Analyst Upgrades

• Bunge (BG) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Textron (TXT) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• CSX (CSX) to buy from neutral and Pulte Group (PHM) to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Aol (AOL) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Kohlberg Capital (KCAP) to outperform from market perform at JMP Securities.
• Owens Corning (OC) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Jefferies (JEF) to buy from neutral at Ticonderoga.
• Harris (HRS) to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: AOL, BG, CCL, CP, CSX, HRS, NE, OC, PHM, RIG, SBUX, TXT ...

Analyst Calls: AOL, BG, CCL, CP, CSX, HRS, NE, OC, PHM, RIG, SBUX, TXT ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Aol (AOL) competes with Yahoo! (YHOO), Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT) and Facebook in the display advertising business (as well as being the parent of Bloggingstocks). The average monthly unique visitors on Aol sites declined from around 123 million in 2008 to 111 million in 2010, as the company cut back or shut down a few of its European operations. The sale of business divisions like Bebo and ICQ in 2010 also contributed to the decline in unique visitors.

Though Aol sold a few of its business divisions, it also made several acquisitions, like Patch.com, StudioNow, TechCrunch, 5Min Media, Thing Labs and Pictela last year. These acquisitions suggest Aol's increasing focus on content production (articles and videos) and syndication, in order to attract more visitors to its sites and generate more advertising revenues. Aol's recent acquisition of Huffington Post is another step in this direction.

Continue reading Acquisitions Lift AOL's Monthly Unique Visitors

Acquisitions Lift AOL's Monthly Unique Visitors originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 06 Mar 2011 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Wells Fargo (WFC) to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Adobe (ADBE) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• Vail Resorts (MTN) and Goldcorp (GG) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• OmniVision (OVTI) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Penn Virginia (PVA) to hold from sell at Canaccord.
• Hub Group (HUBG) to outperform from market perform at Morgan Keegan.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: ADBE, AOL, CAT, CSTR, FITB, GG, GPS, MDAS, RIG, WFC ...

Analyst Calls: ADBE, AOL, CAT, CSTR, FITB, GG, GPS, MDAS, RIG, WFC ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 25 Feb 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The New York Times (NYT) competes with publications like News Corp.'s (NWS) Wall Street Journal as well as Yahoo! (YHOO), Google (GOOG) and Aol. (AOL) for online advertising dollars. NYT is expected to launch a new paywall for its online site in the near future. According to the report, the NYT is planning to charge around $20 for a digital bundle that includes Times online and Apple iPad app access, and less than $10 for web-only access.

We estimate that NYT's most valuable business remains within its print circulation and advertising business, through which it derives an estimated 60% of its stock value. The company derives an incremental 20% of its stock value from its online advertising business.

Continue reading Upside and Downside Scenarios for NYT's Online Paywall

Upside and Downside Scenarios for NYT's Online Paywall originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 21 Feb 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading AOL CEO Buys $10M of stock

AOL CEO Buys $10M of stock originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 14 Feb 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading AOL Buys Huffington Post: A New Era of Online News

AOL Buys Huffington Post: A New Era of Online News originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 Feb 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading U.S. Stock Futures Signal Higher Start on Wall Street

U.S. Stock Futures Signal Higher Start on Wall Street originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 Feb 2011 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When they say tech is hot, it's hot. Aol (AOL) bought About.me just four days after it began its public debut. The terms were undisclosed.

About.me allows users to create a profile from all of their social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Linkedln -- like an online business card. It has a built in dashboard to track social networking interactions and influence.

Continue reading AOL Snaps Up About.me

AOL Snaps Up About.me originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Yahoo! Lays Off 600 Employees

Yahoo! Lays Off 600 Employees originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 14 Dec 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Walgreen (WAG) and Triumph Group (TGI) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Focus Media (FMCN) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Home Depot (HD) to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• Arbitron (ARB) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Waddell & Reed (WDR) and Legg Mason (LM) to overweight from equal weight, and Janus Capital (JNS) to overweight from underweight, at Barclays.
• Central Euro Media (CETV) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• GenOn Energy (GEN) and Ntelos (NTLS) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• Cooper Tire (CTB) to buy from neutral and Goodyear Tire (GT) to buy from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: AOL, FMCN, GT, HD, JNJ, JNS, LOW, QCOM, RY, UA, WAG ...

Analyst Calls: AOL, FMCN, GT, HD, JNJ, JNS, LOW, QCOM, RY, UA, WAG ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Intel (INTC) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight and Autodesk (ADSK) to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Citigroup upgraded Blackrock (BLK) to buy from hold.
• 99c Only Stores (NDN) was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• PetSmart (PETM) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded Ruth's Hospitality (RUTH) and Morton's Restaurant (MRT) to overweight from neutral.
• BioMed Realty (BMR) was upgraded to market perform from underperform at FBR Capital.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Piedmont (PDM) to market perform from underperform.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: AA, AOL, BLK, CSCO, GOOG, INTC, JBL, JBLU, YHOO ...

Analyst Calls: AA, AOL, BLK, CSCO, GOOG, INTC, JBL, JBLU, YHOO ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Last week's column gave five questions for investors to ask before they buy or sell a stock. Here are five more to help start any research. They'll help save a lot of time and more important, money and loss of sleep.

