MORNING COFFEE

Blockbuster Files For Bankruptcy.  Video rental company Blockbuster has files for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and plans to keep stores open as it reorganizes.  The company has been under pressure as consumers switch to other ways to rent movies such as Netflix (NFLX), video on demand and Redbox.  CEO Jim Keyes said "After a careful and thorough analysis, we determined that the process announced today provides the optimal path for recapitalizing our balance sheet and positioning Blockbuster for the future as we continue to transform our business model to meet the evolving preferences of our customers."

McDonald's Raises Quarterly Dividend. McDonald's announced that it is raising their quarterly cash dividend by 11%.  The company will now pay a dividend of $0.61 per share and sees total cash of around $5 billion returned to shareholders in 2010 in the form of dividend and the share repurchase program.  The dividend is payable on December 15 to shareholders of record as of December 1.

Downgrades

Altria (MO): Stifel Nicolaus lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

Coverage Initiated

Monsanto (MON): Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage with a Hold recommendation.

Medco Health Solutions (MHS): FBR Capital initiated coverage with an Outperform recommendation and target price of $67.00.

Express Scripts (ESRX): FBR Capital initiated coverage with an Outperform recommendation and target price of $54.00.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY): Wedbush reiterated their Outperform rating and raised their target price from $48.00 to $50.00.

Earning Reports

Rite Aid (RAD): Reported earnings of -$0.23 missing estimates by -$0.07.

Texas Industries (TXI): Reported earnings of-$0.20 missing estimates by -$0.09.

After the close Nike (NKE) is due to report earnings.  Analysts estimates are for the company to report earnings of +$1.01 versus year ago earnings of +$1.04.