For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – May 4, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Sepracor, Inc. (SEPR), Raytheon Co. (RTN), AstraZeneca PLC (AZN), GATX Corporation (GMT) and Tetra Tech, Inc. (TTEK).

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Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:

Sepracor Building a Base

Business fundamentals at Sepracor, Inc. (SEPR) have been poor over the past several quarters. Lunesta growth disappointed throughout 2008 and guidance for 2009 assumes sales will decline between 5% and 10%.

Likewise, Xopenex and Xopenex HFA also disappointed throughout 2008. Sales will also decline in 2009. Brovana, a product which on the cusp seems to offer blockbuster potential, continues to struggle with sales tracking far below $100 million — a level we originally believed Brovana would eclipse only a few quarters after launch. New products, Alvesco and Omnaris, which management believes offer multi-hundred million dollar potential, also continues to struggle and guidance for 2009 sales was very disappointing. In fact, total revenues in 2009 will likely decline between 5% and 10%.

Raytheon Keeps Outperforming

Raytheon Co. (RTN) continues to consistently report improved year-over-year revenue and EPS results.

The bullish story on Raytheon revolves around signs of an improving business jet market, increased defense spending, superior backlogs, and strong cash flow. Revenue and earnings growth continue to be driven by strong demand for missile and missile defense systems as well as network-centric mission solutions, including sensor and communication systems.

AstraZeneca Pipeline Must Deliver

We currently rate shares of AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) a Hold with a $38 price target. The company is facing a number of challenges as it enters 2009, most notably generic competition to Toprol-XL, Nexium, Casodex, and Pulmicort.

The just-announced increase to the cost-cutting program will aid EPS in the near-term, but we do not believe this will be enough to compensate for continued revenue deterioration beyond 2010. Atacand and Arimidex will both be subject to generic competition in 2010, then Seroquel and Symbicort lose U.S. patent protection in 2011 and 2012, respectively. This puts significantly more pressure on the company to commercialize its late-stage pipeline.

GATX Ests Cut, Post-Report

GATX Corporation (GMT or GATX) posted diluted EPS before nonrecurring items of $0.68, down 24% year over year. This was well above consensus of $0.50 and our $0.54 estimate, primarily reflecting lower-than-expected expense growth due to volume-related declines in SG&A, other operating costs and marine operating expenses.

For the quarter, the company recorded revenue of $263 million compared to $289 million in the year-ago quarter. GATX’s fleet utilization remains solid, though it is on a declining trend. North American railcar fleet utilization was 96.5% at March 31, 2009, and was down from 97.9% at December 31, 2008 and 98.1% at the end of the prior-year quarter. European tank car utilization was 96.5% at March 31, 2009, decreasing from 97.1% at December 31, 2008 and 97.5% in the year-ago quarter.

Tetra Tech: Waiting for ARRA!

Tetra Tech, Inc. (TTEK) had predicted that Q2-09 EPS would be in the range of 24¢ to 26¢; the precise, actual number was 31.6¢, which included 5.5¢ from the impact of an IRS tax settlement, which, if excluded from the results, brings the remainder down to 26.1¢.

Such accuracy is indeed commendable — and especially noteworthy — for a hi-tech company the ilk of TTEK. However, on a slightly less-accurate basis, 26¢ is but 13.0% higher than the 23¢ reported in Q2-08. In Q1-09, EPS were up 22.7%. Consequently, a bit of slowing can be detected in these numbers, part of which can be attributed to the recent Wardrop acquisition. However, if we drill down further into the results, we find that there are other similar indicators.

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