Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ: CGNX) provides machine vision computer systems that automate a range of manufacturing processes. Essentially, the systems link to video cameras and serve as eyes where human vision is insufficient. The firm's Modular Vision Systems automate the manufacture of discrete items (e.g: semiconductor chips) by locating, identifying, inspecting and measuring them during the manufacturing process. Its Surface Inspection Systems monitor the surfaces of materials processed in a continuous fashion (e.g: paper, metal, plastic) for imperfections. Cognex has offices throughout North America, Japan, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX), Ford Motor (NYSE: F) and Sony (NYSE: SNE) are customers.
Cognex pleased investors earlier in the week, when it reported Q1 EPS of 20 cents and revenues of $60.5 million. Analysts had been looking for 17 cents and $59.9 million. Management also guided Q2 EPS to 20-24 cents (20 cent consensus) and Q2 revenues to $65-$68 million ($63.14 million consensus). The firm expects gross margin to remain in the low-70% range.
5 Stocks Insiders Love If corporate managers and directors are buying their company's stock, maybe you should, too. They include Boston Scientific, Hanesbrands, Dow Chemical, McMoRan Exploration and Synaptics. Five Stocks Insiders Love - Kiplinger.com
Best Blue Chips for This Market The best way to boost your long-term returns is to buy when prices are cheap - and here are 5 excellent bargains -- 3M, DuPont, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard and Burlington Northern Santa Fe. The best blue chips for this market - CNNMoney.com
After hitting a one-year low of $49.58 in July, the stock hit a one-year high of $61.09 in January. ABT opened this morning at $53.81. So far today the stock has hit a low of $53.62 and a high of $55.40. As of 1:00, ABT is trading at $55.07, up $2.00 (3.8%). The chart for ABT looks bearish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy rating.
For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a May bull-put credit spread below the $47.50 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 4.2% return in just 7 weeks as long as ABT is above $47.50 at May expiration. Abbott would have to fall by more than 13% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.
ABT hasn't been below $49 at all in the past year and has shown support around $51 recently. This trade could be risky if the company's earnings (due out in mid to late May) disappoint, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by the support the stock might find around $50, where it has bottomed out quite a few times in the past two year. Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.
DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in ABT or BSX.
Some believe the current financial crisis is the most serious since the Great Depression and if so some of the largest companies in the country could be taken over and cease to be independent public corporations. Huge firms with vulnerable businesses, competitive pressures, and weak balance sheets may end up being takeover targets. Here is 24/7 Wall St.'s predictions of possible takeovers that could happen in the near future if the current crisis persists. They include McDonald's buying Wendys, VW acquiring Ford Motor, Wal-Mart getting Sears, Wells Fargo buying out Washington Mutual, J&J nabbing Boston Scientific and more.
LifeCell Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFC) provides surgeons with regenerative and reconstructive tissue matrices for soft tissue repair. Products include AlloDerm, for plastic reconstructive, general surgical, burn and periodontal procedures; Strattice, for plastic reconstructive and general surgical procedures; Graftjacket, for orthopedic applications and lower extremity wounds; Allocraft, for bone grafting procedures; and Repliform, for urogynecologic surgical procedures. The materials are sold in the US and abroad, through a direct sales force and through such distributors as Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX).
The company pleased investors last week, when it reported Q4 EPS of 19 cents and revenues of $52.6 million. Analysts had been expecting 17 cents and $52.2 million. Management also guided FY08 EPS to $0.98-$1.06 ($1.04 consensus) and FY08 revenues to $233-$243 million ($238.89M consensus). Needham subsequently upgraded the issue to "strong buy" and boosted its price target to $55.
Recent data suggests that America's largest industrial companies are piling up cash. The New York Times reports: "According to S.& P., the total cash held by companies in its industrial index exceeded $600 billion in February, up from about $203 billion in 1998."
That is good news if the money does something other than sit in the bank. A number of very large companies like Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) don't need anywhere near the tons of greenbacks in their accounts and they add more every quarter.
The money probably has two potential uses. One is to buy other companies -- as the market falls, there are going to be more deals at lower prices. Of course, many deals don't work. Some of these will fail to find economies of scale and lead to write-offs like the Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) buyout of Guidant. Everyone lost as the BSX shares fell apart.
The second option is that companies could just do the simple thing and turn the cash back to shareholders. Everyone wins and it is hard to screw up a big one-time dividend.
Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ: CGNX) provides machine vision computer systems that automate a range of manufacturing processes. Essentially, the systems link to video cameras and serve as eyes where human vision is insufficient. The firm's Modular Vision Systems automate the manufacture of discrete items (e.g: semiconductor chips) by locating, identifying, inspecting and measuring them during the manufacturing process. Its Surface Inspection Systems monitor the surfaces of materials processed in a continuous fashion (e.g: paper, metal, plastic) for imperfections. Cognex has offices throughout North America, Japan, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX), Ford Motor (NYSE: F) and Sony (NYSE: SNE) are customers.
The company pleased investors earlier in the month, when it reported Q4 EPS of 25 cents and revenues of $65.3 million. Analysts had been expecting 20 cents and $60.9 million. Management also guided Q1 EPS to 13-18 cents (18 cent consensus) and Q1 revenues to $58-$61 million ($58.45 million consensus). In discussing the coming year, the CEO alluded to the introduction of "a number of important new products." Needham subsequently upgraded the shares to "strong buy" and declared a price target of $25.
