MAJOR PAPERS:

• Alain Dassas has been named CFO of Nissan Motor Company (NASDAQ: NSANY), filing a position that has remained open for four years, reported the Wall Street Journal. Dassas runs the Formula One race car team at Renault, which has a 44% stake in Nissan.

• Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C), Lehman Brothers Holdings (NYSE: LEH) and JP Morgan Chase and Company (NYSE: JPM), The banks involved in the underwriting of the TXU Corporation (NYSE: TXU) buyout by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and TPG, have offered to pay the $1B breakup free to convince the private equity buyers to back out, according to the U.K. Times.
• GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) is currently looking for someone to succeed CEO Jean-Pierre Garnier, who will retire next May, and investors are thought to want a CEO that will 'radically overhaul' the company and possible break it up, reported the Guardian.
• The Seattle Times reported that Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) is expected to announce that the first flight of its 787 Dreamliner jet will be delayed at least until late October, according to an inside source.

• Herb Greenberg noted in his MarketWatch blog yesterday that International Rectifier Corporation (NYSE: IRF) disclosed on Friday after the market close how it was committing fraud by having a subsidiary hide products already booked as revenue in "off-books warehouses."

Newspaper wrap-up: Boeing expected to announce more Dreamliner delays originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 04 Sep 2007 09:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The always-insightful Herb Greenberg raises an interesting point in his latest Weekend Investor column for the Wall Street Journal: "Face it: Nobody cares much about accounting scandals anymore."

He uses the situation at International Rectifier (NYSE: IRF) as an example. After the company reported that it had fired its chief financial officer, the stock went up. The shares are currently trading at about the same price they were at before the company reported "accounting irregularities" on April 9.

Investors may have be correctly predicting that the accounting issues aren't huge -- any restatement of earnings may not be material enough to effect the value of the company.

But that's not really the point. As Greenberg writes, "Still, the market's indifference to possible fraud, no matter the size, is astounding -- especially since, at times, aggressive behavior reflects a company's culture."

Now that is precisely the point. I'm with Jim Cramer on this one: When a company's CEO or CFO resigns unexpectedly, sell the stock. If a company announces "accounting irregularities" and the stock doesn't tank on the news, take it as an opportunity to get out: Shooting first and asking questions later would have saved investors a lot of pain at companies like Enron, WorldCom, and, for you history buffs out there, Zzzz Best and Crazy Eddie.

The market appears to have developed an indifference to early warning signs of fraud, and that inefficiency could provide savvy investors with a chance to hop off the bus before it heads into a ditch.

Has Wall Street forgotten the lessons of Enron? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 08 Jul 2007 11:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

DOW JONES & COMPANY (NYSE: DJ)

Continue reading This week's rumor round-up: Will News Corp pull its offer for Dow Jones?

This week's rumor round-up: Will News Corp pull its offer for Dow Jones? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Goldman Sachs downgraded shares of Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) to Neutral from Buy on integration issues, as the firm does not expect a sales recovery before Q3.

• JP Morgan cut both AstraZeneca plc (NYSE: AZN) and GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE: GSK) to Underweight from Neutral on valuation.

• RBC downgraded Motorola Inc (NYSE: MOT) to Sector Perform from Outperform; following Motorola's pre-announcement, the firm expects shares to trade sideways for the balance of the year.

• Bank Of America downgraded Aeropostale, Inc (NYSE: ARO) to Neutral from Buy with a $42 target based on valuation.

• RF Micro Devices, Inc (NASDAQ: RFMD) was cut to Sector Perform from Outperform at CIBC citing the risk from Motorola; the firm believes RFMD's story outside of Motorola remains strong and consistent but sees downside to FY08 targets given MOT's contribution to RFMD's top line.

• Raymond James downgraded Yamana Gold Inc (NYSE: AUY) to Outperform from Strong Buy. UBS also downgraded Yamana to Reduce from Neutral.

• Citigroup cut Allegheny Energy, Inc (NYSE: AYE) to Hold from Buy with a $53 target.

• Lehman downgraded International Rectifier Corp (NYSE: IRF) to Equal Weight from Overweight and a $40 target.

• Raytheon Co (NYSE: RTN) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman based on valuation.

