MORNING COFFEE

2012 Budget Disappoints. Yesterday President Obama submitted a massive $3.7 trillion budget for 2012.  The budget contains both increases and some small spending cuts along with tax cuts and tax increases. The problem is that the budget does not address the three largest worries those economists have: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid that some say could bankrupt the U.S. Some in Washington are publically saying that the budget accelerates America's "dangerous trajectory" toward a national debt crisis.

 

Buffett Sells Off BofA. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A / BRK.B) sold off its remaining 5 million shares of Bank of America (BAC) and increased its holding in Wells Fargo (WFC) to 342 million shares.  Berkshire Hathaway had owned 8.7 million shares of BofA in 2007 when then-CEO Ken Lewis said the U.S. housing slump would end within months. Then in 2009 when CEO Ken Lewis bought Merrill Lynch for $18.5 billion, Buffett said was "crazy."

Upgrades

Green Mountain Coffee (GMCR): KeyBanc Capital Markets raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $55.00 on the company.

Downgrades

Cablevision (CVC): Kaufman Bros lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

Comcast (CMCSA): Kaufman Bros reiterated their Buy rating and raised their target price from $25.00 to $28.00.

Cablevision (CVC): Wunderlich reiterated their Buy rating and raised their target price from $38.00 to $44.00.

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF): Oppenheimer reiterated their Outperform rating and raised their target price from $54.00 to $60.00.

Earning Reports

Agilent Technologies (A): Reported FQ1 EPS of $0.60 beating estimates by +$0.02 on revenue of $1.5 billion, in-line with estimates.

CIT Group (CIT): Reported Q4 EPS of $0.37 missing estimates by -$0.03.

Marriott International (MAR): Reported Q4 EPS of $0.39 beating estimates by +$0.03 on revenue of $3.6 billion in-line with estimates.

Masco (MAS): Reported Q4 EPS of -$0.08 missing estimates by -$0.06 on revenue of $1.7 billion, missing estimates by -$0.05 billion.

·         Futures at 8:38: S&P -0.24%. DOW -0.05%. NASDAQ -0.07%. 10-yr -0.15%. Crude +0.32% to $85.08. Gold +0.62% to $1373.60.

·         Europe: London +0.1%. Paris +0.4%. Frankfurt +0.2%.

·         Asia: Japan +0.2%. Hong Kong -1.0%. China 0.0%. India +0.4%.