Month: August 2011

One of the leading railroads in the U.S, CSX Corporation ( CSX ) announced its plans to invest approximately $59 million in intermodal freight terminal expansion in Columbus, Ohio. The expansion is a part of the company’s ambitious multi-year National Gateway project, which aims at improving the efficiency of freight network between the Mid-Atlantic ports and the Midwest markets. National Gateway project is estimated to involve a total investment of $850 million, of which CSX Corp […]

Tiffany & Company ( TIF ) is well positioned to support robust sales and earnings growth by leveraging capital investments made over the past several years in distribution, manufacturing and diamond sourcing processes. Moreover, with nearly half of the total sales generated internationally, we believe that the company is well diversified from a regional perspective as well. Tiffany boasts a significant position in the world jewelry market due to its distinctive brand appeal. […]

We recently reiterated our Neutral recommendation on MWI Veterinary Supply ( MWIV ) with a target price of $79.00. The company reported second quarter 2011 EPS of 91 cents, which surpassed both the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 80 cents a share and the year-ago earnings of 74 cents per share. Revenues came in at $410.7 million, up 18.1% year over year […]

We have retained our Neutral recommendation on South African petrochemicals group Sasol Ltd. ( SSL ). Incorporated in 1979, Sasol is an integrated energy and chemicals company. […]

Brinker International Inc. ( EAT ) recently announced a hike of 2 cents in its quarterly dividend to 16 cents per share, reflecting a 14.0% increase from the prior dividend payout. The increased dividend will be paid on September 29, 2011, to stockholders of record as of September 9, 2011 […]

Novartis ( NVS ) received a pipeline setback recently with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requesting additional clinical data on its pipeline candidate ACZ885 for the treatment of patients suffering from severe gouty arthritis, commonly known as gout. The FDA issued a complete response letter to the Swiss pharma giant as it was dissatisfied with the benefit risk profile in refractory patients and requested more data to evaluate the same. […]

Magna International Inc. ( MGA ) has embarked upon a project to develop electric vehicle technologies over a span of 6 years. Both the company and the province of Ontario in Canada will invest C$432 million ($441 million) for the project, out of which, C$48.4 million (($49.41 billion) will be contributed by the latter […]

We currently maintain a Neutral recommendation on Lamar Advertising Company ( LAMR ), a Louisiana-based leading owner and operator of outdoor advertising structures in the U.S. Lamar recently came out with its second quarter 2011 results and reported earnings per share of 12 cents, above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 8 cents and an improvement over a 10 cent loss reported in the year-ago comparable quarter. […]

CNO Financial Group Inc. ( CNO ) announced that until August 26, 2011 in the third quarter of 2011, t he company had repurchased 3.68 million shares of its common stock, which accounts for 1.5% of the outstanding shares as on June 30, 2011. […]

We recently downgraded our recommendation on Embraer S.A ( ERJ ) to Neutral from Outperform. The lowered rating is backed by the rising operating cost and significant international competition in the aircraft manufacturing industry, which may adversely affect the company’s margins and market share, respectively. Moreover, rise in wages in Brazil along with the rising fuel cost weakens our view on the stock […]

We are maintaining our long-term Neutral recommendation on Apache Corporation ( APA ) based on its balanced exposure to natural gas and crude oil, coupled with multi-year growth trends in reserve replacement and production. These factors are, however, partially offset by gas/oil price volatility, geo-political risks and project timing delays. In the recently completed second quarter 2011, Apache performed well with earnings per share, excluding one-time items, of $3.22, comfortably surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.09 and way above the year-ago adjusted profit of $2.46. […]

Consumers Energy, the major subsidiary of CMS Energy Corporation ( CMS ) in line with its focus to boost green energy has begun accepting applications from business customers interested in developing their own renewable energy sources. Applications will be due on or before September 28, 2011. […]

Recently, we reiterated our Neutral recommendation on Hologic ( HOLX ) with a target price of $16.00. During the third quarter of fiscal 2011, Hologic reported an adjusted EPS of 32 cents, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate and 2 cents above the year-ago quarter. Revenues were $451.1 million, an increase of 7.2% compared to the prior-year quarter and higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $447 million […]