For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 16, 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: Apple Inc. (AAPL), Microsoft Corp (MSFT), Quality Systems Inc. (QSII), Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions, Inc. (MDRX) and Cerner Corp. (CERN).

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 Friday’s Analyst Blog:

Apple Opens New Store in New York

Apple Inc. (AAPL) will open its newest retail store with an 8,500 square feet retail space in New York tomorrow. The store will help Apple deliver more Macs, iPods and iPhones, taking advantage of the coming holiday

...

Apple Inc. (AAPL) will open its newest retail store with an 8,500 square feet retail space in New York tomorrow. The store will help Apple deliver more Macs, iPods and iPhones, taking advantage of the coming holiday season. The new store is the fourth in Manhattan and fifteenth in New York.   To ensure a high-quality buying experience for its products, in which service and education are emphasized, the company has expanded and improved its distribution capabilities by opening its own retail stores in the U.S. and internationally.   The company operates a network of 280 retail stores in 10 countries across the world, including the U.S., U.K., Italy, Australia, Canada, Japan, China, Switzerland, Germany and France to drive the demand for its other products. Further, Apple is soon to open two new stores in Shanghai as well as London and Paris. The company further plans to ...

Matt may think it’s all about Zecco. I think it’s all about advisers.

Zecco? Really Matt? Honestly, for investors who are holding big accounts at Zecco, Schwab isn’t likely to be an issue in any case. Zecco, for those who don’t know the firm, is a super-low-discount broker, offering everything from bargain basement foreign exchange trading to $5 options. A few ETFs are unlikely to even be on the radar of Zecco customers.

I think the real target for Schwab’s new ETFs is the money Schwab’s existing customers have in ETFs.

Schwab’s huge. They custody $1.3 trillion for their 5.3 million customers, and process over 300,000 trades each and every day. Perhaps most importantly, Schwab acts as the back end for over 6,000 independent advisers in their adviser services business.

It’s a mistake to think that Schwab, as a broker, is in the transaction business. Fundamentally, they’re in the banking business. Schwab makes 35-40

...

We have downgraded the recommendation on AutoZone (AZO) from Outperform to Neutral. This reflects the company’s heavy reliance on private label brands and threats from its vendor consolidation and appreciation in gas prices, which act contrary to significant growth opportunities that exist in each of its businesses such as retail, commercial and ALLDATA. AutoZone is one of the nation’s leading specialty retailers of automotive replacement parts and accessories, operating in the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) retail, Do-It-for-Me (DIFM) commercial and other customer markets. DIY retail sales represented 84% of the company’s revenue in 2008, DIFM commercial sales represented 11% and the remaining 5% generated from other sales. AutoZone sells the ALLDATA brand automotive diagnostic and repair software, and offers ALLDATA repair subscription, ALLDATA online and on DVD, which offers comprehensive factory-correct repair information to DIY customers. AutoZone has a high degree of reliance (50%) on its private ...

Dress Barn, Inc. (DBRN), the specialty clothing retailer, recently surprised on the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the second consecutive quarter as sales jumped 4% in the fiscal-fourth quarter.

On Sep 16, the company reported earnings per share of 39 cents, or 3 cents higher, than the Zacks Consensus Estimate. This was a 5 cent improvement over the fourth quarter of the prior year.

Out of the company's two divisions, dressbarn and maurice stores, it was dressbarn that saw the better performance. Sales rose 6% to $253.7 million from $238.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2008. Same store sales jumped 4%.

Maurice stores grew sales by 1% to $145.2 million from $143.8 million a year ago. Same store sales fell 5% but new stores offset the decrease.

For the full fiscal year, comparable store sales were flat while net sales rose 3%.

The company is in the key

...

Del Monte Foods Company (DLM) engages in the production, distribution and marketing of branded food and pet products for the retail market in the United States. The company has benefited from many of its strategies and initiatives taken during fiscal 2009. Del Monte implemented price increases across the product portfolio, which helped it to post strong profits during the first quarter of fiscal 2010, compared to a net loss in the comparable prior-year period. Further, Del Monte is implementing enhanced trade fund management capabilities and upgrading systems and processes of marketing, planning and budgeting. As the processes and systems are strengthened, management expects to implement improved demand planning, drive supply chain efficiencies and reduce working capital levels. Moreover, the company expects to significantly improve the efficiency of dry pet food manufacturing and distribution. In the U.S., Del Monte plans to accelerate growth through continued emphasis ...

Organa Gardens International Inc., the sustainable vertical gardens systems company, reports that it has targeted the China market as its first point of entry into the hydroponics organic market. The company is in discussions with a China-based company to manufacture and distribute its Organa Garden Systems-Enterprise (OGS-E).

The domestic Chinese retail market for organic foods was valued at only $195 million in 2004, which is less than 1% of China’s total food market. However, the organic produce sector in China did increase by tenfold during the 1999-2004 period and has continued to be promoted and supported by the Chinese government. The market for organic foods in China is expected to continue on a rapid growth path as consumers’ purchasing power increases.

The company is currently pursuing strategic alliances with existing organic food distributors and hypermarket stores in China, such as LianHua, which is the largest hypermarket chain in China that carries

...

NXT Nutritionals Inc. is a developer and marketer of proprietary, patent-pending healthy alternative sweeteners as well as food and beverage products. The common ingredient for all of the company’s products is its SUSTA natural sweetener, a minimal calorie, all-natural, nutritional sweetening system. The company believes that SUSTA is superior to all other sweeteners on the market and that it is the healthier and better-tasting sweetener that consumers have long sought.

The company’s SUSTA sweetener is targeted at individuals craving sweetness but for whom sugar is either an unviable option or is an undesirable option. At the top of this group are diabetics, individuals on weight loss programs, and those proactively managing obesity.

SUSTA will be the only sweetener in the retail marketplace that is all-natural, low glycemic, contains prebiotics (soluble fiber) and probiotics, aids digestion, contains essential vitamins and minerals, helps to maintain healthy blood sugar levels and supports the immune system.

...

DrStockPick.com Stock Report!

Tuesday September 8, 2009

**************************************************************

Heathrow Natural Food & Beverage, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: HRNF) is pleased to provide an update for shareholders on several fronts. The initial sample shipment of ACAI Plus has arrived and is waiting clearance at U.S. Customs in Port Elizabeth, NJ. The gum will be tested at an independent consumer laboratory for content and antioxidant levels and made available to multiple distributors who will bring it to the retail market. Heathrow Natural Food & Beverage, Inc. has ordered an initial production run of 250,000 units and expects to ship over four million units of ACAI Plus over the next

...

Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST), the fifth largest general retailer in the U.S., has reported a better-than-expected performance in same-store sales in August with a marginal dip of 2% compared to an average analyst prediction of 5.7%. Same-store sales measure sales at stores which have been open for at least a year, and are a widely used metric to gauge retailer performance as they measure growth at existing stores rather than at the newly opened ones. August same-store sales of Costco decreased 4% across the U.S. locations, while increasing 3% in the international division. According to the company, the August results were negatively affected to some extent by the shift of the Labor Day holiday to one week later in the calendar. Costco further revealed that discretionary items such as food and sundries reported comparatively improved sales vis-à-vis non-food discretionary items in the month. The recent ...