Analyst Upgrades

• Akamai (AKAM) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Las Vegas Sands (LVS) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Aetna (AET) to Outperform from market perform at Leerink.
• Hot Topic (HOTT) to buy from neutral at Janney Capital.
• Colonial Properties (CLP) upgraded to Outperform from market perform at FBR Capital and to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Altera (ALTR) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• American Reprographics (ARC), CarMax (KMX) and American Campus (ACC) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Zebra Tech (ZBRA) to neutral from underweight at JPMorgan.
• IMAX (IMAX) to buy from hold at Canaccord.
• Basic Energy (BAS) to neutral from sell at Goldman.
• Mednax (MD) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• UTi Worldwide (UTIW) to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: AET, AKAM, BBY, DVN, HOG, IMAX, LVS, RIMM, UNH, URBN ...

Analyst Calls: AET, AKAM, BBY, DVN, HOG, IMAX, LVS, RIMM, UNH, URBN ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading SAIC. Inc. (SAI): Invest in Cyber-Security

SAIC. Inc. (SAI): Invest in Cyber-Security originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 01 Feb 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Investors nervous about the possibly stalled economic recovery -- or worse, the beginning of the latter phase of a double-dip recession -- were not pleased with last week's housing numbers. Things were perhaps ameliorated somewhat by durable goods order numbers and a revised GDP that weren't as bad as expected, but that didn't stop the Dow from dipping below 10,000 later in the week, before fighting its way back above the benchmark to end the week, thanks largely to Fed chair Bernanke's comments on Friday.

Though the end of August is usually quiet, this week lots more economic data are due out, including more housing numbers: The Case-Shiller Home Price Index for June on Tuesday, construction spending numbers for July on Wednesday, and NAR's pending home sales for July on Thursday. There's not expected to be much to get excited about in these numbers.

Continue reading The Week in Preview: Employment, Housing, Manufacturing, Earnings Expectations

The Week in Preview: Employment, Housing, Manufacturing, Earnings Expectations originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 29 Aug 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Barclays upgraded GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to overweight from equal weight and said investor concerns regarding Advair and Avandia are overdone.
• Leerink upgraded Bristol-Myers (BMY) to outperform from market perform, citing management's pipeline execution. Shares were also upgraded at Citigroup this morning to buy from hold.
• Goldman upgraded Medco Health (MHS) to buy from neutral and raised its price target on shares to $76 from $67. The firm cites valuation and expectations that earnings will accelerate in 2H10 driven by a stronger generic outlook.
• U.S. Steel (X) was upgraded to neutral from sell at UBS.
• Blyth (BTH) was upgraded to hold from underperform at Jefferies.
• IPC The Hospitalist Co. (IPCM) was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: BMY, FSLR, GSK, LGF, MHS, PVH, SAI, SU, WAG, X ...

Analyst Calls: BMY, FSLR, GSK, LGF, MHS, PVH, SAI, SU, WAG, X ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 11 Jun 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Soleil upgraded Potash (POT) to hold from sell due to valuation. The firm maintains a $100 price target for shares.
• FBR Capital upgraded Arkansas Best (ABFS) to market perform from underperform after the company reached a tentative agreement with the Teamsters to amend its existing contract to include a 15% wage concession. The firm has a $34 price target for shares.
• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Zions Bancorp (ZION) to market perform from underperform following the company's Q1 results and raised its target for shares to $25 from $17.
• Apache (APA) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.
• MGM Mirage (MGM) wasupgraded to conviction buy from buy at Goldman.
• Monster Worldwide (MWW) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: ABFS, APA, CSTR, ESL, MGM, POT, SAI, TIVO, UL, ZION ...

Analyst Calls: ABFS, APA, CSTR, ESL, MGM, POT, SAI, TIVO, UL, ZION ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 20 Apr 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage on BloggingStocks:

• Acuity Brands Inc. (AYI) Q2 results were essentially flat but an analyst's upgraded helped boost shares.
• Borders Group Inc. (BGP) reported strong Q4 earnings due to cost cutting but revenue continued to decline.
• Cal-Maine Foods Inc. (CALM) received an analyst's downgrade on valuation following release of its Q3 report.
• CarMax Inc. (KMX) rose to a new 52-week high following better-than-expected Q4 earnings and sales results.
• Charming Shoppes Inc. (CHRS) posted a smaller-than-expected Q4 net loss and said same-store sales declined.

Continue reading Earnings Highlights: Borders, CarMax, LDK Solar, Mosaic, RIM, Rite Aid ...

Earnings Highlights: Borders, CarMax, LDK Solar, Mosaic, RIM, Rite Aid ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 03 Apr 2010 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

While SAIC (SAI) provides technical services for a variety of sectors, the core business is still in defense and homeland security. However, the company is starting to have troubles finding growth.

In the latest quarter, revenues increased 7% to $2.68 billion and earnings came to $123 million, or $0.31 per share, up from $120 million or $0.29 per share in the same period a year ago. The consensus was $0.32 per share.