Citigroup upgraded Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) to "hold" from "sell," according toBriefing.com. The news service also reports that Bear Stearns cut Ford (NYSE: F) from "outperform" to "peer perform" and GM (NYSE: GM) to "under perform" from "peer perform."
Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM) reported essentially flat fourth-quarter earnings of 44 cents per shares, beating analyst expectations by two pennies. Robust sales in its China and international divisions countered rising costs and a sluggish U.S. performance. Yum raised its 2008 earnings forecast, but not enough for investors to be satisfied. YUM shares fell over 2.2% in premarket trading.
Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) swung to a $458 million fourth-quarter loss, as the $27 billion acquisition of Guidant Corp. nearly two years ago continued to erode its bottom line and obscure an overall sales gain. Net loss for the October-December period equaled 31 cents per share, down from a profit of $277 million, or 19 cents per share the year before. Sales, though rose 4% to $2.15 billion. Excluding charges, Boston Scientific posted a profit of $355 million, or 24 cents per share.
Two unconfirmed reports: Engadget reports that Apple Inc. (NADSAQ: AAPL) may come up with a 16 GB iPhone soon. Staff at AT&T (NYSE: T) and O2 saw the phone listed in the inventory -- wishful thinking or the natural step up? Meanwhile, MacRumors reports that employees have spotted new MacBook Pros in Best Buy's (NYSE: BBY) inventory tracking system.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: CTC Media, Callidus Software and Seattle Genetics were today's noteworthy initiations:
Merrill initiated CTC Media (NASDAQ: CTCM) with a Buy rating, citing the company's healthy ad growth outlook and substantial barriers to entry.
B. Riley initiated Callidus Software (NASDAQ: CALD) with a Buy rating and $7 target and believes the company's growing On-Demand offering is being overlooked by investors.
Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ: SGEN) was assumed with an Overweight rating at JP Morgan. The firm views the company as an attractive investment opportunity given the company's growing pipeline of differentiated antibody therapies and partnership with Genentech (NYSE: DNA).
OTHER INITIATIONS:
Cowen initiated Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) with a Neutral rating and St. Jude Medical (NYSE: STJ) with an Outperform rating.
Lehman initiated UDR Inc (NYSE: UDR) with an Equal Weight rating.
In the business world, innvoation leads to longevity. There is a medical products firm in Deerfield, Illinois that was the first manufacturer of commercially prepared intravenous solutions. It was also responsible for such landmark developments as the first container that could store blood for more than a few hours, the first means of separating plasma from whole blood and storing it for future use, and the first disposable total-bypass blood-oxygenator. The company has been in business for 76 years.
Baxter International (NYSE: BAX) is a diversified medical products and services company. It provides devices, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology for the treatment of hemophilia, immune disorders, cancer, infectious diseases, kidney disease and trauma. The BioScience segment manufactures plasma-based therapies for immune disorders, biosurgery products for hemostasis, and vaccines. The Medication Delivery unit makes intravenous solutions and administration sets. The Renal segment manufactures products for peritoneal dialysis, a home therapy for people with end-stage renal disease. Boston Scientific (NYSEL: BSX) is a major competitor.
Investors were pleased last week, when Citigroup upgraded the shares from "hold" to "buy." Analyst Matthew J. Dodds said the firm can increase its gross margins above Wall Street expectations, a welcome prediction ahead of the Baxter's fourth quarter report (1/24). He also predicted 2008 EPS of $3.21, versus the Street expectation of $3.10.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Biogen Idec, Western Union and Tibco were today's noteworthy upgrades:
Banc of America upgraded shares of Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) to Buy from Neutral as they believe the company's three year growth strategy and the approval of Tysabri for the treatment of Crohn's disease will support a higher valuation.
Oppenheimer upgraded Western Union (NYSE: WU) to Outperform from Perform, citing improving operating margins, easing comps, and improvement in Mexico.
Tibco Software (NASDAQ: TIBX) was raised to Buy from Hold at Citigroup. The firm upgraded shares following the acquisition of BEA Systems (NASDAQ: BEAS) to reflect the company's takeout potential and limited downside.
OTHER UPGRADES:
Royal Ahold (OTC: AHONY) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank.
Bear upgraded eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) to Outperform from Peer Perform.
Morgan Stanley raised Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) to Overweight from Equal Weight.
American Medical Systems Holdings (NASDAQ: AMMD) provides medical solutions designed to restore the pelvic health of men and women. It manufactures and markets surgical products to urologists, gynecologists, and urogynecologists for erectile restoration, benign prostatic hyperplasia, male urethral stricture, urinary and fecal incontinence, menorrhagia, and pelvic organ prolapse. Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) are major competitors.
The stock lost ground at the end of October, on a slightly weaker than expected third quarter report. It has risen fifteen percent since that time, however, on word of insider buying, a pair of upgrades, in-line to upside fourth quarter guidance and the replacement of the CEO by the COO.
machine vision computer systems that automate a range of manufacturing processes. Essentially, the systems link to video cameras and serve as eyes where human vision is insufficient. The firm's Modular Vision Systems automate the manufacture of discrete items (e.g: semiconductor chips) by locating, identifying, inspecting and measuring them during the manufacturing process. Its Surface Inspection Systems monitor the surfaces of materials processed in a continuous fashion (e.g: paper, metal, plastic) for imperfections. Cognex has offices throughout North America, Japan, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX), Ford Motor (NYSE: F) and Sony (NYSE: SNE) are customers.
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