Ecolab Inc. (ECL) announced second-quarter adjusted earnings of 49 cents per share, edging past the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny.

Sales declined 8% to $1.4 billion.

In terms of segments, cleaning and sanitizing sales grew 1% to $671 million, the international division dipped 1% to $656 million and revenue from U.S. other services declined 5% to $115 million.

Meanwhile, Ecolab narrowed its full-year adjusted earnings projection to between $1.96 and $2.02 per share, against the prior outlook of $1.95 to $2.05.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate currently calls for EPS of $1.97, derived from 16 covering analysts, which has remained constant over the past 2 months.

ECL, a Zacks #3 Rank ("Hold") stock, slipped more than 2% so far today on lower-than-volume of about 832,000, compared to the average daily volume of about 1.6 million.

"ECL" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

Aspire Misery Index for the Week Ended January 16, 2009 As of Friday morning, January 16, here is what we have accumulated for our Misery Index: middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; US. Auto Industry ndash; Ford expects U.S. light vehicles to reach 12.2 million units this year, Chrysler expects sales to reach 11 million and GM projects 10 to 11 million - down from 16 million in 2007 and 13.2 million last year. Wachovia expects 10.3 million unit sales. CSM worldwide expects 2009 sales in the U.S. to hit 11.5 million (but then rebound to 13.6 million in 2010). Deutsche Bank projects 2009 sales in the U.S. to decline by 13% to 11.5 million units. J.D. Power amp; Associates projects sales in the U.S. to decline to 11.4 million units in 2009, and then grow to 13.4 million in 2010, and 14.7 million units by 2011.nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Global Auto Industry ndash; French-Romanian manufacturer Dacia announced a ...

Hello Friends!  Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting my blog, Stock Picks Bob’s Advice!  As always, please remember that I am an amateur investor, so please remember to consult with your professional investment advisers prior to making any investment decisions based on information on this website.

Yesterday with the Dow up 500+ points (on the way to a 900+ point gain), I decided that it might be wise to go “all in” with my investments.  That is, after my partial sale of Graham (GHM) at a gain, I had another ‘permission slip’ to be adding a position.  With two positions in my portfolio, my minimum being 5, that meant I could move my holdings up to six positions.

These are different times, and while I chose stocks that are generally “growth stocks” and stocks that were indeed moving higher …

Hello Friends! Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting my blog, Stock Picks Bob’s Advice! As always, please remember that I am an amateur investor, so please remember to consult with your professional investment advisers prior to making any investment decisions based on information on this website.

After so many days of downside action in the market, it was nice to see at least the Dow move higher today, trading at 11,288.54, up 73.03 on the day as I write. The Nasdaq, however, didn’t participate in this rally and is currently at 2,245.38, down 6.08 on the day.

With the market moving a bit higher, this gave me an opportunity to identify a new name for this blog. Scanning the list of top % gainers on the NYSE today, I …