Zacks Sell List Highlights: The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., Encore Wire Corp., Pool Corp. and The Medicines Co.
Saturday, October 31st, 2009Business Wire, Oct 30, 2009
CHICAGO — Zacks.com releases details on a group of stocks that are currently
members of the exclusive Zacks #5 Rank List Stocks to Sell Now. These
stocks are currently rated as a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell): The
Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. (NYSE: GAP)
and Encore Wire Corp. (Nasdaq: WIRE).
Further, Zacks announced #4 Rankings (Sell) on two other widely held
stocks: Pool Corp. (Nasdaq: POOL)
and The Medicines Co. (Nasdaq: MDCO).
To see the full Zacks #5 Rank List – Stocks to Sell Now visit: http://at.zacks.com/?id=92
Since inception in 1988, the S&P; 500 has outperformed the Zacks #5 Rank
List of Stocks to Sell Now by 80% annually ( 2% vs. 10%). While the
rest of Wall Street continued to tout stocks during the market declines
of the last few years, Zacks told investors which stocks to sell or
avoid.
Here is a synopsis of why GAP and WIRE have a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong
Sell) and should most likely be sold or avoided for the next one to
three months. Note that a #5 Strong Sell rating is applied to 5% of all
the stocks in the Zacks Rank universe:
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co.s (NYSE: GAP)
second-quarter loss of $2.98 per share, announced on Oct 19, was wider
than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 74 cents. This was worse
than last years loss of $1.50 per share. Revenues declined to $2.07
billion from $2.18 billion while same-store sales fell 3.8%. The
full-year average forecast signs of rheumatoid arthritis now stands at a loss of $3.95 per share,
compared to a month-ago forecast of a loss of $2.24.
Encore Wire Corp. (Nasdaq: WIRE)
recorded a 97% drop in third-quarter profit on a year-over-year basis as
sales declined to $168.7 million from $296.3 million. On Oct 21, Encore
reported earnings per share of 1 cent, which fell short of analysts
expectations of 12 cents. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for this year
declined 19 cents to 30 cents per share over the past 7 days, reflecting
cuts by all of the 4 covering analysts.
Here is a synopsis of why POOL and MDCO have a Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell)
and should also most likely be sold or avoided for the next one to three
months. Note that a #4 Sell rating is applied to 15% of all the stocks
ranked by Zacks;
Pool Corp. (Nasdaq: POOL)
expects full-year earnings per share of 95 cents to $1, down from its
earlier projection of $1 to $1.05. On Oct 27, the company earned 35
cents per share in the third quarter, missing the average forecast by
16%. Five analysts out of 7 revised downward over the past week, sending
the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2009 lower by 6 cents to 97 per share.
The Medicines Co. (Nasdaq: MDCO)
announced a third-quarter loss of 6 cents per share yesterday that
widened by a penny, compared to analysts projections. The Zacks
Consensus Estimate for the full year is 6 cents per share, a decline
from 27 cents over the past 30 days as 5 out of 6 analysts pulled back
on expectations. Next years estimate slipped to 67 cents per share from
76 cents in the same period.
Truly taking advantage of the Zacks Rank requires the understanding of
how it works. The free special report; Zacks Rank Guide: Harnessing the
Power of Earnings Estimate Revisions is available to provide this
insightful background. Download a free copy now to prosper in the years
to come at http://at.zacks.com/?id=93.
About the Zacks Rank
Since 1988, the Zacks Rank has proven that “Earnings estimate revisions
are the most powerful force impacting stock prices.” Since inception in
1988, #1 Rank Stocks have generated an average annual return of 27%.
During the 2000-2002 bear market, Zacks #1 Rank stocks gained 43.8%,
while the S&P; 500 tumbled -37.6%. Also note that the Zacks Rank system
has just as many Strong Sell recommendations (Rank #5) as Strong Buy
recommendations (Rank #1). Since 1988, Zacks Rank #5 stocks have
significantly underperformed the S&P; 500 (-0.9% versus 9%)
The case of the bad hair day: this month, learn about hard and soft water
Saturday, October 31st, 2009SuperScience, Nov-Dec, 2009 by Elizabeth Carney
SCENE 1
Mrs. Williams: Marcus, your school dance is coming up this Saturday. Are you looking forward to it?
