US EQUITIES OPENING HEADLINES INCLUDING: ExxonMobil plans to sell up to 78 European service stations

Fisher Capital Management Corporate News - US equity futures look set to open close to flat, having been initially boosted by unconfirmed talk of a PBOC RRR cut, however early gains were pared as fears over European peripheral debt once again came to the fore, investors will look ahead to US new home sales data.

•          FTSE (-0.31%), CAC (-0.53%), DAX (-0.42%), SMI  (-0.38%), IBEX (-1.18%), EURO STOXX (-0.71%) prices taken at 1343GMT

DJIA

Earnings:

N/A

Other news:

ExxonMobil – Co. plans to sell up to 78 European service stations as they are not profitable enough, according to an unidentified person at the Co. (Les Echos)

Du Pont - Several large private equity firms, including Apollo Global together with Carlyle and KKR pair up with Onex, are preparing bids for DuPont's USD 4bln auto-paints business. (NY Post)

Johnson & Johnson – Co. is interested in making acquisitions in India’s over-the-counter space. The Co. is said to be in talks with multiple companies. (Economic Times)

Wal-Mart – Co. was offered to buy the chance to bid for Kiva Systems, which recently said it would be bought by Amazon for USD 775mln, but decided not to bid as it could not see an attractive return on the investment. (RTRS)

Intel – Co. has plans to release several new SSDs in the coming months, including a 300 series model codenamed Maple Crest and a 720 series codenamed Ramsdale, both in May, and potentially up to four other models between Q3 and Q4. (Digitimes)

AT&T - The Justice Department is suing AT&T, alleging that the co. knew its hearing impaired service had become a haven for Nigerian scam artists, while serving relatively few of America's hearing-impaired, which was subsidized by the US government. (WSJ)

Bank of America – Co. will test allowing homeowners at risk of foreclosure to turn over deeds to their houses and sign leases that will let them rent the houses back from the bank at a market rate. (WSJ)

Companies paying dividend: Bank of America (USD 0.0100)

S&P 500

Earnings:

Nike - Q3 EPS USD 1.20 vs. exp. USD 1.16; Q3 revenue USD 5.85bln vs. exp. USD 5.82bln. (RTRS)

-       Q3 worldwide futures orders up 15% vs. exp. up 13%

-       Q3 footwear revenue was USD 3.35bln

-       Q3 inventories up 32% to $3.4B

-       Q3 gross margin declined 200bps to 43.8%

-       Co. expects Q4 gross margin to decline 100bps

-       Co. sees FY12 gross margin approximately 200bps below FY11 level

-       Co. expects FY13 gross margin will be higher than FY12

-       Co. sees Q4 sales growth in low double digits vs. Exp. USD 6.59bln

-       Co. reiterates FY12 sales growth in mid-teens vs. Exp. USD 24.14bln

Accenture - Q2 EPS USD 0.97 vs. exp. USD 0.86; Q2 revenue USD 6.8bln vs. exp. USD 6.65bln. (RTRS)

-       Co. bought back 8.6mln shares of common stock in Q2

-       Co. boosts forecast; co. sees year revenue up 10%-12%, previously saw up 7%-10%

Micron Tech - Q2 loss per share USD 0.23 vs. exp. loss per share USD 0.20; Q2 revenue USD 2.07bln vs. exp. USD 2.01bln. (RTRS)

-       Co. says Q2 "weaker environment for pricing than we would have liked" 

-       Co. say DRAM supply concerns are stabilizing OEM pricing

-       Q2 gross margin declined to 13% vs. 15% in Q1

-       Co. shares were down 4.25% after market

Darden - Q3 cont ops EPS USD 1.25 vs. Exp. USD 1.24, Q3 revenue USD 2.16bln vs. Exp. USD 2.14bln. (RTRS)

-       Co. confirms FY12 EPS view up 4%-7% vs. Exp. USD 3.60

-       Co. confirms FY12 revenue view up 7%-7.5% vs. Exp. USD 8.04bln

-       Co. sees FY12 SSS up 2.5%-3.0%

KB Home - Q1 loss per share USD 0.59 vs. Exp. loss per share USD 0.24, Q1 revenue USD 254.6mln vs. Exp. USD 337.72mln. (RTRS)

Other news:

Goldman Sachs - Credit Suisse believes Goldman Sachs' Q1 will equate to a strong revenue recovery vs. H2 2011 levels driven by a rebound in risky assets, credit spread tightening, and seasonality. (Sources)

