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MOST NOTEWORTHY: Motorola, Paccar, Pacific Sunwear, Talbots and RightNow Tech were today's noteworthy upgrades:
Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) to Buy from Neutral on valuation, and is positive on the company's free cash flow generation.
Wachovia raised Paccar Inc. (NASDAQ: PCAR) estimates to Market Perform from Underperform based on better-than-expected European performance.
Citigroup upgraded shares of Pacific Sunwear (NASDAQ: PSUN) to Buy from Hold as they believe the demo division divestiture and improving product execution in core PacSun stores could drive accelerating EPS growth.
Citigroup also upgraded shares of Talbots Inc. (NYSE: TLB) to Hold from Sell on valuation but remains concerned about the company's long-term outlook.
Roth Capital upgraded RightNow Technologies (NASDAQ: RNOW) to Buy from Hold, as they are encouraged by RNOW's Q3 results and raised guidance and believes the worst is behind the company.
OTHER UPGRADES:
Goldman added Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) to its Conviction Buy List.
Thomas Weisel upgraded Akamai (NADAQ: AKAM) to Overweight from Market Weight.
Lehman upgraded Harley Davidson (NYSE: HOG) to Equal Weight from Underweight.
A bill representing the "mother of all tax reforms" is set to be revealed Thursday, according to House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel. But Mother is going to have to be patient. No one expects Congress to deal with a tax overhaul this year - especially one estimated to cost $1 trillion. Individuals and businesses will see some tax breaks, and some will foot the bill more than others.
Home builders are slashing prices, yet a severe tightening of credit by mortgage lenders is keeping many buyers out of the market. Still others are taking a wait and see approach to home buying. The result: too many homes, too few buyers and the worst housing glut since the 1980s.
When you are a victim of a natural disaster, such as the devastating fires in Southern California, there are four things to do in order to receive aid: complete the application, have your property inspected, fill out the form for a Small Business Administration loan and search for other assistance, including grants. Follow this step-by-step guide to help put your life, home and family back together.
All the money in the world can't convince these wealthy dynasties to get along. Rich, dysfunctional families are back in vogue on prime-time television with new shows like Cane and Dirty Sexy Money. But these fictional families have nothing on the real-life tales of feuding billionaire clans, wracked by generational schisms, sibling rivalries, jealousy and greed. Forbes recaps some of the most riveting billionaire family sagas of the past decade.
Net income was $60 million, or 3 cents a share, on revenue of $8.81 billion. Profit was 6 cents excluding one-time costs, beating the 4-cent average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. The cell phone maker expects to earn 12 cents to 14 cents this year, surpassing the 11 cents analysts had expected.
The question is whether these results are good enough to convince billionaire Carl Ichan to back off from his campaign against Chief Executive Ed Zander who has been trying to boost profit by reducing costs including the elimination of 5,000 jobs. Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Lawrence Harris told Bloomberg News that he believes the "turnaround is here" and that Zander's turnaround plan is "working."
Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) shares are up over 3.2% in premarket trading after the company reported its profit plunged 94% in the third quarter, as sales fell substantially in its cell phone business and it narrowly averted a third straight quarterly loss. The company missed expectations but gave a better-than-expected outlook and guidance for the fourth quarter.
Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) said its profits fell sharply in the third quarter due to changes in German tax laws, higher domestic tax rates and charges for research and development. Excluding items, Dow reported profit of 84 cents per share for the quarter on a 10% sales climb to $13.59 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial, on average, expected earnings of 90 cents per share on revenue of $12.65 billion.
EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) shares are gaining over 7% in premarket trading after the company reported a 74% rise in third-quarter profit as the data storage vendor recorded a hefty gain from its recent sale of an ownership stake in fast-growing virtualization software maker VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) -- VMW shares are up over 6.5% in premarket trading. EMC earned $492.9 million, or 23 cents per share on a 17% revenue growth to $3.29 billion. Excluding one-time gains, EMC's profit was $377.8 million, or 17 cents per share, matching analysts' forecast.