Continue reading SAIC Gets Pinched by Tighter Defense Budgets

SAIC Gets Pinched by Tighter Defense Budgets originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Summer is winding down and so is another earnings season. Most of the S&P 500 have reported results for the past quarter, but there are still a few things of note coming up this week.

In its second quarter, Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: SNDA), one of the largest entertainment media companies in China, announced plans for an IPO for its Shanda Games business and bought a majority stake in music producer and distributor.

Continue reading The week in preview: Summer (and the earnings season) winds down

The week in preview: Summer (and the earnings season) winds down originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Car sales surge in China

Car sales surge in China originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As the calendar quarter winds down, let's take look at some of this coming week's biggest expected earnings gainers.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect Memphis-based Fred's Inc. (NASDAQ: FRED) to report fourth-quarter earnings of $0.22 per share, 36.4% higher than a year ago, and revenue of $472.5 million, down 4.4%. For the full year, the forecast is for a profit of $0.66 per share on revenue of $1.8 billion, compared to $0.52 per share and $1.8 billion in the previous year. The discount retailer beat or met earnings estimates in the past three quarters. The long-term EPS growth forecast is 14.0%, which is better than the industry average and that of larger rival Walmart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), and the forward PE ratio estimate is 15.0. In the third quarter, the company had more cash than debt. The consensus recommendation of analysts is to buy FRED. The share price has risen 2.7% since the beginning of the year to $11.05.

Continue reading The week in preview: Earnings winners, Geithner testimony, housing sales

The week in preview: Earnings winners, Geithner testimony, housing sales originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 22 Mar 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As is the case in the corporate world, government agencies have "go to" consultants. So far as the U.S. defense community is concerned, there is an outfit in San Diego that is on the list.

SAIC, Inc. (NYSE: SAI) provides scientific, engineering, systems integration and technical services to all branches of the U.S. military, agencies of the Department of Defense, the intelligence community, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other U.S. Government civil agencies. The firm also offers technology-driven consulting services to the oil & gas, utility and pharmaceutical industries. SAIC employs more than 44,000 people, in over 150 cities worldwide. Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a major competitor.

The firm pleased investors last week, when it reported Q2 EPS of 24 cents and revenues of $2.2 billion. Street analysts had been looking for 21 cents and $2.17 billion. Management also guided FY08 EPS to 83-88 cents (85 cent consensus) and FY08 revenues to $8.7-$9.0 billion ($8.79B consensus).

Continue reading SAIC, Inc. (SAI): Technical solutions for the U.S. defense community

SAIC, Inc. (SAI): Technical solutions for the U.S. defense community originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 11 Sep 2007 14:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Kaufman initiated Popular (NASDAQ: BPOP) with a Hold rating and $13 target, citing the company's direct exposure to nearly $2B of Alt A residential mortgage loans originated by its U.S. operations and approximately $250M of exposure to another $4B of collateralized, securitized mortgage pools.

• MRU Holdings (NADSAQ: UNCL) was initiated with a Buy rating and $8.50 target at Roth Capital. Roth Capital believes MRU Holdings is on the threshold of potentially explosive growth in the fast growing segment of the education lending market, that of private loans.

• JMP Securities said CDC Corp. (NASDAQ: CHINA) , with its resources and connections in China, has excellent deal flow and has been a disciplined, value oriented buyer, and started shares with a Market Outperform and $10.50 target.

• Piper believes Oscient Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: OSCI) experienced management team and PCP sales force are competitive advantages and will lead to attractive partners. Piper initiated Oscient Pharmaceuticals with an Outperform rating and $5 target...

• Raymond James started SAIC (NYSE: SAI) with a Market Perform rating.

• Morgan Keegan initiated Hilltop Holdings (NYSE: HTH) with an Outperform rating.

• Dice Holdings (NYSE: DHX) was initiated with an Overweight rating and $15 target at Morgan Stanley.

• RBC Capital initiated VMware (NYSE: VMW) with a Sector Perform rating and $75 target.

Analyst initiations 8-30-07: CHINA, DHX, SAI and UNCL originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 30 Aug 2007 10:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• ThinkEquity started Kenexa Corp (NASDAQ: KNXA) with an Accumulate rating, citing the company's attractive business model that can deliver high-value, high-margin content, but questions the company's plans to compete with best-of-breed vendors.

• Banc of America initiated CACI International (NYSE: CAI) with a Neutral, citing the challenging budget environment and margin trends.

• Banc of America believes shares of SI International (NASDAQ: SINT) offers a compelling risk/reward given the improving civilian funding environment and upside potential from recent M&A activity, and assumed coverage with a Buy rating and $38 target.

• Tyco Electronics (NYSE: TEL) was started with a Hold rating at Deutsche Bank, citing risks to the company's potential turnaround.

• Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) was re-initiated with an Outperform rating at Friedman Billings on valuation and considers any stock price weakness from the increased costs as a buy opportunity.

• Banc of America assumed the following Government IT Services companies with Buy ratings: SRA International (NYSE: SRX) and SI International.

• Banc of America assumed the following Government IT Services companies with Neutral ratings: CACI International, MTC Technologies (NASDAQ: MTCT), SAIC (NYSE: SAI), and ManTech International Corp (NASDAQ: MANT).

