President Obama Will Act Alone

President Obama Will Act Alone. During last night’s State of the Union speech President Obama said that he would use his executive power to implement his economic and other policies, while highlighting the gap between the rich and poor that has widened during his administration. President Obama announced a dozen proposals including raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour for future federal contract workers that would affect about 560,000 people.  Additionally, some analysts believe he will also attempt to use his executive power to act on immigration reform and gun control, two hot buttons with American’s that many constitutional scholars say would be unconstitutional and illegal. During his speech the President also said he plans to create a government-coordinated retirement savings program that would provide a guaranteed return, but not additional specific are available at this time.

Upgrades:

CIT Group (CIT): Buckingham raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and placed a target price of $54.00 on the company.

VMware (VMW): Raymond James raised their rating from Outperform to Strong Buy and placed a target price of $109.00 on the company. Pre-market: 94.00 -0.94 (-0.99%)

Wal-Mart (WMT): Credit Suisse raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform and raised their target price from $80.00 to $87.00. Pre-market: 74.81 +0.14 (0.19%)

Downgrades:

WellPoint (WLP): Monness Crespi lowered their rating from Neutral to Sell. Pre-market: 81.60 -2.70 (-3.20%)

Yahoo! (YHOO): Gabelli lowered their rating from Buy to Hold. Pre-market: 35.90 -2.32 (-6.07%)

Earning Reports:

Amgen (AMGN): Reported EPS of $1.82 beating estimates by +0.14. Pre-market: 117.09 -3.61 (-2.99%)

AT&T (T): Reported EPS of $0.53 beating estimates by +0.03. Pre-market: 32.77 -0.93 (-2.76%)

Boeing (BA): Reported EPS of $1.88 beating estimates by +0.31. Pre-market: 131.75 -5.34 (-3.90%)

Cirrus Logic (CRUS): Reported EPS of $0.89 beating estimates by +0.12. Pre-market: 17.50 -1.24 (-6.62%)

Dow Chemical (DOW): Reported EPS of $0.65 beating estimates by +0.22.

EMC (EMC): Reported EPS of $0.60 beating estimates by +0.01. Pre-market: 25.50 +0.12 (0.47%)

Jetblue Airways (JBLU): Reported EPS of $0.14 beating estimates by +0.01. Pre-market: 8.74 0.00 (0.00%)

Novartis AG (NVS): Reported EPS of $1.20 beating estimates by +0.01. Pre-market: 78.94 -0.62 (-0.78%)

Phillips 66 (PSX): Reported EPS of $1.34 beating estimates by +0.24. Pre-market: 73.00 -2.08 (-2.77%)

VMware (VMW): Reported EPS of $1.01 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 94.00 -0.94 (-0.99%)

WellPoint (WLP): Reported EPS of $0.87 in-line with estimates. Pre-market: 81.60 -2.70 (-3.20%)

Yahoo! (YHOO): Reported EPS of $0.46 beating estimates by +0.08. Pre-market: 35.90 -2.32 (-6.07%)

Markets:
Futures at 8:33: Dow -0.49%. S&P -0.45%. Nasdaq -0.46%. Crude -0.15% to $97.27. Gold +1.02% to $1263.70. U.S. 10 Year +10/32 to 2.724%.

Europe: London -0.51%. Paris -0.86%. Frankfurt -0.48%.

Asia: Japan +2.70% to 15384. Hong Kong +0.82% to 22142. China +0.56% to 2050. India -0.18% to 20647.

#TopWealthManager #RLPaler #WallStreet #AnalystsRatings #EarningReports #WealthManagement

Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

U.S. Durable Goods Miss Estimates. The Commerce Department reported that durable goods orders fell 7.3% marking the largest decline since last August. Durable goods are manufactured products designed to last three years or more. Wall Street economist had estimated that durable goods would fall only 4% in July. Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft fell 3.3%, ending four months of gains. It was the biggest fall since February. Economists had expected capital goods orders to increase 0.5%. The decline in orders for both durable and capital goods suggests manufacturing is slowing and that the economy may not grow in Q3 as much as some expected.  

