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Monday October 19, 2009

DrStockPick.com Stock Report!

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Prudential Annuities has won two top awards in the Boomer Market Advisor Readers’ Choice Awards. This is the fifth consecutive year one of Prudential Annuities’ living benefits has been recognized as “best in class.” Prudential Financial Inc.’s (NYSE:PRU) domestic annuity business also earned a first-time award for its service and support to advisors.

Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) received an $827.4 million contract from the Air Force for advanced funding for 11 variants of the C-130J, a military

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General Electric Co. (GE) and Rolls-Royce Group are gathering support for the second F-35 engine program, which Defense Secretary Robert Gates and President Barack Obama have singled out as unnecessary in the tightening credit environment. Representatives of the two companies met top Pentagon officials recently to offer a fixed-price package on about 100 low-rate production engines for the F-35 fighter.

The deal would cover low-rate production engines to be built from 2012 to 2015. Without F-35, GE would be out of the large fighter-aircraft engine business. Gates recently reiterated his opposition in Fort Worth, Texas, where Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) builds the F-35. Lawmakers backing the program are of the view that continuing work on a second engine will stimulate competition and lower costs on the massive $300 billion fighter program in the long run.

United Technologies Corp.’s (UTX) Pratt & Whitney unit has seen the

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Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) yesterday bagged two Pentagon contracts worth $5.87 billion. The first contract is worth $3.44 billion, from the Air Force for providing services for the stealth bomber B-2 bomber fleet. The second contract is of $2.43 billion from the Navy for providing services on overhaul, alterations, repair, maintenance and refueling of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt.   Northrop Grumman is the second largest defense contractor after Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT). These contracts will boost the dwindling backlog of Northrop, which fell to $70.4 billion after the fiscal second quarter from $76.9 billion year over year. Northrop’s backlog was affected by the cancellation of the $5.1 billion Kinetic Energy Interceptor program by the U.S. Government.   The Air Force contract will maintain the status-quo of the Electronic Systems segment as the star performer. In the fiscal second quarter Electronic Systems’ operating income grew ...

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., a Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) subsidiary, recently set up a new Missile Defense Systems operating unit. The new unit, which is part of the Lockheed Martin's Strategic and Missile Defense Systems division, includes program management, engineering and production facilities in Huntsville and Courtland, Alabama, and program operations in Denver, Colorado, and Sunnyvale, California. Retired Army Major General John W. Holly will head the unit.

The new operating unit will provide support to Lockheed Martin's various projects. These  include the tri-national medium extended air defense system (MEADS) program led by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, the land environment air picture provision (LEAPP) air defense program led by Lockheed Martin U.K  and the targets and countermeasures program of the Missile Defense Agency. It will also be in charge of the Battle Management Technology Center at North Alabama and the ground-based midcourse defense (GMD) operations and sustainment

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Elbit Systems Ltd. (ESLT) said on Tuesday that its joint venture with Rockwell Collins Inc. (COL) has bagged several contracts worth $54 million related to the F-35 aircraft.

The joint venture, Vision Systems International LLC, received the contracts from Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) and involves delivery of 52 F-35 Helmet Mounted Displays and 30 additional aircraft systems.

Vision Systems has already received initial funding for the Pilot Fit Facility Standup at Eglin Air Force Base for the F-35 Helmet Mounted Display System program.

The contracts require deliveries to commence this year and continue through 2012.

Shares of ESLT have gained nearly 3% today.

COL is trading around break-even on volume of approximately 263,000, against the average daily volume of about 1.5 million.

Both ESLT and COL are Zacks #3 Rank ("Hold") stocks.

"ESLT" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?"COL" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? ...

Highlights include Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT), The Boeing Co. (BA) and Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC).Thursday, Congress received a Defense expenditure request of $663.8 billion for fiscal year 2010 in two parts: a baseline budget of $533.8 billion, which is 4.0% higher (2.1% in constant dollars) than the 2009 baseline budget of $513.3 billion, plus a $130 billion kicker to cover ongoing military operations (Afghanistan, Iraq and, perhaps, other interesting places).This proposed budget would terminate both Lockheed Martin's (LMT) F-22 fighter at 187 shipsets as well as Boeing's (BA) C-17 transport at 205 shipsets. On the other hand, the next chapter of the "Northrop Grumman (NOC)/EADS versus Boeing for the tanker" saga is written in ink for all to see.Of course, this request has to now wind its way through the system, which could make for some stimulating sessions ...

Highlights include Microsemi Corp. (MSCC), The Boeing Co. (BA), Raytheon Co. (RTN), Rockwell Automation (ROK), Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT), Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC), L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. (LLL)and Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX).Microsemi Segments Have Limited ExposureMicrosemi Corp. (MSCC) is well positioned in strong growth markets. Its High Reliability products for the defense, aerospace, commercial air and medical markets are extremely well positioned. Since these products have limited exposure to the uncertain conditions in the market, growth is expected to continue.High-reliability products have higher ASPs and higher margins. Management's current R&D effort is focused on this area, since it is expected that a higher percentage of sales from this line would improve the profitability of the company. This would, in turn, enable it to generate the targeted model of 50-55% gross margin and 30% operating margin....

Today we are featuring top-performing "aggressive growth" equity mutual funds that invest higher-risk equity securities or seek maximum growth without any particular income or time limitations.

Investors can find such funds by checking out the entire list of the Zacks #1 Rank Aggressive Growth Equity Funds list.

3 Solid Picks

Alger Spectra A (SPECX) was incepted in September 1968. The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by focusing on companies of all market capitalization that have growth potential.

The fund invests in equity securities, like common or preferred stocks, or securities convertible or exchangeable for equity securities, including warrants and rights, primarily in companies whose securities are traded on domestic stock exchanges or in the over-the-counter market. It may engage in selling stocks short.

The fund's key holdings include Philip Morris International Inc. (PM), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - April 27, 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: Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT), Schlumberger, Ltd. (SLB), Halliburton's (HAL), deCODE genetics, Inc. (DCGN) and Celera Corp. (CRA).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=4579.

Here are highlights from Friday's Analyst Blog:

Lockheed Beats & Ups Guidance

Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT) reported a 1st quarter 2009 profit of $666 million, down 9% from $730 million in the 1st quarter of 2008.

On a per-share basis, the reported result was $1.68 per diluted share, down 4% from $1.75 per diluted share

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Lockheed Martin Reports Lower Earnings but Beats Estimates, Raises GuidanceLockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) reported a 1st quarter 2009 profit of $666 million, down 9% from $730 million in the 1st quarter of 2008.On a per-share basis, the reported result was $1.68 per diluted share, down 4% from $1.75 per diluted share in the year ago period. The bottom-line EPS, however, beat by 2% analysts' consensus estimate of $1.64 per share.The lower bottom-line results resulted primarily due to higher pension expenses, partially offset on a per share basis by over 8 million fewer shares outstanding through share repurchases.The improved top-line result for the 1st quarter 2009 reported net sales of $10.4 billion, representing a 4% increase over $10.0 billion in the comparable year ago period. Sales increased in every business segment, except the Aeronautics unit, which declined primarily due to lower ...