08:55 ET Railroad downgrades
In addition to JP Morgan's CSX downgrade (see 7:32 comment), the firm cut CNI to MKT PERFORM from Buy following reduced guidance, and Deutsche Securities downgraded both CNI and KSU (based on severe service disruptions) to MKT PERFORM from Buy. (Watch for possible weakness in co's such as BNI, NSC, and UNP as well.)
08:50 ET S Sears posts 11.1% decline in Aug comps; reaffirms full yr guidance (44.95)
08:48 ET GPS Gap Inc reports 2% decline in August comps (11.90)
"While we experienced a slow start to August, performance improved in the second half of the month as we stepped up strategic promotional activity and implemented fall marketing."
08:48 ET S&P futures vs fair value: -17.0. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -22.0.
The futures have ticked higher on Procter & Gamble (PG) guiding higher. Other consumer product stocks to watch: ACV, CHD, CLX, G, KMB, PYX... The dollar is near a six-week low vs the Euro on concerns about the US economy... Wal-Mart (WMT) is ticking lower as its Aug same store sales come in light of expectations.
08:48 ET MME Mid Atl Medical downgraded at Pru (34.96)
Prudential downgrades to HOLD from Buy based on valuation as well as the belief that the maturing underwriting cycle could slow earnings momentum for the group as a whole. Price target is $36.
08:46 ET ROST Ross Stores posts 6% increase in Aug comps (36.12)
Says the 6% increase in same store sales was "significantly ahead of plan." ROST now forecasting Q3 earnings of $0.54 and full yr EPS of $2.46 (consensus $0.53 and $2.45).
08:42 ET TGT Target posts below plan same store sales (34.32)
Reports a 0.1% decline in August same store sales. "Sales for the corporation were below plan for the month of August." However, says its outlook for Q3 remains unchanged from the guidance provided three weeks ago.
08:40 ET WMT Wal-Mart reports 3.8% rise in Aug comps, below 4-6% guidance (52.34)
08:36 ET PLUM Plumtree Software decides not to pursue unsolicited offer from Sutter Fund (3.32)
08:36 ET UTIW UTI Worldwide upgraded at Bear Stearns (17.02)
Bear Stearns upgrades to BUY from Neutral following surprisingly strong results yesterday; upgrade is based on improving fundamentals, compelling valuation, and UTIW's continued execution of long-term strategy. Price target is $25.
08:34 ET PG Procter & Gamble guides higher (88.56)
Co raising sales and EPS growth guidance for the SeptQ behind strong volume performance. Excluding the impact of acquisitions and divestitures, volume growth is forecasted to be in the high single digit range. Core EPS are expected to grow in the mid teens range.
08:32 ET Jobless Claims a bit high; Productivity revised up
Jobless Claims fell 8K to 403K, but due to an upward revision to the prior week, they were above the 395K consensus. Continuing claims rose 13K to 3578K but the prior week's figure was revised lower, so this number is down a bit from last week's original report. Q2 productivity was revised up to 1.5% from 1.1%. These reports will probably have little market impact.
08:30 ET Jobless Claims -8K to 403K vs 395K consensus; continuing claims +13K
08:30 ET RX IMS Health downgraded at Solly (17.00)
Salomon Smith Barney downgrades to NEUTRAL from Buy based on valuation and fundamental concerns over the pharma industry outlook heading into 2003. Price target is $18.
08:25 ET S&P futures vs fair value: -18.7. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -23.0.
U.S. equity futures are pointing to a lower open, following Europe's lead due to disappointing German economic data... All eyes will be on Intel (INTC) as it provides guidance after the close tonight. Many analysts have been lowering numbers this week. We expect semis to be mixed to lower today as traders should be cautious... Retailers will be another focus today as many are reporting August same store sales. For the few having reported thus far, the numbers appear a bit lower than expected.
08:25 ET VIRS Triangle Pharm submits NDA for Coviracil HIV treatment (3.49)
08:20 ET Claims expected at 395K; Productivity unrevised at 1.1%
Jobless Claims will be released at 8:30 ET; the market expects claims to fall to 395K from 403K in the prior week - some will also be watching the continuing claims series which rose 90K last week. The Q2 Productivity revision will be of little interest - the market expects the figure to be unrevised at 1.1%.
