Japanese cosmetics company Shiseido has announced plans to introduce a new brand into China with the aim of gaining 20% growth in this market. According to Yasuhiko Harada, the chief financial officer of Shiseido, the company made revenues of JPY690 billion last year. Of the total revenue, 10% was from the Chinese market. Shiseido says that due [...]

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 17, 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: Citigroup Inc. (C), Liberty Global Inc. (LBTYA), Comcast Corp. (CMCSA), Deutsche Telekom AG (DT) and Vodafone Plc (VOD).

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 Monday’s Analyst Blog:

Citi to Sell Stake in Bellsystem24

Citigroup Inc. (C) announced that it will sell stake in Bellsystem24 to U.S. private equity firm, Bain Capital Partners, in a deal that values the Japanese call center operator at $1.1 billion.

The company announced on Sunday that it

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By Bob Blandeburgo Associate Editor Money Morning

Stimulus measures in Japan helped the world’s second-largest economy grow at its fastest pace in more than two years, but it’s unlikely policymakers will reduce spending despite the nation’s rapidly growing debt.

Gross domestic product (GDP) in Japan grew at 4.8% annual rate in the third quarter, surpassing all the forecasts of 20 economists polled by Bloomberg News. That follows a revised gain of 2.7% in the three months ended June 30, according to Japan’s Cabinet Office. Japan’s economy grew 1.2% on a quarterly basis.

“The turnaround in public investment has definitely contributed to the rebound in GDP, so if they do start to cut it’ll weigh on growth,” Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief Japan economist at Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE ADR: CS), told Bloomberg.

Stimulus measures around the world helped Japan’s exports grow 6.4%, but as global economies withdraw stimulus measures,

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Citigroup Inc. (C) announced that it will sell stake in Bellsystem24 to U.S. private equity firm, Bain Capital Partners, in a deal that values the Japanese call center operator at $1.1 billion.   The company announced on Sunday that it will sell its 93.5% controlling stake in Bellsystem24 − which it held through its Citigroup Capital Partners Japan Ltd. − to Bain Capital Partners through a tender offer. The tender offer is expected to start on or before Nov 20 and be completed on Dec 30, 2009. Under the terms of the deal, Citi will receive 93.5 billion of yen ($1 billion) in cash.   Following the completion of the deal, Citi Holdings’ assets will be reduced by $1.2 billion. However, Citi’s net income and capital ratios will not be significantly impacted by this stake sale, the company said.   Citigroup, once the largest U.S. bank by assets, fell

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Panasonic Corp. (PC) provided another update on the acquisition of SANYO Electric Co Ltd. (SANYY) at its Board Meeting held on Nov 4, 2009. The company announced the start of its tender offer to acquire 3.1 billion shares of SANYO (or more than 50% of the company’s total shares) for approximately $4.4 billion (403 billion yen).  Earlier, Panasonic had planned to take over all of Sanyo's shares. Panasonic had entered into a capital and business alliance agreement with SANYO in Dec 2008. The latter is a leading company in the rechargeable battery business focused on lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. Panasonic is one of the leading manufacturers of electronic and electrical products, systems and components.  The tender offer is planned for Nov 5 through Dec 7 at a price of $1.4 or 131 yen per share. Goldman Sachs, Daiwa Securities SMBC and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (Sanyo's ...

Panasonic Corp. (PC) plans to restructure its division, Motor Company in April 2010 to enhance growth potential and strengthen its management structure. Upon completion of the restructuring, the motor company will be dissolved.   Panasonic will reorganize and integrate its Home Appliance, Automotive Motor and Industrial Motor Businesses to form the Home Appliances Company (HA) and transfer the Information Equipment Motor Business to Minebea Motor Manufacturing Corporation.  The company will liquidate Panasonic Motor Matsusaka Co., Ltd., which is Panasonic's subsidiary company, for accelerating manufacturing at other optimal locations after transferring compact AC geared motors and industrial brushless motors to Panasonic Motor (Zhuhai).  Panasonic’s organizational restructuring and its ability to target resources to growth areas have enabled the company to withstand the weak economy. The company aims to strengthen both finished product manufacture and device businesses through company-wide cost reduction efforts, including material costs and fixed costs. ...

Sony Corp. (NYSE ADR: SNE) is facing the first consecutive annual loss of its 63-year history.

The Tokyo-based company lost $1.1 billion (98.9 billion yen) last year, and it expects to lose another $1.4 billion (120 billion yen) in its fiscal year ending March 31.  That would be Sony’s first back-to-back annual loss since the company went public in 1958.

And despite renewed optimism within its ranks, Sony still faces a plethora of challenges, including a questionable direction, cost-conscious consumers and a strengthening yen.

The onetime bellwether of the electronics industry has seen its market share crumble in almost every category: Nintendo Co. Ltd.’s (OTC ADR: NTDOY) Wii game console has supplanted Sony’s PlayStation brand, Sony has given up its lead in portable media players to Apple Inc.’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPod, and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is now the world’s largest seller of televisions.

Hoping to turn the

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Pandora’s Box of rate hikes is opened! Is the dollar being removed from oil trades? Deficits do matter, eh? Gold heads toward its all-time high…And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Terrific Tuesday to you! A Tuesday morning that is seeing a HUGE currency rally VS the dollar on the news that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) opted to go ahead and hike rates now, and not wait for November’s meeting,

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The dollar remains well bid…G-7 to hand currencies off to G-20? Car Sales collapse…Auditing the Lehman cash movements…And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Happy Friday to one and all! Yesterday, I welcomed you to October. I had been prepared to tell you about a famous radio station here in St. Louis, that has long called October… Rocktober… But forgot, as usual! But anyway… It’s the first Fantastico Friday of Rocktober!

Today is a Jobs Jamboree Friday too! And… I’m not getting a good feeling about today’s labor report at the Jobs Jamboree. The forecast is for jobs losses to fall from -216,000 to -175,000, but the unemployment rate to tick up to 9.8% from 9.7%… I got the feeling, baby, baby, I got the feeling… Oops, a little James Brown on Fantastico Friday never hurts! But what I was saying was I’m getting the feeling that there are risks

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Currencies rebound VS the dollar…Aussie and kiwi lead the currencies higher…Data and Central Bank speeches today…Gold rebounds back to $1,000! And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Wonderful Wednesday to you… Instead of a “turn around Tuesday”, we’re seeing a whiplash Wednesday! And for once in a month of Sundays, the Big Dog, euro didn’t lead the other little dogs (currencies) off the porch to chase the dollar down the street!

No… This time it was the currencies of Australia and New Zealand that led the charge VS the dollar… The euro has taken up the charge since opening the doors to a new day of trading in Europe, so… It looks like it’s a “take the dollar to the woodshed day”…

OK… Let’s start first with the goings on yesterday and then build to a big crescendo! Yeah, right, like I can do that! HA! Any way…

As a reminder, yesterday we

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