For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – September 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: Synopsys Inc. (SNPS), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSM), Home Depot Inc. (HD), Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (MSO) and Lowe Co.s Inc. (LOW).

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Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

Synopsys Moves On

Synopsys Inc. (SNPS) recently announced the addition of a new major customer, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSM). The latter has adopted Synopsys' HSIM hierarchical FastSPICE circuit simulator for its sub-40-nanometer, memory intellectual property

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Synopsys Inc. (SNPS) recently announced the addition of a new major customer, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSM). The latter has adopted Synopsys' HSIM hierarchical FastSPICE circuit simulator for its sub-40-nanometer, memory intellectual property characterization flow.  The HSIM technology will be used in TSM's advanced SRAM compilers for improvement in timing and power simulation techniques. It will also facilitate the process of full chip simulation process.  This new technology from Synopsys will help TSM improve memory characterization efficiency by almost 10 times. TSM has adopted this technology, as the Synopsys’ technology is expected to be superior to those offered by other software and semiconductor companies.  We are encouraged by Synopsys' new technologies and its ability to attract new and important customers, which should improve the company's revenue and cash flows going forward.  Synopsis has also been returning cash to investors. Recently, the company declared ...

Today we are featuring top-performing "Pacific" equity mutual funds, which primarily invest in stocks of companies that are based in.

Investors can find such funds by checking out the entire list of the Zacks #1 Rank Pacific Equity Funds.3 Pacific Picks

SPARX Asia Pacific Equity Income (SPAIX) was incepted in August 2007 and seeks long-term capital appreciation. The fund is non-diversified.

The fund normally invests at least 80% of its net assets in dividend-paying companies located in the Asia Pacific region, excluding Japan. It invests in companies regardless of market capitalization.

Tom Naughton has been the lead portfolio manager at the fund since its inception, focusing exclusively on Asia ex-Japan. The fund has an expense ratio of 1.60%.

Fidelity Advisor Emerging Asia A (FEAAX) seeks long-term capital appreciation. It normally invests primarily in common stocks of Asian emerging market

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TSM Adjusts Guidance Up. Wait -- What?This is not a misprint. On Tuesday March 10, 2009, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TSM) sharply raised its 1st-quarter sales and margin forecasts due to rush orders from China.Here is the direct quote from TSMC CFO Lora Ho:"TSMC's first-quarter business is expected to be better than the company's previous guidance ... primarily due to rush orders from customers, especially from the mainland Chinese market, and a stronger U.S. dollar..."Did we just see the word "rush" and the word "orders" used in the same sentence? It would appear so.What is happening here is that inventories have been taken so low, chip makers are waiting until they have actual orders instead of order expectations. The recovery, if it looks like this, could be more of V-shaped recovery after all.I am not ...