Stock Market News & Stocks to Watch from StraightStocks » Virginia

AlumniFuel Power Corp. (AFPW.OB) Subsidiary Turns Heads with Technology at Naval Energy Forum

QualityStocks — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:02:46 +0000

One company that has been turning the heads of investors of late is AlumniFuel Power Incorporated. A Philadelphia based company, AlumniFuel Power (API) is the wholly owned operating subsidiary of American Power Corporation and is an early-stage alternative energy company that utilizes state-of-the-art technology to generate hydrogen gas and steam for multiple niche applications [...]

November 16th CEOcast Weekly Newsletter

QualityStocks — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:21:30 +0000

Companies featured in this edition of the newsletter: ACTC, CVM, CHIP, ENZ, HYTM, IWEB, ONEZ, PHC, SIHI, SRCO Markets continued their strong performance this week in the absence of any major market driving earnings or economic reports, as the broad based buying that characterized the previous week continued and led to gains in all of the [...]

Advance Auto Outdoes Estimates – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:28:42 +0000

Advance Auto Parts (AAP) posted a profit of 69 cents per share, before special items, in the third quarter of its fiscal ended Oct 10, 2009. This represents a 19% increase from 59 cents reported in the year-ago quarter. With this, the company also exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 66 cents per share.

Total sales in the quarter rose 6% to $1.26 billion. This was attributed to a net addition of 66 new stores during the past 12 months and a comparable-store sales gain of 4.7% compared to a decrease of 0.1% during the third quarter last year. The comparable-store sales gain was comprised of an 11.8% increase in Commercial, or do-it-for-me (DIFM), and a 1.7% increase in do-it-yourself (DIY) sales.

Gross profit rate was 49.2% of sales compared to 47.3% in the prior year. This 190 basis-point improvement reflects continued investments in pricing and merchandising capabilities, parts availability and improved store execution.

Financial Position

Advance Auto had cash and cash equivalents of $216 million as on Oct 10, 2009. Long-term debt amounted to $279 million as on that date. The long-term debt to capitalization ratio stood at 18%.

In the first three quarters of fiscal 2009, operating cash flow went up 67% to $628.5 million from $375.8 million in the same period last year. The increase was driven by an improvement in working capital management, increased deferred taxes and an increase in net income. The increase allowed the company to decrease its total outstanding bank debt by $192 million over the past year.

Capital expenditures were $132.6 million in the above period. This compares to capital expenditures of $137 million in 2008, a decrease of $4.4 million primarily due to the timing of new store development, partially offset by routine spending on existing stores and information technology investments.

Store Information

During the quarter, Advance Auto opened 24 stores. The company also closed 13 stores. As of Oct 10, 2009, the company’s total store count was 3,418.

As part of the previously announced store divestiture initiative, Advance Auto expects to divest from 40 to 50 unprofitable stores in 2009 that are delivering unacceptable strategic or financial results. Year-to-date, the company has closed 36 stores, which resulted in a 15 cents charge to earnings per share. The company estimates that the incremental store divestitures will result in a 15 cents to 22 cents charge to EPS in fiscal 2009.

Share Repurchases

Under the existing share repurchase authorization plan, Advance Auto repurchased 879,910 shares of its common stock during the quarter at an aggregate cost of $35.2 million, or an average price of $40 per share. At the end of the reported quarter, the company had $139.4 million available from the $250 million share repurchase authorization approved by the Board of Directors in May 2008.

Advance Auto Parts is a Roanoke, Virginia-based automotive aftermarket retailer of parts, accessories, batteries and maintenance items in the U.S. It serves both the DIY and professional installer/commercial markets. The DIY market accounts for 75% of the company’s revenue. The remaining 25% is generated from the DIFM segment through the commercial delivery program. It operates its stores under two chains -- Advance Auto Parts and Autopart International. We recommend the shares of the company as Neutral.
Read the full analyst report on "AAP"
Zacks Investment Research

Terremark Loss Exceeds by a Penny – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:45:00 +0000

Terremark Worldwide (TMRK) announced results for the second quarter of fiscal 2010 (ended Sep 30, 2009) with reported loss per share of 12 cents exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of loss of 11 cents. Net loss of $7.5 million for the quarter, represents an improvement from net loss of $8.4 million reported a year ago, boosted by higher sales.

Consolidated revenue of $69.8 million (up 17% year over year) was near the high-end of the company’s guidance for the quarter, fueled by healthy contract bookings. Adjusted EBITDA increased 82% year over year to $18 million, in line with the company’s guidance. The company added 64 new customers during the quarter, a sequential improvement, taking its total customer base to 1,119 at the end of the second quarter.

Total new contract bookings registered $34.2 million, an increase from $29 million reported in the previous quarter. This represents the highest quarterly contract bookings ever. Cross-connects billed to customers reached 8,789, growing 18% year over year. Additionally, total co-location space utilization increased to 29.8%, from 28.3% reported in the previous quarter.

Utilization for build-out co-location space also increased sequentially to 64.3%. Terremark has released its guidance for the third quarter with revenues projected in the range of $73.0 million to $76.0 million with adjusted EBITDA of $19.0-$21.0 million. The company has reaffirmed its revenue guidance for full-year fiscal 2010 which is expected between $290 million and $300 million.

Adjusted EBITDA for the year is projected to range between $80 million and $85 million. Terremark remains a key player in the IT infrastructure solutions market with a vast portfolio of premium products and services, wide geographic coverage and a diversified customer base. The company continues to broaden its data center space to handle increased demand, especially from federal government customers which accounted for 20% of the revenues for the quarter.

Leveraging the newly constructed 130-mile long fiber optic network, Terremark has increased carrier connectivity at its NAP (network access point) of the Capital Region (NCR) data center facility in Virginia . The company is further expanding capacity at the NCR facility by constructing a second data center expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010.

Terremark has also expanded its portfolio of premium cloud computing solutions with the introduction of vCloud Express service in September 2009. This represents the latest addition to the company’s suite of VMware Virtualized service offerings. Terremark is one of the leading hosting service providers of VMware Inc (VMW), a major player in the virtualization software market.

We believe the company’s industry leading product/service portfolio, coupled with a differentiated execution strategy, uniquely positions it to leverage the attractive market trends for managed hosting and co-location services.
Read the full analyst report on "TMRK"
Read the full analyst report on "VMW"
Zacks Investment Research

Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: AT&T Inc, Centennial Communications Corp, Verizon, JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. and AutoNation – Press Releases

Zacks Market Commentaries — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:30:32 +0000

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: AT&T Inc (T), Centennial Communications Corp (CYCL), Verizon (VZ), JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (JASO) and AutoNation (AN).

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:

AT&T Completes CYCL Acquisition

AT&T Inc (T) has reportedly completed its much anticipated acquisition of Centennial Communications Corp (CYCL), the eighth largest US wireless carrier by subscribers. This follows the recent approvals of the transaction by the US Department of Justice and US telecom regulator Federal Communications Commission (“FCC"). The transaction, which was originally set to complete in second-quarter 2009, is now officially closed.

As per the agreement terms, shareholders of Centennial will receive $8.50 in cash for every share they own, equating to approximately $944 million. Including net debt, the aggregate value of the deal is $2.7 billion. AT&T will take appropriate steps to redeem all of Centennial’s outstanding debts. AT&T expects minimal dilution to earnings and cash flow in 2009 given the upfront integration costs.

The acquisition has expanded AT&T’s wireless coverage to include the rural areas of the Midwest and Southeast regions of the US as well as Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, adding 893,000 new subscribers. The acquisition will also offer operational synergies and improve the service quality of AT&T’s wireless network in specific markets.

As per the demand of the US regulators, AT&T will divest certain Centennial assets in eight markets across Louisiana (central and southern) and southwestern Mississippi as the acquisition may potentially hurt consumer interest in these regions. As part of this requirement, AT&T will sell wireless assets in five of the eight markets to its rival operator Verizon (VZ) for $240 million. Moreover, AT&T has committed to continue Centennial's existing roaming agreements with other carriers for at least four years.

JA Solar Gains Strength in Q3

JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (JASO) announced adjusted earnings per American Depositary Share (EPADS) of RMB 0.66 (10 cents) in its fiscal third quarter, which exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 7 cents. The performance improvement came from higher shipments along with growing margins.

In the reported quarter, revenues rose 119.6% to RMB 1.3 billion ($193.3 million), as compared to RMB 600.7 million ($88.0 million) reported in the previous quarter. However, revenues fell 37.8% when compared to year-ago quarterly revenue of RMB 2.1 billion ($310.7 million).

JA Solar’s shipments were a company record of 177MW in the quarter. In the prior quarter, shipments were only 77MW, representing a sequential growth of 129.9%. In the year-ago quarter also, shipments were only 99MW, representing shipment growth of 78.8%.

AutoNation Predicts Gloomy 2010

AutoNation blamed tight credit for pulling down sales this year. However, sales will hit bottom in 2009. Many banks have kept their credit standards extremely high for car loans, which is depressing the industry sales despite continuous efforts taken by the government to ease credit standards.

Further, job loss and stability in housing prices are also an issue. Thus, the Richmond, Virginia-based automotive retailer -- the largest in the U.S. -- expects the industry to recoup sales gradually by 2011 and beyond.

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Zacks Investment Research

AutoNation Predicts Gloomy 2010 – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:51:58 +0000

AutoNation (AN) has sketched its industry outlook, revealing a gloomy 2010 preceding an improvement in the years following. The company stated that it anticipates a marginal rise in industry sales to 11 million cars and trucks from the current-year rate of 10 million vehicles. This was in stark contrast to an annual rate of more than 16 million vehicles ticked earlier this decade.

AutoNation blamed tight credit for pulling down sales this year. However, sales will hit bottom in 2009. Many banks have kept their credit standards extremely high for car loans, which is depressing the industry sales despite continuous efforts taken by the government to ease credit standards.

Further, job loss and stability in housing prices are also an issue. Thus, the Richmond, Virginia-based automotive retailer -- the largest in the U.S. -- expects the industry to recoup sales gradually by 2011 and beyond.

In the third quarter, the government stimulus program for fuel-efficient vehicles, "Cash for Clunkers," benefited AutoNation. The company has posted a 44% rise in profits to $65 million or 36 cents per share from $44 million or 25 cents per share in the third quarter of 2008. The Clunkers program aided the retailer’s results by 7 cents per share.

Total segment operating income improved to $111 million from an operating loss of $1.6 billion a year ago. However, revenue for the quarter slipped 13% to $2.9 billion, triggered by lower vehicle sales volumes.

Therefore, the revenue forecast places AutoNation in a challenging market scenario. As such, we maintain our Neutral recommendation for the stock.
Read the full analyst report on "AN"
Zacks Investment Research

Continucare Corp. (CNU) First Quarter Fiscal Year 2010 Results Show 116% Increase in Operating Profit

QualityStocks — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:04:03 +0000

Continucare Corp. yesterday reported its first quarter fiscal year 2010 financial results. The company reported a 113% increase in net income and continued strength in the business with higher quarter-ending cash and working capital balances. Richard C. Pfenniger, Jr., Continucare’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer commented, “We are extremely pleased with our first quarter results,” “Record [...]

Trader’s Blog Contest Winner For October

Trading School — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:25:38 +0000

The winner of the October Trader’s Blog contest, where we asked “At what price will the DOW close fo the last day of 2009?” is random comment number 117. We had 203 responses, but only 187 eligible comments. The random winner is… Dan G. of Manassas, Virginia — We will be contacting you shortly via email address to obtain [...]

Allegheny Tops Zacks View – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:15:58 +0000

Allegheny Energy (AYE) has beaten the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate of 55 cents by four cents to clock earnings per share of 59 cents in the third quarter of fiscal 2009.

Allegheny Energy also crossed the year-ago EPS by five cents due to improved result from its Delivery & Services business. Earnings rose to $31.5 million from $4.3 million in the year-ago quarter. The improvement was due to increased cost recovery in Virginia , the elimination of an inter-company transfer payment and higher revenues from transmission expansion. These benefits were partially offset by lower retail electricity sales and higher income taxes, primarily due to an increase in pre-tax income.

However this was partially offset by lower earnings at the Generation and Marketing business. Here, earnings fell to $45.5 million from $84.7 million in the year-ago quarter due to a tepid economy and low power prices. Earnings were affected by lower generation volume and power prices, as well as the scrubber tie-in work at Hatfield’s Ferry and the elimination of an inter-company transfer payment, partially offset by higher generation rates in Pennsylvania , the benefit of hedging activity, lower fuel costs and lower income taxes.

Revenues waned 6.6% year-over-year to $793.7 million in the quarter due to dismal showing at its unregulated business covering the Generation & Marketing segment. However, this was partially offset by the regulated business comprising the Delivery and Services segment. Delivery and Services segment topline rose 13.1%. On the other hand, Generation & Marketing segment topline shrunk 23.6%. Allegheny Energy’s industrial volume sales fell 8.6% year-over-year. This was due to lower usage per customer, which dipped 9.6%.

Allegheny Energy reported cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reported quarter of $278.3 million, while long-term debt stood at $4.3 billion. We maintain our Neutral recommendation on the shares.
Read the full analyst report on "AYE"
Zacks Investment Research

Saturday Success Story – Milt, Virginia

Trading School — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:00:25 +0000

At MarketClub, our mission is to help you become a better trader. Our passion is creating superior trading tools to help you achieve your goals—no matter which way the markets move—we promise objective and unbiased recommendations not available from brokers. Here’s great news from a member… “When I started using the MarketClub, I checked out your signals [...]

AQNM, WMT, PSFT, APA, PWRM, NOC, CSRH, IP, CVAT, CVX, DrStockPick.com Stock Report!

Dr. Stock Pick — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:40:25 +0000

Dr Stock Pick HOT News & Alerts! _________________________________________ FREE Daily Stock Alerts From DrStockPick.com _________________________________________ Thursday October 22, 2009 DrStockPick.com Stock Report! AQNM, WMT, PSFT, APA, PWRM, NOC, CSRH, IP, CVAT, CVX ************************************************************** WMT, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT operates retail stores in various formats worldwide. WMT today presented its global plans for store and club growth next year at its annual conference for the investment [...]

Northrop Results Impressive – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:00:35 +0000

Los Angeles-based leading shipbuilder and the second largest U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC) reported impressive third quarter results, with EPS of $1.52 crossing both the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.18 and the year-ago result of $1.50. The upsurge came through higher revenue and share repurchases.

Sales for the reported quarter increased 4% to $8.73 billion from $8.38 billion in the year-ago quarter. In the quarter, Shipbuilding sales grew by double digits (14%), with impressive growth from the Aerospace systems (5%), Information Systems (4%) and Technical Services (4%), while Electronic Systems grew marginally (2%).

Shipbuilding sales surged primarily due to higher volume for the LPD, Virginia-class submarines and DDG programs. Aerospace Systems sales increased principally due to higher volume for unmanned aircraft programs such as Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Unmanned Aerial System (BAMS UAS), Global Hawk and Navy Unmanned Combat Air System (N-UCAS); restricted programs and manned aircraft programs such as E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, the B-2 and the EA-18G.

Operating income rose by double digits in the Information Systems (32%) and Aerospace Systems (14%) segments. Information Systems operating income increased as the year-ago period included a $57 million negative performance adjustment for a state and local programs. Aerospace Systems operating income rose due to higher volume and improved program performance. Electronic Systems operating income declined 18% due to lower performance from government systems programs.

Northrop Grumman won new business contracts totaling $10 billion in the reported quarter. Total backlog as a result stood at $71.5 billion as of Sept. 30, 2009, compared with $70.4 billion at June 30, 2009. The company ended the reported quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $1.9 billion compared to $1.5 billion after year-end 2008. The company has repurchased 4.7 million shares of common stock in the reported quarter. It has also raised its fiscal 2009 GAAP EPS guidance range to $5.00 - $5.15 from the earlier guidance range of $4.65 - $4.90. We maintain our Outperform recommendation on the shares.
Read the full analyst report on "NOC"
Zacks Investment Research

DrStockPick.com Stock Report! 10/19/09, PRU, LMT, PWRM, NOC, BAC, UPS

Dr. Stock Pick — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:06:51 +0000

Dr Stock Pick HOT News & Alerts! _______________________________________ FREE Daily Stock Alerts From DrStockPick.com _______________________________________ Monday October 19, 2009 DrStockPick.com Stock Report! ************************************************************** Prudential Annuities has won two top awards in the Boomer Market Advisor Readers’ Choice Awards. This is the fifth consecutive year one of Prudential Annuities’ living benefits has been recognized as “best in class.” Prudential Financial [...]