Chevron/Transocean - Silvio Jablonski, a senior official at oil regulator ANP, says the November oil spill off the coast of Brazil was not the result of negligence by Chevron or drill-rig operator Transocean. Jablonski told a Senate hearing that the accident was caused by mistakes and project errors, but would not use the word "negligence". (RTRS)

AIG – Co. confirmed it has made a final payment of USD 1.5bln to the US Treasury and its Maiden Lane II loan has been fully repaid. Co. repayment of preferred stock was one year ahead of schedule. According to the US Treasury, AIG investment, including Fed holdings, now total USD 45bln. (RTRS) 

Lion’s Gate - Pre-release audience surveys indicate that the co.’s "The Hunger Games" could gross anywhere from USD 125-150mln in its opening weekend. (LA Times)

Pulte Group - The Labour Department has increased pressure on the co. in a battle over an investigation into the housing industry's pay practices. Pulte argued in court filings that Labour's subpoena, which seeks payroll records on building projects in eight states from November 2009 to the present, is too broad, and has criticized the department's tactics. (WSJ)

Abercrombie & Fitch – Co.’s CEO enters into 10b5-1 trading plan to sell up to an aggregate of 1,000,000 shares. (Sources)

Companies paying dividend: Lockheed Martin (USD 1.0000), Blackrock (USD 1.5000), Wellpoint (USD 0.2875), Waste management (USD 0.3550)

Nasdaq 100

Earnings:

N/A

Other news:

Apple - Sharp and LG Display have both begun small-volume shipments of flat panels for Apple's new iPad after recently failing to meet quality requirements, and full-scale shipping is likely to recommence in Q2. (Digitimes) In other news, users of Apple's new iPad are discovering that the device uses data "at a monstrous rate." (Washington Post)

Google – Co.’s Play unit is preparing to upgrade some of the features in its music area, including rearranging song displays and ways to organize libraries, in related news, co. executives have spoken to some film studios about offering Android users the option to buy titles. (Cnet)

Yahoo - According to a co. executive, a sale of some of the co.’s ad technologies, including the Right Media Exchange, is not imminent and it could be an "ordeal." (Business Insider)

eBay – Co. has agreed to sell its Rent.com website to Primedia for an undisclosed sum. (Sources)

Research in Motion - Citigroup expects the co. to report in-line quarterly results on March 29 with guidance that will likely disappoint. The firm thinks RIM is facing severe challenges and a lack of visibility given the new phone launch in the second half of 2012. (theflyonthewall.com)

Zynga – Co. has filed to sell USD 43mln shares of common stock for holders, Morgan Stanley and Goldman are acting as joint book running managers for the offering. (Sources)

Michael Kors – Co. have priced their 25mln share secondary at USD 47.00, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Goldman acted as joint book running managers for the offering. (RTRS)

Broker moves

Upgrades:

Goldman Sachs – Co. upgraded to Sector Perform from Underperform at RBC Capital, Price target raised to USD 130 from USD 102

Morgan Stanley – Co. upgraded to Sector Perform from Underperform at RBC Capital, Price target raised to USD 21 from USD 17

American Express – Co. price target raised to USD 67 from USD 60 at Goldman, firm maintains a Buy rating

Dollar General – Co. upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Nomura, Price target is USD 54

Discover – Co. upgraded to Conviction Buy from Neutral at Goldman, Price target raised to USD 39 from USD 36

Mosaic – Co. upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan, firm raised its price target for shares to USD 68 from USD 57

Coventry Health – Co. upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman, Price target is USD 42

Accenture – Co. price target raised to USD 73 from USD 66 at Citigroup, firm maintains a Buy rating

Monster Worldwide – Co. upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at RW Baird, Price target raised to USD 15 from USD 11

DuPont Fabros – Co. upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup, firm raised its price target for shares to USD 27 from USD 20.50

Altria Group – Co. upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo, firm raised its price target range for shares to USD 31-33 from USD 26-28

Downgrades:

Nike – Co. removed from Top Picks Live list at Citigroup, firm reiterates a Buy rating on Nike with a USD 123 price target

Peabody Energy – Co. downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Davenport

Alpha Natural – Co. downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Davenport

Xilinx – Co. downgraded to Hold from Buy at Auriga, Price target is USD 39

Aetna – Co. downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman, Price target is USD 45

Reynolds American – Co. downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo, firm lowered its price target range for shares to USD 38-40 from USD 41-43

Randgold Resources – Co. downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup

Other news

Ambac – Co. financial Q4 loss per share USD 3.18. Co. Q4 net investment income USD 92mln. (Sources)

