Latest News In Stock Market Investment Research – April 09, 2010

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Constellation Brands posts narrower loss

9 Apr 2010 at 4:46am

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Constellation Brands Inc. on Friday said its fourth-quarter loss narrowed to $51 million, or 23 cents a share, from a loss of $407 million, or $1.71 a share in the year-ago period. Sales fell to $893 million, from $964.9 million. For 2011, the company expects earnings of $1.36 a share to $1.51 a share and adjusted earnings of $1.53 a share to $1.68 a share. Wall Street analysts expect 2011 earnings of $1.78 a share for the spirits maker. Constellation approved the repurchase of $300 million shares of common stock.

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Alcoa cut to neutral by J.P. Morgan

9 Apr 2010 at 4:39am

LONDON (MarketWatch) — J.P. Morgan downgraded Alcoa to neutral from overweight and removed it from the broker’s focus list on its estimated 2011 earnings per share of 48 cents and lower price target of $16.50. “Although Alcoa has taken significant costs out of its business by closing high cost operations and through additional procurement and productivity savings, we think it will still struggle to generate attractive returns at our strategist’s 2011 aluminum price forecast of 92 cents/pound,” the broker said.

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Gold futures rise to three-month highs

9 Apr 2010 at 4:32am

FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) — Gold futures rose on Friday to the highest level since the middle of December. Gold for April delivery gained $4.50 to $1,156.70 an ounce in electronic trading on Globex. The contract earlier hit an intraday high of $1,157.90 an ounce, the highest intraday level since Dec. 14, 2009, when gold rose to $1,226 an ounce, according to FactSet data. “Continued concerns over Greece’s financial situation, coupled with a lack of attractive investment alternatives due to continuously low interest rate levels both in the U.S. and the euro zone, should keep interest in gold high and should support the gold price,” said analysts at Commerzbank AG in a note. Also on Globex, gold for June delivery, the most active contract, gained $5.30 to $1,158.20 an ounce.

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PC Group: regulators investigating unusual trades

9 Apr 2010 at 3:52am

LONDON (MarketWatch) — PC Group Inc. said Friday that unusual trading activity in its stock has been referred to regulators after 8.2 million of its shares were traded on April 7. The group said it only has 7.8 million shares outstanding and that the average daily volume traded over the previous year was 11,600 shares. PC Group said it is not aware of any reason for the volume of trading activity, which saw shares change hands at a range of prices from 13 cents to 71 cents. The stock closed Thursday at 72 cents a share.

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Littelfuse raises earnings, sales guidance

9 Apr 2010 at 3:42am

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Littelfuse Inc. on Friday lifted its earnings and sales guidance for the first quarter of 2010, saying electronics and automotive demand has exceeded its forecast in all regions. The company, which makes fuses and other circuit protection products, said earnings are expected to be in the range of 67 cents to 71 cents a share, on sales of around $144 million. It had previously forecast earnings of 50 cents to 62 cents a share on sales of $130 million to $138 million. Analysts polled by FactSet had been expecting earnings of 60 cents a share on sales of $136.1 million.

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U.K. March producer price inflation accelerates

9 Apr 2010 at 1:40am

LONDON (MarketWatch) — The prices of goods leaving British factories rose 0.9% in March and were up 5% compared to the same month last year, the Office for National Statistics reported Friday. Economists had expected a 0.3% monthly increase and a 4.3% annual rise. Prices rose at an annual pace of 4.2% in February. The increase was due largely to rising prices for petroleum products, chemical products and other manufactured goods. The ONS said changes in excise duty added less than 0.1% to the overall output index. The core output index, which excludes food, beverages, tobacco and petroleum, saw a monthly rise of 0.7% and an annual rise of 3.6%.

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H&M upped at Credit Suisse, preferred to Inditex

9 Apr 2010 at 1:24am

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Credit Suisse raised its rating on Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz , citing the company’s improved near-term margin outlook. The broker told clients that the company’s profit seems to have bottomed out in 2009 and said it now has “greater confidence” that it will return to premium growth rates following a recovery in gross margin over the past two quarters. In addition Credit Suisse said that the retailer’s exposure to Northern Europe gives it less structural vulnerability than its main competitor, Spain’s Inditex , which combines slowing growth and heavy exposure to Southern Europe.

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Swedbank to exit state guarantee program

9 Apr 2010 at 12:41am

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Swedbank said Friday that it will leave the Swedish state’s guarantee program with immediate effect. The bank said it made the decision due to the improving funding market situation and added that it has not used the state guarantee program since July 2009. Swedbank said that since July it has borrowed 200 billion Swedish kronor ($27.6 billion) in long-term funding outside the state guarantee program. It added that during the first quarter of 2010, it has borrowed 100 billion kronor, representing two-thirds of the total amount of long-term funding maturing in 2010. The bank will have outstanding loans previously issued under the state guarantee until July 2014. It borrowed a total of 421.2 billion kronor under the state guarantee since 2008 and the amount of outstanding loans has declined to 201.5 billion kronor. Shares in Swedbank rose 1.8% Friday.

