Chicago, IL – November 25, 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: Citigroup Inc. (C), Intuit Inc. (INTU), ENI S.p.A (E), BP plc (BP) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A).

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 Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

Citi Expects Strong Economic Growth

Citigroup Inc. (C) forecasts strong economic growth in many countries in 2010. But although the company expects several countries to experience economic growth, it predicts that the growth will be somewhat uneven.

According to the annual report of Citi’s Investment Research and Analysis group, though growth will be strong and even across major economies in the beginning of the year, it will be uneven later. Citi expects Asia, excluding Japan, to experience sustained economic growth. Though the U.S. is expected to see fairly strong economic growth, the recovery will be more gradual in Europe and Japan.

Citi also upgraded its 2010 gross domestic product forecasts for the U.S., Japan, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Korea, Argentina, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Turkey.

The report also suggested that Central Banks are unlikely to hike key interest rates through the next year. However, credit availability is expected to remain restricted at least for a year or two as banks seek to raise additional capital under regulatory pressure. Also, inflation on a global basis appears to be controlled. Additionally, countries will need to achieve fiscal sustainability to post strong economic growth.

Disappointing Forecast at Intuit

Intuit Inc. (INTU) recently reported results for the first quarter. Revenues increased 2% to $493 million, driven by growth in core businesses.

Revenues from Financial Institutions segment increased 7% while Employee Management Solutions Payroll service increased 9%.

Loss per share came in at 10 cents, much better than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 22 cents per share, mainly due to cost control activities undertaken by the management. The company had postponed some of its marketing costs for the quarter.

During the quarter, the company repurchased $300 million worth of stock in the quarter, and the board has now approved a new repurchase program of $600 million. Intuit ended the quarter with more than $1 billion in cash and investments.

Going forward, management expects revenues between $3.3 billion and $3.43 billion in fiscal 2010, up 4% – 8%. Earnings per share are projected between 29 cents and 32 cents. Revenues for the second quarter are projected between $800 million and $835 million, up 1% – 6%. Earnings per share are expected to come between 15 cents and 18 cents.

The forecast was much lower than the street estimates, leading to a 2% fall in share price after the results were announced. On the conference call, management stated that the company is yet to find a significant improvement in business sentiment among small business customers who use the company’s flagship products such as QuickBooks software and Turbo Tax programs.

ENI Buys Uganda Blocks

ENI S.p.A (E) entered into a definitive agreement with Heritage Oil to buy the latter’s 50% interest in blocks 1 and 3A in Uganda . Total consideration for the contract is $1.35 billion. The contract also provides an additional consideration of $150 million, either in cash or in kind, on fulfillment of certain conditions in the future.

The company was pursuing an approach of sustainable development through its expertise and technologies in the African continent. And this transaction is part of this development strategy.

Located in the Lake Albert basin, blocks 1 and 3A have resources of more than 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Of this, nearly 70% has already been discovered with approximately 28 wells drilled in the area. The agreement is subject to approval by the competent authorities.

Eni has been producing in the African continent for a long time. The company is currently acting as an operator in many oil-producing countries such as Angola, Ghana, Nigeria, the Republic of Congo, Gabon and Mozambique. Total production per day from these regions currently amounts to about 450,000 barrels of oil equivalent.

Eni’s upstream portfolio spreads over a number of fields in several countries. Its lower reliance on a handful of large fields, both in its existing portfolio and its future growth pipeline, is in contrast to the growth profile of BP plc (BP) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A), both of which are heavily dependent on the delivery of a few key projects.

In addition, Eni’s lack of exposure in the refining and marketing space is also a significant positive in the current compressed margin environment, in our view. We, however, believe that all these positives are already reflected in its valuation. As such, we recommend a Neutral rating for the stock.

Want more from Zacks Equity Research? Subscribe to the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5515.

About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5517

About Zacks

Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978 by Leonard Zacks. As a PhD in mathematics Len knew he could find patterns in stock market data that would lead to superior investment results. Amongst his many accomplishments was the formation of his proprietary stock picking system; the Zacks Rank, which continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5518.

Visit http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/zacksresearch

Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts

Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should always research companies and securities before making any investments. Nothing herein should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security.

Contact:
Mark Vickery
Web Content Editor
312-265-9380
Visit: www.zacks.com

Chicago, IL – November 18, 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: American Express Co. (AXP), Bank of America Corp. (BAC), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Citigroup Inc. (C) and Capital One Financial Corp. (COF).

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 Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

Mixed News for Credit Card Issuers

U.S. credit card issuers have reported a drop in the default rate for October, though delinquencies are rising as a result of continuing stress on consumers. While a decrease in the default rate reflects a decline in late payments in the first half of the year, the increase in delinquencies is bad news for the sector as it implies that the companies could experience more charge-offs in the coming quarters.

Consumers remain under stress as a result of the weakness in the housing market, combined with job losses. Recently, Fitch has also expressed its concern about the credit card issuers in the U.S. Fitch expects U.S. credit card issuers’ earnings to remain challenged over the near term as a result of soaring unemployment, bankruptcies and losses.

The default rate (or charge-off rate) has improved in October from the prior month. For American Express Co. (AXP) it was down 60 basis points (bps) to 7.8%, while for Bank of America Corp. (BAC) the rate dropped 103 bps to 13.22% in October. The situation was the same for JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Citigroup Inc. (C) and Capital One Financial Corp. (COF). JPMorgan’s default rate declined 10 bps to 8.02%, Citigroup’s defaults fell 136 bps to 8.79% and Capital One's charge-off rate decreased 73 bps to 9.04%.

However, we are concerned about the rise in delinquencies which increased 34 basis points to 5.72% in October at Capital One, 26 bps to 4.95% at JPMorgan and 6 bps to 7.59% at Bank of America. However, delinquencies remain unchanged at American Express.

Want more from Zacks Equity Research? Subscribe to the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5515.

About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5517

About Zacks

Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978 by Leonard Zacks. As a PhD in mathematics Len knew he could find patterns in stock market data that would lead to superior investment results. Amongst his many accomplishments was the formation of his proprietary stock picking system; the Zacks Rank, which continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5518.

Visit http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/zacksresearch

Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts

Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should always research companies and securities before making any investments. Nothing herein should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security.

Contact:
Mark Vickery
Web Content Editor
312-265-9380
Visit: www.zacks.com

Chicago, IL – November 17, 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: Citigroup Inc. (C), Liberty Global Inc. (LBTYA), Comcast Corp. (CMCSA), Deutsche Telekom AG (DT) and Vodafone Plc (VOD).

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 Monday’s Analyst Blog:

Citi to Sell Stake in Bellsystem24

Citigroup Inc. (C) announced that it will sell stake in Bellsystem24 to U.S. private equity firm, Bain Capital Partners, in a deal that values the Japanese call center operator at $1.1 billion.

The company announced on Sunday that it will sell its 93.5% controlling stake in Bellsystem24 − which it held through its Citigroup Capital Partners Japan Ltd. − to Bain Capital Partners through a tender offer. The tender offer is expected to start on or before Nov 20 and be completed on Dec 30, 2009. Under the terms of the deal, Citi will receive 93.5 billion of yen ($1 billion) in cash.

Following the completion of the deal, Citi Holdings’ assets will be reduced by $1.2 billion. However, Citi’s net income and capital ratios will not be significantly impacted by this stake sale, the company said.

Liberty to Acquire Unitymedia

Liberty Global Inc. (LBTYA) announced it will acquire all of the issued and outstanding capital stock of Unitymedia GmbH, the second largest cable TV operator in Germany. The total consideration will be approximately $5.2 billion. Liberty Global will acquire 100% of the shares of Unitymedia for an equity purchase price of around $3 billion and will also assume around $2.2 billion of net outstanding debt of Unitymedia. The deal is expected to be completed by the first half of 2010 subject to regulatory clearance.

