Analyst Upgrades

• Best Buy (BBY) was upgraded to top pick from outperform at RBC Capital, as the firm thinks the company's valuation is inexpensive while it will perform well during the holiday season.
• Credit Suisse upgraded CF Industries (CF) to outperform from neutral, citing favorable fundamentals in nitrogen and phosphate markets.
• Canadian Solar (CSIQ) was raised to buy from hold by Jefferies, which cited expectations for higher selling prices next year and cost savings from sourcing more components internally.
• BMO Capital upgraded RC2 Corp. (RCRC) to outperform from market perform as the firm believes that RC2's baby products are performing better than previously expected.
• Ericsson (ERIC) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merril.
• ProLogis (PLD) was upgraded to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
• Constellation Energy (CEG) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: ABC, BBY, CF, CSIQ, ERIC, MO, N, NAV, ORLY, PCAR, RCRC, SYY ...

Analyst Calls: ABC, BBY, CF, CSIQ, ERIC, MO, N, NAV, ORLY, PCAR, RCRC, SYY ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 30 Sep 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Over the years, IT outsourcing Satyam (NYSE: SAY) became a symbol of the innovation and growth of India. Unfortunately, with the uncovering of the billion-dollar accounting scandal, the name is now in tatters.

However, Satyam has done an impressive job in taking action to deal with the crisis. For example, the company brought in A.S. Murthy as the CEO -- a 15-year veteran of Satyam -- who has lots of credibility. At the same time, the company has also appointed Homi Khusrokhan, the former Managing Director of Tata Chemicals, and Partho Datta, the former Finance Director of the Murugappa Group as special advisors. Boston Consulting Group will also provide much-needed assistance-for free.

Continue reading Is Satyam in play?

Is Satyam in play? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Every year, the world's elite converge on Davos, a Swiss mountain village, to discuss the world and what they want to do to it. We're not invited but we end up paying the price for the mistakes that Davos Man makes. This year, Davos Man is feeling weepy. Let's hope that doesn't lead to a year of inaction on the world's pressing problems.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), which is now famous for not catching a fraud of epic proportions at Satyam Computer Services (NYSE: SAY), has done a survey of Davos attendees which gives a flavor for just how pessimistic they are. It found that only 20% of 1,124 CEOs in 50 nations said they were very confident about prospects for revenue growth in 2009, down from half last year, and 25% said they were pessimistic -- this is the most gloomy result since PWC began tracking the CEO outlook in 2003.

Continue reading CEO gloom at record highs

CEO gloom at record highs originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When the financial shenanigans were uncovered by Satyam's (NYSE: SAY) CEO, B. Ramalinga Raju, he gave a memorable quote: "It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten."

And, yes, it's also been pretty rough for many investors in India. Just look at the Blackstone Group LLP (NYSE: BX). In fact, according to Reuters, it looks like the experience has been a nightmare.

Over the past three years, Blackstone has invested about $730 million in India. Unfortunately, much of this was done at the peak of the market. Bear in mind that some of Blackstone's investments have lost 70%+ of their value.

True, India still holds lots of promise. To support its massive population, it's critical that the country find ways to grow and build its infrastructure. And, this means that there must be foreign investment.

Thus, India should rethink its investment regulations and try to loosen things up. If not, the recent losses could scare away investors for some time, ultimately crimping the long-term growth rate.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

Blackstone rides the tiger and gets eaten originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 24 Jan 2009 16:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Now it looks like the media has a new Madoff angle to chew on. He made up the account statements that he sent to his victims. And investigators can find no evidence that he conducted any trades. For example, one Madoff victim's November 2008 account statement showed all sorts of trades -- including the buying and selling of shares in Fidelity's Spartan US Treasury Money Market Fund. But Fidelity has no record that Madoff's firm dealt with the Fidelity unit the works with investment advisers like Madoff.

If Madoff was not making up account statements he could not have pulled off his fraud. Of course the same thing can be said for Satyam Computer Services (NYSE: SAY) and Enron. As I have posted, when you allow a company or an investment manager to write their own report card, you are just asking for trouble. Simply banning that practice and replacing it with a 100% independent group of financial statement preparers would save society uncounted misery.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and is the author of You Can't Order Change: Lessons from Jim McNerney's Turnaround at Boeing. He owns Fidelity's Spartan US Treasury Money Market Fund shares and has no financial interest in the other securities mentioned.

Madoff made up trades originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Harvard Business School (HBS) got its first black eye from Enron when an alumnus about which HBS had written gushing cases, Jeff Skilling, ended up causing one of America's biggest corporate frauds. And now Enron and HBS are joined again with the scandal at Satyam Computer Services (NYSE: SAY) -- whose stock finally opened yesterday on the NYSE and plunged 86% -- which has been dubbed India's Enron.

