For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – February 22, 2010 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Sara Lee (SLE) as the Bull of the Day and Molina Healthcare, Inc. (MOH) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Valero (VLO), Tesoro (TSO) and ATP Oil and Gas (ATPG).
Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5506
Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:
We still hold an Outperform rating on Sara Lee (SLE) shares to reflect our favorable view of management’s various initiatives to achieve growth and streamline operations.
The company’s Transformation Plan is expected to generate sales growth in the range of 4% to 5% and earnings growth in the range of 5% to 8% by next year. Further, the company is executing a series of global projects to generate cost savings in the range of $350 million to $400 million by fiscal 2012.
The company is focused on more attractive product lines that have better potential for profitable growth in the long-term.
Molina Healthcare, Inc. (MOH) reported a fourth-quarter loss of $0.18 per share, which was worse than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $0.16. The company earned $1.19 per share in 2009 as against $2.15 per share in 2008, so its latest results are down approximately 45%.
Molina’s profit fell approximately 48.2% to $30.9 million in fiscal 2009 from 2008. The decline in profit was attributable to higher operating expenses. The increase in medical costs was attributable to the H1N1 influenza and costs associated with recently enrolled members.
We are also concerned about the intense competition facing Molina. We have an Underperform rating on the stock.
Latest Posts on the Zacks Analyst Blog:
Consumer Price Index: Inflation Tame
The big inflationary factor really just boils down to Energy, where prices were up 2.8% on the month (and no, that is not an annualized figure) after a 0.8% increase in December and a 2.2% rise in November. Over the last year, overall energy prices are up 19.1%. But even that does not tell the full story.
It is really energy commodities, like gasoline and heating oil, that are driving things, not energy services like electricity and piped natural gas. Energy commodities were up 4.9% in January after a 1.6% increase in December and a 3.0% rise in November, and are up 46.6% from a year ago. Energy services, on the other hand, were unchanged in January after a 0.3% decline in December and a 1.1% increase in November and are actually down 4.7% year over year.
Energy commodity prices are really just a function of the price of oil (with some minor modification for things like the crack spread that refiners make turning crude into products consumers actually use. Crack spreads, by the way, have been lousy — much to the detriment of firms like Valero [VLO]) and Tesoro [TSO]).
It is the upstream part of the energy business that has been getting the benefit, especially if they are able to boost their production. One smaller name in that seems to fit the bill is ATP Oil and Gas (ATPG).
Get the full analysis of all these stocks by going to http://at.zacks.com/?id=5507.
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