Analyst Upgrades

• Goldman upgraded BP (BP) to buy from neutral.
• STEC (STEC) was upgraded to buy from hold at Needham.
• MCG Capital (MCGC) was upgraded to buy from hold at BB&T.
• Corporate Office (OFC) was upgraded to market perform from underperform at FBR Capital.
• Citigroup upgraded K-Sea Transportation (KSP) and Post Properties (PPS) to hold from sell.
• BofA/Merrill upgraded Embraer (ERJ) to buy from underperform.
• Wilmington Trust (WL) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at Macquarie.
• Parkway Properties (PKY) was upgraded to hold from sell at Stifel Nicolaus.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: BP, EOG, FDO, MOT, MRO, NEM, NOK, ODP, RIMM, TGB ...

Analyst Calls: BP, EOG, FDO, MOT, MRO, NEM, NOK, ODP, RIMM, TGB ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 03 Nov 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading OfficeMax Not Dead Yet

OfficeMax Not Dead Yet originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Anadarko Petroleum (APC) to overweight from neutral on valuation as it views the recent pullback in shares as excessive. Despite upgrading, the firm lowered its target for shares to $82 from $90.
• Oppenheimer upgraded Office Depot (ODP) to perform from underperform and upped its target for shares to $7 from $3 after raising its estimates for companies in the Office Products Retail space. The firm expects trends to accelerate for the sector due to moderating unemployment pressures. In conjunction with the upgrade, Opco raised its target for OfficeMax (OMX) to $26 from $21 and target for Staples (SPLS) to $30 from $28. Both stocks remain outperform rated.
• C.K. Cooper upgraded iRobot (IRBT) to buy from hold with a $30 price target following the company's analyst day.
• Seadrill (SDRL) was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Vodafone (VOD) was upgraded to neutral from reduce at Nomura.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: APC, ODP, IRBT, NFLX, POM, MMSI, NTAP, LULU, LNCE ...

Analyst Calls: APC, ODP, IRBT, NFLX, POM, MMSI, NTAP, LULU, LNCE ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 14 May 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Office Depot, Inc. (ODP), whose colleagues include OfficeMax Incorporated (OMX) and Staples, Inc. (SPLS), was off by 1.4% at the time of this writing in afternoon trading. That put the share price below the $7 level. The stock is also well below the 52-week high of $9.19. What do the technical and fundamental factors tell us about the potential of this investment idea?

They're not telling us comforting things, in my opinion. The one-year chart doesn't look too bad. Like many other one-year charts, it shows a company that wants to head higher, albeit in a choppy way.

Continue reading Should Investors Avoid Office Depot for Now?

Should Investors Avoid Office Depot for Now? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• ThinkEquity upgraded Intel (INTC) to buy from hold and has a $25 target on the stock. The firm believes guidance will prove conservative and strong execution, new product cycle, Win7 cycle and corporate PC-Server refresh will drive shares higher.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Holly Energy (HEP) to outperform from market perform after increasing its valuation ranges for small cap pipeline MLPs. The firm raised its valuation range for Holly to $43 to $45.
• SunTrust upgraded Watsco (WSO) to buy from neutral as it believes the carrier joint venture will serve as a long-term catalyst. The firm has a $67 price target on the stock. William Blair upgraded Watsco to outperform from market perform ahead of the company's Q4 results to reflect valuation and improving economic conditions.
• Staples (SPLS) and Office Max (OMX) were upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Kellogg (K) was raised to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Advanced Micro (AMD) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.

Continue reading Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades and Initiations: AMD, HEP, INTC, IRE, K, SPLS, TOL, WSO ...

Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades and Initiations: AMD, HEP, INTC, IRE, K, SPLS, TOL, WSO ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

According to the press release, total sales decreased 6%. Earnings per diluted share declined as well, dropping 7% on an adjusted basis to 39 cents. That was good enough, though, to beat expectations by a penny, as indicated by our preview piece.

Continue reading Staples heads higher on third-quarter release

Staples heads higher on third-quarter release originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Staples Inc. (SPLS), whose website had trouble keeping up with the crush of Black Friday traffic, is scheduled to discuss its third quarter 2009 financial results in a conference call Tuesday, December 1, at 8:00 AM ET. You can catch the live webcast of the call on the company's website.

