Month: August 2011

We have downgraded our recommendation on WellPoint Inc. ( WLP ) to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ ba sed on weak economic cues that give way to operating and financial leverage risk and price declines that are encountered off and on. The company reported second-quarter income from continuing operations of $701.6 million or $1.89 per share, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.79 per share. […]

We have retained our Neutral recommendation on energy major Royal Dutch Shell plc ( RDS.A ) with a price target of $67. Royal Dutch Shell is one of the largest integrated energy firms in the world with a strong and diversified portfolio of development projects that offer attractive long-term opportunities. We expect the group to continue accelerating revenue and earnings growth over the next few quarters, driven by operational/production efficiency and contributions from strategic programs – which include aggressive cost reduction initiatives, exit from unprofitable markets and streamlining the organization […]

The most coveted name in the area of Automated Teller Machine (ATM) manufacturing, NCR Corp. ( NCR ) has made banking transactions easier, once again. […]

We have reaffirmed our Neutral recommendation on Wells Fargo & Company ( WFC ) following a detailed analysis of its second quarter 2011 earnings results in light of the current economic environment. Wells Fargo’s second quarter 2011 earnings of 70 cents per share were a penny ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate. […]

Hard disk manufacturing company, SanDisk Corporation ( SNDK ) recently rolled out a new product to strengthen its position in the MP3 market. The company introduced Sansa Clip Zip MP3 player, the latest addition to the popular SansaClip family of products. […]

DIRECTV ( DTV ), the largest satellite TV operator in the U.S., recently launched a new value-added service providing live information on devastating storm Hurricane Irene to its subscribers. Information regarding Hurricane Irene will be broadcasted from DIRECTV’s 259, 325 and 349 channels, respectively. These news channels will cover all the news and detailed information related to the storm and its affected areas […]

Moody’s Investors Service, the credit rating arm of Moody’s Corp. ( MCO ), has kept the credit rating of Toyota Motor Corp. ( TM ) unchanged at Aa3, despite warning of a possible downgrade […]

After witnessing a high catastrophe loss (cat loss) activity in the second quarter of 2011, property and casualty insurer Chubb Corp. ( CB ) is again set to incur further cat losses in the upcoming quarter due to Hurricane Irene, which made its way along the East Coast. Irene is the first major hurricane to strike the U.S […]

Medtronic ( MDT ) has presented positive data for its CoreValve system at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2011. It was observed that treatment with CoreValve led to positive clinical outcomes. The study enrolled 50 patients with the average age of 81 years and followed them for four years. […]

Chunghwa Telecom Co. Ltd. ( CHT ) declared solid financial results for the second quarter of 2011 […]

Hewlett-Packard Company ( HPQ ) recently announced that the Department of Water Resources (DWR) of the State of California has deployed its Converged Infrastructure suite by replacing the existing servers of Dell Inc. ( DELL ) and Sun Solaris systems. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. […]

In July, Personal Income rose 0.3%, up from a 0.2% rise in June, and matching a 0.3% in May. The increase was slightly below the consensus expectations of a 0.4% increase. Meanwhile, Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) were up 0.8%, significantly higher than the consensus expectation of a 0.5% rise […]

On Friday, Bloomberg reported that The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation ( BK ) is planning to sell-off its Alcentra unit, which manages $17 billion worth of assets including loans and high-yield bonds. Alcentra has been a subsidiary of BNY Mellon since January 2006. BNY Mellon has hired Credit Suisse Group ( CS ) to manage the sale of the majority of Alcentra assets in collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) in the U.S […]

Dendreon Corporation ( DNDN ) to its credit has been steadily receiving clearances from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expand manufacturing facilities for its cancer vaccine Provenge, in the U.S. The company’s Atlanta facility can now be operational with 36 workstations. […]