The week in preview: High hopes for McDonald's, Pfizer, Netflix, P&G

The week in preview: High hopes for McDonald's, Pfizer, Netflix, P&G originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 25 Jan 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.