Liberty Global is the second largest cable TV operator in the world. However, it is the largest international cable TV operator since Comcast Corp. (CMCSA), the largest cable MSO in the world does not have any operation outside the U.S. As of now, the company has approximately 16.6 million customers in 14 nations, most of which are in Europe. On the other hand, Unitymedia has approximately 6.4 million RGUs (revenue generating units); including 4.5 million analog and digital basic cable subscribers and 1.9 million new service RGUs (digital TV Pay, retail broadband internet, wholesale MMA internet, and telephony).

Germany is one of the lucrative markets in Europe. In 2002, Liberty Global has failed in its attempt to acquire the cable TV business of Deutsche Telekom AG (DT). Unitymedia has the highest uptake of digital TV and highest RGU per household in Germany. Integration of Unitymedia’s operations with Liberty Global will create a formidable cable TV player in Germany to compete with Kabel Deutschland (the largest cable TV operator in Germany), Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone Plc (VOD).

Want more from Zacks Equity Research? Subscribe to the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5515.

About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5517

About Zacks

Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978 by Leonard Zacks. As a PhD in mathematics Len knew he could find patterns in stock market data that would lead to superior investment results. Amongst his many accomplishments was the formation of his proprietary stock picking system; the Zacks Rank, which continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5518.

Visit http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/zacksresearch

Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts

Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should always research companies and securities before making any investments. Nothing herein should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security.

Contact:
Mark Vickery
Web Content Editor
312-265-9380
Visit: www.zacks.com

Chicago, IL – November 12, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Cisco Systems (CSCO) as the Bull of the Day and Potash Corporation (POT) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on JPMorgan Chase & Company (JPM), Citigroup Inc.(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:

Cisco Systems (CSCO) is a leading provider of IP-based networking and other products. The company's first quarter results were a significant improvement over prior quarters, with both revenue and earnings exceeding our expectations.

Of particular note is the growth in orders, which indicates continued business momentum. Improving operating performance, solid financials, a sound restructuring policy and new growth initiatives are the drivers behind our Outperform rating.

However, we caution investors about the increasing competition, market share losses, complicated decision-making process and integration risks.

Bear of the Day:

We downgrade Potash Corporation (POT), the world's leading producer of potash and fertilizer, to Underperform. The company has been hit hard by the global economic crisis, leading to weak demand and prices as farmers reduce their use of fertilizers. This has induced a sharp fall in profits for fertilizer producers.

Potash Corp.'s earnings declined 79% in the third quarter of 2009. The company expects fertilizer demand to remain weak for the rest of 2009, and plans to cut potash production. Potash Corp. has also lowered its expected earnings and slashed 2010 global potash demand expectations.

About 40% of global potash production capacity stands idle since the second half of 2008. The company also expects some of its capacity to remain curtailed in 2010.

Latest Posts on the Zacks Analyst Blog:

JPMorgan to Lift Salary Freeze

According to an internal memo to all employees, JPMorgan Chase & Company (JPM) will lift a salary freeze it put in place last year. The salary freeze was applicable for employees making more than $60,000 a year.

The decision to lift the salary freeze is a part of JPMorgan’s compensation review process, following its profits for last several quarters in its investment-banking operations.

The bank also intends to pay a $500 special award globally to employees who receive less than $60,000 a year.

Additionally, the bank also plans to add more than 300 staff to its branches to support a $4 billion increase in small business lending in an effort to help revive the U.S economy. Also, to boost new loans and refinancing, JPMorgan will hire 1,200 mortgage loan officers by the end of 2010. This addition will increase the company’s sales force by approximately 60%.

According to the company, lifting the salary freeze and hiring new employees will help it to increase access to working capital, term loans for expansion, commercial mortgages, lines of credit and business credit cards.

JPMorgan is among the large financial institutions that have already repaid government funds. In the second quarter of 2009, the company repaid the full $25 billion in preferred capital received as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). In fact, this has partly enabled it to take the recent decision to lift the salary freeze.

However, for many other firms, like Citigroup Inc.(C) and Bank of America (BAC), the full repayment of TARP money is uncertain at this point as they are facing a difficult situation.

Get the full analysis of all these stocks by going to http://at.zacks.com/?id=5507.

About the Bull and Bear of the Day

Every day, the analysts at Zacks Equity Research select two stocks that are likely to outperform (Bull) or underperform (Bear) the markets over the next 3-6 months.

About the Analyst Blog

Updated throughout every trading day, the Analyst Blog provides analysis from Zacks Equity Research about the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets.

About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous analyst coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today by visiting http://at.zacks.com/?id=5508.

About Zacks

Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978 by Leonard Zacks. As a PhD in mathematics Len knew he could find patterns in stock market data that would lead to superior investment results. Amongst his many accomplishments was the formation of his proprietary stock picking system; the Zacks Rank, which continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5509.

Visit http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/zacksresearch

Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts

Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should always research companies and securities before making any investments. Nothing herein should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security.

Contact:
Mark Vickery
Web Content Editor
312-265-9380
Visit: www.zacks.com

United Technologies Corp. is a diversified company whose products include Carrier heating and air conditioning, Hamilton Sundstrand aerospace systems and industrial products, Otis elevators and escalators, Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines, Sikorsky helicopters, UTC Fire & Security systems and UTC Power fuel cells. The company has been lately looking to expand its security business.

GE’s move to sell its fire alarms and security division comes as it is finalizing a bigger deal to hive off its NBC Universal television and movie unit into a joint venture controlled by the cable operator Comcast.  Strategically, GE wants to raise funds to expand its core businesses – which include infrastructure, oil and gas equipment, and energy – partly by hiving off peripheral divisions.

The security services unit operates in more than 26 countries around the world and caters to individuals, companies, governments and the military. The Florida-based division expanded when GE bought Edwards Systems Technology, a maker of fire detection equipment, from the US group SPX in 2004 for $1.4bn in cash.

Addition of GE’s security division could fulfill the United Technologies’ ambition to expand in a sector that it estimates to be worth $100 billion.

GE operates as a technology, media, and financial services company worldwide. Major competitors include Citigroup Inc. (C) and Siemens AG (SI).

We currently have a Neutral recommendation on GE.

Matt’s argument is that “most ETNs offer daily redemptions at net asset value, meaning that (even ignoring the quoted market) an investor of size (50,000 shares in the case of iPath ETNs) can sell out of the product within 48 hours and get the full net asset value of the note from the issuer.”

In other words, even if you become concerned about the credit risk of the issuer and there is insufficient liquidity in the secondary market for you to trade, you can get out of a position by selling it back to the ETN issuer.

I agree with Matt that the tax treatment of ETNs gives them a huge advantage for US investors (ETNs are taxed at long-term capital gains tax rates and only on a deferred basis when sold, rather than annually like ETFs). ETNs also offer superior tracking ability since the issuer bank guarantees to pay you the relevant index return.

It’s also undoubtedly true that the credit risk component in banks’ unsecured debt (of which ETNs are a part) has dropped substantially this year, as can be easily seen by plotting a chart of credit spreads or from a glance at the counterparty risk index, so the market is telling investors that the risks of ETNs are nowhere near as large as they were (less than a third the levels of February this year, in fact, if you look at an average of issuers’ CDS spreads).

All the same, I’m a little uneasy about his argument.

Matt’s reassurance that you can put back an ETN holding to the issuer within two days, giving you time to get out if there are problems, sounds fine in theory but may not offer you full protection in practice.

There was a fascinating article yesterday on Bloomberg in which reporters Richard Teitelbaum and Hugh Son tell us that during the summer months of last year, AIG was trying to write down – by up to 40% – the value of credit default swaps it had written to banks.

