Massey Energy Co. (MEE) − the largest coal company in Central Appalachia, Virginia – announced third-quarter earnings of 19 cents per share, which was in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. However, lower coal shipments and prices drove a 69% slump in earnings year over year.   Revenues in the quarter plunged 6% year over year to $6.4 billion, reflecting a 15% drop in sales volumes and a 4% decline in prices. Metallurgical coal accounted for 22% of total shipments, down from 24% in third-quarter 2008. According to company estimates, a fire that destroyed a southern West Virginia preparation plant in August curtailed production by 300,000 tons during the quarter.   Massey and its peers including Arch Coal Inc. (ACI), CONSOL Energy Inc. (CNX) and Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) were impacted by the weak coal demand. Demand for coal decreased with lower electric power generation

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Consol Energy Inc. (CNX) posted earnings from continuing operations of 48 cents in the third quarter, lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 64 cents and almost in line with 49 cents reported a year ago. The slight decrease versus last year was due to lower thermal coal production, lower metallurgical coal production and lower gas prices.  Net revenue in the quarter decreased 7% to $1,094.5 million compared to $1,173.1 million a year ago. Revenue decline in the quarter is attributed to lower revenues in the metallurgical coal and gas segments, offset by an increase in thermal coal revenues.  Consol produced 0.6 million tons of metallurgical coal during the quarter versus 0.9 million tons in the year-earlier quarter. The average realized price in the quarter declined 17.6% from a year ago to $97.07 per ton. The company’s thermal coal production declined by 1.0 million tons from ...

Chicago, IL - June 9, 2009- Kevin Matras shows how to calculate a stock's price target and how to find stocks currently trading below them. Stocks in this week's article include Air Methods Corp. (AIRM), Consol Energy, Inc. (CNX), Consolidated Water Co., Ltd. (CWCO), Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM) and Noven Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NOVN).

Screen of the Week written by Kevin Matras of Zacks Investment Research:

I wrote about this back in February when the market was putting in its lows and everyone was wondering what their stock's price target was or how low it was going to go.

Today, after a pretty big run up, people are still wondering what their stock's price target is, but now they're wondering how high it's going to go.

Either way, it's important for everyone to know how to calculate their stock's price target.

You can

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Highlights include Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC), Union Pacific Corp. (UNP), Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (BNI), CONSOL Energy Inc. (CNX) and Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU). One way to keep track of economic activity is to look at just how much stuff is moving around. In this case, the data from Railfax shown below is not very reassuring. Total rail traffic last week was down 24.4% from a week ago, and the decline is very broad-based across all of the major types of goods carried on the rails. The best way to look at the data is to compare the top line of each grouping (the "Vs. 2008" line). Note that the total traffic quarter to date is down 22.5% from a year ago, which is substantially worse than the 18.1% decline year to date. ...

The fund filings are out. If you're wondering, these are the funds I like to track, and sometimes follow by buying the same stocks:br /br /-George Soros (Soros Fund Management)br /-Seth Klarman (Baupost Group)br /-John Paulson (Paulson amp; CO.)br /-Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway)br /-David Einhorn (Greenlight Capital)br /-Bill Ackman (Pershing Square Capital Management)br /-Steve Cohen (SAC Capital Advisors)br /br /Today, I'm going toa href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchiveamp;sid=a_RT.rEuHt4M" take a quick look at Soros' holdings/a.br /br /blockquoteSoros Fund Management LLC, the investor’s hedge-fund firm, sold 5 million U.S. shares of Petrobras, as the Brazilian company is known, according to a filing today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The New York-based firm’s remaining 32 million shares of the state-controlled oil company were valued at $963 million at the end of the quarter.br /br /The hedge fund also held 5.6 million shares of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Potash at the end of the quarter, compared ...

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

AmericanWest Bancorp (AWBC) Astronics Corp (ATRO) Banco Bradesco SA (BBD) Santander BanCorp (SBP) The Boston Beer Company, Inc (SAM) Cameron International Corp (CAM) Capital Bank Corp (CBKN) Century Casinos, Inc (CNTY) CNinsure Inc (CISG) Community Bancorp (CBON) Comtech Telecommunications Corp (CMTL) CONSOL Energy Inc (CNX) Core Laboratories NV (CLB) Duff & Phelps Corp (DUF) Eni SpA (E) Fairpoint Communications, Inc (FRP) First Merchants Corp (FRME) Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings Ltd (FSR) FNB United Corp (FNBN) GSE Systems, Inc (GVP) The Hain Celestial Group, Inc (HAIN) Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc (HE) Huntsman Corp (HUN) I-Flow Corp (IFLO) IMAX Corp (IMAX) INX Inc (INXI) Jo-Ann Stores, Inc (JAS) LDK Solar Co ...

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

AmericanWest Bancorp (AWBC) Atlas Energy Resources LLC (ATN) Avnet Inc (AVT) BGC Partners Inc (BGCP) Blyth Inc (BTH) The Boeing Co (BA) Bristow Group Inc (BRS) Brooks Automation Inc (BRKS) Carlisle Companies Inc (CSL) Cascade Bancorp (CACB) Columbia Sportswear Co (COLM) Commercial Vehicle Group Inc (CVGI) Consol Energy Inc (CNX) Cott Corp (COT) Danaos Corp (DAC) Dayton Superior Corp (DSUP) Deere & Co (DE) The Walt Disney Co (DIS) Echostar Corp (SATS) Ensco International Inc (ESV) CGG Veritas (CGV) Heritage-Crystal Clean Inc (HCCI) Hertz Global Holdings Inc (HTZ) KVH Industries Inc (KVHI) Lazard Ltd (LAZ) MB Financial Inc (MBFI) Media General Inc (MEG) Parke Bancorp Inc (PKBK) ...

Highlighted stocks include: Alcoa Inc. (...

Hmm... here I thought we were positioned well for a big up day, having cut back our short exposure and getting quite long Friday. How very wrong. Always interested on days like this when we are trailing the market so badly to see what is winning and what is losing - below are the best and worst performers of the S&P 500 Best - Banks & Homebuilders - and home related (Masco/Lowes/Whirlpool) Symbol Company Name % Price Change Today STI SunTrust Banks Inc 7.8 KBH KB Home 7.7...