Verizon (NYSE: VZ) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo, which believes Verizon wireline margins troughed in Q3 and that Street estimates have been reset to more achievable levels.
Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at FBR Capital, which believes the company is gaining analog market share and shares are attractively valued at current levels. The firm maintains a $31 price target.
Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) was upgraded at Wells Fargo to Outperform from Market Perform. The firm believes this year's run-up in the stock was primarily due to the company's spin-off of MSG, but the firm believes the stock can rise further based on fundamentals.
Cabot Oil & Gas (NYSE: COG) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan following the company's Q3 results due to valuation and its above-average growth. The firm raised its target to $51.50 from $47.
RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) was upgraded to Hold from Underweight at KeyBanc, which said that its recovering sales trends were encouraging.
Travelzoo (NASDAQ: TZOO) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Wedbush as it believes the divestiture of its Asian business coupled with growth in its Fly.com unit will drive 2010 growth. The firm raised its target to $17 from $13.
It looks like Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC) is starting to get-it-in-gear. Hence, I'm reiterating my Buy rating for CVC, first recommended on May 29, 2009 at a price of $19.03. If you purchased CVC then, you're up about 30%.
Even ignoring the potential spin-off of sports arena Madison Square Garden, Cablevision's positives have always been compelling: fifth-largest cable t.v. operator (about 10.4 million revenue generating units), with a strong presence in a lucrative market (New York City area, 3.1 cable t.v. subscribers); included in that are about 2.8 million premium cable t.v. subscribers, called iO Digital; nearly 2.5 million high-speed internet subscribers; and 1.9 million internet voice (telephone) subscribers.
Cablevision (NYSE: CVC - option chain) shares are rising today after a feature in Barron's indicated that the company could be an attractive takeover target now that it has decided to spin off New York City sports arena Madison Square Garden and related assets. These assets include MSG Television Network, and the New York Rangers and Knickerbockers. Both teams play at the Garden, which is an arena located in midtown Manhattan. Barron's says that a spin-off of MSG would make Cablevision's balance sheet much more attractive. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on CVC.
CVC opened this morning at $24.74. So far today the stock has hit a low of $24.40 and a high of $25.00. As of 11:55, CVC is trading at $24.53 up 21 cents (0.9%). The chart for CVC looks neutral and S&P gives CVC a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.
Christine A. Varney heads up antitrust at the Department of Justice, and she's going hunting. She is the point person for a group consisting of the presidential administration and some Congressional Democrats that is looking to put the breaks on large companies in several industries.
Already, airlines have run into roadblocks when requesting relief from antitrust regulations. Varney & Co. are digging into complaints by AT&T (NYSE: ATT) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) that cable competitors – e.g., Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) – have locked them out of the market for cable company-produced programming.
(Imagine that, a phone company complaining! Usually, they're the objects of derision.)
Julia Boorstin covered an interesting topic over at CNBC.com the other day. The Supreme Court, by electing not to review a case involving Cablevision (NYSE: CVC), essentially said that cable companies such as Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) can pursue digital video recorder (DVR) storage on cable-system servers. By doing this, a perceived barrier to entry for subscribing to DVR has been eliminated: you don't have to deal with a clunky box. Cable should theoretically see an increase in customers who adopt DVR technology if remote storage is exploited.
Well, as Boorstin rightly points out, CBS (NYSE: CBS), Disney's (NYSE: DIS) ABC, General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC, and News Corp.'s (NASDAQ: NWS) Fox do need to worry. These DVR technologies basically translate to a drop in the economic value of advertising. Let's face it: who watches commercials when they don't have to?
In this market, it pays to hedge growth with safety, and if one can accomplish this in one play, so much the better. Cablevision Systems (NYSE: CVC) offers that opportunity.
Cablevision's compelling positives: fifth-largest cable television operator (about 10.4 million revenue generating units), with a strong presence in a lucrative market (New York City area, 3.1 million cable TV subscribers); included in that latter total are about 2.8 million premium cable TV subscribers, called iO Digital; nearly 2.5 million high-speed internet subscribers; and 1.9 million internet voice (telephone) customers.
