For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – March 6, 2012 – 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 Apple Inc. (
AAPL), Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. (
MMI), BP Plc ( BP), Transocean
Ltd ( RIG) and Halliburton
Company ( HAL).
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Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst
Blog:
Apple vs. Samsung: War Continues
Apple Inc. ( AAPL) and Samsung’s court
battles are nothing new. Both the companies have been filing patent
infringement cases against each other in almost every continent in
which they are present. In the latest development, two patent
infringement cases brought on by Apple and Samsung against each
other were dismissed by a regional court in Mannheim, Germany.
Apple’s claim that Samsung has infringed its mobile devices’
‘slide-to-unlock technology’ was dismissed by the German court.
Samsung, in its defense, argued that its slide to unlock technology
was different from that of Apple’s in terms of "gestures of any
path between start and target".
Separately, Samsung’s claim that Apple was violating a certain
3G wireless patent held by Samsung was also dismissed. However,
Samsung is expected to appeal to a higher court in Karlsruhe,
Germany, against the dismissal.
Interestingly, very recently the same court in Karlsruhe,
Germany, ruled in favor of Apple in the patent infringement case
lodged by Motorola Mobility Holdings
Inc. ( MMI). The patent in question was related to 3G
wireless networking standards that threatened to disrupt sales of
Apple’s iconic iPhones and iPads in the country.
Apple has been pretty aggressive in protecting its intellectual
property and has been using court rooms to counter competition in
various countries. Notwithstanding a few failures, the company has
received success in many of the patent litigation cases that it has
filed against Samsung and other fellow competitors such as HTC and
Motorola Mobility.
We believe that Apple’s legal tussles will continue as
competition heats up in the smartphone and tablet space. This will
increase legal expenses and will hurt Apple’s operating profit
going forward. Additionally, the impending lawsuits in different
countries will remain an overhang on the stock going forward.
Despite these factors, we believe that Apple remains the biggest
growth story based on its superior product pipeline, popular apps,
the recently launched iCloud and iPhone 4S, and the upcoming update
of iPad and Apple TV, and loyal customer base. With a solid
balance sheet and robust revenues, we expect Apple to outperform
its peers in the long run. Moreover, we also expect Apple to
succeed in developing countries due to the growing affluence of the
middle class in key markets.
We maintain our Neutral recommendation over the long term (6-12
months). Currently, Apple has a Zacks #1 Rank, which implies a
Strong Buy rating in the near term.
BP, Plaintiffs Settle on $7.8
Billion
BP Plc ( BP) and Plaintiffs’ Steering
Committee (PSC) have reached an agreement of $7.8 billion, over the
reimbursements to be made for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil
spill.
The judge had earlier postponed the trial by a week and
rescheduled it for March 5 to give BP and PSC more time to discuss
and settle the matter. PSC embodies a group synchronizing the
efforts of around 90 law firms on behalf of a condominium of
owners, fishermen, hoteliers, restaurateurs and others damaged by
the April 20, 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig
and the subsequent oil spill. A settlement between BP and PSC
reduces the complexity of the litigation and signifies a major step
toward achieving a global settlement.
The oil spill had catastrophic effects killing eleven people and
pouring 4.9 million barrels from the mile-deep Macondo oil well.
This is by far the worst offshore U.S. oil spill.
The breach of Clean Water Act along with other laws led the U.S.
government to take legal action against the main defendants in the
trial––BP, Transocean Ltd ( RIG)
and Halliburton Company ( HAL). Several
other companies are also involved in the trial.
Per BP, the estimated settlement of $7.8 billion with PSC covers
a significant extent of legitimate economic loss and medical claims
arising from the Deepwater Horizon accident and oil spill. The
settlement includes an amount of $2.3 billion set aside to
especially help cover claims related to the Gulf seafood industry.
The terms of the settlement are still required to be submitted to
the court for approval.
BP expects to compensate the losses from Gulf Coast Claims
Facility— a trust fund which was initially created with an amount
$20 billion to pay for such claims. Currently, the fund is left
with $9.5 billion. BP had earlier paid $6.1 billion from the fund
to reimburse around 220,000 claimants.
Other than these, BP had also shelled out over $22 billion to
meet other obligations in the Gulf region and made payments in
excess of $8.1 billion to individuals, businesses and government
entities. Another $14 billion was spent for operational purposes.
BP has also promised to pay $105 million for the enhancement of
healthcare facilities among Gulf communities.
The claims would be categorized under two heads — economic loss
claims and medical claims. The claimants demanding medical
benefits, including workers who facilitated the spill clean up
procedure, would be entitled to care for 21 years.
A charge of $37.2 billion, which has already been recorded in
BP’s financial statement, inclusive of the $20 billion trust fund
amount, is unlikely to be affected by this settlement.
The settlement will help BP to resolve issues with the federal
and state governments and move beyond the Gulf oil spill. A
settlement between BP and PSC reduces the complexity of the
litigation and signifies a major step toward achieving a global
settlement. The agreement does not settle the claims BP faces
against the US government and drilling partners.
BP holds a Zacks #3 Rank, which translates into a Hold rating
for a period of one to three months. For the long term, we maintain
a Neutral recommendation on the stock.
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APPLE INC (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report
BP PLC (BP): Free Stock Analysis Report
HALLIBURTON CO (HAL): Free Stock Analysis Report
MOTOROLA MOBLTY (MMI): Free Stock Analysis Report
TRANSOCEAN LTD (RIG): Free Stock Analysis Report
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