During the three months that ended in October, Staples executives sold shares and the company was named one of the world's 100 hardest working brands. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the world's biggest office supply superstore operator to report that earnings for that period fell 9.5% from a year ago to $0.38 per share. Revenue for the quarter is expected to be 7.3% lower to $6.5 billion.

Continue reading Staples earnings preview: Shrinking profit seen as stock hits 52-week high

Staples earnings preview: Shrinking profit seen as stock hits 52-week high originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst upgrades:

• Kaufman Bros. upgraded Computer Sciences (NYSE: CSC) and Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) to Buy from Hold on better demand trends as it believes overall enterprise IT spending is turning more positive. The firm raised its target on Computer Sciences to $62 from $54 and on Cognizant to $45 from $42.
• Citigroup upgraded E-Trade (NASDAQ: ETFC) to Buy from Hold as it believes loan less trends have improved and the company could potentially be acquired. Citi raised its target on shares to $2.30 from $1.50.
• Auriga upgraded Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) to Buy from Hold as it believes consensus expectations for 2010 are too low, but admits the company's Q1 results could be fairly weak. Auriga believes Microsoft is coming up to its "most powerful product cycle in many years" and raised its price target on shares to $30 from $24.
• Motorola (NYSE: MOT) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
• Fidelity Southern (NASDAQ: LION) was upgraded to Neutral from Reduce at SunTrust.
• Sonoco Products (NYSE: SON) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: AA, ETFC, FIATY, MOT, MSFT, POT ...

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: AA, ETFC, FIATY, MOT, MSFT, POT ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Albert Gonzalez is calling it quits. Accused of masterminding the largest identity theft in the United States ever, he has agreed to plead guilty in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts. Separate charges filed in New Jersey, however, remain.

The 28 year-old faces 15 to 25 years in prison and will forfeit $1.65 million and a Miami condo (in addition to $1.1 million already seized). If the judge accepts the terms, this would be the longest sentence ever recorded for a hacking case.

Continue reading Hacker pleads guilty in Mass., charges pending in N.J.

Hacker pleads guilty in Mass., charges pending in N.J. originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 30 Aug 2009 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS), a seller of office supplies and a competitor of chains such as Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), OfficeMax (NYSE: OMX), and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), reported Q2 earnings on Tuesday. Although they weren't that great, I can't say I felt they were a total disaster, either. I think the quarter was lackluster and indicative of the immense work ahead for management in terms of getting people into their stores and increasing sales per transaction.

According to the press release, total sales increased 9% and adjusted earnings per share declined 24% to 16 cents. That's a steep drop, but they did match analyst expectations. Staples used the increase it saw in free cash flow in a smart way: debt reduction. I approve of that move, to be sure.

Continue reading Staples' earnings drop, but meet expectations

Staples' earnings drop, but meet expectations originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 26 Aug 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As the current advertising campaign from Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) makes clear, the nation's largest office supply store operator is hoping for what so many retailers (aside perhaps from those participating in the cash for clunkers program) are hoping for: a boost from back-to-school sales. Unfortunately, any such sales won't affect the second quarter results that Staples is scheduled to report tomorrow morning before the market opens. Those results will include July, though, when retail sales were disappointing all around.

Staples is scheduled to discuss its second quarter 2009 results tomorrow morning in a conference call at 8:00 AM ET. You can catch the live webcast of the call on the company's website.

Continue reading Lower Q2 earnings expected from Staples

Lower Q2 earnings expected from Staples originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst upgrades:

• Morgan Keegan upgraded Motorola (NYSE: MOT) to Outperform from Market Perform due to the increased visibility of Android-based launches, as well as the stock's valuation.
• OfficeMax (NYSE: OMX) was upgraded to Buy from Hold by Citigroup, which cited the company's stabilizing sales trend, accelerating share gains, and valuation.
• Kaufman Bros. upgraded iRobot (NASDAQ: IRBT) to Buy from Hold on valuation.
• Cancaccord upgraded Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) to Buy from Hold citing the turnaround in the aluminum business and its exposure to copper.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Smith & Nephew (NYSE: SNN) to Market Perform from Underperform.
• BT Group (NYSE: BT) was upgraded to Neutral from Reduce by Nomura.
• Societe Generale raised L'Oreal (OTC: LRLCY) to Buy from Sell.
• Franklin Resources (NYSE: BEN) was upgraded to Buy from Hold by Sandler O'Neill.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: DIS, CSCO, K, MOT, OMX, RTP ...

