MORNING COFFEE

Multinational Companies Get Hurt By Earthquake. Multinational corporations are facing supply-chain and manufacturing disruptions due to the earthquake in Japan. Some analysts are saying that Apple (AAPL) may have some difficulties getting the parts needed to manufacture its iPad 2. Toyota (TM), Honda (HMC) Nissan (NSANY), Mitsubishi and Isuzu, have had their plants closed since the earthquake and have said that they would be limiting their production in the U.S. to keep parts for their Japanese plants.  General Motors (GM) announced they will also halt production at their Louisiana plant due to part shortages. Analysts expect Volkswagen (VLKAY) Sony (SNE) Ericsson (ERIC) and Nokia (NOK) to experience supply issues although the current thought is that Intel (INTC), Qualcomm (QCOM), Motorola Mobility (MMI) and Research in Motion (RIMM) would see little if any impact from the quake.

Upgrades

Humana (HUM): Argus raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $77.00 on the company.

Accenture (ACN): Stifel Nicolaus raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $59.00 on the company.

Diamond Offshore (DO): FBR Capital raised their rating from Underperform to Market Perform and placed a target price of $80.00 on the company.

Coverage Initiated

Devon Energy (DVN): RBC Capital Markets initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target price of $105.00.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

Ross Stores (ROST): RBC Capital Markets reiterated their Sector Perform rating and raised their target price from $64.00 to $68.00.

News Corp (NWSA): RBC Capital Markets reiterated their Outperform rating and raised their target price from $18.00 to $20.00.

Nike (NKE): Stifel Nicolaus reiterated their Buy rating and lowered their target price from $100.00 to $98.00.

JDS Uniphase (JDSU): Stifel Nicolaus reiterated their Buy rating and lowered their target price from $32.00 to $28.00.

China Automotive (CAAS): Oppenheimer reiterated their Outperform rating and lowered their target price from $24.00 to $15.00.

Urban Outfitters (URBN): FBR Capital reiterated their Market Perform rating and lowered their target price from $34.00 to $32.00.

Earning Reports

LDK Solar (LDK): Reported Q4 EPS of $1.09 beating estimates by +$0.17 on revenue of $921 million, beating estimates by+$34 million.

Nike (NKE): Reported FQ3 EPS of $1.08 missing estimates by -$0.04 on revenue of $5.1 billion, beating estimates by +$0.1 billion. 

Perry Ellis (PERY): Reported EPS of $0.69 beating estimates by +$0.02.

·         Futures at 7:00: Dow +0.6%. S&P +0.7%. Nasdaq +0.55%. Crude+0.5% to $101.93. Gold +0.8% to $1415.20.

·          Europe: London +0.3%. Paris +0.8%. Frankfurt +0.5%.

·         Asia: Japan +2.7% to 9207. Hong Kong +0.1% to 22300. China+0.4% to 2909. India -1.5% to 17879.