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Mrs. Claus and Elves Hold Down the Fort at the North Pole

NOTE TO EDITORS: The Following Is an Investment Opinion Being Issued by Ridgewater Equity (RWE).

Most U.S. stocks ended the week with losses, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average notched a small rise for the period thanks to gains on Friday in health care stocks and consumer-related shares. Tech shares were the biggest losers on the week.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), the Dow component and the world's largest maker of consumer staples items, said it is still interested in acquisitions to fill voids in its consumer products portfolio.

Jon Moeller, P&G's CFO, told analysts the company would consider additions to its household brands, beauty products, or personal health care lines. We mentioned earlier this week that P&G might be interested in Sara Lee's (NYSE: SLE) air freshner business.

Moeller was clear to say that P&G would not pursue hostile bids.

Jason B Bazinet of Citi upgraded his rating for Liberty Interactive (NASDAQ: LINTA) from "hold" to "buy," while raising his estimates for the company. The target price for LINTA has been raised from $12 to $13.25.

Citi mentioned that LINTA has been successful in delivering robust EBITDA growth in Q3 at QVC, despite tough consumer environment. While QVC's domestic EBITDA surged by 10.4%, that at QVC's international segment rose by 8.8%, despite unfavorable currency exchange environment, Citi said.

According to Citi, there is a possibility of LINTA gaining control of HSN. LINTA may also swap its passive equity stakes for cash stakes in Liberty Capital, Citi added.

Citi has raised its EPS estimates for FY10 by $0.10 to $0.78.

Shares of online broker E-Trade Financial Corp. rise more than 4% at the start of Friday’s session, amidst heavy talk of a possible takeover bid by TD Ameritrade Holdings Corp.

Appointment of a new CEO at DirecTV Group Inc (NASDAQ: DTV) could be a signal for its possible takeover. Michael White, who was earlier with PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), has no experience in pay TV, and is apparently a "baby-sitter" for the company until a possible takeover.

Both Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ) and AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) are seen as possible candidates for an acquisition. Most analyst feel so, since both these companies are already marketing partners with DirecTV and owning a satellite TV company would be cost saving and provide more leverage in program negotiations with cable TV networks.

The regulatory climate in Washington is going to be against more media consolidations as the Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) –NBC(NYSE: GE) deal is on the docket. The only question here is whether regulators would allow a phone company to offer satellite TV services in markets they already have their own video offering.

Liberty Media (NASDAQ: LINTA) shareholders are set to vote on Thursday to approve a plan to split DirecTV from Liberty Entertainment (NASDAQ: LMDIA), a Liberty Media subsidiary, in preparation for a possible takeover. This parting will actually be beneficial to the parent company in terms of costs and tax savings.

Any deal will have to wait at least a few months as White does not take the helm at DirecTV until Jan 1.

Earlier this week, Applied Materials (AMAT) announced that it was acquiring Semitool (SMTL) in a $364 million all-cash deal. As we’ve footnoted before, Semitool had an interesting side-deal with CEO Ray Thompson that had the company leasing several planes and an aircraft hangar from separate companies owned or controlled by Thompson. Given Semitool’s size, the arrangement, which [...]

Fitch has a slightly more positive view than Standard & Poor’s of the prospects for US retailers and consumer products companies. We featured S&P’s outlook earlier this week, in which S&P said that industries that depend on discretionary consumer spending may not rebound anytime soon. Fitch says it expects increased stability among retailers as cash flow [...]

Analysts are mostly skeptical about the likelihood of Hershey (HSY) and Ferrero mounting a successful joint bid for Cadbury (CBRY) to thwart Kraft’s (KFT) pending bid for the company. However, the threat of a rival bid may be enough to coax a slightly sweeter offer from Kraft. Both Bloomberg and Reuters offer good summaries of analyst [...]

( click to enlarge ) Macy’s (M) - From my point of view I think the stock may break down here. M is slowly but steadily coming down on each passing day. Up/Down volume pattern indicates that the stock is under Distribution. The stock closed fractionaly above the major support at $17.46, but ...