Comcast Corp (NASDAQ: CMCSA) reported a 2% rise in profit excluding one-time items, although it lost basic video subscribers to rival video services through satellite and telephone operators. Net profit was $560 million, or 18 cents a share on a 21% revenue growth to $7.781 billion. Analysts had on average been expecting profit of $559.3 million, or 18 cents a share and revenue of $7.751 billion, according to a Reuters Estimates' poll. Comcast shares are down about 1.25% in premarket trading.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) said its third-quarter profit more than doubled on a surge in sales of its blood thinner Plavix, and raised its outlook for adjusted 2007 earnings. Revenue grew 22%. The company earned 38 cents per share excluding one-time items, beating estimates by a penny.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares are up 1.6% in premarket trading. Piper Jaffray upped the target price on Apple shares from $222 to $250. Also, both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have written good reviews of the upcoming Leopard system.
Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) is set to release its latest quarterly earnings this week, and earnings are expected to be $0.04 per share according to analyst estimates. Although Motorola CEO Ed Zander has jettisoned about 10% of the company's global workforce and has finally introduced a true successor to the record-setting RAZR handset from 2004 (the RAZR 2), he may just be biding his time until he gets the boot.
When Motorola's time comes tomorrow, the company will most likely report a profit -- its first in three quarters. But does a small quarterly profit make for a legitimate comeback? Not at all. The first half of this year saw a $209 million loss for the largest cellphone maker in the U.S., and a profit (even a small one) this quarter will be the final opportunity for Zander to produce a return to consistent profitability by the end of 2007. If he does not show this, expect a resignation. For Carl Icahn, who has been critical of Zander, it would be sweet justice.
Although cutting costs is the top tool for Zander, improving sales and margins is much more important if he doesn't want to be seen as a leader who can't produce growth quarter by quarter. His days may or may not be limited, but by the end of 2007, the writing will be on the wall. Either Zander finds a way to grow sales and profit beyond cost cutting, or investors who want to unlock more value from the company will scream until he's ejected from the company.
Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is recently at $18.62. MOT is expected to report EPS on 10/25. GSCO has a 12-month price of $18. MOT November option implied volatility of 38 is near its 26-week average of 29 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.
Sears Holding (NASDAQ: SHLD) is recently up $4.11 to at $135.05 after Barron's gave a positive illustration to the potential value of SHLD's real estate portfolio. SHLD is expected to report 3Q EPS in early November. SHLD November option implied volatility of 46 is above its 26-week average of 33 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.
Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.
After the devastating profit news from Ericsson, which is made doubly bad by the company's having raised the bar just last month and signaling upside surprise, it is time to consider an Ericsson-Motorola tie-up.
Both of these companies are getting their heads handed to them by Nokia (NYSE: NOK) (Cramer's Take). Both have complementary businesses: Motorola for handsets and cable systems; Ericsson for network equipment needed for next generation wireless. (Ericsson has a joint venture with Sony (NYSE: SNE) (Cramer's Take) that could be part of this business.)
Either way something must happen after last night's fiasco of an Ericsson quarter and Motorola's quarter tomorrow that could be the trough. It would not surprise me if Carl Icahn makes this happen, the way he put so much pressure on BEA Systems (NASDAQ: BEAS) (Cramer's Take) that it had to happen.
Now that we have seen the awful results from Ericsson it is time to add a fourth, a merger with that company to create a new company that can, at last, challenge Nokia's dominance.
Jim Cramer is a director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. At the time of publication, Cramer had no positions in stocks mentioned.
Bear Stearns downgradedGeneral Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) to Underperform from Peer Perform after news it would pay $46.7 billion in retiree health care liability. The analyst, Peter Nesvold, said he preferes Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) as an investment since it still has most of the restructuring news ahead of it. Bear Sterns expects a year-over-year decline in industry-wide auto sales in 2008 and further market share erosion for GM due to fewer product launches than in 2006-2007.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) just reported financial results for its third-quarter. Profit fell, hurt by restructuring charges, but Johnson & Johnson slightly raised its earnings forecast for full-year 2007. The company said it earned $2.5 billion, or 88 cents per share, in the quarter, compared with $2.76 billion, or 94 cents per share, in the year-earlier period.
