General Motors (hereafter, GM) -- presently, Motors Liquidation Company (MTLQQ) -- posted a narrower loss in the third quarter (Jul 10 - Sep 30) compared with the results depicted by "Old GM" in the first quarter, before the company was transformed by a stay in Chapter 11. GM, which began operations as a new company on July 10, 2009, has revealed a net loss of $1.2 billion for the quarter, significantly less than $6 billion it lost in the first quarter. The company’s earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) before special items for the period were negative at $261 million. GM’s North American market showed a loss of $651 million while GM International Operations recorded a profit of $238 million. The improvement was attributed to incentive programs including "Cash for Clunkers" and stability in the international market, especially China, Brazil, India and Russia (BRIC). In particular, ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 16, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Infosys (INFY) as the Bull of the Day and Myriad Genetics Inc. (MYGN) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on American International Group (AIG), Citigroup (C) and Bank of America (BAC).

Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5506

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

We are upgrading Infosys (INFY) to an Outperform rating with a target price of $57. Through the ongoing economic downturn, the company has invested in Research & Development as well as intellectual property-based solutions. It continues to focus on large deals targeted at organizational transformation where there is a dearth of vendor talent.

The company continues to win new customers and manages to keep its order book healthy.

...

The U.S. Treasury's pay czar, who oversees compensation for the highest-paid employees at the firms that received U.S. taxpayer assistance, said on Thursday that he is concerned that pay cuts could obstruct the ability of these firms to retain and attract top talent. However, the pay czar would be open to requests to hire new executives at competitive industry rates. The pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg, decides compensation packages for the highest-paid employees at the seven firms that have received substantial support from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The pay restrictions were imposed on these firms to enable them to repay government money by controlling excessive pay. The seven firms, whose top 25 earners received an average 50% lower pay last month by the order of the pay czar, are American International Group (AIG), Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC), Chrysler Financial, Chrysler Group ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 11, 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: Enzon (ENZN), Merck (MRK), OSI Pharmaceuticals (OSIP), Pfizer (PFE) and Bank of America Corporation (BAC).

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:

Enzon Beats, Announces Sell-off

Enzon (ENZN) achieved break-even earnings during the third quarter of 2009, better than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of loss of 7 cents but below the year-ago earnings of 1 cent. The company reported revenues of $44.6 million, a decline of 9% compared to $48.8

...

In its latest quarterly Lending & Investing Initiative report, Bank of America Corporation (BAC) said on Monday that it has extended about $184 billion in credit during the third quarter of 2009 to support households and communities.  The report makes obvious how BofA is utilizing the bailout money to support the U.S. economy. According to the report, since the fourth quarter of 2008 when the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was initiated, BofA had extended $759 billion in new credit. This represents almost $17 for every dollar of the $45 billion it received under the TARP. BofA also continues to provide a significant return on investment to the U.S. taxpayers. The bank is expected to pay more than $2.5 billion in dividend to the U.S. Treasury through Nov 16, 2009.  The extension of home loans continues to be among BofA’s priorities. The company extended $96 billion ...

This morning, Janet Yellen, the President of the San Francisco Fed, spoke about the state of the economy. Below are key excerpts from the speech, as well as my reaction to them (spoiler alert: I am in overall agreement with her). "This is the first talk I’ve given since the economy has officially been reported to be growing again. The economy’s return to growth after a year and a half of recession marks a major turn, and it looks like more than a flash in the pan. It seems to me that the economy has entered a sustained period of expansion. "We’ve seen meaningful upturns in areas as diverse as housing, consumer spending, industrial production and foreign trade. And, a number of factors bode well for the future, including a better functioning financial system, low mortgage interest rates, a resurgent stock market, a stabilization of house ...

What do your local 7-Eleven, a major toy maker, and the U.S. Treasury have in common? Never let it be said that America cannot adapt to changing circumstance. After 18 months of recession (and...div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.taipanpublishinggroup.com/~ff/taipan?a=7alJ3c8qnZU:onHrKQmhGJE:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/taipan?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.taipanpublishinggroup.com/~ff/taipan?a=7alJ3c8qnZU:onHrKQmhGJE:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/taipan?i=7alJ3c8qnZU:onHrKQmhGJE:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.taipanpublishinggroup.com/~ff/taipan?a=7alJ3c8qnZU:onHrKQmhGJE:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/taipan?i=7alJ3c8qnZU:onHrKQmhGJE:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.taipanpublishinggroup.com/~ff/taipan?a=7alJ3c8qnZU:onHrKQmhGJE:wd9GD17jvC4"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/taipan?d=wd9GD17jvC4" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.taipanpublishinggroup.com/~ff/taipan?a=7alJ3c8qnZU:onHrKQmhGJE:l6gmwiTKsz0"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/taipan?d=l6gmwiTKsz0" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/taipan/~4/7alJ3c8qnZU" height="1" width="1"/

This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also enjoy.

• Vito Racanelli (Barron’s): The easy money has been made, November 2, 2009. The choppy action last week suggests the going gets much tougher from here. In a year in which the market has jumped far off its lows, the bull has so far talked the talk of earnings growth. It’s time to walk the walk.

• Edward Harrison (Credit Writedowns): Bullish data, recoveries, crashes and the psychology of forecasting redux, November 2, 2009. Is a double dip or crash a baseline scenario? No, not necessarily - but it is increasingly likely. So, as bullish as I believe the data are, I am more worried about a bad outcome, not less.

• Andy Kessler (The Wall Street Journal):

...

This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also enjoy.

• Vito Racanelli (Barron’s): The easy money has been made, November 2, 2009. The choppy action last week suggests the going gets much tougher from here. In a year in which the market has jumped far off its lows, the bull has so far talked the talk of earnings growth. It’s time to walk the walk.

• Edward Harrison (Credit Writedowns): Bullish data, recoveries, crashes and the psychology of forecasting redux, November 2, 2009. Is a double dip or crash a baseline scenario? No, not necessarily - but it is increasingly likely. So, as bullish as I believe the data are, I am more worried about a bad outcome, not less.

• Andy Kessler (The Wall Street Journal):

...

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) is contemplating buying tax credits from Fannie Mae (FNM). However, it may be reasonable to assume that the U.S. Treasury may not approve of the deal. Goldman hopes to receive approval this week for $1 billion worth of tax credits. Tax credits are incentives designed to bring more investment to low-income housing developments. This would help the company reduce its tax bill as well as bring some much-needed financial relief to Fannie Mae. While financial details of the proposed transaction are not disclosed, Goldman could arrange other investors for the deal as well. The Obama Administration, however, is opposed to the deal, as it will reduce Goldman's tax bill at a time when Wall Street is already facing intense public scrutiny. Fannie Mae, a government-controlled mortgage financier, could get financial relief if Goldman bought the tax credits. As ...