For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 19, 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: Ford (F), CarMax (KMX), AutoNation (AN), Apartment Investors (AIV) and Equity Residential (EQR).

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 Analyst Blog:

CPI Up on Cars, Energy

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for October rose by 0.3%, a little bit hotter than the 0.2% that was expected. If one strips out volatile food and energy prices to get the core consumer price index, prices were up 0.2%, also one tick higher than the 0.1%

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The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for October rose by 0.3%, a little bit hotter than the 0.2% that was expected. If one strips out volatile food and energy prices to get the core consumer price index, prices were up 0.2%, also one tick higher than the 0.1% expected. A rise in energy prices was not unexpected. Heck, one only has to see what the price of crude oil and natural gas have done over the last month or so. For the month, the price of energy rose 1.5% overall. The rise was sharpest among energy commodities, like gasoline and heating oil, which rose by 1.9%. Energy services, like electricity rose a more moderate -- but still steep -- 0.9%. The rise in core consumer prices was a bit more of a surprise. However, the rising prices were very narrow, with almost all of the increases due to ...

U.S. stocks closed higher for the second consecutive day, helped by strength in shares of commodity-related companies even as major retailers said they remain cautious ahead of the holiday season.  At the end of a session that lacked conviction, major stock indexes managed to reach their fresh 13-month highs.  A smaller-than-anticipated rise in industrial production also weighed on sentiments.

Waning risk appetites sent gold prices up 20 cents to a fresh all-time high of $1,139.40.  Treasuries rose, pushing corresponding yields lower.  The yield on the benchmark 10-year note slipped to 3.33% from 3.34% late Monday.  Crude prices closed above $79 per barrel.  Copper prices rose to 14-months highs on expectations that China demand will remain robust.

A perpetual decline in the value of the dollar and record low interest rates in the US have driven stocks higher as investors, seeking higher return on their investments, have sought refuge in

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 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: Home Depot (HD), Ford (F), TRW Automotive (TRW), Revlon (REV) and Estee Lauder (EL).

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 Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

Home Depot Sales Dip

Home Depot (HD), the largest home improvement retailer in the world, reported net income of $689 million or 41 cents per share in the third quarter of fiscal 2009, compared to net income of $756 million or 45 cents per share in the year-earlier quarter.

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In October, overall Industrial Production rose by 0.1%, far below the 0.6% increase registered in September and the 1.3 increase registered in August. It was also well below the 0.4% consensus expectations. To my mind, this is one of the most important economic reports, and one that does not get anywhere near the attention it deserves in the press. The September numbers were revised down from 0.7% growth, while the August numbers were revised up from 1.2%, so call it a wash on the revisions -- although they do make the slowdown more dramatic. Of far more concern than just the raw slowdown in the numbers was the source of the meager increase. Industrial production has three major categories: manufacturing, mining and utilities. Of these, manufacturing is by far the most important. Mining is a relatively small sector in the U.S., and while utility output is important, ...

Ford Motor Company (F) revealed an impressive 12.8% rise in sales for October in its 19 European markets, outperforming the 6.8% gain in sales for the overall industry. In fact, the sales rise was considered as the best monthly performance in more than a decade. Several incentive programs by the European governments to trade old vehicles for newer cars backed the sales gain. The scrappage programs across several European countries are similar to the U.S. Government's "Cash for Clunkers" program that ran between July and August, through which the automaker generated tremendous response. Nevertheless, Ford has asked the European countries and the EU to take further action, similar to the incentive programs, to boost auto demand in 2010. The company has estimated industry sales in its main 19 European markets to lie in the range of 13 million and 14.5 million vehicles, down about 2 million ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 11, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Amdocs Ltd. (DOX) as the Bull of the Day and Molina Healthcare, Inc. (MOH) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Fannie Mae (FNM), Freddie Mac (FRE) and Ford (F).

Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5506

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

We maintain our Outperform recommendation for Amdocs Ltd. (DOX), following its strong results for the fiscal fourth quarter of 2009. The company has industry-leading technology integration products for managed services and large transformational projects.

We believe long-term fundamentals for Amdocs remain firm due to the transition of telecom service providers to converged and consolidated solutions. Amdocs maintains a very strong financial position with healthy order backlog.

Recently, the company

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This morning, Janet Yellen, the President of the San Francisco Fed, spoke about the state of the economy. Below are key excerpts from the speech, as well as my reaction to them (spoiler alert: I am in overall agreement with her). "This is the first talk I’ve given since the economy has officially been reported to be growing again. The economy’s return to growth after a year and a half of recession marks a major turn, and it looks like more than a flash in the pan. It seems to me that the economy has entered a sustained period of expansion. "We’ve seen meaningful upturns in areas as diverse as housing, consumer spending, industrial production and foreign trade. And, a number of factors bode well for the future, including a better functioning financial system, low mortgage interest rates, a resurgent stock market, a stabilization of house ...

• Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) reported fourth quarter earnings of 24 cents a share, up from last year's 10 cents, above Zacks estimates of 21 cents, as revenues dropped 3.7% to $2.42 billion. The firm raised its 2010 guidance to 15-20% earnings growth from prior guidance of 13-18% growth

• Hyatt Hotels (NYSE:H) shares gained 12% on their NYSE debut.  The company sold 38 million shares at $25 per share

• JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) lifted its price target on Ford (NYSE:F)

• The smartphone marketplace will watch today's launch of Verizon's (NYSE:VZ) much-heralded new "Droid" launch, using Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android operating system

• AIG (NYSE:AIG) reported third quarter earnings of $2.85 ex-items

• Bernstein upgraded General Electric (NYSE:GE) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares

• JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) upgraded Macy's (NYSE:M) shares

• Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) upgraded Blue Nile (NASDAQ:NILE) shares, lifting the price target from $30 to $50

Zacks Investment Research

The economy is recovering, yet the Labor market is still in the doldrums (we will see just how bad tomorrow morning). In other words, output is up, yet the number of hours of work to create that output is down. This, by definition, means that output per hour -- otherwise known as productivity -- is going up. Today we found out by just how much. Non-farm business productivity grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 9.5% in the third quarter, the highest rate since the third quarter of 2003 when it hit 9.7%. Output grew at a 4.0% rate, while hours worked fell at a 5.0% rate in the third quarter. On a year-over-year basis, productivity grew 4.3% as output fell by 3.5% while hours worked fell by a staggering 7.5%. That was an all-time record (since the government started keeping track back in 1948). To ...