For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – July 27, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Onyx (ONXX) as the Bull of the Day and Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide (HOT) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on D.R. Horton (DHI), Lennar (LEN) and Beazer (BZH).

Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2676

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

We maintain our Buy rating on Onyx (ONXX) shares with price target of $45.

Onyx delivered strong financial performance in 1Q09 and we expect the company will continue to deliver very good financials for 2009. Nexavar sales continued to grow in 1Q08, which was mainly attributed to the market penetration in liver cancer while market share has stabilized in kidney cancer market in spite of heavy competition. Total Nexavar

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On July 16, Bethesda, MD-based hotelier Marriott International (MAR) reported financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2009. Total revenue was $2.6 billion, down 19.6% versus the prior year period. Marriott experienced worldwide declines in revenue per available room (RevPAR) across all its brands. RevPAR is a key metric for the lodging industry. Base management and franchise fees declined 19%, while incentive management fees were down 66% from the prior year. Owned, leased, corporate housing and other revenue decreased 54%, while adjusted timeshare sales and services revenue declined 24%. Worldwide comparable company-operated properties RevPAR decreased 26.1% (23.0% on a constant-dollar basis), while worldwide system-wide RevPAR fell 23.6% (21.4% on a constant-dollar basis). International company-operated RevPAR fell 31.5% (22.1% on a constant-dollar basis) including a 22.3% decline in average daily rate (11.6% using a constant-dollar basis). The results reflected the economic recession in addition to ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - July 6, 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: Starwood Hotels (HOT), Marriott International (MAR), American Public Education (APEI), Strayer Education (STRA) and Devry Inc. (DV).

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Here are highlights from Friday's Analyst Blog:

Hotel Metrics Stay Down

We have been negative on the lodging sector for months, as we have maintained that investors have been too optimistic regarding the chances for a second-half recovery in the group.

Earlier this week, an analyst at a major Wall Street

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Hotel Metrics Down, Others Finally Catching On The second quarter of 2009 proved to be even more challenging than the first for hotel companies in the United States. And as it becomes increasingly clear that a recovery in the industry isn’t likely to happen any time in the near term, others on Wall Street have begun to change their outlooks. After declining 19.0% in the first quarter of the year, weekly average revenue per available room, or RevPAR, declined 20.1% in the second quarter. Looking at the composition of these numbers, however, we see that the damage to the businesses was even greater than the 110 basis point change. Average weekly occupancy declined 11.6% in the second quarter, compared to a decline of 12.5% year-over-year in the first quarter. However, hoteliers began cutting room rates more substantially during the just-ended quarter, with Q2 average daily rate, ...

As the recession continues, hotel industry operating metrics are showing no signs of improvement, as both business and leisure travelers are cutting back.OUTLOOKThe lodging industry is facing significant challenges stemming from the economic recession, as both business and consumers are cutting back on travel expenditures. When evaluating hotel companies like Starwood (HOT) and Marriott (MAR) during this down cycle, we will be paying especially close attention to changes in average daily room rates as an indication of how quickly the sector may recover once the economy improves.A key operating metric in the lodging industry is RevPAR (revenue per available room). This metric is derived by multiplying the occupancy percentage of a hotel over a given period by the average daily room rate (ADR) over that same period. Changes in either occupancy or ADR will impact RevPAR, but with different implications for ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - June 9, 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: Sunstone Hotel Investors (SHO), Starwood Hotels & Resorts (HOT), American International Group (AIG), Citigroup (C) and Bank of America (BAC).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=4579.

Here are highlights from Monday's Analyst Blog:

High-Profile Hotel Default

Last night, Sunstone Hotel Investors (SHO) announced that the company would turn over its W San Diego hotel property to its lenders, as opposed to making its June 1st debt service payment on the property's mortgage. This

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Last night, Sunstone Hotel Investors (SHO) announced that the company would turn over its W San Diego hotel property to its lenders, as opposed to making its June 1st debt service payment on the property’s mortgage. This move speaks volumes about the deterioration of the hotel operating environment in recent months, and in turn, the value of hotel properties. Sunstone, a hotel REIT, acquired the W hotel in San Diego in 2006 for $96 million, or roughly $370,000 per room. At the time, the purchase price equated to a multiple of 12x projected 2006 EBITDA. In conjunction with the purchase, the company closed on a $65 million first mortgage, bearing an interest rate of 6.14%. The local hotel operating environment has weakened to the point that the company has decided to simply hand over the keys to the lender, as opposed to making another debt ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - June 5, 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: Marriott International (MAR), Starwood Hotels (HOT), Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), Wyndham Worldwide (WYN) and Duke Realty (DRE).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=4579.

Here are highlights from Thursday's Analyst Blog:

Another Rough Week for Hotels

Chicago and New York City led the way lower last week, with ADR declines of 26.5% and 26.4%, respectively. These are major markets, with significant concentrations of hotels aligned with the large, publicly held lodging companies.

RevPAR declines were

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Weekly average hotel room rates fell to their lowest level of the year last week, according to data from Smith Travel Research, Inc. Given the ongoing deterioration in operating fundamentals, we reiterate our negative outlook on the sector, as well as our Sell ratings on Marriott International ((MAR) and Starwood Hotels & Resorts (HOT).Average occupancy levels declined 10.2% year-over-year to 51.6% during the week ended May 30, 2009. During the same period, average daily room rate, or ADR, fell 9.6% to $93.00. Together, this resulted in a decline in revenue per available room, or RevPAR, of 18.9% to $47.96. This was the lowest RevPAR level since late January.Chicago and New York City led the way lower last week, with ADR declines of 26.5% and 26.4%, respectively. These are major markets, with significant concentrations of hotels aligned with the large, publicly held lodging companies....

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - May 28, 2009 - Zacks Equity Research highlights Marvel Entertainment (MVL) as the Bull of the Day and Starwood Hotels & Resorts (HOT) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Wal-Mart (WMT), Family Dollar (FDO) and Saks (SKS).

Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2676.

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

Marvel Entertainment's (MVL) business model of leveraging its library of more than 5,000 trademarked and often ubiquitous characters across 3 businesses comic books, toys and films while putting little capital at risk has proven lucrative, generating operating margins and ROE averaging 56% and 37%, respectively, from 2003 to the present. We expect EPS to fall by nearly 50% in 2009, but

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