MORNING COFFEE

Berkshire Hathaway’s Sokal May Have Broken Law. 

In an announcement yesterday Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A/BRK.B) said former executive David Sokol did break the company's insider-trader laws and deceived the company about his purchase of Lubrizol (LZ), just before Sokol recommended the deal to Warren Buffett.  The Berkshire’s audit committee also said Sokol failed to meet his disclosure obligations under Delaware state law. Pre-market: 82.75 -0.24 (-0.29%)

Upgrades

Flagstar Bancorp (FBC): FBR Capital raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform and raised their target price from $1.75 to $2.00.

Downgrades

Stericycle (SRCL): Robert W. Baird lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral.

Coverage Initiated

Huntington Ingalls (HII): Morgan Keegan initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and placed a target price of $50.00 on the company.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

Xilinx (XLNX): Auriga U.S.A reiterated their Buy rating and raised their target price from $36.00 to $39.00.

Novellus (NVLS): Needham reiterated their Buy rating and lowered their target price from $45.00 to $41.00.

Urban Outfitters (UBRN): Needham reiterated their Strong Buy rating and lowered their target price from $51.00 to $48.00.

Moody's (MCO): The Benchmark Company reiterated their Buy rating and raised their target price from $38.00 to $43.00. 

Earning Reports

Aetna (AET): Reported Q1 EPS of $1.43 beating estimates by +$0.46 on revenue of $8.34 billion, missing estimates by -$0.04 billion. Pre-market: 43.65 +3.84 (9.65%)

AFLAC (AFL): Reported Q1 EPS of $1.63 beating estimates by +$0.11. Pre-market: 54.92 0.00 (0.00%)

Ball (BLL): Reported Q1 EPS of $0.58 beating estimates by +$0.10 on revenue of $2.01 billion, beating estimates by +$0.12 billion. Pre-market: 37.01 0.00 (0.00%)

Baidu.com (BIDU): Reported Q1 EPS of $0.47 beating estimates by +$0.02 on revenue of $372 million, beating estimates by +$5 million. Pre-market: 152.66 +1.55 (1.03%)

Colgate-Palmolive Company (CL): Reported Q1 EPS of $1.16 in-line with estimates on revenue of $3.99 billion, beating estimates by +$0.08 billion. Pre-market: 80.25 -0.81 (-1.00%)

Dow Chemical (DOW): Reported Q1 EPS of $0.82 beating estimates by +$0.15 on revenue of $14.73 billion, beating estimates by +$0.71 billion. Pre-market: 40.50 +0.58 (1.45%)

eBay (EBAY): Reported Q1 EPS of $0.47 beating estimates by +$0.01 on revenue of $2.54 billion, in-line. Pre-market: 34.80 +0.77 (2.26%)

International Paper (IP): Reported Q1 EPS of $0.78 beating estimates by +$0.19 on revenue of $6.38 billion, beating estimates by +$0.02 billion. Pre-market: 30.40 +0.42 (1.40%)

Intersil (ISIL): Reported Q1 EPS of $0.11 in-line with estimates on revenue of $199 million, bearing estimates by +$2 million. Pre-market: 14.80 0.00 (0.00%)

Iron Mountain (IRM): Reported Q1 EPS of $0.26 missing estimates by -$0.01 on revenue of $799 million, beating estimates by +$8 million. . Pre-market: 31.67 0.00 (0.00%)

Medco Health Solutions (MHS): Reported Q1 EPS of $0.91 beating estimates by +$0.03 on revenue of $17.01 billion, missing estimates by -$0.05 billion. Pre-market: 54.94 0.00 (0.00%)

Norfolk Southern (NSC): Reported Q1 EPS of $1.00 beating estimates by +$0.10 on revenue of $2.6 billion, beating estimates by +$1 billion. Pre-market: 70.76 +2.35 (3.44%)

Potash (POT): Reported Q1 EPS of $0.84 beating estimates by +$0.04 on revenue of $2.20 billion, beating estimates by +$0.19 billion. Pre-market: 57.92 +0.73 (1.28%)

Starbucks (SBUX): Reported FQ2 EPS of $0.34 in-line with estimates on revenue of $2.8 billion, in-line. Pre-market: 36.25 -0.94 (-2.53%)

Starwood Hotels (HOT): Reported Q1 EPS of $0.30 beating estimates by +$0.05 on revenue of $1.29 billion, beating estimates by +$0.02 billion. Pre-market: 60.68 0.00 (0.00%)

Xilinx (XLNX): Reported FQ4 EPS of $0.59 beating estimates by +$0.07 on revenue of $588 million, beating estimates by +$10 million. Pre-market: 33.00 +0.14 (0.43%)

·         Futures at 8:01: Dow -0.09%. S&P -0.12%. Nasdaq -0.17%. 10-yr +0.21%. Euro +0.1% vs. dollar. Crude -0.15% to $112.59. Gold +1.0% to $1532.

·         Europe: London -0.19%. Paris +0.46%. Frankfurt +0.43%.

·         Asia: Japan +1.6%. Hong Kong -0.4%. China -1.3%. India -0.8%.