For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 7, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Tiffany (TIF) as the Bull of the Day and Developers Diversified (DDR) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Alcoa(AA), Barrick Gold (ABX) and DuPont (DD).

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:

Tiffany (TIF) is well positioned to deliver robust sales and earnings growth through leveraging capital investments made over past several years in distribution, manufacturing and diamond sourcing processes. The company, which holds a significant position in the world jewelry market, is poised to benefit from its increased geographic diversification once the economy rebounds.

However, to weather the downturn, Tiffany is concentrating more on smaller size store formats that offer selected collections of lower

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Tiffany (TIF) is well positioned to deliver robust sales and earnings growth through leveraging capital investments made over past several years in distribution, manufacturing and diamond sourcing processes. The company, which holds a significant position in the world jewelry market, is poised to benefit from its increased geographic diversification once the economy rebounds.

However, to weather the downturn, Tiffany is concentrating more on smaller size store formats that offer selected collections of lower priced higher-margin products, which in turn enhance store productivity.

Further, to protect its shrunken revenue base, the company has been paring its cost structure by reducing its headcount and trimming capital expenditure with fewer store openings. Consequently, our Outperform rating on the stock persists.Zacks Investment Research

A brokerage firm just initiated coverage on Tiffany & Co. (TIF) with a buy rating, helping shares of the world-renowned jewelry retailer rise approximately 6%. The gain makes TIF a top-performing Zacks #1 Rank company for Tuesday.

< ?DART(15);?> According to the brokerage analyst, TIF could see positive same-store sales in the fourth quarter, and appears poised to pick up more market share.

Even before today's news though, TIF was in the good graces of several analysts thanks to a solid fiscal second-quarter report that included a raised guidance for 2009.

Earnings estimates have been trending higher, and volume today is around 2.7 million shares. The daily average is 2.6 million shares.

Earnings Estimates

In the fiscal second-quarter report from Aug 28, TIF raised its 2009 earnings from continuing operations guidance to between $1.65 and $1.75. Previously, the outlook had been $1.50 to

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Key Points:

Growth Third quarter expected to be down 23.8% year-over-year Fourth quarter to more than double year ago, but it is all in the Financials 2009 total net income expected to fall 7.3%, but rise 23.8% in 2010 More than half expected to post positive growth in Q4

Levels Bottom up estimate for S&P 500 now $59.61 in 2009 S&P 500 now expected to earn $73.81 in 2010. Top down estimates $53.94 and $68.40, respectively

Scorecard & Surprise Early results strong with a median surprise of 5.32% A tiny sample with only 3.2% of reports in

Revisions Total estimate increases outnumber cuts almost 3:2 for 2009 Upward revisions outnumber cuts by more than 7:4 for 2010 Revisions ratios for both years slipped, but are still up big from earlier in the year Total revisions activity near seasonal lows For 2009, Discretionary and Materials lead; Utilities Telecom lag Discretionary and Tech strong for

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Key Points:

Growth Third quarter expected to be down 23.8% year-over-year Fourth quarter to more than double year ago, but it is all in the Financials 2009 total net income expected to fall 7.3%, but rise 23.8% in 2010 More than half expected to post positive growth in Q4

Levels Bottom up estimate for S&P 500 now $59.61 in 2009 S&P 500 now expected to earn $73.81 in 2010. Top down estimates $53.94 and $68.40, respectively

Scorecard & Surprise Early results strong with a median surprise of 5.32% A tiny sample with only 3.2% of reports in

Revisions Total estimate increases outnumber cuts almost 3:2 for 2009 Upward revisions outnumber cuts by more than 7:4 for 2010 Revisions ratios for both years slipped, but are still up big from earlier in the year Total revisions activity near seasonal lows For 2009, Discretionary and Materials lead; Utilities Telecom lag Discretionary and Tech strong for

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A sharp plunge in Shanghai Composite Index Monday sent Asian stocks sharply lower as nervous investors went on a selling spree, reflecting a growing unease that the six-month old rally has gone ahead of any economic recovery.

The Shanghai Composite Index, which had declined nearly 3% on Friday, plunged 6.7% to 2,697.  Hong Kong's Hang Seng retreated 1.9%. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 stock average, which was up 200 points earlier in the session, fell 41.61 points, or 0.4%, to 10,492.53.  In Yesterday’s landslide victory, the Democratic Party of Japan came to power ending an almost half-a-century rule by the Liberal Democratic Party.  The yen strengthened, helped by the election results.

This morning’s U.S. stock futures show Wall Street is headed for a lower opening.  Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 59, or 0.6%, to 9,477. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 5.70, or 0.6%, to 1,021.70, while

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• PC maker Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) reported second quarter earnings of 28 cents a sharer ex-items, ahead of estimates of 22 cents a share, on sales of $12.8 billion. The company said the consumer markets are stabilizing, although corporate business remains difficult, the firm said second half revenues should improve from the first

• J Crew (NYSE:JCG) also beat expectations, with second quarter earnings of 29 cents a share, higher than last year's 28 cents, and well ahead of Zacks expectations of 15 cents a share.  The firm said it sees third-quarter earnings of 30 cents to 33 cents a share

• Tiffany (NYSE:TIF) reported second quarter earnings of 46 cents a share, 23 cents above Zacks estimates, on revenues of $612 million versus $602 million.  The company expects full-year earnings of $1.65 to $1.75 per share

• Toyota (NYSE:TM) announced plans to halt production at it California plant shared with General Motors

• China's

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Total inventories across all levels of business fell for the 10th straight month in June. The 1.1% decline was bigger than the 0.9% decline expected by the consensus of economists, and follows a downwardly revised 1.2% drop (was down 1.0%) in May. Inventories can be a big swing-factor in GDP growth, and the revision to May and the lower-than-expected number for June would seem to point to a downward adjustment to the second quarter GDP numbers when the next revision comes out. Overall, lower inventories is a good thing, since it points to the need to replenish them in the future and in the process boost economic growth. June also saw a 0.9% rise in overall sales from May, which is a very welcome sign and a reversal of a very nasty trend that has lowered sales by 18.0% over the last year. The combination of rising ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - June 24, 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: Tiffany (TIF), Big Lots (BIG), Family Dollar (FDO), Isis Pharmaceuticals (ISIS) and OncoGenex (OGXI).

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 Tuesday's Analyst Blog:

Long-Term Job Stagnation

The two major forces behind the secular slowdown in job creation have been automation and globalization (off-shoring). It would not be particularly wise to reverse job losses coming from automation, since technology is the source of productivity growth and ultimately higher standards of living.

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The markets enjoyed a late rally to send the three major indexes up for the day, as the Dow Jones closed up 1.15%.  The NASDAQ and the S&P 500 were both up closing at 1774.33 and 919.14 respectively.  Prices on the 10 year treasury once again rose over a dollar as the yield declined to 3.465%.  Oil and gold were both up today,  with August gold settled at $980.30 and crude settled at $66.31. 

Tiffany & Company [TIF: 28.37, +0.24 (+0.85%)] reported a 62% decline in first quarter profit, as they announced earnings of $24.3 million, or $0.20 per share, declining from $64.4 million, or $0.50 per share the same period the year prior.  Tiffany saw sales decline 22% falling to $523.1 million, with sales dropping 21% in stores who have been open less than a year.  Sales would have fallen only 18% but the high end jewelry company was hurt by currency

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