Satyam's founder and chairman Byrraju Ramalinga Raju is a graduate of HBS's executive education program. And HBS accounting professor Krishna G. Palepu was on Satyam's board of directors. But both of these gentlemen are gone now. And while I would have thought that Palepu would serve on Satyam's audit committee -- he opted out of that rule because of a consulting contract he had with Satyam which he felt would have compromised him had he served on the audit committee.

Palepu said he didn't learn about the fraud until after he had resigned from the company. So we are left with many questions: Why did Palepu resign if it wasn't because of the fraud? As an accounting professor, why didn't he detect problems with its books? (It would have been simple to compare Satyam's stated cash position with the content of its bank accounts). Was Palepu window dressing on Satyam's board? Did he just fly to India for the board meetings and accept his compensation or did he ask probing questions and try to understand Satyam's finances and strategy?

Continue reading India's Enron gives Harvard Business School another black eye

India's Enron gives Harvard Business School another black eye originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Stocks in the news: C, MS, AA, PFE, WIT, F, EYE, SAY, PALM, HOG

Stocks in the news: C, MS, AA, PFE, WIT, F, EYE, SAY, PALM, HOG originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 12 Jan 2009 08:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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

• Apollo Group Inc. (NYSE: APOL) posted its third straight quarter of growth as enrollment soared.
• Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) earnings prospects will pick up after the first quarter, predicts Jim Cramer.
• Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) lowered its guidance due to slower traffic and sales during the holiday season.
• EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) reaffirmed its revenue and earnings guidance and announced job cuts.
• Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) was upgraded as Wall Street's Q4 and full-year estimates came down.
• KB Home (NYSE: KBH) failed to narrow its loss as much as expected but beat revenue estimates.
• Logitech International (NASDAQ: LOGI) withdrew its guidance and said it was cutting its global workforce.
• Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) posted strong Q2 results that easily beat earnings expectations (is it a buy?).
• Navistar International Corp. (NYSE: NAV) 2009 outlook fell short of estimates but it predicted 2010 growth.
• Premier Exhibitions Inc. (NASDAQ: PRXI) worse-than-expected Q3 numbers resulted in an downgrade.
• Satyam Computer Sciences Ltd. (NYSE: SAY) admited that it had been inflating earnings for years.
• Super Micro Computer Inc. (NASDAQ: SMCI) was downgraded after preliminary results missed estimates.
• Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) now expects a loss in 2008 rather than the profit in its previous guidance.
• WD-40 Co. (NASDAQ: WDFC) topped Q1 expectations but also lowered its guidance, sending shares lower.

For more earnings highlights, see Intel, Walmart, Chevron, Family Dollar, Monsanto and others

Upcoming earnings releases include Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA), Infosys (NASDAQ: INFY), Linear Technologies (NASDAQ: LLTC) , Xilinx (NASDAQ: XLNX), Genentech (NYSE: DNA), Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), Marshall & Ilsley (NYSE: MI), Sealy (NYSE: ZZ), Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

Earnings highlights: Time Warner, Satyam, Google, KB Home, Mosaic and others originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 10 Jan 2009 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Stocks in the news: CVX, YHOO, KBH, BBY, COH, SBL, HAL, PALM ...

Stocks in the news: CVX, YHOO, KBH, BBY, COH, SBL, HAL, PALM ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 09 Jan 2009 08:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Satyam Computer Services (NYSE: SAY) has not opened for trading today but it was down 91% in "pre-market." When you hear why, you'll realize that Satyam could be India's version of Enron. There were glimmers of trouble a few weeks ago when Satyam's chairman, Ramalinga Raju, unilaterally decided to buy his son's construction companies -- Maytas Properties Ltd. and Maytas Infra Ltd -- but when the stock collapsed after the announcement, he pulled back within 12 hours.

While that was bad enough, the biggest shocker came today when Raju resigned after announcing that he had faked Satyam's numbers for several years. It turns out that the reason he wanted to buy those construction companies was to plug the $1.03 billion gap between the falsely accounted for and real cash on Satyam's books.

Here's an irony: the word Satyam means "truth" in Sanskrit. And when the truth came out, Satyam got into a rapidly cascading wave of troubles. First, shareholders blocked his asset purchases, then the World Bank banned Satyam from bidding for orders for eight years, alleging that improper benefits were given to World Bank employees. Then four directors quit, and finally, Raju quit the company and announced his fraud.