ITT Corporation Gets Orders – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:20:00 +0000

ITT Corporation (ITT) has been awarded a $19.3 million order from the U.S. Army's Research Development & Engineering Command Acquisition Center under the OMNI VII contract for AN/PVS-14 night vision monocular devices. Eighty percent of these goggles are required by the U.S. Air Force with the remaining quantities for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army.

The AN/PVS-14 is a high-performance, lightweight and reliable night vision monocular that provides enhanced resolution for mobility and target identification. These rugged devices can be hand-held, head- or weapon-mounted or fitted to a camera. The AN/PVS-14 operates on a single AA battery and are equipped with ITT's thin-filmed proprietary Generation 3 Pinnacle image intensifier tube.

The Gen 3 Pinnacle tube has the ability to detect available light more than 10 times the power of previous generations. The company has also been awarded a $72 million Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract for its Aviator's Night Vision Imaging Systems, night vision tubes and spare parts.

The company has competitively won the entire IDIQ contract awarded by the U.S. Army Research Development and Engineering Command. ITT's Night Vision business, based in Roanoke , Va., is the world's leading developer, producer and supplier of head- and helmet-mounted night vision solutions and image intensifiers for U.S. and allied military forces, as well as the homeland security market.

ITT has served the U.S. military with premier research, development, production and logistics for analog and digital fusion solutions for 50 years. ITT Corporation is a high-technology engineering and manufacturing company operating in all seven continents in three vital markets: water and fluids management, global defense and security, and motion and flow control.

With a heritage of innovation, ITT partners with its customers to deliver extraordinary solutions that create more livable environments, provide protection and safety and connect the world. Major competitors are Raytheon Company (RTN) and Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT). We currently have a Neutral recommendation on ITT.
Read the full analyst report on "ITT"
Read the full analyst report on "LMT"
Read the full analyst report on "RTN"
Zacks Investment Research

Axial Vector Energy Corp. (AXVC.PK) Announces New Sales and Production Facility

QualityStocks — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:29:34 +0000

Axial Vector Energy Corp. announced today that it has opened its Sales and Production Facility in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA. The facility will allow the consolidation of new product developments, license transfers, USA government grants and loans, as well as a sales and demonstration office. The Virginia Beach based engineers were successful in completing Axial’s multi-fuel [...]

USB to Acquire a Part of BB&T – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:00:11 +0000

U.S. Bancorp (USB) has signed a deal with BB&T Corp. (BBT) to acquire the latter’s banking operations in Nevada . As per the agreement, U.S. Bank National Association, U.S. Bancorp’s lead bank, will purchase about $800 million in deposits and certain branches of BB&T’s Nevada banking operations.

The deal is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in early 2010. The acquisition involves deposits of those branches that BB&T had recently acquired from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver for Colonial Bank.

The purchase will fortify U.S. Bancorp’s business in Nevada . The company expects this acquisition to meet or exceed the company’s internal rate of return and earnings per share accretion targets.

Last week, US Bancorp has announced that its lead bank, U.S. Bank, has agreed to buy the bond trustee business of First Citizens Bank, a subsidiary of First Citizens BancShares Inc. (FCNCA). The purchase aids growth of its corporate banking and fixed income business in the southeast market. Also it complements the bank’s existing bond trustee business in North Carolina , South Carolina and Virginia .

Earlier that week, US Bancorp also announced its acquisition of the mutual fund administration and accounting servicing division of Fiduciary Management Inc. While this acquisition will confer additional compliance, technology and accounting talent for U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, the company will also benefit from contact with Fiduciary Management’s key client base.

With $266 billion in assets, US Bancorp is the sixth largest commercial bank in the United States . Despite the fact that the company’s second quarter earnings reflected the deteriorating credit quality and its earnings of 12 cents per share were a penny short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate, we have been encouraged by the company’s exit from the Treasury’s Capital Purchase program.

Although the stressed residential real estate market and the issues with the company’s commercial and retail customers will continue to weigh on the shares of US Bancorp, we believe that the recent signs of economic recovery coupled with such strategic acquisitions bode well.

Hence, prior to its third quarter earnings release scheduled on Oct 21, 2009, we have a Neutral recommendation on the shares of US Bancorp.
Read the full analyst report on "USB"
Read the full analyst report on "BBT"
Read the full analyst report on "FCNCA"
Zacks Investment Research

TOMI Environmental Solutions, Inc. (TOMZ.OB) Delivers Air Remediation Equipment to ROLYN

QualityStocks — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:02:50 +0000

TOMI Environmental Solutions, Inc. announced this morning that it has delivered a complete set of air remediation equipment for the treatment of infectious disease control to its alliance partner, ROLYN Companies. With plans to use this equipment for their clients in the Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. area, ROLYN has already put the TOMI air [...]

Allegheny Revises Rate Hike – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Allegheny Energy Inc. (AYE) yesterday scaled down its proposed rate hike in Virginia . Earlier, in April 2009, the company had asked for $22.6 million rate hike, which it has now scaled down by $3.2 million to a $19.4 million. Allegheny has proposed the hike before the Virginia State Corporation Commission to recover its cost of purchased power.

For a residential customer with a monthly consumption of 1,000 kilowatt-hours of power, Allegheny's original proposal would have increased the bill by $5.47 to $96. The scaled-down proposal would result in a monthly bill of $94. Headquartered in Greensburg , Pennsylvania , Allegheny Energy is an electric utility company with over $3 billion in annual revenues.

The company is engaged in both regulated electricity and natural gas distribution utility operations as well as in unregulated wholesale energy markets. It owns and operates generating facilities and serves electricity to approximately 1.6 million customers spread across the states of Pennsylvania , West Virginia , Maryland and Virginia .

Going forward, Allegheny Energy’s positive investment factors include higher generation rates in Pennsylvania and Maryland , higher residential usage and ongoing transmission projects. Looking ahead, we expect that the company’s regulated delivery utility business will provide steady earnings growth while the disposal of retail distribution operations in Virginia will infuse liquidity.

However, the positives would be offset by lower industrial demand and higher emission and hedging costs. We reiterate our Neutral recommendation on the low dividend yield stock, which reflects our view that the stock will trade at par with the peer group of electric utility companies such as AES Corporation (AES) and TECO Energy Inc. (TE).
Read the full analyst report on "AYE"
Read the full analyst report on "AES"
Read the full analyst report on "TE"
Zacks Investment Research

Northrop Pockets Four Contracts – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:30:00 +0000

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC) has recently bagged four small contracts from the Pentagon, totaling approximately $116.6 million. Of this, the largest is a $58 million Army contract to complete a counter-rocket artillery and mortar system.

Work on the contract will be performed in Huntsville , Alabama facility. The company expects to complete the contract by the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2010. The Pentagon also awarded a $42 million Navy contract to build spare and repair parts for weapons-system navigation and radars.

Work on the contract will be performed in the Charlottesville , Virginia facility and is expected to be completed by Oct 2012. The company also received a $9.6 million Air Force contract for a preliminary design for a communications system for the MQ-9 Reaper, an unmanned aerial vehicle. Lastly, another $7 million was awarded to Northrop to work on an integrated base-defense system for the Army.

Work on this contract will be performed in Herndon , Virginia facility and is expected to be completed by October 2010. These contracts will boost the dwindling backlog of Northrop which fell to $70.4 billion after the second quarter of fiscal 2009 from $76.9 billion year over year. Though Northrop Grumman is one of the largest defense contractors, its backlog was affected by the cancellation of the $5.1 billion Kinetic Energy Interceptor program by the U.S. Government.

Based in Los Angeles , California , Northrop Grumman provides products, services, and solutions in information and services, aerospace, electronics and shipbuilding to the military, government and commercial customers of the United States and beyond.

The company is the largest IT service provider to the federal government. In addition, Northrop Grumman is the only nuclear-powered aircraft shipbuilder in the United States . We maintain our long term Outperform recommendation on the shares.
Read the full analyst report on "NOC"
Zacks Investment Research

DrStockPick.com Stock Report! 10/14/09, LVCA, ALYI, SIFY, COHR, TECD, LRN

Dr. Stock Pick — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:55:56 +0000

Dr Stock Pick HOT News & Alerts! _______________________________________ FREE Daily Stock Alerts From DrStockPick.com _______________________________________ Wednesday October 14, 2009 DrStockPick.com Stock Report! ************************************************************** Lake Victoria Mining Company (OTCBB: LVCA) initiated a surface trenching program to locate and expose selected possible new quartz veins at the Company’s Singida Gold project in central Tanzania. Preliminary information suggests that three new [...]

Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts Ltd., MGM Mirage, Advance Auto Parts and O’Reilly Automotive – Press Releases

Zacks Market Commentaries — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:11:32 +0000

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 14, 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: Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN), MGM Mirage (MGM), Advance Auto Parts (AAP) and O’Reilly Automotive (ORLY).

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:

Macau Casino Growth Threatened?

The explosive growth of the casino industry in Macau may be threatened as the government of Macau − the Chinese gambling Mecca − is considering ways to impose restrictions on age, number of tables and locations of casinos.

Yesterday, government officials of Macau met with six major casino operators including Las Vegas Sands (LVS) and Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) and a casino jointly operated by MGM Mirage (MGM) and local businesswoman/tycoon Pansy Ho, concluding that limitless expansion of the Macau gambling sector may be harmful to the society. Significant expansion of the gambling business in Macau has encouraged corruption, addiction and prostitution in that area.

The government is considering regulations like raising the entry age limit for casinos to 21 years from 18 years, limiting the number of tables per casino and modifying zoning laws to compel slot machine halls away from residential areas and into commercial zones.

Advance Auto Targets E-Commerce

Advance Auto Parts (AAP) has launched its own e-commerce website, AdvanceAutoParts.com, to sell its products online for the first time since its dissolution with Phoenix-based auto retailer CSK Auto during the first quarter of 2009. The website will allow customers to purchase more than 100,000 parts and accessories. It will also allow free shipping on purchases of $75 or more as well as free in-store pickup.

The Roanoke, VA-based auto retailer previously operated a similar website called PartsAmerica.com in partnership with CSK Auto. However, it had to close down the website after CSK was acquired by Springfield, MO-based auto retailer O’Reilly Automotive (ORLY). At that time, Advance Auto only operated an online merchandise lookup feature.

In 2007, Advance Auto targeted e-commerce as a potential growth channel. The company now aims to take it to the next level. Last month, the company opened an e-commerce office in Campbell, CA, near Silicon Valley. The headcount in the office (currently constituting 20 employees) will be doubled as the company ramps up the new website.

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JLL to Manage SunTrust Facilities – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:48:59 +0000

Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. (JLL), a leading real estate investment trust (REIT), has been selected by SunTrust Banks Inc. (STI), a premier banking organization in the U.S., to provide integrated facility management services across its entire portfolio spanning 16 million square feet.

With the deal, Jones Lang would be entrusted to effectively manage the day-to-day tasks related to the operations across SunTrust’s facilities. SunTrust operates an extensive branch and ATM network throughout Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington, DC. Jones Lang’s leading position in property and corporate facility management services would enable it to improve the operational efficiency of SunTrust.

On the other hand, the deal strengthens Jones Lang’s position in the market and offers it an expanded role in the operations of one of the largest banking organizations of the country. Jones Lang is a leading full-service real estate firm that provides corporate, financial, and investment management services. The company caters to corporations and other real estate owners, users, and investors worldwide.

Currently, Jones Lang provides property and corporate management services across a worldwide portfolio of 1.4 billion square feet. Its investment management division, LaSalle Investment Management is one of the largest and most diverse companies in the real estate market and has over $46 billion of assets under management.

Read the full analyst report on "JLL"
Read the full analyst report on "STI"
Zacks Investment Research

US Bancorp on Acquisition Spree – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:15:22 +0000

As part of its strategic acquisitions, US Bancorp (USB) has announced on Wednesday that its lead bank, U.S. Bank, has agreed to buy the bond trustee business of First Citizens Bank, a subsidiary of First Citizens BancShares Inc. (FCNCA).

Post acquisition, U.S. Bank’s corporate trust division will have $2.4 trillion in assets under administration, 725,000 bondholders and over 114,000 client issuances. The purchase will aid in growing its corporate banking and fixed income business in the southeast market. Also it complements the bank’s existing bond trustee business in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Currently, U.S. Bank has 46 corporate trust offices across the country and offers a complete line of trust services.

Earlier this week, US Bancorp also announced its acquisition of the mutual fund administration and accounting servicing division of Fiduciary Management, Inc. This division of Fiduciary has over $8 billion in assets under administration. While this acquisition will confer additional compliance, technology and accounting talent for U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, the company will also benefit from contact with Fiduciary Management’s key client base.

With $266 billion in assets, US Bancorp is the sixth largest commercial bank in the United States. The company’s second quarter earnings of 12 cents per share were a penny short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate, reflecting deteriorating credit quality. However, we have been encouraged by the company’s exit from the Treasury’s Capital Purchase program. The recent signs of economic recovery coupled with such strategic acquisitions bode well.

However, we think that the stressed residential real estate market and the issues with the company’s commercial and retail customers will continue to weigh on the shares of US Bancorp. We therefore continue with our Neutral recommendation.
Read the full analyst report on "USB"
Read the full analyst report on "FCNCA"
Zacks Investment Research

DrStockPick.com Stock Report! 10/08/09, GTY, CI, LNC, CWLZ, STI, TXI

Dr. Stock Pick — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:12:48 +0000

Dr Stock Pick HOT News & Alerts! _______________________________________ FREE Daily Stock Alerts From DrStockPick.com _______________________________________ Thursday October 8, 2009 DrStockPick.com Stock Report! ************************************************************** Please be advised that Getty Realty Corp. (NYSE: GTY) will release its financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2009, after the market closes on Tuesday, November 3, 2009. CIGNA (NYSE:CI) and ProHealth Physicians, Inc., [...]

Massey Acquires Rival – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:15:35 +0000

Massey Energy Company (MEE), the fourth largest coal company in the US and the largest in Central Appalachia , has completed the acquisition of mining assets from its bankrupt rival, Appalachian Fuels LLC.

At more than $5.1 million, the assets include 23 million tons of coal reserves, permitted deep and surface mines, a permitted preparation plant and some mining equipment. These assets are located in Fayette County , West Virginia , close to Massey's existing Mammoth and Nicholas Energy resource groups.

Over half of the acquired reserves are metallurgical coal in the Powellton and Eagle Coal Seams. Massey plans to resume mining metallurgical coal in the Powellton Seam in the near term. However, it has no immediate plans to start the other idled deep and surface mines acquired in the transaction. The coal produced will be processed at Massey's Mammoth preparation plant. Massey expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive to earnings.

The Richmond, Virginia-based company produces, processes and sells steam and metallurgical grade coal to utilities, industrial customers and steel manufacturers. Massey has increased its total coal reserves from 767 million tons in 1987 to more than 2.3 billion tons until date through acquisitions. Of the total current reserves, 1.0 billion tons have metallurgical qualities and characteristics that have made Massey the largest metallurgical coal reserves holder in the US.

However, lower coal shipments and prices lead a 15.4% year over year decline in Massey’s total revenues in the second quarter of fiscal 2009. The company produced 9.4 million tons of coal in the quarter versus 10.5 million tons in the same quarter of the previous year.

Massey has significantly lowered its guidance for coal shipments for both 2009 and 2010 on the back of the ongoing economic turmoil and the uncertain regulatory environment. For fiscal 2009, the company expects produced coal shipments to be between 38.5 and 40.5 million tons, with average produced coal realization between $61.50 and $63.50 per ton.

For fiscal 2010, it expects produced coal shipments to be in the range of 37.0 to 42.0 million tons, with an average sales price in the range of $60.00 to $65.00 per ton.

