Analyst Upgrades

• Bristol-Myers (BMY) to hold from underperform at Jefferies.
• Pep Boys (PBY) to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
• Tesla Motors (TSLA) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• Emerson (EMR) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• ARM Holdings (ARMH) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• NetLogic (NETL) and Cavium Networks (CAVM) to buy from hold at Auriga.
• Aimco (AIV) to hold from sell at Citigroup.
• Ceragon Networks (CRNT) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: BMY, CAG, CAVM, CEPH, OPEN, PBY, SOL, TSLA, WDC ...

Analyst Calls: BMY, CAG, CAVM, CEPH, OPEN, PBY, SOL, TSLA, WDC ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"Our stock selection is based on assessing the investment criteria of various legendary investors, ranging from Ben Graham to Marty Zweig," explains John Reese.

The editor of Validea newsletter continues, "In this case, our latest feature on Western Digital (WDC) is based on the strategy of Peter Lynch. Indeed, the stock scores a 100% rating based on our Lynch model.

"Western Digital Corporation designs, develops, manufactures and sells hard drives. Its hard drives are used in desktop computers, notebook computers, and enterprise applications such as servers, workstations, network attached storage, storage area networks and video surveillance equipment.

Continue reading Western Digital (WDC): A Peter Lynch-Based Idea

Western Digital (WDC): A Peter Lynch-Based Idea originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Stock markets opened a bit higher this morning, but turned south pretty quickly as rising prices for crude oil neared $107/barrel. Then a downgrade of the semiconductor sector from Wells Fargo analysts pushed indexes lower. WTI crude oil settled slightly above $105/barrel for the day, and gold is trading up $7.70, to $1,435.90/ounce. The dollar weakened against all major currencies as well, with the euro at one point rising above $1.40.

Here are the numbers for late afternoon trading today:

Dow Jones 12,090.03 -79.85 (-0.66%)
S&P 500 1,310.13 -11.02 (-0.83%)
Nasdaq 2,745.63 -39.04 (-1.40%)

Continue reading Closing Bell: Stocks Head Lower on Rising Oil and Tech Downgrade (ATRN, TOMO, WDC, RGEN, FXEN)

Closing Bell: Stocks Head Lower on Rising Oil and Tech Downgrade (ATRN, TOMO, WDC, RGEN, FXEN) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When it comes to hard-disk drives, Western Digital (WDC) is the largest publicly traded operator in the U.S. And with its recent deal, it will get much larger. That is, the company has agreed to pay $4.3 billion for the data storage business of Hitachi.

Based on the stock move for Western Digital, investors love the transaction. In early Monday trading, the shares were up a sizzling 17.33% to $35.21.

Continue reading Western Digital Bulks Up with a $4.3 Billion Storage Deal

Western Digital Bulks Up with a $4.3 Billion Storage Deal originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Western Digital Trading Lower

Western Digital Trading Lower originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Barclays upgraded Western Digital (WDC) to overweight from equal weight.
• LDK Solar (LDK) was upgraded to buy from hold at Needham.
• Legg Mason (LM) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.
• Agilent (A) was upgraded to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Dean Foods (DF) to outperform from market perform and Developers Diversified (DDR) to market perform from underperform.
• Deutsche Bank also upgraded Developers Diversified, to buy from hold.
• Northrop Grumman (NOC) was upgraded to sell from conviction sell at Goldman.
• MYR Group (MYRG) was upgraded to buy from hold at BB&T.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: A, CQB, DDR, DF, LDK, NOC, RIMM, S, STRA, TTM, WDC ...

Analyst Calls: A, CQB, DDR, DF, LDK, NOC, RIMM, S, STRA, TTM, WDC ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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

• Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) lower Q1 earnings were better than expected but it lowered its full-year outlook.
• McDonald's Corp. (MCD) solid Q1 numbers were driven by its value menu, McCafe, and strength overseas.
• Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) topped Q1 earnings expectations and cash from operations rose, but shares declined.
• Netflix Inc. (NFLX) shares were lifted after its strong Q1 earnings beat consensus estimates.
• PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) fell short of Q1 revenue estimates but beat earnings per share expectations by a penny.

Continue reading Earnings Highlights: McDonald's, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Raytheon, Starbucks, Yahoo! ...

Earnings Highlights: McDonald's, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Raytheon, Starbucks, Yahoo! ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 24 Apr 2010 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Western Digital Q3 Earnings Beat Estimates

Western Digital Q3 Earnings Beat Estimates originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 23 Apr 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst upgrades

• Deutsche Bank upgraded Sonoco Products (SON) to buy from hold after the company reported Q1 results and raised guidance. The firm upped its target for shares to $38 from $32.
• Baird upgraded Western Digital (WDC) to outperform from neutral following the solid Q3 report and guidance. The firm raised its target to $50 from $48.
• Goldman upgraded Qwest (Q) to neutral from sell. Qwest is being acquired by CenturyLink (CTL).
• Hershey (HSY) was upgraded to neutral from underweight at JPMorgan.
• Principal Financial (PFG) was upgraded to neutral from sell at UBS.
• Monster Worldwide (MWW) was upgraded to market perform from underperform at Wells Fargo.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: WDC, Q, HSY, BWLD, NOK, COP, KFT, VZ ...