08:20 ET Morgan Stanley cuts estimates for paper co's
Morgan Stanley cuts ests for a number of paper & forest products co's, based largely on depressed lumber mkts and/or modestly lowered expectations for a recovery in the pulp mkt; however, firm believes downside risk to ests is limited and the stocks have discounted much of a potential double dip; cuts ests ranging from 2002-04 for BOW, WY, BCC, IP, LPX, TIN, BKI, and RYN.
08:18 ET FD Federated posts 5.8% decline in August comps (35.51)
"We obviously were disappointed with our August sales performance." However, co says it did see some improvement in sales trends during the last two weeks of the month, including the Labor Day weekend, which "gives us encouragement for achieving our plan of a 1 to 3 percent same-store sales increase for the fall season."
08:14 ET GYMB Gymboree reports 3% rise in Aug comps; reaffirms Q3, Q4 guidance (16.92)
08:09 ET TLB Talbots Aug comps fall below expectations (31.51)
Reports a 4.1% decline in August comps, "slightly below company expectations." TLB remains comfortable with current First Call consensus for Q3 of $0.70.
08:02 ET SIAL Sigma-Aldrich cut to Near-Term Neutral from Buy at Merrill on valuation (51.11)
08:01 ET HOTT Hot Topic upped to Equal-Weight at Lehman (17.47)
Lehman upgrades to EQUAL-WEIGHT from Underweight based on improving business trends and attractive valuation. Says last night's report of a 5.3% increase in Aug comps was well above firm's estimate of up +2-4%. Raises price target to $25 from $21.
08:00 ET National Semi, Micrel, Cypress Semi downgrades
Following its warning that the co faces a lackluster Christmas season, Bear Stearns downgrades NSM to ATTRACTIVE from Buy and cuts their target to $28 from $32 due to the belief that NSM could lag the overall semi industry over the next few qtrs. Separately, CSFB downgrades NSM and MCRL to HOLD from Buy, saying that the combination of short lead-times, customer inventory reductions, reduced cycle times, and weak end-demand put 2H02 consensus ests at risk. In addition, Wachovia downgrades CY to HOLD from Buy based on increasing risk of a top-line shortfall as well as expectations that ests may have to come down.
07:56 ET ABS Albertson's makes qtr; updates outlook (24.96)
Reports Q2 net of $0.54 a share, in line with the Multex consensus. For Q3, co sees EPS of $0.52 (consensus $0.53). Remains confident in 2002 guidance of $2.31.
07:53 ET AEE Ameren prices 7 mln share follow-on offering at $42 (42.20)
07:49 ET Pre-Market Movers: TTWO +8%, CEFT -20%, IDPH -6%
07:48 ET GIS General Mills cut to Underperform at Solly (41.38)
Salomon Smith Barney downgrades to UNDERPERFORM from Outperform. Basis of downgrade is 1) reduced price target, 2) continued below consensus estimates, 3) potential changes in the biz model driven by balance sheet constraints. Firm lowers price target to $42 from $50 to reflect continuing mkt correction, group pullback and fundamental concerns.
07:45 ET SG Cowen upgrades PeopleSoft, cuts Siebel and BEA
SG Cowen upgrades PSFT to BUY from Neutral and downgrades SEBL and BEAS to NEUTRAL from Strong Buy and Buy, respectively; survey suggests weaker than expected 2H02 IT spending intentions and very little pickup in 2003, but has yielded results that are more favorable than expected for PSFT and less than expected for SEBL and BEAS. Raises 2003 est for PSFT to $0.70 from $0.68 (above consensus) and cuts SEBL to $0.29 from $0.32 and BEAS to $0.25 from $0.28 (below consensus).
07:39 ET IDPH IDEC Pharm reports disappointing trial data (40.87)
Announces that it has completed a preliminary review of the clinical results of its two Phase II clinical trials of IDEC-114 for patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis, and that the data did not support further development in this indication. IDPH falls to $39.38 in pre-market.
07:36 ET BBY Best Buy reaffirms Q2 outlook of $0.17-$0.19 (20.40)
The current Multex consensus for the qtr is $0.18. BBY also announces it will take a $348 mln charge due to valuation of acquired businesses.
07:34 ET C Citigroup: Solly unit probed by Spitzer on AT&T analyst hire (30.30)
The New York Post reports that NY attorney general Spitzer is looking into the events surrounding Salomon Smith Barney's hiring of a key research analyst favored by T just weeks before it won a lucrative underwriting assignment from the co.
