For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 17, 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: Citigroup Inc. (C), Liberty Global Inc. (LBTYA), Comcast Corp. (CMCSA), Deutsche Telekom AG (DT) and Vodafone Plc (VOD).

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Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog:

Citi to Sell Stake in Bellsystem24

Citigroup Inc. (C) announced that it will sell stake in Bellsystem24 to U.S. private equity firm, Bain Capital Partners, in a deal that values the Japanese call center operator at $1.1 billion.

The company announced on Sunday that it

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Liberty Global Inc. (LBTYA) announced it will acquire all of the issued and outstanding capital stock of Unitymedia GmbH, the second largest cable TV operator in Germany. The total consideration will be approximately $5.2 billion. Liberty Global will acquire 100% of the shares of Unitymedia for an equity purchase price of around $3 billion and will also assume around $2.2 billion of net outstanding debt of Unitymedia. The deal is expected to be completed by the first half of 2010 subject to regulatory clearance.   Liberty Global is the second largest cable TV operator in the world. However, it is the largest international cable TV operator since Comcast Corp. (CMCSA), the largest cable MSO in the world does not have any operation outside the U.S. As of now, the company has approximately 16.6 million customers in 14 nations, most of which are in Europe. On the other ...

Frontier Communications (FTR) announced third quarter results with adjusted (excluding acquisition and integration costs) earnings per share of 18 cents, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 16 cents. Net income increased 11% year over year to $52.2 million, primarily due to gain on debt repurchases and higher operating income that increased 5% year over year to $172.5 million.   Revenues Remains under Pressure    The company reported revenues of $526.8 million, reflecting a 6% decrease over the year-ago quarter. The year-over-year decline is attributable to lower local, long-distance and switched access revenues coupled with decline in basic access lines. However, this was partially offset by increases in data and Internet service revenues.   Revenues for local services declined 8% year over year to $193.6 million while data and Internet services revenue increased 4% to $160 million. Switched access service revenues declined 8% year over year to $91.2 million

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NTT DoCoMo (DCM), the largest wireless operator in Japan, together with its five vendors has developed major new specifications for a mechanism that delivers network-based value added services for IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS).

Other members in this collaboration are Alcatel-Lucent (ALU), LM Ericsson AB (ERIC), Fujitsu Ltd., NEC Corp., and Nokia-Siemens Network; a joint venture of Nokia Corp. (NOK) and Siemens AG (SI). This mechanism includes a service composition component that coordinates various applications using IMS session management service.

IMS is a set of specifications that describes the next-generation networking architecture for implementing IP-based telephony and multimedia services. It defines a complete architecture and framework that enables the convergence of voice, video, data and mobile network technology over an IP-based infrastructure.

IMS uses Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) for easy integration with the Internet. This architecture was originally formulated to deliver Internet services over GPRS.

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Frontier Communications Corp. (FTR) announced results for the second quarter of 2009 today with earnings per share of $0.09, below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.13. Quarterly revenue of $532.1 million also fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate, reflecting a 5% decrease over the prior-year quarter.

The year-over-year decline in revenue is attributable to lower local service, subsidy and switched access revenue coupled with decline in basic access lines, partially offset by increases in data and Internet service revenues.

Quarterly net income was $27.9 million, down 50% from the year-ago quarter, primarily due to acquisition-related expenses of $10.8 million, higher interest expenses and lower operating income which fell 16% year over year to $136.6 million.

Revenue for local services declined 8% year over year to $198.3 million while data and Internet services revenue increased 6% to $160.6 million in the same period. Switched access service revenue declined

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CORONA DEL MAR, Calif., July 6, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ICC Worldwide, Inc. (OTCBB:ICCW) today announced that a major milestone has been achieved in the ongoing development of a multi-year services and support agreement with TEANET, the communications and internet services arm of Gruppo TEA Spa. Gruppo TEA is a large, well established public utility organization in Northern Italy. The firm provides a broad range of services to its 250,000 commercial and residential customers including: electricity, gas, water, sanitation, sewer and trash collection/disposal. TEA also provides an extensive network of broadband-based communications and internet services to its customers.

Rich Lauer, ICC’s President & CEO stated, “We previously announced a preliminary agreement with TEA which allowed ICC to begin initial technical work on this opportunity. A formal open bidding process has now been completed where ICC, in conjunction with our network technology partner, Soleto Spa have been formally designated as

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Highlights include DirecTV Group Inc. (DTV), Liberty Entertainment (LMDIA), Liberty Media Corp. (LINTA), News Corp. (NWS), AT&T Inc. (T) and Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ).DirecTV Gains Content and Independence After Liberty Media Spin-OffDirecTV Group Inc. (DTV) -- in a move to gain autonomy and potentially sell itself -- will merge with its majority shareholder, Liberty Entertainment (LMDIA) after that entity's previously-announced spinoff from its parent Liberty Media Corp. (LINTA).The post-spinoff DirecTV will own 54% of the common stock of DirecTV, and gain content assets  -- three regional sports networks, the majority of the Game Show Network and Internet game company FUN Technologies.Liberty Media, which is controlled by cable pioneer John Malone, currently owns a 51% stake in DTV shares and has 48% voting control. The stake was acquired from News Corp (NWS) in ...

KANA Software, Inc., a leading multi-channel customer service provider, announced today that its services were selected by Com Hem, one of the leading providers of triple-play services (including cable TV, digital television, broadband, telephony and HDTV) in Sweden. Com Hem offers over 140 television channels and is a premier media, entertainment and telecommunications provider for over 33 percent of Sweden’s households.

KANA’s multi-channel knowledge solutions will allow Com Hem service agents to quickly respond to customer queries, reduce handling time and identify solutions. The company’s solutions will also increase first-call resolution as agents will be provided with advanced search capabilities to facilitate fast, accurate and relevant help.

“We chose KANA because they offer a complete, industry-leading customer care solution,” said Christer Peltomaa, Chief Information Officer, Com Hem. “KANA enables us to provide customers and agents with consistent, accurate and timely responses on the first call. Knowledge that was once spread

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CounterPath Corporation, a leading provider of desktop and mobile VoIP software products and solutions, announced that it has been assigned United States patent number 7,502,615 for its technology that enables handoffs between cellular and IP telephony. The newly patented technology allows users to roam between mobile and IP networks seamlessly.

“The significance of this patent is far reaching,” commented Donovan Jones, President and CEO of CounterPath. “Architecturally we made some technical choices that make handover faster. Also, because we leveraged standards-based protocols like SIP, our technology works with virtually any network architecture and technology without requiring proprietary access points or clients. This approach works in both pre-IMS and IMS networks.”

Mobile operators who implement the company’s Network Convergence Gateway (NCG) into their offerings will be able to utilize the Internet to extend their network reach, giving end users connectivity from any Internet-connected location. Because enterprise customers can utilize the NCG regardless

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GM is essentially already bankrupt, says Horacio Marquez. And it has been for years. This clearly makes the company one to avoid for investors. But Horacio says there are still some ways for those with a big risk appetite to make big profits with the giant automaker.

This from Money Morning:

With America’s “Big Three” automakers all due to submit turnaround plans to Congress today (Tuesday) – a requirement if General Motor Corp. (NYSE:GM), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F), and Chrysler Corp., are to receive $25 billion in government loans – I couldn’t help but recall the moment eight years ago when I realized the U.S. auto industry was skidding toward a financial collapse.

I’ve been thinking about that market call of mine a lot of late, particularly after recently reading that JP Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) credit analysts had

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