US Banks – Fed’s Fisher has said we have to break up the ‘too-big-to-fail’ banks. (Sources)

US Banks - Democratic Congressman Barney Frank, one of the co-authors of the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, said that regulators should issue a final version of the Volcker Rule by Labour Day. (NY Times)

BATS Global Markets – Co. priced its IPO yesterday at USD 16, at the low end of its expected range. Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Credit Suisse led the offering, which is believed to have raised about USD 100mln. (NY Times)

Lululemon – According to Barron’s, despite the company's incredible performance, at 50x expected forward earnings, the co. appears overpriced, especially if the excessive growth shows any signs of fatigue. (Barron’s)

According to Barron’s the Top Five co.’s with earnings strength and lower price risk are: Paccar, Nucor, Occidental Petroleum, Time Warner and Anadarko Petroleum. Three of the companies with stronger earnings profiles are projected to raise dividends: Nucor, Occidental Petroleum and Time Warner. The Bottom Five with earnings volatility, higher price risk are: Regions Financial, Masco, First Horizon, Noble Energy and Flour. (Barron’s)

Fisher Capital Management Corporate News

 Fisher Capital Management News: Wikileaks Targets UNESCO - Wikileaks has issued a warning yesterday to an unlikely target of their #occupy campaign: UNESCO, a United Nations’ agency focused in promoting human rights.

The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization hosted a two-day conference together with the World Press Freedom Committee (WPFC), an international NGO, on February 16-17.

Entitled, “The Media World after Wikileaks and News of the World”, the conference appears to deal with media and freedom of speech, prompting Wikileaks to request participation. They were flatly denied an opportunity to speak in the event. UNESCO’s reason? Ironically, they chose not to allow Wikileaks representation as an act of exercising their freedom of expression.

One of the press releases from the organizers announced that they are gathering a range of speakers worldwide to ‘ensure that these questions are considered from the various perspectives of the global media’. Oddly enough, they left out Wikileaks which is one of the most important media players in the past several years.

Wikileaks, led by its founder Julian Assange, expressed their outrage and warning at not being given a speaking opportunity on panel discussions.

UNESCO countered that the event is mainly about journalism and not Wikileaks. The latter begs to disagree — they are claiming that they are part of the journalism sector.

On Wikileaks side, they believe that invoking ‘freedom of expression’ to ban them from a conference concerning them is “an absurdity beyond words”.

Assange said, “This is an intolerable abuse of UNESCO’s Constitution… It has made itself an international human rights joke… It’s time to occupy UNESCO.”

Key speakers in the conference include Geoffrey Robertson, Assange’s lawyer, though he cleared that he is not a representative of Wikileaks. On the other hand, four of the other speakers have active legal conflicts on the whistle-blowing organization.

UNESCO’s responded by saying that Wikileaks is making a big deal out of it — they said Wikileaks is free to attend, just not allowed to as a speaker. According to them, they are only frustrated that they were not able to be in the limelight.

However, some are commenting that Wikileaks might have overreacted in this, making it appear as a big issue on censorship.

It is really rather ironic and awkward that WPFC and UNESCO would stifle free speech in a conference that talks about free speech. For the sake of a balanced story, they should have given the Wikileaks’ camp a chance to be duly represented, especially when there are lots of their critics present.

Big Opportunities in Big-Cap Stocks by Fisher Capital Management Corporate News

Fisher Capital Management Corporate News - Mark Finn knows his way around the block when it comes to valuing companies. A certified public accountant by training, the manager of the T. Rowe Price Value Fund (ticker: TRVLX), spent five years as an auditor at Price Waterhouse before joining the corporate-finance department at T. Rowe in 1990. And as an analyst at the firm, he covered fixed income, distressed companies, tobacco, coal, utilities, and power generation. That broad experience all comes into play at the $12.6 billion fund, which he took over at the beginning of 2010 after co-managing it for a year.

Over the past three years, Finn's fund has returned an average of of 27% a year, outperforming the Standard & Poor's 500 by 2.2 percentage points, according to Morningstar, and the value category by 4.4 percentage points. That places the fund in the top 1% of the 1,107 funds in its category. Lately, the 49-year-old manager has tilted the fund away from some cyclical stocks, including Harley Davidson (HOG), while adding to his positions in companies whose stock prices are sensitive to economic growth, including General Electric (GE). Read on to see why he likes large-cap tech but is selling IBM (IBM).

Barron's : You've been working in a tough part of the market.