We maintain our Neutral recommendation on the stock.
Read the full analyst report on "MEE"
Zacks Investment Research

AYE Wins Regulatory Approval – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:20:01 +0000

Allegheny Energy Inc. (AYE) has recently bagged an approval from the West Virginia Public Service Commission to sell $105 million in bonds. The proceeds will be utilized to finance its ongoing gas scrubber project on-going scrubber project (flue gas de-sulfurization) at its 1,107MW coal-fired Fort Martin Power Station near Morgantown , West Virginia . In July 2009, Allegheny Energy, requested to raise approximately $105 million through environmental control bonds with a term of up to 10 years.

Earlier in January 2007, Allegheny Energy received the commission’s approval to gather $450 million of the total estimated cost of $550 million for the scrubber project through securitized financing.

Allegheny Energy plans to repay the bonds by adjusting the current Environmental Control Charge from West Virginia customers. As per company estimates, this would raise the average bill for a customer with a monthly consumption of 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity by 76 cents, or less than 1%.

Headquartered in Greensburg , Pennsylvania , Allegheny Energy is an electric utility company with over $3 billion in annual revenues. The company is engaged in both regulated electricity and natural gas distribution utility operations as well as in the unregulated wholesale energy markets. It owns and operates generating facilities and serves electricity to approximately 1.6 million customers spread across the states of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia. We reiterate our Neutral recommendation on the shares.
Read the full analyst report on "AYE"
Zacks Investment Research

DrStockPick.com Stock Report! 10/02/09, WU, TRET, LNN, JAGH, CVG, SLRK

Dr. Stock Pick — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:51:57 +0000

Dr Stock Pick HOT News & Alerts! _______________________________________ FREE Daily Stock Alerts From DrStockPick.com _______________________________________ Friday October 2, 2009 DrStockPick.com Stock Report! ************************************************************** The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a leader in the money transfer segment of global payments, announced today that President and CEO Christina Gold will host a webcast and conference call to discuss third quarter results [...]

DrStockPick.com Stock Report! 10/02/09, ISYS, AYE, VLGEA, HEB, HGG, CNA

Dr. Stock Pick — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:19:43 +0000

Dr Stock Pick HOT News & Alerts! _______________________________________ FREE Daily Stock Alerts From DrStockPick.com _______________________________________ Friday October 2, 2009 DrStockPick.com Stock Report! ************************************************************** Integral Systems, Inc., (Nasdaq: ISYS) today announced its continued partnership with the US Air Force on the Rapid Attack, Identification, Detection and Reporting System Block-10 (RAIDRS RB-10) program. On September 25, the US Air Force Space [...]

Donald W. Upson Joins Infinite Group’s Board of Directors

Dr. Stock Pick — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:01:44 +0000

Dr Stock Pick HOT News & Alerts! _______________________________________ FREE Daily Stock Alerts From DrStockPick.com _______________________________________ Friday October 2, 2009 DrStockPick.com Stock Report! IMCI, Infinite Group Inc., IMCI.OB ************************************************************** Donald W. Upson Joins Infinite Group’s Board of Directors PITTSFORD, N.Y.–(CRWENEWSWIRE)–Infinite Group, Inc. (OTCBB:IMCI) today announced that Donald W. Upson has joined the company’s Board of Directors. Currently the principal partner at ICG Government, a management [...]

Goodyear to Save $215 Million – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:00:59 +0000

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (GT) has revealed details about its master labor contract, ratified by members of the United Steel Workers (USW) union on Sep 18. The master contract covered about 10,300 employees at seven tire plants in the U.S. The plants are in Akron, Ohio; Buffalo, New York; Danville, Virginia; Fayetteville, North Carolina.; Gadsden, Alabama; Topeka, Kansas; and Union City, Tennessee.

The master contract is expected provide Goodyear with cost savings of $215 million over its term. Combined with savings realized through pre-bargain agreements to reduce staffing levels at five plants, the company expects to realize $555 million in total savings over the term of the agreements.

The contract also allows Goodyear to invest $600 million over the term of the agreement in its USW facilities to make them more efficient and productive. Additionally, it provides continued job security for six of the company's USW plants.

The agreement also gives Goodyear the flexibility on vacation scheduling and staffing levels. It will also help the company to trim $55 million in wage and benefit costs, according to Richard J. Kramer, Goodyear's Chief Operating Officer and President.

Goodyear is focused on streamlining its operations by achieving cost reductions of $2.5 billion by 2009. Of this, the company has already achieved $1.8 billion by the first half of the year.

A weak industry demand negatively affected Goodyear Tire’s results in the second quarter of the year. The company has reported a net loss of $221 million or 92 cents per share for the quarter versus earnings of $75 million or 31 cents per share in the same quarter of 2008. Total segment operating income plummeted 93% to $24 million from $330 million in the prior-year quarter. Sales went down 25% to $3.9 billion.

We continue to recommend the shares of Goodyear as Neutral with a target price of $19.
Read the full analyst report on "GT"
Zacks Investment Research

Trader’s Blog Contest Winner For September

Trading School — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:00:37 +0000

The winner of the September Trader’s Blog contest, where we asked “Do you think that a 2nd term for Bernanke is the best move for the country” is random comment number 104. We had 224 responses, but only 218 eligible comments. After counting the responses, 47% said that nominating Bernanke for a 2nd terms was a [...]

Dominion’s “Appalachian Gateway” – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Dominion Resources, Inc. (D) has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to start pre-filing process for its Appalachian Gateway Project. The proposed project will transport natural gas produced in West Virginia and southwest Pennsylvania to storage fields and pipelines in Pennsylvania.

The Appalachian Gateway project will cost around $600 million. Dominion expects to start construction work in 2011 and commence commercial operation in 2012. The project is fully subscribed by Marcellus Shale and other Appalachian natural gas producers. The total firm transportation delivery is estimated to be nearly 484,260 dekatherms of natural gas per day.

Dominion will build four new natural gas compressor stations and upgrade two existing compressor stations, which will add about 17,000 horsepower of compression capacity. Around 110 miles of new pipeline will be constructed under the project, which will start at West Virginia and end at Dominion and Spectra's jointly owned Oakford facility in Delmont, Pennsylvania.

Virginia-based Dominion is a leading provider of electricity, natural gas and related services to customers in the energy-intensive Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions of the U.S. The company has the potential to drive bottom-line growth in the near term, attributable to deregulated generation fleet benefiting from higher realized energy price.

However, Dominion shares currently reflects a valuation commensurate with its earnings growth profile, lower business risks after the sale of the E&P businesses and changes in the Virginia regulatory framework. Hence, we maintain our Neutral recommendation on the shares of Dominion.
Read the full analyst report on "D"
Zacks Investment Research

DrStockPick.com Stock Report! 9/30/09, AET, OWVI, BYHL, REED, XSEL, FADV

Dr. Stock Pick — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:11:58 +0000

Dr Stock Pick HOT News & Alerts! _______________________________________ FREE Daily Stock Alerts From DrStockPick.com _______________________________________ Wednesday September 30, 2009 DrStockPick.com Stock Report! ************************************************************** Eligible Medicare beneficiaries in Virginia now can obtain coverage for certain expenses not covered by original Medicare under a set of individual Medicare Supplement plans offered by Aetna (NYSE: AET). One World Ventures, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: OWVI) [...]

Allegheny Increases Credit Facility – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:58:28 +0000

Allegheny Energy, Inc. (AYE) recently announced that its unregulated power generation subsidiary Allegheny Energy Supply Company, LLC (AE Supply) bagged a new $1 billion senior unsecured revolving credit facility with a three-year maturity. Allegheny plans to use the money from the new credit facility for general corporate purposes and capital expenditure for its unregulated plants.

The new credit facility will increase and replace AE Supply’s existing $400 million revolving credit facility, which was scheduled to mature in May 2011. The withdrawals under this credit facility will bear interest that is calculated based on the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) along with a margin based on AE Supply’s senior unsecured credit rating. As of now the margin on LIBOR-based loans is 3.5%.

Allegheny is focused on strengthening its liquidity position and improve its financial flexibility by reducing interest burden. The company in recent times has concentrated on refinancing debt with lower interest rates.

AE Supply’s proactive role in debt reduction has already reduced the interest burden of the Generation & Marketing segment by $2.8 million and $9.9 million year-over-year for the three and six months ended June 30, 2009, respectively. This was due to lower average debt outstanding at lower interest rates under AE Supply’s credit facility and increased capitalized interest resulting from capital projects that were partially funded by cash from operations.

Headquartered in Greensburg, PA, Allegheny Energy is an electric utility company with over $3 billion in annual revenues. The company is engaged in both regulated electricity and natural gas distribution utility operations as well as in the unregulated wholesale energy markets. It owns and operates generating facilities and serves electricity to approximately 1.6 million customers spread across the states of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia.

Going forward, Allegheny Energy’s positive investment factors include higher generation rates in Pennsylvania and Maryland, higher residential usage and ongoing transmission projects. We expect that the company’s regulated delivery utility business will provide steady earnings growth while the disposal of retail distribution operations in Virginia will infuse liquidity. However, the positives would be offset by lower industrial demand and higher emission and hedging costs.

We reiterate our Neutral recommendation on the low dividend yield stock which reflects our view that the stock will trade at-par with the peer group of electric utility companies like AES Corporation (AES) and TECO Energy Inc. (TE).
Read the full analyst report on "AYE"
Read the full analyst report on "AES"
Read the full analyst report on "TE"
Zacks Investment Research

ITT Corp. Gets Army Contract – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:12:38 +0000

ITT Corporation (ITT) has received a $72.2 million contract from the Army to provide a night vision imaging system for aviators. Work is to be performed in Roanoke, VA and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2012.

Enhanced Night Vision Goggle (ENVG) optically combines an image intensification image, and proven thermal infrared technology, allowing for improved mobility and situational awareness—through clear target detection and improved target recognition. The ENVG combines the strengths of both technologies into one helmet-mounted unit, allowing war fighters to complete their missions more effectively, even when confronted by low-light or obscured conditions.

ITT's Night Vision business is the world's leading developer, producer and supplier of head- and helmet-mounted night vision solutions and image intensifiers for U.S. and allied military forces as well as the Homeland Security market. ITT has served the U.S. military with premier research, development, production and logistics for analog and digital fusion solutions for 50 years. ITT delivered its one millionth Gen 3 image intensification tube in 2007.

ITT Corporation is a high-technology engineering and manufacturing company operating on all seven continents in three vital markets: water and fluids management, global defense and security, and motion and flow control. With a heritage of innovation, ITT partners with its customers to deliver extraordinary solutions that create more livable environments, provides protection and safety and connects the world. Major Competitors include Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) and Raytheon Company (RTN).

We currently have a Neutral recommendation on ITT.
Read the full analyst report on "ITT"
Read the full analyst report on "LMT"
Read the full analyst report on "RTN"
Zacks Investment Research

Dominion’s Long-term Resource Plan – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:20:55 +0000

A subsidiary of Dominion Resources (D) recently submitted its long-term Integrated Resource Plan to the Virginia State Corporation Commission (VSCC). The plan primarily showcases the roadmap to cope with growing energy needs of the state over the next 15 years at the lowest possible cost.

Dominion plans to construct new generation facilities and launch various energy efficiency programs to support increasing energy demand. The company will require nearly 8,900 MW of additional electricity to meet the projected demand. Dominion targets around 7,900 MW from new generation facilities and around 950 MW from energy conservation.

Dominion plans a 640 MW combined-cycle gas facility in Warren County and a new 1,300 MW nuclear generating unit at the North Anna Power Station in Louisa. Moreover, it targets around 300 MW from renewable generation projects, including wind and biomass plants. Presently, the company has over 400 MW of renewable generation capacity in its portfolio.

On the energy conservation front, Dominion submitted 12 programs to the VSCC in July seeking regulatory approval. These programs will save around $1.2 billion over the 15-year period. The company is chalking out additional programs for deployment.

Virginia-based Dominion is a leading provider of electricity, natural gas and related services to customers in the energy-intensive Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions of the U.S. The company has the potential to drive bottom line growth in the near term on deregulated generation fleet benefits from higher realized energy and capacity prices.

However, the stock currently reflects a valuation commensurate with Dominion’s earnings growth profile, lower business risks after the sale of its E&P businesses and changes in the Virginia regulatory framework. Hence, we maintain our Neutral recommendation for the company.

Read the full analyst report on "D"
Zacks Investment Research

Allegheny Announces Debt Issue – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:45:00 +0000

Allegheny Energy (AYE) yesterday announced that its unregulated generation subsidiary Allegheny Energy Supply Company LLC (AE Supply) will issue $600 million aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured notes.

Of the $600 million notes to be issued, $350 million notes come with a coupon rate of 5.75% due 2019. The rest $250 million notes come with a coupon rate of 6.75% notes due 2039. The company anticipates the notes offering to be completed by Oct 1, 2009.

AE Supply will use the proceeds from the $600 million issue to repay a term loan of $447 million and refinance $150 million of its outstanding notes due 2011. The existing notes come with a dearer coupon rate of 7.80%.

The company is focused on cleaning its balance sheet and reduce interest burden by refinancing debt with lower interest rates. AE Supply’s proactive role in debt reduction has already reduced the interest burden of the Generation & Marketing segment by $2.8 million and $9.9 million year over year for the three and six months ended Jun 30, 2009, respectively.

This was due to lower average debt outstanding at lower interest rates under AE Supply’s credit facility and increased capitalized interest resulting from capital projects that were partially funded by cash from operations. Headquartered in Greensburg , Pennsylvania , Allegheny is engaged in both regulated electricity and natural gas distribution utility operations as well as in the unregulated wholesale energy markets.

The company operates through two business segments: the low-margin Delivery & Services and the high-margin Generation & Marketing. The Delivery & Services segment consists of three regulated electric utilities, which operate electric transmission and distribution systems and a natural gas distribution system. This segment provides electricity to 1.6 million customers in Pennsylvania , Virginia , Maryland and West Virginia . The Generation & Marketing segment consists of unregulated power generation operations and marketing operations, which are conducted primarily through its subsidiary, AE Supply. We maintain our long-term Neutral recommendation on Allegheny shares.
Read the full analyst report on "AYE"
Zacks Investment Research

September 21st CEOcast Weekly Newsletter

QualityStocks — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:05:50 +0000

Companies featured in this edition of the newsletter: ACTC, CVM, CUR, DKAM, ENZ, IMUC, IWEB, PHC, SVUL, SRCO, SVUL, XSNX Markets extended their winning streak yet again this week, as all ten sectors of the S&P 500 finished in positive territory and markets hit fresh highs for the year once again, despite the lack of [...]

NOC, PWRM, DELL, CVAT, CSRH, VSYM, USPS, DrStockPick.com Stock Report!

Dr. Stock Pick — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:47:32 +0000

Dr Stock Pick HOT News & Alerts! _________________________________________ FREE Daily Stock Alerts From DrStockPick.com _________________________________________ Monday September 21, 2009 DrStockPick.com Stock Report! NOC, PWRM, DELL, CVAT, CSRH, VSYM, USPS ************************************************************** PWRM, Power 3 Medical Products Inc, PWRM.OB Power3 Medical Products, Inc. is a leading bio-medical company engaged in the commercialization of neurodegenerative disease and cancer biomarkers, pathways, and mechanisms of diseases through the development [...]

Stock-PR Stock Headlines September 11, 2009 MSVS,VRMLQ, DGX, BONU

Stock-PR — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:59:51 +0000

Micron Enviro Systems, Inc. (OTCBB: MSVS) (FRANKFURT: NDDA) (”Micron”) has now been assigned a new symbol, which is MSVS. Micron has now commenced trading under the new symbol MSVS and no longer trades under the old symbols of MENV, MENVE or MSVSE. All shareholders will be entitled to receive the forward split shares upon surrender [...]

Sofame Technologies (SDW.V) – more detail on funding plans

Gabriel Didham, CFA — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:18:59 +0000

Objective Capital comment issued on Sep 11, 2009 titled 'Sofame Technologies (SDW.V) - more detail on funding plans'.

