Analyst action: Clarcor, CVS, SunTrust
Posted on November 20, 2009 at 10:42 amBB&T analyst Kevin Maczka on Thursday raised his rating on shares of Clarcor (Ticker: CLC) from ‘hold’ to ‘buy.’ His target price for the Franklin-based filtration and packaging company is $40, 27 percent above its Wednesday close.
Two stocks with a local presence have also received votes of confidence. At Credit Suisse, Craig Siegenthaler has lifted his target for SunTrust (Ticker: STI) to $23 from $21, while UBS analyst Neil Currie has started covering CVS Caremark (Ticker: CVS) with a ‘buy’ rating and a $34 target.
permalink | Comment on this post
The old way to invest in Dollar General
Posted on November 19, 2009 at 11:49 amGimme Credit analyst Evan Mann says Dollar General should continue to generate ample cash to invest in growth and improve its debt ratios. Because of that, investors would do well to buy the company’s subordinated debt, which has risen from $80 to $110 in the past year and comes due in 2017. Meanwhile, the company’s newly listed shares (Ticker: DG) are again testing the $22.50 level that has supported them in their first week on the NYSE.
permalink | Comment on this post
An interesting downgrade
Posted on November 16, 2009 at 1:47 pmGoldman Sachs has lowered its rating of Dollar Tree (Ticker: DLTR) to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy,’ saying one of the main rivals of Dollar General will face difficult comparisons after this quarter.
On a completely related note, Goldman just got paid big time helping take Dollar General (Ticker: DG) public again.
permalink | Comment on this post
Avondale: Genesco cream of the footwear crop
Posted on at 8:22 am
David Turner at Avondale Partners has conducted the channel checks and says athletic clothing sales are lagging big time. But the so-called “black/brown/casual” sector showed third-quarter growth of more than 4 percent, which plays right into the hands of Nashville-based Genesco, Turner’s only outperform-rated stock (Ticker: GCO).
Our street-high Q3′10 (current quarter) EPS estimate of $0.46 is now visible, in our opinion, as is Q4, the company’s highest volume quarter. If our secular thesis is to be believed, more upside remains to GCO’s earnings.
permalink | Comment on this post
So after looking at the numbers…
Posted on November 13, 2009 at 1:26 pmPali Research analyst Sheryl Skolnick has revised her 2010 EBITDA estimates for Nashville’s large hospital players. Taken together, she sees the companies earning almost $8.6 billion from operations, a net drop of $79 million from her previous forecasts. The main culprit: Bad debt.
permalink | Comment on this post
Analyst action: CVS Caremark, Synovus
Posted on November 11, 2009 at 10:43 amScott Mushkin at Jefferies has lowered his price target on shares of CVS Caremark (Ticker: CVS) to $39 from $42 after the company’s so-so earnings call last week. He still rates the stock a ‘buy.’
Over at Morgan Keegan, Robet Patten has cut his rating on Synovus Financial to ‘market perform’ from ‘outperform.’ Shares of Synovus (Ticker: SNV) have lost three-quarters of their value this year.
permalink | Comment on this post
Analyst actions: Gaylord, SunTrust
Posted on November 10, 2009 at 10:56 amThe very empirical stock-picking model at TheStreet.com has downgraded shares of Gaylord Entertainment after the hotel company’s third-quarter earnings report. Gaylord (Ticker: GET) has tripled the S&P 500’s year-to-date gain.
At BMO Capital Markets, senior analyst Lana Chan has raised her rating on SunTrust Banks, saying “capital ratios are solid and there were further positive signals on credit quality in the third quarter.” She now rates SunTrust (Ticker: STI) at ‘outperform.’
permalink | Comment on this post
CCA’s pipeline strong enough for higher price target
Posted on November 9, 2009 at 7:25 amAvondale Partners analyst Kevin Campbell says Corrections Corp. has the financial muscle, free cash flow and market position to add nicely to its book of business in the coming years. That has led him to raise his price target for the shares (Ticker: CXW) to $30 from $24, based on a 2011 profit estimate that is 15 percent higher than his 2009 forecast.