07:32 ET CSX CSX Corp lowers outlook due to weak coal traffic; JP Morgan downgrades (34.63)
Railroad expects weak coal demand from utility customers to adversely affect Q3 earnings. Coal carloads for the quarter are now expected to be down approx. 5% from a yr-ago. CSX sees overall EPS well above yr-ago level of $0.47 (Multex consensus $0.65) attributable largely to real estate gains and lower interest expense. This morning, JP Morgan downgrades to LT BUY from Buy and removes stk from its Focus List. Firm lowers 2002 est to $2.00 from $2.25 and 2003 to $2.60 from $3.10.
07:29 ET MSFT Microsoft faces growing effort by govts to push open source software (48.10)
The New York Times reports that more than two dozen countries in Asia, Europe and Latin America-- including China and Germany-- are now encouraging their govt agencies to use open source software such as Linux due to fears that MSFT has become too powerful in critical software mkts.
07:26 ET S&P futures vs fair value: -14.8. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -19.5.
U.S. equity futures follow European stocks lower, which are weak on the back of disappointing German economic data. Germany reported that the nation's unemployment rate rose to 9.9% and manufacturing orders fell by 0.9% following last month's read of 3.3%. Economists had been looking for a 0.5% increase. Bourses across the pond are off between 2-3% (FTSE through 4,000).
07:22 ET PIR Pier 1 Imports raises guidance (18.22)
Reports an 8.6% increase in August comps. Raises Q2 outlook to $0.23 from previous guidance of $0.20-$0.21 (Multex consensus $0.20).
07:20 ET SCVL Shoe Carnival sees earnings at low end of guidance (18.03)
Citing a lackluster back-to-school selling season, shoe retailer says it is currently more comfortable with the lower end of $0.40-$0.42 guidance (Multex consensus $0.41). "After a fairly good start to the back-to-school selling season, sales declined in the latter half of August."
07:19 ET GS Goldman Sachs probe expanded by congressional committee (75.50)
The Financial Times reports that a US congressional committee is forcing Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse First Boston to turn over documents as it broadens its investigation into conflicts of interest on Wall Street.
07:17 ET EELN E-LOAN expects to meet or exceed Q3 guidance of $0.03 (1.27)
07:14 ET COVD.OB Covad Comm signs DSL wholesale agreement with AOL (1.14)
Bulletin boardtraded broadband provider signs a 5-yr agreement that provides America Online with the ability to purchase wholesale DSL consumer services throughout Covad's nationwide network.
07:10 ET SNY Sanofi: new obesity drug may help smokers quit (28.20)
The Wall Street Journal reports that SNY's obesity drug Rimonabant shows promise in helping people to quit smoking and avoid the weight gain that often accompanies it.
07:10 ET CEFT Concord EFS guides below consensus; names new CEO (18.88)
Expects to post full yr earnings in the range of $0.68-$0.70 (Multex consensus $0.75). "We believe that a number of temporary and external factors have recently converged to lower our 2002 earnings expectations, which is why we expect to see earnings growth accelerate in 2003." Announces that Pres Edward A. Labry will succeed Dan M. Palmer as CEO in May.
07:07 ET TTWO Take-Two beats by $0.05, guides above consensus (25.28)
Reports Q3 net of $0.12 a share, $0.05 better than the Multex consensus, vs yr-ago EPS of $0.02. Sales rose 51% to $122.5 mln (consensus $101.12 mln). TTWO raises full yr guidance to $1.75 and $755 mln (consensus $1.69 and $734.25 mln). Co's initial guidance for 2003 is $1.95 and $830 mln (consensus $1.93 and $806.57 mln).
07:01 ET Bank of England leaves rates unchanged at 4.00%
06:59 ET GDYS Goody's Family reports disappointing Aug comps (5.51)
Reports a 7.6% decline in August same-store sales. "Our sales results for the month of August 2002 were well below our expectations." GDYS does not provide guidance.
06:52 ET S&P futures vs fair value: -15.7. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -20.0.
06:45 ET European Markets
FTSE...3949.20...-76.60...-1.9%. DAX...3314.70...-111.20...-3.3%.
06:45 ET Asian Markets
Nikkei...9222.12...+147.03...+1.6%. Hang Seng...9726.03...-94.30...-1.0%. |