The central thrust of the Bloomberg article is that the Fed, which paid out AIG’s unsecured creditors at par, was more generous than it needed to be by paying out counterparties in full rather than enforcing a “haircut”.

The reporters quote Janet Tavakoli, a credit market specialist, as saying, “There’s no way they should have paid at par. AIG was basically bankrupt.” As an example of a haircut being applied in similar circumstances, the article cites a case involving Citigroup Inc., which last year agreed to accept about 60 cents on the dollar from New York-based bond insurer Ambac Financial Group Inc. to retire protection on a US$1.4 billion CDO.

What’s the relevance of all this to ETNs? Well, the whole question of whether unsecured bank creditors (such as ETN holders) should be protected by the authorities or forced to accept some cut in the amount they are due if the institution concerned gets into difficulties (or, for example, to suffer a forced conversion into equity) has been swept under the carpet since credit market concerns peaked earlier this year, but it hasn’t gone away.

If anything, given public disquiet at the way banks have gone back to “normal” in their pay policies while still relying on taxpayer support, I’d argue that it would be much harder for governments to convince the public that financial institutions must be saved at all cost should we enter a second round of the credit crisis.

But, more importantly, the Bloomberg article tells us that a writedown of creditors’ claims against AIG could quite conceivably have been negotiated and then imposed across the board with little or no warning. Such negotiations were apparently going on in private and, while they didn’t lead to any settlement, it would be foolish to imagine that such a scenario could not happen again.

So, all in all, Matt, while I agree that unsecured debt exposure to banks via ETNs may well make sense for a number of reasons, this type of investment instrument is likely to remain a poor cousin to ETFs in the tracker market. With almost all ETFs, investors are collateralised and shouldn’t have to lose sleep at night over credit risk.

[This blog originally appeared on IndexUniverse.eu, the leading source for insight and analysis into the European ETF market.]

Chicago, IL – October 28, 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: DryShips, Inc. (DRYS), Capmark Financial Group Inc. (CPFNG), Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS).

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 Tuesday’s AnalystBlog:

DryShips Beats, Results Hurt

DryShips, Inc.’s (DRYS) third-quarter earnings of 27 cents per share were 6 cents ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate. This excludes a loss of $39.3 million or 15 cents per share associated with the valuation of the company’s interest rate swaps. However, earnings were down substantially from $3.53 per share in the prior-year quarter.

GAAP net income for the quarter came in at $35.6 million or 12 cents per share, compared to $180.0 million, or $4.13 per share in the prior-year quarter.

The better-than-expected earnings were aided primarily by the performance of drilling and drybulk units at high utilization rates.

Capmark Seeks Bankruptcy Protection

Capmark Financial Group Inc. (CPFNG), one of the key commercial real-estate lenders in the U.S., along with some of its subsidiaries has filed Chapter 11 protection. The filing adds to the lingering concern that the commercial real-estate market is still struggling.

The company seeks to be allowed to continue to pay its vendors and salaries, and protect the businesses with its customers and partners.

Capmark was created in March 2006 through a leveraged buyout of the commercial real estate assets of General Motors' finance arm GMAC. Earlier this year also, the company had indicated that it might file for bankruptcy due to deteriorating conditions in the financial and commercial real estate markets and capital inadequacy.

Capmark is currently negotiating the terms of the bankruptcy with its creditors, which include Citigroup Inc. (C) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) among others.

Capmark reported a hefty loss of $1.62 billion in the second quarter of 2009 and has ever since been trying to raise cash through targeted sales and plans to sell its mortgage and loan servicing business. Capmark listed $20.1 billion in assets and $21 billion in liabilities as of Jun 30, 2009 in the bankruptcy filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware.

Several funds, including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and Five Mile Capital owned about 75.0% of shares in Capmark, while GMAC LLC owned 21.3%, and Capmark employees and directors owned the remainder.

Want more from Zacks Equity Research? Subscribe to the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5515.

About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5517

About Zacks

Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978 by Leonard Zacks. As a PhD in mathematics Len knew he could find patterns in stock market data that would lead to superior investment results. Amongst his many accomplishments was the formation of his proprietary stock picking system; the Zacks Rank, which continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5518.

Visit http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/zacksresearch

Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts

Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should always research companies and securities before making any investments. Nothing herein should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security.

Contact:
Mark Vickery
Web Content Editor
312-265-9380
Visit: www.zacks.com

Chicago, IL – October 22, 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: Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY), Wells Fargo (WFC), Bank of America Corporation (BAC), Citigroup, Inc. (C) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM).

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 Wednesday’s AnalystBlog:

Eli Lilly Beats, Raises Guidance

This morning, Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) reported strong third quarter financials. The company’s earnings per share of $1.20 surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.02 and 98 cents reported in the year-ago period. Revenues recorded a 7% year on year increase to $5.56 billion, driven by an increase in both volume and prices, partially offset by unfavorable impact of foreign exchange.

Of total revenues, while product sales were $5.4 billion (an increase of 6%), collaboration and other revenues accounted for the remaining $176.5 million (an increase of 51%), primarily due to the inclusion of Erbitux revenue as a result of the ImClone acquisition.

The company’s other products recorded robust growth during the quarter compared to the year-ago period – Zyprexa (3% growth to $1.2 billion), Cymbalta (10% growth to $790.2 million), Humalog (16% growth to $500 million), Alimta (47% growth to $462 million).

Wells Fargo Surprises Yet Again

Before the market opened Wednesday morning, Wells Fargo (WFC) reported third quarter 2009 diluted earnings of 56 cents per common share, compared with 57 cents in the second quarter 2009 and 49 cents in the third quarter 2008.

Net income applicable to common shareholders came in at $2.6 billion, almost flat compared with the prior quarter and up 61.1% year-over-year. The results were substantially ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 35 cents per share.

Results were aided by strong top-line growth across all key business segments, strong deposits and a robust loan growth rate. Unlike its major peers, Wells Fargo witnessed strong growth in its traditional banking operations, especially in its mortgage business acquired from Wachovia. Net interest income of $11.7 billion climbed 83.1% year-over-year.

However, credit quality deteriorated further and losses rose sharply during the quarter. The bank expects credit losses and non-performing assets to increase further, though some moderation was visible. Net charge-offs rose to $5.1 billion (2.50% of average loans) from $4.4 billion (2.11%) in the prior quarter and $2.0 billion (1.96%) in the prior-year quarter. Non-performing assets grew to $23.5 billion (2.93% of loans) from $18.3 billion (2.23%) in the prior quarter and $6.2 billion (1.53%) in the prior-year quarter.

Credit-loss provisions were $6.1 billion, up 144.9% from a year earlier and 20.2% from the prior quarter. The allowance for credit losses totaled $24.5 billion at Sept. 30, 2009, compared with $23.5 billion at June 30, 2009 and $8.0 billion at Sept. 30, 2008.

Large banks including Wells Fargo, Bank of America Corporation (BAC), Citigroup, Inc. (C) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) have suffered from the increase in loan losses which were offset by strong growth in trading operations.

Want more from Zacks Equity Research? Subscribe to the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5515.

About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5517

About Zacks

Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978 by Leonard Zacks. As a PhD in mathematics Len knew he could find patterns in stock market data that would lead to superior investment results. Amongst his many accomplishments was the formation of his proprietary stock picking system; the Zacks Rank, which continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5518.

Visit http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/zacksresearch

Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts

Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should always research companies and securities before making any investments. Nothing herein should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security.

Contact:
Mark Vickery
Web Content Editor
312-265-9380
Visit: www.zacks.com

The debt offering was managed by Bank of America Securities LLC, the investment banking arm of Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Citigroup Global Markets Inc., the brokerage and securities arm of Citigroup Inc. (C) and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., the U.S. investment banking and securities arm of the German banking colossus Deutsche Bank AG (DB).

