For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 13, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Amphenol Corporation (APH) as the Bull of the Day and Palm (PALM) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on United States Steel Corporation (X), Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (CLF) and ArcelorMittal (MT).

Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2676

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

Amphenol Corporation (APH) is scheduled to release its fiscal Q3 results on October 15. The company stated that though the economic environment remains uncertain, there was a stabilization of demand in most markets.

We remain optimistic about Amphenol’s long-term growth prospects in the mobile devices business. Demand for mobile phones remains strong. Beyond mobile phones, the company continues to expand the use of its products into fast growing submarkets such as PDAs, laptops and desktop computers.

Based on constant currency exchange rates and some seasonal moderation, APH expects revenues between $670 million and $685 million in Q3:09. EPS is projected within 41 – 43 cents. We maintain our Outperform rating with a target price of $40.

Bear of the Day:

Although demand for Palm’s (PALM) Pre smartphone is growing, it is still selling a small fraction of Pre phones to smart-phones users and, in our opinion, most of them are already existing Palm customers.

We still expect the stock to underperform the market as RIMM and AAPL continue to expand market share, and phones based on the Android operating system enter the market.

We believe the maturing lifecycle of Centro, the slow ramp of its Windows Mobile-based product sales, and the time taken to add carriers to distribute its Treo products in the U.S. and global markets will continue to exert pressure on revenue and earnings.

Latest Posts on the Zacks Analyst Blog:

US Steel Divests Interest

On Oct. 9, United States Steel Corporation’s (X) wholly owned subsidiary U.S. Steel Canada Inc., ArcelorMittal Dofasco and Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (CLF) have agreed to sell their respective interest in the Wabush Mines joint venture to a Montreal-based steel mining company, Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines Ltd., for $120 million.

Wabush Mines owns and operates iron ore mining and pellet facilities in Newfoundland in the U.S. and Labrador and Quebec in Canada. Wabush’s total rated annual production capacity is 6.4 million tons of iron ore pellets.

U.S. Steel holds 44.6%, ArcelorMittal Dofasco holds 28.6% and Cliffs Natural Resources holds 26.8% in the joint venture. Completion of the transaction is subject to a right of first refusal held by the third owner – Cliffs. ArcelorMittal (MT), the world’s largest steelmaker, will receive $34.28 million for its interest. Consolidated Thompson plans to finance the transaction with existing cash and credit facilities. Other terms of the transaction were not released.

Get the full analysis of all these stocks by going to http://at.zacks.com/?id=5507.

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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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