Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Senate to Vote on New Tax. The Democratically controlled Senate is expected to approve a bill today that would force online merchants to collect sales tax on Internet transactions. The Republican controlled House is expected to provide more opposition to the bill.  Both Wal-Mart (WMT) and Amazon.com are in favor of the new tax while eBay (EBAY) is against the new tax.

Upgrades

Humana (HUM): JPMorgan raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight and raised their target price from $88.00 to $91.00.

Intel (INTC): RBC Capital JPMorgan raised their rating from Sector Perform to Overweight and raised their target price from $24.00 to $29.00. Pre-market: 24.16 +0.20 (0.83%)

Intuit (INTU): First Analysis raised their rating from Equal Weight to Overweight and placed a target price of $70.00 on the company. Pre-market: 60.57 +0.31 (0.51%)

Transocean (RIG): ISI Group raised their rating from Buy to Strong Buy. Pre-market: 53.45 +0.21 (0.39%)

Downgrades

Comerica (CMA): BTIG lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral. Pre-market: 36.90 -0.17 (-0.46%)

Exelon (EXC): ISI Group lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and placed a target price of $36.00 on the company.

Moody’s (MCO): Raymond James lowered their rating from Strong Buy to Outperform.

Coverage Initiated

UnitedHealth Group (UNH): JPMorgan initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and target price of $70.00.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed 

Walt Disney (DIS): Wunderlich reiterated their Hold rating and raised their target price from $58.00 to $63.00. Pre-market: 65.09 +0.29 (0.45%)

Earning Reports

Federal Signal (FSS): Reported EPS of $0.12 beating estimates by +$0.02.

Sysco (SYY): Reported EPS of $0.49 beating estimates by +$0.06. Pre-market: 33.90 -0.76 (-2.19%)

Tyson Foods (TSN): Reported EPS of $0.36 missing estimates by -$0.09. Pre-market: 24.00 -0.93 (-3.73%)

Westlake Chemical (WLK): Reported EPS of $1.84 beating estimates by +0.59.

Markets: 
Futures at 7:16: Dow -0.01%. S&P -0.02%. Nasdaq +0.07%. Crude +0.40% to $95.99. Gold +0.78% to $1475.60.

Europe: London closed. Paris -0.36%. Frankfurt -0.16%. 

Asia: Japan closed. Hong Kong +0.99% to 22915. China +1.16% to 2231. India +0.50% to 19674. 

Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

U.S. Adds 165,000 Jobs. In April the U.S. economy added 165,000 new jobs, above the 155,000 that Wall Street economists had expected. The unemployment rate also fell to 7.5% from 7.6%. The new unemployment rate is still high, but the new rate is a positive sign.  21.9 million Americans are unemployed or underemployed with 835k not actively looking for work.

Upgrades

General Motors (GM): Craig-Hallum raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $38.00 on the company. Pre-market: 31.70 +0.54 (1.73%)

Gilead Sciences (GILD): S&P raised their rating from 4 stars to 5 stars. Pre-market: 53.25 +1.07 (2.05%)

SunPower (SPWR): RW Baird raised their rating from Neural to Outperform and raised their target price to $16.00. Pre-market: 15.10 -0.19 (-1.24%)

Downgrades

Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY): Oppenheimer lowered their rating from Outperform to Perform and maintained a target price of $71.00. Pre-market: 69.43 -0.29 (-0.42%)

PetSmart (PETM): Oppenheimer lowered their rating from Outperform to Perform and maintained a target price of $70.00.

Sysco (SYY): Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their rating from Hold to Sell and placed a target price of $18.00 on the company.

Tractor Supply (TSCO): Oppenheimer lowered their rating from Outperform to Perform and raised their target price from $100.00 to $125.00.

Yelp! (YELP): First Analysis lowered their rating from Overweight to Equal Weight. Pre-market: 32.00 -0.22 (-0.68%)

Coverage Initiated

Fossil (FOSL): Topeka initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $112.00. Pre-market: 98.05 +1.55 (1.61%)

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed 

Gilead Sciences (GILD): Oppenheimer reiterated their Outperform rating and raised their target price from $59.00 to $61.00. Pre-market: 53.25 +1.07 (2.05%)

Clorox (CLX): B. Riley & Co. reiterated their Neutral rating and raised their target price from $75.00 to $81.00. Pre-market: 85.60 -0.24 (-0.28%)

Earning Reports

American Axle (AXL): Reported EPS of $0.10 missing estimates by -$0.06. Pre-market: 13.90 +0.16 (1.16%)

ADP (ADP): Reported EPS of $0.99 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 68.74 +1.35 (2.00%)

American International Group (AIG): Reported EPS of $1.34 beating estimates by +0.46. Pre-market: 42.96 +0.83 (1.97%)

Blue Nile (NILE): Reported EPS of $0.07 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 32.00 -0.73 (-2.23%)

Con Edison (ED): Reported EPS of $1.08 beating estimates by +$0.04.

