• Visa (NYSE:V) reported earnings of 74 cents a share, 3 cents above Zacks estimates on revenues of $1.9 billion above estimates of $1.8 billion. The company expects 2010 revenue growth at the lower end of its 11-15% range, but 2011 growth above 20%

• International Paper (NYSE:IP) reported third quarter results of 37 cents a share, 14 cents above Zacks estimates, on inline revenues of $5.92 billion, off 13.1%. According to the company, at the end of its third quarter, "we began to see some modest improvements in demand in some segments of our paper and packaging businesses"

• Yahoo's (NASDAQ:YHOO) analyst meeting is due to be held at 11:00 ET

• Arcelor Mittal (NYSE:MT), the world's largest steel company, reported a $903 million third quarter profit, noting "We have seen the first signs of recovery in the third quarter...We should continue to see further gradual improvement through 2010, although the operating

...

Dr Stock Pick HOT News & Alerts!

_________________________________________

FREE Daily Stock Alerts From DrStockPick.com

_________________________________________

Thursday October 22, 2009

DrStockPick.com Stock Report!

AQNM, WMT, PSFT, APA, PWRM, NOC, CSRH, IP, CVAT, CVX

**************************************************************

WMT, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

WMT operates retail stores in various formats worldwide.

WMT today presented its global plans for store and club growth next year at its annual conference for the investment community and updated its projections for capital expenditures through the fiscal year ending on Jan. 31, 2011.

**************************************************************

PSFT, Powersafe Technology Corp., PSFT.PK

Powersafe Technology Corp.’s (Other OTC: PSFT.PK) Subsidiary Amplification Technologies has just patented a revolutionary solution for low-level signal detection: multichannel Discrete Amplification (DA).

DA photodetectors could function in both analog and photon counting modes. The

...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – September 2, 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: International Paper (IP), Mead Westvaco (MWW), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Abbott (ABT) and Medtronic (MDT).

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:

PMI Shows Expansion

As recently as May, the employment reading was down at 34.3. Yes, the current reading means that we are still losing manufacturing jobs, but at a vastly slower pace than we were just a few months ago. With new orders and production leaping upwards, the first effect

...

The Institute of Supply Management’s (ISM) Purchasing Managers Index, a closely watched gauge of manufacturing activity, rose to 52.9 in August from 48.9 in June. It was also well above the 50.5 consensus expectations. With this index, 50 is the magic number that separates expansion from contraction, so this reading is showing growth in the manufacturing sector.  This was the highest reading on the index since June 2007. It is one more strong bit of evidence that the recession is now over. The index has risen in every month since December when it hit a record low of 32.9. However, all of the previous improvements simply meant that the manufacturing economy was shrinking at a slower pace. This is the first time we have seen an actual expansion in a very long time. Manufacturing is a relatively small part of the economy, just about 12%, but it ...

• Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) raised General Electric (NYSE:GE) to "buy" and upped its price target on the firm to $15 from $13

• American Express (NYSE:AXP) joined the ranks of banks buying back TARP-issued warrants, as it paid the Treasury $340 million, providing the government a 26% return on its investment.  Other firms include Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), US Bancorp (NYSE:USB), and State Street (NYSE:STT)

• Sumitomo Trust announced plans to acquire Citigroup's (NYSE:C) entire stake in Nikko Asset Management for $1.2 billion

• Sanofi-Aventis announced it agreed to acquire a 50% stake in Merck's (NYSE:MRK) animal health venture for $4 billion

• Visa (NYSE:V) reported earnings, ex-items, of 67 cents a share, ahead of Street projections of 64 cents on revenues of $1.6 billion, versus estimates of $1.64 billion

• Motorola (NYSE:MOT) topped estimates for the second quarter with adjusted results of a one cent loss versus estimates of a 4 cent loss.  The company

...

A weak durable goods order report and a slide in commodity prices sent indices to a second consecutive day of light losses as stocks appeared vulnerable to a pullback in the absence of reassuring economic signs.  A search and advertising deal between Microsoft and Yahoo also received a cold response from investors even as the Federal Reserve contended that the severity of recession is easing in most parts of the country.  Also driving the markets lower were shares of oil and gas producers and basic material manufacturers as oil prices declined for another day.  Crude prices plunged $3.88 to $63.35 a barrel after the Energy Department reported a sharper-than-expected build in weekly crude inventories.  

On Tuesday, stocks had declined after a weaker-than-anticipated consumer confidence report and a lackadaisical response to the auction of 2-year notes drew investors to the selling table.  The trend continued Wednesday and treasuries moved lower

...

div style="text-align: justify;"Packaging/Paper group is on fire today after span style="font-weight: bold;"Packaging Corp. of America (NYSE:PKG) /spanblew estimates away last night.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"International Paper (NYSE:IP)/span looks to be the best play on PKG's results (up 15-16% pre mkt):br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"- Deutsche Bank is upgrading IP to Buy from Hold/span and upping their price target to $24 saying that while significant risks remain, it is clearer amp; clearer that the containerboard industry has managed itself in a fundamentally different fashion over the past year.br /br /Prices reported in the trade papers have dropped $70-80/ton off last autumn's cyclical peak. However, prices were reported stable in June and appear stable again in July. Moreover, most industry players remain reasonably profitable at current price levels, despite a sharp drop in volumes. Industry consolidation, a proactive approach in managing supply amp; avoiding inventory overhang, and a weak US$ have all ...

From the tidal wave of e-mails and comments I have received from numerous different sources I am under the impression that most investors view the recent rally in the world’s stock markets as a bear market rally. I suppose we would need to define a bear market rally as a rally that fails to make a new all-time high (for the S&P 500, above the 1576 reached in October 2007) and is also followed by a new low for this cycle (below 666 for the S&P 500 reached in early March 2009).

The problem I have with this dogmatic definition of a bear market rally is the following: Assuming (and this isn’t a forecast, since I really haven’t the foggiest idea where stock markets will be in six or 12 months’ time) the S&P 500 moved up to 1350 and then declined to 500, as an investor should you care

...

A wave of new domestic economic data along with an economic stimulus plan has refueled interest in the Materials sector, particularly precious metals and agriculture stocks. Copper, known as “the commodity with a PhD in economics,” has risen over 28% in the past 30 days while the sector as a whole has gained nearly 33% in the same amount of time. While I agree in the long term prospects of many blue-chip commodity holdings, I feel their current prices have outpaced their valuations. U.S. recessionary indicators, specifically employment data and index performance, have convinced me the global economic plummet in growth may have bottomed, but it by no means has signaled a turnaround in the economy and more particularly the Materials sector.

A Brief Recap of the Q1 2009

We started with an acute bounce in the construction materials companies when details of the

...

Thursday January 29, 2009 Navivest

An extension of yesterday’s stellar, across the board rally, would be very welcomed by the investment community today. However, that likelihood is threatened by key economic reports that are due out today.

These are Durable Goods, which measures the dollar amount of orders for manufactured goods that are meant to three years or more, Initial Claims, which measures the number of those filing for unemployment benefits and New Home Sales.

Durable Goods and Initial Claims, we get before the stock market opens, so they could dictate the tone of the market.

Also, before the bell, we get earnings from some key companies, including Altria Group (MO), Eastman Kodak (EK), Ford (F), International Paper (IP) and Raytheon (RTN) that could possibly either spur the markets higher, or cast a pall.

The markets have developed a propensity to ignore bad news of late and actually rally when such news

...