Goldman Sachs added Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) to the Americas conviction buy list, ahead of first-quarter earnings with a $37 target price. Near-term catalysts such as the aQuantive acquisition, Halo 3, Windows Server 2008 launch and Christmas Xbox 360 sales will help drive the price of Microsoft's shares higher, including an expected strong first-quarter results. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube has rolled out long-awaited technology to automatically remove copyrighted clips. After Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA) sued it for $1 billion for showing copyrighted videos, the company hopes to placate movie and television studios from Disney and Time Warner.
Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA) was upgraded by JPMorgan from Neutral to Overweight.
According to Ars Technica, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) plans to expand iTunes Plus -- its version of DRM-free tracks -- to include certain indie music labels, but still not to other larger labels. Apple also plans to drop the price of all iTunes Plus tracks from $1.29 to 99 cents.
Following Ericsson's (NASDAQ: ERIC) warning, Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) shares are down over 1.2% in premarket trading, Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) shares are down 2.77% in premarket trading and Alcaltel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) shares down over 5.6% in premarket trading.
Shares of Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) ticked up today, perhaps on reports that shareholder Carl Icahn will launch another attack on the company's management if its results don't improve. He told the Financial Times that "There is value there, and if that value doesn't manifest itself I, as an activist, would think very seriously about coming back."
Back in May, Icahn was rebuffed in his quest for a seat on the company's board of directors. Icahn still owns about 3% of the company and remains displeased with CEO Ed Zander -- the two traded barbs in the media earlier this year.
In the wake of a disappointing investment in WCI Communities, Inc. (NYSE: WCI), Icahn may be getting some swagger back with the success of his investment in BEA Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BEAS).
Icahn's last battle with Zander was fun to watch, even if it didn't lead to the desired results. I'd love to see a reprise.
Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) provides semiconductor products that enable broadband communications and networking of voice, video, and data services. Based in Irvine, California, it holds over 2,200 U.S. and 900 foreign patents and is one of the largest companies in its field.The firm's integrated circuits are used in a wide variety of applications, including digital set-top boxes, wireless communications equipment, cable modems, servers and networking devices. Customers include Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO).
The stock popped last week, on word cell phone maker Samsung Electronics was shipping next-generation handsets that use Broadcom chips. The brokerage community reacted positively. Deutsche Bank predicted a large increase in the volume of chips Broadcom will ship to Samsung over the next year. UBS initiated BRCM with a "buy." AmTech Research and Lehman Brothers reiterated their "buy" calls. Now, shares are consolidating the gain and the price is forming a bullish "flag" pattern. Equities frequently exit flags moving in the same direction they were traveling when they entered them. In this case, that would be to the upside.
TechCrunch reports that Greenpeace is chiding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) for the iPhone's toxic chemical ingredients. Moreover, Greenpeace's analysis suggests that the iPhone is losing "green ground" to other mobile phone competitors which are in the process of eliminating the iPhone's toxic chemicals.
According to Greenpeace, the iPhone contains toxic brominated compounds (indicating the presence of brominated flame retardants (BFRs)) and hazardous PVCs. Two of the "phthalate plasticisers" found at high levels in the iPhone headphone cable are classified in Europe as 'toxic to reproduction, category 2′ and are banned from use in all toys or childcare articles sold in Europe.
Greenpeace's analysis of competitors is most interesting: Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) is totally PVC free while Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) and Sony Ericsson already have products on the market with BFR free components. I am in Greenpeace's camp on this one. I also think that if Apple cleaned up the iPhone, it would find that green means green -- particularly in Europe.
That's something that Apple shareholders and Greenpeace would both celebrate.
In an interview with the Financial Times (subscription required), Carl Icahn said of Motorola (NYSE: MOT): "There is value there, and if that value doesn't manifest itself, I as an activist, would think very seriously about coming back."
OTHER PAPERS:
Universal Music is in talks with Sony Corporation's (NYSE: SNE) Sony BMG and Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) over launching a music subscription service to be called Total Music, which would be free on certain devices, reported the Telegraph.
While Emerging Memory Technologies CEO Sreedhar Natarajan would not confirm the deal, stating "I'm under a non-disclosure agreement," it is clear that EMT has been acquired by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE: TSM), the Ottawa Citizen reported.
Lehman Brothers analyst Douglas Anmuth believes Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) will launch a mobile phone similar to that of Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone in February, reported the Independent.
