• A large run of holiday sales offerings crashed the Ebay (NASDAQ:EBAY) website, causing a major weekend web outage

• Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN) reported better-than-expected earnings of 28 cents a share, beating Zacks estimates by 2 cents, on revenues of $7.2 billion, which exceeded Zacks estimates of $6.85 billion

• India’s Reliance Industries bid $12 billion in cash for Lyondell Bassell when it exits bankruptcy

• Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is reportedly in discussions with News Corp. (NASDAQ:NWSA) to "de-index" the firm's news websites from Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)

• Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) announced plans to more than double the number of its bottling plants in China over the next ten years as part of its goal to triple sales to the country

• Hershey (NYSE:HSY) trust encouraged the firm to counter Kraft's (NYSE:KFT) hostile, $16.2 billion bid with its own, $17 billion offer

• According to S&P most US banks are failing to meet adequacy standards comfortably enough to avoid

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• TJX (NYSE:TJX) posted a larger-than-anticipated profit as demand for discounted consumer products continued. The firm said it sees fourth-quarter earnings of 65 cents to 71 cents a share from continuing operations

• Saks (NYSE:SKS) reported a surprise quarterly profit

• Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares rose 3.0%, and led the gainers on the DJIA, after Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and UBS (NYSE:UBS) recommended the shares.  Morgan Stanley's analyst raised the price target on the stock due to encouraging demand for Windows 7 and upbeat expectations for holiday season demand.  UBS' analyst placed a $34 price target on the shares

• Barclays Capital (NYSE:BCS) raised ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) to "overweight"

• Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) offered a slightly downside fourth-quarter guidance of 24 cents a share ex-items

• Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) said it sees fourth-quarter earnings of 14 cents to 15 cents a share, versus Street estimates of 15 cents a share

• BMO Capital downgraded Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) to "market perform"

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 6, 2009 – Zacks.com releases the latest Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks featured in this week’s analysis include B.P. Prudhoe Bay (BPT), Sabine Royalty Trust (SBR), Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Hershey (HSY) and Del Monte (DLM).

Zacks Industry Rank Analysis is written by Dirk Van Dijk, CFA, Chief Equity Strategist for Zacks.com.   This week: Out-of-Step Industries

Sometimes the best investments come from a small group that seems to be bucking the trend of the much larger group that they are a part of. That appears to be the case for the Oil Royalty Trust group. There are eight names in this group, all of which sport Zacks #2 rankings. That puts them in a tie for 4th place among all industries tracked. Meanwhile, the Energy sector is well down the list overall sector rank list.

With royalty trusts, you get high dividends

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The Hershey Company (HSY) reported results for the third quarter with earnings of 73 cents per share. Earnings were 6 cents above the Zacks Consensus Estimate and up 14.1% year over year. Profits were primarily driven by price increases and lower restructuring costs. However, net sales for the quarter were flat year-over-year, increasing 0.4% to $1.5 billion as favorable pricing was almost fully offset by volume declines associated with pricing elasticity, unfavorable foreign exchange and the decision to discontinue certain premium chocolate products. Management stated that core brands such as Kisses are responding to the investments in advertising (which was up approximately 50%), in-store programming and merchandising. In the channels measured by syndicated data, U.S. market share during the third quarter was flat while up 0.3 points year-to-date. Management also provided an update on the Global Supply Chain Transformation initiative. The company recognized total business ...

Behold, The Power Of Cheese… And Chocolate

Tony Daltorio, Investment U Research

The typically sleepy world of food makers woke up this week to the loud sounds of Kraft’s bold takeover offer for Cadbury.

Cadbury, the confectionery company that makes Britain’s best known chocolate, has sold cocoa and chocolate since John Cadbury founded it in the early 1830s.

Across the ocean and some seventy years later, Joseph Kraft started his own business by selling wholesale cheese. Now into the twenty-first century, that entrepreneur’s dream has grown into the largest food company in the US. And on the global market, it comes second only to Switzerland’s Nestle.

Forget apple pie; Kraft’s well-known brands – from Ritz’s crackers to Jell-O, Oreo cookies to Maxwell House – can be found in over 99% of American households.