The company estimates that its inventory and development pipeline can add $50 million in incremental EBITDA over the long-term, with the majority of the interest and D&A expense already included in expectations. We estimate that this could add more than $0.25 in EPS at the current share count. In addition it has financial flexibility in 2009 and 2010 to take advantage of the current environment through continued development, share repurchases or debt reductions.
permalink | Comment on this post
Go, Genesco, go
Posted on November 6, 2009 at 11:56 am
Robert W. Baird analyst Mitch Kummetz has raised his rating on the Nashville retailer to ‘outperform.’ Kummetz, who two months ago was quite sober about the company’s prospects, also has lifted his price target to $34 from $25. On a lackluster day for the market, Genesco shares (Ticker: GCO) are up more than 3 percent.
permalink | Comment on this post
Analysts impressed with LP
Posted on November 5, 2009 at 7:43 am
Although they rolled over late in the day like the broader market, shares of Louisiana-Pacific (Ticker: LPX) had a nice Wednesday after several analysts praised Rick Frost’s crew for their steady hand during a “sloppy” economy. D.A. Davidson analyst Steven Chercover raised his rating on the company to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral.’
permalink | Comment on this post
Upgrades lift Gaylord
Posted on November 4, 2009 at 10:34 am
Shares of Gaylord Entertainment (Ticker: GET) are up more than 7 percent this morning on the back of upgrades from FBR Capital Markets and Wells Fargo. The move comes after a similarly strong day yesterday, when Gaylord reported better-than-expected Q3 numbers.
FBR researcher Patrick Scholes has lifted his rating on Gaylord to ‘market perform’ from ‘underperform’ and put a price target of $17 on the stock. At Wells, analyst Jeff Donnelly said the main pricing risks to Gaylord’s business are baked into the stock, which should trade between $16 and $18 going forward.
permalink | Comment on this post
Time to be greedy with Psych Solutions
Posted on October 29, 2009 at 12:05 pmAvondale Partners analyst Kevin Campbell says investors should take the opportunity to buy shares of Psychiatric Solutions after their big drop Wednesday. Campbell, who has an ‘outperform’ rating on the shares, says that — despite the Q3 rise in charity care — Psych Solutions’ fundamental story is still compelling.
“[D]emand for its services remains strong and valuations remain at the bottom of its historic range. We recognize that there are valid concerns about increased levels of charity care; however, we believe the issue is manageable.”
Campbell’s lowered target of $28 is almost 50 percent above where the company opened trading this morning. Shares of Psych Solutions (Ticker: PSYS) are up about 3 percent so far today.
permalink | Comment on this post
Analyst action: Psych Solutions, O’Charley’s
Posted on at 7:15 amSoleil Securites’ A.J. Rice yesterday downgraded shares of Psychiatric Solutions to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ and slashed his price target to $22 from $33. The stock (Ticker: PSYS) lost almost a quarter of its value after a disappointing Q3 report.
Over at Morgan Keegan, analyst Robert Derrington has raised O’Charley’s to ‘outperform’ from ‘market perform’ citing the stock’s valuation and management’s operational plans. The restaurant chain (Ticker: CHUX) will report its earnings this morning; the Street is looking for a loss of 10 cents per share.
permalink | Comment on this post
It’s not good to be called out by Dick Bove these days
Posted on October 27, 2009 at 7:31 am
That’s something investors in SunTrust and Fifth Third, Greater Nashville’s third- and fifth-largest banks, came to find out firsthand Monday, when Bove said their banks aren’t valued appropriately given the loan losses they still need to absorb. Other large regional banks active here shared in the misery, though their trading volumes were more in line with normal days.
permalink | Comment on this post
Analyst action: Healthways, Pinnacle, Synovus
Posted on October 26, 2009 at 12:46 pm
After Healthways’ big gain following its Q3 report, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Tom Carroll has lowered his rating on the disease manager (Ticker: HWAY) to ‘hold’ from ‘buy.’ The valuation-based call is diametrically opposed to that of Art Henderson at Jefferies, who on Friday upgraded Healthways and raised his target to $20. So far, Carroll is winning: Healthways is down 7 percent today.
At Zacks Investment Research, shares of Pinnacle Financial are now on the ‘exclusive’ list of stocks investors should sell or avoid in the coming months. Pinnacle (Ticker: PNFP) last week reported a larger-than-expected loss.
And in related regional banking news, Wunderlich analyst Kevin Reynolds has some strong words on Synovus Financial Group, the parent of The Bank of Nashville. Reynolds has dropped Synovus to a ’sell’ and slapped a price target of $1.50 on the shares — half the price at the open today. The company last week posted a loss of more than $400 million and its stock (Ticker: SNV) has fallen more than 60 percent this year.
Recent Comments
In our good state a select few run the place, 20 yrs ago and today....
Southernindie…Unfortunat ely you have suffered a dibilitating...
And…Karl (Marx) Dean is spending one billion dollars...
Someone explain the difference between short stay and observation...
Watching the Chairman of Starwood Hotels yesterday on CNBC...
Funny how the Union’s feel about taxes. They complained about their...
Where is it?
An absolutely ugly structure, which I have always thought did not take...
Too bad that ATT changed the look of the building so that it no longer...
Yeah, well, look at the TN Legislature of good ol’ boys and the...
As long as the red rules, we will be far behind other states. The GOP does...
Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn: I don’t know what...