For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – December 21, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Statoil ASA (STO) as the Bull of the Day and The St. Joe Company (JOE) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Research In Motion Limited (RIMM), Apple (AAPL) and Motorola (MOT).
Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5506
Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:
Statoil ASA (STO) is gaining momentum with the start-up of operations on several new oil and gas fields. The growing share of natural gas in the company’s NCS (Norwegian Continental Shelf) volume mix enables it to play a leading role in the European natural gas market.
A sharp rise in production is offsetting the fall in oil and gas prices, which helped the company to experience smaller profit declines in the third quarter than other large European oil companies.
With our bullish long term view on natural gas and the company’s extensive interests in infrastructure assets, we recommend an Outperform rating for Statoil ADRs.
The St. Joe Company (JOE) is one of the largest real estate developers in Florida, which has been hit hard by the downturn in the U.S. housing industry. Large price declines have led to significantly high levels of inventory and operations have deteriorated rapidly.
St. Joe has also recorded huge asset impairment charges related to write-down of assets. The company is currently in a defensive mode and continues to reduce capital expenditures to conserve cash.
Our recommendation for the company is Underperform as we anticipate it to perform well below the broader market. However, if St. Joe can weather the current storm, the share price may eventually rise.
Latest Posts on the Zacks Analyst Blog:
RIMM Surges on BlackBerry Sales
Research In Motion Limited (RIMM) recently reported better-than-expected third-quarter 2010 results. The quarterly earnings of $1.10 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.04, and soared 59.4% from 69 cents delivered in the prior-year quarter, resulting in more than a 12% jump in the stock in after-hours trading yesterday. This morning it hovers around $70 per share.
Management now expects fourth-quarter 2010 earnings in the range of $1.23 to $1.31 per share.
The company said it shipped a record-breaking 10.1 million smartphones units, including its 75 millionth BlackBerry smartphone, which remains one of the strongest products in the smartphone category. The company expects to ship between 10.6 million and 11.2 million units at an average selling price of $320, in fourth-quarter 2010.
The company, which faces stiff competition from Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone and Motorola’s (MOT) Droid, said it added 4.4 million net new BlackBerry subscribers in the quarter, bringing its total subscriber base to 36 million. The company expects to add 4.4 to 4.7 million BlackBerry subscribers in fourth quarter.
Total revenues surged 41.1% to $3,924.3 million. The sales break-up for the quarter was nearly 82% for devices, 14% for service, 2% for software and 2% for other revenue. The BlackBerry maker now expects fourth-quarter revenue between $4.2 billion and $4.4 billion.
The company, which focuses on corporate customers, is expanding its customer base by offering a diversified product portfolio and increasing its geographic reach.
Get the full analysis of all these stocks by going to http://at.zacks.com/?id=5507.
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.
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