For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 20, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Principal Financial (PFG) as the Bull of the Day and Sohu.com (SOHU) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Bank of America (BAC), Wal-Mart (WMT) and Sears Holding Corp.(SHLD).

Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5506

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

We are upgrading our recommendation on the shares of Principal Financial (PFG) to Outperform. The company's third quarter operating earnings were much ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate, driven primarily by the sequential improvement in domestic as well as global equity markets.

We believe that Principal's strong franchise within the pension sector, which is aided by its diversification both in terms of products and geography, positions it well to benefit

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Sears Holding Corp. (SHLD), the fourth largest broadline retailer in the U.S., reported a third-quarter loss of $127 million or $1.09 per share compared to a loss of $146 million or $1.16 per share in the year-earlier quarter. Although Sears managed to reduce its quarterly loss year over year, this was the second consecutive quarterly loss for the company.

The quarterly figures included non-recurring items such as severance charges related to store closings, impairment charges, and pension plan expenses. Excluding the one-time charges, net loss was $94 million or 81 cents per share during the third quarter versus a net loss of $114 million or 90 cents per share in the year-ago quarter. 
 Sears reported total revenues of $10.2 billion during the quarter compared to $10.7 billion in the year-earlier quarter. The decrease in year-over-year sales was primarily due to a decline in comparable store sales partially offset

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Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD), the fourth largest broadline retailer in the U.S., has teamed up with Farmers Insurance Group of Companies, the country’s third-largest homeowners’ insurance company, First Alert, the world's largest manufacturer of smoke alarms, and Firefacts.org, a leading website on fire safety, in its fight against fire casualties.   The initiative is a part of the strategy to raise general awareness on fire safety and to equip local communities and residents with the fire safety materials to prevent and protect home fire emergencies. Besides having a special in-store display of all fire safety items offered by First Alert, Sears Holdings stalls will also have members of the local Fire Department on hand to offer safety tips to customers.   The recent campaign by Sears Holding is also part of a broader strategy to communicate directly with its customers to get a feel of the market pulse, ...

Sears Holding Corporation (SHLD), the fourth largest broadline retailer in the U.S., has reported relatively modest second quarter results with a decrease in year-over-year revenue and net income, and improvement in the balance sheet. Sears reported total revenues of $10.6 billion during the quarter compared to $11.8 billion in the year-earlier quarter. The decrease in year-over-year sales was primarily due to a decline in comparable store sales and the adverse effect of foreign currency. Total comparable store sales decreased 8.6% during the quarter, with the Sears Domestic division accounting for 12.5% decrease and the Kmart division accounting for 3.9% decrease. The Sears Domestic division was negatively affected by the decline in the housing industry coupled with a decrease in apparel sales. The Kmart comparable store sales also declined largely due to a fall in apparel sales, which was partially offset by an increase in home electronic ...