Lexmark’s (LXK) third-quarter earnings exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 20 cents and revenues by 6.7%.   Revenues of $958 million increased 6% on a sequential basis, but declined 15.3% compared to the year-ago quarter. Strong customer demand was responsible for the sequential improvement in revenue, which also exceeded the company’s expectation of a revenue decline in the recently concluded quarter.   Printing Solutions and Services Division revenues came in at $654 million, up 5% sequentially, but down 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. Imaging Solutions Division revenues was $304.0 million, up 8.0% on a sequential basis, but down 18.0% compared to the year-ago quarter.   Gross profit margin was 32.7% almost flat compared to 32.5% reported in the year ago quarter. On a non-GAAP basis, the company generated a gross margin of 33.9% compared to 34.1% reported in the year-ago quarter. Operating margin stood at 2.5% (including $51.0 ...

The following is a list of the S&P 500 firms where the analysts have been cutting their expectations for the current fiscal year the most over the last month. Most likely these firms reported disappointing earnings or gave negative guidance on their conference calls.

Historically, you have not wanted to be invested in companies where the analysts who follow them most closely see the earnings prospects diminishing. Also, estimates in motion tend to remain in motion. The first bit of bad news is rarely the last (the cockroach theory). This means that the current expectations, even though down from last month, are probably still to high for these firms.

To weed out anomalies, only those firms that are currently expected to earn more than $0.50 in 2009 are included and only those firms where there are a minimum of three estimates in the system.

If you have these stocks in your portfolio,

...

Lexmark International Inc. (LXK) offered a weak third-quarter outlook today after second-quarter results came in behind Wall Street expectations.

Shares of this Zacks #4 Rank ("Sell") company have plunged more than 20% on extraordinarily heavy volume of about 14.5 million, compared to the average daily volume of approximately 2.5 million.

The company expects third-quarter adjusted earnings of 40 cents to 50 cents per share, which is below the consensus forecast of 52 cents per share.

Meanwhile, Lexmark posted second-quarter adjusted earnings of 55 cents per share, missing the consensus estimate by nearly 10%.

Sales fell 21% to $904.6 million as the economic slump impacted demand for its imaging and printing products.

The average forecast for the company's full-year earnings has declined a penny over the past week to $2.59 per share as 1 of 12 covering analysts lowered expectations.

"LXK" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research...

March 7, 2009 ndash; The markets are in terrible shape, arguably, the economy is in worse shape. This week we saw a pickup in job losses, higher unemployment rates across the nation and as a whole, heightening concerns that the government really has no answer to solve the financial marketrsquo;s crisis while the markets reacted in turn, moving to levels we havenrsquo;t seen in 12 years. Here is the dismal prognosis for the week: middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; The Markets ndash; The DJIA and Samp;P fell to 12-year lows. The DJIA has dropped nbsp;more than 20% since inauguration day (this is a spurious factoid, we think but one that dickheads like Rush Limbaugh are trumpeting on the airwaves so we might as well acknowledge it) . The DJIA closed at 6,626.94 on Friday, down 6% on the week, down 24% year-to-date and down 50% since the economists and lsquo;expertsrsquo; acknowledged back in January, ...

Aspire Misery Index for the Week Ended, January 30, 2009

Another week chalked with downbeat earnings performance, profit warnings, and further indications of economic erosion here in the U.S., and abroad is almost behind us, and now we can start focusing on the Super Bowl. Here is a list of bullets to consider when setting expectations for stock, portfolio and indices performance (not 100% comprehensive but a pretty good gauge of this weekrsquo;s lowlights in the U.S. economy):

GDP ndash; The U.S. economy contracted by 3.8% in the Q4, the most since 1982. The good news is that economists were expecting the number to come in at 5.4%. For 2008, GDP growth was 1.8%.

Consumer Spending ndash; dropped by 3.5% last quarter following a 3.8% in the prior quarter.

Durable Goods ndash; durable goods orders fell for the fifth straight month in December by 2.6%. Economists had expected a 2% decline. …

Aspire Misery Index for the Week Ended, January 30, 2009 We are only one full day into this weekrsquo;s session and already there has been enough downer news to last a quarter. That being said, from the performance of stocks lately, it looks like traders have priced much of the bad news in already: Retail Industry ndash; The National Retail Federation released a forecast for retailers in 2009 to record a 0.5% drop in revenue. Sales for the first half of 2009 are expected to decline by 2.5%, then a 1.1% decline in Q3 and a 3.6% increase in Q4. Auto Industry ndash; The National Association of Auto Dealers expects sales of at least 12.7 million vehicles in the U.S. this year. Mobile Phone Industry - Global mobile phone market will shrink 9% in 2009, its first decline since 2001 and with the first half set to be especially grim, Strategy ...

Aspire Misery Index for the Week Ended January 16, 2009 As of Friday morning, January 16, here is what we have accumulated for our Misery Index: middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; US. Auto Industry ndash; Ford expects U.S. light vehicles to reach 12.2 million units this year, Chrysler expects sales to reach 11 million and GM projects 10 to 11 million - down from 16 million in 2007 and 13.2 million last year. Wachovia expects 10.3 million unit sales. CSM worldwide expects 2009 sales in the U.S. to hit 11.5 million (but then rebound to 13.6 million in 2010). Deutsche Bank projects 2009 sales in the U.S. to decline by 13% to 11.5 million units. J.D. Power amp; Associates projects sales in the U.S. to decline to 11.4 million units in 2009, and then grow to 13.4 million in 2010, and 14.7 million units by 2011.nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Global Auto Industry ndash; French-Romanian manufacturer Dacia announced a ...

Maverick CapitalMaverick Capital Management Holdings AnalysisThis post is being written as part of HedgeFundBlogger.com's Investment Securities Tool which analyzes the holdings of hedge fund managers.Lee Ainslie started Maverick Capital back in 1993 with $38 million. Nowadays, the fund is worth $10 billion. Ainslie, like many of the other fund managers I've profiled, has a background rooted in learning from legendary great Julian Robertson at Tiger Management. So, due to the fact that these proteges learned from the best and have had great success running their own hedge funds, I continually try to find a reason not to follow these funds. And, needless to say I'm never successful. Some contacts over at Maverick have explained that their hedge fund strategy is straight up stock picking, both long and short. They made ...

CNBC Fast Money Stock Picks – September 2, 2008

Track their picks at:

http://trackthepros.com/

Guy Adami:
JNJ – Johnson & Johnson – Buy
CHD – Church & Dwight – Buy
Jeff Macke:

SHLD – Sears – Buy
WMT – Wal-Mart – Buy

Karen Finerman:

AAPL – Apple – Buy
JCG – J. Crew – Buy

Pete Najarian:
SCHW – Charles Schwab – Buy
AMTD – TD Ameritrade – Buy
LXK – Lexmark – Buy
LMT – Lockheed Martin – Buy