Shares are Outperform rated.

Chipotle Mexican Grill-CMG: Shares defended, story playing out@COWN
Cowen said the near-term short story in CMG is well played out and that today’s reduced eps is more than reflected in shares. Cowen rates shares Outperform.

Potash-POT downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform@Scotia
Agrium-AGU downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform@Scotia

Chipotle Mexican Grill-CMG.b downgraded to Neutral from Overweight@JPMS
JP Morgan downgraded CMG Class B shares to Neutral following the Q2 miss. CMG Class A shares remain Neutral rated.

Celgene-CELG reports Q2 EPS 37c vs. consensus of 35c
Reports Q2 revenue $571.5M vs. consensus $538.93M.

U.S. equity futures point to a lower open

U.S. stock futures are moderately weaker this morning ahead of more data on the troubled housing market and another wave of earnings. Amazon.com (AMZN) is expected to be one bright spot. Today, weekly jobless claims numbers are on the docket for the week of July 19, and will be released at 8:30 am. The survey calls for 380,000, up from the prior 366,000. At 10:00 am existing-home sales are expected to show that they fell slightly further in June, and are approaching a record low. That will signal tumbling real estate values and dampened consumer confidence. The survey estimates that resales fell 1% to a 4.94M annual rate in June. This morning, the S&P 500 futures fell 5.90 points to 1,276.50 and Dow industrial futures fell 47 points to 11,566. The Nasdaq 100 futures edged up 0.2 of a point to 1,849.2 after the Amazon.com report. Investors are also digesting yesterday’s House of Representative’s approval of legislation that seeks to slow the steep slide in house prices, rescue hundreds of thousands of homeowners at risk of foreclosure, and reassure global markets that mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) will not be allowed to fail.

Memc Electronic Mat-WFR: View shares near $40 as ‘extremely undervalued’@SOLE

Soleil believes investors are overreacting to the disappointing last couple of quarters and the firm expects better results heading into 2009. They maintain a Buy rating and $103 target.

Agnico-Eagle-AEM upgraded to Buy from Neutral@UBSW
UBS upgraded AEM based on valuation. Target to $77 from $82.

Qualcomm-QCOM: Would be buyers after Nokia settlement@OPCO
After Nokia (NOK) and Qualcomm settled their legal dispute and signed a licensing agreement for 3G and 4g technologies, Oppenheimer believes Qualcomm will significantly beat consensus estimates for its 2009 and they think its multiple will expand.

Diamond Offshore-DO declares special dividend of $1.25 per share
Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. announced that its Board of Directors has declared a special cash dividend of $1.25 per share of common stock and a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.125 per share of common stock. Both dividends are payable on September 1, 2008 to shareholders of record on August 1, 2008.

Allstate-ALL: Still concerned about write-downs@WCHV
After Allstate reported lower than expected Q2 EPS, Wachovia is still worried that the company will take additional write-downs, since it has one of the largest amount of subprime holdings among property and casualty insurers they cover. The firm maintained their Market Perform rating.

Qualcomm-QCOM added to Top Picks Live list, maintain Buy@SBSH
Citigroup added QCOM and removed Texas Instruments (TXN) following QCOM’s settlement with Nokia. Citigroup believes the settlement could add 26c to QCOM’s 2009 EPS and has a $61 target on the stock.

Bunge Limited-BG reports Q2 EPS $5.45 vs. consensus of $2.27
Reports Q2 revenue $14.36B vs. consensus of $13.25B.
Bunge Limited-BG raises FY08 EPS view to $11.60-$11.90 from $9.35-$9.65
Consensus is for EPS of $9.16.

Strayer Education-STRA reports Q2 EPS $1.50 vs. consensus of $1.47
Reports Q2 revenue $97.9M vs. consensus of $96.91M.

Auxilium Pharmaceuticals-AUXL downgraded to Hold from Buy@SBSH
Citigroup downgraded shares after their analysis indicated a smaller patient pool for Xiaflex than management expectations. The firm lowered their target to $37 from $43.

Potash-POT reports Q2 EPS $2.82 vs. consensus of $2.61
Reports Q2 revenue $2.62B vs. consensus of $2.55B.
Potash-POT raises FY08 EPS view to $12-$13 from $9.50-$10.50
Consensus is for EPS of $11.67.

EnCana-ECA reports Q2 EPS $1.63 vs. consensus of $1.84
Reports Q2 revenue $7.32B vs. consensus of $5.95B.