The senior unsecured notes were priced at 99.931% of the principal amount to yield 5.884% to maturity. Boston Properties plan to utilize the proceeds to reduce its huge debt. At the end of the second quarter, the company had about $6 billion in debt maturing by 2015.

Boston Properties develops, redevelops, acquires, manages, operates, and owns a diverse portfolio of Class A office, industrial, and hotel properties in the U.S. The majority of the company’s income comes from office properties, which are primarily concentrated in large, high-barrier urban markets that usually fare better in a faltering economy.

Chicago, IL – October 9, 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: Target Corporation (TGT), Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), Hasbro Inc. (HAS), Mattel Inc. (MAT) and Citigroup Inc. (C).

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 Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

Target Lowers Toy Prices

In order to woo customers this holiday season, major discount retailer Target Corporation (TGT) recently announced an aggressive price cut on toys. The announcement came on the back of the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) news on offering 100 toys for $10 each through the Christmas holiday, up from 10 toys offered last year.

Target slashed the price of selective toys by up to 50%, which include the Barbie Fashion Doll ($5), GI Joe Tough Troopers Figure ($14.99), and the Fisher-Price Little People Play 'N Go Farm Set 50th Anniversary edition ($11).

The holiday seasons are generally important for toymakers and retailers, who expect an uptick in demand with more children splurging in toy stores. However, toy companies did not reap any benefit in the 2008 holiday sales season due to recessionary effects, as consumers cut back their spending and prioritized their purchases.

Realizing the fact that customers may be reluctant to shell out more for toys, toy companies like Hasbro Inc. (HAS) and Mattel Inc. (MAT) are introducing new items at lower prices, and retailers are offering discounts to offset the impact of economic headwinds.

Citi's External Review - A Positive

The management team of Citigroup Inc. (C) received a positive review in an outside appraisal but some shuffling of senior executives could be on the anvil.

The review was conducted this summer for Citi's board by recruiting and consulting firm Egon Zehnder International. It was triggered by the government's stress tests on top banks. Companies found to be in need of additional capital were required to conduct assessments of their management and report the findings to federal regulators. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), which had concerns about the qualifications of Chief Executive Vikram Pandit and his top management team, required Citigroup to hire an outside firm to perform the review.

The report, delivered to Citigroup's board on last Friday, gave strong overall marks to Citigroup's management team and to CEO Vikram Pandit in particular.

Want more from Zacks Equity Research? Subscribe to the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5515.

About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5517

About Zacks

Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978 by Leonard Zacks. As a PhD in mathematics Len knew he could find patterns in stock market data that would lead to superior investment results. Amongst his many accomplishments was the formation of his proprietary stock picking system; the Zacks Rank, which continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5518.

Visit http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/zacksresearch

Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts

Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should always research companies and securities before making any investments. Nothing herein should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security.

Contact:
Mark Vickery
Web Content Editor
312-265-9380
Visit: www.zacks.com

The weak market condition has created the necessity for such consolidation. The combined entity will create the largest publicly listed aircraft leasing company, controlling about 5% of the total leased market. With 358 commercial aircraft and 83 engines that are either owned, on order, under contract or letter of intent, or managed, the combined company is expected to significantly contribute to the recovery of the industry. It will also have 116 airlines as clients, with a lease portfolio value of about $6 billion.

According to the deal, Genesis shareholders will receive one AerCap ordinary for each Genesis share, at $8.81 per share, representing an average premium of 45% over the price during the 30-day trading period from July 31 to Sept. 11. Based on Genesis' assets, the deal was valued at $1.75 billion.

Over the next two years, AerCap will get access to $200 million of unrestricted cash of Genesis. Also, about $1.1 billion of Genesis’ debt facility will be transferred to AerCap.

Genesis was rolled out of General Electric Co.'s (GE) aircraft leasing unit in 2006, with GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) acting as servicer for the portfolio. GECAS will continue to provide most asset management services for Genesis in the near term. However, as part of the agreement, AerCap will also buy 13 aircraft from GECAS.

Among others, American International Group Inc. (AIG), Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) and CIT Group Inc. (CIT) are mulling the sale of their aircraft-leasing businesses as the financial crisis has made funding hard to come by.

Citigroup Inc. (C) advised Genesis on the deal, while Morgan Stanley (MS) and UBS AG (UBS) acted as financial advisors to AerCap.

Pending shareholder and regulatory approval, the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2009. We expect more consolidation in the industry in the upcoming quarters.

Chicago, IL – September 16, 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: Citigroup Inc. (C), Pall Corporation (PLL), Joy Global (JOYG), Best Buy Company Inc. (BBY) and Ecolab Inc. (ECL).

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 Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

Citigroup Mulls Lowered Govt Stake

Top-level management at Citigroup Inc. (C) is conceiving plans to downsize the U.S. government's 34% stake in the company through a multibillion-dollar stock offering. Under the plan, Citigroup would issue new shares to the public and the Treasury Department would sell at least a portion of its Citigroup holdings.

Pall Corporation Beats Estimates

Pall Corporation (PLL) reported fourth quarter 2009 revenues of $652 million and net earnings of $69.5 million. Earnings per share were 58 cents, ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimates of 52 cents.

Joy Global Seen to Outperform

Of late, Joy Global (JOYG) management has taken several strategies to stay ahead of the curve, e.g., optimizing cost-structure, realigning production capacity to slowing demand, and moving production capacity to low-cost regions. These actions will improve operational efficiency, boost profitability and also solidify long-term viability of the company. Going forward, we see Joy Global shares performing above the broader market and hence recommend it as Outperform.

Best Buy Misses Zacks Estimate

Best Buy Company Inc. (BBY) recently reported second quarter 2010 results, which included double-digit growth in the top-line, but a surprise double-digit drop in the bottom-line.

Best Buy's quarterly earnings of 37 cents per share missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 42 cents, and dropped 22.9% year-over-year from 48 cents.

Ecolab Expands Chinese Footprint

Ecolab Inc. (ECL) intends to make incremental investments of $30 million in China, which will include additional manufacturing, research & development projects and technology platform upgrade.

During fiscal 2008, the company reported strong results in the Asia-Pacific segment with 8% revenue growth primarily driven by China and followed by Hong Kong.

Want more from Zacks Equity Research? Subscribe to the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5515.

About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5517

About Zacks

Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978 by Leonard Zacks. As a PhD in mathematics Len knew he could find patterns in stock market data that would lead to superior investment results. Amongst his many accomplishments was the formation of his proprietary stock picking system; the Zacks Rank, which continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5518.

Visit http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/zacksresearch

Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts

Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should always research companies and securities before making any investments. Nothing herein should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security.

Contact:
Mark Vickery
Web Content Editor
312-265-9380
Visit: www.zacks.com

The saving lines are available in a range of maturities from three months to five years. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) will insure these saving lines by up to $250,000.

Failing financial institutions have significantly stretched the regulator's deposit insurance fund. The FDIC insures deposits at 8,195 institutions with roughly $13.5 trillion in assets. When a bank fails, it reimburses customers for deposits of up to $250,000 per account. As of June 30, the fund corpus had touched $10.4 billion, the lowest since 1993, from $13 billion in the prior quarter.

Like other credit card issuers, American Express has traditionally arranged its funding through credit card asset-backed securities. But of late, funding from credit card asset-backed securities has been hurt by the financial crisis. As a result, the company needed an alternative source of funding.

American Express is also not strong with respect to retail deposits to fund its operations. This is a competitive disadvantage for the company as many of its peers like JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and Citigroup Inc. (C) hold a strong retail deposit base.

