For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 19, 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: D.R. Horton (DHI), Pulte (PHM), Owens Corning (OC), Masco (MAS) and EnCana Corporation (ECA).

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Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:

Housing Starts, Permits Plunge

Housing prices are still under pressure, despite unprecedented steps by the Federal government and the Federal Reserve to prop up the price of that asset class. Artificial government support is not as durable a way to prop up prices as a better balance between supply and demand

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EnCana Corporation (ECA) – a major Canadian oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) company – reported weak third quarter results, hit by lower prices and volumes. Operating earnings per share, excluding hedging and foreign exchange effects, came in at $1.03. This fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.11 and way behind the year-ago profit of $1.92.  Revenues were down 64.2% year over year to $3.9 billion. During the quarter, total production was down 7.0% to 4,387 million cubic feet equivalent per day (MMcfe/d), of which 81% was natural gas. Natural gas production decreased roughly 9.3% year-over-year to 3,551 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d), while oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs) production was up 3.7% to 139 thousand barrels per day (MBbls/d).  Key Resource Plays  Production of natural gas from key resource plays was down approximately 6.5% year-over-year to 3,410 MMcfe/d, primarily ...

Devon Energy Corp. revealed details of its strategy to monetize all outstanding Gulf of Mexico and international assets today, Monday, Nov. 16. Following this divestiture, DVN – an Oklahoma based energy company engaged in oil and gas exploration, will channel the capital generated into its U.S. and Canada onshore infrastructure.

DVN will elaborate further on its bold new strategy to effectively trim its cost structure and sculpt its balance sheet in a conference call webcast on the DVN corporate site at 9 a.m. CST (10 EST). On the agenda for this conference call will be the 2010 outlook and capital budget, a revised analysis of DVN’s resource potential, and the repositioning of the company following its divestiture of assets.

The assets in question comprise roughly 7% of the company-wide proved reserves for year-end 2009, which is 2.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent (Boe). DVN’s portfolio of oil and natural gas

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If you are interested in oil and gas investing there are three primary ways you can go about starting your investment. These ways include investing in companies, mutual funds, and commodities. You can make a lot of money in this industry if you are smart about your investments.

Investors consider gas investments to be safe. This is because there are so many ways that someone can invest their money in the industry. You are not limited to only buying stock in a business but there are so many other ways to invest too. It is easy to diversify your portfolio of investments with only oil and gas in the many different ways you can invest.

The primary way to take advantage of oil investments is through company stock. If you find a drilling company that you want to invest in because you believe they will strike oil some time soon you can …

When you look at oil and gas investing there are many ways you can look at the market and the potential investment. You should do plenty of research so you know you are making a good decision with your money. Here are 6 things you can look at to be sure you are about to make a good decision or you should back out.

1. The company. If you are looking into investing in a particular company you must look at everything about them. Check out the history of the company, the executives and board members, and the description of the business. It is also important when researching a business for oil investments to check out the locations and subsidiaries.

2. If recent mergers and acquisitions have occurred you need to research both of the businesses that have combined. Find out about all equity, ventures, and everything about the businesses involved.

3. Research …

Greatbatch, Inc. (GB) reported third quarter fiscal 2009 earnings per share of 32 cents, lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 38 cents and the year-ago earnings of 44 cents.  Sales Total sales in the reported quarter declined 11% year over year to $121.5 million. Excluding CRM/Neuromodulation, negative sales growth was witnessed across all business segments.   CRM/Neuromodulation revenues increased 5% year over year to $74.1 million. Growth can be attributed to higher demand for medical batteries due to increased market growth of these products. This was partly offset by lower capacitor sales as a result of inventory adjustments made by Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) customers during the quarter.  Orthopaedic revenues declined 39% year over year to $23.2 million. The decline was due to lower spending on elective procedures and the clients’ tight inventory management owing to the global economic recession.  Electrochem sales declined 16% ...

Lion Energy Corp. is a Canadian exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of oil and gas reserves in Central and East Africa. The company today made a joint announcement with Southern Star Energy Inc. (SSEY.OB), a U.S.- based oil and gas exploration company, and Gold Star Resources Corp. (TSX-V: GXX), a Canadian resource exploration company focused on the strategic acquisition and advancement of prospective oil and gas projects in West Africa, stating that the three companies have signed a non-binding letter of intent to create a mid-sized, “well-capitalized” company with domestic and international exploration operations.

The proposed combination of the three companies will result in one company backed by an experienced management team and board of directors, which will ultimately benefit shareholders as the company takes advantage of growth opportunities.

“The collaboration of Lion, Southern and Gold Star combines an excellent portfolio of diverse African exploratory opportunities

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Many investors often look to the larger oil and gas developers for a safe investment, and in a certain sense these types of companies are perhaps one of your more safe investments. Energy after all is always a need. There are, however, companies on the verge that may make better investments as they move forward with production and development plans. While some may look left at these more main-stream players, looking right for those companies that may be in the right place at the right time may be a bit more profitable. Care needs to be taken and research done, but if one picks wisely, profit will be there.

American Oil & Gas Inc., an oil and gas exploration company, works to explore and develop crude oil and natural gas deposits primarily in Colorado and Wyoming. The company holds natural gas interests through its American Tower Inc. subsidiary but is generally

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Weak volumes and prices drive losses United States Steel Corporation (X) recorded its third sequential loss -- $3.03 billion or $2.11 per share in the third quarter of 2009 in contrast to a net income of $9.19 billion or $7.79 per share in the third quarter of 2008. However, losses narrowed sequentially and were lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $2.91. On a year-over-year basis, revenues were down 61% to $2.82 billion, driven by a 35% year-over-year decline in total steel shipments to 4.2 million tons. However, shipments increased 41% quarter on quarter. The company saw lower year-over-year volumes and prices across all major segments on the back of a slump in the economy. Additionally, increasing competition from China and weak demand in major markets, especially Europe, which resulted in lower capacity utilization have impacted results. Two of the company’s ...

Any industry needs the basics to make it run. Technology needs solid minds while manufacturing needs skilled artisans. Exploration needs data of many kinds. A company that can provide that data, at a reasonable and successful rate, is one that will always profit.

Ion Geophysical Inc., a seismic mapping company, works to map subterranean natural gas and oil structures world-wide. The company, based in Huston, Texas, has recently entered into a financial agreement with a Chinese concern to dramatically reduce debt and enable opportunities for expansion.

Although one may assume that subterranean imaging might be rather straight-forward in nature, it is slightly more varied. In this regard, the company operates through four fairly distinct segments: land based, marine, data assessment and data solutions. Given the four varying segments of the company, it may be said that the company is a full one stop shop for assessing opportunity where searching for minerals, of

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