The Associated Press reported that Nomura Holdings (NYSE: NMR) announced that it will close its mortgage-backed securities business in the U.S., and expects a group pretax loss of between $240M and $510M for the quarter ended in September.
WEBSITES:
According to Unstrung.com's sources in the finance community, Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) is expected to enter the WiMax arena before the end of the month, and Navini Networks is Cisco's preferred target.
Carl Icahn is using the press to indicate that he may take another run at getting Motorola (NYSE: MOT) to dump its CEO and increase its dividend or share buyback. At $19, the company's shares may be up a little, but are still well down from their 52-week high of more than $26.
In an interview with the FT, Icahn said "There is value there, and if that value doesn't manifest itself I, as an activist, would think very seriously about coming back." Icahn has had one unsuccessful proxy fight with Motorola already. He attempted to get on the company's board but was pushed back by management and current board members.
Icahn may have picked the perfect time to push for getting the company to change its ways. Motorola handset sales have been sliding sharply and this caused the company to lose money last quarter. Samsung has passed Motorola as the world's No.2 cellphone maker behind Nokia (NYSE: NOK).Recent third quarter results from Samsung and Sony Ericsson show that their unit sales continue to rise sharply.
All of this improvement in the fortunes of Motorola's competitors mean that it could have another bad quarter. That may cause large investors in the company to finally lose their patience. At that point, Mr. Icahn may be viewed at an excellent board member and agent of some radical change.
Not surprising, the recall affected Mattel Inc.'s (NYSE: MAT) earnings as it reported a 1% drop in fiscal third-quarter profit, due to charges related to multiple product recalls. The company earned $236.8 million, or 61 cents per share including charges of about $40 million related to the company's product recalls of lead-tainted merchandise imported from China. Sales rose 3% to $1.84 billion. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected profit of 70 cents per share on revenue of $1.91 billion. MAT shares are up over 2% in premarket trading.
Danaher Corp. (NYSE: DHR) is buying Tektronix Inc. (NYSE: TEK) for $2.85 billion or $38 per share for Textronix shares, a 34% premium to Tektronix's closing stock price Friday. TEK shares are up over 32.5% in premarket trading.
Genentech Inc. (NYSE: DNA) is reporting earnings today and is expected to report earnings of 72 cents a share for the third quarter, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.
PetroChina Co. (NYSE: PTR) gained the most in five months in Hong Kong trading as oil rose to a record above $85 a barrel to become the world's second-largest company, pushing General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) to third place. Can it take the first place from Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM)? PTR shares are up over 11% in premarket trading.
Greenpeace has attacked Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) for failing to make its well hyped cellphone, the iPhone, as green as his competitors'.
According to Reuters: "Ford (NYSE: F) expects to sell its Jaguar and Land Rover UK premium brands in the next two months but does not expect to sell them separately, the head of Ford Europe, John Fleming."
Just a few days after Boeing (NYSE: BA) announced a six-month delay for its 787 Dreamliner, Airbus finally delivered its first A380 superjumbo jet Monday.
Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) shares are up over 1.5% this morning after weekend reports said that "activist investor Carl Icahn has signalled the possible launch of a new campaign against the company if performance at the telecommunications equipment maker does not improve."
Investing in Ontario: Research in Motion (RIMM), Nortel Networks (NT), and IMAX (IMAX)
The Fed's job isn't getting any easier
EMC quarterly profit up 77%
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Motorola, Paccar, Pacific Sunwear, Talbots and RightNow Tech were today's noteworthy upgrades: 
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says it's time to consider a tie-up between these two companies after the terrible results from Ericsson.
Bear Stearns 
that use Broadcom chips. The brokerage community reacted positively. Deutsche Bank predicted a large increase in the volume of chips Broadcom will ship to Samsung over the next year. UBS initiated BRCM with a "buy." AmTech Research and Lehman Brothers reiterated their "buy" calls. Now, shares are consolidating the gain and the price is forming a bullish "flag" pattern. Equities frequently exit flags moving in the same direction they were traveling when they entered them. In this case, that would be to the upside..gif){kind=logo}
Carl Icahn is using the press to indicate that he may take another run at getting 