In the second quarter, 22% of American Express' funding came from short-term debt, short-term and long-term retail deposits and institutional deposits. The company estimates those sources to represent up to 55% percent of its funding needs in the coming years.

Though the last few quarters benefited from successful re-engineering efforts and a diversified business model, American Express experienced continued weakness in card-member spending and high levels of loan losses. We expect continued benefits from the company's diversification and cost-cutting efforts, but the ongoing global crisis and a strong US dollar will continue to impact the results in the coming quarters. However, the new funding initiative will bring some stability to the company's funding options.

Chicago, IL – September 14, 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: Citigroup Inc. (C), UBS AG (UBS), Credit Suisse Group AG (CS), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Bank of America Corporation (BAC).

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 Analyst Blog:

Citgroup Wins Lawsuit Dismissal

Citigroup Inc.’s (C) officers and directors (including Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit) won the dismissal of a lawsuit claiming they breached their duty to the bank by manipulating the market for auction-rate securities (ARS).

On Sep 10, U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain in New York dismissed the derivative lawsuit on procedural grounds because the plaintiffs failed to ask the bank to bring the case itself. She gave the plaintiffs an opportunity to file a new complaint.

In a derivative lawsuit, shareholders seek to recover damages from the company instead of being paid to individual shareholders. Damages would be sought from executives or board members. The judge's written ruling said the pension fund could file an amended complaint by Oct 1, but failure to do so would result in a judgment dismissing the complaint.

Plaintiffs led by the Louisiana Municipal Police Employees Retirement System claimed that Citigroup was exposed to billions of dollars in settlements, fines and lost business after the defendants rigged the market in ARS to hide the lack of liquidity. The defendants included board members Michael Armstrong and former Chairman Win Bischoff.

ARS are debt instruments whose rates are reset in periodic auctions. The credit crisis of 2007 put increasing pressure on the ARS market and by February 2008 the $330 billion market collapsed after brokerages stopped supporting the auctions.

A number of brokerage firms including Citigroup, UBS AG (UBS), Credit Suisse Group AG (CS), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) have already agreed to buy back tens of billions of dollars in securities from investors after investigators found they didn't properly inform clients about the risks, or that the market was crumbling, increasing their losses.

In Aug 2008, Citigroup was the first firm that agreed to buy $7.3 billion of the debt from individual investors and pay $100 million in fines. The bank also pledged to help 2,600 institutional customers unload $12 billion of securities. In Oct 2008, Bank of America Corporation (BAC) settled with regulators and agreed to buy back $4.5 billion in securities from its clients.

Want more from Zacks Equity Research? Subscribe to the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5515.

About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5517

About Zacks

Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978 by Leonard Zacks. As a PhD in mathematics Len knew he could find patterns in stock market data that would lead to superior investment results. Amongst his many accomplishments was the formation of his proprietary stock picking system; the Zacks Rank, which continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5518.

Visit http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/zacksresearch

Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts

Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should always research companies and securities before making any investments. Nothing herein should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security.

Contact:
Mark Vickery
Web Content Editor
312-265-9380
Visit: www.zacks.com

Chicago, IL – September 2, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Amdocs (DOX) as the Bull of the Day and GameStop (GME) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Merck (MRK), Schering-Plough (SGP) and Citigroup Inc. (C).

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 Amdocs (DOX) following its strong results for the fiscal third quarter of fiscal 2009. The company has industry-leading technology integration products for large transformational projects and managed services.

Long-term fundamentals for Amdocs remain firm due to the transition of telecom service providers to converged and consolidated solutions. Amdocs maintains a very strong financial position with healthy order backlog.

Recently, the company has won a series of large managed services contracts in various parts of the world. Except North America, operations in other regions have started gaining momentum.

Bear of the Day:

The video game industry, which surged ahead for a number of years, is now grappling with the recession. Heavy job losses and reduced access to credit markets have led to lower discretionary spending

This has resulted in lower demand for video game consoles and new software. This unfavorable backdrop was evident from GameStop’s (GME) dismal recent results. Despite the weak environment, management expects the release of popular titles in the second half of 2009 to stimulate sales.

We maintain an Underperform rating on the stock until we see an upturn in the company's growth trajectory.

Latest Posts on the Zacks Analyst Blog:

Merck Lays Merger Groundwork

With the merger of Merck (MRK) and Schering-Plough (SGP) scheduled to be completed by the fourth quarter this year, Merck is busy with the necessary groundwork.

Yesterday, the company announced the new management structure post merger. The current chairman, president and CEO of Merck, Richard T. Clark, will continue to head the combined company. The merged entity will comprise five main divisions -- Global Human Health, Animal Health, Consumer Healthcare, Research and Manufacturing.

Global Human Health, the combined company’s largest segment, will be headed by Kenneth Frazier, who is currently heading that division of Merck. This division will include prescription drugs, biologics and vaccines along with an emerging-markets group. Both the Research and Manufacturing segments will be headed by the respective current heads at Merck.

Citi Sells Credit Card Portfolio

Citigroup Inc. (C) announced on Monday the sale of ownership of three North American partnered credit card portfolios, representing approximately $1.3 billion in managed assets.

The sale constitutes the divesture initiatives taken by Citigroup to offload weak businesses and troubled assets that have caused huge losses in the past quarters. The portfolios were part of Citi Holdings, one of the company's segments resulting from the split earlier in the year. Citi Holdings holds the company's riskier assets and tougher-to-manage ventures, while Citicorp comprises the core franchise focusing on traditional banking around the world to generate long-term profitability.

Terms of the deals and the acquirer were not disclosed. Citigroup will continue to service the card portfolios through the first half of 2010 when the acquirer takes on those responsibilities.

Get the full analysis of all these stocks by going to http://at.zacks.com/?id=5507.

About the Bull and Bear of the Day

Every day, the analysts at Zacks Equity Research select two stocks that are likely to outperform (Bull) or underperform (Bear) the markets over the next 3-6 months.

About the Analyst Blog

Updated throughout every trading day, the Analyst Blog provides analysis from Zacks Equity Research about the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets.

About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous analyst coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today by visiting http://at.zacks.com/?id=5508.

About Zacks

Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978 by Leonard Zacks. As a PhD in mathematics Len knew he could find patterns in stock market data that would lead to superior investment results. Amongst his many accomplishments was the formation of his proprietary stock picking system; the Zacks Rank, which continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5509.

Visit http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/zacksresearch

Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts

Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should always research companies and securities before making any investments. Nothing herein should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security.

Contact:
Mark Vickery
Web Content Editor
312-265-9380
Visit: www.zacks.com

Around 20 buyout firms have reviewed the books of Bellsystem24, but only four or five may submit formal bids next week due to the deal size. Besides Permira and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, potential bidders include CVC Capital and Bain Capital. Some other firms, though not actively working on the deal at present, may enter the race if invited to partner prominent bidders.

Japanese mega-banks, which include Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MTU) and Mizuho Financial Group (MFG), which were hurt less by the global financial crisis, are willing to lend money.

At present, both KKR and Permira believe the $1.5 billion estimated valuation by Citigroup is too high, as there are concerns regarding the real value of the assets.

Nikko Citigroup, the Japanese investment banking arm of Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) are advisors for the transaction.

The move to sell Bellsystem24, valued at about $1.5 billion, comes as a part of the restructuring undertaken by Citigroup. The company aims at shedding a part of its operations that it considers non-core assets to bolster its capital base in the wake of the global credit crunch.

The Dow Jones industrial average, which at one point had given up as much as 84 points, rose 37.11 points, or 0.4%, to close at 9,580.63, its eighth consecutive advance.  The broad Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 2.86 points, or 0.28%, to 1,030.98.  The tech-heavy NASDAQ composite index edged up 3.30 points, or 0.16%, to 2,027.73, helped by a late-session rally in technology shares.  Treasuries fell, pushing the yield on 10-year notes up 0.3 point to 3.46%.  On the New York Stock Exchange 1.16 billion shares exchanged hands and advancing shares were ahead of those that declined eight to seven.

