Many investors rarely think about Brazil as a place to put their investment dollars. They think Brazil is just a country that goes crazy over soccer and has a wild ‘Carnival’ every year in Rio. But Brazil is so much more. They may have the best economy in the Americas.

Brazil has made great strides under current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, commonly known as Lula. Lula took office on January 1, 2003 and he has, since being in office, run a very orthodox fiscal policy. The country has maintained fiscal and trade surpluses for the better part of his presidency.

Brazil’s highly capable central bank has followed a very strong monetary policy. They have maintained high levels of real interest rates, which prevented the economy from overheating and creating an over-expansion of credit – unlike the policies of others like the Federal Reserve.

In late April, the Brazilian central bank

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Shares of Carnival Corporation & plc (CCL, CUK) traded higher today following the company's release of second-quarter results.Although second-quarter results exceeded expectations, we have lowered our full-year estimates, partially due to increased fuel prices going forward.While the quarterly results benefited from better-than-expected pricing on close-in bookings, we caution investors that this does not mean that pricing was strong. Rather, the pricing trends simply exceeded management's low expectations. The company is still cutting prices, relative to last year, in an attempt to boost occupancy.The shares have traded nearly 10% higher today by essentially delivering results that cleared an already lowered bar.Further, the fact that management lowered its full-year earnings outlook, despite the better-than-expected second quarter results, highlights the significant and unpredictable impact of fuel prices on the company's operations.Even though Carnival has taken steps to reduce ...

Best Economy in the Americas – Brazil

Tony Daltorio, The Investment U Research Team

Wall Street tends to take a very myopic view of the world – the view that the entire financial universe revolves around them and the United States. And that what goes on in other countries is unimportant.

It’s why many Wall Streeters have missed one of the greatest rags-to-riches stories in global economic history – Brazil. Brazil’s economy has gone from a “basket case” to being as solid as a Brick.

Brazil has made huge strides from the very debt-ridden, bureaucratic country of the past. Years ago, the country restructured its finances and has resisted the temptation to use economic crises, such as in neighboring Argentina, as an excuse to default on its obligations.

Yet, many on Wall Street still think of Brazil as a backwards “third-world” country that goes crazy

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - June 15, 2009 - Zacks.com releases the list of companies likely to issue earnings surprises. This week's list includes Adobe Systems (ADBE), Best Buy (BBY), Carnival (CCL), FedEx (FDX) and J.M. Smucker (SJM). To see more earnings analysis, visit http://at.zacks.com/?id=3207.

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The Week's Events

We will see initial second-quarter numbers with Adobe Systems (ADBE), Best Buy (BBY), Carnival (CCL), FedEx (FDX) and J.M. Smucker (SJM) reporting this week. Notably missing from the group are the investment bankers, the surviving members of which have changed to traditional calendar quarters.

Though there are five S&P 500 companies reporting, the earnings calendar is

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We will see initial second-quarter numbers with Adobe Systems (

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Pro Travel Network announced that it has been recognized in the industry for its sales, professionalism and marketing by Carnival Cruise Lines Awards. According to the press release, Carnival’s top “Pinnacle Award” was given to the company as one of the top marketers of the “Fun Ship” vacation experience.

Lynn C. Torrent, Carnival’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Guest Services, stated, “Travel agencies are an important part of our distribution system, which is why we created the ‘Pinnacle Club’ to recognize those high-volume agencies like Pro Travel who are truly experts in their field and exhibit the highest levels of professionalism.”

PTN CEO Mr. Paul Henderson commented, “On behalf of all of the people associated with Pro Travel, I certainly thank Carnival for this prestigious award. We are certainly proud of our accomplishments thus far and we are certainly pleased that a quality organization such as Carnival has recognized

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - June 10, 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: J.P. Morgan (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS), Citibank (C), Royal Caribbean (RCL) and Carnival Corporation (CCL).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=4579.

Here are highlights from Tuesday's Analyst Blog:

A Stress-Test Do-Over?

The good thing is that, with the exception of the unemployment rate, things have not been worse than the more adverse scenario, and the banks have been able to raise the capital needed to withstand that scenario. The release of the original stress test

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Royal Caribbean (RCL) announced this morning that the outbreak of the H1N1 virus, or "swine flu," would negatively impact the company's earnings by approximately $0.22 per share.Last month, Royal Caribbean's competitor Carnival Corporation & plc (CCL), (CUK) announced that it would be negatively impacted by approximately $0.05 per share, with the potential for an additional negative $0.05 per share going forward.The fact that the impact of the outbreak was notably greater to Royal Caribbean, relative to Carnival, is not surprising. The flu outbreak occurred just prior to the scheduled launch of a new Royal Caribbean product, Pacific Dream, targeting Mexican nationals. The company was forced to cancel the launch, and the ship sat idle. The associated expenses and lost revenue added to the expense of changing existing itineraries away from Mexican ports.Given the state of the economy and pressures on ...

The Consumer Discretionary sector is one of the more intuitive sectors, with earnings driven by consumer spending.  The consumer-led nature of this recession has driven discretionary stocks south, with households cutting spending and increasing savings rates (to 3.6%). The companies that have faired the best over the 18 months have been those with strong balance sheets and large market caps that offer less discretionary product lines. Sub-sectors that have performed especially well are discount restaurants, discount retailers and education services. Subsectors hardest hit, on the other hand, include specialty stores, automotives, publishing, and gaming. Some of these sub-sectors, particularly automotive and publishing, have inherently flawed business models whose recover-ability is questionable. Others have been pulled down by their ultra-discretionary product lines as consumers cut big ticket items. Left in between are companies that offer products discretionary in nature but without the big-ticket price tag. These companies were heavily discounted as

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Swine Flu Worries Diminished for Cruise LinesShares of Carnival Corp. (CCL, CUK) traded higher yesterday, after the company announced that the financial impact from the swine flu outbreak may be less substantial than some investors had anticipated.Last month, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, or CDC, issued a recommendation against non-essential travel to Mexico. In response, Carnival modified its cruise itineraries to avoid Mexican ports. The CDC lifted its recommendation on May 15, enabling cruise ships to return to normally scheduled itineraries.Yesterday, Carnival announced that it expects the modifications to its cruise itineraries to negatively impact earnings by approximately $0.05 per share for the six-week period ended June 15.Further, the company expects that the potential exists for additional financial impact beyond the June 15 date for a financial impact of up to an additional $0.05 per share.We ...