For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – May 14, 2010 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Macy’s (M) as the Bull of the Day and CRA International (CRAI) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Apple Inc.(AAPL), Google (GOOG) and Nokia Inc. (NOK).
Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5506
Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:
Macy’s (M) is taking steps to increase sales, profitability and cash flow, which will put it on the growth trajectory once the economy rebounds. These include integration of operations, consolidation of divisions and customer-centric localization initiatives.
To help drive traffic, Macy’s continues to focus on price optimization, inventory management and merchandise planning. These help the company to deliver improved performance, and raised its earnings guidance. Macy’s hinted that it is also seeking to expand both the Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s brands.
We have a long-term Outperform recommendation on the stock. Our target price of $27.00, 15.1X 2010 EPS, reflects this view.
CRA International’s (CRAI) first quarter earnings drastically lagged behind the Zacks Consensus Estimate due to significant dip in top-line growth on weak utilization rates.
The company appears to have fallen into a repeated pattern of delivering disappointing quarterly results, then exceeding lowered expectations, before disappointing once again. The company’s operating environment remains challenging, with slowing client demand and weak utilization rates as a result of recent restructuring activities.
While overall near-term visibility remains misty, given the current volatile market trends, we believe the company’s initiatives will be able to generate positive results in the long term. Currently, however, we anticipate investors to demand evidence of management having properly addressed the operational problems before warranting a higher multiple to CRAI shares.
Latest Posts on the Zacks Analyst Blog:
HTC Corp. Sues Apple
In retaliation to the patent infringement suit filed by Apple Inc.(AAPL) on HTC Corp. some time back, the Taiwanese handset maker HTC filed a counter complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission, accusing Apple of violating five of its patented technologies related to mobile phones, and thereby requesting for a ban on the import, marketing and sale of some of Apple’s mobile devices in the United States, which are currently manufactured outside the country.
Specifically, HTC alleged that Apple violated its patent relating to technologies that help the iPhone manage power and handle phone directories, as well as a technology that helps the newly launched iPad to store data, while it is in sleep mode.
This is not the first of legal battles between Apple and other tech majors. Apple has previously filed a suit against HTC, which uses Google‘s(GOOG) Android operating system in a number of its latest-model smart phones.
Last October, Nokia Inc. (NOK) filed a lawsuit against Apple, claiming that the iPhone has violated some of its patents. So the legal war in the smartphone space has become very frequent in recent times.
It will be interesting to see how these issues are resolved. Apple has been growing at phenomenal rates and largely at the expense of other established players. If the company continues to take share from others, makes good use of market growth and does as well internationally as it has done in the U.S., it could very well become the global leader. On the other hand, if the charges prove justified, there would be a big price to pay.
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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