MORNING COFFEE

Coke to Buy Bottler. Coca-Cola (KO) is said it has a deal to buy the bulk of its largest bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE). Coke would buy the bottler's North American operations in a deal that could be valued at around $12.9 billion, including debt.

Mr. Toyoda Testifies Before Congress. Toyota (TM) President Akio Toyoda apologized before Congress for his company's safety lapses, but still faced hostile questioning that went on for hours.  The questioning by some was over the top and seemed to be a conflict of interest, since the U.S government owns both GM and a large portion of Chrysler.  

  

Hummer to Close Its Doors.  Chinese regulators blocked the sale of GM's Hummer brand to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery. GM will now wind the brand down over the next several months. Chinese regulators provided limited details on the rejection, but said the deal would have run counter to government efforts to encourage environmentally-friendly energy consumption.

UBS Looks For Tax Settlement.  The Swiss government will turn to the country's Parliament for retroactive approval of a tax settlement reached between the U.S. government and UBS (UBS) after the company illegally sheltered U.S citizens from paying taxes. The government also said it will bill UBS 1 million Swiss francs ($928,000) to cover part of its costs related to the case.

S&P May Downgrade Greece. S&P threatened to downgrade the country’s long-term rating to near-junk status. Greece is also getting ready to issue a 10yr bond next week. Some economists believe that Greece’s problems could cause a domino effect in trouble Spain and that Spain will determine whether the Eurozone stands or falls.

Fortress Investment Group LLC (FIG): Reported Q4 EPS of -$0.58 missing estimates by -$0.64.

Mylan Laboratories (MYL): Reported Q4 EPS of $0.33 beating estimates by +$0.03 on revenue of $1.3 billion.

Express Scripts (ESRX): Reported Q4 EPS of $0.97 Beating estimates by +$0.07 on revenue of $8.2 billion.

Upgrades

Big Lots (BIG): JP Morgan upgraded their rating from Neutral to Overweight and set a target price of $38.00.

Downgrades

Blockbuster (BBI): Janney Montgomery Scott lowered their rating from Neutral to Sell and set a target price of $0.15.

Fifth Third (FTIB): Citigroup lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and set a target price of $13.00.

Gamestop (GME): Piper Jaffray lowered their rating from Overweight to Neutral and lowered their target price from $24.00 to $16.00.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

Express Scripts (ESRX): Oppenheimer reiterated their Overweight rating and changed their target price from $94.00 to $123.00.

·         Futures: Dow -0.36% to 10318. S&P -0.45% to 1099. Nasdaq -0.45%. Crude flat at $82.96. Gold -0.26% to $1170.90.

·         Asia: Nikkei -0.9% to 10102. Hang Seng -0.3% to 20400. Shanghai+1.3% to 3061. BSE -0.0% to 16254.

·         Europe: London -0.1% to 5338. Paris -0.3% to 3704. Frankfurt -flat at 5615.