MOST NOTEWORTHY: Circuit City, Best Buy, COTT Corp and o2 Micro were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Wachovia started shares of Circuit City Stores Inc (NYSE: CC) with a Market Perform rating, citing low visibility into near-term fundamentals and low conviction in EPS.
• The firm also started shares of Best Buy Incorporated (NYSE: BBY) with a Market Perform rating, citing low visibility into holiday sales and product margin trends and valuation.
• Gabelli started COTT Corporation (NYSE: COT) with a Hold rating, as they believe the company's Q3 was disappointing. The firm thinks COTT lacks pricing power, and would look for margin improvement and successful non-carbonated soft drink penetration from the company before recommending the stock
• Thomas Weisel started shares of o2 Micro International Limited (NASDAQ: OIIM) with an Overweight rating and $24 target. The firm believes the company is in good position to compete in the high growth markets of power management, advanced lighting and security and surveillance

• Goldman started shares of Heartland Payment Systems (NYSE: HPY) with a Buy rating and VeriFone Holdings, Inc (NYSE: PAY) and Total System Services Inc (NYSE: TSS) with Neutral ratings.
• Gasco Energy Inc (AMEX: GSX) was initiated with an Outperform rating at Morgan Keegan.
• Morgan Joseph resumed coverage of Stage Stores Inc (NYSE: SSI) with a Hold rating.

Analyst initiations: CC, BBY, COT and OIIM originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 26 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Total System Services Inc. (NYSE:TSS) provides electronic payment processing in North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. Related offerings include credit authorization, account management, call-center operations and fraud monitoring. Total System Services is more than 80-percent owned by Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV) and accounts for about one-third of that firm's total revenue.

The company had good news for investors last week, when it reported Q4 EPS of 44 cents and revenues of $503.9 million. Analysts had been expecting 24 cents and $434.8 million. Management also guided FY07 revenues to $1.69-$1.73 billion ($1.71B consensus) and said it expects 2007 net income to rise by 14-17% (8-10% prior guidance). Shares popped on the news and are now consolidating the gain in a bullish "flag" pattern. Equities frequently exit flags moving in the same direction they were traveling when they entered them. In this case, that would be to the upside.

Brokers recommend the stock with one "buy", thirteen "holds" and one "sell." The TSS P/E ratio (23.42), PEG ratio (1.80), Price to Sales ratio (3.26), Price to Cash Flow ratio (13.54), Price to Free Cash Flow ratio (20.67), EPS Growth rate (76.00%), Operating Margin (19.98%), Net Profit Margin (13.75%), Return on Assets (16.08%), Return on Investment (19.88%) and Return on Equity (22.35%) compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages.

Institutional investors hold about eight percent of the outstanding shares. Over the past fifty-two weeks, TSS has traded between $17.87 and $30.75. A stop-loss of $25.60 looks good here.

Larry Schutts is a contributing editor for Theflyonthewall.com and the Vice-President of Stockwinners.com.

Total System Services shares defining flag originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 22 Jan 2007 12:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.