(Source: Business Wire)
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: Hospira, Inc. (NYSE: HSP), Finisar Corp. (Nasdaq: FNSR), McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD), Cleveland-Cliffs, Inc. (NYSE: CLF) and Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE: ANR).
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Here are highlights from Wednesday's Analyst Blog:
Hospira Hold-Rated, Target Upped
Hospira (NYSE: HSP) reported Q2 EPS that were lower than our estimate by $0.04 on sales that were significantly below our forecast. We increased our FY08 sales and EPS estimates. Our price target is based on roughly 15x FY09 EPS estimate.
The company continues to progress with its manufacturing optimization initiative and expects to complete integrating the acquisition by the end of the year. The company must continue to successfully launch new products. The company continues to face increasing competition for sales of Vancomycin, its largest selling drug in the U.S. Our price target is $42.
Finisar Beats Expectations
Finisar Corp. (Nasdaq: FNSR) has gained a strong position in the short-distance, low-cost portion of the Ethernet market. FNSR's acquisition of Optium Corporation further compliments its product portfolio and should be accretive to its earnings in 2009.
Although some recent data points indicate that spending on network equipment may be slowing, FNSR has reported strong results and given good guidance. As such, we maintain our Hold rating with our $1.50 target price.
McDonald's Keeps On Cooking
McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) reported much stronger-than-expected August same-store sales numbers, lapping very strong comparables and surpassing our expectations. We continue to view the stock as a good defensive investment and expect steady mid-to-high-single digit earnings growth, fueled by margin expansion and a trade-down from casual dining in an economically weakening Europe, unit growth in AMPEA, the rollout of high-end coffees system-wide, and share buybacks.
We note that worse-than-expected headwinds from a strengthening dollar, rising beef prices and slowing Asian economies pose downside risks to our estimates. Nevertheless, we think this stock provides relative safety and moderate growth and yield in a turbulent environment and exposure to faster-growing international markets. Our rating remains Buy with a six-month target price of $68.