Census Bureau: Poverty Rising – Analyst Blog

Dirk Van Dijk — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:20:36 +0000

Today the Census Bureau released its report on incomes, poverty and health insurance coverage for 2008. Most of it was (not surprisingly) bad news. Here are some of the highlights (lowlights?):

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that real median household income in the United States fell 3.6 percent between 2007 and 2008, from $52,163 to $50,303.
The nation’s official poverty rate in 2008 was 13.2 percent, up from 12.5 percent in 2007. There were 39.8 million people in poverty in 2008, up from 37.3 million in 2007.
The number of people without health insurance coverage rose from 45.7 million in 2007 to 46.3 million in 2008,
In 2008, the earnings of women who worked full time, year-round was 77 percent of that for corresponding men, not statistically different from the 2007 ratio.
The real median earnings of men who worked full time, year-round declined by 1.0 percent between 2007 and 2008, from $46,846 to $46,367. For women, the corresponding drop was 1.9 percent, from $36,451 to $35,745.
Income inequality was statistically unchanged between 2007 and 2008, as measured by shares of aggregate household income by quintiles and the Gini index. The Gini index was 0.466 in 2008. (The Gini index is a measure of household income inequality; 0 represents perfect income equality and 1 perfect inequality.)
Between 2007 and 2008, the number of people covered by private health insurance decreased from 202.0 million to 201.0 million, while the number covered by government health insurance climbed from 83.0 million to 87.4 million. The number covered by employment-based health insurance declined from 177.4 million to 176.3 million.
The number of uninsured children declined from 8.1 million (11.0 percent) in 2007 to 7.3 million (9.9 percent) in 2008.

A 3.6% drop in the real median household income is huge. While there were some minor increases in 2004 to 2007, real median incomes are still lower than they were in 2000. Keep the $50,303 number in mind the next time discussions of banker bonuses come up. The poverty rate greatly underestimates the number of people in poverty, but even with the very conservative definition, 13.2% of the population in poverty -- more than one in eight -- is scandalous.

Why do I say that the official poverty rate understates poverty? Because the formula was set up back in the early 1960’s and was based on the percentage of income spent on food. Since then, the relative price of food has plummeted, while the cost of other necessities like shelter, health care and education has skyrocketed.

Frankly, I am surprised that the number of uninsured did not rise more than it did, given that most health insurance in the country is tied to employment and unemployment rose significantly over the course of 2008. However, the worst job losses for the year were at the very end.

I would expect that the number of uninsured will jump again in 2009. A big reason that the number of total uninsured did not rise further was the expansion of the S-Chip program for children. Without the drop in uninsured children due to the program, the increase in total uninsured would have been more than twice what it was. "Socialist" medicine, also known as Medicare, Medicaid and the VA, has managed to pick up the slack and provide coverage to those who are losing their private sector coverage.

It was good to see that the Gini index did not increase further -- it is the best single measure out there of income inequality, and the U.S. is already off the charts by developed country standards. With a Gini coefficient of 0.466, the distribution of income in the U.S. far more closely resembles that of China, Mexico and Rwanda than it does that of Canada, the UK or Australia. Our Gini index is twice that of Sweden, which has the world’s flattest income distribution. The highest level of inequality in the world is Namibia at 0.707. We are actually closer to Haiti (0.592) than we are to Canada (0.320). To see the international comparisons check here.

With half the households in the U.S. earning $50,303, it means that half the population can only afford to shop at discounters like Walmart (WMT) or Family Dollar (FDO). They have to spend on staples and necessities, not on discretionary items.

People in the lower half of the income distribution are far less likely to have health insurance coverage. If not provided by the job (low-wage jobs are much less likely to provide insurance than high-income jobs), how are they supposed to buy coverage when the average individual family plan costs $12,000 a year?

The result is that they will only get health care when they show up at the emergency room, which is a very expensive way to care for people. They also probably wait until they are very sick to seek treatment; thus problems that if caught early could have been solved with an Rx for antibiotics result in hospital stays. The only other option for them is death, and an estimated 20,000 people die each year in this country from easily treatable conditions because they have no health insurance.

With more than 25 years of experience as an analyst and portfolio manager, Dirk van Dijk is Zacks’ Chief Equity Strategist. He also manages the new long-term investing service, Strategic Investor">Strategic Investor.

Read the full analyst report on "WMT"
Read the full analyst report on "FDO"
Zacks Investment Research

Earnings Preview for CarMax – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:29:41 +0000

CarMax (KMX) will release its sales and earnings results for the second quarter of fiscal 2010 ended August 31, 2009 on September 22. The Richmond, VA-based used car retailer reported earnings of 11 cents per share, excluding special items, for the first quarter of the fiscal year. This was high above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 4 cents per share.

For the second quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company is 16 cents per share, an improvement of 45% compared to the recorded earnings in the previous quarter.

CarMax, the largest retailer of used vehicles in the U.S., conducts its operations through its wholly owned subsidiaries -- CarMax Auto Superstores Inc., Virginia; CarMax Auto Superstores West Coast Inc., California; CarMax Auto Superstores California LLC, California; CarMax Auto Superstores Services Inc., Virginia; CarMax Business Services LLC, Delaware; and Glen Allen Insurance Ltd., Bermuda. The company operates 6 new-car franchises, representing the Chevrolet, Chrysler, Nissan (NSANY) and Toyota (TM) brands, all of which are integrated with or co-located in its used-car superstores.

The company is among the strongest operators in its peer group, which includes AutoNation (AN) and Penske Automotive Group (PAG). The company has the leading liquidity and profitability ratios in its peer group, besides a low debt/equity ratio. By 2010, the company plans to achieve annual sales of $10 billion.

CarMax is consistent with the target for used-car superstore annual growth at around 15%. In fiscal 2009, the company opened 11 superstores, expanding the store base by 12%. In fiscal 2010, the company plans to open 5 to 10 superstores. Over the next 10 years, the company plans to increase the number of used-car stores from 89 to between 200 and 300, expanding outside its current market.

However, continuing slow sales in the new vehicle market, especially domestic cars, have forced original equipment manufacturers and dealers to offer incentives and attractive pricing. Therefore, in a defensive move, CarMax has begun lowering the prices of vehicles to reduce high used-car inventory, leading to shrinking margins.

Further, CarMax faces higher funding costs related to its finance arm, CarMax Auto Finance, which generates about 25% of the company’s total earnings. This negatively affects earnings. In the first quarter of fiscal 2010, the company’s earnings were reduced by 11 cents per share for increased funding costs and other adjustments related to CarMax Auto Finance loans originated in prior fiscal years.

Therefore, we recommend the shares of CarMax as Neutral.
Read the full analyst report on "KMX"
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Zacks Investment Research

PennyOmega.com Stock Report! 9/09/09, CNAM, WFC, HGG, QASP, NICK, MPS

PennyOmega.com — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:35:45 +0000

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Toyota Faces Possible Import Ban Over Paice’s Patent Suit

Contrarian Profits — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:55:53 +0000

pThe bankruptcies of a href="http://www.google.com/finance?cid=4090940" target="_blank"Chrysler Group LLC/a and General Motors Corp. (NYSE: a href="http://www.google.com/finance?q=General+Motors+Corp."GRM/a) provided Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE ADR: a href="http://www.google.com/finance?q=tm" target="_blank"TM/a) with an unparalleled opportunity to increase U.S. market share. But now patent-infringement claims could result in a U.S. import ban on some of the company’s most popular hybrid cars./p pMcLean, Virginia-based a href="http://paice.net/" target="_blank"Paice LLC/a has filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) that a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109#38;sid=abn6ZQVtClP4" target="_blank"claims the Toyota Camry infringes on its patents/a, strongemBloomberg News/em/strong reported. An investigation into the claim could be completed within 15 months and result in a ban of some Toyota imports./p pPaice, a developer of hybrid electric power train technology, in 2005 won a similar case against Toyota involving the Japanese carmaker’s Prius, Highlander and Lexus RX400h hybrid models. Paice claimed#8230;/p

Tampa Electric Submits Fuel Report – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:35:43 +0000

Tampa Electric, the principal subsidiary of TECO Energy (TE), recently submitted its annual fuel report to the Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC). Lower fuel and purchased power costs during the first half of 2009 and reduced estimates for the remaining half of 2009 and 2010 will bring down the fuel portion of electricity bills of all consumers from January. Tampa estimates the fuel charge for a residential consumer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month to decline by $6.32.

This reduction in electricity bills will more than offset the rise to the base rate part of the bill, which was approved by the FPSC this March and will come in effect from January. Consequently, the monthly bill for a residential consumer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours will be $113.21, resulting in an overall reduction of $1.46. This, however, is subject to requisite approvals by the FPSC.

TECO is a holding company, conducting regulated utility operations in Florida, through Tampa Electric, which supplies electricity to over 667 thousand consumers and Peoples Gas System, which supplies natural gas to over 335 thousand consumers. TECO’s other subsidiaries include TECO Coal, which owns and operates coal production facilities in Kentucky and Virginia, and TECO Guatemala, which deals in electricity generation and distribution and energy-related businesses in Guatemala.

Shares of TECO Energy closed at $13.17 on Tuesday, trading at 14.0X trailing 12-month EPS versus 11.8X of the peer group. We maintain our Neutral recommendation for the company.
Read the full analyst report on "TE"
Zacks Investment Research

Best Buy to Open 22 Stores – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:45:38 +0000

Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) recently announced its plan to open 22 new U.S. stores in its fiscal third quarter. The stores will be opened in Virginia, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, California, Wisconsin, Puerto Rico, Arkansas, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Louisiana.

Currently, Best Buy operates 1,044 U.S. stores in 50 states and Puerto Rico. The company added 21 stores in the first six months of the fiscal year 2010. It opened 9 stores in the first quarter and another 12 stores in the second quarter.

Best Buy’s pace of opening new stores in the current fiscal year is substantially low compared to prior year quarters. Amid the challenging global economy and tough retail environment, we believe that the company has taken prudent steps to move steadily, rather than aggressively.

In fiscal year 2009, Best Buy opened 26 stores in the first quarter, 24 in the second quarter, and 37 stores in the third quarter.

The company will report its fiscal second quarter results on Sept 15.

During the first quarter, the company’s revenues jumped 12% year over year to $10,095 million primarily due to the addition of Best Buy Europe’s revenues and net addition of 185 new stores in the past 12 months, partially offset by a 6.2% decline in comparable store sales. Earnings per share fell 2.3% to 42 cents per share.

Best Buy is a global retailer of technology and entertainment products with operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, China and Mexico.
Read the full analyst report on "BBY"
Zacks Investment Research

August 31st CEOcast Weekly Newsletter

QualityStocks — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:26:55 +0000

Companies featured in this edition of the newsletter: CVM, ICLK, IMUC, ITUI, IWEB, MBCI, NXOI, OMCM, ONEZ, PHC, SRCO, SVUL, XCR Markets closed moderately higher yet again this week, as mostly better than expected economic data helped stave off profit taking to leave most indices in positive territory on the week. All told, the Dow [...]

August 31st CEOcast Weekly Newsletter

QualityStocks — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:26:55 +0000

Goodyear Reaches Deal with USW – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:40:19 +0000

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT) revealed that it reached a tentative four-year agreement on a United Steel Workers (USW) deal, about three hours before a midnight deadline for expiration last Saturday. The new contract covers about 10,300 employees at seven tire plants in the U.S. The plants are in Akron, Ohio; Buffalo, New York; Danville, Virginia; Fayetteville, North Carolina.; Gadsden, Alabama; Topeka, Kansas; and Union City, Tennessee.

The three-year old contract has been extended twice. Goodyear was in talks with USW in Cincinnati since June 8. The steelworkers were adamant throughout the negotiations about maintaining their job security. However, Goodyear did not disclose any details about the deal, especially on job cuts and plant closures.

Goodyear is focused on streamlining its operations by achieving cost reductions of $2.5 billion by 2009. Of this, the company already achieved $1.8 billion by the first half of the year. Goodyear anticipated that its master labor agreement with the USW will result in savings of $300 million in 2009.

A weak industry demand negatively affected Goodyear Tire’s results in the second quarter. The company reported a net loss of $221 million or 92 cents per share for the quarter versus earnings of $75 million or 31 cents per share in the same quarter last year. Total segment operating income plummeted 93% to $24 million from $330 million in the prior-year quarter. Sales were down 25% to $3.9 billion.

We continue to recommend the shares of Goodyear as Neutral with a target price of $19.

Read the full analyst report on "GT"
Zacks Investment Research

DrStockPick.com Stock Report! 8/31/09, 8/31/09, SIXFQ, CA, SAP, DIS, SVVS, GR

Dr. Stock Pick — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:52:02 +0000

DrStockPick.com Stock Report! Monday August 31, 2009 ************************************************************** Six Flags, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: SIXFQ), the world’s largest regional theme park company, is celebrating Back-to-School 2009 with the Six Flags Back-to-School Blast featuring a national sweepstakes and an exciting concert series with some of today’s hottest talent. CA (Nasdaq: CA) CA today announced [...]

PennyOmega.com Stock Report! 8/27/09, ERTS, TMRK, CLNE, PAYD, INTK, AEO

PennyOmega.com — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:36:40 +0000

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DrStockPick.com Stock Report! 8/25/09, HAS, WFMI, EPAY, APNN, SNSR, LGTT

Dr. Stock Pick — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:35:29 +0000

DrStockPick.com Stock Report! Tuesday August 25, 2009 ************************************************************** Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS) has announced plans to unleash the legendary dinosaurs from Universal Pictures’ Jurassic Park, one of the most powerful franchises in motion picture history. This fall, under a licensing agreement with Universal Partnerships & Licensing, Hasbro plans to launch a new action [...]

Wells Fargo Going Slow on Wachovia – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:15:40 +0000

Six months after acquiring Wachovia Corp., the Wells Fargo (WFC) name and stagecoach logo have yet to be seen in the Kansas City area. Indeed it will not be visible till the next year. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo has been moving slowly to consolidate Wachovia Bank into its system.

During December last year, the brokerage firm Wachovia Securities became part of Wells Fargo. All 4,800 branches of the residential lender Wachovia Mortgage have been folded into Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

Wachovia Corp. was purchased by Wells Fargo on Dec 31, 2008, when it ceased to be an independent corporation. The company had been battered by heavy losses – especially in its portfolio of flexible, interest-only home loans – and was suffering a run on its deposits.

The consolidation of Wachovia bank branches into Wells Fargo's network is scheduled to begin this November. The integration will begin in Colorado, one of a half-dozen states where both the institutions have overlapping branches.

After Colorado, the branch-conversion process will move to five other states – California, Arizona, Illinois, Nevada and Texas – where Wells Fargo and Wachovia offices also overlap. Conversion in these states is expected to begin in 2010, though the conversion dates haven’t been announced for the Wachovia-only markets in the Carolinas and along the East Coast.

Wells Fargo’s growth plans have included a large number of acquisitions, Wachovia being the latest in December 2008. The company has demonstrated its ability to assimilate local franchises offering a wider range of products than the acquired company could have had.

The Wachovia merger is expected to generate an internal rate of return (IRR) of about 20% and be accretive to earnings starting from the third year without any adjustments. Further, as a result of the merger, Wells Fargo substantially expanded its distribution network and has a Community Banking presence for the first time in 16 states – Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington D.C.

Last month, Wells Fargo reported net income of 57 cents per share. The company reported that the Wachovia merger is on track and expects to realize $5 billion of annual merger-related savings upon completion of the integration process. During the latest reported quarter, 39% of the combined revenue came from Wachovia. With the combined resources, Wells Fargo will be in an even better position to satisfy its customers’ financial needs.

We maintain a Neutral recommendation on the shares of Wells Fargo.

Read the full analyst report on "WFC"
Zacks Investment Research

PennyOmega.com Stock Report! 8/24/09, SKNY, MGM, MCKE, ALGN, SHLO, NOC

PennyOmega.com — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:37:48 +0000

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Heartland Inc. (HTLJ.OB) is “One to Watch”

QualityStocks — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:43:28 +0000

Trading on the OTCBB, Heartland Inc. is a diversified company with businesses in steel warehousing and fabrication as well as petroleum retail and wholesale operations. They are a holding company with three subsidiaries. Heartland Inc.’s headquarters are in Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, directly on the border of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia. The Company’s Mound Technologies is a [...]

