U.S. stocks wobbled Tuesday and ended the day mixed even as automakers reported improved auto sales and Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway said it would buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.  Traders were reluctant to place big bets as they awaited the outcome of a two-day FOMC meeting which got underway Tuesday and Friday's monthly jobs report.  Although expectations are the Fed would keep interest rates in the 0-0.25% range, Wall Street has been speculating if there would be a change of tone in the policy statement. 

On Tuesday, the 30-stock Dow Jones industrial average closed down 17.53 points, or 0.18%, to 9,771.91.  The broad Standard & Poor's 500-stock index added 2.53 points, or 0.24%, to 1,045.41 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 8.12 points, or 0.40%, to 2,057.32.  On the NYSE, volume slowed to 1.38 billion shares.  

The news of a sale of 200 tons of gold to India sent

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Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (TMO) recently completed the acquisition of Brahms AG for roughly $470 million (€330 million). Brahms AG is a leading provider of specialty in vitro diagnostic tests based on patented biomarkers for cardiovascular, sepsis and pulmonary diseases. The company also provides intensive care treatments and prenatal screening and is widely recognized for its flagship test, Procalcitonin (PCT).  The acquisition is expected to be accretive to Thermo Fisher’s earnings in 2010. The acquisition widens Thermo Fisher’s global reach and will increase its top-line. Brahms AG generated revenues of approximately $105 million (€75 million) in 2008. Thermo Fisher plans to integrate Brahms into its Analytical Technologies Segment and use the firm’s former headquarters in Germany as the European Center of Excellence for its clinical diagnostics business.  Thermo Fisher is a scientific instrument maker and a world leader in serving science. The company was formed through the ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – July 31, 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: Becton, Dickinson (BDX), Baxter International (BAX), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Abbott Laboratories (ABT) and Tesoro Corporation (TSO).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

Becton Beats Zacks Estimate

Management at Becton, Dickinson (BDX) has increased its EPS guidance for the year. For 2009, it now expects profit from continuing operations to increase 11% to 12% over that in the last year to $4.92 to $4.96. Earlier, management estimated an

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Becton, Dickinson and Co.'s (BDX) Indian arm has recently dragged the Indian health ministry and three other companies to court after a tender was revoked. The tender was floated for procurement of syringes by the health ministry from Indian and other global organizations. The three other companies involved are Hindustan Syringes & Medical Devices, Iscon Surgicals and Wuxi Yushou Medical Appliances.

Becton, Dickinson, which provides disposable/consumable products to the medical community, was the lowest bidder for the tender. The company has charged the health ministry with intentions of buying products from its competitors through unfair means.

The tender was issued last September by the Indian health ministry to procure 700 million units of 0.5-ml and 40 million units of 0.1-ml auto-disable syringes. Becton was the lowest bidder for 24 of the 40 scheduled items. Earlier this year, Becton agreed to supply roughly 10 million units of 0.5-ml and

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A weak durable goods order report and a slide in commodity prices sent indices to a second consecutive day of light losses as stocks appeared vulnerable to a pullback in the absence of reassuring economic signs.  A search and advertising deal between Microsoft and Yahoo also received a cold response from investors even as the Federal Reserve contended that the severity of recession is easing in most parts of the country.  Also driving the markets lower were shares of oil and gas producers and basic material manufacturers as oil prices declined for another day.  Crude prices plunged $3.88 to $63.35 a barrel after the Energy Department reported a sharper-than-expected build in weekly crude inventories.  

On Tuesday, stocks had declined after a weaker-than-anticipated consumer confidence report and a lackadaisical response to the auction of 2-year notes drew investors to the selling table.  The trend continued Wednesday and treasuries moved lower

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Since the beginning of the global economic crisis, medical device stocks have fared slightly worse than the overall market, losing roughly 400 bps more than the S&P500 (-31%) since September 1, 2008, on a market weighted basis. We continue to recommend that investors focus on companies providing life-sustaining products. We believe these products will remain insulated from the longer-term effects of the current economic crisis because target patients will be unable to forego procedures. The initial slide in the market left many strong companies looking very attractive. In the coming year, investors should allocate funds to companies with high earnings quality profiles. We recommend companies with the following characteristics: Size – (1) Larger companies will find it easier to survive any future liquidity issues and acquire new technologies at cents on the dollar.  
(2) Size also refers to the average ticket price per product the company sells. As hospitals cut their capital ...

* McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE:MHP) reported first quarter earnings of 20 cents a share, beating estimates by 2 cents as revenues fell 5.7% to $1.15 billion, inline with expectations

* Tellabs (NASDAQ:TLAB) reported first quarter earnings of 5 cents a share, beating estimates by 2 cents a share, as revenues of $362 million were down 22.1%

* Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG) reported a first quarter loss of 16 cents a share, 4 cents better-than-estimated, as revenues declined 10.8% to $1.3 billion

* Pfizer's (NYSE:PFE) first quarter earnings beat by a nickel, coming in at 54 cents a share on revenues of $10.87 billion. The company said it expects 2009 earnings of $1.85 to $1.95 a share, versus Street estimates of $1.95 a share.  It expects revenues of $44 billion to $46 billion

* Office Depot (NYSE:ODP) reported a first quarter loss of 10 cents a share matching Street expectations, as revenues fell 18.6% to

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Becton Dickinson & Co's (BDX) MACD indicator has crossed over to bullish territory with a reading of 0.4772. The Zacks #1 Rank ("Strong Buy") stock has topped the consensus estimate in each of the last 4 quarters with an average surprise of 5.40%, or 6 cents a share. Moreover, the full-year consensus estimate has increased by a penny over the past 30 days to $4.93 a share.

Zacks Investment Research

Vyteris Incorporated is a medical instrument and supply company involved in the development and production of electronically controlled transdermal drug delivery systems that deliver drugs through the skin without using needles. They are the maker of the first active drug delivery patch to receive market approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Vyteris was founded as a spin out of the Transdermal Systems unit of Becton Dickinson in November of 2000, and since that time they have received over 181 worldwide patents, most of which still have at least ten years remaining.

Nearly eight years after their founding, Vyteris is headquartered in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, in a building that provides the team with over 27,000 square feet of space for the research, development and manufacturing of their products. LidoSite, Vyteris’ proprietary active transdermal drug delivery technology, delivers drugs comfortably through the skin using low-level electrical energy.

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