For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL - May 24, 2012 -
Zacks Equity
Research
highlights
Dean Foods Co.
(
DF
) as the Bull of the Day and
RadioShack Corp.
(
RSH
) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research
provides analysis on
Facebook Inc.
(
FB
),
NASDAQ OMX Group Inc
(
NDAQ
) and
Morgan Stanley
(
MS
).
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
:
Dean Foods Co.
(
DF
) first-quarter 2012 earnings of $0.31 per share came ahead of the
Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.21 and jumped over two-fold from the
prior-year period, primarily driven by a recovery in its fluid milk
business with continuous growth at its WhiteWave-Alpro business.
The company's net sales grew 5.4% due to better pricing strategy
coupled with robust segmental performance.
The company now forecasts full-year 2012 adjusted earnings in
the range of $1.10 to $1.20 a share, up from $0.87-$0.95 forecasted
earlier. The company has taken initiatives to restructure
operations in an effort to reduce costs while expanding its branded
product business through acquisitions.
Moreover, in a move to optimize its capital allocation and
concentrate on core business activities, Dean Foods intends to
divest underperforming businesses. Currently, we are maintaining a
long-term Outperform recommendation on the stock.
Bear of the Day
:
RadioShack Corp.'s
(
RSH
) difficulties persists as the company's first-quarter 2012
financial results were pathetic. The company's core consumer
electronics retail business is on a secular downtrend and is
unlikely to be revived in the near future. Customers increasingly
prefer online purchase instead of visiting brick-and-mortar retail
stores.
Loss of footfall is taking a toll on RadioShack's mobility
business, on which the company is banking for its future growth.
Further, instead of computers and cameras, majority of consumers
prefer tablets and smartphones, which are less profitable for the
retail industry.
In the last quarter, comparable store sales for the
company-operated stores and kiosks decreased 4.2% year over year.
This is a key retail performance indicator measuring growth from
existing sales locations. We do not find any immediate growth
catalyst and thus reaffirm our Underperform recommendation.
Latest Posts on the Zacks
Analyst Blog
:
NASDAQ Faces Facebook Investor Wrath
Following the
Facebook Inc.
(
FB
) initial public offering (IPO) debacle,
NASDAQ OMX Group Inc
(
NDAQ
) is facing the wrath of one of the IPO investors, who questioned
NASDAQ's failure to process orders to buy, sell or cancel requests
for Facebook shares on time, causing losses to investors.
The investor hopes to obtain a class action status for a case he
filed against the company regarding the same. The concerned
investor had tried to both order and then cancel requests for
Facebook shares but was unable to do so, owing to the technical
glitch in the trading platform.
NASDAQ was confronted with a surge of order cancellations and
updates on the very first day Facebook started trading, leading to
technical problems and a delay in trading for 30 minutes. However,
the solution deployed by the exchange to save the blushes was
inadequate and led to delays in order confirmations for another two
and a half hours.
Nevertheless, NASDAQ has already taken initiatives to rectify
the procedures for IPOs following the hiccups faced during the
Facebook IPO. For future IPOs, the exchange has decided to employ
the software used for regular opening and closing trading, rather
than persisting with the software that it used for the Facebook
IPO.
However, the IPO remains a burning issue with both investors and
regulatory authorities. The Securities and Exchange Board and
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority have decided to review the
events surrounding the IPO, thereby increasing the pressure on both
the companies involved as well as the underwriter of the issue -
Morgan Stanley
(
MS
).
The review was prompted by certain media reports that disclosed
Morgan Stanley had reduced its revenue guidance prior to the IPO,
while Facebook advised many of its underwriters to do the same.
However, the information was provided only to select institutional
investors and not made public.
This selective disclosure breaches the fair disclosure
regulation, which requires public companies to make all material
information available to all investors at the same time.
The state of Massachusetts is also set to conduct an
investigation into the matter. The Secretary of Commonwealth of the
state issued a subpoena to Morgan Stanley regarding the issue.
However, Morgan Stanley maintains that it followed the same
procedure for the Facebook IPO as it does for other IPOs and that
these procedures are in compliance with relevant regulations.
NASDAQ currently carries a Zacks #4 Rank, which translates into
a short-term Sell rating, while Facebook carries a Zacks #3 Rank (a
short-term Hold).
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.
About Zacks Equity Research
Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and
qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and
which to sell for the long-term.
Continuous analyst coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150
publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry
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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DEAN FOODS CO (DF): Free Stock Analysis Report
FACEBOOK INC-A (FB): Free Stock Analysis Report
MORGAN STANLEY (MS): Free Stock Analysis Report
NASDAQ OMX GRP (NDAQ): Free Stock Analysis
Report
RADIOSHACK CORP (RSH): Free Stock Analysis
Report
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