For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – September 3, 2009 – 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: Panasonic Corp. (PC), SANYO Electric Co Ltd. (SANYY), Sony (SNE), Hitachi (HIT) and Toyota Motor Corp. (TM).

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Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:

Panasonic Still Awaits Approval

Panasonic Corp. (PC), one of the leading manufacturers of electronic and electrical products, systems and components, recently said that it is still waiting for regulatory approval for acquiring SANYO Electric Co Ltd. (SANYY).

Panasonic entered into a capital and business alliance agreement with SANYO in December 2008 and offered to pay $4.3 billion (400 billion yen) to acquire it. The latter is a leading company in the rechargeable battery business focused on lithium-ion rechargeable batteries.

The energy business of SANYO will be added as Energy Solutions to Panasonic’s business, which will further expand its HIT (crystalline silicon) solar photovoltaic cells and modules (batteries) business and accelerate the development and commercialization of next-generation solar cells. By taking over SANYO, Panasonic plans to double production capacity of lithium ion batteries to around 1 million units a year by the middle of 2010.

Panasonic expects a growth in profit by 80 billion yen in fiscal 2013 from the alliance. Also, Panasonic and SANYO will set up a ‘Collaboration Committee’ and Panasonic will invest around 100 billion yen in order to achieve the synergy of both companies.

This acquisition will enable Panasonic to more aggressively compete with market leaders such as Sony (SNE) and Hitachi (HIT) amid growing demand for the rechargeable power source commonly used in mobile phones, laptop PCs, and digital cameras. Moreover, it will help Panasonic become Japan’s largest electronics maker.

Panasonic EV Energy Co., a joint venture with Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) is currently the only supplier of nickel-metal hydride batteries. The regulatory bodies were concerned on the growing combined market share of Panasonic and SANYO (approximately 90%) in nickel-metal hydride batteries, which will pose a threat to other manufacturers.

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