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: DIS, CSCO, K, MOT, OMX, RTP ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

With the recession still in full swing these days, retailers continue to try and entice consumers into stores with discounts, special programs and new and improved gimmicks to ensure sales don't decline to drastically. So, in that sense, does it sound logical that some retailers are actually opening new stores? In some ways this may actually make sense, as long as you still to small, efficient and highly profitable.

OfficeMax, Inc. (NYSE: OMX), Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) and others are opening concept stores with a very limited selection of items in some markets and areas where full-size stores would be a huge risk. Best Buy has it Best Buy Mobile concept stores filled with high-margin wireless accessories and commissioned wireless handset and contract sales, and OfficeMax is launching stores with a selection of extremely popular items in stores as small as 2,000 square feet.

Continue reading More retailers creating smaller concept stores to sidestep the recession

More retailers creating smaller concept stores to sidestep the recession originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 25 May 2009 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS), whose colleagues include Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) and OfficeMax (NYSE: OMX), is set to report earnings for the fourth quarter on Wednesday, March 11. The famous seller of office supplies has seen its stock go from a 52-week high of $26.57 all the way down to a 52-week low of $13.57.

Actually, that's one of the better ranges I've seen! Goes to show how bad things are out there. Staples saw its shares close at $14.63 on Monday, so a beat on the bottom line could really help things out.

Will management be able to beat? I don't have much confidence that it will, but that doesn't necessarily have to do with Staples per se, it's just that the economy's got me down on so many of these earnings prospects. Analysts are hoping for Staples to do about 42 cents per share in Q4, which would represent a 10% drop in the bottom line.

Continue reading Earnings preview: Will Staples have a good day at the office this week?

Earnings preview: Will Staples have a good day at the office this week? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Among all the negative economic data that came out last week was a positive surprise: retail sales were higher in January. A fluke or a glimmer at the end of the tunnel? That may depend on whether we see any positive surprises arising from items on this week's economic calendar:

• Consumer Analyst Group of New York Conference: Monday through Friday
• NY Empire Manufacturing Index (Feb. 2009): Tuesday, 8:30 AM
• NAHB Housing Market Index (Feb. 2009): Tuesday, 1:00 PM
• Fed's Bullard speaks before National Association of Business Economists: Tuesday, 1:00 PM
• Housing starts (Jan. 2009): Wednesday, 8:30 AM
• Fed's Pianalto speaks before Commercial Developers Power Breakfast: Wednesday, 9:00 AM
• Industrial production (Jan. 2009): Wednesday, 9:15 AM
• Fed's Bernanke speaks before National Press Club Luncheon: Wednesday, 12:30 PM

Continue reading The week in preview: A glimmer at the end of the tunnel?

The week in preview: A glimmer at the end of the tunnel? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 15 Feb 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

From TheStreet.com Network

• Coming Week: More Data, More Trouble
• Auto-Parts Makers Fear Bankruptcy

Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Too much debt makes stocks dangerous

Cramer on BloggingStocks: Too much debt makes stocks dangerous originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 26 Jan 2009 11:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst upgrades:

• Philip Morris (NYSE: PM) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Friedman Billings upgraded shares of Principal Financial (NYSE: PFG) to Market Perform from Underperform as they believe the company's capital buffer could keep outrunning credit losses.
  
• Friedman Billings also upgraded Office Max (NYSE: OMX) to Outperform from Market Perform. The firm believes the risk of recourse to Office Max from the Timber Notes formerly backed by Lehman is low and that any litigation by noteholders will have a low level of success.
  
• Citigroup upgraded CF Industries (NYSE: CF) to Buy from Hold on valuation following the recent weakness but lowered their target to $113 from $128.
• Analog Devices (NYSE: ADI) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.
  
• Granite Construction (NYSE: GVA) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman.
  

Continue reading Analyst calls: PM, PFG, OMX, STD, RBS, DEO, DAL, KR, LIZ, JNY, RL ...