Analyst downgrades 3-22-07: Aeropostale, Motorola & Alcatel-Lucent downgraded today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 22 Mar 2007 11:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

What sort of device is the world's single largest consumer of electricity? That's right! It's the electric motor. Who makes it their business to minimize energy waste from motors and all manner of other electrical equipment? Well, one of the big names is in El Segundo, California.

International Rectifier (NYSE:IRF) is a leader in power management technology. Its analog, digital and mixed signal integrated circuits, integrated power systems, and components enable electrical devices to operate more efficiently. The firm's products are used in computers, appliances, lighting systems, automobiles, satellites, aircraft and defense systems. Major customers include Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO), IBM (NYSE:IBM) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT).

The company surprised the Street last week, when it reported fiscal Q2 EPS of 58 cents and revenues of $354.7 million. Analysts had been looking for 54 cents and $350.7 million. Management also guided Q3 revenues to $347.6 million ($330M consensus). The CEO attributed success to strong customer demand for flat panel TVs and energy-efficient appliances. He also said he was encouraged by the first wave of new business related to the introduction of Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Vista. The news boosted the shares past 50-day, 90-day and 200-day moving average resistance into a bullish "flag" consolidation pattern. Stocks 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 issue with five "strong buys", five "buys" and eight "holds". Analysts see a fifteen percent average annual growth rate, through the next five years. The IRF P/E ratio (22.32), Price to Sales ratio (2.40), Price to Book ratio (1.73), Price to Cash Flow ratio (14.67) and EPS Growth rate (56.76%) compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages.

The stock is one of those used to calculate the S&P 400 MidCap Index. Institutional investors hold about 89 percent of the outstanding shares. Over the past fifty-two weeks, IRF has traded between $31.82 and $48.58. A stop-loss of $36.50 looks good here.

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

International Rectifier knows how to manage power originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 01 Feb 2007 12:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Prudential initiated the Gaming sector with a Favorable rating,
  
• They initiated Boyd Gaming Corp (NYSE: BYD), Town Sports International Holdings (NASDAQ: CLUB), Penn National Gaming (NASDAQ: PENN), Shuffle Master Inc (NASDAQ: SHFL), Steiner Leisure Ltd (NASDAQ: STNR) and Great Wolf Resorts Inc (NASDAQ: WOLF) with Outperform ratings.
  
• Ameristar Casinos Inc (NASDAQ: ASCA), MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) and WMS Industries Inc (NYSE: WMS) were initiated with Neutral ratings.
• Underweight ratings were given to International Game Tech (NYSE: IGT), Isle of Capri Casinos Inc (NASDAQ: ISLE), Life Time Fitness Inc (NYSE: LTM), Pinnacle Entertainment Inc (NYSE: PNK) and Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc (NASDAQ: TRMP).

• UBS initiated CBS Corp (NYSE: CBS) with a Buy rating and $38 target, citing valuation, dividends and buybacks.

• Nollenberger believes International Rectifier Corp (NYSE: IRF) is the way to play the trend for energy efficiency, initiating the company with a Buy rating and $60 target.

• Goldman Sachs resumed coverage of AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) with a Buy rating and Level 3 Communications inc (NASDAQ: LVLT) with a Neutral rating.

• Stanford started EDO Corp (NYSE: EDO) with a Hold rating and $25 target; the firm believes EDO can be a turnaround story in 2007, but they recommend investors to stay on the sidelines until after Q4 earnings given their concerns over the quarter and guidance.

Analyst initiations 1-26-07: Prudential is Favorable on gaming originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 26 Jan 2007 11:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Lowe's (LOW) and International Rectifier (IRF) topped today's modest-sized list of upgrades.

• Bank of America upgraded Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) to Buy from Neutral as they believe the stock's valuation may have bottomed.
• Caris upgraded shares of International Rectifier Corp. (NYSE:IRF) to Buy from Above Average to reflect their belief that consumers are going to spend heavily on electronics this holiday season.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Matrix USA upgraded LittelFuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) to Hold from Strong Sell as high demand from electronics customers is leading to strong sales growth.
• JP Morgan upgraded Altiris Inc (NASDAQ:ATRS) to Overweight from Underweight; The firm's outlook is positive on Altiris's new agreement with Dell (DELL), which could be a catalyst for shares.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

Analyst upgrades 11-27-06: Lowe's upgraded to Buy originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 27 Nov 2006 11:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.