For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – November 11, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Amdocs Ltd. (DOX) as the Bull of the Day and Molina Healthcare, Inc. (MOH) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Fannie Mae (FNM), Freddie Mac (FRE) and Ford (F).
Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5506
Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:
Bull of the Day:
We maintain our Outperform recommendation for Amdocs Ltd. (DOX), following its strong results for the fiscal fourth quarter of 2009. The company has industry-leading technology integration products for managed services and large transformational projects.
We believe long-term fundamentals for Amdocs remain firm due to the transition of telecom service providers to converged and consolidated solutions. Amdocs maintains a very strong financial position with healthy order backlog.
Recently, the company has won a series of large managed services contracts in various parts of the world. Except Europe, operations in other regions have started gaining momentum.
Bear of the Day:
Molina Healthcare, Inc. (MOH) reported third-quarter earnings of $0.33 per share, which was well below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.53. The company earned $0.60 in the year-ago quarter.
The decline in profit for the quarter was attributable to higher operating expenses coupled with losses from the company's California health plan. The increase in medical costs was attributable to the H1N1 flu virus and costs associated with recently enrolled members. The impact of the H1N1 epidemic is significant and has the potential to worsen in the coming quarters.
We are also concerned about the intense competition facing Molina. We have an Underperform rating on the stock with a price target of $19.
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Notes on Janet Yellen Speech
These policies are likely to stay in place for a while to come, and will only gradually be lifted, particularly the low fed funds rate. What happens to mortgage rates once the Fed stops buying every scrap of paper ever issued or backed by Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) is very much of an open question. Oh, the buying of longer-term treasuries was just to bring private rates down -- it had nothing to do with keeping the interest costs to the government down .
Big firms that can tap the credit markets on their own are in much better position than small firms that have to rely on bank loans. Remember that spreads on low-grade corporate debt last winter were higher than the spreads during the Great Depression. While the Fed intervention has not helped everyone, it clearly has helped many.
It is hard to tease out how much of the increased demand for housing and autos is due to the government subsidies, and how much is "real" pent-up demand. The October auto sales were somewhat encouraging in this regard, since Cash for Clunkers was not a factor. The rebound to profits at Ford (F) was real, even if it could be laid at the feet of the Clunkers program. The inventory bounce is real, but is probably temporary.
Get the full analysis of all these stocks by going to http://at.zacks.com/?id=5507.
About the Bull and Bear of the Day
Every day, the analysts at Zacks Equity Research select two stocks that are likely to outperform (Bull) or underperform (Bear) the markets over the next 3-6 months.
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Updated throughout every trading day, the Analyst Blog provides analysis from Zacks Equity Research about the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets.
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Continuous analyst coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.
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