Analyst initiations 7-03-07: CAI, MANT and YUM originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 03 Jul 2007 10:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The next generation of military satellites originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 30 Apr 2007 11:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Morgan Stanley downgraded CACI International (NYSE: CAI) and SAIC Inc (NYSE: SAI) to Underweight from Equal Weight to reflect concerns over an increasingly unfavorable political environment as the risk of reduced funding for federal IT initiatives grows.

• Soleil downgraded shares of CenturyTel (NYSE: CTL) to Sell from Hold on valuation and a possibly active hurricane season.

• Honda Motor Co (NYSE: HMC) was cut to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch.

• Micron Technology (NYSE: MU) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs as the firm believes improvements in DRAM pricing will be short lived and that the company will continue to generate losses given its poor cost structure.

• CSX Corp (NYSE: CSX) was downgraded to Reduce from Neutral at Calyon on valuation and deteriorating volume.

• Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK) was cut to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan.

• Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc (AMEX: IMA) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel.

• WebSideStory, Inc (NASDAQ: WSSI) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC, citing short-term execution risks.

• Jefferies downgraded Cerner Corp (NASDAQ: CERN) to Hold from Buy.

Analyst downgrades 4-05-07: Honda Motor, Micron Tech & CSX Corp downgraded today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 05 Apr 2007 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Marvel Entertainment (MVL) and SAIC (SAI) topped today's extensive list of initiations.

• RBC Capital Markets initiated Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:MVL) with a Sector Perform rating and $30 target; the firm said Marvel may have already exploited what it can out of previous titles and that future film slates of licensed characters are not guaranteed to have the same appeal as "Spider Man" or "X-Men."
• SAIC, Inc. (NYSE:SAI) was initiated at a multitude of firms today: Stifel Nicolaus, Jefferies, Citigroup and KeyBanc McDonald started SAIC with a Hold rating; Morgan Stanley and Stephens started the defense company with an Equal Weight rating; Bank of America and Cowen initiated SAIC with a Neutral rating; Bear Stearns initiated them with a Peer Perform rating. Mostly all cited valuation.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Needham started Evergreen Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESLR) with a Buy rating and $12 target, citing expectations of the solar power manufacturer to grow at 2x the overall PV industry, resulting in market share gains.

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

Analyst initiations 11-22-06: Nine firms initiate SAIC with Hold/Neutral originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 22 Nov 2006 11:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

No doubt, SAIC Inc. (NYSE: SAI) had a stunning IPO last week. The stock increased from $15 to $18.18 per share and traded about 50 million shares.

Founded 37 years ago, SAIC helps governments solve tough problems such as building technologies for unmanned planes or designing new battlefield networks.

In fact, governments outsource billions of dollars in research projects to SAIC. So, what are some of the things the company is working on?

Well, you can find out from the company's IPO filing:

Advanced Robotics. These are individual robots as well as unmanned vehicles. For example, an unmanned vehicle uses geospatial intelligence to basically get to where it needs to go (and, yes, defeat our enemies). One application: "these robots may be used to search and map terrorist-occupied or earthquake-damaged buildings, as well as track intruders."

Wireless Sensors. These are very small wireless sensors called Smart Dust. They basically self-configure according to changes in the environment. Application: "help the U.S. military improve situational awareness, reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition capabilities in urban areas."

Biopharmaceutical and Medical Research. SAIC is developing nanotechnology technologies to treat cancer, as well as come up with vaccines for HIV, anthrax and malaria. The goal is to establish a huge database called the Biomedical Informatics Grid, which will allow research among 600 experts from over 50 cancer centers.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and operates InvestorOffering.com.

SAIC IPO: What it says about tech for years to come originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 16 Oct 2006 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The long-awaited IPO of SAIC Inc. has finally made it to market. SAIC priced 75 million shares at $15.00, at the top of the $13.00 to $15.00 range. It will trade on NYSE under the "SAI" ticker.

It has now listed Morgan Stanley and Bear Stearns as the joint book-runners; co-managers are listed as Citigroup, Wachovia, Banc of America, Cowen & Co, Jefferies, and Stifel Nicklaus.

SAIC is one of the leading large private defense contractors with a focus on technology and IT operations. 89% of its revenues come from various departments inside the U.S., and most of that is pertaining to armed forces contracts.

This IPO has literally taken years to come to fruition because of employee voting requirements and because of multiple share classes that had to be consolidated. There was also one last pre-IPO dividend paid out, so the last balance sheet may be a little lighter on the cash at current date.

If you will recall, Cramer just touted this IPO early this week before the deal was even priced, and he said anything up to $20 is in-line with other defense contractors.

There is also a financial and backgrounder piece here if you wish to review, but this is a name that defense oriented investment managers almost have to have some exposure to in their investment portfolios.

Jon Ogg is a partner in 24/7 Wall St., LLC; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

SAIC IPO coming at the high-end of the range originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 13 Oct 2006 09:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Cramer endorses SAIC IPO originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 10 Oct 2006 10:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

SAIC IPO to debut next week originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 03 Oct 2006 10:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.