Month: August 2011

We have upgraded major oilfield services provider Halliburton Co. ( HAL ) to Outperform from Neutral, reflecting strong demand for its services in North America. Halliburton enjoys a strong competitive position within the global oilfield services markets […]

The plastics and chemicals maker Eastman Chemical Co. ( EMN ) announced that it will increase the payout to its shareholders. The Kingsport-based company declared a 2-for-1 stock split and increased the quarterly cash dividend by 11% […]

Einstein Noah Restaurant Group Inc. ( BAGL ) has recently reported second quarter 2011 adjusted earnings of 18 cents per share, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate as well as prior-year earnings of 21 cents per share. Lower-than-expected results were due to soft same-store sales and commodity cost inflation […]

On Friday, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) lifted its outlook on Regions Financial Corp. ( RF ) and its subsidiary Regions Bank to ‘Stable’ from ‘Negative.’ The rating agency is impressed by Regions’ improved loan performance. The revision to Stable outlook reflects S&P’s anticipation of profit trend to continue in the upcoming quarters marked by improvement in Regions’ loan loss provisions. […]

Stanley Black & Decker ( SWK ) has recently acquired 37 million sha res or a roughly 10.2% stake in Sweden-based Niscayah for a price not exceeding SEK18, implying $2.77 per share. Niscayah is a leading commercial security and monitoring company specializing in electronic security services and solutions and is gaining a foothold across Europe and the Nordic Region, as well as in the United States. […]