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Europe stocks climb as U.S. hopes trump Greek woes

9 Apr 2010 at 12:14am

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Stocks in Europe rose in early trade Friday, with investors shifting their focus to evidence of growing U.S. consumption and away from Greece’s troubles that have seen yields on 10-year bonds in that country climb above 7%. Miners and banks led the way by sector, and Switzerland’s Givaudan rose over 7% after the fragrance maker reported first-quarter revenue of 1.06 billion francs. Petroplus climbed over 6% after reaching a deal to buy the Delaware City refinery and 218 megawatt power plant complex from Valero Energy for $220 million. The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.8% to 268.48, the U.K. FTSE 100 added 0.9% to 5,761.52 and the German DAX added 1% to 6,230.08. (Fixes typo.)

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.


Givaudan shares rise after sales beat expectations

9 Apr 2010 at 12:13am

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Shares in Swiss flavors and fragrances group Givaudan rose over 7% Friday after the firm reported a 9.2% rise in first-quarter sales to 1.07 billion Swiss francs ($993 million) from 976.1 million francs. Analysts had been expecting sales of 1.01 billion francs. The company said both its fragrance and flavor divisions reported growth, with the strongest gains seen in its fine fragrances unit, where sales rose nearly 27% thanks to a number of new key account wins and customers returning to more normalized order patterns. Givaudan said it is confident of achieving its cost savings target of 200 million francs by the end of the year.

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Premier Oil raised to buy from hold at RBS

9 Apr 2010 at 12:07am

FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) — Premier Oil PLC , a U.K.-based oil and gas firm, was upgraded to buy from hold on Friday at Royal Bank of Scotland. There has been a positive shift in sentiment since the firm released its 2009 results, the broker said. “The pressure on management to deliver in the 2010 drilling program remains, but we like the balance of the campaign, and believe recent oil price strength is likely to throw a cheap valuation into sharper relief,” RBS said in a note.

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Carrefour downgraded to sell from hold at RBS

9 Apr 2010 at 12:01am

FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) — French supermarket operator Carrefour SA was downgraded to sell from hold Friday at Royal Bank of Scotland. The broker’s target price of 31.5 euros a share suggests 15% downside for the stock from current levels. “While we agree with what Carrefour is attempting to do to its business, particularly in Western Europe, we believe the current valuation is discounting a near seamless improvement in the group’s profitability over the coming years,” RBS analysts said. “We believe Carrefour offers few if any positive investment attractions at the current level.”

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.


Gamesa cut to neutral from buy at Goldman Sachs

8 Apr 2010 at 11:52pm

FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) — Gamesa Corporacion Tecnologica SA , a Spain-based wind-energy firm, was downgraded to neutral from buy Friday at Goldman Sachs, which cited limited sector-relevant upside for the stock. “The primary reason for Gamesa’s underperformance vs. the market has been the significant de-rating of the renewable sector over the last 18 months, as growth expectations were pared back,” Goldman said. “Specifically for wind manufacturers, orders remain subdued, despite a recovering economy as electricity demand remains below trend.”

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.


Major banks reportedly masked risk levels

8 Apr 2010 at 11:47pm

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Major U.S. banks have masked the level of risk they are taking over the last five quarters by lowering their debt levels just before reporting the figures publicly, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The newspaper said a group of 18 banks, including Citigroup , Goldman Sachs , J.P. Morgan Chase , Bank of America and Morgan Stanley , understated the debt levels used to fund securities trading by cutting them an average of 42% at the end of the last five quarters, compared to their peak levels during the quarter. The data covers banks’ short-term borrowing in the repo market. The practice is legal, but can give investors a distorted impression of the amount of risk a bank is taking, the newspaper said. A recent report into the collapse of Lehman Brothers highlighted the firm’s use of repo transactions, though in Lehman’s case the firm allegedly hid the repo transactions by accounting for them as sales, rather than actually reducing its quarter-end debt.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.


France’s TF1 cut to neutral from buy at UBS

8 Apr 2010 at 11:42pm

FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) — French broadcaster TF1 was downgraded Friday to neutral from buy at UBS. The stock is fairly valued and there is limited upside from here, the broker said. “We believe ad momentum is likely to underpin the stock near term, as consensus moves up to our forecasts; however, we believe upside is now more limited,” UBS said.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.


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April 09 2010 04:08 am | Stock Market News

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