Month: September 2011

T he United Auto Workers (UAW) extended its contracts with General Motors Co. ( GM ) and Chrysler Group LLC, controlled by Italy’s Fiat SpA ( FIATY ) as it failed to meet the deadline to reach a new agreement with the automakers. UAW would resume talks with GM today, while it is unclear when it would do the same with Chrysler […]

This has been a tough few years for job creation. The Great Recession was the worst downturn in employment in recent memory, and though the recession “officially” ended back in June of 2009, unemployment is still at a crisis level of 9.1%, and the number of long-term unemployed is at levels that would have been unheard of prior to this downturn. President Obama has finally turned his focus towards bringing down the level of joblessness, but it seems highly likely that the “America Jobs Act” is likely to go nowhere in Congress […]

The leader in technologies for the design and development of value-added glass products Apogee Enterprises Inc. ( APOG ) reporte d a loss of 6 cents per share for fiscal 2012 second quarter ending August 27. […]

We are maintaining our Neutral recommendation on Germany’s Bayer ( BAYRY ) with a target price of $56.00. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Germany, Bayer is one of the world’s largest healthcare and chemical corporations. Bayer operates in three major segments – Healthcare, Material Science and Crop Science […]

BP Plc ( BP ) remains resolute in dominating the Brazilian ethanol sector. Accordingly, it recently acquired additional stakes in Tropical BioEnergia S.A. and a 3% share of the country’s sugar and ethanol producer Companhia Nacional de Acucar e Alcool (“CNAA”) […]

Regulatory filings by major credit card companies for the month of August revealed mixed results in credit card defaults and delinquency rate. According to the respective regulatory filing, four of the nation's top six credit card companies reported a decline in card defaults, while five of them recorded reduced delinquency rates. JPMorgan Chase & Co […]

Leading global medical technology company Becton, Dickinson and Company ( BDX ) recently disclosed its commitment to “Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon”, in an effort to exploit private and public investments in worldwide healthcare. Their focus will be to fight breast and cervical cancer. Leadership will be provided by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (“PEPFAR”), George W. […]

Following the first quarter 2012 earnings, Smithfield Foods, Inc. ( SFD ) has been upgraded to Outperform from Neutral. Smithfield posted improved earnings of 69 cents per share in the first quarter, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny, which was driven by strong packaged meats earnings in spite of higher raw material costs. […]

We recently downgraded our recommendation to Neutral from Outperform for chipmaker Altera Corporation ( ALTR ). Altera recently updated its sales guidance for the third quarter of 2011. It now expects third quarter sales to be down 3% to up 1% on a sequential basis, compared to the previous sales guidance of up 2% to 6% […]

Oil and gas producer TOTAL S.A. ( TOT ) has tied up with Talisman Energy Inc. ( TLM ) to jointly develop three deep-offshore exploration blocks in the Makassar Strait in Indonesia […]

Progressive Corp .’s ( PGR ) earnings per share for August 2011 were 4 cents, p lummeting 60% from 10 cents in the year-ago period. Net income plunged 66% from the year-ago period to $66.5 million. The company recorded net premiums of $1.21 billion during August 2011, up 5% from $1.15 billion in August 2010 but down 19% from $1.50 billion during July 2011. […]