Marcus: I don’t know, Morn. I can’t decide if I want to go.
Mrs. Williams: Oh, I think it will be a lot of fun. What are you worried about?
Narrator 1: Marcus looks at his curly brown hair in the mirror. It’s long and falling into his eyes.
Marcus: Well, I’m just not sure that I have time to get ready. xbox 360 3 red lights I need to get a haircut, but I have baseball practice every night this week. And a game on Saturday morning!
Mrs. Williams: I can take you to the barber on Saturday afternoon after your game. There will be plenty of time to get to the dance in the evening.
Marcus: That might work. Thanks, Mom.
Mrs. Williams: No problem. Just remember to tell the barber that your hair has to be washed in soft water. Remember the last time you took a shower at your Aunt Laurie’s house?
Marcus: Don’t remind me! My hair doesn’t react well to the hard water there. The ends got all dried out, and my scalp didn’t feel clean at all.
Mrs. Williams: Right, just remember to remind the barber
Study says statins may boost flu survival
Saturday, October 31st, 20090 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Oct 30, 2009 | by Marilynn Marchione Associated Press
A new treatment for swine flu may already be on pharmacy shelves – - cholesterol-lowering statin drugs like Lipitor and Zocor.
A large study found that people who were taking these drugs when they caught seasonal flu and had to be hospitalized were twice as likely to survive than those who were not on such medicines.
This doesn’t prove that statins can cure flu, or that starting on them after catching the flu would help. A federal study is under way now to test that. Doctors are optimistic, because previous studies also found that statins may improve survival from infectious diseases.
“It’s very promising,” said the new study’s leader, Dr. Ann Thomas of the Oregon Public Health Division. Results were discussed Thursday at an Infectious Diseases Society of America conference in Philadelphia.
“It’s intriguing and exciting,” and the benefit seen from statins is “substantial,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University doctor whose hospital in Nashville, Tenn., was involved in the research.
“There are relatively few downsides to trying statins,” which are cheap, relatively safe, and already among the most widely used medicines in the world, he said.
Treatment is a crucial issue for swine flu because vaccine is slow to reach the public, and flu medicines like Tamiflu are being reserved for only the sickest patients.
Statins have long been known to reduce inflammation along with cholesterol. Much of the damage that flu causes, whether it’s seasonal or the new H1N1 virus, is from inflammation and an overreaction by the immune system as it fights the virus.
Earlier studies found that statins improved survival from pneumonia and serious bacterial bloodstream infections. The new research, sponsored by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is the first large one in the United States to look at statins for flu.
It involved 2,800 people hospitalized with lab-confirmed seasonal flu in 10 states in 2007-2008. Medical records show that 801 received statins exercise plans in the hospital. They probably were just continuing the cholesterol treatment they had been taking before catching the flu, though researchers don’t know this for sure.
More than 3 percent of those not taking statins died in the hospital or in the following month. The rate was half that among statin users, even though they were more likely to have underlying health problems like heart disease. Researchers took other factors such as age into account and still saw the same benefit from statin use.
“It’s an important study,” said Dr. Andrew Pavia, a pediatrics professor at the University of Utah and head of the infectious disease society’s pandemic flu task force
Arrow Financial Corporation Declares Cash Dividend
Saturday, October 31st, 2009PR Newswire, Oct 29, 2009
GLENS FALLS, N.Y., Oct. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — The Board of Directors of Arrow Financial Corporation on October 29, 2009 declared a quarterly cash dividend of $.25 per share payable December 15, 2009 to shareholders of record December 3, 2009. This represents an increase of 3% over the cash dividend paid in the fourth quarter of 2008, as a result of the September 29, 2009 3% stock dividend.
