For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 20, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Principal Financial (PFG) as the Bull of the Day and Sohu.com (SOHU) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Bank of America (BAC), Wal-Mart (WMT) and Sears Holding Corp.(SHLD).

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 are upgrading our recommendation on the shares of Principal Financial (PFG) to Outperform. The company's third quarter operating earnings were much ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate, driven primarily by the sequential improvement in domestic as well as global equity markets.

We believe that Principal's strong franchise within the pension sector, which is aided by its diversification both in terms of products and geography, positions it well to benefit

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Sears Holding Corp. (SHLD), the fourth largest broadline retailer in the U.S., reported a third-quarter loss of $127 million or $1.09 per share compared to a loss of $146 million or $1.16 per share in the year-earlier quarter. Although Sears managed to reduce its quarterly loss year over year, this was the second consecutive quarterly loss for the company.

The quarterly figures included non-recurring items such as severance charges related to store closings, impairment charges, and pension plan expenses. Excluding the one-time charges, net loss was $94 million or 81 cents per share during the third quarter versus a net loss of $114 million or 90 cents per share in the year-ago quarter. 
 Sears reported total revenues of $10.2 billion during the quarter compared to $10.7 billion in the year-earlier quarter. The decrease in year-over-year sales was primarily due to a decline in comparable store sales partially offset

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PennyOmega.com Stock Report!

PennyOmega.com Hot Stock News & Alerts!

 

Monday August 24, 2009

PennyOmega.com Stock Report!

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The holiday season is a time to celebrate with family and friends, not to worry about how to pay for holiday gifts. With that in mind, Sears (NASDAQ: SHLD) and Kmart are helping customers plan ahead and save — so they can more fully enjoy the holidays — by bringing them the Sears and Kmart Christmas Club card.

The board of directors of Westlake Chemical Corporation (NYSE: WLK) declared on Friday a dividend of 5.75 cents per share, payable on September 17, 2009, to stockholders of record on September 2, 2009. This represents an increase of 1/2 cent per share,

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Sears Holding Corporation (SHLD), the fourth largest broadline retailer in the U.S., has reported relatively modest second quarter results with a decrease in year-over-year revenue and net income, and improvement in the balance sheet. Sears reported total revenues of $10.6 billion during the quarter compared to $11.8 billion in the year-earlier quarter. The decrease in year-over-year sales was primarily due to a decline in comparable store sales and the adverse effect of foreign currency. Total comparable store sales decreased 8.6% during the quarter, with the Sears Domestic division accounting for 12.5% decrease and the Kmart division accounting for 3.9% decrease. The Sears Domestic division was negatively affected by the decline in the housing industry coupled with a decrease in apparel sales. The Kmart comparable store sales also declined largely due to a fall in apparel sales, which was partially offset by an increase in home electronic ...

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO) recently reported dismal second quarter 2009 results with declining top-line and negative EPS, which were offset to some extent by cost savings measures and robust Internet advertising revenue. The company reported net loss per share of $0.02 for the quarter under review compared to an EPS of $0.01 reported in the prior year quarter. However, it did surpass Zacks Consensus Estimate of net loss per share of $0.04. On a reported basis, the company reported net loss per share of $0.12. Revenue for the reported quarter plummeted 26.1% year over year to $57 million reflecting challenging magazine advertising market and decline in merchandising revenue, offset by sustained growth in Internet advertising revenue. Total adjusted EBITDA also declined 47.6%. Publishing revenue fell 27.5% to $33.5 million due to lower advertising pages and softness in newsstand revenue. Total print advertising revenue declined 33% and ...

My most recent post on mall REITs (SPG in particular) got me thinking about Sears Holdings, a company that I disparaged a few weeks ago in a post called, “Unsuccessful Profits.” More particularly, my chart on REIT valuation based on square footage owned made me wonder.

Aas you can tell, price per square foot data can vary quite significantly. Not all square footage is created equal and, ultimately, it’s how you monetize your square footage which really matters. In the case of Sears, though they own a significant amount of retail square footage, the majority is leased to its own businesses which have performed in lackluster fashion to say the least. Despite this, there has to be some assumption of inherent value in the

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In low volume trading, as many have started the holiday weekend early, the markets were down with the Dow closing at 8277.32.  The NASDAQ was down 0.19% closing at 1692.01, with the S&P down 0.15% closing at 887.00.  The 10-year saw the yield fall to 3.45% as prices fell.  Oil and gold were both up, settling at $61.67 and $958.90 respectively. 

In earnings news, Autodesk [ADSK: 20.70, +1.87 (+9.93%)] announced earnings after hours yesterday; the company reported a loss of $32.1 million, or $0.14 per share falling from a profit of $94.6 million the same period the year prior, while also missing the street’s estimate of $0.08 per share.  The software maker saw revenue slip to $425.8 million this fiscal quarter as costs and poor tech spending, caused by the poor economy, hampered the company’s bottom line.  Shares of Autodesk stock were up significantly in after hours yesterday and over

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Sears Holdings Corp.'s (SHLD) share price has surged more than 15% in morning trade after the company reported a surprise first-quarter profit yesterday evening.

The owner of Kmart discount stores posted adjusted earnings of 38 cents per share against the consensus estimate calling for a loss of 88 cents.

The Hoffman Estates, Illinois-based company's sales fell 9% to $10.1 billion, while same-store sales declined 7.4%.

"In this challenging economic environment we are pleased with the progress we have made in improving our gross margin rate, controlling inventories and further reducing our cost structure," said interim CEO W. Bruce Johnson.

The consensus estimate on the company's full-year earnings has moved down by 18 cents over the past 60 days to 34 cents per share.

Shares of Sears Holdings, a Zacks #3 Rank ("Hold") company, were trading on higher-than-usual volume of approximately 3.3 million, compared to average daily

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Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) posted a 55% drop in quarterly profit, hurt by goodwill impairment and restructuring charges in the worst retail environment in at least a decade. However, shares of the largest U.S. department-store chain jumped about 8% on Thursday as the owner of Kmart still beat market expectations by cutting costs and closing underperforming units.

In the latest fourth quarter, Sears earned $190 million, or $1.55 per share. However, excluding the after-tax charge of $187 million related to its Orchard Supply Hardware subsidiary and other items, earnings were $2.94 a share. Analysts on average were looking for $2.68 per share. 

The retailer said it had closed 28 units in 2008 and plans to shut 24 additional Kmart and Sears stores by the end of May to generate cash and boost earnings. It also cut inventory levels by 12% to $8.8 billion as of Jan. 31.

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PhotoChannel Networks Inc. (PN.V) is a leading provider of digital photofinishing solutions, specifically the processing, storing, uploading, and sending of digital photos to retailers for printing. In addition, the company can provide retailers with a comprehensive digital photofinishing offering, including online at home, in store kiosks, and mobile solutions.

Over the past few years, PhotoChannel has acquired a number of significant retailers as partners. The company’s partners in the US include: Kmart, Costco, Sam’s Club, and CVS Pharmacy. In Canada, the company’s partners include: Walmart, Costco, Loblaw, and Shoppers Drug Mart. The company’s partners internationally include: Tesco, Boots, Kodak, Hallmark, Kmart, and Asda (Walmart).

PhotoChannel reported its financial results for the three and nine periods ended June 30, 2008 on August 26, 2008. The company reported record revenues (results are stated in Canadian dollars). For the quarter ended June 30, 2008 the company reported an increase in gross revenues of 231%, as

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