Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Walgreen’s drops Medical Coverage for Employees. Walgreen (WAG) is expected to announce today that they will no longer offer health care insurance for employees and their families. Instead the company is expected to give employees cash so they can buy their own insurance on an exchange. The company is expected to site the Obamacare law for the change. Several companies have already announced that they will be dropping health insurance for their employees or spouses. They include IBM and Time Warner, Trader Joes, UPS, and Xerox. Additionally, McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts are looking to get waivers from the law.

Upgrades:

Comstock (CRK): Global Hunter Securities raised their rating from Accumulate to Buy.

Downgrades:

Caterpillar (CAT): Robert W. Baird lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral and maintained their target price of $90.00. Pre-market: 86.41 -0.66 (-0.76%)

Exelon (EXC): RBC Capital lowered their rating from Outperform to Sector Perform.

Intuit (INTU): Morgan Stanley lowered their rating from Equal Weight to Underweight and placed a target price of $62.00 on the company.

James River Coal (JRCC): BB&T lowered their rating from Hold to Underweight.

Joy Global (JOY): Robert W. Baird lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral and lowered their target price from $57.00 to $55.00. Pre-market: 52.38 -0.58 (-1.10%)

Coverage Initiated:

Allstate (ALL): Guggenheim initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $63.00.

Marsh & McLennan (MMC): Guggenheim initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $51.00.

Symantec (SYMC): Nomura initiated coverage with a Neutral rating.

Travelers Cos. (TRV): Guggenheim initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $87.00.

United States Steel (X): BMO Capital initiated coverage with a Market Perform rating and target price of $19.00.

Earning Reports:

Adobe Systems (ADBE): Reported EPS of $0.32 missing estimates by -$0.02. Pre-market: 51.20 +3.06 (6.36%)

Cracker Barrel (CBRL): Reported EPS of $1.43 beating estimates by +$0.08. Pre-market: 103.00 -4.00 (-3.74%)

FedEx (FDX): Reported EPS of $1.53 beating estimates by +$0.03. Pre-market: 113.80 +3.12 (2.82%)

General Mills (GIS): Reported EPS of $0.70 in-line with estimates. Pre-market: 50.02 +0.24 (0.48%)

Markets: 
Futures at 8:57: Dow -0.03%. S&P -0.01%. Nasdaq +0.27%. Crude +0.43% to $105.90. Gold -0.50% to $1302.90. U.S. 10 Year -3/32 2.867%.

Europe: London -0.04%. Paris +0.37%. Frankfurt +0.28%. 

Asia: Japan +1.35% to 14505. Hong Kong -0.27% to 23117. China +0.29% to 2192. India +0.80% to 19962. 

Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Inflation Rose Less Than Expected. The Labor Department reported this morning that inflation rose less than expected in August.  The CPI rose only +0.1% in August versus the +0.2% increase in July. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy rose +0.1%. Wall Street economist had expected a +0.2% for both the CPI and Core CPI numbers.

Upgrades:

American States Water (AWR): Brean Capital raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $28.00 on the company.

Broadcom (BRCM): Susquehanna raised their rating from Neutral to Positive and raised their target price from $33.00 to $35.00. Pre-market: 27.33 +0.42 (1.56%)

Delta Airlines (DAL): JPMorgan raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight and raised their target price from $22.00 to $26.00. Pre-market: 23.64 +0.49 (2.12%)

FreightCar America (RAIL): Stephens raised their rating from Equal Weight to Overweight and raised their target price from $18.00 to $24.00. Pre-market: 19.96 +0.66 (3.42%)

Mead Johnson Nutrition (MJN): JPMorgan raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight and raised their target price from $78.00 to $88.00. Pre-market: 76.11 0.00 (0.00%)

US Airways (LCC): JPMorgan raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight and raised their target price from $18.00 to $26.00. Pre-market: 18.58 +0.51 (2.82%)

Verizon Communications (VZ): RBC Capital raised their rating from Sector Perform to Outperform and placed a target price of $54.00 on the company.

Downgrades:

Comstock Resources (CRK): Howard Weil lowered their rating from Sector Outperform to Sector Perform. Pre-market: 15.89 -0.12 (-0.75%)

ConAgra Foods (CAG): JPMorgan lowered their rating from Overweight to Neutral and lowered their target price from $36.00 to $33.00.

Kellogg (K): JPMorgan lowered their rating from Neutral to Underweight and lowered their target price from $65.00 to $60.00.

Steven Madden (SHOO): Wedbush lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral and maintained their target price of $55.00.

Coverage Initiated:

Angie’s List (ANGI): Telsey Advisory Group placed a target price of $29.00 on the company. Pre-market: 20.83 +0.59 (2.92%)

Perrigo (PRGO): CRT Capital initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $145.00.

Earning Reports:

Coty (COTY): Reported EPS of $0.03 beating estimates by +$0.01.

FactSet Research (FDS): Reported EPS of $1.20 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 111.00 -1.25 (-1.11%)

Markets: 
Futures at 8:20: Dow +0.05%. S&P +0.01%. Nasdaq +0.11%. Crude -0.43% to $106.12. Gold +0.10% to $1319.00. U.S. 10 Year +7/32 2.841%.

Europe: London -0.49%. Paris -0.23%. Frankfurt -0.21%. 

Asia: Japan -0.65% to 14312. Hong Kong -0.31% to 23181. China -2.05% to 2186. India +0.31% to 19804.