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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. The upside was due to cost- cutting efforts and lower interest expense.

We continue to believe Safeway's remodeling efforts, Lifestyle stores, and Blackhawk gift card business will lead to solid long- term growth. Still, we think these positives are offset by near- term headwinds such as the difficult macro conditions and consumers trading down. We maintain our Hold rating. Our target price is $28, which roughly 11x our 2009 earnings estimate.