Finn: Yes, growth has been the place to be, and the thing that makes it even more difficult is that the market is rough. But there are certain areas where there is still some pretty compelling value, including large-cap tech, health care, financials and names here and there within certain subsectors, including refining within energy.

How do you balance cyclical stocks in the portfolio with more-defensive names?

I try to take what the market gives me. Early in 2011, we had a real strong market and a lot of my cyclical names ran up. So I began getting out of cyclical names that no longer represented a compelling value.

Like Harley Davidson?

Harley Davidson is a perfect example. Another is Alpha Natural Resources (ANR), a coal producer. I sold all of my shares last summer after they paid up to buy Massey Energy. I concluded that their capital-allocation practices were questionable after they bought a troubled company at a time when coal prices were near peak levels. So as 2011 progressed, I was slowly bringing down cyclicality in the portfolio. But that process got interrupted last summer during the Greek debt crisis. So cyclical stocks made a comeback, and I added names like LyondellBasell Industries (LYB), a plastics and chemicals company. At the moment, we are hitting new highs in some of those cyclical stocks, and we are trimming once again.

What kind of opportunities are you finding?

It is sort of a stockpicker's market. It is giving you certain financials, which we've been adding to, and it has been giving us large-cap tech, and certain health-care companies like Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO).

What is your view on the importance of dividends?

A high dividend is nice. Dividends are the most transparent return of capital to shareholders possible. A buyback is usually euphemistically described as a return of capital to shareholders, but it's a return of capital to select selling shareholders. Dividends are an actual return of capital. So we appreciate dividends, but dividend stocks are not the be-all and end-all. Now is not the appropriate time to buy yield for yield's sake. That time was two years ago, when the market didn't understand that interest rates were going to stay low for a prolonged period of time. Right now, I'm much more of the mind to own MetLife (MET) or Sun Life Financial (SLF), which are going to benefit from rising interest rates. Those companies take their premiums and reinvest them, so higher rates help their net interest margins.

You mentioned tech as an area of opportunity. What are some holdings in that sector?

Dell (DELL), Oracle (ORCL), which has come in to the portfolio recently, and Cisco Systems (CSCO). I've been a happy holder of Microsoft (MSFT). I feel like we've realized our potential with IBM (IBM), and I've been working my way out of that position.

What do you like about Microsoft?

Large-cap tech has this shadow secular risk to it. What people have worried about—and what I would highlight about Microsoft—is earnings growth. Microsoft's price/earnings multiple is compressed, but they've grown earnings consistently, and now they have Windows 8 coming out. The stock has finally begun to be a little more appreciated by the market, and it has gone back up over $30. Plus, they are generating all kinds of free cash flow.

And they're returning more cash to shareholders.

That's right. It currently yields 2.5%. People are finally starting to understand that the perceived earnings cliff that Microsoft would have, whenever that was going to come, is perhaps not so imminent. Dell and Cisco are a little different, and I pair them up because both companies are dominant players in their respective industries with very strong, charismatic leaders who have previously led their companies to glory.

Michael Dell and John Chambers.

Both of them know how to win, but both have stumbled, though for different reasons. Cisco lost its way a bit. They got involved too much in consumer-related products. They bought [set-top-box maker] Scientific- Atlanta, and while they were off doing that they let JDS Uniphase (JDSU) and Juniper Networks (JNPR) come in and eat away at them competitively. One of the advantages that we have at T. Rowe Price is that our analyst who covers Cisco also covers Apple (AAPL), JDS Uniphase and Juniper. So when I started working on Cisco last summer, it had gotten down to around $15. As I mentioned, last summer offered some opportunities in cyclical names. So our analyst was able to very clearly articulate the issues that Cisco had with respect to losing its way and the real competitive threat that Juniper and JDS Uniphase offered.

He actually said to us that Juniper's new products look like they may stumble a little bit and that gives Cisco an even better opportunity to recover. So we concluded that Cisco wasn't facing a secular head wind as much as it was a loss of focus and some competitive challenges, and I think Chambers is doing a pretty good job getting that one back on track. Dell has a little more of a transition ahead of it, because they need to move a little more towards services, and we are seeing that today.

How much upside is there in those stocks?

Cisco can earn a little over $2 a share a year or two out. I don't see why the stock can't get to the mid-$20s, versus around $20 recently. Dell can earn around $2.15 to $2.20 next year. The multiple there will probably be a little more of a commodity multiple. So I you could see the stock at $22 or $23, versus around $17 recently.

Let's move on. Another of your holdings is General Electric, whose stock has been a big disappointment for a decade. What do you like about the company?