ITT Corp. Wins Defense Orders – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:43:14 +0000

ITT Corporation (ITT) has been awarded $43 million follow-on orders by the U.S. Army's Research, Development and Engineering Command Acquisition Center for the Enhanced Night Vision Goggle and associated spare parts.

Enhanced Night Vision Goggle optically combines an image intensification image, and proven thermal infrared technology, allowing for improved mobility and situational awareness—through clear target detection and improved target recognition.

ITT's Night Vision business, based in Roanoke, VA, is the world's leading developer, producer and supplier of head- and helmet-mounted night vision solutions and image intensifiers for U.S. and allied military forces as well as the homeland security market.

Subsequently, ITT Corp. also received a $29.2 million contract from the U.S. Navy to produce radar modification kits used aboard Navy ships. The radars enhance missile guidance capability, while the kits will increase operational availability and decrease operating and support costs, according to the government notice.

ITT Corporation is a high-technology engineering and manufacturing company with approximately 40,000 employees. Its portfolio of businesses is aligned with enduring, global growth drivers and is spread on all seven continents in three vital markets: water and fluids management, global defense and security, and motion and flow control. Its major competitors are Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) and Raytheon Company (RTN).

We currently have an Outperform Recommendation on ITT Corporation.
Read the full analyst report on "ITT"
Read the full analyst report on "LMT"
Read the full analyst report on "RTN"
Zacks Investment Research

BioNeutral Group, Inc. (BONU.OB) is “One to Watch”

QualityStocks — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:23:18 +0000

Trading on the OTCBB, BioNeutral Group, Inc. is a specialty chemical technology based Life Science Company. BioNeutral Group, Inc. intends to commercialize a combinational chemistry-based technology. This technology can neutralize harmful environmental contaminants, toxins, and dangerous microorganisms. These include bacteria, viruses, mold, fungi, and spores. The Company has their headquarters at the New Jersey Institute [...]

Axial Vector Energy Corp. (AXVC.PK) Applies for Grant for Joint Ownership of Engine Production Facility

QualityStocks — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:38:39 +0000

Axial Vector Energy Corp. is a global solutions provider that owns, develops, licenses and invests in revolutionary technologies. These include technologies with potential in military, industrial and commercial applications such as power generation and engine technologies. Axial Vector Energy (AVEC) recently announced that it has applied for federal grants and loan funding to assist the co-ownership [...]

PennyOmega.com Stock Report! 8/13/09, NPHC, SGEN, DANR, COO, SNPS, ABT

PennyOmega.com — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:45:25 +0000

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Terremark’s Loss Widens – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:28:52 +0000

Terremark Worldwide (TMRK) announced fiscal first-quarter loss of 25 cents per share that was wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of loss per share of 3 cents per share. The company reported net loss of $15.4 million, compared to a net profit of $1.7 million in the year-ago quarter due to higher operating expenses (includes approximately $10.3 million loss in early extinguishment of debt).

Consolidated revenues of $65.8 million were near the high-end of the company’s guidance for the quarter, marking a 17% year-over-year growth. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased 52% year over year to $16.7 million.

The company added 46 new customers during the quarter, stable sequentially, taking its total customer base to 1,114 at the end of the quarter. Total new contract bookings registered in the first quarter were $29 million, representing a decline from previous quarter’s $31.8 million.

Cross-connects billed to customers reached 8,456, growing 17% from the prior-year quarter. Additionally, total colocation space utilization increased to 28.3%, from 24.8% in the previous quarter. Utilization for build-out colocation space also increased sequentially to 60.5%.

The company has released its financial targets for the second quarter and fiscal 2010. Revenues for the second quarter are projected to range between $68.0 million and $70.0 million with adjusted EBITDA of $17.0 to $19.0 million. The company has reaffirmed its revenue guidance for fiscal 2010, which is expected between $290 million and $300 million. Adjusted EBITDA for fiscal 2010 is projected between $80 million and $85 million.

Terremark remains a key player in the IT infrastructure solutions market with a vast portfolio of premium products and services, wide geographic coverage and a diversified customer base. The company continues to broaden its data center space to handle increased demand, especially from federal government customers.

Leveraging the newly constructed 130-mile long fiber optic network, Terremark has recently increased carrier connectivity at its NAP (network access point) of the Capital Region (NCR) data center facility in Virginia. The company is further expanding capacity at the NCR facility by constructing a second data center, which is expected for completion by late 2010. Terremark has already booked contracts for 30% of the available space for this facility, mostly derived from federal customers.

We believe the company’s industry leading product/service portfolio, coupled with a differentiated execution strategy, uniquely positions it to leverage attractive market trends for managed hosting and colocation services.

While we are encouraged by the company’s ongoing expansion initiatives and healthy contract booking levels supported by the robust demand for its services, our primary concern remains the highly leveraged balance sheet as most of the expansion initiatives are being funded by debt financing.
Read the full analyst report on "TMRK"
Zacks Investment Research

Allegheny Cleaning Balance Sheet – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:49:14 +0000

Allegheny Energy (AYE) yesterday announced that its unregulated generation subsidiary Allegheny Energy Supply Co., LLC (AE Supply) will purchase for cash up to $220 million principal amount from its medium term notes. The offer will expire on Sept 4.

The $220 million to be paid off is to be sourced from two debts. Of the $650 million outstanding notes due 2012 with a coupon rate of 8.25%, AE Supply plans to retire a maximum of $160 million. While from the $400 million outstanding notes due 2011 with a coupon rate of 7.80%, the company plans to retire a maximum of $100 million.

Headquartered in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Allegheny is engaged in both regulated electricity and natural gas distribution utility operations as well as in the unregulated wholesale energy markets. The company operates through two business segments: the low margin Delivery & Services and the high margin Generation & Marketing.

The Delivery & Services segment consists of three regulated electric utilities, which operate electric transmission and distribution systems and a natural gas distribution system. This segment provides electricity to 1.6 million customers in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia.

The Generation & Marketing segment consists of unregulated power generation operations and marketing operations, which are conducted primarily through its subsidiary, AE Supply.

The early retirement of $220 million of medium term loans will clean up the books of AE Supply. Subsequently, apart from the remaining medium term notes, it will have only $447 million of term loans due 2011 and $1.3 million of pollution control bonds due 2012 in the medium term. The rest of its debt consisting of $267 million of pollution control bonds and $100 million debentures are only due post-2013.

AE Supply’s proactive role in debt reduction has already reduced the interest burden of the Generation & Marketing segment by $2.8 million and $9.9 million year over year for the three and six months ended June 30, 2009, respectively. This was due to lower average debt outstanding at lower interest rates under AE Supply’s credit facility and increased capitalized interest resulting from capital projects that were partially funded using cash from operations. We maintain our Neutral recommendation on Allegheny.
Read the full analyst report on "AYE"
Zacks Investment Research

Exchange Rates: New Papers

Menzie Chinn — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 03:20:06 +0000

During the summer, I had the good fortune to attend two excellent conferences focused on new findings in exchange rate economics (yes, not all economic research is focused on the financial crisis and recession). The first was a Bank of Canada-European Central Bank conference Exchange rates: The global perspective, and the second was the NBER International Finance and Macroeconomics Summer Institute session "Exchange Rates and Relative Prices".

Figure 1: Log nominal value of US dollar (blue) and real value of US dollar (red), against currencies of major trading partners. NBER defined recession dates shaded gray, assuming the recession has not ended by July 2009. Source: Federal Reserve Board.

The Bank of Canada-ECB conference papers are here. All the papers, as well as powerpoint files of the presenters and discussants, are available from the conference website; I've reproduced some of the abstracts below.

Order flows and the exchange rate disconnect puzzle

M. Evans (Georgetown University)

Discussant: P. Vitale (G. D'Annunzio University)

This paper was also presented at the NBER conference -- see below for the abstract and my discussion of the paper.

What does the yield curve tell us about exchange rate predictability?

Y. Chen (University of Washington), K. P. Tsang (Virginia Tech)

This paper uses information contained in the cross-country yield curves to test the asset pricing approach to exchange rate determination, which models the nominal exchange rate as the discounted present value of its expected future fundamentals. Since the term structure of interest rates embodies information about future economic activity such as GDP growth and inflation, we extract the Nelson-Siegel (1987) factors of relative level, slope, and curvature from cross-country yield differences to proxy expected movements in future exchange rate fundamentals. Using monthly data between 1985-2005 for the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and the US, we show that the yield curve factors predict bilateral exchange rate movements and explain excess currency returns one month to two years ahead. They also outperform the random walk in forecasting short-term exchange rate returns out of sample. Our findings provide an intuitive explanation to the uncovered interest parity puzzle by relating excess currency returns to inflation and business cycle risk.

Discussant: R. Alquist (Bank of Canada)

I found this paper quite interesting as it links up, in an atheoretical/empirical fashion, with the findings Guy Meredith and I obtained -- namely that short term interest rate differentials mispredict exchange rate changes, but long term interest rate differentials do not.

On the unstable relationship between exchange rates and fundamentals

*P. Bacchetta (University of Lausanne), E. van Wincoop (University of Virginia)

It is well known from anecdotal, survey and econometric evidence that the relationship between the exchange rate and macro fundamentals is highly unstable. This could be explained when structural parameters are known and very volatile, neither of which seems plausible. Instead we argue that large and frequent variations in the relationship between the exchange rate and macro fundamentals naturally develop when structural parameters in the economy are unknown and change very slowly. We show that the reduced form relationship between exchange rates and fundamentals is driven not by the structural parameters themselves, but rather by expectations of these parameters. These expectations can be highly unstable as a result of perfectly rational "scapegoat" effects. This happens when parameters can potentially change much more in the long run than the short run. This generates substantial uncertainty about the level of parameters, even though monthly or annual changes are small. This mechanism can also be relevant in other contexts of forward looking variables and could explain the widespread evidence of parameter instability found in macroeconomic and financial data. Finally, we show that parameter instability has remarkably little effect on the volatility of exchange rates, the in-sample explanatory power of macro fundamentals and the ability to forecast out of sample.

Discussant: C. Engel (University of Wisconsin)

This paper is closely related to another paper by Bacchetta, Wincoop, and Beutler, discussed in this post from June.

What is driving exchange rates? New evidence from a panel of US dollar bilateral exchange rates

J. Cayen (Bank of Canada), D. Coletti (Bank of Canada), R. Lalonde (Bank of Canada), *P. Maier (Bank of Canada)

Discussant: H. Bouakez (HEC Montreal)

Common risk factors in currency markets

*H. Lustig (UCLA), N. Roussanov (University of Pennsylvania), A. Verdelhan (Boston University)

We identify a 'slope' factor in exchange rates. High interest rate currencies load more on this slope factor than low interest rate currencies. As a result, this factor can account for most of the cross-sectional variation in average excess returns between high and low interest rate currencies. A standard, no-arbitrage model of interest rates with two factors -- a country- specific factor and a global factor -- can replicate these findings, provided there is sufficient heterogeneity in exposure to the global risk factor. We show that our slope factor is global risk factor. By investing in high interest rate currencies and borrowing in low interest rate currencies, US investors load up on global risk, particularly during bad times.

Discussant: F. Fornari (European Central Bank)

Crash risk in currency markets

*E. Farhi (Harvard University), X. Gabaix (New York University), A. Verdelhan (Boston University)

Discussant: P. Della Corte (University of Warwick)

Dinner address: J. Murray (Bank of Canada)

Demand imbalances, exchange rate misalignment and monetary policy

Corsetti (European University Institute), L. Dedola (European Central Bank) S. Leduc (Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco)

In standard open macro models with incomplete markets, monetary policy geared towards price stability may result in (rather than correcting) misalignments in important asset prices like the exchange rate, even when the latter only reflects fundamental-based valuation. We discuss instances in which optimal monetary policy redresses these inefficiencies, achieving significant welfare gains relative to price stability. These gains are obtained by leaning against an over- or under-valued exchange rate, associated with suboptimal cross-country demand and current account imbalances, consistent with flexible inflation targeting.

Discussant: J. Gali (Centre de Recerca en Economia Internacional)

I think this paper by Corsetti et al. is an important one, because it's one of the few papers I know that explicitly defines what real exchange rate misalignment is, in the context of a formal New Keynesian model. I think it, and the discussion by Jordi Gali, are required reading for anybody interested in thinking about equilibrium real exchange rates.

The dynamics of international trade invoicing

*L. Goldberg (Federal Reserve Bank of New York), C. Tille (Geneva Graduate Institute)

International trade transactions can be invoiced in the producer currency, in the destination currency, or in some third vehicle currency. This paper shows how an exporter's invoicing choice is affected by her market share, industry structure, the role of imported inputs, the hedging of macroeconomic shocks, and exchange rate regimes. We address a shortcoming in the existing literature by invoicing choices as the outcome of a bargaining game between exporting producers and their customers abroad. Using a new dataset of 45 million individual Canadian import transactions, we examine the roles of the various invoicing determinants, documenting the importance of each of these factors in the invoicing decisions of specific industry exporters, distinguishing between U.S. exporters and those from other countries.

Discussant: M. Devereux (University of British Columbia)

The predictive information content of external imbalances for exchange rate returns: How much is it worth?

*P. Della Corte (University of Warwick), L. Sarno (Cass Business School), G. Sestieri (European Central Bank)

Discussant: G. M. Milesi-Ferretti (International Monetary Fund)

Keynote speech: On Global Currencies
*J. Frankel (Harvard University)

I approach the state of global currency issues by identifying eight concepts that I see as having recently "peaked" and eight more that I see as currently rising in relevance. Those that I see as having already seen their best days are: the G-7, global savings glut, corners hypothesis, proliferating currency unions, inflation targeting (narrowly defined), exorbitant privilege, Bretton Woods II, and currency manipulation. Those that I see as receiving increased emphasis in the future are: the G-20, the IMF, SDR, credit cycle, reserves, intermediate exchange rate regimes, commodity currencies, and multiple international currency system.

I've discussed some of the points Frankel lays out in a previous post, including the idea that “global savings glut” is an idea that is over.

Policy panel discussion: Exchange rate behaviour and policy: Before, during and after the global economic crisis

Chairman: L. Papademos (European Central Bank)

M. Chinn (University of Wisconsin) [presentation]

C. Engel ( University of Wisconsin )

J. Murray (Bank of Canada)

The second meeting (organized by Fabio Ghironi, Boston College, and Nelson Mark, Notre Dame) devoted the Wednesday session to exchange rates:

Order Flows and the Exchange Rate Disconnect Puzzle

Martin Evans, Georgetown University and NBER

The aim of this paper is to establish the link between the high frequency dynamics of spot exchange rates and developments in the macroeconomy. To do so, I first present a theoretical model of exchange-rate determination that bridges the gap between existing microstructure and traditional models. The model examines how dispersed microeconomic information known to individual agents outside the foreign exchange market is aggregated and transmitted to dealers via transaction flows (i.e., order flow); and how the information is then embedded in the spot exchange rate. I then report empirical evidence that strongly supports the presence of the link between the macroeconomy, order flow, and high frequency exchange rate returns implied by the model. In fact, my empirical results indicate that between 20 and 30 percent of the variance in excess currency returns over one- and two-month horizons can be linked back to developments in the macroeconomy. This level of explanatory power is an order of magnitude higher than that found in traditional models -- even the newly developed monetary models incorporating central banks reaction functions. Moreover, it provides a straightforward solution to the exchange-rate disconnect puzzle. Namely, the high frequency behavior of spot exchange rates reflects the flow of new information reaching dealers concerning the slowly evolving state of the macroeconomy, rather than the effects of shocks that drive rapidly changing macroeconomic conditions.

Discussant: Menzie Chinn, University of Wisconsin-Madison and NBER [presentation]

Taylor Rules and the Euro

Tanya Molodstva, Emory University, Alex Nikolsko-Rzhevskyy, University of Memphis, David Papell, University of Houston

This paper uses real-time data to show that inflation and either the output gap or unemployment, the variables which normally enter central banks' Taylor rules for interest-rate-setting, can provide evidence of out-of-sample predictability and forecasting ability for the United States Dollar/Euro exchange rate from the inception of the Euro in 1999 to the end of 2007. We also present less formal evidence that, with real-time data, the Taylor rule provides a better description of ECB than of Fed policy during this period. The strongest evidence is found for specifications that neither incorporate interest rate smoothing nor include the real exchange rate in the forecasting regression, and the results are robust to whether or not the coefficients on inflation and the real economic activity measure are constrained to be the same for the U.S. and the Euro Area. The evidence is stronger with inflation forecasts than with inflation rates and with real-time data than with revised data. Bad news about inflation and good news about real economic activity both lead to out-of sample predictability and forecasting ability through forecasted exchange rate appreciation.

