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Thursday November 12, 2009

DrStockPick.com Stock Report!

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Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) has completed regulatory submissions to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Food and Drug Administration in support of the Vistive III soybean trait. This second-generation product builds on Monsanto’s existing Vistive product and would provide food companies with a healthier, more stable soybean oil for frying and baking that contains significantly lower levels of saturated fat and eliminates trans fats.

TaxMasters Inc. (OTC BB: TAXS.OB) began operational implementation this week of a proprietary system

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 12, 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: Progressive Corporation (PGR), Allstate Corp. (ALL), Infinity Property and Casualty Corp. (IPCC), State Auto Financial Corp. (STFC) and Monsanto Company (MON).

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 Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:

Progressive’s Income Falls

Auto insurer Progressive Corporation’s (PGR) income for October fell to 16 cents per share compared with 22 cents in the year-ago period. Though the company has posted a growth in premium writings, realized gains were lower in the quarter

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At its investor conference call, Monsanto Company (MON) indicated that it will accelerate launches for its Genuity SmartStax corn and Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybean products. The company emphasized its growth strategy from 2010 through 2012, which includes three operational imperatives: the conversion to Genuity SmartStax in U.S. corn, the upgradation to the Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield platform in U.S. soybeans, and increased penetration in Latin America. Monsanto now anticipates its new Genuity SmartStax corn seed will launch on more than 4 million acres in 2010, compared to its previous expectation of 3 million to 4 million acres. As a part of the accelerated adoption of Genuity SmartStax, the company unveiled a new portfolio of product upgrades for key U.S. corn segments. For the Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield platform in U.S. soybeans, Monsanto increased its launch-year expectation for 2010 to 8 - 10 ...

Monsanto Company (MON) has signed a long-term supply contract with Air Products (APD), the leading global hydrogen provider. According to the contract, Air Products will build a new world-scale hydrogen production plant to be located at Monsanto's Luling, Louisiana, Roundup facility. The new hydrogen plant is scheduled to be on-stream in Jan 2012.  Air Products will build a steam methane reformer (SMR) producing over 100 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) of hydrogen. The SMR will be connected to Air Products' East Gulf Coast pipeline network, which supplies refineries with hydrogen needed to make cleaner burning transportation fuels, in addition to meeting the hydrogen needs of the local petrochemical industry. In addition, the facility will produce additional hydrogen via a clean-up of a hydrogen-rich off-gas feed coming from Monsanto. Monsanto will use steam from Air Products' SMR process to benefit its Roundup production plant. ...

Amidst this economic downturn, investors are consistently looking to invest in companies with the ability to “weather” the storm. A frequently mentioned characteristic of the companies deemed qualified to handle the current recession are size, in particular market cap. But how has size held up thus far in this market? The following is a snapshot of the largest stocks, by market cap, in each sector of the S&P 500. Included in this synopsis is their performance since the beginning of 2008, and the current state of each company’s operations. As a note, performance figures were calculated as of the market close on Monday March 23. Furthermore, for a relative perspective, the S&P 500 returned -39.58% in 2008.

Consumer Discretionary

McDonald’s Corporation [MCD: 55.01, -1.05 (-1.87%)]

2008 Consumer Discretionary Sector Return: -48.10% 2008 MCD Return: 8.58% 2009 MCD Return: -13.66% Market Cap: $61.43 Billion...

Apollo Group (

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Highlighted stocks include AFLAC Incorporated (...

Investors occasionally use a stock trading technique called 'Buying Dividends,' which is the technique of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend. This technique generally works only in bull markets.br /br /If you are interested in a href="http://stockerblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/buying-dividends-top-7-stocks-going-ex.html"buying dividends/a, there are many stocks in many different industries to choose from. In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can't sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual dividend may not be paid for another few weeks.br /br /All of the following stocks have market caps over $500 million, and yield over 1%. br /br /Best Buy Co., Inc. (BBY) Ex dividend date: 1/2/2009 Yield: 2.12%br /Brandywine Realty Trust (BDN) Ex dividend date: 1/2/2009 Yield: 24.96%br ...

Missouri has a very diversified economy. It has a large service sector, wholesale, retail, manufacturing and agricultural. It is a top producer of automobiles, beer and aerospace technology. Some lesser known facts about Missouri follow:1. Missouri’s top commodities are soybeans, cattle and calves and corn.2. 14,842 new businesses settled in Missouri during 2007.3. Top manufacturing industries in the state are: transportation equipment, food products, and fabricated metals.4. The manufacturing industry employs 13% of the work force.5. Missouri exports chemicals, machinery and food products to South Korea, China and Japan.6. The High-tech industry of Missouri employs 4% of the work force.7. Missouri offers over $306 million in incentives for biofuel energy development, along with tax credits.8. Forest products contribute $1.69 billion to the economy.9. Top industries depending on exports are the aircraft manufacturing, and the wholesale ...

Fluor Corporation (FLR) reported a record second quarter earlier this month. Net earnings jumped 119% to $209 million from last yearÂ’s $96 million. The company mentioned that all business segments contributed to this positive result by posting solid growth in profit over last year.

FLR sees higher earnings for the year as does Wall Street

The company also hiked its guidance for the year. “We are encouraged by the strength of our financial results to date, and see substantial opportunity for the balance of the year,” said Chief Financial Officer Mike Steuert. “As a result, we are increasing our full year guidance for Earnings Per Share to a range of $3.65 to $3.80 per share for 2008.” This compares with previous guidance of $3.30 to $3.45 per share after adjusting for a two-for-one stock split that was effective on July 16, 2008.

Analysts responded with higher forecasts. Eight out of 11

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