For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL - May 3, 2012 - Zacks Equity Research highlights
Align Technology
(
ALGN
) as the Bull of the Day and
Baker Hughes, Inc.
(
BHI
) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research
provides analysis on
Research In Motion Ltd.
(
RIMM
),
Apple Inc
(
AAPL
) and
Google Inc
(
GOOG
).
Full analysis of all these stocks is available at
http://at.zacks.com/?id=2678
.
Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:
Bull of the Day
:
Align Technology's
(
ALGN
) first-quarter 2012 adjusted EPS of $0.27 surpassed the Zacks
Consensus Estimate of $0.22 and the year-ago quarter adjusted EPS
of $0.21. Align witnessed balanced sales growth across all its
channels, banking on its core product, Invisalign.
Moreover, Cadent's contribution also helped Align to further
penetrate the malocclusion market. Align's focus on the
international market, especially in Europe, is encouraging. A
successful launch of Invisalign G4 is expected to boost the
company's revenues further.
Although Align is facing gross margin compression for several
quarters, the gradual pick up in patient traffic is expected to add
further life to the company's overall performance. Based on the
strong growth potential of the company, we upgraded the stock to
Outperform.
Bear of the Day
:
We are downgrading our recommendation for
Baker Hughes, Inc.
(
BHI
) to Underperform from Neutral following its first quarter 2012
results. Baker Hughes earnings declined in the first quarter mainly
due to the lower margins in North America and pricing constraints
in the pressure pumping sector.
We remain cautious about the pricing pressures, supply chain and
raw material constraints in its pricing pressure business in North
America, and thus prefer to stay on the sidelines. Although
activity is expected to climb in 2012, we remain apprehensive for
the geo-political issues that may affect the operations in certain
areas.
Hence our downgrade on the stock. Our $40 price objective is
based on the 2012 P/E multiple of 10.8x. Our target multiples are
well within the historical trading range for the stock.
Latest Posts on the Zacks
Analyst Blog
:
RIMM Unveils BB10 OS
Struggling smartphone manufacturer
Research In Motion Ltd.
(
RIMM
) has unveiled a prototype of its much awaited next-generation
Blackberry 10 operating system. The new operating system will be
much more user-friendly and is expected to be loaded with more
applications compared to its legacy smartphones.
Research In Motion is facing severe problems due to an
increasingly competitive landscape, primarily from
Apple Inc's
(
AAPL
) iPhone and from other smartphone manufacturers which run
Google Inc's
(
GOOG
) Android platform. The primary reason behind Research In Motion's
huge market share loss in the high end smartphone segment is the
lack of applications in its legacy handsets.
Even in the lucrative emerging markets, Research In Motion is
facing pricing pressure from Taiwanese and Chinese handset
manufacturers. We believe the company is betting on its new
Blackberry 10 OS to be a potential game-changer for them.
The new operating system is based on QNX software, which is
compatible with various open-source coding language, and also runs
certain applications from its existing smartphone. The new software
is designed to simplify the task of application and content
developer.
The company is working with several application developers like
Endomondo and Gameloft to develop content and applications for its
upcoming smartphone. Research In Motion purchased Swedish user
interface company Cascades in 2010, which develops high resolution
applications.
Though Research In Motion is yet to come up with the device, it
is expected to be launched as a touch screen device rather than
it's very own Alpha Dev platform and is seen as a potential
competitor to the iPhone. We believe although the company has tied
up with several application developers and have nearly 70,000
applications, it still lags the iPhone with respect to apps --
iPhone has more than half a million apps.
According to research firm IDC, the company's market share has
slipped to 6.7% from 13.6% a year ago. We believe this is the last
throw of dice for Research In Motion, as another failure could be a
massive blow for them.
We, therefore, maintain our long-term Underperform
recommendation on Research In Motion. Currently, Research In Motion
has a Zacks #4 Rank, implying a Sell rating over the short
term.
Get the full analysis of all these stocks by going to
http://at.zacks.com/?id=2649
.
About the Bull and Bear of the Day
Every day, the analysts at Zacks Equity Research select two
stocks that are likely to outperform (Bull) or underperform (Bear)
the markets over the next 3-6 months.
About the Analyst Blog
Updated throughout every trading day, the
Analyst Blog
provides analysis from Zacks Equity Research about the latest news
and events impacting stocks and the financial markets.
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Continuous analyst coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150
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which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company
profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices
are six-month time horizons.
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APPLE INC (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report
ALIGN TECH INC (ALGN): Free Stock Analysis
Report
BAKER-HUGHES (BHI): Free Stock Analysis Report
GOOGLE INC-CL A (GOOG): Free Stock Analysis
Report
RESEARCH IN MOT (RIMM): Free Stock Analysis
Report
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