DirecTV (NYSE: DTV) closed at $22.98. DTV is scheduled to report Q4 EPS on February 10. February option implied volatility is at 64; March is at 59; above its 26-week average of 53, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.
Echostar (NASDAQ: DISH) closed at $12.84. DISH is expected to report Q3 EPS in late February. March option implied volatility is at 83, June is at 74; above its 26-week average of 63, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.
This post is part of our Ads Gone Bad series. Share your thoughts and memories of this ad in the comments, and be sure to check out our other posts on marketing gone wrong.
Blending cultures is a particular challenge for advertisers. How do they appeal to one culture without offending others, who may misunderstand references and not recognize noted figures featured in ads? These are questions that Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) is probably asking.
To market its "Triple Play" offering (bundled cable, broadband, and telephone), the company hired globalWorks to create ads featuring the music and stars of reggaeton. Reggaeton, urban music that became popular with Latin American young people in the 1990s, is a fusion of Caribbean reggae and Latin forms such as salsa with rap and hip-hop.
Citigroup raised Ann Taylor (NYSE: ANN) to Hold from Sell. The firm upgraded shares following the company's Q2 upside and believes guidance for the second half of 2008 is appropriately conservative.
Jefferies upgraded China Sunergy (NASDAQ: CSUN) based on valuation,and improved liquidity and silicon supply outlook.
Stephens upgraded infoUSA (NASDAQ: IUSA) shares to Overweight from Equal Weight to reflect the stock's valuation, new management, improvements in expense controls and the potential to become a takeover target.
Citigroup raised BB&T (NYSE: BBT) to Buy from Hold.
Citigroup cut Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) to Sell from Buy, according to MarketWatch. The financial sites also reports that Jefferies upgraded China Sunergy (NASDAQ: CSUN) to Buy from Hold.
Citigroup upgrades Ann Taylor (NYSE: ANN) to Hold from Sell, according to Briefing.com. The news service also reports that Merrill Lynch upgraded Bemis (NYSE: BMS) to Neutral from Underperform.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
Harbinger Capital Management -- a hedge fund with the inane specialty of taking activist stakes in companies with entrenched managements and dual-class voting structures -- has raised its stake in Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) to 8.1%, according to a 13-D filed with the SEC.
When Harbinger first reported its 4.9% stake, I wrote that "the company's dual-class voting structure means that the Dolan family controls 75% of the voting rights, giving it full control over the board of directors and the company's future. Philip Falcone, the guy who runs Harbinger, can make all the noise and demands he wants, and he might even get a couple seats on a family-controlled board. But any ideas that Falcone has are the equivalent of going up to the CEO in a bar and telling him how he should run the business. Maybe he'll do what you suggest, and maybe he won't. He'll do whatever he wants, and Falcone's stake isn't going to accomplish anything."
Guess what? Owning 8.1% changes absolutely nothing. Collins Stewart analyst Thomas Eagan tells (subscription required) The Wall Street Journal that "They are sending a message that they want to play a role in the direction the company takes."
Great. But that doesn't mean the Dolans will listen. If they wanted to listen to shareholders, they wouldn't have the dual-class voting structure.
Cablevision (NYSE: CVC), one of my favorite corporate governance brothels, met with its disgruntled shareholders and reluctantly agreed to its idea of a shareholder-friendly initiative: a 10 cent per share quarterly dividend.
That works out to a yield of less than 1.3% based on the current share price and, needless to say, the disenfranchised shareholders aren't exactly thrilled. Mario Gabelli, whose fund is a major shareholder and a constant critic of the company's management and governance, told The Guardian that "To pay a 10-cent dividend which is $30 million is nice, but it's not what we wanted. . . They should have authorized a $1 billion buyback and they would use incremental cash flows to fund it. They clearly did not listen to shareholders."
