MORNING COFFEE

Facebook Lockup Period Ends. The lockup period that prevents insiders from selling their shares of Facebook will end today at the market open.  More than 270 million shares will be unlocked and will be eligible for sale.  The unlocking of these shares is not expected to affect trading to a great degree, since Facebook shares have fallen 44.2% from the offering price which was $38.00. 

An additional 243 million shares will become available for sale between mid-October and mid-November. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg will be able to sell his shares on November 14, when more than 1.2 billion shares will be available for trading. Pre-market: 20.69 -0.51 (-2.41%)

Upgrades

Cisco Systems (CSCO): Davenport raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and placed a target price of $24.00 on the company. Pre-market: 18.64 +1.29 (7.44%)

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF): Wedbush raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform and raised their target price from $30.00 to $45.00. Pre-market: 35.70 +0.47 (1.33%)

Downgrades

Applied Materials (AMAT): Susquehanna lowered their rating from Neutral to Negative and lowered their target price from $10.00 to $9.00. Pre-market: 11.30 -0.50 (-4.24%)

Applied Materials (AMAT): CLSA lowered their rating from Outperform to Underperform and placed a target price of $12.00 on the company. Pre-market: 11.30 -0.50 (-4.24%)

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF): Macquaire lowered their rating from Neutral to Underperform and placed a target price of $25.00 on the company. Pre-market: 35.70 +0.47 (1.33%)

Staples (SPLS): Citigroup Susquehanna lowered their rating from Neutral to Sell and lowered their target price from $15.00 to $10.00. Pre-market: 11.34 -0.15 (-1.31%)

Coverage Initiated

Old Dominion Freight (OLDF): Longbow initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $56.00. 

      

Burger King (BKW): Barclays initiated coverage with an Equal Weight rating.

American Express (AXP): Janney Capital initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $60.00.  

Earning Reports

Applied Materials (AMAT): Reported EPS of $0.24 beating estimates by +$0.02. Pre-market: 11.30 -0.50 (-4.24%)

Cisco Systems (CSCO): Reported EPS of $0.47 beating estimates by +$0.02. Pre-market: 18.64 +1.29 (7.44%)

Limited (LTD): Reported EPS of $0.50 beating estimates by +$0.03. Pre-market: 48.30 -0.69 (-1.41%)

PETsMART (PETM): Reported EPS of $0.71 beating estimates by +$0.06.

Dollar Tree (DLTR): Reported EPS of $0.51 beating estimates by +$0.04. Pre-market: 47.00 -3.00 (-6.00%)

Sears Holding (SHLD): Reported EPS of -$0.86 beating estimates by +$0.10.

Wal-Mart (WMT): Reported EPS of $1.18 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 72.72 -1.73 (-2.32%)

Markets: 
Futures at 7:58: Dow +0.08%. S&P +0.16%. Nasdaq +0.24%. Crude +0.08% at $94.41. Gold -0.04% to $1605.90.

Europe: London -0.22%. Paris -0.17%. Frankfurt +0.10%. 

Asia: Japan +1.88%. Hong Kong -0.45%. China -0.32%. India -0.40%.