W.W. Grainger Inc. (GWW) reported a 3% year-over-year drop in October sales. (October this year had one less selling day compared to October 2008.) The company benefited from a 2% positive contribution from the businesses in Japan and India, 1% from the acquisition of Imperial Supplies and 2% from favorable foreign currency translation. Excluding the impact of acquisitions and currency exchange, Grainger’s daily sales in October were down 8% from last year. The company witnessed a 7% decline in daily sales in the U.S., as demand remained weak across all end markets. These results include sales from Imperial Supplies, which the company acquired in mid-October. Excluding this acquisition, U.S. daily sales were down 8%. In the Canadian (Acklands-Grainger) division, daily sales were up 5% due to favorable foreign exchange. However, the division’s daily sales were down 7% in local currency due to continued weakness in ...

Kimber Resources Inc. issued an update on the resource potential of its gold and silver mine at its 100% owned Monterde mine in the Sierra Madre region of Mexico. The company said that the base case total mineral resource estimate for the Carmen deposit was 700,000 ounces of gold and 37 million ounces of silver.

“We are extremely pleased with this new mineral resource estimate for the Carmen Deposit, which is underpinned by a very detailed geological model and technical work program, and which defines a significant tonnage of high grade gold-silver mineral resources with excellent metallurgical recoveries,” said Gordon Cummings, the CEO of Kimber Resources Inc.

Kimber Resources Inc. made the new estimates after conducting 587 drill holes and 329 metallurgical tests, and a thorough geological review of the resources in place. Gary Giroux P.Eng, a senior associate of Micon International, supervised the revised estimate for the company.

Kimber Resources Inc.

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Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) recently posted October net sales of $5.68 billion, a 7% increase over last year's $5.30 billion. Comparable sales spiked 5% year-over-year.

Company Description

Costco Wholesale Corporation operates an international chain of membership warehouses, mainly under the "Costco Wholesale" name. The company currently operates 562 warehouses, including 409 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 77 in Canada, 21 in the United Kingdom, 7 in Korea, 6 in Taiwan, 9 in Japan, 32 in Mexico and 1 in Australia. Costco also operates Costco Online at www.costco.com and at www.costco.ca in Canada. The company plans to open an additional five new warehouses (including the relocation of one warehouse to a larger and better-located facility), prior to the end of calendar 2009.

Recent Events

In recent news, it was reported that Costco will stop carrying Coke products due to a dispute over prices as the retail giant is trying

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The world’s second largest gold producer by market value, Goldcorp Inc (GG) is acquiring gold miner Canplats Resources Corp for about C$238 million ($229 million) to establish a network of satellite mines around its Penasquito gold project in Mexico. Each Canplats share would be exchanged for 0.074 of a common share of Goldcorp and an interest in a new exploration company. The offer values Canplats at about C$3.60 ($3.46) per share based upon the closing price of Goldcorp shares on Nov. 13. The offer represents a premium of about 41% over the C$2.55 million ($2.45 million) closing price of Canplats shares. The transaction is expected to close in January 2010. The Boards of Directors of both Goldcorp and Canplats have approved the deal. However, a two-thirds majority of Canplats outstanding shareholders are required to vote in favor of the offer for it to conclude. Canplats has ...

Bristow Group Inc. (BRS) has surprised on estimates 3 out of the last 4 quarters by an average of 10.50%. The company is trading at 11.7x forward earnings.

Company Description

Bristow Group is one of the largest providers of helicopter services in the world. Its primary customers are in the offshore energy industry in the North Sea, Nigeria, the Gulf of Mexico, Australia, Brazil, Russia and Trinidad. The company provides transportation, maintenance and search and rescue services.

Bristow Surprised by 39.39%

On Nov 4, Bristow Group reported its fiscal second quarter and surprised on the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 26 cents per share. Earnings per share rose 19.5% to 92 cents from 77 cents in the year ago period. Analysts were expecting just 66 cents.

Revenue was virtually unchanged from the second quarter of 2008 at $291.6 million compared to $291.7 million in 2008.

While the operating

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NuStar Energy L.P. (NS) announced the closing of its 5,750,000 common units of public offering, representing $52.45 per unit limited partner interest. Of this, 750,000 units were sold to underwriters. Total net proceeds from the public offering were $289 million, including the additional common units sold.   The partnership expects to use the proceeds of the public offering for general partnership purposes, including potential future acquisitions and growth capital expenditures. Net proceeds include the general partner’s − NuStar GP Holdings LLC (NSH) − proportionate capital contribution of $6.15 million. Pending the use of the proceeds for other purposes, the partnership intends to apply some or all of the net proceeds to reduce outstanding borrowings under its revolving credit facility.   NuStar Energy L.P. is a publicly traded limited partnership, with 8,417 miles of pipeline, 82 terminal facilities, four crude oil storage tank facilities and two asphalt refineries ...

From time to time, La Russophobe forwards us links to what they are publishing.  This posting on subnational authoritarianism in particular is quite interesting.  Writing in the Russian Analytical Digest, Vladimir Gelman argues that the processes of political recentralization of the regions initiated in the Putin era has a certain character which is more similar to that of Southern Italy  (1950s to 1980s) and PRI-era Mexico (an argument we have heard before) than it is to the authoritarian bureaucracies of Central Asia.  In this bargaining system of loyalty rewarded by non-intervention (which goes miles in explaining how the Kremlin can't seem to stop murders in Chechnya), Gelman argues that we aren't likely to see any pluralistic opening up of these structures locally without the total collapse of the national party structure.  Bummer.  As it has been pointed ...

Dr Stock Pick HOT News & Alerts!

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FREE Daily Stock Alerts From DrStockPick.com

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Monday November 16, 2009

DrStockPick.com Stock Report!

NVAX, PWRM

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NVAX, Novavax Inc.

NVAX is a clinical-stage biotechnology company, creating novel vaccines to address a broad range of infectious diseases worldwide, including H1N1, using advanced proprietary virus-like-particle (VLP) technology. The company produces potent VLP-based recombinant vaccines utilizing new and efficient manufacturing approaches. Novavax is committed to using its VLP technology to create country-specific vaccine solutions. The company has formed a joint venture with Cadila Pharmaceuticals, named CPL Biologicals, to develop and manufacture vaccines, biological therapeutics and diagnostics in India.

NVAX announced today that enrollment has been completed in the first stage of a two-stage

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 16, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Infosys (INFY) as the Bull of the Day and Myriad Genetics Inc. (MYGN) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on American International Group (AIG), Citigroup (C) and Bank of America (BAC).

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 Infosys (INFY) to an Outperform rating with a target price of $57. Through the ongoing economic downturn, the company has invested in Research & Development as well as intellectual property-based solutions. It continues to focus on large deals targeted at organizational transformation where there is a dearth of vendor talent.

The company continues to win new customers and manages to keep its order book healthy.

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We are upgrading Infosys (INFY) to an Outperform rating with a target price of $57. Through the ongoing economic downturn, the company has invested in Research & Development as well as intellectual property-based solutions. It continues to focus on large deals targeted at organizational transformation where there is a dearth of vendor talent.

The company continues to win new customers and manages to keep its order book healthy. It is increasing its presence in the emerging markets of Mexico, Brazil, China and India from where an increasing proportion of revenue can be sourced in the coming years.

Finally, its solid balance sheet and cash flow generation provides support to our estimates.Zacks Investment Research