Duh. But here's the thing, Mario: the whole point of having a dual-class voting structure where one family has complete control over the company is that you don't have to listen to shareholders. If the Dolans wanted to listen to shareholders, they wouldn't have adopted that structure in the first place and/or they'd get rid of it now!
I'm all for fruitless struggles based on principles, but it's pretty silly of Gabelli and other activists to be taking on a company where there's no mechanism for holding the board of directors accountable. Maybe they should head over to North Korea and complain indignantly that the regime is not doing a good job representing the interests of the people.
U.S. stock futures were mixed Friday morning after General Motors reported a massive loss and sales decline and ahead of what could yet another worriesome jobs report. Unemployment rate is expected to inch higher to 5.6%, while economists expect nonfarm payroll to show a decline 75,000 jobs during July. Other economic reports as well as July car sales could impact the market throughout the session. Seem, though, that after digesting GM's results, futures turned negative, indicating a lower start on Wall Street.
General Motors (NYSE: GM) will likely see some action as the automaker swung to a second-quarter loss of $15.5 billion, or $27.33 a share, as revenue dropped 18% to $38.2 billion. If you think this number missed analyst estimates because of massive charges, you're right, but earnings excluding special items also missed them -- by a mile. Excluding items GM would have lost $6.3 billion, or $11.21 a share. Ouch! Analysts polled by FactSet Research expected a loss of $2.85 a share on revenue of $42.6 billion. GM has been the subject of rumors it is heading straight into bankruptcy, from a quick glance at the results, these will likely not alleviate any such fears. Even as Wagoner cuts costs by $9 billion this year by another 20% trim of payroll and stopping dividend payment, as he plans to boost cash by $17 billion, at this point, I wonder what GM can do to save itself, if it can do anything at all. GM shares are down 7% in premarket trading.
GM will not be alone in the spotlight as Ford (NYSE: F) and other automakers report their U.S. sales for July. Auto sales tracker Edmunds.com is forecasting a 3.3% drop in auto sales compared to a year ago. This comes a day after Standard & Poor's Ratings Services cut its ratings for all three of the U.S.-based automakers further into junk status. S&P expects further sales decline for the rest of the year, with car companies mounting cash losses.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Super Micro Computer, Corning and Vertex Pharmaceuticals were today's noteworthy initiations:
Merriman believes Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ: SMCI) is a unique value in the Data Center sector and thinks it could trade to a range of $10-$12 in the near-term. Shares were initiated with a Buy rating.
Citigroup started Corning (NYSE: GLW) with a Hold rating and $23.50 target. The firm sees limited upside given the risks to LCD glass demand.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX) was assumed with an Overweight rating and $57 target at Thomas Weisel, as they are positive on its telaprevir opportunity.
OTHER INITIATIONS:
Lehman reinitiated Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) with an Equal Weight rating.
Silicon Motion (NASDAQ: SIMO) was initiated at Cowen with an Outperform rating.
Brinks (NYSE: BCO) was initiated with a Positive rating at Susquehanna.
Analyst upgrades: 
It looks like 
Julia Boorstin covered an interesting topic over at 
In this market, it pays to hedge growth with safety, and if one can accomplish this in one play, so much the better. 
DirecTV
This post is part of our 
Harbinger Capital Management -- a hedge fund with the inane specialty of taking activist stakes in companies with entrenched managements and dual-class voting structures -- has raised its stake in 
U.S. stock futures were mixed Friday morning after General Motors reported a massive loss and sales decline and ahead of what could yet another worriesome jobs report. Unemployment rate is expected to inch higher to 5.6%, while economists expect nonfarm payroll to show a decline 75,000 jobs during July. Other economic reports as well as July car sales could impact the market throughout the session. Seem, though, that after digesting GM's results, futures turned negative, indicating a lower start on Wall Street.
Cablevision.gif){kind=logo}
Ray of light: U.S. temp worker hiring increased by 34k in October
Closing Bell: Bulls gutting bears (ATVI, EWBC, GE, JASO, ENZN, MCD)
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein pulls a Jeff Skilling in an interview