Discussant: Yu-chin Chen, University of Washington [presentation]

How Do Different Exporters React to Exchange Rate Changes? Theory, Empirics, and Aggregate Implications

Nicolas Berman, European University Institute, Philippe Martin, Science Po, Paris, Thierry Mayer, Paris School of Economics

This paper analyzes the reaction of exporters to exchange rate changes. We show that, in the presence of distribution costs in the export market, high and low productivity firms react differently to a depreciation . Whereas high productivity firms optimally raise their markup rather than the volume they export, low productivity firms choose the opposite strategy. This heterogeneity has important consequences for the aggregate impact of exchange rate movements. The presence of fixed costs to export means that only high productivity firms can export, firms which precisely react to an exchange rate depreciation by increasing their export price rather than their sales. We show that this selection effect can explain the weak impact of exchange rate movements on aggregate export volumes. We then test the main predictions of the model on a very rich French firm level data set with destination specific export values and volumes on the period 1995-2005. Our results confirm that high performance firms react to a depreciation by increasing their export price rather than their export volume. The reverse is true for low productivity exporters. Pricing to market by exporters is also more pervasive in sectors and destination countries with higher distribution costs. Another result consistent with our theoretical framework is that the probability of firms to enter the export market following a depreciation increases. The extensive margin response to exchange rate changes is modest at the aggregate level because firms that enter, following a depreciation, are less productive and smaller relative to existing firms.

Discussant: Linda Goldberg, Federal Reserve Bank of New York and NBER [presentation]

Axial Vector Energy Corp. (AXVC.PK) Submits Grant Applications for U.S. Engine Production Facility

QualityStocks — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:44:01 +0000

Axial Vector Energy Corp. announced this morning that it has applied for Federal Grants and Loan funding to assist the co-ownership of an Engine and Generator production facility. The company has entered negotiations with several domestic companies and various state governments. Axial Vector aims to take advantage of the numerous incentives and benefits available to [...]

Recession Recovery: An Uneven Union

Frank Holmes — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 05:00:00 +0000

When it comes to a recession, not all states are created equal. Some economically strong states have managed to weather the financial storm while other more vulnerable states were hit especially hard by the economic bombshell. States like Michigan, Nevada and Oregon have seen unemployment spikes as the recession crumbled the statesrsquo; cornerstone industries. Thatrsquo;s the bad news. The good news is some states have become pockets of strength and are showing the recession is subsiding. One of these states is Virginia, which edged out last yearrsquo;s winner, Texas, to take top spot in CNBCrsquo;s annual ldquo;Americarsquo;s Top States for Businessrdquo; report. While it didnrsquo;t rank number 1 in any of the individual judging categories, Virginia scored in the top-10 for its workforce, economy and its quality of education, thus taking the top spot overall. Though it finished second, the Lone Star State has had its share of good press lately. The Economist ran a cover story a few weeks ago that contrasted the strength of the Texas economy with the struggles of California. Read the Economist article here* The article points out that more Fortune 500 companies (64) call Texas home compared with New York (56) and California (51). In addition to a pro-business tax structure, Texas has the benefit of having ample natural resources and geography on its sidemdash;major port access, cross-border trade with Mexico and hundreds of square miles of farmland. Texas also has a relatively low foreclosure ratemdash;1 per 785 householdsmdash;while California is near the top with 1 per 132 households. Forbes currently lists two Texas cities in its top-25 cities for business and careers. Austin is ranked number 8 while San Antoniomdash;home of U.S. Global Investorsmdash;ranks number 16. I should point out that Texas is not without its problems. As the Wall Street Journal pointed out a few weeks ago, a two-year drought and heat wave have severely damaged the South Texas farming and cattle industries. As the economy recovers, itrsquo;s important for investors to identify those pockets of strength that will outperform others. Just as the global economy will rely on a handful of countries to right the ship, certain states will need to lead the U.S. down the road to recovery. *This link goes to The Economist Web site. U.S. Global Investors does not endorse any information supplied by this website and is not responsible for any of its content. All opinions expressed and data provided are subject to change without notice. Some of these opinions may not be appropriate to every investor. 09-540

MainStreet Bank (MNSB.OB) Reports Strong Six Month Profit

QualityStocks — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:27:38 +0000

MainStreet Bank continues to sail through the recession and financial crisis, reporting $72,000 or $0.03, in net income for the quarter ending June 30, 2009. This brings its net income for the first six months of 2009 to $138,000 or $0.05 per share. The bank grew total assets to $205 million, a 17% increase over [...]

Allegheny Misses the Mark – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:20:24 +0000

Allegheny Energy (AYE) missed the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate of $0.44 by three cents in the second quarter of fiscal 2009. The company also fell short of the year-ago EPS by four cents due to lower industrial demand and output from coal-based units. Coal-based units utilized 14% lower capacity during the quarter compared to the prior-year period.

Headquartered in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Allegheny Energy is engaged in both regulated electricity and natural gas distribution utility operations as well as in unregulated wholesale energy markets. The company operates through two business segments: the low margin Delivery & Services and the high margin Generation & Marketing.

The Delivery & Services unit consists of three regulated electric utilities, which operate electric transmission and distribution systems and a natural gas distribution system. This segment provides electricity to 1.6 million customers in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia.

The Generation & Marketing division comprises unregulated power generation operations, which are conducted primarily through its subsidiary, Allegheny Energy Supply.

Quarterly revenue nosedived 15% year over year to $814.7 million due to dismal performance of its unregulated business covering the Generation & Marketing segment. However, this was partially offset by the regulated business comprising the Delivery and Services segment.

Delivery and Services top line rose 10.3%, boosted by higher generation rates in Pennsylvania and Maryland as well as increased recovery of purchased power costs in Virginia. On the other hand, Generation & Marketing segment top line shrunk 27.8% due to lower generation volumes, decreased power prices and higher O&M costs.

Following the industry trend, the company witnessed a steep fall in the retail sales in the industrial segment. Other utilities like American Electric Power Company Inc. (AEP), Constellation Energy Group (CEG) and Dominion Resources (D) also reported sharp drops in industrial volumes for the quarter.

Although the downtrend was across the board, Allegheny Energy’s industrial volume fell 17.6% year over year. This was due to lower usage per customer, which dipped by 18.5%. The trend percolated down the line and dragged down net income by 52.8% to $72.9 million. We maintain our Neutral recommendation on Allegheny Energy.

Read the full analyst report on "AYE"
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Zacks Investment Research

AEP Beats Zacks Estimates – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:23:36 +0000

Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric Power Company, Inc. (AEP) beat the Zacks Consensus estimate of $0.61 by seven cents in its fiscal second quarter with EPS of $0.68. However, this was lower than the year-over-year EPS of $0.70 due to dilutive issuance in April to alleviate its debt load.

Ongoing earnings rose by $41 million year over year to $321 million from $280 million in the year-ago quarter. The upside came from higher rates and improvements in the cost structure, offsetting lower demand from industrial customers. Higher rates in Virginia, Indiana, Oklahoma and Ohio -- along with authorization to recover fuel costs in Ohio -- were the triggers in the quarter.

Volumes were more than a fifth lower in the industrial segment over the year-ago period, as softer economy has reduced the industrial volumes across the nation. Other utilities like Constellation Energy Group (CEG) and Dominion Resources (D), also reported sharp fall in industrial volumes in the quarter.

Tepid economy providing no growth triggers dragged down revenue to $3.2 billion from $3.5 billion in the year-ago period. AEP reiterated its fiscal 2009 outlook and expects EPS of $2.75 – $3.05. This is in-line with our expectation of $2.86 for the current fiscal year.

The company’s capital position remains stable with debt-to-capitalization steadily improving to 57.3% after the first half of fiscal 2009 from 63.1% after the end of the previous quarter. Also, with more than $3.5 billion available from revolving credit facilities, AEP has a strong liquidity position close to $3 billion after the first half of the fiscal year.

AEP is one of the largest public utility holding companies catering to approximately 5.2 million customers spread over 11 states. We maintain our cautious Neutral recommendation on AEP.

Read the full analyst report on "AEP"
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DrStockPick.com Stock Report! 8/03/09, NFLX, SSTI, AZZ, CNQR, GY, POR

Dr. Stock Pick — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:45:29 +0000

DrStockPick.com Stock Report! Monday August 3, 2009 ************************************************************** Netflix, Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX), the world’s largest online movie rental service, today announced an agreement with Disney-ABC Television Group that will make several of ABC’s most popular TV series available to be streamed instantly from Netflix. SST Communications, a developer of RF front-end components and modules for [...]

DrStockPick.com Stock Report! 7/31/09, SBGI, PC, CLSN, TSYS, CAT, AZN

Dr. Stock Pick — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:49:58 +0000

DrStockPick.com Stock Report! Friday July 31, 2009 ************************************************************** Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI) was notified by Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation that Cunningham’s lenders under its $33.5 million term loan facility, which became due on July 31, 2009, have provided them an extension to October 30, 2009. The extension requires that Cunningham make $200,000 [...]

Bank Stock Outlook: Will First-Half Gains Give Way to Second-Half Pain?

Money Morning — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:05:53 +0000

[Editor's Note: After more than a year of chaos and controversy, some of the leading U.S. banks saw their stock prices soar during the second quarter. As part of its mid-year forecast series, Money Morning examines the outlook for U.S. banks for the rest of this year. To see earlier stories from our mid-year forecast [...]

PPS Continues Asset Sales – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:02:31 +0000

Post Properties, Inc. (PPS), a leading real estate investment trust (REIT), has recently sold Post Ridge – a 434-unit garden-style apartment community in Atlanta. The property was sold to an entity affiliated with Centennial Holding Company LLC, a privately held real estate company, for a gross price of $44.8 million.

At the same time, the company also announced the sale of Post Forest – a 364-unit garden-style apartment community in Fairfax, Virginia. The property was sold to Pantzer Properties, Inc., a real estate investment and management company in New York, for a gross price of $57.5 million.

In view of the asset sales, Post Properties is expected to record net gains of $54.0 million in the third quarter of 2009. The company will utilize the proceeds to increase its liquidity and strengthen its balance sheet.

However, we think Post Properties will underperform its peers due to weakness in core markets and mounting job losses. The company relies heavily on low-barrier markets such as Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston in addition to the slumping Orlando and Tampa markets.

Furthermore, Florida continues to be a soft market for apartments, as unsold condos and homes add to the competition for multi-family owners. As home prices continue to plummet in this region, more unsold inventory will flood the market.

In order to tide over the storm, Post Properties has taken various cost-cutting steps including layoffs and a freeze on new development starts, besides selling assets to generate more cash. The quarterly dividend was also cut to $0.20 per share from $0.45 previously.

While we like the moves of the company, we still maintain our Sell rating due to macroeconomic factors.
Read the full analyst report on "PPS"
Zacks Investment Research

Axial Vector Energy Corp. (AXVC.PK) Provides Shareholder Update

QualityStocks — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:28:41 +0000

Earlier this month, Axial Energy Corp.’s President and CEO issued the following update to shareholders: Dear Shareholders, On Wednesday, June 24th, our new financial advisors Global Operations, LLC purchased the remaining AVEC shares owned by Emirates International Capital Advisory (EICA). They have made this investment for investment purposes only and we are pleased by this positive development [...]

PennyOmega.com Stock Report! 7/22/09, PBG, ACXM, TSN, MNRK, LLL, EML

PennyOmega.com — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:37:14 +0000

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DrStockPick.com Stock Report! 7/22/09, PBG, ACXM, TSN, MNRK, LLL, EML

Dr. Stock Pick — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:28:11 +0000

DrStockPick.com Stock Report! Wednesday, July 22, 2009 ************************************************************** The Board of Directors of The Pepsi Bottling Group, Inc. (NYSE: PBG) has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.18 per share on PBG’s common stock. The dividend is payable September 30, 2009 to PBG shareholders of record on September 4, 2009. Acxiom(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ACXM) [...]

First Capital Bancorp, Inc. (FCVA) Sees Problem Loans Decrease in Most Recent Quarter

QualityStocks — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:48:00 +0000

First Capital Bancorp, Inc. reported its second quarter earnings for the period ending June 30, 2009. The bank reported a net loss of $731,000, or $0.29 per diluted share, compared to net income of $0.13 per share in the same quarter in 2008. John Presley, the CEO of First Capital Bancorp, Inc. said, “While [...]

The Long and the Short of it All

Bullish Bankers — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:34:12 +0000

We are presenting a list of companies which we believe are currently mispriced, based on our estimate of fair value, by the market. We develop our fair value ranges by projected free cash flow out one year and estimating an appropriate FCF multiple based on our assessment of risk and the strength of the balance sheet.

Axial Vector Energy Corp. (AXVC.PK) Anticipates Multiple Income Streams

QualityStocks — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:41:07 +0000

Axial Vector Energy Corp, best known as a maker of energy conversion systems that are among the most efficient in the world, recently provided some valuable insight into its short and long term marketing and financial plans, suggesting an expected diversity of future income. The information came directly from Sanjai Chhaunker, Axial President and CEO. [...]

The Buckle, Inc. – Growth And Income – Zacks Rank Buy

Alex Kolb — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 05:00:00 +0000

The Buckle, Inc. (BKE) recently posted sales results for the month of June. Comparable store net sales were up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Net sales jumped 14.4% to $70.8 million.

Company Description

The Buckle is a retailer of casual apparel, footwear, and accessories for young men and women in the United States. The company's casual apparel products include denims, bottoms, tops, sportswear, and outerwear.

Known as a denim destination, each store carries a wide selection of fits, styles, and finishes from leading denim brands, including the company's exclusive brand, BKE.

Headquartered in Kearney, Nebraska, Buckle currently operates 393 retail stores in 40 states, including the recent opening of 3 new stores in Savannah, Georgia; Newport News, Virginia; and Pineville, North Carolina. BKE also closed one store in fiscal April. The Company operated 374 stores in 39 states as of May 7, 2008.

Stellar Sales

The company recently posted sales results for the month of June. Comparable store net sales were up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Net sales jumped 14.4% to $70.8 million.

Competitive Income

The Buckle declared a dividend of 20 cents in early June, noting that it is payable on July 27 to shareholders of record at the close of business on July 15. The retailer offers an industry-leading dividend yield of 3%.

Rising Estimates

Current full-year earnings forecasts to $2.65 per share are above the 3 months-ago level of $2.53. For the following year, analysts boosted projections to $2.76 per share, versus the 3 months-ago level of $2.57.

The Buckle's earnings came in, on average, 8.55% ahead of analysts' expectation over the past 4 consecutive quarter.

Solid Earnings in the First Quarter

The Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) play posted first-quarter earnings of 58 cents per share, surpassing the previous year's 41 cents and topping the consensus estimate by 18%.

Results for the second quarter are scheduled for release on August 20.

Strong Fundamentals

The Buckle boasts a strong balance sheet with no debt. The company's return on average (ROE) of 32% more than triples the industry average of 9%. Its net profit margin of 13.5% sits high above the industry average of 2%. Zacks Investment Research

Wind-Generated Power: Why Midwest Wind Power Isn’t Blowing East

Investment U — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:05:13 +0000

Wind-Generated Power: Why Midwest Wind Power Isn’t Blowing East by David Fessler, Advisory Panelist In the waning days of the Great Depression, FDR Signed the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 into law, heralding a new era of growth and prosperity for the nation’s heartland. While electricity was generally available in cities and towns, it was nearly unheard of [...]