Arrow Financial Corporation is a multi-bank holding company headquartered in Glens Falls, NY serving the financial needs of northeastern New York. Arrow is the parent of Glens Falls National Bank and Trust Company and Saratoga National Bank and Trust Company
Prawns with a punch, and more
Saturday, October 31st, 20090 Comments | Manila Bulletin, Oct 28, 2009
When a typical Pinoy enters a Japanese restaurant, one of the first things that he looks for in the menu is the tempura. And this dish is faultlessly represented in a restaurant chain called, er, Tempura Japanese Grill. There are several varieties of this batter-fried dish, including the regular Ebi Tempura, Mixed Seafood Tempura (a combo of prawn, squid, fish, and crabsticks), Kani Tempura (crabsticks), Kakiage Tempura (veggies with shrimp and squid), and the tantalizing, diet-blowout of a kiddie pleaser called the Ebi Chizu (prawn with cheese). But for those who want their seafood to come packed with a punch, then the Ebi Wasabi is the perfect choice.
This dish is made up of really meaty and crunchy prawns that are seasoned with just a light touch of wasabi to tickle the palate and keep your chopsticks reaching for more. There are other dishes on the menu that are also classified as crowd pleasers. These include their hot soup starters such as the Seafood Ramen which comes with shrimp, squid and shells; and their slurp-tastic Sukiyaki. The teppanyaki choices are low carb diet tips exciting, with the Gyu Wafu Steak (beef tenderloin with veggies and mushrooms in a special teppanyaki sauce); and the interesting Hotatu Teppanyaki, which is actually sizzling scallops and asparagus! For filling rice dishes, their donburi options are also good choices
An unpretty pass: what a song without words says about American life
Saturday, October 31st, 2009National Review, Nov 2, 2009 by Jay Nordlinger
IN Mill Creek, Wash., there is a high school named after Scoop Jackson, the late senator and Cold War hero. Mill Creek is just outside Everett, which was the senator’s hometown. And, in 2006, something curious happened at Jackson High–something that helps us know where we stand in American life.
The school had had a little tradition: Every year, the wind ensemble would choose a piece to play at graduation. In the previous three years, the group had picked On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss, by David Holsinger. It is based on “It Is Well with My Soul.” But in 2006, the group wanted to play a different piece, something they had played on a winter concert and loved: the Ave Maria of Franz Biebl. The 17 members of the group voted unanimously for the piece. And their music director duly put it on a list of pieces proposed for graduation, a list sent to the school principal.
He looked it over, and the buy phentermine 37.5 words “Ave Maria” raised a red flag for him
Ghostbikes Race Into the European Biking Market.(Industry overview)
Saturday, October 31st, 2009PR Newswire Europe, October, 2009
PRESTON, England, October 22 /PRNewswire/ — Company bosses are celebrating after designer handbag sale their long awaited website has launched across Europe – taking their shop front to bike lovers across the globe.
Chairman Adam Patel says the decision to use the internet to reach several major countries as well as the UK will keep his company moving forward, even at a time when many motorbike clothing and accessory retailers are grinding to a halt.
He says: “Ghostbikes has always used the internet to reach customers and because the web allows us to open our store to the worldwide biking community without having shops in every country we’ve kept making a profit despite the recession.
“With an international website and a top quality new range of biking…
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WHAT CAUSED BIKER DAD’S FATAL CRASH? Mystery of how ‘good rider’ Leon lost control
Friday, October 30th, 2009Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England), Oct 29, 2009
Byline: BARRY GIBSON
A COURT heard how a “wonderful partner, father and friend” died in a motorbike crash.
Coroner Roger Whittaker recorded a verdict of accidental death yesterday – but was unable to say why Leon Shirreff, 41, had lost control of his Honda Hornet on New Hey Road in Scammonden.
Huddersfield Coroners’ Court heard that the father-of-two hit a wall and a telegraph pole after drifting left at a right-hand turn.
Mr Shirreff’s friend of 23 years, Leon Rigby, was riding about 40 metres behind when the accident happened.
cheap airfare In a statement read to the court yesterday, he said: “We had travelled on New Hey Road a number of times. We were doing approximately 50mph and the road was empty except for one car behind us which was hanging back.
“We were on a straight stretch of road going slightly downhill. At the right-hand bend, Leon started drifting towards the verge on the left.
“I knew he was out of control. He hit the wall and bounced off it before hitting a telegraph pole head-first. The bike carried on and ended up in a field.
“I stopped straight away and went over to Leon expecting him to jump to his feet but he didn’t move.
