CHICAGO, July 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Zacks.com announces
the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the
Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events
impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently
featured in the blog include: Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT),
Foster Wheeler (Nasdaq:
FWLT), Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology
Index ETF (Nasdaq: IBB) and VeriFone Systems
Inc (NYSE: PAY).
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101027/ZIRLOGO)
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Here are highlights from Friday's Analyst Blog:
Slowdown Looks Entrenched
There is always so much confusion about the economy and the
stock market and what government should or shouldn't be doing to
facilitate their growth. I am not confused and I think I can help,
so I am going to quickly describe some of my views of the markets
and the economy in very simple terms.
Fair warning: I will use general observations over statistics,
which will actually make it easier for you to argue against my
ideas if you disagree with them. It's often harder to argue with a
misused piece of data.
Mine is an optimistic view that is also conservative. In other
words, while I think some things are structural problems that will
continue to haunt -- and there are always compromises to be made
between ideals and the realities of human nature -- I am bullish
overall on American ingenuity, productivity and capital
markets.
There is nothing wrong with the economy. It is working amazingly
well, and mostly because the global economy is still humming and
emerging markets (EM) have sustained demand for American products
and know-how. Even though the U.S. is still a powerhouse engine of
global demand and growth, our up and coming peers in Asia, Europe,
South America and Africa were not derailed in their middle-class
dreams just because of our crisis.
Who really thought in the spring of 2009 that we would see the
recovery and growth we have seen for the last two years?
As an arm-chair economist and trader, I thought so, and a few
real economists and large fund managers I pay attention to did. In
the spring of 2009, I told investors in interviews on CNBC and FOX
Business and Bloomberg that what we had before us was a systemic,
generational banking crisis that just handed us a generational
market buying opportunity.
EM vs. QE
I knew I had an extraordinary opportunity to advise investors at
the recession lows of 2009 to buy long-term positions in cyclicals,
energy, technology and biotech, recommending Caterpillar
(NYSE: CAT) at $40, Foster Wheeler (Nasdaq: FWLT) at
$19, "buying all the dips" in
Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and backing up the truck on the
iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index ETF (Nasdaq: IBB) at
$65 and "putting it away." The IBB
recommendation was a conservative, long-term, no-brainer to me.
Little did I know how big the biopharma M&A tsunami of 2009-10
would be as well over $100 billion in
deals were done!
Later in 2009, as the animal spirits of our economy caught fire
again from the EM, I became interested in buying materials and
commodity stocks again, especially as I grew to understand the
global dynamics of population growth, urbanization and food
demand.
Not even Warren Buffett was so
optimistic (of course, that's not saying much since his "long-term"
is so much longer than anyone else's). Most investors were not so
optimistic, I think because they had so much guilt about
quantitative easing (QE) and its explosion of debt. Or they just
wanted to be able to say "I told you so!" if another unsustainable
credit bubble emerged.
We needed QE and the TARP program and everything else that
Bernanke and Paulson did in 2008 and 2009 to stave off financial
collapse. As I've said for nearly three years, in the midst of a
fear-driven credit crisis where contagion could spread systemic
breakdowns in all sorts of financial institutions, it was always
about confidence first and foremost.
VeriFone Reports In Line
VeriFone Systems Inc (NYSE: PAY) reported
revenues of $292 million in the
second quarter of fiscal 2011, up 21% year over year and up 3%
sequentially, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $283 million.
Based in San Jose, California,
VeriFone designs, markets and services a transaction automation
system that facilitates electronic payments between consumers,
merchants and financial institutions.
On a segment basis, System Solutions generated revenues of
$235.3 million, up 19.0% year over
year. The company saw strong demand in its petroleum business as
sites continue to upgrade for PCI-compliance. Services revenues
grew 38.7% year over year to $57.1
million.
North America delivered a 14%
year-over-year growth. Revenue from international markets grew 28%
year over year. Latin America grew
11%, Europe grew by 41% and
Asia increased by 25%.
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