Sky High Potential – TerreStar Corp. (NASDAQ:TSTR)

Michael Vlaicu — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:32:04 +0000

TerreStar Corporation (Public, NASDAQ:TSTR) With the recent launching of TerreStar-1, TerraStar Corporation looks to break through and become a leader in the communications industry. AT#38;T Mobility along with TerreStar Corporation will market a hybrid prototype terrestrial/satellite hand set yet this year. The technology will allow the new hand set to operate on ground-based phone networks. In dead [...]

GM Bankruptcy Judge Approves Obama Administration’s Exit Plan

Don Miller — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:00:46 +0000

div class="entry" pA federal judge handed the Obama administration an important victory in its push to steer the automobile industry back to health Sunday, approving the sale of General Motors Corp.’s (OTC: a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t#38;source=web#38;ct=res#38;cd=1#38;url=http://www.google.com/finance?q=OTC:GMGMQ#38;ei=JzxSSsadFeCntgey7-zFDw#38;usg=AFQjCNEzeDwoMcIBdbDjmi70-3cFhpci8g#38;sig2=aZpZKfUhMhEs4922U2pGbg" target="_blank"GMGMQ/a) most profitable assets to a new government-run company./p pThe move removes an important barrier to the company’s plan to exit bankruptcy./p pJudge Robert E. Gerber of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York issued a ruling saying the sale was GM’s only option and that it would #8220;a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5650IW20090706?sp=true" target="_blank"prevent the death of the patient on the operating table/a,” according to strongemReuters./em/strong/p pThe 87-page ruling rejected appeals from a group of bondholders, tort claimants and unions who had objected to the plan./p p“As nobody can seriously dispute, the only alternative to an immediate#8230;/p/div

Axial Vector Energy Corp. (AXVC.PK) Updates Investors on Upcoming Technology Presentation

QualityStocks — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:03:10 +0000

Axial Vector Energy Corporation announced earlier this morning that its President and CEO, Sanjai Chhaunker, has posted an update letter to the global investment community on the company’s website. Mr. Chhaunker stated, “The Palm Oil shipped from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to our facility in Virginia from our first licensee Premier Group has arrived and is [...]

KMP’s Technological Breakthrough – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:37:25 +0000

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (KMP) -- the largest independent owner and operator of petroleum product pipelines in the U.S. -- completed its first commercial shipment of bio-diesel through its Plantation Pipeline Company. The process, a technological breakthrough in transporting bio-diesel through pipelines, carried the fuel to various marketing terminals across Georgia and Virginia.

Until now, shipment of bio-diesel has been limited to trucks and trains due to several problems in passing bio-diesel through pipelines. Bio-diesel tends to contaminate other fuels, particularly jet fuels, flowing through the same pipeline. Kinder Morgan's breakthrough was to identify a proprietary additive that prevents this contamination. The injection of this additive -- B99 -- has enabled the pipeline transportation.

We believe that the Plantation Pipeline project should go a long way toward meeting demand for bio-diesel across the Southeast. Moreover, the ability to blend and transport bio-diesel through pipelines will benefit KMP's customers over the other option of installing high cost blending facilities at respective marketing terminals.

Being one of the largest publicly traded Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs), KMP generally serves as a benchmark for the entire pipeline MLP group. Our continued favorable view of KMP units reflects the partnership's strong distribution-growth prospects on the back of a long pipeline of organic growth projects and a diversified asset base. We reiterate our Buy recommendation.
Read the full analyst report on "KMP"
Zacks Investment Research

State Budgets Are Anti-Stimulus – Analyst Blog

Dirk Van Dijk — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:54:00 +0000

Today is the end of the 2009 fiscal year, and many states are still scrambling to get budgets in place for the 2010 fiscal year.

It is not easy since when the economy turns south, so do tax revenues, and states are not allowed to run deficits or borrow for operating needs. Some states have managed to cut costs or raise taxes enough to close their deficits for the upcoming year. The only two states without a budget problem are Montana and North Dakota.

As shown in the table below (from http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=711), the total spending cuts or revenue increase needs to be $166 billion or 24% of the projected budget. To some extent states have used "rainy day funds" and the money from the Federal Stimulus bill to close some of the gap. Still the problem is very severe with 5 states (CA, AZ, NV, IL, NY) facing shortfalls of greater than 30%. California is in the worst shape with a gap of 58.2%.

STATES WITH PROJECTED FY2010 BUDGET GAPS
State	FY2010 pre-budget	FY2010 mid-year gap	FY2010 Total	FY2010 Total % of Budget
Alabama	$1.2 billion	0	$1.2 billion	16.70%
Alaska	$1.3 billion	0	$1.3 billion	30.00%
Arizona	$4.0 billion	0	$4.0 billion	41.10%
Arkansas	$146 million	0	$146 million	3.20%
California*	$34.2 billion	$19.5 billion	$53.7 billion	58.20%
Colorado	$1.0 billion	$384 million	$1.4 billion	18.60%
Connecticut	$4.1 billion	0	$4.1 billion	23.20%
Delaware	$557 million	0	$557 million	17.60%
District of Columbia	$650 million	$150 million	$800 million	12.70%
Florida	$5.9 billion	0	$5.9 billion	22.80%
Georgia	$3.1 billion	$750 million	$3.9 billion	22.30%
Hawaii	$682 million	$297 million	$978 million	19.10%
Idaho	$411 million	0	$411 million	16.40%
Illinois	$9.2 billion	0	$9.2 billion	33.00%
Indiana	$1.1 billion	0	$1.1 billion	7.50%
Iowa	$779 million	0	$779 million	13.20%
Kansas	$1.4 billion	Yes, DK size	$1.4 billion	22.60%
Kentucky	0	$1.1 billion	$1.1 billion	11.30%
Louisiana	$1.8 billion	0	$1.8 billion	21.60%
Maine	$640 million	0	$640 million	21.40%
Maryland	$1.9 billion	Yes, DK size	$1.9 billion	13.60%
Massachusetts	$5.0 billion	0	$5.0 billion	17.90%
Michigan	$2.4 billion	0	$2.4 billion	12.00%
Minnesota	$3.2 billion	0	$3.2 billion	21.00%
Mississippi	$480 million	0	$480 million	9.60%
Missouri	$923 million	0	$923 million	10.30%
Nebraska	$150 million	0	$150 million	4.30%
Nevada	$1.2 billion	0	$1.2 billion	37.80%
New Hampshire	$250 million	0	$250 million	16.20%
New Jersey	$8.8 billion	0	$8.8 billion	29.90%
New Mexico	$345 million	0	$345 million	6.30%
New York	$17.9 billion	0	$17.9 billion	32.30%
North Carolina	$4.6 billion	0	$4.6 billion	21.90%
Ohio	$3.3 billion	0	$3.3 billion	12.30%
Oklahoma	$600 million	0	$600 million	10.50%
Oregon*	0	0	0	0.00%
Pennsylvania	$4.8 billion	0	$4.8 billion	18.00%
Rhode Island	$590 million	0	$590 million	19.20%
South Carolina	$725 million	0	$725 million	12.50%
South Dakota	$32 million	0	$32 million	2.90%
Tennessee	$1.0 billion	0	$1.0 billion	9.70%
Texas	$3.5 billion	0	$3.5 billion	9.50%
Utah	$721 million	$279 million	$1.0 billion	19.80%
Vermont	$278 million	0	$278 million	24.80%
Virginia	$1.8 billion	Yes, DK size	$1.8 billion	10.90%
Washington	$3.4 billion	$195 million	$3.6 billion	23.30%
West Virginia	$200 million	0	$200 million	5.30%
Wisconsin	$3.2 billion	0	$3.2 billion	23.20%
Wyoming	0	$32 million	$32 million	1.70%
Total	$143.2 billion	$22.7 billion	$165.9 billion	24.40%

This will lead to very drastic cuts in state budgets. Access to medical care by the poor will likely be one of the first things to be cut.

Education budgets will also probably be pared. This could be decreased spending on new textbooks, which would not be good news for publishers like McGraw-Hill (MHP) and Scholastic (SCHL).

Another area that is likely to be hit is new equipment at the municipal level. For example, I would not expect Oshkosh (OSK) to have a very good year selling new fire engines and snow removal equipment to municipalities.

Layoffs of state and municipal workers will simply add to the already high and rising unemployment rate. In short, a big part of the federal stimulus spending is being offset by (legally mandated) anti-stimulus actions at the state level.

As the graph shows, state fiscal problems tend to persist well after the recession is officially over. Indeed the problem is usually worse in the second or third year since by then the "rainy day funds" have already been used up.

Following the last recession, states collectively had their worst year in 2004 with a shortfall of $80 billion (or less than half what they face for fiscal 2010), which was well after the recession officially ended. Thus 2011, and possibly even 2012, will be a very lean year at the state level as well.

Read the full analyst report on "MHP"
Read the full analyst report on "SCHL"
Read the full analyst report on "OSK"
Zacks Investment Research

CACI Boosts Guidance – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:50:08 +0000

CACI International (CACI) revised its outlook for FY2009 and new guidance for FY2010 on Friday. The company now expects FY2009 revenues of $2.65 - $2.75 billion with proforma EPS of $3.09 - $3.16. This compares to current consensus of $2.69 billion in revenues and proforma EPS of $3.00. The shares shot up nearly 6.5% after the news.

The revised FY2009 outlook implies Q4 revenues of $2.7 billion at the mid-point, in line with our and consensus estimates. Pro-forma EPS, however, goes up to $0.94 in Q4, versus current expectation of $0.81.

The company broke down the EPS upside as follows: US Operations: $0.04 - $0.05; UK Operations: $0.01 - $0.02; reduced corporate tax rate: $0.05; net gain from commercial legal matters: $0.03.

CACI guided FY2010 revenues 6% - 9% above FY2009 revenues, implying $2.90 billion, at the midpoint. FY2010 EPS is now expected 9% - 16% above the revised FY2009 EPS outlook, translating to $3.52 at the midpoint. The company expects FY2010 operating margin range of 6.5% - 6.9%, with operating cash flow expected around $130 million (capex of $20 million). FY2010 expectations do not include any impact from potential acquisitions.

Management also expects sequential decline in EPS for Q1:FY2010, but sees positive sequential and year-over-year comparisons for FY2010 EPS.

Based in Arlington, Virginia, CACI International delivers the IT applications and infrastructure used to improve communications and collaboration, secure the integrity of information systems and networks, enhance data collection and analysis, and increase efficiency and mission effectiveness.

The company's solutions enhance defense and intelligence capabilities, assure homeland security, improve decision-making, and help customers operate smartly, faster and more responsibly.

Read the full analyst report on "CACI"
Zacks Investment Research

Axial Vector Energy Corp. (AXVC.PK) To Host Technology Open House

QualityStocks — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:11:54 +0000

Axial Vector Energy Corp. extended an open invitation to all AVEC shareholders, engine manufacturers, environmental groups, and state and local officials to their Open House Technology Presentation on July 14, 2009. AVEC’s open house, designed to demonstrate the potential for enormous energy savings, will showcase new breakthrough technology, including the world’s first engine capable of running [...]

American Electric Power Update – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:30:12 +0000

Going forward, American Electric Power (AEP) offers investors stable underlying core utility earnings, although with only modest growth potential. Consistent performance in the residential segment, new 765-kV transmission lines at PJM -- its joint venture with Duke Energy (DUK) -- and favorable approval of rate changes from the PUCO and PUCT, represent a mildly bullish outlook for the stock.

However, pruned expansion plans on account of tightening credit markets, high debt level, escalating coal costs, lower off-system and industrial sales, and uncertainty surrounding pending regulatory cases collectively continue to weigh on the stock.

Q1'09 Results:

American Electric Power reported disappointing 1st quarter 2009 GAAP earnings of $360 million, or $0.89 per share, down over 37% from $573 million, or $1.43 per share, for the year-ago quarter.

Likewise, disappointing operating earnings for the reported quarter were also $360 million, or $0.89 per share, down over 12% from $410 million, or $1.02 per share, for the year-ago quarter.

Ongoing earnings from Utility Operations decreased by $67 million during the 1st quarter of 2009 compared with the same period in 2008 as the result of lower sales to industrial customers, lower off-system sales and higher operating expenses. These unfavorable items were somewhat offset by increased rates, primarily in AEP's utilities in Virginia, Indiana and Oklahoma, the activation of a fuel clause in Ohio, and by insurance payments related to the September 2008 fire and resulting outage at the Cook Nuclear Plant in Michigan.

The company also reiterated its fiscal 2009 outlook and expects earnings of $2.75 to $3.05 per share.

Return-on-Equity (ROE) DuPont Decomposition Analysis:

From 2004 through 2008, AEP's ROE fluctuated significantly within a high single-digit to low double-digit range. Over this five-year historical period, the overall uptrend in ROE was driven by regular improvements in operating profit margins, and volatile yet favorable trends exhibited by increasing tax retention rates and lower leverage -- albeit at a higher cost of debt.

Looking ahead through 2009, we expect ROE to remain in the low double-digit range, driven by improving leverage; partially offset by slight declines in operating profit margins, cost of debt and tax retention.

Valuation:

AEP common stock trades at 9.3x our current-year 2009 operating earnings per share estimate and 9.0x our forward 2010 EPS estimate, or at the lower-end of the P/E range of comparable diversified energy utilities and the broader electric power utility industry. Likewise, relative price multiples of cash flow indicate a discount valuation for AEP. Meanwhile, relative price multiples of sales and book value are in-line with the electric utility industry median values.

The stock's $1.64 per share annual cash dividend will appeal to conservative income-seeking investors as it currently yields significantly above the utility industry average at 6.0%.

Accordingly, with a mildly bullish outlook, modest earnings growth expectations and an attractive dividend yield -- yet slightly mixed valuation metrics -- we maintain our market-neutral Hold recommendation on AEP common stock with a six-month target price of $28.25, or 9.6x and 9.3x, respectively, of our 2009 and 2010 EPS estimates. Price appreciation to our near-term valuation target, coupled with the stock's $0.41 per share quarterly cash dividend -- which we deem sustainable and secure given reasonable projected earnings payouts of 55.6% and 53.8%, respectively, of our 2009 and 2010 EPS estimates -- represents annualized total return potential of 12.2%.

Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric Power Company, Inc. is a public utility holding company which, through directly and indirectly-owned subsidiaries, generates, transmits and distributes electricity, natural gas and other commodities in North America and Europe. The company is one of the largest integrated utilities in the U.S., serving more than five million customers in 11 states with more than 38,000 MW of primarily coal-fired generating capacity and nearly 39,000-mile electricity transmission system network.
Read the full analyst report on "AEP"
Read the full analyst report on "DUK"
Zacks Investment Research

Credit Cards Defaults Rise at Capital One – Zacks Tale of the Tape

Zacks Market Commentaries — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:32:14 +0000

Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) said U.S. credit card defaults rose in May along with a 9.4% spike in jobless rates in the country.

The McLean, Virginia-based company said in a regulatory filing that in May its annual net charge-off rate, loans it believes won't ever be repaid, rose to 9.41% from 8.56% in April. The 30-day delinquency rate however fell for a third straight month to 4.9% from 5.04%.

Capital One said the change in its accounting period to processes bankruptcies had improved its charge-off rate by 50 basis points. Excluding that effect, the annualized default rate would have been close to 10%.

The company that issues MasterCard (MA) and Visa (V) credit cards, is still performing better than larger peers like American Express (AXP), Citigroup Inc (C) which are likely to paint an even bleaker picture.

Shares of Capital One were down nearly 2% to $23.58 at noon on the New York Stock Exchange.