6. What is Price to Book? This measures the price you pay compared to the amount of equity that's in the company. Equity is all the money investors have put in plus all the profits. When you can find a company that is selling for a Price to Book of less than 1, it means you are buying the equity in the firm for less than it's worth. It's like buying $1 for less than a dollar. Hard to find these stocks? Not now in the Financial sector. Look at Bank of America (BAC). It's Price to Book is 0.54. That means you're paying 54 cents for every $1 of equity. Of course, investors think there could be many more charges against that equity before the bank stabilizes, but if they're wrong, an investor might be picking up a real bargain here. Other examples: JPMorgan Chase (JPM) at 0.89; Citibank (C) at 0.74.

Continue reading Comfort Zone Investing: Keeping It Simple ... Part 2

Comfort Zone Investing: Keeping It Simple ... Part 2 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 06 Nov 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yahoo (YHOO) released third-quarter numbers after the bell on Tuesday, and they didn't do anything for the stock. Shares closed the regular session down 2.7% to $15.49. During the extended-hours period, I saw a quote go by of $15.53. That's right, the equity gained a measly four cents. Traders most certainly weren't applauding that performance.

Very recently, I wrote a bearish piece on the web portal. Since then, the stock has risen. Also, the company has been surrounded by some interesting speculation as of late regarding a potential takeover, with one theoretical scenario involving the owner of BloggingStocks, Aol (AOL).

Continue reading Yahoo! Earnings: Q3 Wasn't Very Exciting

Yahoo! Earnings: Q3 Wasn't Very Exciting originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 20 Oct 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Closing Bell: A Loss That Could Have Been Worse (APOL, EMC, FSLR, YHOO, AOL, LSTR, GPS)

Closing Bell: A Loss That Could Have Been Worse (APOL, EMC, FSLR, YHOO, AOL, LSTR, GPS) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 14 Oct 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The earnings season kicked off last week with better-than-expected results from Alcoa (AA) and Yum! Brands (YUM), while Marriott (MAR) and Pepsico (PEP) met consensus EPS estimates. This week, bellwether companies Intel (INTC), General Electric (GE), Google (GOOG) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) are scheduled to report their third-quarter results, and analysts polled by Thomson Reuters are looking for earnings growth from all of them.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel announced the acquisition of McAfee and joint ventures with General Electric and Nokia (NOK) during its third quarter. Analysts forecast earnings for that period to come to 50 cents per share, which is up 34.0% from the same period of last year. The number one semiconductor maker's revenue for the three months ended in September is expected to total $11.0 billion, or 17.1% more than a year earlier. Looking ahead to the full year, the forecast thus far is for earnings of $1.94 per share (+44.8%) and $43.3 billion in revenue (+23.4%). The per-share earnings topped analysts' expectations in the past four quarters, by as much as a dime per share.

Continue reading Week in Preview: Earnings Expectations for Intel, GE, Google and JPMorgan

Week in Preview: Earnings Expectations for Intel, GE, Google and JPMorgan originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 10 Oct 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Merriman upgraded Penn National (PENN) to buy from neutral, citing the company's strong balance sheet and management team. The firm also raised its target range for shares to $34 to $37.60.
• BMO Capital upgraded Cooper Companies (COO) to outperform from market perform and raised its price target to $55 from $46. The firm sees upside to Street estimates and increased visibility.
• Argus upgraded Watson Pharma (WPI) to buy from hold based on valuation.
• Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH) was upgraded to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Allstate (ALL) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Weingarten Realty (WRI) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: AAPL, ALL, AOL, AVP, AZPN, BMY, COO, F, K, MSFT, PENN, UAL ...

Analyst Calls: AAPL, ALL, AOL, AVP, AZPN, BMY, COO, F, K, MSFT, PENN, UAL ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Skousen Sees Turnaround for AOL

Skousen Sees Turnaround for AOL originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading AOL's Breakout Sparks Heavy Call Buying

AOL's Breakout Sparks Heavy Call Buying originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Off-Platform Key to Social Media Survival and Success

Off-Platform Key to Social Media Survival and Success originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 08 Apr 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded MSCI Inc. (MXB) to outperform from market perform on valuation following Monday's sell-off as it views the acquisition of RiskMetrics (RISK) favorably. The firm has a $36 price target on shares. UBS also upgraded MSCI, to buy from neutral, and raised its target to $40 from $34, citing the recent pullback in shares and the accretive acquisition of RiskMetrics.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Suncor (SU) to hold from sell on valuation and raised its price target on shares to $28 from $20. The firm continues to prefer Canadian Natural (CNQ) to Suncor, however, and raised its target on shares to $80 from $78.
• JMP Securities upgraded Grubb & Ellis (GBE) to outperform from market perform based on the improved operating environment and balance sheet, and valuation, among other reasons.
• Dell (DELL) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
• FEMSA (FMX) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at HSBC.
• Westar Energy (WR) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: AGN, AOL, DELL, KMB, MXB, RISK, SNDA, T ...

Analyst Calls: AGN, AOL, DELL, KMB, MXB, RISK, SNDA, T ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.