We're well into the quarter now and the earnings reports continue to roll out.

This week, Dell (DELL) highlights a handful of results from tech companies. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for fourth-quarter earnings of 37 cents per share from the one of the world's top PC purveyors. That's up from 28 cents per share during the same period a year ago. Dell also is expected to report its revenue grew 5.5% year over year to $15.7 billion, for the three months that ended in January.

Continue reading Week in Preview: Mid-Quarter Earnings (DELL, SJM, MAR, JWN)

Week in Preview: Mid-Quarter Earnings (DELL, SJM, MAR, JWN) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 13 Feb 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Things look to be pretty quiet on the economic calendar this week. Here are the highlights:

• Tuesday: Weekly chain-store sales
• Wednesday: Federal budget balance for January
• Thursday: Wholesale trade data in December
• Friday: Trade balance in December and the weekly inflation survey

However, three iconic companies -- Walt Disney (DIS), Coca-Cola (KO) and Hasbro (HAS) -- highlight this week's quarterly results. Here's a look at what analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are anticipating from these and others.

Continue reading Week in Preview: Coca-Cola, Disney and Hasbro Earnings

Week in Preview: Coca-Cola, Disney and Hasbro Earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 06 Feb 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Sprint (S) was upgraded to neutral from underweight at Piper Jaffray.
• Cree (CREE) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Morgan Keegan.
• Brocade (BRCD) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at JMP Securities.
• JPMorgan upgraded WuXi PharmaTech (WX) to overweight from neutral.
• Barclays upgraded ITC Holdings (ITC) to overweight from equal weight.
• Centene (CNC) was upgraded to outperform from underperform at Oppenheimer.
• Senior Housing (SNH) was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• UBS upgraded Hovnanian (HOV) to neutral from sell.
• GeoResources (GEOI) was upgraded to accumulate from neutral at Madison Williams.
• Compellent (CML) was upgraded to hold from sell at Canaccord.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: BRCD, CCE, DPS, HOV, JOYG, KMB, KO, PEP, S, ...

Analyst Calls: BRCD, CCE, DPS, HOV, JOYG, KMB, KO, PEP, S, ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 16 Nov 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Piper Jaffray upgraded Salesforce.com (CRM) to overweight from neutral, citing valuation following the recent sell-off and strong business trends. The firm has a $115 price target for shares.
• Keefe Bruyette upgraded M&T Bank (MTB) to market perform from underperform on valuation after AIB sold its stake in the company. The firm has a $72 price target for shares.
• Jefferies upgraded OGE Energy (OGE) to buy from hold following the announcement that ArcLight will purchase 9.9% of OGE's interest in Enogex for $183M and believes this deal highlights the hidden value associated with Enogex. The firm raised its price target to $51.50 from $43.
• Thomas & Betts (TNB) was upgraded to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.
• Bayer (BAYRY) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Texas Roadhouse (TXRH) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Baird.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: A, ARST, BAC, C, COST, CRM, DPS, GS, JPM, MS, MTB, VOD ...

Analyst Calls: A, ARST, BAC, C, COST, CRM, DPS, GS, JPM, MS, MTB, VOD ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 07 Oct 2010 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Deutsche Bank upgraded Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS) to buy from hold based on valuation. The firm keeps a $39 target on the stock.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded Kenexa (KNXA) to overweight from neutral, citing a strengthening of trends for the company. The firm has a $29 price target on the stock.
• Janney Montgomery upgraded Gaylord Entertainment (GET) to buy from neutral on expectations the company will benefit from strong trends in 2011. The firm raised its target for shares to $35 from $32.50.
• MeadWestvaco (MWV) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• EADS (EADSY) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: BAC, CPB, CSX, DPS, GET, KMB, KNXA, MGA, MKGAY, UA ...

Analyst Calls: BAC, CPB, CSX, DPS, GET, KMB, KNXA, MGA, MKGAY, UA ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 24 Sep 2010 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Stocks with Ties to Independence Day - Part 3: Dieter's Lament

Stocks with Ties to Independence Day - Part 3: Dieter's Lament originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Monday morning, Coca-Cola (KO) announced that it will distribute some drinks that are made by Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS). Coca-Cola will now distribute Dr Pepper and Canada Dry ginger ale in the United States and will distribute some drinks in Canada.

These beverages were distributed by Coca-Cola Enterprises, but that company is being acquired by Coca-Cola. The new agreement replaces Coca-Cola Enterprise's original deal with Dr Pepper.

