Weak Opening For The Broader Markets
Stocks appear set to open mixed to
lower Thursday.
Pepsi Bottling
(
PBG |
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PowerRating) was upgraded
by ABN Amro from Add to Buy. The firm cited the increase in overall return
expectations and improving pricing due to the most recent CPI data.
Racing Champions
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PowerRating) reported
a Q4 net of 32 cents a share vs. earnings of 6 cents a share a year ago. RACN
also announced that it intends to file a registration statement for a public
offering of 1.5 million shares.
Bivail Corp
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BVF |
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PowerRating) posted Q4
earnings of 46 cents a share, or $73.8 million, compared to 30 cents a share, or
$44.2 million, a year earlier. Earnings beat analysts’ estimates by 3 cents
according to a poll taken by Thomson Financial/First Call.
Terex Corp
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TEX |
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PowerRating) reported Q4
earnings of $1.6 million, or 5 cents a share, vs. a loss of $700,000, or 3 cents
a share, for the same quarter a year ago. Excluding charges and special items,
earnings for the quarter came in at 14 cents a share, or $4.5 million, beating
analysts’ consensus of 13 cents a share according to research firm Thomson
Financial/First Call.
Unibanco
(
UBB |
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PowerRating) posted record
profits for 2001. The private Brazilian bank netted profits of 972 million
reals,
a jump of 31.5% from last year.
According to a report in the Wall
Street Journal, the now bankrupt Global Crossing had stopped severance pay
to workers who were laid off by the company. However, the company moved a pay date so that
many of the executives would continue to get paid.
Nextel Communications
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NXTL |
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PowerRating) reported a Q4
net loss of $188 million vs. $96 million a year ago. Revenue for the
wireless communications company rose from $1.53 billion to $1.8 billion. The
company said it would not report its earnings for the quarter until after it
files its annual report with the SEC.
Manugistics
(
MANU |
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PowerRating) was upgraded
by Banc of America from Market Perform to Buy. The firm also put a price target
of $25 on MANU. Banc of America believes that the company is positioned to have
its market share grow and that the company trades at a discount to other companies
in the same group.
Banc of America upgraded i2 Technology
(
ITWO |
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PowerRating) from Market Perform to Buy and put a price target of $10 on the
company.
Kulicke & Soffa
(
KLIC |
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PowerRating) was
upgraded by Merrill Lynch from Neutral to Near Term Buy citing potentially
stronger bonder orders in the upcoming quarters.
Morgan Stanley upgraded Cox
Communications
(
COX |
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News |
PowerRating) from Outperform to Strong Buy and put a price target of
$45 on the stock based on 2003 EBITDA, which indicates a potential move of almost 40% to the
upside.