Dole Food (DOLE): Reported EPS of $0.12 missing estimates by -$0.04. After Hours: 10.50 -0.21 (-1.96%)

Flour (FLR): Reported EPS of $1.02 beating estimates by +$0.06.

Gilead Sciences (GILD): Reported EPS of $0.48 missing estimates by -$0.02. Pre-market: 53.25 +1.07 (2.05%)

Kraft Foods (KRFT): Reported EPS of $0.76 beating estimates by +$0.12. After Hours: 51.53 +1.00 (1.98%)

Moody’s (MCO): Reported EPS of $0.97 beating estimates by +$0.12. Pre-market: 60.61 +0.06 (0.10%)

Newell Rubbermaid (NWL): Reported EPS of $0.35 beating estimates by +$0.03. Pre-market: 26.43 +0.04 (0.15%)

SunPower (SPWR): Reported EPS of $0.22 beating estimates by +$0.12. Pre-market: 15.00 -0.29 (-1.90%)

Markets: 
Futures at 7:15: Dow -0.03%. S&P -0.07%. Nasdaq +0.05%. Crude +0.43% to $94.39. Gold +0.80% to $1479.30.

Europe: London +0.24%. Paris +0.02%. Frankfurt +0.18%. 

Asia: Japan Closed. Hong Kong +0.10% to 22690. China +1.44% to 2206. India -0.81% to 19576.

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD) - Rating change

S&P raised their rating from 4 stars to 5 stars.

Current Price $52.18 Today's Change +2.04 (4.07%) 52 Week Range $24.12 - $55.16 Average Volume (10-day) 13.9M EPS (TTM) $1.36 P/E Ratio 38.42x Shares Outstanding 1.5B Market Cap ($) 79.5B Beta 0.5046

Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Buffett Selling Moody’s Shares. Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A/BRK.B) has sold 1.75 million shares of the rating agency Moody’s (MCO). Berkshire is the largest shareholder holding over 28 million shares of the company.  Over the last three days shares of Moody’s ranged from $59.93 to $60.94, a six year high.  BRKB Pre-market: 106.61 +0.49 (0.46%), MCO Close: $60.80 0.00 (0.00)

Upgrades

Allergan (AGN): Lazard Capital raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and placed a target price of $115.00 on the company. Pre-market: 99.86 +1.19 (1.21%)

Genesse & Wyoming (GWR): Raymond James raised their rating from Outperform to Strong Buy.

INVESCO (IVZ): Sterne Agee Lazard Capital raised their rating from Neutral to Buy.

Seagate Tech (STX): Needham raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and placed a target price of $45.00 on the company. Pre-market: 38.50 +1.56 (4.22%)

Tactor Supply Co (TSCO): Janney Capital raised their rating from Neutral to Buy

Viacom  (VIAB): Wunderlich raised their rating from Hold to Buy and raised their target price from $72.00 to $80.00.

Yelp (YELP): Northland Capital raised their rating from Underperform to Market Perform and raised their target price from $16.50 to $27.00. Pre-market: 27.75 +2.45 (9.68%)

Downgrades

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): Macquarie lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral and maintained a target price of $3.30. Pre-market: 3.17 -0.05 (-1.55%)

Exelon (EXC): Brean Capital lowered their rating from Buy to Hold. Pre-market: 36.63 -0.12 (-0.33%)

Franklin Resources (BEN): Sterne Agee lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral.

MasterCard (MA): Raymond James lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform.

Micron Tech (MU): CLSA lowered their rating from Outperform to Underperform and lowered their target price from $11.00 to $10.00. Pre-market: 9.16 -0.04 (-0.43%)

Earning Reports

Allstate (ALL): Reported EPS of $1.47 beating estimates by +$0.18. Pre-market: 49.20 +0.80 (1.65%)

Archer-Daniels (ADM): Reported EPS of $0.48 missing estimates by -$0.05. Pre-market: 33.55 -0.03 (-0.09%)

Cardinal Health (CAH): Reported EPS of $1.02 beating estimates by +$0.07.

