For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - May 1, 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: L-3 Communications (LLL), Wyeth (WYE), Pfizer Inc. (PFE), Sanofi-Aventis SA (SNY) and Chicago Bridge & Iron (CBI).

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 Thursday's Analyst Blog:

L-3 Quarterly Results Improve

L-3 Communications (LLL) announced results for its 1st quarter of 2009. LLL reported stable 1st quarter 2009 results with sales up 3.7% year-over-year, net income up 5.3% and fully-diluted EPS up 9.9%.

The U.S. Department of Defense accounted

...

CBI crosses the Bridge and pulls an Iron out of the fire in Q1-09!Chicago Bridge & Iron (CBI) reported that -- while first quarter 2009 Revenue had dropped by 10.0% to $1.439 billion -- EPS had risen by 15.7%, from 43¢ to 51¢, on a 2.0% drop in the number of shares. Extremely refreshing!CBI's Gross Profit rose by 14.4% to $144.2 million and the Gross Profit Margin increased from 8.8% to 11.1%. S,G&A Expense declined by 7.4% to $59.2 million; however, it increased as a percent of Sales from 4.4% to 4.6%. Amortization of Intangibles dropped by 4.9% to $5.6 million.There was a huge (unexplained) negative swing in Other Income & Expense of almost $6 million, while Equity Income rose by 16.0% to over $6.9 million. Operating Income rose by 29.1% to $80.3 million; the Operating margin climbed to 6.2% from 4.3%....

Here are the stocks added to the Zacks #5 Rank ("strong sell") List today:

ABB Ltd (ABB) Axis Capital Holdings Ltd (AXS) The Black & Decker Corp (BDK) Cal Dive International Inc (DVR) AM Castle & Co (CAS) Credicorp Ltd (BAP) DTE Energy Co (DTE) Equinix Inc (EQIX) Flushing Financial Corp (FFIC) Franklin Electric Co (FELE) Arthur J Gallagher & Co (AJG) GATX Corp (GMT) Genuine Parts Co (GPC) KB Financial Group Inc (KB) Lincoln National Corp (LNC) Matrix Service Co (MTRX) Mechel OAO (MTL) PacWest Bancorp (PACW) Peoples Financial Corp (PFBX) Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc (SHO) The Timken Co (TKR) UTi Worldwide Inc (UTIW) Anixter International Inc (AXE) Blyth Inc (BTH) Camden Property Trust (CPT) Chicago Bridge & Iron Company NV (CBI) ...

Tuesday January 20, 2009 Navivest

Following six trading days of declines in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the index managed a 12.35-point gain on January 15, and then another 68.73 points on the 16th.

While the point gains were nothing to get excited about, they actually bode very well for the stock market near-term, as the Dow actually bounced off the 8,000 level. This is a key psychological level that we do not want to see violated for a sustained period.

Even when stocks fell off a cliff in October last year from a close of 10,813.07 on October 1 to current levels, because of the banking/credit crisis, we closed below 8,000 only four times and that was back in November.

A closing below 8,000 could have raised the possibility of the Dow retest those November lows of around 7,300 in the near-term. Of course, with earnings season upon us, there

...

The stimulus package is likely to help companies like Emerson Electric (EMR), General Electric (GE), Jacobs Engineering (JEC), Chicago Bridge & Iron (CBI) and Caterpillar (CAT).We now have a rough outline of what the economic stimulus package will look at. The total size is set at $825 billion. Here are the key components, along with my thoughts on each (or at least most) of them:Tax Cuts - $275 Billion:Cutting payroll taxes by $500 per individual and $1,000 per family. Not the best bang for the buck, since much of it may be used to pay down debt or otherwise be saved. However it seems like a good idea in any case.Restoring the balance sheet of the household sector, particularly of the lower and middle parts of the income spectrum would be a very good thing for ...

Wednesday January 14, 2009 Navivest

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) has closed lower in each of the last five trading session. We believe that that sets us up for rebound very soon.

Technically, we have violated the 21, 30, and 50-day simple moving averages to the downside, so the charts are telling a bearish story. However, the rate of decline, going back to January 6th, has slowed and now instead of a steep downward slope, it looks like we are consolidating at current levels. We are also looking for an Obama bounce and the new administration takes office in six days.

Wall Street has a tendency to “buy the sizzle and sell the fat,” so if there will be an Obama rally, then it should start happening before he takes office.

On Monday and Tuesday, we recommended that readers of this blog go long infrastructure stocks on the basis of

...

Tuesday January 13, 2009 Navivest

The infrastructure related stocks that we recommended on the Navivest blog yesterday and today, are on the move to the upside today.

With the new administration coming in next Tuesday the 20th, we are looking for an Obama bounce, as he plans to spend billions to boost the economy and create over 4 million jobs by spending on the nation’s infrastructure.

As such, we have been recommending stocks that we feel will benefit from that spending. This week, we recommend traders take long positions in Chicago Bridge and Iron (CBI) $12.38 +$0.20 (1.64%). Caterpillar (CAT) $41.24 +$0.05 (0.22%), Fluor (FLR) $46.52 +$1.40 (3.10%) and Jacobs Engineering (JEC) $487.27 +$2.06 (4.46%).

We did recommend taking early profits, as these are short-term plays, however, even though Fluor and Jacobs Engineering are up over 3%, continue to hold.

Tags: Infrastructure Stocks  Chicago Bridge and Iron 

...

Tuesday January 13, 2009 Navivest

Yesterday, we posted that we were looking for the stock market to rally on the incoming Obama administration, which happens next Tuesday and the President-elect’s plan to boost the economy by launching an infrastructure-spending plan. We suggested traders look for stocks exhibiting bullish signals and to start accumulating long positions in those names.

Obviously, with the declines across the board during the trading day, we could not initiate any long trades per the recommendation to only look for infrastructure stocks that were bullish, however, yesterday’s declines actually puts us in an even better position on the theory that stocks can not go down every day, even in the worst bear market.

Long-term, we are bearish on the stock market, as we expect corporate revenues and earnings to keep declining, but again, we are looking for that Obama bounces and that should happen over

...

Monday January 12, 2009 Navivest

President-elect Obama’s plans to stimulate the economy by spending billions on infrastructure, with the aim of creating over four million jobs in two years, should create an Obama rally in the early days of his presidency.

The new administration takes over in just eight days, so barring some more woeful economic news that the markets can’t shrug off, we expect that we will start to see an Obama effect on stocks starting this week.

As such, we would recommend taking select long positions. Look for stocks that are exhibiting bullish signs in early trading today and start accumulating positions. Narrow selections down to infrastructure plays, such as Chicago Bridge and Iron (CBI), as well as Caterpillar (CAT).

There are risks, as we are now entering earnings seasons, as well as economic related news to contend with, but in all, traders should be able to score some

...

Highlighted in this article are the following E&C [Engineering & Construction] stocks: Granite Construction, Inc. (GVA), Perini Corporation (PCR), URS Corporation (URS), ABB Ltd. (ABB), Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (CBI), Foster Wheeler Ltd. (FWLT) and McDermott International (MDR).

The global economic growth - coupled with the attendant demand for oil, gas, petrochemicals and refined products - that stimulated investment in new and expanded plants over the last 12 to 24 months, appears to finally be slowing, if not reversing. In addition, given the now-declining demand for all manner of products - as well as the drop in the cost of oil and gas - the need for additional power may also be constrained. Consequently, now that these uncertainties have crept into global financial expectations, one might wonder what to do?

Back before the presidential election, we wrote:

"When FDR came into power, the WPA was the principal tool of his administration to

...