Earnings Preview 11/23/09 Investors will be able to say thanks next Thursday for a wonderful earnings season, one that is rapidly drawing to a close. There will be only 57 firms reporting quarterly results next week, including 10 members of the S&P 500. That group, however, contains some pretty important names, including computer giant Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), agricultural equipment king John Deere (DE) and investors will find out if Campbell Soup (CPB) really is "mm-mm good." The economic data is squeezed into the front part of the week due to the holiday: Monday •    Existing Home Sales are expected to rise to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.65 million from 5.57 million in September. While existing home sales make up more than 85% of all home sales, their effect on the economy is minimal and largely indirect. Watch the inventory numbers, though -- ...

CDC Software Corp (CDCS), a wholly owned subsidiary of CDC Corp. (CHINA) said that it expects a decline in its license revenue. The company expects software license revenue to fall in the range of $7.4 – $7.6 million in the third quarter of 2009. The mid-point of the range is a decline of 37% from the year-ago period and 4% from the previous quarter.  We believe this fall is mainly due to the declining business activity the company felt during this economic downturn, which had a negative impact on the overall enterprise software industry.  Despite the sequential and year-over-year decline in license revenue, the overall revenue estimates are in line with the First Call Consensus estimates of $7.4 million. The company also said that the license revenue from new logo business increased to 24% in the forecasted quarter, up from 12% reported in the previous ...

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

3Com Corp (COMS) 51job Inc (JOBS) Actions Semiconductor Co Ltd (ACTS) Aeropostale Inc (ARO) Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ABV) American Italian Pasta Co (AIPC) American States Water Co (AWR) Amkor Technology Inc (AMKR) Anworth Mortgage Asset Corp (ANH) Asbury Automotive Group Inc (ABG) Ashland Inc (ASH) Associated British Foods Plc (ASBFY) AudioCodes Ltd (AUDC) Baidu Inc (BIDU) Banco Santander SA (STD) Bank of Montreal (BMO) Barnes & ...

Wal-Mart (

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The Dow has been on a mini-roll. Therefore, most investors are thrilled to see battered stock portfolios recover even a smidgen of their massive losses. The problem is that these investors aren’t paying attention to what’s happening elsewhere around the globe. And they may be missing out on the opportunity of the decade! That’s because the morsels of good economic news coming out of the U.S. are completely overshadowing what’s happening in Asia. China: A Bright Spot in the Region And the Global Economy Just last week, a new report from the World Bank painted a very pretty picture about the economies of China, the world’s third-biggest economy, and its Asian neighbors …...

With a strong track record in consolidation and organic growth in its software business, we believe CDC Corp. (CHINA) is poised for growth.

With continuous focus on vertical industries and cost reduction initiatives in its software segment, CDC should develop a significant competitive advantage in this year and beyond. New launches and upgrades (Yulgang 2.0 and Ross Enterprise v6.3) in its product line as well as its share repurchase plan currently in action will further help the company drive growth. As such, we maintain our Buy rating on the shares of CDC with a six-month target price of $3.50.

Based on our estimate for fiscal 2008 EPS, the stock is trading at a P/E multiple of 88.3. As we are currently into the second half of 2008, we roll our valuation to fiscal 2009 estimates. As such, the stock is trading at a P/E multiple of 24.1x our fiscal 2009

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CDC Corp.’s (CHINA) loss for the second quarter of 2008 was $0.10 per share. However, its adjusted EPS again exceeded market expectations. We still think CDC is well positioned to leverage the growth opportunities in the small-to-medium business enterprise software market and China’s online game market.

In addition, its stock is trading under book value and the company will continue to repurchase its shares. Overall, we don’t think its current stock price fully reflects the company’s intrinsic value. Therefore, we are maintaining our Buy rating on CDC shares.

With a differentiated combination of online games, mobile applications, and Internet portals and media services, CDC's New Media Business is positioned to take advantage of the burgeoning demand for online services and entertainment in the China market.

China has 253 million internet users as of June 30, 2008. The internet users are expected to increase at 15% annually in the next three years.

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