CALDEIRÃO DE BOLSA

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Company Ticker Brokerage Firm Ratings Change Price Target
Overstock.com OSTK Avondale Partners Mkt Perform » Mkt Outperform $35 » $50
SS&C Techs SSNC Sun Trust Rbsn Humphrey Neutral » Buy $23.50
RF Micro Device RFMD CE Unterberg Towbin Underperform » Market Perform

CYTYC Corp CYTC Wachovia Mkt Perform » Outperform

3M Company MMM Goldman Sachs In-Line » Outperform

Canadian Natl Rail CNI Smith Barney Citigroup Hold » Buy

Brown & Brown BRO Ferris Baker Watts Hold » Buy




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Company Ticker Brokerage Firm Ratings Change Price Target
eBay EBAY Janco Partners Accumulate » Mkt Perform

WW Grainger GWW Morgan Keegan Outperform » Mkt Perform

Texas Instruments TXN Raymond James Outperform » Mkt Perform

Planar Systems PLNR Needham & Co Buy » Hold

World Acceptance WRLD Roth Capital Buy » Neutral $25 » $24
Brush Engineered Mat BW Jefferies & Co Buy » Hold $22
Hasbro HAS Harris Nesbitt Outperform » Neutral

Select Med SEM Legg Mason Buy » Hold $20
ITT Industries ITT Goldman Sachs Outperform » In-Line

Leapfrog LF Jefferies & Co Hold » Underperform $22 » $11
Leapfrog LF Merrill Lynch Buy » Neutral

Texas Instruments TXN Janney Mntgmy Scott Buy » Hold $24 » $23
FLYi FLYI UBS Neutral » Reduce

Delta Air Lines DAL UBS Buy » Reduce

CSX Corp CSX Smith Barney Citigroup Hold » Sell

Wendy's WEN Smith Barney Citigroup Hold » Sell

Meredith MDP Merrill Lynch Buy » Neutral

Leapfrog LF Piper Jaffray Market Perform » Underperform

Silicon Labs SLAB Piper Jaffray Market Perform » Underperform

Earnings Running Strong; Oil Down Another $1: Market sentiment this morning is upbeat. The earnings news is very good. Oil is down another $1 this morning after a $1.13 drop yesterday. The early negative sentiment from yesterday has been washed completely away. The better tone may continue for a while.

IBM (IBM 85.92) reported earnings 3 cents ahead of expectations and gave comforting guidance for the fourth quarter. Fellow Dow components Altria (MO 47.40) beat by 4 cents, and McDonald's (MCD 29.20) reported profits in line with expectations and a better-than-expected revenue gain of 9.3%. Ford (F 13.39) even had a good report, beating earnings and revenue estimates.

Other good reports come from Boise Cascade (BCC), Safeway (SWY), and Sprint FON (FON), among others. The biggest miss is from Wells Fargo (WFC 60.15), which missed by 4 cents. From the 44 companies that reported this morning and yesterday after the close, 75% have beaten expectations. So far this quarter, about 70% of companies have beaten expectations, and operating earnings are running 3% above the expected 14% gain for the S&P 500 in aggregate. Simply put, it is another excellent quarter for earnings.

September CPI rose 0.2%, in line with expectations. The core rate (excluding food and energy prices) was up 0.3%, a bit more than the expected 0.2%. However, this follows three straight moderate 0.1% gains, so a one-month pop is not worrisome. September housing starts declined 6.8%, but that was due to hurricanes in the southeast. Permits rose 1.8% to a very high level, suggesting that starts will soon rebound.

Oil is down another $1 today after falling significantly yesterday. Suddenly, there is talk that the oil futures contracts might actually reflect some excessive speculative behavior and that a further drop is possible. Watch oil closely.

The market is set for an up open. There will be occasional poor earnings reports. But with about 20% of earnings reports now in, the overall trend is clear: earnings are solid, and guidance for the fourth quarter will retain expectations of another 15% quarterly gain in profits. The continuing momentum in earnings sets the stage for a possible end of year rally.

--Dick Green, Briefing.com