For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 23, 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: Dell Inc. (DELL), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (BNI), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC).

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 Friday’s Analyst Blog:

Dell Falls Short of Expectations

Dell Inc. (DELL) reported third quarter 2010 EPS of 23 cents, below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 27 cents.

Revenue for the quarter was $10.75 billion, down 17.0% from $12.97 billion reported in the year-ago quarter and up

...

• DR Horton (NYSE:DHI) reported a fiscal fourth quarter loss of 73 cents, versus Zacks projections of a 27 cents loss, on revenues of $1.01 billion, which was inline with Zacks estimates.  According to Chairman Donald R. Horton, "Our net sales orders in the September quarter reflected a 26% increase compared to the prior year quarter. However, market conditions in the homebuilding industry are still challenging, characterized by rising foreclosures, high inventory levels of available homes, increasing unemployment, tight credit for homebuyers and weak consumer confidence."

• Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) reported disappointing third quarter earnings of 23 cents a share, missing Zacks estimates of 27 cents a share, as a 15% fall in revenues from a year ago generated revenues of $12.9 billion, below Zacks projections of $13.2 billion.  Nevertheless, CEO Michael Dell said early Windows 7 demand was proving correct his assumption that firms which had passed over Vista would upgrade

...

Dell Inc. (DELL) reported third quarter 2010 EPS of 23 cents, below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 27 cents. Revenue Revenue for the quarter was $10.75 billion, down 17.0% from $12.97 billion reported in the year-ago quarter and up 1.0% from $10.62 billion reported in the previous quarter. The company’s third quarter reported revenue was adversely affected by the timing of the Windows 7 launch and due to backlog buildup in the company’s SMB and consumer businesses. Revenue by Segment Large Enterprise posted revenue of $3.4 billion, an increase of 4.0% sequentially and decline of 23.0% year-over-year. In the last quarter, the company expended its networking partnership with Brocade and Juniper, and introduced products like PowerEdge 11g servers and expanded PowerVault storage systems. Public revenue for the quarter was $3.7 billion, down 3.0% on sequentially and 7.0% from the year-ago quarter. Shipments were ...

• TJX (NYSE:TJX) posted a larger-than-anticipated profit as demand for discounted consumer products continued. The firm said it sees fourth-quarter earnings of 65 cents to 71 cents a share from continuing operations

• Saks (NYSE:SKS) reported a surprise quarterly profit

• Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares rose 3.0%, and led the gainers on the DJIA, after Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and UBS (NYSE:UBS) recommended the shares.  Morgan Stanley's analyst raised the price target on the stock due to encouraging demand for Windows 7 and upbeat expectations for holiday season demand.  UBS' analyst placed a $34 price target on the shares

• Barclays Capital (NYSE:BCS) raised ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) to "overweight"

• Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) offered a slightly downside fourth-quarter guidance of 24 cents a share ex-items

• Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) said it sees fourth-quarter earnings of 14 cents to 15 cents a share, versus Street estimates of 15 cents a share

• BMO Capital downgraded Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) to "market perform"

...

Dell Inc. (DELL) finally launches the much awaited XPS Adamo laptops, the second product in the Adamo series. The company is expected to begin the shipment of the world's most sleek laptop this month. At a 0.4 inch thickness, it is thinner than any other notebook on the market, weighing 3.3 pounds. It weighs around 3.3 pounds. The laptop provides 13.4-inch high-definition display, runs on a low-power Intel Core 2 Duo processor at 1.4 gigahertz, has a 128 gigabytes storage space and has a 4GB DDR3 800 memory.

The notebook will cater to customers who are more inclined towards making a style statement rather than being concerned with the technical specification of the machine. So the pricing of the product is set much higher at $1,799, above the $600 to $900 price range for mainstream notebook machines. The company revealed the picture of the product more than a month

...

Pervasive Software Inc. (PVSW) recently reported revenues of $12.2 million in the fiscal first quarter, up 3% from the year-ago quarter and 9.9% sequentially.   Pervasive closed one relatively large transaction with a database customer representing approximately $2.4 million in revenues during the September quarter. Data integration business continues to perform well. The company recently announced that its upgraded software products are compatible with Windows 7.   Net income dipped to $1.6 million compared to $1.8 million in the year-ago quarter. Earnings per share came in at 8 cents beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny.   The results came in line with the management’s revised guidance provided on Oct 1. The company generated $1.2 million of cash from operations in the quarter. Pervasive used approximately $2.6 million of cash in the September quarter to acquire assets of Greenville, South Carolina-based ChanneLinx, Inc., a privately held business-to-business

...

U.S. stocks stayed above the threshold reached yesterday as a late-session buying helped offset weakness in banking and technology shares.  Financials dragged on stocks through the early afternoon even as Goldman Sachs and Citigroup reported better-than-expected profit reports.   However, the final fifteen minutes witnessed much of the activity as higher oil prices sent energy stocks higher and, in turn, helped the broader market.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 10,000 level for the second-successive day, edging up 47 points, or 0.5%.  The S&P 500 index edged up 4 points, or 0.4% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite ended the day virtually flat.  The gains in the Dow average were led by Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) whose shares jumped 2.9%.  The Windows 7 is slated for release on October 22.

Among energy stocks, Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) shares climbed 1.6% and 1.5%, respectively, as crude prices jumped to their highest

...

Nokia Corp. (NOK) yesterday announced its sales and distribution plan for its first netbook called “Booklet 3G". The U.S. retailer Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) will sell this netbook (mini laptop) for $299.99 together with AT&T’s (T) 3G data plan of $60 per month for a two-year contract. Also, a carrier-free unsubsidized option will be available for a price of $599. Booklet 3G will be available from mid-November. The pros and cons of Nokia’s new venture are as under:   Pros   (1)   Diversification outside the mobile phone market becomes essential for Nokia. In recent times, the company has lost some ground due to fierce competition. According to Gartner Inc, Nokia’s share has fallen to 45% in the second quarter from 47.5% in the year-ago quarter. Meanwhile, market share of Research In Motion (RIMM) increased to 18.7% from 17.3% in the year-ago quarter and that ...

A Seoul Central District Court ruling went against Microsoft (MSFT) on Friday. The court held that Microsoft’s bundling of the Windows Media Service with its Windows operating system amounted to unfair competition. It was felt that consumers should be allowed to make their own choice, which would, in turn, promote healthy competition among the providers.   Although the ruling went against Microsoft, the court set aside damage claims by local software company Dideonet, which initiated the proceedings. The $81 million (100 billion won) demanded by the company could not be related to actual losses made.   This seems to be following a pattern, since Microsoft was previously barred from bundling its instant messenger program, although there again, compensation was denied. It is apparent that the bundling strategy is being frowned upon, although none of the small local players have been able to cash in on it so ...

Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) is a cyclical company.  That is, its stock does extremely well when the economy is ready to accelerate, and does poorly when the economy decelerates.  So it’s no wonder that last year the stock fell more than 50% from the record-high of $27.78 a share it reached December 2007. However, the company has rallied more than 50% from its Feb. 23 low of $12.08 a share. It closed Friday at $19.64. So, what’s next?

For starters, Intel beat second-quarter earnings estimates by 10 cents a share, as its revenue climbed 12% year-over-year to $8 billion.  Beating earnings estimates is important, but beating on the top line and showing sales growth is even more important in a recession. The reason: It shows that you can do well in spite of a weak economy.

Like most chip stocks, Intel is an economic leading indicator of sorts –

...