For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 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: Fannie Mae (FNM), Freddie Mac (FRE), Sherwin Williams (SHW), La-Z-Boy (LZB) and Campbell Soup Co. (CPB).

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:

Existing Home Sales Soar Again

Lower mortgages rates -- greatly suppressed by the Fed’s policy of buying up $1.25 Trillion of mortgages backed by Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) but that buying spree is expected to end at the end of the

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In October, existing home sales rose by 10.1% and are now 23.5% above the year-ago rate. Sales were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.10 million, up from 5.54% in September and a 4.94 million pace a year ago. Existing single family home sales rose by 9.7% to a 5.33 million pace, while condo sales soared by 13.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 770,000. Sales have been greatly aided by the "first time" homebuyer tax credit, which while eventually extended and expanded, for most of the month looked like was about to expire. Thus, in October people were scrambling to try to get in under the wire. This is the fifth straight month that existing home sales have exceeded year-ago levels. Even more impressive is the fact that actual, non-seasonally adjusted sales actually were higher in October than they were in September. This is ...

Two seemingly unlikely candidates are sitting near the top of the Zacks Industry Rank List: Furniture and Retail-Home Furnishings.

Given the macroeconomic environment, it would be reasonable to assume that people are not spending on furniture. The numbers support this assessment. La-Z-Boy (LZB) recently reported an 18.3% drop in quarterly net sales. Ethan Allen (ETH) experienced a 41% drop.

Yet, several analysts have recently raised their fiscal 2010 profit forecasts on both companies.

The Worst May Be Over

Though the furniture industry is certainly not healthy right now, there are signs that the worst of the storm may have passed.

Bottom-line results for both companies surpassed expectations. ETH's positive surprise was its first in 4 quarters. The company lost 23 cents per share, 2 cents less than analysts had feared. LZB earned 5 cents per share, its second consecutive positive surprise.

The housing industry is moving

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – August 24, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Yum! Brands (YUM) as the Bull of the Day and Sunoco (SUN) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Sherwin Williams (SHW), La-Z-Boy (LZB) and Mohawk (MHK).

Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2676

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

The operator of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC fast food chains, Yum! Brands (YUM), reported second quarter results, with double-digit growth in the bottom-line. Earnings per share grew 11% to 50 cents, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 43 cents

Driving growth is the company's overseas divisions (China and Yum Restaurants International), which constitute the only stable segment of the entire restaurant industry. Both the divisions are on track to grow

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Existing home sales rose 7.2% from last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.24 million from June’s rate of 4.89 million. This was also 5.0% above the year-ago level of 4.99 million, and the consensus expectations of 5.0 million. This is very good news. The only real weak spots I saw in the report were that inventories rose by 7.3%, so despite the increased sales rate, the months of supply remained at a very high (but off peak-level) of 9.4 months. Median prices fell 15.1% from a year ago to $178,400. While median price is not the best metric for judging home prices (it can be easily influenced by the mix of houses), this rate of decline is roughly consistent with the Case-Schiller numbers and is not a surprise. While some uptick in inventories is normal, this month was much more than normal. The overhang of ...

The markets are having a tough time finding the right prices. When most investors were expecting dismal news from La-Z-Boy, the company and its go-getting management surprised with news of a profit.

This is a fantastic time to be refurnishing a house. You cannot turn on a TV without seeing an ad by some desperate local furniture outlet.

In my neck of the woods it is so bad, well, let’s just say whoever is printing going-out-of-business banners is doing one heck of a business.

When unemployment is threatening to hit double-digit percentages and nobody knows what their next tax bill will look like, few folks are thinking about buying a new sofa.

In fact, some of my neighbors still have not taken the plastic off their old living room set.

Not quite so lazy

With the industry in a nosedive, La-Z-Boy (NYSE:LZB) investors were bracing for dismal fourth-quarter results. After a loss $4.5

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - June 12, 2009 - Zacks Equity Research highlights Baker Hughes (BHI) as the Bull of the Day and ArthroCare (ARTC) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on La-Z-Boy (LZB), Marriott (MAR) and Harley Davidson (HOG).

Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2676.

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

Our continued favorable view of Baker Hughes (BHI) shares reflects the company's limited exposure to the weak North American natural gas market, its leading product-centric asset portfolio with a strong international presence, and excellent financial health.

While the operating environment remains challenging worldwide, the hardest-hit region is the onshore U.S. market due to its natural gas-centric orientation. Of the large-cap service players, Baker

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Homeowners own less of their homes than ever before. OK, strange statement -- but by it I mean that the equity in their houses is at an all-time low, and the "bank ownership" is at an all-time high. (For another take on these numbers, please see Eric Rothmann's recent blog.) This can be seen clearly in the graph below (from http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/). At the end of the first quarter, the equity portion in houses was just 41.4% of their total value. In other words, the mortgages outstanding on all houses in the country were 58.6% of their total value. When you buy a house with a mortgage, the amount of the mortgage declines slowly over time (unless it is an option ARM, in which case it can rise quickly during the early years). Housing equity is the amount of the downpayment plus any appreciation in the house ...

Monday:Economic Empire (-26), Cap U & IP (76.6%, -0.1%)Earnings Lowe’s (LOW), Target (TGT), Ctrip.com (CTRP)Tuesday:Economic PPI & Core (0.2%, -1.5%)Earnings China Med (CMED), Home Depot (HD), Medtronic (MDT), ReneSola (SOL), Saks (SKS), Jack In The Box (JBX), La-Z-Boy (LZB)Wednesday:Economic Weekly Crude, Build P’s & Housing (770K, 780K), CPI & Core (0.2%, -0.8%), FOMC MinutesEarnings BJ’s (BJ), LDK Solar (LDK), Ross (ROST), Trina (TSL), Dress Barn (DBRN), Gymboree (GYMB), Hot Topic (HOTT), Intuit (INTU), Limited (LTD), Men’s Wearhouse (MW), PETsMART (PETM), Woodward Governor (WGOV)Thursday:Economic Weekly Claims, Leading Indicators (-0.6%), Philly Fed (-30.0)Earnings Barnes & Noble (BKS), Children’s Place (PLCE), Dick’s (DKS), Gamestop (GME), Pantry (PTRY), Patterson (PDCO), Suntech Power (STP), Yingli Green (YGE), Buckle (BKE), Autodesk (ADSK), Dell (DELL), Gap (GPS), J. Crew (JCG), Salesforce (CRM), Zumiez (ZUMZ)Friday:Economic NAEarnings AnnTaylor (ANN), Canadian Solar ...