CIGNA (CI): Reported EPS of $1.72 beating estimates by +$0.29. Pre-market: 66.89 +1.51 (2.31%)

Estee Lauder (EL): Reported EPS of $0.45 beating estimates by +$0.12. Pre-market: 69.50 +0.71 (1.03%)

Facebook (FB): Reported EPS of $0.12 missing estimates by -$0.01. Pre-market: 27.90 +0.47 (1.71%)

Foster Wheeler (FWLT): Reported EPS of $0.14 missing estimates by -$0.04.

General Motors (GM): Reported EPS of $0.67 beating estimates by +$0.11. Pre-market: 31.06 +0.88 (2.92%)

International Paper (IP): Reported EPS of $0.65 missing estimates by -$0.09. Pre-market: 45.25 -0.64 (-1.39%)

Marsh McLennan (MMC): Reported EPS of $0.74 beating estimates by +$0.05.

Strayer Education (STRA): Reported EPS of $1.59 beating estimates by +$0.13. Pre-market: 48.53 -0.02 (-0.04%)

Teva Pharma (TEVA): Reported EPS of $1.12 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 38.18 +0.08 (0.21%)

Visa (V): Reported EPS of $1.92 beating estimates by +$0.11. Pre-market: 170.00 +3.98 (2.40%)

Markets: 
Futures at 7:45: Dow +0.37%. S&P +0.37%. Nasdaq +0.28%. Crude +0.54% to $91.53. Gold +0.83% to $1458.20.

Europe: London -0.06%. Paris +0.08%. Frankfurt +0.42%. 

Asia: Japan -0.76% to 13694. Hong Kong -0.30% to 22668. China -0.17% to 2174. India +1.19% to 19735. 

Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Apple Issues Bonds. Apple's (AAPL) new debt offering will be the largest corporate bond deal in history. Yesterday, Apple sold a total of $17 billion in bonds made up of six different offerings. The offerings consisted of: $1 billion of three-year floating-rate notes, $1.5 billion of three-year fixed-rate notes, $2 billion of five-year floating-rate notes, $4 billion of five-year fixed-rate notes, $5.5 billion of 10-year fixed-rate notes and $3 billion of 30-year fixed-rate notes. The rate of the newly issued three-year was 0.511%. Pre-market: 443.20 +0.42 (0.09%)

Upgrades

Amgen (AMGN): Goldman Sachs raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and raised their target price from $100.00 to $130.00.

Infosys (INFY): Susquehanna raised their rating from Negative to Neutral and raised their target price from $38.00 to $40.00.

Downgrades

Biogen Idec (BIIB): Goldman Sachs lowered their rating from Conviction Buy to Neutral and lowered their target price from $215.00 to $211.00.

Eastman Chemical (EMN): CLSA lowered their rating from Outperform to Buy and lowered their target price from $90.00 to $75.00.

Edison International (EIX): ISI Group lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and raised their target price from $54.00 to $55.50.

Edison International (EIX): BMO Capital lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform.

Fiserv (FISV): Oppenheimer lowered their rating from Outperform to Perform.

Helen of Troy (HELE): Imperial Capital lowered their rating from Outperform to In-Line.

Coverage Initiated

Maximus (MMS): Avondale initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target price of $94.00.

Potash (POT): Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $50.00.

Earning Reports

ADT (ADT): Reported EPS of $0.41 missing estimates by -$0.02. Pre-market: 41.99 -1.65 (-3.78%)

Clorox (CLX): Reported EPS of $1.00 missing estimates by -$0.06. Pre-market: 85.31 -0.94 (-1.09%)

Comcast (CMCSA): Reported EPS of $0.51 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 42.05 +0.75 

(1.82%)

CVS Caremark (CVS): Reported EPS of $0.83 beating estimates by +$0.04. Pre-market: 59.10 +0.92 (1.58%)

MasterCard (MA): Reported EPS of $6.23 beating estimates by +$0.06. Pre-market: 537.55 -15.38 (-2.78%)

Merck (MRK): Reported EPS of $0.85 beating estimates by +$0.06. Pre-market: 44.82 -2.18 (-4.64%)

Sealed Air (SEE): Reported EPS of $0.17 missing estimates by -$0.01.

Viacom (VIAB): Reported EPS of $0.96 beating estimates by +$0.01.

Markets: 
Futures at 8:49: Dow -0.16%. S&P -0.11%. Nasdaq: +0.07%. Crude -1.67% to $91.91. Gold -0.41% to $1466.10.

Europe: London +0.55%. Paris: Closed. Frankfurt: Closed. 

Asia: Japan -0.44% to 13799. Hong Kong: Closed. China: Closed. India: Closed.