CHICAGO, July 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Zacks Equity Research highlights Superior Industries (NYSE:SUP) as the Bull of the Day and Expeditors International (Nasdaq:EXPD) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis onApple Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL), Google Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOG) and The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS).
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Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2678.
Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:
Superior Industries (NYSE:SUP) has a wide customer base. Its long-term business agreements with clients have helped maintain financial stability. The company is well positioned to take full advantage of the globally expanding automotive industry, given its competent management, strategic acquisitions, divestments and production efficiencies.
The company's EPS surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by $0.06 per share in the first quarter of 2012. Therefore, considering all these factors, we continue with our Outperform recommendation on the shares of Superior Industries and set a target price of $20.00.
The current P/E, which is in the lowest quartile of the company's historical range, is at a 21% premium to the peer group for 2012. Our $20.00 target price, 18.2x our 2012 EPS estimate, reflects our Outperform recommendation.
We have downgraded our recommendation on Expeditors International (Nasdaq:EXPD) to Underperform, given a lackluster performance in its first quarter. The company's adjusted earnings missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate and deteriorated from the year-ago level.
A dull revenue performance in air and ocean freight segments was primarily responsible for the underperformance. Total revenue was also lower than expected, given an unfavorable demand trend.
We remain concerned about the macroeconomic environment that continues to affect global demand trends, thereby hurting Expeditors' performance. Hence our Underperform rating with a price target of $35, based on 19.6x our earnings estimate for 2012.
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Major Advantage for Apple
Apple Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL) was yet again on the favorable side in its fight against Samsung as the U.S. District Court of Northern California sided with the iPhone maker and granted a ban on Samsung's' Galaxy Nexus smartphone in the country, reported Bloomberg. The court decided to ban Samsung's smartphone owing to infringement of four patents that are held by Apple. Earlier, the same court had imposed a ban on Samsung's Galaxy 10.1 tablets in a design-related patent case.
Among the four patents that Apple alleged Samsung to have infringed upon, is the voice activated navigational system, Siri, used in the iPhone 4S. In its ruling against Samsung, Judge Lucy Koh noted that Apple would "suffer irreparable harm" without the ban. However, this ban would be effective as soon as Apple would post a $96 million bond in damages, which is to be paid to Samsung if Apple loses the case when it goes on trial in 2014.
The Galaxy Nexus range of smartphones is a collaborated effort of Samsung and Google Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOG) and is powered by the latest Android operating system of "Ice Cream Sandwich", which debuted in U.S. in December last year. Getting banned in the U.S. would have serious implications on the company's sales figures in the near term.
Over the last couple of years, Apple has been highly vocal about saving its intellectual property from misuse and violations. The company has been aggressive in filing lawsuits against other handset makers such as Samsung and HTC in order to protect its patents. Apple has accused these manufacturers of blatantly copying its iPhone and iPad designs.
Apple is protective about its iPhone designs because of the fact that iPhones have been a major constituent of Apple's top line. iPhone unit sales were 35.06 million during the last concluded quarter, representing a year-over-year growth of 88.0%. Revenues from iPhone handset sales, accessory sales and carrier payments skyrocketed 85.0% year over year to $22.69 billion in the last concluded quarter.
Goldman Plans Private REIT in Japan
The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) is planning to venture into Japan's property market through its asset management wing. According to Bloomberg, the U.S. investment bank strategizes to expand private real estate investment trust (REIT) in the Japanese soil to 300 billion yen ($3.7 billion) over the next five years.
Goldman aims to initiate the private REIT in August with 30 billion yen ($0.4 billion) and expand it further over the long term. It also plans to increase its investment fund to 100 billion yen ($1.2 billion) over the next two years. The REIT targets to begin investing primarily in office buildings in Tokyo with the anticipation of an upward movement in the Japanese property market.
Further, according to the source, Goldman's investment is expected to be extended to residential and retail properties. Precisely, office buildings are anticipated to account for 60% of the trust, while the remaining will account for residential and retail properties. Moreover, the main second-tier Japanese cities might also come under the purview of investments in the later years.
Private REITs, which possess buildings, pay dividends to the investors from the rental income. These trusts do not trade on exchanges, and therefore they sound similar to pension funds that yield stable income for investors.
Get the full analysis of all these stocks by going to http://at.zacks.com/?id=2649.
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