For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 16, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Infosys (INFY) as the Bull of the Day and Myriad Genetics Inc. (MYGN) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on American International Group (AIG), Citigroup (C) and Bank of America (BAC).

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 Infosys (INFY) to an Outperform rating with a target price of $57. Through the ongoing economic downturn, the company has invested in Research & Development as well as intellectual property-based solutions. It continues to focus on large deals targeted at organizational transformation where there is a dearth of vendor talent.

The company continues to win new customers and manages to keep its order book healthy.

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The U.S. Treasury's pay czar, who oversees compensation for the highest-paid employees at the firms that received U.S. taxpayer assistance, said on Thursday that he is concerned that pay cuts could obstruct the ability of these firms to retain and attract top talent. However, the pay czar would be open to requests to hire new executives at competitive industry rates. The pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg, decides compensation packages for the highest-paid employees at the seven firms that have received substantial support from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The pay restrictions were imposed on these firms to enable them to repay government money by controlling excessive pay. The seven firms, whose top 25 earners received an average 50% lower pay last month by the order of the pay czar, are American International Group (AIG), Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC), Chrysler Financial, Chrysler Group ...

American International Group Inc. (AIG) said on Friday that it is paying $12.1 million in retention awards to some of its top executives. The company took this decision after it got approval from U.S. pay czar Kenneth Feinberg, who is scrutinizing the pay practices of the seven companies including AIG that received the biggest federal aid.   Chief Financial Officer David Herzog received $1 million and Kristian Moor, Chief Executive of AIG's property-casualty division, received $1.6 million. Jay Wintrob, CEO of AIG's domestic life and retirement services also received a payment. The payments were promised in 2008 to retain key employees.   Previously, U.S. Treasury Department pressed AIG to reduce $198 million in scheduled retention payments after the government missed the opportunity to defend against controversial bonuses paid to AIG employees last year.  However, AIG is currently trying to repay $85 billion it had borrowed from the ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 19, 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: Google Inc. (GOOG), Bank of America Corporation (BAC), American International Group (AIG), Citigroup (C) and GMAC Inc. (GJM).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Friday’s AnalystBlog:

Google Stuns the Market

Google Inc. (GOOG) reported third quarter results that blew away all estimates. Earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a dollar and 20 cents. Revenue beat the consensus by around 40%.

Revenue

Gross revenue of $5.94 billion was up 7.6% sequentially

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Bank of America Corporation’s (BAC) third quarter 2009 loss came in at 26 cents per share, substantially worse than the Zacks Consensus Estimated loss of 10 cents. This compares unfavorably with earnings of 15 cents in the prior-year quarter. The worse-than-expected results came in due primarily to continued weakness in the U.S. and global economies as well as stress on the consumer, which continues to result in high credit costs. The results for the quarter were negatively impacted by $2.6 billion in pretax mark-to-market and credit valuation adjustments on certain liabilities, including the Merrill Lynch structured notes, and a $402 million pretax charge to pay the U.S. government for termination of its asset guarantee term sheet. However, strengthening reserves, capital position and liquidity were key positives during the quarter.    The results for the quarter exclude total preferred dividends of $1.2 billion. The preferred dividend paid ...

The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform panel said on Wednesday that Congress will soon investigate executive compensation at companies that received significant amount of taxpayer funds. The U.S. Treasury's pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg is in charge of deciding compensation packages for the highest-paid employees at all the firms that received bailout money. For seven firms, the situation is critical as these firms received substantial support from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The seven firms whose compensation plans will be scrutinized are American International Group (AIG), Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC), Chrysler Financial, Chrysler Group LLC, General Motors and GMAC Inc (GJM). The U.S. Treasury Department is pressing bailed out insurer AIG to reduce $198 million in scheduled retention payments after the government missed the opportunity to defend against controversial bonuses to AIG employees last year. However, AIG ...

According to an overseer's report released on Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department is pressing the bailed out insurer American International Group Inc. (AIG) to reduce $198 million in scheduled retention payments after the government missed the opportunity to defend against controversial bonuses to AIG employees last year. The special inspector general of the government’s $700 billion bailout program, Neil Barofsky, said that Treasury official Kenneth Feinberg has not specified the amount by which retention payments should be reduced. Feinberg is supervising pay practices at seven companies, including AIG, which received extraordinary government assistance. Though all the firms that received bailout money are subject to limits on their compensation practices, for these seven firms the situation is critical due to the special assistance they received from the Treasury. The seven firms whose compensation plans are under scrutiny are American International Group, Citigroup (C), Bank of ...

In the course of the review of the aptness of the richest pay packages proposed by seven financial firms that received $200 billion in government aid, the U.S. pay czar Kenneth Feinberg is planning to cut the annual cash salaries for many of the top executives whose firms accepted bailout funds. As an alternative to paying large cash salaries, the pay czar is planning to shift a large portion of an employee's annual salary to stock that cannot be accessed for several years. The percentage of salary to be diverted to stock is not yet clear, but it could be above 50% in some cases. The stock compensation would be in addition to salaries and cash bonuses. This will be an incentive for the executive to make good long-term decisions about the company. By mid-October this year, Feinberg expects to issue his judgment on compensation packages ...

The U.S. pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg, has started a 60-day schedule to review the aptness of the richest pay packages proposed by seven financial firms that received $200 billion in government aid. Feinberg has started his review on pay packages for 25 of the most highly compensated executives at firms that received substantial support from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The seven firms whose plans will be scrutinized are Citigroup Inc. (C), American International Group Inc. (AIG), Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Chrysler Financial, Chrysler Group LLC, General Motors and GMAC Inc. On Monday, Feinberg, who has been verifying the submissions since they were due at the Treasury, sent letters to all seven institutions informing them that the pay plans they submitted were deemed substantially complete. The government has laid out general principles that will guide Feinberg's decisions. Also, the Treasury wants ...