"COF" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
Zacks Investment Research

“Hyper-local” Stats Show Housing Market Has Bottomed

Don Miller — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:37:25 +0000

pPerhaps the mishmash of numbers floating around the housing market have you confused. For those who follow the market closely, the daily news seems to bring a never-ending stream of contradictory data. /p pHere are just a few statistics in the news lately from respected market mavens like the a href="http://www2.standardandpoors.com/portal/site/sp/en/us/page.topic/indices_csmahp/0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,0,0,0,0,0.html" target="_blank"S#38;P/Case-Shiller Indices/a and the a href="http://www.realtor.org/" target="_blank"National Association of Realtors/a:/p ul listrongThe “average” price of homes in the U.S. is down almost 35% from the record highs of 2006. /strong/li /ul ul listrong“Median” housing prices are down 19% in 90% of the major markets in the United States. /strong/li /ul ul listrongBuilding permits were up 4% in April from last year, and homebuilder confidence increased from 16 to 18./strong/li /ul pSo what do these numbers mean to you?/p pProbably nothing./p p“It’s like a weatherman who combines conditions#8230;/p

Gold, Climate Change and the Cap and Trade Revolution

Byron King — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:31:23 +0000

pLast week, I spent a full day in a seminar on climate change. It was a totally sober and professional seminar, sponsored by a group that specializes in continuing legal education for attorneys. I heard talks by a variety of lawyers, academics and regulators, mostly about how “the train has left the station” on climate change and carbon regulation. And wow… has that train ever steamed out. But did you ever hear the conductor call, “All Aboard?” This is a critical matter and here’s the takeaway point: emWe’re about to see an UTTER TRANSFORMATION of the U.S. economy/em./p pYour life will be regulated — directly and surely indirectly — by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), mostly through its powers under the#8230;/p

Green Investor News – Versar Receives First Stimulus Award for Alternative Energy Study

Dawn Van Zant — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:00:00 +0000

SPRINGFIELD, Va. -- May 27 2009 -- Versar, Inc. (NYSE Amex:VSR) announced today that it was one of 53 organizations selected for new wind energy projects funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), as announced by DOE Secretary Steven Chu.

Axial Vector Energy Corp. (AXVC.PK) Selects Technology Transfer Agent and Schedules Open House Presentation

QualityStocks — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:21:28 +0000

Axial Vector Energy Corp. was pleased to announce today the nomination and finalization of its technology transfer contractor in the United States, EngineTec, Inc. The contractor has served as systems integrator for the engines and generators on behalf of Adaptive Propulsion Systems and will now work with AVEC to transfer the technology to the licenses. [...]

The Buckle, Inc. – Growth And Income – Zacks Rank Buy

Alex Kolb — Tue, 19 May 2009 05:00:00 +0000

The Buckle, Inc. (BKE) recently reported a year-over-year increase of 18.2% in same-store store sales for the month of April. Net sales jumped 25.6% year-over-year.

Company Description

Known as a denim destination, each store carries a wide selection of fits, styles, and finishes from leading denim brands, including the company's exclusive brand, BKE.

Stellar Sales

The Buckle recently reported a year-over-year increase of 18.2% in same-store store sales for the month of April. Net sales jumped 25.6% year-over-year, from $47 million to $59.1 million.

On a year-to-date basis, same-store sales grew 17.7% from the year-prior year-to-date period. Year-to-date net sales are up 24.6%.

The company is slated to report first-quarter results on May 21, 2009.

Strong Fundamentals

The Buckle boasts a strong balance sheet with no debt. The company's return on average (ROE) of 29% more than quadruples the industry average of 7%. Its net profit margin of 13% sits high above the industry average of 2%. BKE also offers an industry-leading dividend yield of 2.5%.

Estimates are on the Rise

Analysts are calling for earnings of $2.56 per share for the year ending January 2010, versus last month's forecast of $2.53. The most accurate estimate is more bullish at $2.63.

For the following year, analysts project earnings of $2.62, up from last month's $2.53. The most accurate estimate accurate forecast is a higher $2.89. Zacks Investment Research

Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Intel Corp., Applied Materials, Entergy Corp., Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. and Foundation Coal Holdings, Inc. – Press Releases

Zacks Market Commentaries — Thu, 14 May 2009 12:22:46 +0000

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - May 14, 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: Intel Corp. (INTC), Applied Materials (AMAT), Entergy Corp. (ETR), Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. (ANR) and Foundation Coal Holdings, Inc. (FCL).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=4579.

Here are highlights from Wednesday's Analyst Blog:

Big Day for Semiconductors

Intel Corp. (INTC) has been fined 1.06 billion Euros by the European Commission (EC) for anti-competitive business practices. We have blogged about the suit in the past, and short of the amount (which is historic), it is not a surprise.

The suit alleges Intel gave discounts in exchange for preferential treatment for the manufacturers that used its chips. While the amount of the fine is historic, it will not dent the cash balance of INTC. We would be more concerned about how it affects Intel's market share over the coming quarters.

Applied Materials (AMAT) also released results last night with the top-line beating expectations and the bottom-line meeting them. Guidance was cautious, which was expected.

Entergy Results Disappoint

Entergy Corp. (ETR) released financial results for the 1st quarter of 2009 in which the company reported a 23.8% decrease in earnings of $235.3 million, or $1.20 per diluted share ($1.22 basic), compared to $308.7 million, or $1.56 per diluted share ($1.60 basic), in the year-ago quarter.

Ongoing operating earnings were reported at $252.6 million, or $1.29 per share, compared with $308.7 million, or $1.56 per share, in the comparable prior-year quarter.

Alpha Buying Foundation Coal

Today, Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. (ANR) announced that it would purchase, in an all stock deal, Foundation Coal Holdings, Inc. (FCL) whereby FCL shareholders would receive 1.084 shares of ANR for every share of FCL. Based off of its 5-day moving average of $32.73 per share, this represents a 37% premium over FCL's 5-day moving average.

Alpha will also assume the +$500 MM of Foundation's net debt. The merged company will trade and operate under the Alpha name. The merger effectively gives the new company diversification -- the old ANR was exclusively focused in Central and Northern Appalachia (W. Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania), while the majority of Foundation Coal reserves and production come from the Powder River Basin (Wyoming). The reserve diversity will help the new ANR because the old ANR brings a higher margin product -- metallurgical coal -- whereas Foundation Coal produces almost all steam coal, which is used in the electric generation process, and does not experience as much market volatility as metallurgical coal.

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About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2677

About Zacks

Visit http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

Contact:
Mark Vickery
Web Content Editor
312-265-9380
Visit: www.zacks.com

Zacks Investment Research

Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Allegheny Energy, Inc., Vivus, Inc., Georgia Gulf Corporation, Sempra Energy and The Medicines Company. – Press Releases

Zacks Market Commentaries — Thu, 14 May 2009 12:05:33 +0000

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - May 14, 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: Allegheny Energy, Inc. (AYE), Vivus, Inc. (VVUS), Georgia Gulf Corporation (GGC), Sempra Energy (SRE) and The Medicines Company (MDCO).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=4579.

Here are highlights from Wednesday's Analyst Blog:

Allegheny Energy Offers Stability

Allegheny Energy, Inc. (AYE) reported financial results for the 1st quarter of 2009.

Adjusted net income for the 1st quarter of 2009 decreased by $22.0 million compared with the year-ago period.

Adjusted operating revenues increased by $49.8 million in the reported quarter, reflecting higher generation rates in Pennsylvania and Maryland, increased purchased power cost recovery in Virginia and higher sales to third parties. These benefits were partially offset by reduced generation volume due to lower power plant availability and less demand.

Vivus' Qnexa in the Driver's Seat

We view Qnexa as the leading phase III obesity candidate under development today. Vivus, Inc. (VVUS) has shown that Qnexa offers a synergistic benefit off added weight loss to patients beyond what can be achieved with phentermine or topiramate alone.

Phase III data released by the company from the EQUATE program in December 2008 demonstrated the drug to be both highly efficacious and well tolerated. Patients on the full commercial dose of Qnexa lost a placebo-adjusted 16.5 lbs, or 7.5% of their body weight, after only 28 weeks of treatment. Additionally, we are less concerned with the safety, specifically the cardiovascular or psychiatric side effects, of the drug compared to recently rejected and discontinued cannabinoid type 1 receptor molecules at several large pharmaceutical companies.

Georgia Gulf Nears Bankruptcy

Georgia Gulf Corporation (GGC) today announced that it has received an amendment to its senior secured credit agreement that allows the Company to continue to withhold interest payments due on its 2014 senior notes and 2016 senior subordinated notes without constituting a default. Georgia Gulf previously announced that it had withheld payment of $34.0 million of interest due April 15, 2009 for the 2014 senior notes and 2016 senior subordinated notes.

All three of the Company's note issues are the subject of previously disclosed and currently pending private exchange offers. Under the indentures governing the 2014 senior notes and 2016 senior subordinated notes, Georgia Gulf has a 30-day grace period to pay the withheld interest before the note holders can seek remedies.

Sempra - Higher EPS, Lower Revs

Sempra Energy (SRE) announced improved financial results for its 1st quarter ended March 31, 2009.

Amazingly, the company's mixed results for the quarter yielded significantly improved earnings from a nearly comparable decline in revenues.

Breaking News on Medicines Co.

This morning, The Medicines Company (MDCO) announced that an interim analysis review committee (IARC), along with the data safety monitoring board (DSMB), after conducting a review of the ongoing CHAMPION phase III program with Cangrelor, notified the company that the ongoing CHAMPION-PLATFORM program would not meet the primary endpoint of a persuasive evidence of clinical effectiveness that could serve as the basis for regulatory approval.

Management noted that the bleeding risk seen in the CHAMPION program was similar between Cangrelor and clopidogrel, so the trials were not stopped due to safety concerns.

Want more from Zacks Equity Research? Subscribe to the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2649.

About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2677

About Zacks

Visit http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

Contact:
Mark Vickery
Web Content Editor
312-265-9380
Visit: www.zacks.com

Zacks Investment Research

Alpha Buying Foundation Coal – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Wed, 13 May 2009 19:09:35 +0000

Today, Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. (ANR) announced that it would purchase, in an all stock deal, Foundation Coal Holdings, Inc. (FCL) whereby FCL shareholders would receive 1.084 shares of ANR for every share of FCL. Based off of its 5-day moving average of $32.73 per share, this represents a 37% premium over FCL's 5-day moving average.

Alpha will also assume the +$500 MM of Foundation's net debt. The merged company will trade and operate under the Alpha name. The merger effectively gives the new company diversification -- the old ANR was exclusively focused in Central and Northern Appalachia (W. Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania), while the majority of Foundation Coal reserves and production come from the Powder River Basin (Wyoming). The reserve diversity will help the new ANR because the old ANR brings a higher margin product -- metallurgical coal -- whereas Foundation Coal produces almost all steam coal, which is used in the electric generation process, and does not experience as much market volatility as metallurgical coal.

Because Central Appalachia faces ongoing operational and environmental issues, acquiring a foothold in a major western U.S. coal basin will reduce the merged company's risk profile. Alpha will use its large cash position to repay the term loan portion of its secured credit facility, and the $500 MM of FCL net debt will remain outstanding.

Current market conditions favor acquisitions. Valuations are still depressed, and many coal companies have substantial amounts of liquidity. The weak economic environment has created high coal stockpiles and customer deferrals. Many producers have idled or shut down operations.

In an effort to survive and bolster margins with economies of scale, companies will likely join up or be acquired by bigger, better capitalized names. One issue brought into the spotlight with this deal is the future of Central Appalachian production (CAPP). With increased scrutiny on mountain removal mining and the issuance of 404 permits, the long-term viability of CAPP is uncertain to some extent. With tough regulatory jurisprudence, mining in Central Appalachia would be more costly, and new mines would take longer to come online, if at all.

While this impact wouldn't be felt in the next year or two, this could have a long-term dampening effect on production out of this region. The move to purchase FCL exemplifies how reserve diversity is crucial to a coal producer as a going concern. Zacks Investment Research

Allegheny Energy Offers Stability – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Tue, 12 May 2009 21:11:48 +0000

Allegheny Energy, Inc. (AYE) reported financial results for the 1st quarter of 2009.

Adjusted net income for the 1st quarter of 2009 decreased by $22.0 million compared with the year-ago period.

Adjusted operating revenues increased by $49.8 million in the reported quarter, reflecting higher generation rates in Pennsylvania and Maryland, increased purchased power cost recovery in Virginia and higher sales to third parties. These benefits were partially offset by reduced generation volume due to lower power plant availability and less demand.

Adjusted EBITDA for the 1st quarter of 2009 was $328.2 million, an increase of $5.1 million compared to the same quarter of the prior year. AYE continues to benefit through its stable and regulated electric power operations.

In addition, the company has consistently paid quarterly dividends after reinstating them in December 2007, which was previously suspended in December of 2002 as the company was in severe financial distress.

Furthermore, the company recently received investment grade credit ratings from Moody, Fitch and Standard & Poor's.

Going forward, AYE's positive investment factors include higher generation rates in Pennsylvania and Maryland, higher residential usage, approvals for transmission projects, and steady progress with scrubbers. Looking ahead, we expect that the company's regulated delivery utility business will provide steady earnings growth while disposal of retail distribution operations in Virginia has provided much needed liquidity.

However, higher environmental-related capital expenditures, emission and hedging costs, higher taxes, lower commodity prices and higher coal prices, and a substantial interest burden on account of expansion plans and coal costs remain pockets of concern.

Reinstatement of the company's quarterly dividend is certainly a positive; although it currently yields a relatively unattractive 2.1%, which is lower than the electric power utility industry average yield of 5.1%. Moreover, we believe the sustainability of the dividend is supported by higher operating cash flows as well as reasonable projected earnings payout ratios.

AYE currently trades at 11.5x and 9.5x, respectively, our 2009 and 2010 earnings per share estimates -- within the upper-end of the range of its comparable diversified energy utilities peers -- yet below the electric power utility industry average multiple, which is justified by significantly above industry average long-term growth expectations. Likewise, AYE trades at the upper-end of the ranges of its industry peers based upon relative multiples of sales, cash flow and book value.

Nevertheless, given the successful status of the turnaround and long-term projected EPS growth rates among the highest of all utilities and many times greater than growth expectations for the broad industry, we maintain a BUY recommendation on AYE with a six-month target price of $31.75, representing 12.9x and 10.7x, respectively, our 2009 and 2010 EPS estimates. Price appreciation to our near-term valuation target, coupled with a $0.15 per share quarterly dividend -- which we consider being sustainable and secure based upon projected dividend payout ratios of 24.4% and 20.2% of our projected 2009 and 2010 EPS estimates -- represents annualized total return potential of 28.1%.

Headquartered in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Allegheny Energy, Inc. is engaged in both regulated electricity and natural gas distribution utility operations, as well as in the unregulated wholesale energy markets.
Read the full analyst report on "AYE"
Zacks Investment Research

Allegheny’s Buy Rating Retained – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:22:15 +0000

Allegheny Energy Inc. (AYE) is engaged in both regulated electricity and natural gas distribution utility operations, as well as in the unregulated wholesale energy markets.

Going forward, AYE's positive investment factors include higher generation rates in Pennsylvania and Maryland, higher residential usage, approvals for transmission projects, and steady progress with scrubbers.

Looking ahead, we expect that the company's regulated delivery utility business will provide steady earnings growth while the disposal of retail distribution operations in Virginia will provide much needed liquidity infusion. This would be partially offset by higher emission and hedging costs, higher taxes, lower commodity prices and higher coal prices.

Accordingly, we maintain a BUY recommendation on AYE common stock with a six-month target price of $31.75, coupled with the regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.15 per share, which we deem sustainable and secure, represents annualized total return potential of 28.1%.
Read the full analyst report on "AYE"
Zacks Investment Research

How to Protect Your Finances from Reckless Government Spending

Contrarian Profits — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:17:38 +0000

tr strongNotes from thebr / Investment Underground/strong /tr tr pThursday, April 23, 2009/p pPalermo Viejo, Buenos Aires, Argentina/p pstrongThe greatest economic disaster in recorded history (and how to profit from it)#8230; Your market ”script”#8230; Lessons on guerrilla investing#8230; Banks switch sides#8230; The best communications company in the world#8230; 3 sectors you should own now#8230; Your key to “permanent wealth”#8230; A massive glitch in the administration’s matrix#8230;/strongstrong /strong strongemNotes/em subscribers beat up on your editor#8230; 1,159% gains as stocks go bust#8230; And more! /strong/p pstrong*** “The current administration#8217;s economic strategy could create the greatest economic disaster in recorded history,” /strong says a href="http://www.contrarianprofits.com/articles/author/porter-stansbury/" class="alinks_links"Porter Stansberry/a in today’s ema href="http://www.dailywealth.com" class="alinks_links"DailyWealth/a./em/p ulNot only is the administration planning on enormous deficit spending this year, but the current plan calls for increasing deficit spending emfor the next decade /em– spending that will more than#8230;/ul/tr