(Source: Business Wire)
Zacks Equity Research picks Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (NYSE: HMY) as Bull of the Day and Celanese Corp. (NYSE: CE) as Bear of the Day. In addition, the analysts at Zacks Equity Research discuss the latest on Macy's (NYSE: M), Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) and Kohl's (NYSE: KSS).
Full analysis of all these stocks is available at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2678
Bull of the Day
Formed in 1950, South Africa's Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (NYSE: HMY) conducts underground and surface gold mining. It is also engaged in related activities such as exploration, processing, smelting and refining. Presently, Harmony is the 3rd largest producer of gold in South Africa, producing about 20% of the country's annual gold output and the 5th largest gold producer in the world.
Harmony Gold is benefiting from higher gold prices in terms of the South African rand. Going forward however, Harmony is focused on lowering its cost structure, primarily by closure of loss-making shafts and reducing its debt level aggressively.
As a result, we rate the shares a Buy with a target of $16.00. The company is also focused on reducing its operating costs through restructuring efforts. As a result, we rate the shares a Buy with a target of $16.00. This is 39.0x our 2009 earnings estimate.
Bear of the Day
Celanese Corp. (NYSE: CE) is a global hybrid chemical company based in Dallas. The company produces chemical substances and materials.
Weak market conditions drove a dramatic decline in overall global demand for many industries which affected Celanese operations. Recessionary trends, coupled with inventory destocking, resulted in sharp volume declines in the Advanced Engineered Materials and the Acetyl Intermediates businesses.
The company expects volumes to remain under pressure in 2009, even with the easing of inventory destocking. Thus, we rate the shares a Sell with a target of $9.00.
Recent Analysis from the Analyst Blog
Private Labels Grow More Popular
Consumers are looking for ways to save money, and switching from name brands to private brands fits the bill. This shouldn't be too surprising as shoppers can routinely save up to 20% on private-label products compared to similar name-brand products. Retailers also benefit from private-label sales.
Store traffic increases as shoppers seek out lower-cost items, and private-label products are more profitable than name brands. For those reasons, grocers and drug stores have been selling private-label food, staples, and medicines for years.