Continue reading Satyam: 'India's Enron'

Satyam: 'India's Enron' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Closing Bell: Dow closes down 245 points; AA, BAC, INTC, SAY

Closing Bell: Dow closes down 245 points; AA, BAC, INTC, SAY originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Satyam (NYSE: SAY) is recently trading at $1.44 in pre-open trading, below its close of $9.35. SAY Chairman Ramalinga Raju resigned after saying he falsified earnings and assets at India's fourth-largest software services provider. SAY January option implied volatility closed at 121, February at 114; above its 26-week average of 87, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price fluctuations.

Infosys (NASDAQ: INFY), a technology services firm based in India, closed at $26.60. INFY is scheduled to report Q3 EPS on January 12. INFY January 27.5 straddle is priced at $2.80, February 27.5 straddle is priced at $4.90. February option implied volatility of 63 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Wipro Ltd (NYSE: WIT), a technology services company based in India, closed at $8.41. WIT is expected to report Q3 EPS in mid January. WIT February call option implied volatility is at 78, puts are at 86; near its 26-week average of 80, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Options Update: Satyam volatility elevated; shares collapse on accounting fraud originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Stocks in the news: AA, BAC, SAY, MON, DOW, ROH, AAPL, INTC ...

Stocks in the news: AA, BAC, SAY, MON, DOW, ROH, AAPL, INTC ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst upgrades:

• UBS upgraded Kansas City Southern (NYSE:KSU) to Buy from Neutral and lowered its target to $26 from $35 citing valuation.
  
• Gabelli upgraded Media General (NYSE:MEG) to Hold from Sell because the firm thinks that Harbinger Capital has sold most of its shares in the company. As a result, the firm thinks the stock will be under less selling pressure.
  
• Eagle Bulk Shipping (NASDAQ:EGLE) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Merrill Lynch.
• Centene (NYSE:CNC) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
  
• Ralcorp (NYSE:RAH) was upgraded at Credit Suisse to Outperform from Neutral.
  
• Interpublic Group (NYSE:IPG) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.

• Keefe Bruyette downgraded Healthcare Realty(NYSE:HR) to Market Perform from Outperform on concerns the company's development activity could be dilutive to near-term earnings.
  
• Citigroup downgraded Satyam (NYSE:SAY) to Sell from Buy as they believe the company's acquisition plans, and subsequent cancellation of the deals, will lessen investor confidence in the name.
  
• Oppenheimer downgraded Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) to Perform from Outperform citing Steve Jobs cancellation of his annual key note speech at Macworld on January 6. The analyst said the unexpected announcement underscores Apple's long-term dependence on Job's health and its lack of succession plan.
• Baird downgraded Carlisle NYSE:CSL)to Neutral from Outperform.
  
• Gibraltar Industries (NASDAQ:ROCK) was downgraded at Piper Jaffray to Sell from Buy.
  
• NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) was cut to Accumulate from Buy at ThinkPanmure.

• Citigroup believes the acquisition of Barr enhances Teva's (NASDAQ:TEVA) growth. The firm started shares with a Buy rating and $52 target.
  
• Suntrust initiated American Express (NYSE:AXP) with a Reduce citing slowing growth and greater-than-industry deterioration in credit quality.
  
• Roth Capital initiated The Buckle (NYSE:BKE) with a Hold rating and $17 target citing the deteriorating macro environment.
• Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Allegheny Tech (NYSE:ATI) were assumed with Neutral ratings and targets of $52 and $26, respectively, at UBS.
  
• Digital Realty (NYSE:DLR) was initiated at Piper Jaffray with a Buy rating.
  
• Mylan (NYSE:MYL) was started with an Overweight rating and $15 target at JP Morgan.

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: AAPL, AXP, AMZN, KSU, IPG originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 17 Dec 2008 12:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

ICICI Bank (NYSE: IBN), India's second largest bank IBN, closed at $13.21 Wednesday. IBN December option implied volatility of 143 is above its 26-week average of 82 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price fluctuations.

Infosys (NASDAQ: INFY), a technology services firm based in India, closed at $24.31 Wednesday. INFY December option implied volatility of 91 is above its 26-week average of 59 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Satyam Computer Services (NYSE: SAY), a technology solution provider based in India, closed at $12.62 Wednesday. SAY over all option implied volatility of 85 is above its 26-week average of 76 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price fluctuations.

Wipro Ltd (NYSE: WIT), a technology services company based in India, closed at $7.47 Wednesday. WIT over all option implied volatility of 83 is above its 26-week average of 71 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

The Sensex rose 0.7 percent to 9,092.72 at the close in Mumbai India, the highest in almost two weeks.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Options Update: Volatility elevated for India-based companies; IBN, SAY, INFY, WIT originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The earnings crunch begins in earnest this coming week, with companies from Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) and PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) to Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) and Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG) scheduled to report results for the quarter just ended. But with the ongoing turmoil in the markets, much attention is on the tech and financial sectors. This week will provide plenty to mull over on both counts.