This morning’s stock futures suggest moderate gains on the opening.  Dow Jones industrial average futures are up 29, or 0.3%, at 9,596. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures are up 4.40, or 0.4%, at 1,033.70, while Nasdaq 100 index futures are up 6.50, or 0.4%, at 1,645.50.

Technology issues rose in anticipation of better-than-expected earnings from Dell (NASDAQ:DELL).  Leading the sector gains, however, were financial issues, up 0.9%, helped by a 27% surge in insurer AIG International’s (NYSE:AIG) shares.  Rumors of ex-CEO Greenberg's collaboration in asset sales, and the new CEO’s remarks suggesting there was no plan of any fire sale of the company's assets generated an influx of interest in the stock that has risen more than 400% since July 9.  CIT Group Inc. (NYSE:CIT) jumped 29 cents, or 22.8%, to $1.56. Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) rose 42 cents, or 9.1%, to $5.05 on reports in the New York Post that hedge fund manager John Paulson has acquired a 2% stake in the company.

Action was somewhat balanced on the DJIA where 16 stocks advanced and 13 declined with one ending the day unchanged.  Boeing (NYSE:BA) led the advancing issues, as the company said it sees first test flight of its much-delayed 787 Dreamliner by the end of this year and first delivery by the fourth quarter of 2010.  American Express (NYSE:AXP) shares rose 2.5%, helped by an advance in financial shares; a rise in commodity related stocks sent shares of Alcoa (NYSE:AA) up 1.1%.  However, home construction shares lost favor on reports of a wider-than-anticipated loss at Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL), as well as lower sales guidance for the fourth quarter.

Banks, which have suffered the most in the current economic turmoil, came under further scrutiny as The FDIC announced that it has added more banks on its "problem" list. The agency said it had 416 banks on its "problem" list at the end of the second quarter, up from 305 at the end of March. However, the three-month Libor, a global measure of liquidity for short-term borrowings by companies and consumers, continued to signal improved liquidity in the credit markets.  On Thursday, Libor sank to a fresh, all-time low of 0.36%, down from 0.41% a week ago and an all-time high of 4.82% on October 10, 2008.

Investors can procure cheap loans for buying newly created consumer loan-backed, new and existing commercial mortgage-backed bonds. The deadline for investors to request loans for buying asset- backed debt for the seventh round of the TALF is Sept. 3.

The deal, called BAAT 2009-2, will be jointly led by Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital (BARC), Citigroup Inc. (C), Credit Suisse Group (CS) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). Last month, Bank of America sold the first deal eligible under TALF of $4 billion auto-loan backed deal at 135 basis points over a benchmark.

TALF was set up in March to reinvigorate the battered securitization market following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Although TALF was originally applicable only to securities backed by consumer loans, it has been expanded to include commercial mortgage loan-backed bonds.

TALF loans against newly issued asset-backed securities and existing commercial mortgage-backed securities will be extended through March 31, 2010. For newly issued CMBS, which takes considerable time to be put together, the extension is until June 30, 2010.

The Fed is relying on the TALF to lower borrowing costs and unlock credit to consumers and small business. The program may provide as much as $200 billion in loans to finance the purchase of highly rated asset-backed securities comprising new consumer and small- business loans.

The regulations are intended to eliminate practices like unexpected interest rate increases and credit limit cuts.

According to the law, credit card issuers have to give cardholders 45 days notice before raising card interest rates. Previously, issuers were only required to give 15 days notice. Credit card users will also have the option to cancel their cards and pay out the rest at the original rate.

Also, card issuers have to mail bills at least 14 days in advance and provide a 15-day notice of changes in terms.

These are only minor changes being implemented. Effective February 2010, more clauses of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 will come into effect.

Credit card companies and banks are also making changes to counter the new laws. Credit card companies are raising interest rates and fees across the board. The credit card companies have already started mailing warnings to consumers about fee and interest rate increases.

Many issuers, such as American Express Company (AXP) and Citigroup Inc. (C) are in the process of informing their cardholders about fee and interest rate changes.

Chicago, IL – August 14, 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: International Business Machines (IBM), Cisco (CSCO), Hewlett Packard (HPQ), Dell Inc. (VZ) and Citigroup Inc. (C).

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 Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

IBM Set to Outperform

The drivers behind our Outperform rating on International Business Machines (IBM) are the company’s strong fundamentals, substantial free cash flow, strong earnings momentum, improving operating performance, effective restructuring initiatives and new growth opportunities.

IBM is the leader in software, services and storage business. Its second-quarter results beat the Zacks Consensus, fueled by higher gross margins and cost controls. With continued cost-cutting efforts, the company raised its 2009 profit guidance by 50 cents to $9.70 per share. Despite falling sales, IBM’s efforts to generate earnings through a combination of margin expansion, growth initiatives, acquisitions, expected benefits from retirement-related costs and effective capital deployment are commendable.

IBM has been better insulated from the recent weakness in the U.S. economy than many of its peers owing to a large international revenue base. Moreover, management returns value to customers through regular share repurchases and dividend payouts. We believe that with a strong liquidity position, operational efficiency and improving profitability, IBM is well positioned to benefit from the market recovery.

We also believe the company’s strong position in the Services and Storage business, growth in Analytics solution revenue and focus on investments in diverse technologies with high growth potential further add to its prospects.

However, we are cautious of currency fluctuations which are hurting sales and may be critical to earnings growth. Apart from this, increasing competition from Cisco (CSCO), Hewlett Packard (HPQ) and Dell Inc. (VZ) threaten IBM’s market share.

Consultants Review Citi Management

U.S. regulators have forced Citigroup Inc. (C) to hire external consultants who will analyze whether the company's current management has the caliber to lead it out of the ongoing financial crisis.

Citigroup has entered an agreement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) that requires increased scrutiny of the bank and also requires it to fix financial, managerial and governance issues. Recruitment firm Egon Zehnder has been retained by Citigroup to carry out a comprehensive, in-depth management review as requested by the U.S. government following the stress tests conducted in May 2009.

Citigroup is required to submit a plan of action about possible managerial changes to its board and regulators by the time it reports its third quarter results in October 2009.

Want more from Zacks Equity Research? Subscribe to the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5515.

About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5517

About Zacks

Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978 by Leonard Zacks. As a PhD in mathematics Len knew he could find patterns in stock market data that would lead to superior investment results. Amongst his many accomplishments was the formation of his proprietary stock picking system; the Zacks Rank, which continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5518.

Visit http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/zacksresearch

Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts

Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should always research companies and securities before making any investments. Nothing herein should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security.

Contact:
Mark Vickery
Web Content Editor
312-265-9380
Visit: www.zacks.com

Joining them will be 25 other members of the S&P 500, including Goldman Sachs (GS) and Google (GOOG). Overall, 83 companies are scheduled to report. Though the total size of the calendar is not large, its composition could significantly influence market direction.

Minutes from the June Fed meeting will be released on Wednesday afternoon and could lead to volatility in the bond markets.

• Monday: June Treasury Budget
• Tuesday: June Producer Price Index (PPI), June retail sales, May business inventories
• Wednesday: June Consumer Price Index (CPI), July Empire State (NY) Index, June industrial production and capacity utilization, Fed minutes, weekly crude inventories
• Thursday: July Phili Fed survey, July National Association of Homebuilders Index, weekly initial jobless claims
• Friday: June housing starts and building permits

No Fed officials are currently scheduled to speak.

July stock options expire on Friday.

