Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog.
Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and
events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently
featured in the blog include: General Motors (NYSE: GM), Amphenol
Corp. (NYSE: APH), Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY), POSCO
(NYSE: PKX) and Kookmin Bank (NYSE: KB).
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Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst
Blog:
Concerns Mounting for GM
Weak North American sales, falling production volumes and rising raw
material costs are increasing our concerns for General Motors
(NYSE: GM). Significant incentives designed to stimulate sales and keep
inventories lean are eating into margins. Furthermore, GM sales are
hampered by poor resale values. The company is at a disadvantage
compared to its competitors owing to huge pension and health care costs.
GM is undertaking a broad global assessment of its assets for
monetization, which is expected to generate approximately $2 billion to
$4 billion of additional liquidity. The company has suspended dividends
on common stock. These compel us to rate the shares a Sell with a
six-month target price of $10.00.
APH Stays a Hold
Amphenol Corp. (NYSE: APH) reported record revenues of $847
million in Q2:FY08, exceeding the Street's consensus of $816 million, on
the back of strong growth in the interconnect segment. Given the recent
run-up in the stock, we maintain our Hold rating with a target price of
$49.
The company's top-line growth is benefiting from improved end-market
demand, new product rollouts, and market share gains. We remain
optimistic about Amphenol's long-term growth prospects in the mobile
devices business. The company continues to expand the use of its
products into fast-growing sub-markets such as PDAs, laptops, and
desktop computers.
How Safe Is It Anyway?
Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY) reported disappointing sales that
were $400 million below consensus, but just $47 million below our
forecast. The difficult macro environment has consumers trading down to
cheaper alternatives, and away from the company's Lifestyle stores. Even
so, Safeway's second-quarter EPS were a penny ahead of consensus and a
penny below our estimate.