“I couldn’t see his chest moving and, when I removed his helmet, there was blood coming from his nose and mouth. One eye was closed and swollen.”
Mr Rigby performed mouth-to-mouth and chest compressions until paramedics arrived.
He added: “I don’t know why he lost control.
He wasn’t going too fast and he was normally a good rider.”
Mr Shirreff had a daughter Lisa with Jacqui Dixon in 1987, but the couple separated four years later.
The court heard a statement from Wendy McDermott, Mr Shirreff’s partner since 1992.
She said: “We fell in love instantly. In 1993 our daughter Kelly Jade was born and in 1995 we bought our first house together.
“He was a very sociable character and a big family man. He was a wonderful partner, father and friend.
“He always had an interest in motorbikes and in 2007 he passed his test and bought a 600cc Honda. He would go out riding every Sunday with three friends.
“He would put the bike away in the winter months and only get it out of the garage again in March.”
The court heard how Mr Shirreff set up Pipemasters Engineering in Shaw near Oldham 12 years ago.
On April 17 this year he finished work early and decided to go for a ride with colleague Mr Rigby from Shaw through Halifax and Denshaw to Outlane.
Ms McDermott said: “I recall that it was a beautiful afternoon. I got home about 3.45pm. I was unloading my shopping when I got a call saying Leon had been in an accident.”
“I called Leon Rigby who said they were working on him. He was very upset and I don’t think he wanted to tell me the full circumstances.”
Ms McDermott went to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary where she was told that her partner had died
Covario Extends Data Driven Decisions for SEO With New Release of Software
Friday, October 30th, 2009Market Wire, October, 2009
Covario, the leader in paid and organic
search solutions for large advertisers, today announced the release of its
latest version of the Covario Marketing Action
Platform , its award-winning search marketing technology . This new release adds
capabilities that allow SEO practitioners to drive significant improvements
in organic search engine optimization through real time analysis and
improvements to linking strategies — tactics that drive huge gains in
natural search ROI. The latest release also introduces Creative Analysis,
for managing paid search performance though automated analysis of ad copy.
Ad copy is a key element for increasing conversions in paid search
programs.
In Q3, Covario announced D3: Data Driven Decisions for SEO , an automated system
for driving ROI in large scale SEO programs. D3 allows advertisers to
automate the prioritization of site adjustments based on their statistical
impact on driving traffic and conversions. The latest version of the
system extends D3 by adding two new capabilities: ad hoc analysis and link
strategy. With ad hoc analysis, marketers and their agencies can run SEO
audits and ranking analysis on any page, for any keyword, in real time. The
expanded link analysis within Covario’s latest release provides marketers
with critical information about their links and their competitors’ links to
help drive improvements in link strategy, a factor in driving higher rank,
and therefore traffic, on search engines.
“Building scalable link strategies is a key aspect of natural search
optimization, however it remains a highly manual process for large
companies,” says Mike Gullaksen, Vice President of SEO Services at Covario.
“The work done in this release to automate the analysis of links — to
determine which are effective, and which require additional optimization –
is a key extension to the value proposition of Covario’s D3. We want to
let the system automate the data gathering and processing while Covario’s
SEO services team focuses its resources on driving the change process. This
allows us to produce results in a much more scalable fashion.”
“Covario continues to be a leader when it comes to building scalable
solutions to drive SEO results for brand advertisers,” says David Robidoux,
Vice President of Marketing for Franchise Services , Inc. “This latest
version of Covario
Organic Search Insight will help our marketers improve performance for
our global network of brands through ongoing monitoring of our multiple
sites’ SEO health, while providing a way for us to monitor competitor sites
for opportunities.”
In paid search, the new Creative Analysis component is designed to drive
value for Covario’s paid search customers. The new system captures the
impact of creative tests on a large number of programs, run globally, in
order to help drive both increased traffic and increased conversions. “By
automating this process, we expect to be able to continuously run scalable
tests of creative — which our research shows can drive conversion rates up
by 25% in some cases,” says Craig Macdonald, Senior Vice President of
Products for Covario. “More importantly, we can test more creative
concepts. Last year we ran search engine marketing houston a campaign for a client and tested nearly 1,000
creative concepts, in 12 languages, as part of a massive global rebranding
program