Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Companies Are Smarter Than Government. On the eve of the Presidential election more companies are proving that they are smarter than government. Darden Restaurants (DRI) which is the owner of Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse and Bahama Breeze is the latest company to announce they will limit staff hours to below 30 hours a week.  The move will allow the company to avoid having to pay for health insurance or face a penalty of at least $2,000 per worker, under Obama Care.

Upgrades

Walt Disney (DIS): Argus raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $60.00 on the company. Pre-market: 50.20 +0.34 (0.68%)

Qualcomm (QCOM): Nomura raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and placed a target price of $70.00 on the company. Pre-market: 59.63 +0.33 (0.56%)

Perrigo (PRGO): Barrington Research raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform and placed a target price of $142.00 on the company. Pre-market: 114.60 -0.40 (-0.35%)

Aeropostale (ARO): FBR Capital raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform and placed a target price of $16.00 on the company.

Flagstar Bancorp (FBC): FBR Capital raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform and raised their target price from $10.00 to $17.00.

Target Group (TGT): JPMorgan raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight and raised their target price from $66.00 to $76.00. Pre-market: 63.59 +0.88 (1.40%)

Downgrades

E.I DuPont (DD): Piper Jaffray lowered their rating from Overweight to Neutral and lowered their target price from $53.00 to $51.00.

Coverage Initiated

UnitedHealth Group (UNH): Credit Suisse initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target price of $63.00.

Costco (COST): BMO Capital initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target price of $115.00. Pre-market: 96.54 +0.42 (0.44%)

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed 

Clorox (CLX): Caris & Company reiterated their Average rating and raised their target price from $67.00 to $74.00.

Earning Reports

Church & Dwight (CHD): Reported EPS of $0.66 beating estimates by +$0.07.

Elizabeth Arden (RGEN): Reported EPS of $0.44 beating estimates by +$0.02.

Humana (HUM): Reported EPS of $2.62 beating estimates by +$0.57.

Sysco (SYY): Reported EPS of $0.58 beating estimates by +$0.07.

Transocean (RIG): Reported EPS of $1.37 beating estimates by +$0.61.

Tesla Motors (TSLA): Reported EPS of -$0.92 missing estimates by -$0.01. Pre-market: 30.00 +1.08 (3.74%)

Markets: 
Futures at 7:33: Dow -0.03%. S&P -0.14%. Nasdaq -0.02%. Crude +0.21% at $85.02. Gold +0.30% to $1680.40.

Europe: London -0.60%. Paris -0.93%. Frankfurt -0.56%. 

Asia: Japan -0.48% to 9007. Hong Kong -0.47% to 22006. China -0.14% to 2114. India +0.04% at 18763.