On March 13, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) announced that, after undergoing a stress test, it had received permission from the Federal Reserve to resume buying back shares, in this case up to $15 billion worth over the next year, and to increase its dividend. So we are seeing the first opportunity for strong financial institutions to return capital to shareholders. For GE, the opportunity to return capital to shareholders [from GE Capital] over the next several years could be very compelling.

GE Capital hasn't paid a dividend to the parent in four years. And last week Moody's issued a warning on both GE and GE Capital. But GE's management says it still plans to reinstate GE Capital's dividend this year. What's your take?

That's exactly the kind of worry that has kept a lid on GE's stock. But while it may take a few months to sort out the amount and timing of the dividend with the Fed, the fact that management is focused on restarting the dividend is encouraging. The primary risk to my thesis is that I misjudge the severity of the limitation on the size or frequency of the dividend, but GE is a very well-capitalized company and eventually the cash build at GE Capital will find its way back to the parent and to shareholders.

What will move the needle at GE? Stronger sales of its later-cycle power-generation products?

It will be that, and I sincerely hope they continue to return capital to shareholders. There will be a point at which people just simply won't ignore that dividend, just like with Pfizer (PFE). [GE yields 3.4%.] If they raise it again, it will probably be bumping up against 4%. I think [CEO Jeffrey] Immelt wants to make GE a stock that people will buy because of the yield, as well as its strong earnings growth. If they continue to return cash to shareholders and the late-cycle businesses begin to hit on all cylinders, the stock will be compelling. It's at around $20 now, and I don't see why it can't get to the mid-$20s in 12 to 18 months.

You also have some big holdings in big-cap pharma. What's to like there?

The market fixated on patent cliffs, especially at companies like Merck (MRK) and, in particular, Pfizer, which lost its patent last year on the cholesterol blockbuster Lipitor. In the meantime, Pfizer and Merck both went out and addressed their pipeline issues, with the acquisition of Wyeth by Pfizer and the acquisition of Schering-Plough by Merck. The perception was that Merck and Pfizer wouldn't be able to plug the hole in their revenue streams created by the patent cliffs. However, both companies made acquisitions that strengthened their pipelines, partially mitigating that risk. And both companies took pretty strong R&D complexes and put them together. And in the case of Pfizer in particular, they began cutting costs. So Pfizer preserved its cash flow after making the acquisition.

Then there was a management change. Ian Read [the new CEO] is in there looking at the business from the standpoint of how do we create and maximize shareholder value? So now they are selling the nutrition business, and it looks like the bids are going to come in the $10 billion range. The shareholders will see about $8.5 billion of proceeds, which I believe will be targeted to share buybacks. And they are likely to spin off their animal-health business. The dilution from taking those strategic actions will be minuscule.

Pfizer shares were trading recently at $22, close to their 52-week high. Is there still value there?

There is still value, because the stock is cheap. It has a 4% dividend yield, and it is trading at nine times earnings. I bought Pfizer in the mid-teens in 2010, when it had a 5% dividend yield and a 7.5 multiple, thinking that it would be fully valued when the stock reached $20. Now the stock is above $20. I look around and say, "Should I sell my Pfizer and buy Procter & Gamble at 16 times?" To me, Pfizer is still the better value.

Another holding is St. Joe (JOE). The land-development company has taken a drubbing, owing in large part to the distressed real-estate market in Florida. Isn't the outlook for this company bleak?

This has been a difficult stock. But the new CEO, Park Brady, seems to really have a handle on what he needs to do. He has taken down the SG&A cost. Throughout the last several years, there has been a cash bleed, as lot sales and revenue from the timber sales did not cover the SG&A costs. Brady has winnowed it down to where now they are actually going to generate a little bit of free cash flow from here on. So they've addressed the melting ice-cube risk, which to me was the most tenuous issue with respect to that company. The new CEO has gotten the company to where it is operating within its means. We have a lot more time. Under the previous management, I was concerned about how much time we had.

Back in 2008, the company had a lot of big plans for the Florida Panhandle. But the growth never came. Will it?

They are looking at developing Port St. Joe into an actual port, and they've got a couple of leases there. So when they widen the Panama Canal, which should increase ship traffic into the Gulf, there could be some additional opportunity over time. And they're cutting their losses on their bad real-estate developments.

So I'm not going to sit here and tell you that this is the greatest value opportunity since sliced bread. But it does represent very reasonable value at this point, and this is something that I feel we need to stick with at $19. I don't see why this stock can't get back to the mid-$20s over the next 12 to 18 months