That naturally translates into high sales… of more than $40 billion annually.

Kraft’s

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – August 4, 2009 - Zacks Research Equity Strategist, Dirk Van Dijk says that S&P 500 earnings are continuing to show red ink. He tracks companies on the Zacks.com web site, naming names, while forecasting trends for the months ahead.

Key Points from Van Dijk's Latest Earnings Assessment

Growth

Second-quarter total net income expected to be down 28% year-over-year Third quarter expected to be down 23.5% year-over-year Staples and Health Care only sectors expected to post positive growth in second quarter Only 31.5% of reporting companies post earnings growth; 24.0% post sales growth year-over-year

Surprise

Early results much stronger than expected; the median surprise is 6.7% Early positive surprises lead disappointments by 3.9:1 margin Surprise ratio above 6:1 for Health Care, Tech, Discretionary ...

Key Points:

Growth Second-quarter total net income expected to be down 28% year-over-year Third quarter expected to be down 23.5% year-over-year Staples and Health Care only sectors expected to post positive growth in second quarter Only 31.5% of reporting companies post earnings growth; 24.0% post sales growth year-over-year

Surprise Early results much stronger than expected; the median surprise is 6.7% Early positive surprises lead disappointments by 3.9:1 margin Surprise ratio above 6:1 for Health Care, Tech, Discretionary and Materials Margins the cause, not revenue growth 72.7% of firms beat on earnings; 46.3% beat sales estimates

Full-Year Forecast Bottom-up estimate for S&P 500 now $60.20 in 2009 versus $60.12 last week. S&P 500 now expected to earn $74.42 in 2010 versus $74.41 last week Top down estimates $54.19 and $68.48, respectively

Revisions Total estimate increases outnumber cuts by almost 4:3 for 2009 Upward revisions outnumber cuts by almost 7:6 for 2010 Level of increases small given positive earnings surprises For 2009, Staples and Health Care lead; Utilities,

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – July 24, 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: WESCO International (WCC), Anixter International (AXE), W.W. Grainger (GWW), United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) and Hershey (HSY).

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 Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

WESCO Misses, Guidance Down

WESCO International (WCC) announced second-quarter results that missed the consensus revenue estimate by 15.5% and the EPS estimate by 12 cents. Results appear weaker than the peer group, which includes Anixter International (AXE), W.W. Grainger (GWW) and

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The Hershey Company (HSY) is expected to release its second-quarter results on July 23, 2009.

It expects annual earnings for fiscal 2009 to be below the long term range of 6% to 8%, due to unprecedented commodity and pension cost increases, higher levels of core brand investment spending, and current weak macroeconomic conditions. Management expects commodity costs to increase by $175 million in 2009; however, the increase could be lower if current market prices, particularly for dairy products, continue through the remainder of the year.

The aggressive competition in the confectionary category is also negatively-affecting Hershey's near-term prospects. In addition, the changing consumer habits, in part driven by the low-carb phenomenon, and the growing awareness of healthier snacking options, are also reducing incremental demand for confectionery and other snack products.

Furthermore, Hershey's has entered the high-margin single-serve cookie market. Although the focus on higher margin products is commendable, the viability of

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bReason for comment/bbrbr The company has announced the confirmation of two important orders. First, the sale of a Percotherm(TM) to a leading US food processor to improve boiler efficiency at the Hershey's facility in Robinson, Illinois. Secondly, through its manufacturing representative, Tozour Energy Systems, a turn-key solution to bring the boiler plant at the hospital campus in Trenton, New Jersey to higher energy efficiency levels. pBObjective's view:/BBRBR pThe confirmation of new orders was already in our current valuation and points the way to the pending 2Q09 results. We have noted before about reading too much into a single quarter; the lead cycle from enquiry to firm order in this business is indeed, a tortuous one. BRBR For all our previous comments on this company visit: A href=http://www.objectivecapital.co.uk/SDW.V.asphttp://www.objectivecapital.co.uk/SDW.V.asp/a