Here are the stocks added to the Zacks #1 Rank ("strong buy") List today:

• Advisory Board Co (ABCO)
• Amerigon Inc (ARGN)
• Amicas Inc (AMCS)
• Avago Technologies Ltd (AVGO)
• Bancorp Inc (TBBK)
• Bare Escentuals Inc (BARE)
• Benchmark Electronics Inc (BHE)
• BHP Billiton Ltd (BHP)
• BHP Billiton Plc (BBL)
• Cabela's Inc (CAB)
• Cadbury Plc (CBY)
• Cantel Medical Corp (CMN)
• Commerce Bancshares Inc (CBSH)
• Connecticut Water Service Inc (CTWS)
• Crane Co (CR)
• Domtar Corp (UFS)
• DryShips Inc (DRYS)
• EnerNOC Inc (ENOC)
• Firstbank Corp (FBMI)
• Healthspring Inc (HS)
• Hertz Global Holdings Inc (HTZ)
• International Flavors & Fragrances Inc (IFF)
• Inverness Medical Innovations Inc (IMA)
• iRobot Corp (IRBT)
• Lancaster Colony Corp (LANC)
• Lubrizol Corp (LZ)
• Lufkin Industries Inc (LUFK)
• Lukoil OAO (LUKOY)
• Macy's Inc (M)
• Medical Action Industries Inc (MDCI)
• Nordstrom Inc (JWN)
• Park Electrochemical Corp (PKE)
• Parker Hannifin Corp (PH)
• Phillips-Van Heusen Corp (PVH)
• Quidel Corp (QDEL)
• Rentech Inc (RTK)
• Revlon Inc (REV)
• Rofin-Sinar Technologies Inc (RSTI)
• Santarus Inc (SNTS)
• Stanley Inc (SXE)
• Stanley Works (SWK)
• Tenet Healthcare Corp (THC)
• Thomas & Betts Corp (TNB)
• United America Indemnity Ltd (INDM) 
  
  View the entire Zacks #1 Rank List

   

"ABCO" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"ARGN" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"AMCS" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"AVGO" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"TBBK" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"BARE" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"BHE" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"BHP" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"BBL" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"CAB" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"CBY" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"CMN" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"TAST" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"CBSH" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
Zacks Investment Research

Download this podcast Length – 16:50 Download audio file (20091106_kim_woodard_pt3.mp3) OK … we are on to Part 3 of our interview with the newest addition to the Technomic Asia team, Kim Woodard.  In this section, we get down into the nitty-gritty of doing deals in China.  Enjoy!

Download this podcast Length – 17:54 Download audio file (20091102_kim_woodard_pt2.mp3) We are in the middle of a Podcast interview with Dr. Kim Woodard, the newest addition to the Technomic Asia team here in Shanghai.  Kim’s background includes setting up A.T. Kearney in the early days of China business and running his own boutique M&A consulting firm.  We brought [...]

Download this podcast Length – 17:03 Download audio file (20091028_kim_woodard_pt1.mp3) Unless you have been living in a hole or the dark side of the moon for the past year, your life has somehow been impacted by the global economic slowdown.  You, a friend or a family member have lost a job; your municipal budgets are being cut; heck, [...]

Download this podcast Download audio file (20090621_manda.mp3) I’m speaking this week at the Sixth Annual GIC Mergers and Acquisition Summit, the title of my presentation is Deal Cultivation – Keys to Success in Making Acquisitions in China. The M&A process in China is much different than in the United States. Understanding this difference will reduce [...]

Steve Ganster Keynotes Deal Cultivation at China M & A Conference Shanghai, China, June 21, 2009 – Steve Ganster, Executive Director of Technomic Asia, will highlight the opportunities and challenges of mergers and acquisitions in China at the GIC sixth annual Mergers and Acquisitions Summit held in Shanghai on June 25. Ganster says [...]