For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 20, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Principal Financial (PFG) as the Bull of the Day and Sohu.com (SOHU) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Bank of America (BAC), Wal-Mart (WMT) and Sears Holding Corp.(SHLD).

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 our recommendation on the shares of Principal Financial (PFG) to Outperform. The company's third quarter operating earnings were much ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate, driven primarily by the sequential improvement in domestic as well as global equity markets.

We believe that Principal's strong franchise within the pension sector, which is aided by its diversification both in terms of products and geography, positions it well to benefit

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This week, initial claims for unemployment insurance (or jobless claims) were 505,000, the same as last week’s revised figure. However, the initial read was 502,000, so it is just as valid to see this as a 3,000 increase. That, however, is not much in the overall scale of things. The four-week average fell by 6,500 to 514,000, and is now almost 145,000 below its mid-April peak. The graph below (from http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/) shows the very significant progress that has been made in brining initial claims down, but also the long way we still have to go. The four-week average is still above the peaks of the two previous recessions. It is also still at a level that would indicate continuing net job losses. We probably have to see initial claims fall below the 400,000 level to indicate that, on balance, the economy is adding jobs. On the positive ...

Initial claims for unemployment insurance (or jobless claims) fell to 502,000 last week -- a drop of 12,000 from last week's revised level (and 10,000 from last week’s unrevised level). That brought the four-week moving average down to 519,750 -- a decline of 4,500 from last week, and of 139,000 from its mid-April peak. That was the lowest level of initial claims since the first week of January (when the numbers were distorted due to the New Years Holiday). As the chart below (from http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/) shows, that was probably the high point for this cycle. The decline has been quite smooth and steady -- unlike the experience of the last two economic downturns, where after an initial decline, claims leveled off and remained high for an extended period of time. The fact that we are back to around the same levels we were in January points ...

Initial claims for unemployment insurance (or jobless claims) fell to 502,000 last week -- a drop of 12,000 from last week's revised level (and 10,000 from last week’s unrevised level). That brought the four-week moving average down to 519,750 -- a decline of 4,500 from last week, and of 139,000 from its mid-April peak. That was the lowest level of initial claims since the first week of January (when the numbers were distorted due to the New Years Holiday). As the chart below (from http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/) shows, that was probably the high point for this cycle. The decline has been quite smooth and steady -- unlike the experience of the last two economic downturns, where after an initial decline, claims leveled off and remained high for an extended period of time. The fact that we are back to around the same levels we were in January points ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 6, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Acorda Therapeutics (ACOR) as the Bull of the Day and Canon (CAJ) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Big Lots (BIG), Wal-Mart (WMT) and Nordstrom (JWN).

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:

Acorda Therapeutics (ACOR) is one of the more interesting biotechnology companies under our coverage. The company's key pipeline drug, Fampridine-SR, is currently under U.S. FDA review, with a decision expected in late January 2010.

Outside the U.S., Acorda has partnered with Biogen Idec under very favorable terms. Fampridine-SR has blockbuster potential worldwide in our view. Plus, the company is extremely well-capitalized with over $290 million in cash, and management has commercial experience

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Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell by 20,000 this week to 512,000. Last week's numbers were revised slightly higher, so arguably the drop was 18,000, but that's still a nice improvement. The four-week moving average dropped by 3,000 to 523,750. Since new claims can be volatile from week to week, the four-week moving average is generally considered a better gauge of where we are. The graph below (from http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/) shows the history of that average. We are now 135,000 below the peak set back in April. This is a key piece of evidence that the recession is over. However, we remain above the highest levels seen in either of the last two recessions. The level indicates that we are still losing jobs, but at a slower rate than we had been. In the past we did not start to see actual increases in the number of ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 4, 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: Stanley Works (SWK), Black & Decker Corporation (BDK), Joy Global (JOYG), Paccar (PCAR) and Illinois Tool Works (ITW).

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 AnalystBlog:

Stanley Works Acquires B&D

Stanley Works (SWK) and Black & Decker Corporation (BDK) have entered into a definitive merger agreement to create Stanley Black & Decker, an $8.4 billion global tool maker. The Board of Directors of both companies approved an all-stock transaction valued

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While last week GDP growth came in better than expected at 3.5%, which was a very welcome development, there was very little change in the coverall shape of GDP. This is a troubling development for the long term. GDP is the sum of spending by the Consumer, Private Investment, Government Spending and Net Exports. The Graph below shows the percentage each of them has contributed to overall GDP since 1947. The Consumer is still by far the dominate force in the economy, and it is becoming more so. In the 3Q, PCE, meaning the consumer, rose to 70.98% of GDP, up from 70.66% in the second quarter. That is an all-time record high. At the same time, private investment was virtually unchanged near an all-time low as a share of GDP at 11.04%, up from 11.03% in the 2Q. Government spending as a share of GDP ...

Almost overlooked with this morning's big news on third quarter GDP was the unemployment claims report, which was a slight positive. Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell by 1,000 to 530,000. For a change, the previous week's numbers were not revised. The four-week moving average fell 6,000 to 526,250 and are now 132,500 below their mid-April peak. This is good news, but it is not good enough -- we really need to see another decline of that magnitude to indicate that the economy is actually adding jobs. Note that even with the decline that we are still above the highest point hit in either of the prior two recessions. Still, you have to crawl before you can walk, and walk before you can run. The graph below (from http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/) shows the history of the four-week moving average. A peak in the moving average historically has been ...

People can become unemployed for a variety of reasons, but generally there are three: they quit, they are temporarily laid off (historically common in manufacturing jobs like Autos) or the job can be permanently eliminated. David Altig, of the Atlanta Federal Reserve's "macroblog" has come up with some evidence as to why the duration of unemployment is so much longer in this recession than in previous ones -- namely because more of the job losses are of the permanent variety, as is shown in the graph below (from http://macroblog.typepad.com/macroblog/). In good times, a very high proportion of the people who are out of work are so because they have followed the advice of that old song from the 1970’s and told their boss to "take this job an shove it." In the current environment, such people are extremely rare. In earlier post-war recessions, a far greater ...