Upgrades:

Adobe Systems (ADBE): Pacific Crest raised their rating from Sector Perform to Outperform and placed a target price of $60.00 on the company.

Aeropostale (AEO): Brean Capital raised their rating from Sell to Hold.

Altera (ALTR): Citigroup raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and raised their target price from $39.00 to $41.00.

Amgen (AMGN): Piper Jaffray raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight and raised their target price from $120.00 to $140.00.

Big Lots (BIG): JPMorgan raised their rating from Underweight to Neutral and placed a target price of $32.25 on the company. Pre-market: 33.00 +0.75 (2.33%)

Dollar Tree (DLTR): Deutsche Bank raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $60.00 on the company. Pre-market: 53.97 +0.68 (1.28%)

Hasbro (HAS): Citigroup raised their rating from Sell to Buy and raised their target price from $40.00 to $53.00.

Downgrades:

Family Dollar Store (FDO): Deutsche Bank lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and placed a target price of $74.00 on the company. Pre-market: 71.88 -0.40 (-0.55%)

Tyson Foods (TSN): BofA Merrill Lynch lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and placed a target price of $32.00 on the company. Pre-market: 30.76 -0.72 (-2.29%)

Markets: 
Futures at 8:31: Dow -0.14%. S&P -0.07%. Nasdaq +0.06%. Crude -0.15% at $106.24. Gold +0.06% to $1396.70. U.S. 10 Year +4/32 2.799%.

Europe: London closed. Paris -0.32%. Frankfurt -0.01%. 

Asia: Japan -0.18% to 13636. Hong Kong +0.65% to 22005. China +1.90% to 2096. India +0.21% to 18558. 

Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

U.S. GDP Tops Estimates. The advanced GDP reading on the U.S. economy was released this morning and topped Wall Street estimates. Economist had expected that the U.S. economy had slowed to a growth rate of only 1.1% down from the previous quarters 1.8% growth.  For Q2 the U.S. economy grew by 1.7%, however Q1 GDP was revised downwards to only 1.1% from the prior 1.8%.

Areas of strength in the economy included: Residential fixed investment which increased 13.4%, personal consumption which rose 1.8% and spending on durable goods which increased 6.5%.

Upgrades:

Boyd Gaming (BYD): JPMorgan raised their rating from Underweight to Neutral and raised their target price from $8.00 to $12.00.

Fresh Del Monte (FDP): CL King raised their rating from Neutral to Buy.

Downgrades:

Barclays PLC (BCS): Societe Generale lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

Diego PLC ADS (DEO): Canaccord lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

Jacobs Engineering (JEC): Johnson Rice lowered their rating from Overweight to Equal Weight.

Mosaic (MOS): Scotia lowered their rating from Outperform to Sector Perform.

R.R. Donnelley & Sons (RRD): The Benchmark Company lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and lowered their target price from $20.00 to $15.00.

Sprint Nextel (S): FBR Capital lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform and placed a target price of $6.00 on the company.

Earning Reports:

AFLAC (AFL): Reported EPS of $1.62 beating estimates by +$0.11.

Amgen (AMGN): Reported EPS of $1.89 beating estimates by +$0.15.

Anheuser-Bush InBev (BUD): Reported EPS of $0.93 missing estimates by -$0.12.

Comcast (CMCSA): Reported EPS of $0.65 beating estimates by +$0.02.

Fiserv (FISV): Reported EPS of $1.50 beating estimates by +$0.06.

MasterCard (MA): Reported EPS of $6.96 beating estimates by +$0.30.

Symantec (SYMC): Reported EPS of $0.44 beating estimates by +$0.08.

Markets: 
Futures at 6:15: Dow 0.0%. S&P +0.5%. Nasdaq 0.0%. Crude +0.2% to $103.33. Gold +0.5% to $1332. U.S. 10 Year -16/32 2.674%

Europe: London +0.6%. Paris +0.02%. Frankfurt +0.08%. 

Asia: Japan -1.45% to 13668. Hong Kong -0.32% to 21884. China +0.19% to 1994. India -0.05% to 19,339.