We are upgrading our recommendation on American Physicians Service Group (AMPH) from Neutral to Outperform. American Physicians second quarter operating earnings of 82 cents per share were significantly ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 66 cents.

Results were driven by better-than-expected results in the Financial Service segment, strong policyholder retention and favorable developments from prior years. The company is also experiencing the benefits of the implementation of its cost containment measures.

Though declining rate continued to partially offset growth, policyholder retention, conservative reserve position and capital position augur well for a solid growth path with the market recovery.Zacks Investment Research

Navistar International Corporation (NAV) has showed a net loss of $35 million, or 49 cents per share for the third quarter of fiscal 2009 ended Oct. 31, 2009. The results include increased provisions for income taxes and exclude the extraordinary gain from the asset acquisition of the recreational vehicle manufacturing business of Monaco Coach Corporation. This was worse than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 66 cents per share. The truck maker had reported a net income $331 million or $4.47 per share in the comparable quarter of the previous year. Sales for the quarter slashed 37% to $2.51 billion, driven by poor sales at the Truck division. Manufacturing segment profit was $110 million, including the impacts of the Ford settlement (regarding the violation of an exclusive supply agreement), net of related charges, for the quarter compared with $473 million in the year-ago period. Segment Performance...