Alcoa to Kickoff Q4 Earnings Season Today.

Alcoa to Kickoff Q4 Earnings Season Today. Alcoa (AA) will kickoff the Q4 earnings season today after the market close. Wall Street always watches very closely as since some believe that the company can give indications of how other industrial companies performed.  The first few days and weeks of earning season can be volatile as Wall Street interprets earning results.  Alcoa is expected to report Q4 EPS of $0.06 on a decline of revenue of 8.8% to %5.38 billion.   

Upgrades:

Dupont (DD): Bank of America Merrill Lynch raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and placed a target price of $70.00 on the company.

Forest Labs (FRX): Buckingham raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and raised their target price from $63.00 to $84.00.

Halliburton (HAL): Howard Weil raised their rating from Sector Perform to Outperform.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): Jefferies raised their rating from Hold to Buy and raised their target price from $102.00 to $108.00.

McDonalds (MCD): Morgan Stanley raised their rating from Equal Weight to Overweight and raised their target price from $93.00 to $115.00.

Smith & Wesson (SWHC): Sidoti raised their rating from Neutral to Buy.

Downgrades:

Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD): Morgan Stanley lowered their rating from Overweight to Underweight and lowered their target price from $144.00 to $143.00.

Diamond Offshore Drilling (DO): Howard Weil lowered their rating from Outperform to Sector Perform.

ENSCO (ESV): Howard Weil lowered their rating from Focus List to Outperform.

Family Dollar (FDO): MKM Partners lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral.

Yum! Brands (YUM): Morgan Stanley lowered their rating from Overweight to Equal Weight and lowered their target price from $81.00 to $77.00.

Coverage Initiated:

Bank of America (BAC): Nomura initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $19.00.

Charles Schwab (SCHW): Nomura initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $23.00.

Citigroup (C): Nomura initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $70.00.

CVS Caremark (CVS): Leerink initiated coverage with a Outperform rating and target price of $85.00.

E*Trade (ETFC): Nomura initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $23.00.

Goldman Sachs (GS): Nomura initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $172.00.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM): Nomura initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $61.00.

Morgan Stanley (MS): Nomura initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $34.00.

Raymond James (RJF): Nomura initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $60.00.

TD Ameritrade (AMTD): Nomura initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $32.00.

Western Union (WU): BTIG initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $23.00.

Earning Reports:

Family Dollar (FDO): Reported EPS of $0.68 missing estimates by -$0.01.

Supervalu (SVU): Reported EPS of $0.13 in-line with estimates.

Markets: 
Futures at 9:14: Dow +0.24%. S&P +0.10%. Nasdaq +0.16%. Crude +0.34% to $92.63. Gold +0.05% to $1226.10. U.S. 10 Year +4/32 to 2.978%.

Europe: London -0.02%. Paris -0.14%. Frankfurt +0.17%.

Asia: Japan -1.50% to 15880. Hong Kong -0.91% to 22787. China -0.82% to 2028. India -0.08% to 20713. 

#RLPaler #WallStreet #PreMarket #WealthManagement #EarningReports #AnalystsRatings

Government Wants BofA Fined Again.

Government Wants BofA Fined Again. The U.S. government is seeking to fine of Bank of America (BAC) again. This comes after a long list of resent fines, with the most recent for discrimination against black employees. The government is looking to fine the troubled bank the maximum $864 million that is allowed for their Countrywide loan program called. "Hustle." The program was designed to accelerate the creation and sale of loans to Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC).

Upgrades:

Best Buy (BBY): UBS raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and raised their target price from $45.00 to $49.00. Pre-market: 43.15 +0.74 (1.74%)

ExxonMobil (XOM): Argus raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $104.00 on the company. Pre-market: 92.86 +0.13 (0.14%)

INVESCO Ltd. (IVZ): Wells Fargo raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform and raised their target range from $33-$37 to $38-$42.

TD Ameritrade (AMTD): Raymond James raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform and placed a target price of $33.00 on the company.

Downgrades:

Deutsche Telekom (DTEGY): Goldman Sachs lowered their rating from Neutral to Sell.

Tata Motors (TTM): Nomura lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral. Pre-market: 29.88 -0.89 (-2.89%)

Coverage Initiated:

Chico’s FAS (CHS): Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $17.00.

Express (EXPR): Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $28.00.

Movado (MOV): KeyBanc initiated coverage with a Hold rating.

Twitter (TWTR): Sterne Agee initiated coverage with a Neutral rating. Pre-market: 40.84 -0.81 (-1.94%)

Markets: 
Futures at 8:20: Dow +0.10%. S&P +0.10%. Nasdaq +0.07%. Crude -0.22% to $94.37. Gold -0.12% to $1283.00. U.S. 10 Year +2/32 2.747%

Europe: London +0.29%. Paris +0.48%. Frankfurt +0.18%. 

Asia: Japan +1.30% to 14270. Hong Kong +1.43% to 23070. China +0.16% to 2109. India -0.85% to 20491. 

#RLPaler #WallStreet  #WealthManagement #EarningReports #AnalystsRatings #BankofAmerica #Discrimination #WorstBank

Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Valeant to Purchase Bausch & Lomb. Bausch & Lomb which is currently owned by Warburg Pincus LLC will be purchased by Valeant (VRX) for $8.7B in cash, including $4.2B in debt. The Bausch & Lomb deal is the largest of 15 acquisitions for the Montreal-based company. In 2012 Bausch & Lomb generated $3 billion in sales from its contact lenses, eye-care solutions and prescription medicines.

Upgrades

Bayer AG (BAYRY): Jefferies raised their rating from Hold to Buy.

Eli Lilly (ELI): Jefferies raised their rating from Underperform to Hold and raised their target price from $44.00 to $49.00.

Expeditors International (EXPD): BB&T raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $50.00 on the company.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK): Deutsche Bank raised their rating from Hold to Buy.

Merck & CO (MRK): Jefferies raised their rating from Hold to Buy and raised their target price from $48.00 to $54.00.

Novo Nordisk (NVO): Deutsche Bank raised their rating from Sell to Hold.

Texas Instruments (TXN): Drexel Hamilton raised their rating from Hold to Buy and raised their target price from $32.00 to $40.00.

Downgrades

Broadcom (BRCM): Susquehanna lowered their rating from Positive to Neutral and placed a target price of $39.00.

Lloyds Banking Group (LYG): Citigroup lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS): Citigroup lowered their rating from Hold to Sell.

St. Jude Medical (STJ): Canaccord Genuity lowered their rating from Hold to Sell.

Coverage Initiated

Jabil Circuit (JBL): Standpoint Research initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $28.00.

Earning Reports

Tiffany & Co (TIF): Reported EPS of $0.70 beating estimates by +$0.18.

Markets: 
Futures at 9:09: Dow +0.78%. S&P +0.81%. Nasdaq +0.93%. Crude +1.09% to $94.15. Gold -0.41% to $1381.10.

Europe: London +1.80%. Paris +1.46%. Frankfurt +1.22%. 

Asia: Japan +1.20% to 14312. Hong Kong +1.05% to 22924. China +1.23% to 2321. India +0.65% to 20161.