Continue reading Coca-Cola to Distribute Dr Pepper

Coca-Cola to Distribute Dr Pepper originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 Jun 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Bernstein upgraded Boeing (BA) to outperform from market perform, citing valuation. The firm also raised its price target to $81 from $80.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Thomas & Betts (TNB) to outperform from market perform, citing valuation and an expected recovery in North American nonresidential construction.
• RBC Capital upgraded Susquehanna (SUSQ) to outperform from sector perform and has a $14 target on the stock. The firm thinks the stock's valuation is attractive as its decline in response to the European debt crisis and financial regulatory reform has been overdone.
• Priceline.com (PCLN) was upgraded to buy from hold at KeyBanc.
• Genzyme (GENZ) was upgraded to neutral from underweight at JPMorgan.
• RightNow (RNOW) was upgraded to overweight from market weight at Thomas Weisel.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: A, BA, DPS, DVOX, GENZ, GLW, GR, HAL, PCLN, SUSQ, TCRD, TNB ...

Analyst Calls: A, BA, DPS, DVOX, GENZ, GLW, GR, HAL, PCLN, SUSQ, TCRD, TNB ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It has been a brutal May for most investors. The Dow is down about 10% so far as of the opening bell today, the S&P 500 is down 11% and the Nasdaq off 12%.

So where do we go now? The recent sell off has touched all corners of the market, with even the safe haven of gold taking a tumble. My recommendation to you: Hide out in great blue chip stocks with upside potential for shares and a healthy dividend to help you ride things out when the market gets rocky. My top stock along these lines for June is Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS).

Continue reading Best Low-Risk Play for June: Buy Dr Pepper Snapple

Best Low-Risk Play for June: Buy Dr Pepper Snapple originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 25 May 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Five Stocks Seeing Insider Buying

Five Stocks Seeing Insider Buying originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• UBS upgraded Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS) to buy from neutral, citing strong fundamentals and buybacks. The firm raised its target to $42 from $31.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded ProAssurance (PRA) to overweight from neutral. The firm has a $76 price target on shares.
• Hershey (HSY) and Sunoco (SUN) were upgraded to sell from conviction sell at Goldman.
• Level 3 Comm (LVLT) was upgraded to neutral from underweight at JPMorgan.
• Cathay Pacific (CPCAY) was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: BBBY, DPS, HSY, MT, PSYS, SUN, TMK, YHOO ...

Analyst Calls: BBBY, DPS, HSY, MT, PSYS, SUN, TMK, YHOO ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Lamar Advertising (LAMR) to overweight from neutral following the company's Q4 results. The firm has a $36 price target on shares.
• Canaccord upgraded St. Mary Land & Exploration (SM) to buy from speculative buy based on the company's business model transformation. The firm has a $45 target on shares.
• Jefferies upgraded Rosetta Stone (RST) to buy from hold following the Q4 report and guidance. The firm has a $29 target on shares.
• GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and AstraZeneca (AZN) were upgraded to neutral from sell at Goldman.
• China Unicom (CHU) was upgraded to buy from sell at Deutsche Bank.
• Repsol (REP) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: AZN, FLR, ICE, KFT, LAMR, PALM, RST, SJM ...

Analyst Calls: AZN, FLR, ICE, KFT, LAMR, PALM, RST, SJM ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Dr Pepper-Snapple (DPS) will put its flagship soda brand before Super Bowl audiences for the first time this year with its Dr Pepper Cherry commercial. Spokesman Gene Simmons will offer up his tagline, "Trust me, I'm a doctor," with the rest of his KISS bandmates in the company's spot.

Dr Pepper has made a habit out of beating Wall Street expectations, with an average earnings surprise of 17% across the past four quarters.

Continue reading Super Bowl Stock #3: Dr Pepper-Snapple (DPS)

Super Bowl Stock #3: Dr Pepper-Snapple (DPS) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There have been no problems selling big-ticket ads for this weekend's broadcast of Super Bowl XLIV. And with good reason -- this has been one of the best years for football on television, with viewership up across the board. The recent NFC and AFC championship games were the NFL's largest combined audience for the two championship games since January 1982.

With all those eyeballs, the real winners could turn out to be the companies with the most aggressive (and the most memorable) advertising spots.

Continue reading Five First-String Super Bowl Stocks

Five First-String Super Bowl Stocks originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Who's ready for some football? The Super Bowl is this weekend, and you know what that means -- commercials that we will all be talking about on Monday morning. In fact, we all know someone who says they watch the game for the commercials.

CBS announced earlier this week that it sold out all the in-game spots, but a few pre- and post-game spots remained. How much money did this make for CBS (CBS)? Roughly $200 million, and that is a low-end estimate. We all know why advertisers flock to the Super Bowl, as more than 98.7 million viewers tuned in last year. No matter who is in the Super Bowl, people watch the game and the commercials -- and eventually they may buy the products from the ads.

