For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – May 10, 2010 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Snap-on (SNA) as the Bull of the Day and State Street Corp. (STT) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Kelly Services (KELYA), Manpower (MAN) and PNC Financial Services Group Inc.(PNC).
Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5506
Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:
We are upgrading our recommendation on Snap-on (SNA) to Outperform with a $57 target price. Organic sales for the Commercial and Industrial Group were up over 9% from last year. There was across the board increases in nearly all the businesses.
The biggest contributors here were the equipment division, including Europe and in Asia Pacific where its expended product lines are starting to take hold. From a profit increase perspective, C&I was a big contributor with operating earnings of over $30 million, up $13 million from last year.
Given the critical sustainability factor in the current sluggish economic recovery, we have downgraded our recommendation on State Street Corp. (STT) to Underperform.
Earnings were down compared with the prior-year quarter, due primarily to higher expenses as a result of increased salaries and benefits expenditure. We are concerned about the company’s risky investment portfolio exposure.
Latest Posts on the Zacks Analyst Blog:
Great Jobs Report
In April, total employment rose by 290,000, which was far above consensus expectations for growth of 188,000. The job gains were helped by the addition of 66,000 temporary census jobs, but that hiring was figured into the consensus estimates and was actually smaller than most people had been expecting. The bulk of the job gain in April came from the private sector, which added 231,000 jobs. In addition, there were huge upward revisions to the jobs numbers for both March and April.
The service sector, which is vastly larger than the goods-producing sector, added 166,000 new jobs in April on top of 119,000 in March and 90,000 in February. It is a stark contrast to the 372,000 private sector service jobs lost a year ago. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that temporary jobs continue to rise, although the pace is slowing a bit. Temp agencies like Kelly Services (KELYA) and Manpower (MAN) added 26,200 employees in April, on top of 32,400 in March and 35,900 in February.
Downgrading PNC to Neutral
We are downgrading our recommendation on PNC Financial Services Group Inc.(PNC) to Neutral on concerns of weak loan demand in the near term.
PNC Financial has been experiencing a weak loan demand for the past couple of years. Commercial lending consists of 53% of the company’s loan portfolio while consumer lending covers the rest. Both businesses have witnessed a decline but commercial lending has suffered more. Though this trend eased somewhat at the end of 2009, given lower utilization levels for commercial lending among middle market and large corporate clients, we expect a weak loan demand and low utilization rates until the economy improves.
Get the full analysis of all these stocks by going to http://at.zacks.com/?id=5507.
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