Wall Street expectations for tech stocks are fairly optimistic. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial are looking for chip maker Altera Corp. (NASDAQ: ALTR) and software/service company iGate Corp. (NASDAQ: IGTE) to be the sector's biggest earnings gainers of the week. Altera is expected to report earnings of 30 cents per share (up 33.3% from a year ago) on revenue of $355.1 million. Altera had previously forecast flat sales for the quarter, and shares fell to a 52-week low last week. iGate is expected to report earnings of 14 cents per share (up 42.9%) on revenue of $55.6 million. India-based iGate recently spun off its Mastech consulting services. Shares are down 45.0% in the past three months, and also reached a new 52-week low last week.

San Jose-based Novellus Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS), on the other hand, is expected to report that net income tumbled 90.4% from a year ago to 4 cents per share, on revenue of $245.6 million. Novellus fell to a 52-week low early last week, and shares are down 44.5% year to date.

Continue reading The week in preview: Mulling over techs, financials

The week in preview: Mulling over techs, financials originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 12 Oct 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded shares of Safeway (NYSE: SWY) to Hold from Underperform on valuation as they believe the company's pricing pressure and sluggish sales trends are now priced in. The firm raised its target to $23.50 from $21.
  
• Merrill upgraded Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) to Buy from Underperform citing attractive dividend yield and stabilizing businesses.
  
• Banc of America upgraded shares of Apollo Group (NASDAQ: APOL) to Neutral from Sell and raised APOL's target to $60 from $48 on valuation as they see a balanced risk/reward at current levels.
• Nucor (NYSE: NUE) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
  
• Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS) and Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) were upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.
  
• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Jefferies Group (NYSE: JEF) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) to Market Perform from Underperform.

Analyst downgrades:

Continue reading Analyst calls: GM, F, BAC, PFE, APOL, SYMC . . .

Analyst calls: GM, F, BAC, PFE, APOL, SYMC . . . originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Infosys (NASDAQ: INFY), a technology services firm based in India, closed at $40.80 Tuesday. INFY chief executive said: "We are not seeing any trends towards driving prices downwards. There is (however) uncertainty about when the macro-environment will turn around" Down Jones. INFY overall option implied volatility of 43 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional risk.

Satyam Computer Services (NYSE: SAY), a technology solution provider based in India, closed at $21.91 Tuesday. SAY overall option implied volatility of 53 is near its 26-week average, suggesting non-directional price fluctuations.

Wipro Ltd (NYSE: WIT), a technology services company based in India, closed at $11.60 Tuesday. Goldman Sachs raised its rating to Neutral from Buy on August 19. WIT overall option implied volatility of 50 is near its 26-week average of 47, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Option Update: India technology services firms' volatility flat (INFY, SAY, WIT) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Deutsche Bank downgraded shares of Stanley Works (NYSE: SWK) to Hold from Buy as they see risk to Q2 and FY08 earnings due to a slowdown in the European industrial and consumer categories. The firm lowered their target to $52 from $62.
  
• Wachovia cut the Generic Drug sector to Market Weight from Overweight Wachovia sees near-term challenges for Teva Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ: TEVA), Mylan (NYSE: MYL) and Watson Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: WPI). The firm thinks Teva will become a very strong company over the long-term, following its takeover of Barr (NYSE: BRL). However, the firm adds that Teva will need to integrate the acquisition nearly perfectly, and Mylan may feel compelled to make another acquisition, even as it is still integrating Merck Generics, while Watson's growth prospects are still uncertain.
  
• Oppenheimer downgraded Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV) and Fidelity National (NYSE: FIS) to Perform from Outperform based on multiple pressure from the challenging banking environment and growth headwinds.

• Satyam (NYSE: SAY) was downgraded to Underperform from Outperform at Credit Suisse and Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
  
• UBS downgraded Textron (NYSE: TXT) to Neutral from Buy.
  
• Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEG) was downgraded at Jefferies to Underperform from Hold.

Analyst downgrades: SWK, Generic drug sector, FISV and FIS originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Infosys (NASDAQ: INFY), an Indian computer services provider, closed at $46.77 Tuesday.

Stifel Nicolaus says: "Raising estimates due to tax holiday extension; maintain Hold."

INFY overall option implied volatility of 42 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional risk.

Satyam Computer Services (NYSE: SAY), an technology solution provider based in India, closed at $27.21 Tuesday.

Stifel Nicolaus says: "We are raising our CY09 EPS estimates for SAY to reflect recent passage of a 1-year tax holiday extension."

SAY overall option implied volatility of 48 is below its 26-week average of 52, suggesting decreasing price fluctuations.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Option Update: Indian technology companies rally on tax holiday extension originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.