Western Digital Corp. (...

U.S. stocks rose strongly Thursday, reversing a four-session losing run, after a government report said the economy grew more than expected in the July-September quarter.  Investors shunned Treasuries and jumped back into stocks after the report signaled the economy had emerged from the worst recession since the 1930s. 

The positive surprise was enough to propel benchmark indexes to their biggest advance since July and send safe havens like Treasuries and dollar lower.  Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) and Alcoa Inc. (NYSE:AA) advanced at least 5.1% after the Commerce Department said the economy returned to growth following four straight quarters of decline.  Crude prices jumped $2.44, or 3.1%, to $79.87 and gold was up $16.50 to $1046.40.

The S&P 500 registered its biggest one-day gain since July 23, jumping 2.2% to close at 1,066.11.  The 30-share Dow Jones industrial average shot up by 199.89 points, or 2.05%, at 9,962.58 and the tech-heavy

...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 28, 2009 – Four free stock picks are being made available today on Zacks.com. The industry’s leading independent research firm highlights one Zacks #1 Rank Strong Buy or a Zacks #2 Rank Buy stock for each of the four main styles of investing: Aggressive Growth, Growth & Income, Momentum, and Value.

The four highlighted picks are: Conceptus, Inc. (CPTS), Nordstrom, Inc. (JWN), Caterpillar, Inc. (CAT) and Sabesp (SBS).      Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Four daily picks are offered free at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5607

Zacks #1 Rank Stocks have nearly tripled the S&P 500 since 1988, producing an average annual return of +26%. Performance has been notable even during volatile and down times. For example, during the last bear market, 2000-2002, the market tumbled -37.6% – but Zacks #1 Rank stocks gained +43.8%.

Here is a summary of today's selected

...

Caterpillar, Inc. (...

Bucyrus International, Inc. (BUCY) shares are jumping to end the week after announcing a strong third-quarter report that included a sharp earnings surprise.

< ?DART(15);?> The mining equipment manufacturer made the Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers List today with a gain of more than 13%. Volume is also flexing with nearly 8 million shares changing hands, compared to the daily average of 1.9 million.

BUCY is one of the world's leading manufacturers of large-scale excavation equipment used in surface mining. Its machines are used throughout the world by customers mining copper, coal, oil sands, iron ore and other minerals.

The company is part of the machinery-construction/mining industry. Other names from this space on today's Zacks #1 Rank List include heavy hitters like Caterpillar, Inc. (CAT), Ingersoll-Rand plc (IR) and Joy Global, Inc. (JOYG).

Third Quarter

Bucyrus reported third-quarter earnings

...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 21, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Vodafone (VOD) as the Bull of the Day and Conmed Corp. (CNMD) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Caterpillar Inc. (CAT), Coca Cola Company (KO) and Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT).

Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2676

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

We maintain our Outperform recommendation for Vodafone (VOD), the largest revenue generating international wireless carrier. Revenue growth in the last quarter was fuelled by foreign exchange gains and acquisitions.

Additionally, increase in subscriber base was driven by continued healthy net additions in its Indian operation. Vodafone's globally diversified operation provides hedging elements which offset price competition and translation risk that may arise in specific markets. The company continues

...

ProLogis (PLD), a leading global provider of distribution facilities, recently leased about 188,000 square feet of its development portfolio in Japan to global customers, thereby strengthening its position in the market.   About 95,000 square feet were leased to Caterpillar Logistics Services Inc., the logistics division of Caterpillar Inc. (CAT), the world’s largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines and industrial gas turbines. The lessee will occupy space at ProLogis Parc Narita III near Tokyo, Japan.   The company has also leased 93,000 square feet at ProLogis Parc Ichikawa I, a distribution facility near Tokyo, to an unnamed global supplier of office products. This is the sixth such leasing agreement with the lessee, who now occupies approximately 1.2 million square feet across the U.S., Mexico and Japan.   ProLogis owns and manages interests in over 2,500 distribution facilities, service offices and properties ...

Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) reported third quarter earnings of 64 cents per share, well above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 7 cents per share. The company’s better-than-expected performance was primarily driven by higher price realization, lower SG&A and R&D costs, and inventory decrement benefits. However, on a year-over-year basis the company’s EPS declined 54.0%. Revenue in the quarter was down 43.8% to $7.3 billion from $13.0 billion posted last year. The sales decline in the quarter constituted lower machinery sales volume (-$4.2 billion), lower Engines sales volume (-$1.5 billion), negative impact of foreign currency translation (-$138 million), lower financial products revenue (-$118 million), partially offset by higher price realization (+$227 million). The company witnessed revenue weakness across its end markets. The Machinery Group revenue was down 52%, while the Engines segment and Financial Products segment have reported revenue declines of 35% and 14% respectively. This was due ...

 In a recent regulatory filing, Caterpillar Inc. (CAT)  announced its plans to increase prices by up to 2% worldwide on most of its  machinery effective January 2010. The company attributed this price increase to current industry factors and current and expected general  economic conditions.    This indicates the company’s optimism about demand improvement next year.  Caterpillar had earlier indicated that there was already an improvement in  industrial production growth and increase in commercial and residential  building sales in China. The company stated that the country’s economic  growth has rebounded in the second quarter. Caterpillar believes that the government stimulus package, along with the reduced interest rates, will drive the Chinese economic growth.    Apart from China, Caterpillar sees demand potential for its products in  other developing as well as developed countries. Given the need for basic  infrastructure globally, Caterpillar is confident of capitalizing on the economic recovery. Being ...

Being a market leader in construction and mining equipment, we believe Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) will benefit immensely from the growing need for infrastructure development in both the developing and developed nations. The government stimulus packages announced in various countries have allotted a substantial portion of the funds for infrastructure spending. The company is confident of capitalizing on the economic recovery and targets earnings of $8–$10 per share on sales of nearly $60 billion by 2012. Caterpillar sees potential demand for its products across the markets, especially in China. According to the company, there has been an improvement in industrial production growth and increase in commercial and residential building sales in China. By 2012, the company aims to achieve sales of over $4 billion from China. Furthermore, the company is expected to benefit from the implementation of Caterpillar Production System (CPS). By implementing the CPS, the ...