Analyst calls: PM, PFG, OMX, STD, RBS, DEO, DAL, KR, LIZ, JNY, RL ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Poor Office Depot (NYSE: ODP). Have you checked the price of the retailer's stock lately? It closed on Wednesday with a value of $2.10. It actually rose over 11% that day upon news of its third-quarter earnings. I can assure you that I wasn't buying the stock.

The numbers didn't tell the story of a company that would make a worthy addition to a stock portfolio hell bent on hanging tough during a market meltdown. Instead, the 7% revenue decrease and the loss per share, on an adjusted basis, of $0.01 relate a tale of a business that one should ignore. At least that's the way I see things. Comps in the North American retail division were horrible. The return on invested capital as calculated by management took a significant drop. Let's face it, Office Depot just isn't cutting it. Granted, the economy is wreaking havoc on the business, but come to think of it, I don't really have a good picture of what the brand is supposed to be about. Well, I know it's about office supplies, but why should I shop there as opposed to Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS) or OfficeMax (NYSE: OMX)? Good question, huh? Looks like the retailer needs to get the message out as to why the shopping experience at its locations is of a higher value compared to the office stores mentioned. For that matter, I'm sure a lot of people use Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) to pick up office supplies too. My point is that management needs to step up its game and create some better marketing programs for its stores. Be creative like Staples. That "easy button" device is turning into a cool cultural icon (well, I might be exaggerating, but I think it's creative, at any rate).

Earlier, I said "at least that's the way I see things" in terms of my opinion about the sad state of Office Depot, but I suppose I should point out that there are obviously a lot of investors out there who don't see a lot to love when it comes to this chain. The stock is down over 63% on the one-month period at the time of this writing. I see no reason to speculate on this business. The economy isn't getting better, and Office Depot just doesn't seem to be in a strong position. What will it take to turn things around? Like I say, in addition to hoping for an improved macro climate, come up with a better advertising campaign, build a more intense connection with the consumer. Office supplies are commodities, but shopping experience is not. That's the opportunity. Differentiating a brand from the competition based on things like customer service and an easy time of it at the checkout register is a traditional strategy in the retail industry. If Office Depot can offer something in that area, it should let me know about it. Since just about every retailer is struggling to keep the traffic coming into their chains, now is the time to exploit the other guy's weakened state and grab every customer possible.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.

Office Depot has a rough Q3, needs better marketing ideas originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• JP Morgan upgraded Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) to Overweight from Neutral based on leverage to export coal and the tighter truckload market.
  
• Credit Suisse upgraded OfficeMax (NYSE:OMX) to Outperform from Neutral citing the company's clean balance sheet, positive cash flow, and limited downside.
  
• UBS upgraded PetroQuest Energy (NYSE:PQ) to Buy from Neutral citing valuation and production catalysts. The company's target was raised to $30 from $25.

• Piper Jaffray (NYSE:PJC) was upgraded to Market Weight from Underweight at Thomas Weisel.
  
• Corning(NYSE:GLW) was upgraded at Merrill to Buy from Neutral.
  
• HSBC lifted BP Plc (NYSE:BP) to Overweight from Neutral.
  
• Calgon Carbon (NYSE:CCC) was raised to Hold from Sell at Morgan Joseph.

Analyst upgrades: NSC, OMX and PQ originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Nova Chemical, Tomkins Plc and Office Max were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Citigroup downgraded shares of Nova Chemical (NYSE: NCX) to Sell from Hold as they believe the ethylene cycle is trending downward due to economic uncertainty. Citigroup lowered their target to $21 and $25 and added the stock to the Top Picks Live List as a Sell.
  
• Goldman cut Tomkins Plc (NYSE: TKS) to Sell from Neutral as they believe the slowing economy could impact sales.
  
• Piper downgraded shares of OfficeMax (NYSE: OMX) to Neutral from Buy following the negative pre-announcement by competitor Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) on concerns of deteriorating industry fundamentals. Piper lowered their target on OfficeMax to $11 from $22.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• National City (NYSE: NCC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill.
  
• Danaher (NYSE: DHR) was removed from Goldman's Conviction Buy List.
  
• Liberty Interactive (NASDAQ: LINTA) was lowered to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Analyst downgrades: Nova Chemical, Tomkins Plc, OfficeMax originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.