Wednesday could be the most volatile day, given the large amount of earnings and economic news. Overall, we'll be looking for positive earnings surprises, confirmation that the second half will be better than the first half and buying in reaction to good news.

Companies That Could Issue Positive Earnings Surprises

Four of 15 covering brokerage analysts have increased their second-quarter profit projections on W.W. Grainger (GWW) over the past few weeks. As a result, the consensus estimate now calls for per share earnings of $1.15 per share. The most accurate estimate is 2 cents higher at $1.17 per share. GWW has topped expectations for 5 consecutive quarters.

Recent revisions by 3 brokerage analysts have pushed the second-quarter consensus estimate for Google (GOOG) up 4 cents to $4.35 per share. The most accurate estimate is even more bullish at $4.40 per share. GOOG has topped expectations for 3 consecutive quarters. Google is scheduled to report on Thursday, Jul 16, after the close of trading.

Five analysts raised their second-quarter estimates on Intel (INTC) within the past 30 days. Though the changes were not enough to budge the consensus estimate from its current level of 7 cents per share, the revisions suggest there could be upside. Both Micron (MU) and National Semiconductor (NSM) have already topped expectations and Texas Instruments (TXN) raised its second-quarter guidance. Plus, INTC has topped estimates during 4 out of the last 5 quarters. Intel is scheduled to report on Tuesday, Jul 14, after the close.

One analyst just raised his second-quarter profit forecast on Wolverine World Wide (WWW). The revision pushed the consensus estimate a penny higher to 26 cents per share. The most accurate estimate is 3 cents higher at 29 cents per share. WWW has topped expectations during 3 out of the last 4 quarters. Wolverine Worldwide is scheduled to report on Wednesday, Jul 15, before the start of trading.

Companies That Could Issue Negative Earnings Surprises

The ongoing recession is having an impact on Harley-Davidson (HOG). The motorcycle manufacturer has missed expectations for 3 consecutive quarters and analysts are bracing for more bad news. During the past 30 days, the second-quarter consensus estimate has declined 2 cents to 26 cents per share. The most accurate estimate is even more bearish at 24 cents per share. Harley-Davidson is scheduled to report on Thursday, Jul 16, before the start of trading.

Charles Rotblut, CFA is the senior market analyst for Zacks.com.

Earnings Calendar

Here is a list of companies that we have confirmed will report during the week of Jun 13 - Jul 17¹. Prices are as of Thursday's, Jul 9, market close.

Company	Stock	Zacks Estimate	Year Ago EPS	Last Qtr Surprise	Date	Time	Price
Csx Corp	CSX	$0.63	$0.89	14.8%	7/13	AMC	$31.84
Fastenal	FAST	$0.33	$0.51	(2.9%)	7/13	BTO	$30.64
Gsc Investment	GNV	$0.38	$0.39	11.9%	7/13	AMC	$2.53
Merix Corp	MERX	($0.39)	($0.17)	(71.4%)	7/13	N/A	$0.75
Novellus Sys	NVLS	($0.38)	$0.06	7.8%	7/13	AMC	$17.77
Bank Ozarks	OZRK	$0.53	$0.51	5.8%	7/13	AMC	$22.11
Aar Corp	AIR	$0.47	$0.51	(6.5%)	7/14	AMC	$14.44
Altera Corp	ALTR	$0.16	$0.32	6.3%	7/14	AMC	$15.86
Goldman Sachs	GS	$3.24	$4.58	N/A	7/14	BTO	$143.21
Intel Corp	INTC	$0.07	$0.29	266.7%	7/14	AMC	$16.02
Johnson & Johns	JNJ	$1.11	$1.18	4.1%	7/14	BTO	$56.69
Ocean Power Tec	OPTT	($0.46)	N/A	34.0%	7/14	N/A	$5.29
Palm Harbor Hms	PHHM	($0.30)	($0.05)	20.7%	7/14	AMC	$2.03
Xoma Ltd	XOMA	($0.08)	($0.16)	500.0%	7/14	AMC	$0.75
Yum! Brands Inc	YUM	$0.43	$0.45	20.00%	7/14	AMC	$35.00
Abbott Labs	ABT	$0.88	$0.84	4.3%	7/15	BTO	$45.93
Acergy Sa	ACGY	$0.16	$0.35	25.0%	7/15	DMT	$9.40
Adtran Inc	ADTN	$0.28	$0.34	4.3%	7/15	BTO	$20.74
Asml Holding Nv	ASML	($0.33)	$0.44	(16.1%)	7/15	BTO	$21.67
Commerce Bancsh	CBSH	$0.39	$0.73	(15.7%)	7/15	BTO	$31.72
Crown Hldgs Inc	CCK	$0.66	$0.61	33.3%	7/15	AMC	$23.60
Cintas Corp	CTAS	$0.36	$0.58	(2.1%)	7/15	AMC	$21.73
Gannett Inc	GCI	$0.37	$1.02	8.7%	7/15	BTO	$3.19
Grainger W W	GWW	$1.15	$1.48	16.8%	7/15	BTO	$78.31
Kinder Morg Eng	KMP	$0.28	$0.64	(57.1%)	7/15	N/A	$51.16
Landstar System	LSTR	$0.40	$0.56	(6.9%)	7/15	AMC	$34.45
Lufkin Inds	LUFK	$0.42	$1.36	(47.9%)	7/15	BTO	$38.95
Medtox Scientif	MTOX	$0.10	$0.22	(28.6%)	7/15	BTO	$8.95
Knight Cap Gp	NITE	$0.36	$0.32	6.4%	7/15	BTO	$16.71
Polycom Inc	PLCM	$0.22	$0.24	(35.0%)	7/15	AMC	$20.07
Resources Cnctn	RECN	$0.04	$0.35	(28.6%)	7/15	AMC	$16.55
Stanley Furn Co	STLY	($0.20)	($0.01)	(340.0%)	7/15	AMC	$10.82
Texas Inds	TXI	($0.04)	$0.49	1350.0%	7/15	BTO	$29.84
Univl Fst Prods	UFPI	$0.43	$0.61	71.4%	7/15	AMC	$32.24
Worthington Ind	WOR	($0.01)	$0.72	500.0%	7/15	BTO	$11.19
Wolverine World	WWW	$0.26	$0.33	36.7%	7/15	BTO	$21.16
Xilinx Inc	XLNX	$0.20	$0.36	11.1%	7/15	AMC	$19.46
Angiodynamics	ANGO	$0.15	$0.20	25.0%	7/16	AMC	$12.34
Amphenol Corp-A	APH	$0.42	$0.61	2.5%	7/16	BTO	$31.54
Aracruz Cel-Adr	ARA	($1.19)	$0.69	N/A	7/16	BTO	$14.82
Assoc Banc Corp	ASBC	($0.16)	$0.37	12.0%	7/16	DMT	$12.18
Aptargroup Inc	ATR	$0.40	$0.64	2.7%	7/16	AMC	$32.42
Baxter Intl	BAX	$0.94	$0.85	2.5%	7/16	BTO	$52.64
Biogen Idec Inc	BIIB	$0.97	$0.91	5.0%	7/16	BTO	$45.43
Badger Meter	BMI	$0.54	$0.48	23.7%	7/16	AMC	$38.26
Cubist Pharm	CBST	$0.28	$0.34	(7.1%)	7/16	AMC	$16.79
Courier Corp	CRRC	$0.23	$0.25	(37.5%)	7/16	BTO	$14.50
Cypress Semicon	CY	($0.39)	$0.17	(26.1%)	7/16	BTO	$8.77
Cytec Inds Inc	CYT	$0.01	$1.20	(80.7%)	7/16	AMC	$18.28
Datalink Corp	DTLK	$0.02	$0.08	16.7%	7/16	AMC	$4.21
Fairchild Semi	FCS	($0.12)	$0.17	3.0%	7/16	BTO	$7.06
Google Inc-Cl A	GOOG	$4.35	$3.92	22.6%	7/16	AMC	$410.39
Genuine Parts	GPC	$0.62	$0.81	14.3%	7/16	BTO	$32.56
Harley-Davidson	HOG	$0.27	$0.95	(3.9%)	7/16	BTO	$15.67
Home Bancshares	HOMB	$0.20	$0.28	16.7%	7/16	BTO	$18.99
Intl Bus Mach	IBM	$2.03	$1.98	1.8%	7/16	N/A	$102.08
Insteel Inds	IIIN	($0.04)	$0.97	(2250.0%)	7/16	BTO	$7.83
Jpmorgan Chase	JPM	$0.18	$0.57	29.0%	7/16	BTO	$33.62
Knoll Inc	KNL	$0.21	$0.49	52.6%	7/16	BTO	$7.19
Marriott Intl-A	MAR	$0.21	$0.51	71.4%	7/16	BTO	$19.72
Mb Financl Inc	MBFI	($0.31)	$0.42	(3033.3%)	7/16	BTO	$11.08
Mission West	MSW	$0.14	$0.12	7.7%	7/16	N/A	$6.40
Nokia Cp-Adr A	NOK	$0.17	$0.56	(7.1%)	7/16	BTO	$14.28
Novartis Ag-Adr	NVS	$0.86	$0.99	0.0%	7/16	N/A	$40.05
Nexen Inc	NXY	$0.30	$0.70	766.7%	7/16	BTO	$19.82
Peoples Utd Fin	PBCT	$0.07	$0.13	(20.0%)	7/16	AMC	$15.12
Polaris Indus	PII	$0.48	$0.72	30.0%	7/16	BTO	$31.07
Ppg Inds Inc	PPG	$0.76	$1.62	53.8%	7/16	BTO	$42.11
Renaissnce Lrng	RLRN	$0.11	$0.12	44.4%	7/16	AMC	$8.94
Simmons First A	SFNC	$0.31	$0.42	8.8%	7/16	BTO	$26.28
Sonoco Products	SON	$0.36	$0.62	(3.3%)	7/16	BTO	$23.16
Umpqua Hldgs Cp	UMPQ	($0.07)	$0.17	(2400.0%)	7/16	BTO	$7.62
Usa Truck Inc	USAK	$0.03	$0.21	(200.0%)	7/16	BTO	$13.59
Smith (Ao) Corp	AOS	$0.54	$1.03	(29.3%)	7/17	BTO	$31.87
Bank Of Amer Cp	BAC	$0.17	$0.72	940.0%	7/17	BTO	$11.97
Bb&T Corp	BBT	$0.22	$0.69	45.5%	7/17	BTO	$20.86
Citigroup Inc	C	($0.05)	($0.49)	25.0%	7/17	BTO	$2.69
First Hrzn Natl	FHN	($0.32)	($0.10)	(62.5%)	7/17	BTO	$11.38
Genl Electric	GE	$0.24	$0.54	13.0%	7/17	BTO	$10.86
Mattel Inc	MAT	$0.02	$0.03	0.0%	7/17	BTO	$15.45
Marshall&Ilsley	MI	($0.68)	($1.52)	(37.5%)	7/17	BTO	$4.50
Prosperity Bcsh	PRSP	$0.50	$0.52	1.9%	7/17	BTO	$28.94
Webster Finl Cp	WBS	($0.43)	$0.42	(112.0%)	7/17	BTO	$7.86

