Analyst Upgrades

• RBC Capital upgraded Syniverse (SVR) to outperform from sector perform based on strong secular growth in mobile data and roaming. The firm raised its price target to $28 from $23.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded PG&E (PCG) to buy from hold with a $49 price target due to valuation.
• Jefferies assumed coverage on Sierra Wireless (SWIR) with a buy from a hold and raised its price target to $12 from $9. The analyst expects the M2M market to experience 25% growth over the next two years.
• Affiliated Managers (AMG) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• EastGroup Properties (EGP) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Gammon Gold (GRS) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at Credit Suisse.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: AAPL, BLK, BTU, CL, MOT, MSFT, PCG, RIMM, SVR, SWIR ...

Analyst Calls: AAPL, BLK, BTU, CL, MOT, MSFT, PCG, RIMM, SVR, SWIR ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Citigroup's (C) spinoff of Primerica is set for this week. The company consists independent life insurance and sales reps. Primerica is going on the block so Citigroup can lower its debt and simplify its operations.

Previous sales by the bank include its commodities trading group, some credit card business and its Japanese brokerage. Primerica hopes to raise $234 million in the initial public offering, with 18 million shares being sent out to the world with a hopeful price of $12 to $14 each.

Continue reading Citi Spinoff Primerica IPO This Week

Citi Spinoff Primerica IPO This Week originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Primerica IPO: Citigroup unwinds its far-flung empire

Primerica IPO: Citigroup unwinds its far-flung empire originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst in Money 2008 feature.

There have been big hopes for all the nominees in this category at one time or another, but they've also suffered from questionable management moves of various sorts. So what's to root for in any of these companies?

Circuit City was founded in 1949; back then it was known as Wards Company. The big-box format and Circuit City name came as the result of a series of retail experiments, and became official in 1984. The company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the same year. In 1991, the company established a bank to operate its private-label credit card, and later offered a co-branded Visa. Big-box used car retailer CarMax (NYSE: KMX) was also owned by Circuit City at one point. In 2005, the company's board rejected a buyout offer; the company was worth a reported $1 billion then. The next year, Philip J. Schoonover became chairman, and ... well, the rest is history. Circuit City is now in Chapter 11.

Citigroup (NYSE: C) was formed in 1998 from one of the largest mergers in history: banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomerate Travelers Group. The company holds over 200 million customer accounts in more than 100 countries, and includes the investment services brands Smith Barney and Primerica. The company owns prominent, renowned buildings in Manhattan and Chicago, and also won naming rights to the new ball park of the New York Mets. But it was the subprime mortgage crisis that was Citigroup's undoing, resulting in the need for the recent federal bailout.

Continue reading Best & Worst in Money 2008: Struggling company we're rooting for most

Best & Worst in Money 2008: Struggling company we're rooting for most originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

An analyst who follows Citigroup (NYSE: C) believes that the financial services company will sell it Primerica division. The operation provides customer life insurance and investment products including mutual funds.

According to Reuters, Ladenburg Thalmann analyst Richard Bove said, "Primerica does not fit into Citigroup Chief Executive Vikram Pandit's goals of making the bank an international company across business lines." Bove thinks that Primerica could bring in over $7 billion.

Pushing Primerica out the door does not address Citi's core problems. Pandit has said he will cut costs across the company by 20%. If selling off revenue reduces those costs, it hardly helps the bank's margins. It's really not expense reduction at all.

At the center of Citi's troubles are its mortgage-related securities portfolios, LBO debt, credit card business, and slowing revenue into its investment banking operation. There has been no clear sign that Pandit plans to take tremendous costs out of these operations that are critical to the bank's recovery.

Fixing Citi does not involve selling a life insurance company.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Citigroup may dump an asset that is too small to matter originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 06 Sep 2008 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In today's investment world, the so-called celebrity investor is commonplace, such as Ken Heebner, Peter Lynch, Warren Buffett, and Jim Cramer.

However, one of the first celebrity investors was Gerald Tsai, who made a big impact on the go-go markets of the 1960s. Unfortunately, this week he Tsai died at the age of 79 (ironically, he was born in 1929, a critical year for the world's stock markets).

Keep in mind that when Tsai got his start -- as a money manager for Fidelity Investments -- Wall Street was a fairly conservative place. That is, money managers focused on well-known companies that usually paid reliable dividends.

The concept of growth investing was quite foreign and scary. But Tsai saw it as a big opportunity. After all, the U.S. was undergoing a major change with new technologies (such as computers). As a result, he innovated a new type of investment vehicle: the aggressive growth fund. Through this, he evolved some of the key concepts of momentum investing.

Tsai's fund zoomed 27X from 1957 to 1965. From there, he started his own fund, the Manhattan Fund, which he sold to CNA Financial in 1968. It was great timing as the bull market was ready to implode.

But that wasn't the end of Tsai. In fact, in the 1980s, he sensed opportunity and leveraged his assets to purchase American Can. Through savvy dealmaking, he turned the company into Primerica, which ultimately became part of Citigroup (NYSE: C).

Yes, Tsai had an amazing life. And, if you want to learn more about it, there's a good book on the topic: The Go-Go Years: The Drama and Crashing Finale of Wall Street's Bullish 60s.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

Legendary go-go investor, Gerald Tsai, dies originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Each year Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, surveys the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is part of his 24th annual Top Picks Report.

Citigroup (NYSE: C) is the favorite conservative idea for 2007 from Dr. Mark Skousen, editor of Forecasts & Strategies and the host of the annual FreedomFest investor think tank.

"Citigroup is the most dominant banking institution in the history of the world. As the world's largest bank, it has over 200 million customers, and branches in over 100 countries. During the 1980s and 1990s, Japanese banks dominated the world. But Citibank has returned to its glory.

"What about the Citigroup, the stock? In addition to Citibank, Citigroup owns Salomon Brothers, Smith Barney, Traveler's, Primerica, and other financial services.

"And business is good. Profit margins at Citigroup are an outstanding 29%, and the bank has had a policy of paying a rising dividend for years, with a current quarterly dividend of 49 cents, or a 3.5% yield, one of the highest among Dow stocks.

"The stock is up 12% for the year, but continues to languish behind other financial institutions, such as Goldman Sachs, which has doubled in the past year. According to the technicals, Citigroup is in a clear investment uptrend. And despite being downgraded by several Wall Street analysts lately, Citigroup appears poised to move higher."

To see Mark's speculative favorite for 2007, click here.

Top Picks 2007: Mark Skousen banks on Citi's return to glory originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 02 Jan 2007 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.