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: Vodafone Group Plc (VOD), Telefonica (TEF), Deutsche Telekom (DT), France Telecom (FTE) and Verizon (VZ).

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Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:

Vodafone Profit Leaps, Lifts Savings

Vodafone Group Plc (VOD), the largest wireless carrier in the world by revenue, has announced interim results for fiscal year 2010 with adjusted net income of £4.58 billion (US$7.3 billion) increasing 15% year over year from £3.99 billion (US$6.4 billion) reported a year

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Vodafone Group Plc (VOD), the largest wireless carrier in the world by revenue, has announced interim results for fiscal year 2010 with adjusted net income of £4.58 billion (US$7.3 billion) increasing 15% year over year from £3.99 billion (US$6.4 billion) reported a year ago, driven by favorable exchange rate movements and reduced tax. Adjusted earnings exclude one-time items such as impairment losses. Group Revenue & EBITDA The telecom giant reported consolidated revenues of £21.8 billion (US$34.8 billion) for the period, representing a 9.3% year over year growth. Favorable exchange rate (euro-sterling) swings and net impact of merger and acquisition initiatives contributed to this growth. Excluding these impacts (organic basis), revenue declined 3% year over year. Group service revenue declined 2.6% year over year on an organic basis to £20.5 billion (US$32.7 billion), primarily due to weaker contributions from European markets as recessionary conditions curbed demand ...

Bloomberg reports that oil has been trading around $66 a barrel, as spare capacity has staved off fears of supply disruption due to political disputes between Iran and the US.  Apparently German firm RWE has not renounced its plans to participate in the building of the Belene nuclear power plant in Bulgaria.  If Belene announces a tender, Russia will attempt to purchase a stake in the plant, which is being built by a Russian company, says Ria-Novosti.  Prime Minster Putin has ordered First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov to draw up a plan for the government, for businesses and for government agencies to introduce cutting edge energy-saving technologies.  Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller has reportedly said that countries that are not as of yet involved in the South Stream project, such as Turkey and Romania, are starting to ...

Ford Motor (F) recently said that it would begin production of its new compact van, Transit Connect, in Craiova, Romania. Two years ago, the company bought a 72.4% stake in the state-owned Automobile Craiova for $88 million. At that time, it had promised to invest $1 billion to upgrade and expand car production in Romania. Therefore, the announcement is a step towards fulfillment of that objective.

Ford’s decision will no doubt be a boon for the Romanian economy, which has been going through tough times. In March, the International Monetary Fund provided the country with $17.1 billion in bailout fund to pull it out of a financial crisis.

Ford plans to manufacture 300,000 automobiles and 300,000 engines in Romania in the next 4 years. It will employ an additional 3,000 staff throughout the country and has invested 12 million Euros ($17.2 million) to train the workforce. The Romanian

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SmithField Foods Inc. (SFD), producer and marketer of fresh and packaged meat products in the U.S. and internationally, reported results for its first quarter of fiscal 2010 with a net loss of 56 cents per share. The loss was a penny higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 55 cents. The loss was also greater than net of loss of 21 cents reported in the comparable prior-year quarter. Despite controlled production, the company reported a loss primarily due to higher one-time items and lower hog prices domestically due to oversupply, the impact of the H1N1 (commonly referred to as "swine flu") pandemic and the recession. Net sales for the quarter declined 13.6% year-over-year to $2.7 billion attributable to lower volumes and currency fluctuations, especially in international operations and lower prices of fresh pork. Furthermore, the recent outbreak of swine flu also had a negative impact ...

Before I left for my summer break in Greece I asked, among other things, whether Hungary was trying to escape original sin or more specifically (and implicitly) whether Hungary is using the current relatively favorable market environment to claw back control over monetary policy. Recent comments from central bank Deputy Governor Ferenc Karvalits suggest that this may very well be the case (quote below from Bloomberg);

Investors see Hungary becoming “significantly” less risky, allowing for further reductions in interest rates, central bank Deputy Governor Ferenc Karvalits said. “Over the past few months, international risk appetite has improved significantly, the risk assessment of the region and Hungary has stabilized, and this allows for further easing of monetary conditions,” Karvalits said in an interview on Kossuth Radio today.

The Magyar Nemzeti Bank lowered its benchmark interest rate by half

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SmallCapVoice.com, Inc. announced today that a new audio interview featuring ICC Worldwide, Inc. (OTCBB: ICCW) is now available. The interview can be heard at http://smallcapvoice.com/blog/7-30-09-audio-interview-with-icc-worldwide-inc-otcbb-iccw/.

SmallCapVoice.com is a recognized corporate investor relations firm, with clients nationwide, known for its ability to help emerging growth companies build a following among retail and institutional investors. SmallCapVoice.com utilizes its stock newsletter to feature its daily stock picks, audio interviews, as well as its clients’ financial news releases. SmallCapVoice.com also offers individual investors with all the tools they need to make informed decisions about the stocks they are interested in. Tools like stock charts, stock alerts, and investor fact sheets can assist with investing in stocks that are traded on the OTC BB and Pink Sheets. To learn more about SmallCapVoice.com and their services, please visit http://www.smallcapvoice.com/services.html.

About ICC Worldwide:

ICC Worldwide, Inc. (OTCBB:ICCW) provides a specialized range of wholesale communications services

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TODAY: Russia warns against US joining monitoring in Georgia; Lavrov unfazed by Biden's comments. US says Russia could still join NATO.  Ambassador to Britain claims no legal basis for British Council activities in Moscow. Moldova election kicks off.  Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin has said that Georgia's movements on the frontier with South Ossetia and Abkhazia are 'categorically inflating political and military hysteria'.  A high-ranking diplomat has said that including the US in monitoring missions in Georgia would be 'extremely harmful' and would raise 'the likelihood of border provocations,' as well as endangering the reset.   Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has downplayed Joe Biden's 'Bush-like' comments as 'not normative', saying that US voters who ...

CORONA DEL MAR, Calif., July 27, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ICC Worldwide, Inc. (OTCBB:ICCW) today announced that a comprehensive agreement had been reached with four of the firm’s principal financing sources to consolidate a total of ten existing promissory notes, each with varying terms and conditions, into four new superseding notes with a much more consistent set of terms. The new notes all carry a 10% interest rate and mature on June 30, 2013. The effect of this consolidation not only reduces the number of notes outstanding to a single note per lender, it also simplifies the company’s capital structure and reduces the number of fully diluted common shares.

Additionally, the new notes: 1) eliminate the conversion feature in both the loans and preferred stock, 2) eliminate the put option for the redemption of the company’s Series C preferred shares, and 3) reduces the liquidation preference on the Series

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Vodafone Group Plc (VOD), the largest wireless carrier in the world by revenue, has announced financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2010 (ended June 30, 2009). The company reported group revenues of £10.7 billion (US$16.6 billion), representing a 9.3% year over year growth. Favorable exchange rate (euro-sterling) movements and net impact of merger and acquisition initiatives (especially additional 15% stake in Vodacom) contributed to this growth. Excluding these impact (organic basis), revenue declined by 2.4%.  Geographically, revenues for the European segment increased 3.8% (down 4.8% on organic basis) to £7.5 billion (US$11.6 billion) in the first quarter. Africa & Central Europe segment posted revenues of £1.7 billion (US$2.6 billion), up 27.8% year over year. Organically, revenue fell 2.5% as consistent growth at Vodacom (South Africa) and favorable exchange rate movements were partly offset by weak contributions from Romania and Turkey. Asia Pacific & Middle ...