MORNING COFFEE

Potash Rejects Takeover Bid. Potash Corp. (POT) announced this morning that it had received and rejected an unsolicited takeover proposal of $130.00 a share from BHP Billiton (BHP), the bid values Potash at $38.4 billion. In the statement Potash said that the  offer from BHP's "substantially undervalues PotashCorp and fails to reflect both the value of our premier position in a strategically vital industry and our unparalleled future growth prospects." Shares of POT are up +27.79% to 143.32 in the premarket.

Warren Buffett Increases Stake In JNJ. Warren Buffett’s , Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A/BRK.B) raised its stake in Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) by 73% in Q2, adding 17.4M shares worth just over $1 billion. Additionally the company also bought 4.4 million shares in Fiserv (FISV), and sold 5 million shares in ConocoPhillips (COP) and 1.5 million shares in Kraft (KFT).

Upgrades

JB Hunt Trans (JBHT): Stifel Nicolaus raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $40.00 on the company.

Cott (COT): Stifel Nicolaus raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $8.50 on the company.

Con-way (CNW): Stifel Nicolaus raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $36.00 on the company.

Downgrades

AthenaHealth (ATHN): Robert W. Baird lowed their rating from Outperform to Neutral and placed a target price of $30.00 on the company.

Coverage Initiated

Talisman Energy (TLM): Ticonderoga initiated coverage with a Buy rating.

Apache (APA): Ticonderoga initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $130.00.

Devon Energy (DVN): Ticonderoga initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $78.00.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

Advance Auto (AAP): FBR Capital reiterated their Outperform rating and raised their target price from $57.00 to $60.00.

Earning Reports

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF): Reported Q2 EPS of $0.24 beating estimates by +$0.08 on revenue of $745.8 million.

Home Depot (HD): Reported Q2 EPS of $0.72 beating estimates by +$0.01 on revenue of $19.4 billion. The company also raised its full year11 EPS guidance to $1.90 from $1.88; and lowered its full year 11 revenue growth to 2.6% from 3.5%.

Wal-Mart (WMT): Reported Q2 EPS of $0.97 in-line on revenue of $103 billion. The company also raised its full year11 EPS guidance to $3.95 - $4.05. 

Agilent Technologies (A): Reported FQ3 EPS of $0.54 beating estimates by +$0.06 on revenue of $1.4 billion. 

Urban Outfitters (URBN): Reported Q2 EPS of $0.42 beating estimates by +$0.03 on revenue of $552 million.

·         Futures: Dow +0.6%. S&P +0.8%. Nasdaq +0.7%. Crude +1.3% to $76.23. Gold +0.2% to $1228.40.

·         Asia: Japan -0.4% to 9162. Hong Kong +0.1% to 21137. China +0.4% to 2672. India 0.0% at 18049.

·         Europe: London +1.1%. Paris +1.0%. Frankfurt +1.3%.