For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – July 13, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Heinz (HNZ) as the Bull of the Day and Xtent, Inc. (XTNT) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Boeing (BA), Caterpillar (CAT) and Microsoft (MSFT).
Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2676.
Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:
Growth in Heinz’s (HNZ) domestic businesses, strengthening international operations, and the reallocation of resources in favor of key brands are major positive trends for the company.
Despite cost pressure from higher commodity costs, strong pricing of 3.5% to 4.5% has allowed the company to report positive earnings surprises in the last twelve quarters. Management expects net sales to increase by 4% to 6% in fiscal 2010 driven by new product introductions and positive pricing.
In addition, the stock’s valuation is attractive. The Buy rating is maintained.
Xtent, Inc.’s (XTNT) Custom NX drug eluting stent (DES) Systems treats coronary artery disease (CAD), the leading form of cardiovascular disease and major cause of death in the U.S. and Europe. CAD accounts for over 650,000 annual deaths and affects over 13 million people in the U.S.
The company received CE mark approval for the product. However, commercialization of the product in Europe may be delayed due to the company’s shortage of funds.
As such, we lowered our near-term revenue estimates and downgraded this stock to a Sell.
Latest Posts on the Zacks Analyst Blog:
Trade Deficit Declines
Yes, it is nice to see imports decline, particularly things like oil imports, but it would be far better if we were reducing the deficit by selling more abroad, rather than buying less here. If there were some evidence that the reason for the reduced imports was that we were making more of what we consume here, say by buying Chevys built in Detroit rather than Hondas built in Tokyo (or Hondas build in Tennessee, for that matter), it might be a different story.
However, it appears that the reduction in imports is just another reflection of weak overall demand. The change in the balance of industrial goods and materials (including oil) was a very significant part of the year over year improvement, with our monthly import bill falling by 34.9 billion while our monthly exports were down by $11.0 billion. In other words, this category was responsible for $23.9 billion — or 72.6% — of the total improvement on a year-over-year basis.
Net imports (aka the trade deficit) is a direct input into the GDP numbers. The improvement in the May trade deficit will be an important factor in making the second quarter GDP growth decline much less than the 5.5% decline we saw in the first quarter. Since our exports are by definition the imports of some other country, the fact that demand for them is rising might indicate that the rest of the world is also starting to find its economic footing (although it would show up as a negative in their national income accounts, just as it helps ours).
I find the rise in actual exports to be a very encouraging sign. It might just be signaling some light at the end of the tunnel for major U.S. exporters like Boeing (BA), Caterpillar (CAT) and Microsoft (MSFT).
Get the full analysis of all these stocks by going to http://at.zacks.com/?id=5507.
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