Continue reading JockStocks: Super Bowl Commercials, a Preview

JockStocks: Super Bowl Commercials, a Preview originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Jefferies upgraded Netflix (NFLX) to buy from hold and has a $65 target, citing stronger than expected momentum following the Q4 report and guidance. Merriman upgraded Netflix to buy from neutral following the company's better-than-expected Q4 results as it sees upside in shares to the $66 to $75 range. Shares were also upgraded to buy from underperform at BofA/Merrill.
• Citigroup upgraded Rockwell Automation (ROK) to hold from sell following the company's better-than-expected Q1 results and raised FY10 guidance. Citi raised its target on shares to $52 from $35.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Textainer (TGH) to buy from hold to reflect improved container fundamentals and potential fleet growth. The firm keeps a $19 price target on shares.
• STMicroelectronics (STM) was upgraded to neutral from underweight at Piper Jaffray.
• Caterpillar (CAT) was upgraded to neutral from sell at UBS.
• Apache (APA) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.

Continue reading Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades and Initiations: APA, BKC, CAT, NFLX, KFT, QCOM, ROK ...

Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades and Initiations: APA, BKC, CAT, NFLX, KFT, QCOM, ROK ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Closing Bell: Yo-Yo trading (TXN, DPS, DNDN, AFFX, MMM, S)

Closing Bell: Yo-Yo trading (TXN, DPS, DNDN, AFFX, MMM, S) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE: DPS) -- which includes A&W, Hawaiian Punch, Welch's, 7UP, Clamato, Margaritaville, and Yoo-Hoo among its diverse beverage offerings -- is scheduled to discuss its third-quarter 2009 financial results in a conference call Thursday at 11:00 AM ET, hosted by CEO Larry Young and CFO John Stewart. You can catch the live webcast of the call and accompanying slide presentation on the company's website.

During the three months that ended in September, Dr Pepper launched an energy drink and reaffirmed its full-year guidance. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect this Plano, Tex.-based bottler and distributor of nonalcoholic beverages to report that earnings for that period rose 8.2% from a year ago to $0.49 per share. However, revenue for the quarter is expected to be 4.2% lower to $1.4 billion.

Continue reading Dr Pepper earnings preview: Lower revenue, higher profit seen for Q3

Dr Pepper earnings preview: Lower revenue, higher profit seen for Q3 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Polaris Industries (NYSE: PII) to Buy from Hold after channel checks indicated the company's sales trends improved through September. The firm raised its target on shares to $49 from $33.
• Jefferies upgraded Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS) to Hold from Underperform after channel checks indicated IT spending will be strong in the second half of 2009, but the firm finds the stock fully valued at current levels. Jefferies raised its target on shares to $40 from $32.
• Pali Captital upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) to Buy from Neutral on valuation and expectations that lower pricing and international growth will be catalysts going forward. The firm set a $45 price target on shares.
• Plum Creek Timber (NYSE: PCL) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan.
• Advanced Micro (NYSE: AMD) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
• PPD Inc. (NASDAQ: PPDI) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: ANF, DPS, LMT, NOK, OXY, SHW ...

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: ANF, DPS, LMT, NOK, OXY, SHW ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) kicks off another earnings season this week, and analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for another net loss for the third quarter. Can we take that as a sign of things to come, or as a bellwether for the economy? Well, barring a big downside surprise, this will be the third narrower quarterly loss for Alcoa. But while Alcoa beat estimates in July, it missed them in April. Alcoa's shares, on the other hand, are up 145.6% since the March low, which is well more than twice as much either the Dow or the S&P 500.

During its third quarter, New York-based Alcoa continued restructuring efforts, remained a part of the DJIA Sustainability Index, and declared a quarterly dividend. It is expected to report a net loss of $0.12 per share for the three months that ended in September. That compares to a profit of $0.37 in the same period of last year. Third-quarter revenue is forecast to have fallen 38.3% to $4.5 billion. Analysts so far expect to see a profit in the fourth quarter, but not for the full year. Alcoa has missed earnings expectations in three of the past four quarters. The long-term EPS growth forecast is 20.0%, again much better than the S&P 500. The First Call consensus recommendation is to hold AA; CNBC concurs that now is not the time to buy. At $12.82, shares are 30.0% higher than three months ago, but 33.4% lower than a year ago.

Continue reading The week in preview: Another earnings season begins: Alcoa, PepsiCo, Monsanto ...

The week in preview: Another earnings season begins: Alcoa, PepsiCo, Monsanto ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 04 Oct 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.