For Immediate Release

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

...

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 ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 5, 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: Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI), BJ Services (BJS), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA), Mylan (MYL) and Comcast Corp. (CMCSA).

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:

Baker Hughes Misses Estimates

Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) reported its third quarter results of 26 cents per share, well below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 36 cents and year-earlier quarter earnings of $1.39. Before adjusting one-time items, earnings were 18 cents per share.

Though the company’s

...

Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) today reported its third quarter results. Net income was $944 million or 33 cents, compared to $771 million or 26 cents in the prior-year quarter. The company’s adjusted (excluding tax benefit and one time financing charges) EPS stood at 28 cents, well above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 25 cents. Effective expense control and working capital management were the primary reasons for this solid performance.  Total revenues were $8.8 billion, up 3% year over year and mostly in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Top-line growth was mainly attributable to the strong performance of both Cable and Programming segments.   Gross margin in the third quarter was 60.3%, compared to 60.9% in the year-ago quarter. The operating margin was 37.8% in the reported quarter, remains same year over year. For the third quarter, Comcast declared the dividend of $0.07 per common share, compared to $0.06

...

Time Warner Cable Inc (TWC) will launch the 4G WiMAX mobile broadband services in three North Carolina markets from Dec 1. The WiMAX connection will offer wireless data transmission at speeds five times faster than the 3G connections currently provided by the company. Under the brand name of “Road Runner Mobile", this super-fast mobile broadband network will support Internet speed of 6 Mbps with a monthly between $40 and $80 for customers with at least one other Time Warner Cable service.  The “Road Runner Mobile" service will provide its subscribers the convenience of mobility so that the customers can enjoy the WiMAX services on their devices anywhere they go within their service circle. The company also said that it plans to add new mobile services in the future, such as the ability to program a DVR from a mobile device and for customers to take their video ...

Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) has decided to increasingly focus on the small and medium sized businesses (SMB) segment. Recently, the company signed a deal to acquire Cimco Communications Inc, a privately held competitive local exchange carrier in the Chicago area. However, the financial terms of this acquisition have not been disclosed. Cimco has more than 23,000 customers in the mid-tier commercial business segment.  In addition to bringing in a new base of customers, Cimco will give Comcast some innovative engineering, customer service, and operations, specifically designed for the mid-range business services market. Cimco has strategic relationship with some industry leading original equipment manufacturers like Cisco System Inc (CSCO), Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) and Adtran Inc (ADTN).  Cable MSOs are facing fierce competition from telecom service providers. The U.S. telecom giants such as AT&T (T) and Verizon Wireless (VZ) are gradually expanding their fiber-optic networks. As a ...

Time Warner Cable Inc (TWC) has recently deployed its first next-generation DOCSIS 3.0 (also called Wideband) service in New York City. With this, TWC has established itself as a formidable player to counter the threat from high-speed FiOS network of Verizon Wireless (VZ). Earlier this month, the company has taken a decision to continue to roll-out switched digital video (SDV) in three major markets of Los Angeles, New York City (NYC) and Dallas. Deployment of SDV will free up bandwidth that can be used by TWC to offer 100 high-definition TV channels (HDTV), HD video-on-demand programs, and DOCSIS 3.0.   TWC will offer its residential tier Wideband service with 50 Mbps downstream and 5 Mbps upstream speed for $99.95. The company will also offer two commercial tier Wideband service. Together these services will cover 1.4 million subscribers in the NYC area.   The U.S. cable MSOs ...

Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) has installed its residential “Extreme" tier DOCSIS 3.0 network in Colorado offering 50 Mbps downstream and 10 Mbps upstream speed for a price of $99.95 per month. The company is aggressively deploying the DOCSIS 3.0 (also called Wideband) technology to upgrade its existing customers to high-speed network. Management predicted that 80% of its residential networks will be upgraded to DOCSIS 3.0 by the end of 2009 and the rest by mid 2010.  With the introduction of the super fast Extreme package, Comcast can now compete head-on with Denver-based Quest Communications International Inc (Q) that provides VDSL-2 services offering a package of 40 Mbps downstream and 20 Mbps upstream speeds for a price of $109.99 per month. Comcast can offer a much cheaper package because implementation of the wideband network has also improved Comcast’s bottom-line. For most of its installations, the company is using ...

Major cable MSOs (multi service operators) in the U.S. are aggressively deploying DCOSIS 3.0 technology. Intense competition among cable operators, satellite carriers and telecom service providers for broadband market share has forced the cable MSOs to opt for cost effective bandwidth enhancing technology for high-speed network. DOCSIS 3.0 (also called Wideband network) is a digital channel bonding technique that creates one larger and faster logical pipe to support throughput of at least 100 Mbit/second. With DOCSIS 3.0, cable operators are now able to offer one of the fastest Internet speeds available in the market. Comcast Corp. (CMCSA), the largest MSO in the U.S., has announced that it will upgrade around 40 million homes and businesses of the company’s existing networks with next-generation super-fast wideband technology by the end of 2009. Cablevision System Corp. (CVC) is also increasingly deploying DOCSIS 3.0. Time Warner Cable Inc. (...

  Yesterday in a speech, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski has recommended a new rule to apply net neutrality to all telecom and cable service providers. Net neutrality will prohibit internet service providers (ISP), especially the phone and cable companies, from discriminating against users or applications. ISPs must grant consumers equal access to all legal web applications and services. The rule was so far applicable to the wired services providers, but the new proposal from the FCC wants to bring the flourishing wireless industry under scrutiny. The FCC’s new proposal is, in general, bad news for large telecom and cable operators like AT&T (T), Verizon Wireless (VZ), T-Mobile, a division of Deutsch Telekom (DT) and Comcast Corp. (CMCSA). As of now, these companies can restrict any devices, applications, services, or contents from running through their respective networks that competes with their own ...