Here are the stocks added to the Zacks #1 Rank ("strong buy") List today:

AES Corp (AES) Akzo Nobel NV (AKZOY) Alliance Financial Corp (ALNC) Atlantic Tele-Network Inc (ATNI) BASF SE (BASFY) Biovail Corp (BVF) Carbo Ceramics Inc (CRR) Cato Corp (CATO) Cellcom Israel Ltd (CEL) Chunghwa Telecom Co Ltd (CHT) Covidien Plc (COV) DG FastChannel Inc (DGIT) Diodes Inc (DIOD) Dover Corp (DOV) E.ON AG (EONGY) Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd (ENH) Gap Inc (GPS) Investors Bancorp Inc ...

Here are the stocks added to the Zacks #1 Rank ("strong buy") List today:

Aeropostale Inc (ARO) The AES Corp (AES) Anglo American Plc (AAUKY) Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp (BGFV) Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc (BIO) Brasil Telecom Participacoes SA (BRP) Bway Holding Co (BWY) Carmike Cinemas Inc (CKEC) Cognex Corp (CGNX) Computer Sciences Corp (CSC) Ctrip.com International Ltd (CTRP) DeVry Inc (DV) Discover Financial Services (DFS) Dolan Media Co (DM) Dow Chemical Co (DOW) Fossil Inc (FOSL) Gibraltar Industries Inc (ROCK) ...

• The Sunday Telegraph reported Deutsche Telekom (NYSE:DT) is considering a takeover bid for Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S).  Deutsche Telekom (NYSE:DT) shares rose more than 10% in premarket trading

• According to the WSJ, China's sovereign wealth fund is in talks to acquire a minority share of AES Corp (NYSE:AES)

• Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is reportedly in talks to lower the price tag of its $1.5 billion Elan (NYSE:ELN) bid

• Salix Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SLXP) reported the successful outcome of two late-stage trials of the efficacy and safety of its rifaximin drug in relieving irritable bowel syndrome symptoms

• Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) lowered its rating on Campbell Soup (NYSE:CPB) to "neutral"

• UBS (NYSE:UBS) upgraded Motorola (NYSE:MOT) to "buy"

Zacks Investment Research

Here are the stocks added to the Zacks #1 Rank ("strong buy") List today:

The AES Corp (AES) Michael Baker Corp (BKR) Ctrip.com International Ltd (CTRP) Huaneng Power International Inc (HNP) POSCO (PKX) Sanofi-Aventis SA (SNY) Telefonica SA (TEF) UGI Corp (UGI) Westpac Banking Corp (WBK) WMS Industries Inc (WMS) View the entire Zacks #1 Rank List.

"AES" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?"BKR" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?"CTRP" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?"HNP" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?"PKX" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?"SNY" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?"TEF" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?"UGI" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?"WBK" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?"WMS" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? ...

As the economy deteriorates, one of the first casualties will be corporate profits.  Earnings estimates have been falling very fast for 2009.  Recently estimate cuts for 2009 have been running at about 8x the number of estimate increases.  P/E-based valuations become tricky in such an environment -- you are shooting at a moving target.  One way around this is to focus on the low (or most pessimistic) estimate, rather than on the mean estimate.  Assume that everyone else will move to where the biggest pessimist is now. This is not to say that the most pessimistic analyst today can't be too optimistic, but at least he will be closer than most. On this basis, there are some very compelling values out there. 

Below we present a list of the cheapest S&P 500 companies based on 2009 low estimates.  Since I simply do not trust the numbers, I have excluded from

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Altair Nanotechnologies Inc. (Nasdaq: ALTI) develops ceramic nanomaterials for alternative energy products, life sciences and performance materials markets based on its proprietary manufacturing process. The company’s advanced battery pack systems are used in stationary applications, as well as electric and hybrid-electric vehicles.

Altair today announced the successful completion of its demonstration and validation program for a two-megawatt, 500 kilowatt-hour battery system purchased by AES Corp. (NYSE: AES), one of the largest global power companies in the world. With operations in 29 countries on five continents, AES has the capacity to serve 100 million people worldwide.

Altair’s program was developed by KEMA Inc. and carried out by AES. Results showed the battery system successfully demonstrated applicability met the program’s milestones, which was conducted to demonstrate the applicability of Altair’s large platform technology to frequency regulation, which is a key service provided by power plants to the electric grid.

“The positive AES

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