Analyst Calls: WDC, Q, HSY, BWLD, NOK, COP, KFT, VZ ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 23 Apr 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Earnings season is in full swing, and this week will bring quarterly results from Amazon.com (AMZN), DeVry (DV), Freeport McMoRan (FCX), Hershey (HSY), Kimberley-Clark (KMB), Starbucks (SBUX), Union Pacific (UNP) and United Technologies (UTX), all of which, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, are expected to post double-digit earnings growth from the same period of last year (when most stocks were at their recessionary lows).

After strong showings last week by Google (GOOG), Intel (INTC) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM), the earnings spotlight again will be on the tech and financial sectors. So, let's take a closer look at what's expected from impending results from Apple (AAPL), International Business Machines (IBM) and Western Digital (WDC), as well as Goldman Sachs (GS), American Express (AXP) and Morgan Stanley (MS).

Continue reading The Week in Preview: High Hopes for Apple, IBM, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley ...

The Week in Preview: High Hopes for Apple, IBM, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 18 Apr 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Seagate Technology (STX) and Western Digital (WDC) have been battling it out in the hard drive sector for decades. While larger conglomerates have sold or dumped their hard drive operations, these two companies control the vast majority of shipped digital storage devices globally. Unfortunately for them, the struggles of the PC industry last year may mean a tough road ahead as PC makers strike back to try and reclaim margins that are still quite thin, even as the U.S. economy rebounds.

Continue reading Seagate, Western Digital to Get Hammered on Pricing by the Big PC Vendors

Seagate, Western Digital to Get Hammered on Pricing by the Big PC Vendors originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 13:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Western Digital (WDC) added to S&P 500

Western Digital (WDC) added to S&P 500 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 22 May 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Toshiba to acquire Fujitsu's HDD business

Toshiba to acquire Fujitsu's HDD business originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Western Digital has the drive for success

Western Digital has the drive for success originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Citigroup downgraded shares of Ford (NYSE: F) to Sell from Hold, as they see a number of rising headwinds in the company's turnaround, including a low likelihood of Ford's relatively older product lineup holding U.S. share in the first half of 2008.
• Lehman downgraded DealerTrack (NASDAQ: TRAK) to Equal Weight from Overweight citing near-term headwinds from economic uncertainty, declining auto sales, declining growth, and non-prime transaction risk.
  
• Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Omnicare (NYSE: OCR) to Perform from Outperform to reflect concerns over the timing and pace of a potential recovery.

• Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (NYSE: BBV) was lowered to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.
  
• Mediaset SpA (OTC: MDIUY) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS.
  
• Western Digital (NYSE: WDC) was cut to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.

Analyst downgrades: F, TRAK and OCR originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Jefferies downgraded shares of RF Micro Devices (NASDAQ: RFMD) to Hold from Buy to reflect the continued softness in the China Market after Asian channel checks suggested the March quarter will be weak.
  
• Citigroup downgraded shares of Western Digital (NYSE: WDC) to Hold from Buy, as they believe the HDD industry is nearing a cyclical peak. They also view the likelihood of consolidation as less likely given the current conditions.
  
• Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD) was lowered to Neutral from Add at Calyon following its Q4 report.

• JP Morgan downgraded BorgWarner (NYSE: BWA), Lea Corporation (NYSE: LEA) and TRW Automotive Holdings (NYSE: TRW) to Neutral from Overweight.
  
• Merrill lowered Edison International (NYSE: EIX) to Neutral from Buy.

Analyst downgrades: RFMD, WDC and BYD originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 28 Feb 2008 11:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Hitachi may try to dump hard drive division originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Seagate's (STX) Watkins sees bright future for hard drive industry

Seagate's (STX) Watkins sees bright future for hard drive industry originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 25 Sep 2007 15:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Barron's Online's (subscription required) "Weekday Trader" is inclined to take profits in the disk-drive market while others are popping the champagne; specifically in Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC), which Barron's wrote about positively four months ago and has appreciated 29.6%.
• Emerging markets are outperforming their U.S. and European counterparts this year, but investing in some countries -- including Turkey and Hungary -- is still risky, according to the "Heard on the Street" column in today's Wall Street Journal (subscription required).
• The Financial Times (subscription required) reported that Russian oil company Lukoil Holding (OTC: LUKOY), which is 20% owned by ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), is planning a $9B European spending spree.

• The Los Angeles Times reported that Washington Mutual Inc (NYSE: WM), the largest U.S. savings and loan bank, will close two mortgage divisions, resulting in about 1,000 job cuts.
• Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica SA (NYSE: TEF) said it is in talks with Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) concerning the right to sell the company's new phone, the iPhone, in Spain, next summer, Telecom Paper (subscription required) reported.

• A rumored partnership between Apple and Volkswagen AG (OTC: VLKAY) to develop an "iCar" with iPod connectivity could benefit both companies but is unlikely to yield an actual automobile for three or four years, according to market intelligence firm iSuppli Corp., reported AppleInsider.com.

Newspaper wrap-up: Lukoil planning a $9B spending spree originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 13 Sep 2007 09:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) -- Q3 guidance
• National Semconductor Corporation (NYSE: NSM) -- Q1 earnings
• Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC) -- Q1 guidance

• Texas Instruments Inc (NYSE: TXN) -- Q3 guidance

• Staples Inc (NASDAQ: SPLS) -- Q2 earnings, Q3 guidance
• Office Depot Inc (NYSE: ODP) -- Q2 earnings
• Harley Davidson Inc (NYSE: HOG) -- 2H2007 guidance
• Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE: WY) -- Q3 guidance

A recap of recent earnings and guidance originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 12 Sep 2007 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.