BTO = Before The Market Open, AMC = After The Market Close

¹Some of the companies listed in the earnings calendar may not be in the Zacks Rank universe.

Zacks Investment Research

Shares of Lear Corp. (LEA) slumped more than 30% on Friday after reports claimed that the auto parts maker was expected to file for bankruptcy as early as June 30.

The Southfield, Michigan-based company must make a $38 million interest payment on two of its bonds by Tuesday or agree with lenders to restructure its debt. Lear has been trying to negotiate a deal with creditors for months now and is reportedly prepared to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection if talks fail next week.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal said that Lear has $500 million in debtor-in-possession financing with its lenders, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Citigroup Inc. (C).

Auto parts suppliers have been teetering on the brink of collapse since a large number of their customers have succumbed to the credit crisis. After the Obama administration rejected a request for additional bailout funds to suppliers, a number of these companies might have to head for bankruptcy courts. Lear's progress in that direction now almost looks certain to industry insiders.

Shares of the company were trading down nearly 28% to 39 cents at noon. In the last one year, the stock has traded between 27 cents and $18.31.

Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) said U.S. credit card defaults rose in May along with a 9.4% spike in jobless rates in the country.

The McLean, Virginia-based company said in a regulatory filing that in May its annual net charge-off rate, loans it believes won't ever be repaid, rose to 9.41% from 8.56% in April. The 30-day delinquency rate however fell for a third straight month to 4.9% from 5.04%.

Capital One said the change in its accounting period to processes bankruptcies had improved its charge-off rate by 50 basis points. Excluding that effect, the annualized default rate would have been close to 10%.

The company that issues MasterCard (MA) and Visa (V) credit cards, is still performing better than larger peers like American Express (AXP), Citigroup Inc (C) which are likely to paint an even bleaker picture.

Shares of Capital One were down nearly 2% to $23.58 at noon on the New York Stock Exchange.

Citigroup Inc. (C) finally agreed to bolster its common equity position by swapping $58 billion of preferred stock on Wednesday in a move that will make the federal government its largest shareholder.

Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said "Following completion of the exchange offers, Citi will be among the best capitalized banks in the world." As per the highly diluted exchange offer, the ailing bank will convert a part of the Treasury's $25 billion preferred stock into common shares giving the US government a 34% stake in the company.

Citi had issued these preferred shares to the federal government while taking $45 billion under the Troubled Asset Relief Program at the height of the financial crisis. When regulatory stress tests showed last month that Citi needed a $5.5 billion buffer in case of future losses, Citi chose to convert preferred shares to meet the shortfall.

The exchange with a $3.25 per share conversion rate is expected to close around July 30 and will increase the ailing banking giant's shares outstanding by 75%.

Citi shares were up nearly 4% to $3.54 at noon after touching an intraday high of $3.59 earlier in the session on the New York Stock Exchange.

Along with this much anticipated move, which is a natural corollary of the beleaguered firm's entry into bankruptcy court, the benchmark stock index also removed Citigroup Inc. (C) from its lineup to make way for the second-largest U.S. commercial insurer Travelers Co. (TRV). Both GM and Citigroup will be formally taken out from the average at the opening of trade on Jun 8.

While swapping companies on the index usually takes years, the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression has claimed many of its components as victims. The last change came when Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) replaced the ailing American International Group Inc. (AIG) in September.

Dow Jones Editor in Chief Robert Thomson, who plays a key role in deciding the composition of the index, said, "We were reluctant to remove Citigroup at the height of the financial frenzy, but it is clear that the bank is in the midst of a substantial restructuring which will see the government with a large and ongoing stake."

Citi was added to the index in March 1997 as Travelers Group Inc. The country's biggest financial firm by assets was formed by a merger of Travelers and Citicorp. In 2002, it spun off the Hartford, Connecticut-based Travelers Property Casualty Corp. through an initial public offering. The irony is that the same firm is now replacing Citigroup on the DJIA.

With the addition of Cisco to the index, the technology weighting of the DJIA now goes up to about 17%. Shares of Cisco rose 6% to $19.61 at noon on the NASDAQ, while Travelers gained nearly 4% to $42.20 on the New York Stock Exchange at about the same time. Responding to upbeat economic reports, the DJIA is currently up 2.67% or 227.24 points.