For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – February 19, 2010 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Capital One (COF), Fannie Mae (FNM), Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), Wal-Mart (WMT) and Natural Resource Partners L.P. (NRP).

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Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

Bad News on Jobless Claims

In January, over 40% of all the unemployed in this country had been looking for work for more than 26 weeks. The extended duration of unemployment in this downturn is not just a record — it is a chart-smashing, rewrite-the-record-books, previously-considered-unimaginable-type record. Extended claims are now at 6.004 million, or 31.6% higher than regular claims. That is an increase of 275,000 in the last week alone.

In the absence of the extended claims, there would be 6 million people (and their families) who would be without any income at all. By the time they have been unemployed for six months, they have probably already depleted most of their savings, especially considering how low savings rates were prior to the recession. They have probably also run up their credit card balances.

So just what would happen if those people had no income at all? For starters, those credit card bills would not get paid, and that would hardly be good news for banks like Capital One (COF) that hold the credit card receivables.

In times gone by, if they were homeowners, they could probably tap into the equity in their house to tide them over, but that option is not open if you are already underwater on your mortgage, or even just close to “sea level.” So they would probably stop paying their mortgage and wait for the sheriff to show up at the door. When the sheriff does show up, that would be one more foreclosure on the market, putting further downward pressure on housing prices.

In the meantime, it is reduced cash flow for the holders of the mortgages, and the related mortgage-backed securities, not exactly what a Fannie Mae (FNM) needs right now. Of course, with no income and no liquid assets, new spending is out of the question.

That would mean 6 million fewer customers for retailers of all stripes. While during the first six months of reduced income, they probably migrated from shopping at stores like Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) to stores like Wal-Mart (WMT) with no income at all, even shopping at the Salvation Army would be a stretch.

The extended benefit program keeps the money circulating and in the process prevents further layoffs from occurring. In addition to the obvious humanitarian benefit, it is also highly effective as economic stimulus. However, it is far from an optimal solution, and we do not want to see extended benefits simply become welfare under another name, along with all the dependency issues that welfare can foster.

Natural Resource Partners Tops

Natural Resource Partners L.P. (NRP) reported fourth quarter net income attributed to limited partners of 39 cents per unit, well above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 26 cents and third quarter net income of 36 cents.

The increase was mainly due to higher revenues. However, quarterly net income declined from 56 cents posted in the year-ago period. For the full year 2009, the partnership reported earnings of $1.17 per unit, below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.32 and year-ago earnings of $1.95 per unit.

Total revenues in the quarter declined 13% year over year and increased 3% sequentially to $65.9 million. In 2009, total revenues totaled $256.1 million, down 12% year over year. The decline in revenues was primarily due to lower coal royalty revenues.

Coal production decreased 25% over last year to 11.3 million tons in the quarter and declined 23% to 60.6 millions in 2009. Coal royalty revenues in the quarter and in 2009 declined 18% and 13%, respectively, to $48.3 million and $196.6 million. Average coal royalty revenue per ton this quarter and for the year increased 10% and 12% year over year, respectively, to $4.28 and $4.20.

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