For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – September 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: CKE Restaurants, Inc. (CKR), McDonald’s Corporation (MCD), Burger King Holdings (BKC), Yum! Brands (YUM) and Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG).

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Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

CKE Profit Slides Marginally

CKE Restaurants, Inc. (CKR) recently reported second-quarter 2010 results amid a crumbling economy, plagued by rising unemployment and waning consumer discretionary spending.

The operator of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's fast food chains’ second quarter profit slid less than a percent

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DrStockPick.com Stock Report!

Friday September 11, 2009

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Motorola, Inc.(NYSE: MOT) ’s Home and Networks Mobility business today revealed its next generation encoding platform. This high-performance video processing platform supports both MPEG-4 and MPEG-2 standard-definition (SD) and high-definition (HD) encoding and transcoding and has been designed to meet future processing demands of both 1080P/50Hz and 1080P/60Hz resolutions using the MPEG-4 format.

Ditech Networks (NASDAQ:DITC), a global leader in mobile voice processing applications, today announced it has entered into a strategic relationship with SimulScribe, in which Ditech Networks will be the exclusive global marketing and sales partner for SimulScribe’s voice-to-text (VTT) applications to service providers

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California-based CKE Restaurants Inc. has opened its first Carl's Jr. restaurant in Shanghai. According to CKE this is the first of more than 100 Carl's Jr. units planned in the municipalities of Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, and the provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu over the next eight years. In China, Carl's Jr. is operated by Star Food [...]

Promotions Drive Surge in Traffic, But Margins Likely to Suffer Discounts Steak ‘N Shake Co. (SNS) shares jumped 10% today after reporting that same-store sales grew 5% in the company’s fiscal 3Q09 ended July 1. Comps surpassed recent domestic sales of the competition: McDonald’s Corporation (MCD), Burger King Holdings Inc (BKC), Wendy’s/Arby’s Group (WEN), Jack in the Box Inc (JACK) and CKE Restaurants Inc (CKR). Customer Traffic Surges 13.4%, Prices/mix Falls 8.4%. Cash-strapped customers flocked to the fast-food burger chain for its deeply discounted promotional menu items. The company celebrated its 75th anniversary on February 13th by offering steakburgers for 15 cents -- the same price they were when the chain started in 1934. From that time through March 29, the price rose only to 75 cents. While a proven way to draw new customers into the stores ...

MCD: May Sales Sizzle but FX to Take Bite Out of EarningsCurrency headwinds temper growth but MCD shares remain a good value in a dangerous marketMcDonald's Corporation (MCD) continues to report strong worldwide same-store sales but, as expected, foreign currency translation remains a drag on earnings.Much of the foreign exchange [FX] drag -- expected to be $0.20 for 2009 -- was already factored into estimates or offset by anticipated declines in commodity costs in 2H09. In turn, we are trimming our 2009 EPS estimates by just $0.04 to $3.78 and maintaining our Buy rating on what we consider a defensive safe haven in a dangerous market.McDonald's announced today that global same-restaurant sales jumped 5.1% in May, with overseas operations remaining strong and those in the U.S. moderating. Comps in in the U.S. grew 2.8% in May -- respectable given the ...

Highlights include McDonald's Corporation (MCD), Burger King Holdings Inc (BKC), Wendy's/Arby's Group (WEN), Jack in the Box Inc (JACK), CKE Restaurants Inc (CKR) and Yum! Brands Inc (YUM).MCD: April Sales Take Bite Out of Competitors' LunchIt appears that McDonald's Corporation (MCD) is not only taking share from casual dining restaurants, it's taking share from its fast-food competitors as well.McDonald's announced today that global same-restaurant sales jumped 6.9% in April, with strength in all territories. Comps surged 6.1% in the U.S., 8.4% in Europe and 6.5% in Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa.Although McDonald's quick service competitors -- including Burger King Holdings Inc (BKC), Wendy's/Arby's Group (WEN), Jack in the Box Inc (JACK) and CKE Restaurants Inc (CKR) -- haven't announced April sales yet, recent results suggested they were losing share, with comps ...

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

AerCap Holdings NV (AER) Ametek Inc (AME) AptarGroup Inc (ATR) CKE Restaurants Inc (CKR) Frontline Ltd (FRO) Greenhill & Co Inc (GHL) II-VI Inc (IIVI) International Game Technology (IGT) KVH Industries Inc (KVHI) LeapFrog Enterprises Inc (LF) NCR Corp (NCR) Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL) Penn Virginia GP Holdings LP (PVG) Stanley Furniture Company Inc (STLY) Strattec Security Corp (STRT) SunPower Corp (SPWRA) Transocean Ltd (RIG) Twin Disc Inc (TWIN) View the entire Zacks #5 Rank List.

Zacks Investment Research

No companies are expected to top expectations. CKE Restaurants, Inc. (CKE) and National Semiconductor Corporation (NSM) could miss estimates.

Just 49 companies have been confirmed to report for the second week of December. Within this group are S&P 500 members AutoZone, Inc. (AZO), Ciena Corporation (CIEN), Costco (COST), H&R Block, Inc. (HRB), The Kroger Co. (KR), National Semiconductor Corporation (NSM) and Pall Corporation (PLL).

(The light earnings calendar is typical for this time of year. Except for a mid-December bump when some early reporters give their end-of-year results, there will not be a significant number of earnings reports until the second-half of January.)

The scheduled economic data should not move the markets significantly. October pending homes sales might get more attention on Tuesday given the recent rebound in homebuilding stocks, but I don't expect it to have

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No companies are expected to top expectations. CKE Restaurants, Inc. (

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