Price Targets on (MTW) (OII) (HSIC) (PCS) Updated by Analysts

Analysts updated price targets on Manitowoc Company, Inc. (NYSE: MTW), Oceaneering International (NYSE: OII), Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ: HSIC) and MetroPCS (NYSE: PCS).

Barclays Capital (NYSE:BCS) raised their price target on Henry Schein, Inc. (HSIC) from $69.00 to $75.00. They have an “equal weight” rating on the company.

Boenning & Scattergood raised their price target on Manitowoc Company, Inc. (MTW) from $24.00 to $30.00. They have an “outperform” rating on the company.

Barclays Capital raised their price target on Oceaneering International ( OII) from $86.00 to $91.00. They have an “overweight” rating on the company.

Hudson Square Research raised their price target on MetroPCS (PCS) from $17.00 to $20.00. They have a “buy” rating on the company.

Barclays Likes Lear (LEA) (JCI) (TEN) (DAN) in Auto Parts Sector

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) analyst Brian Johnson recommends buying shares of Ford (NYSE:F) and General Motors (NYSE:GM) as the stock price of both companies have fallen over 14 percent recently, but he also likes the auto parts sector, eyeing companies like Dana Holding (NYSE:DAN), Johnson Controls (NYSE:JCI), Lear Corp. (NYSE:LEA) and Tenneco (NYSE:TEN).

Of particular note for the parts industry is the commercial truck segment, where things are taking off because orders have come back strong.

As for auto sales, the reason Johnson is bullish there is from price increases on vehicles from the manufacturers, Turbo Ecoboost technology from Ford, and production estimates are probably understated.

Tenneco closed Thursday at $43.60, gaining $0.30, or 0.69 percent. Lear Corporation ended the day at $48.97, rising $0.74, or 1.53 percent. Johnson Controls closed the session at $40.73, up $0.60, or 1.50 percent. Dana Holding closed at $18.33, increasing $0.51, or 2.86 percent.

Chevron (CVX), (ALJ) to Crush Estimates Says Barclays (BCS)

Large oil companies appear ready to explode past estimates for the first quarter, according to Barclays (NYSE:BCS) analyst Paul Cheng, citing Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and Alon USA Energy (NYSE:ALJ) as the two oil companies with the most upside.

Among the few oil companies with downside, he believes Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) will miss the most.

Cheng wrote in a note to clients, “We think the current published consensus estimates have not fully reflected the strong Brent price environment as well as the higher light/heavy oil differentials.”

On average, Chen sees the 18 integrated oil companies he covers to post year-over-year EPS increases of 54%, and 35% quarter over quarter.

Alon USA Energy closed Thursday at $14.20, dropping $0.22, or 1.53 percent. Chevron closed at $108.94, gaining $0.28, or 0.26 percent.

Credit Suisse (CS) (STD) (BBVA) (LYG) (BCS) Jump on Interest Rate Hike

Shares of foreign banks Credit Suisse Group (NYSE:CS), Banco Santander (NYSE:STD), Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (NYSE:BBVA), Lloyd's Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) and Barclays Plc (NYSE:BCS) all closed up on Wednesday in New York on expectations there will be an interest rate boost from the European Central Bank.

It is anticipated the the benchmark rate will be raised by 25 basis points in the afternoon today, the first bump up since July 2008. From there it is expected the central bank will continue to raise rates on an annual basis.

Overseas banks will probably be beneficiaries of the increase in interest rates.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria closed Wednesday at $12.69, rising $0.61, or 5.05 percent. Credit Suisse closed at $44.08, gaining $1.41, or 3.30 percent. Banco Santander ended the session at $12.12, increasing $0.40, or 3.41 percent. Lloyd's Banking Group closed at $4.01, up $0.15, or 3.89 percent. Barclays closed at $19.36, jumping $0.63, or 3.36 percent.

Bank of America (BAC) Sells Barclays (BCS) Credit Card Portfolio

Saying it didn't see the MBNA Europe's small business credit card portfolio as a core part of its consumer-lending business, Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) sold it to Barclays (NYSE:BCS) for an undisclosed amount.

Bank of America said, "We did not see this as core to our consumer-lending business within MBNA. About 50 people support the portfolio and will be needed for about a year. We hope to redeploy their positions by that time."

"Following on from our recently announced intention to purchase the Egg credit card assets, this deal further reflects the growing diversification of our payments business and is priced at a small discount to outstanding balances," said Valerie Soranno Keating, CEO of Barclaycard.

The portfolio acquired includes about 60,000 accounts with close to $211 million in outstanding balances.

Bank of America was trading at $13.43, down $0.01, or 0.11 percent, as of 1:00 PM EDT.

JPMorgan (JPM) (BBY) (TIV) (KR) (WAG) Victims of Email Theft

A number of bank and businesses have had their emails and names of customers stolen by hackers, including JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), Best Buy (NYSE:BBY), TIVO (NASDAQ:TIV)), Kroger (NYSE:KR), Walgreen (NYSE:WAG), Citigroup (NYSE:C), U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB), Barclays (NYSE:BCS and Capital One Financial (NYSE:COF).

Epsilon, a division of Alliance Data Systems Corp., was the company which has been apparently hacked, with the probable theft of million in emails of the companies mentioned above, and others.

Other private information wasn't attained, according to Epsilon, but companies have been sending out warnings to their customers to be wary from emails claiming to be from them which ask for personal information which could be used to extract money from their accounts; a tactic called "phishing."

Normally this scheme involves the hackers to set up a site made to look like the site of a bank and then get them to log in using their user name and password, which they then can use to access the account itself.

Buy Emerging-Market Put Options Barclays (BCS) Says, Sell Japan's

Traders should look to emerging market stocks to acquire put options, while also selling Japan stock puts, according to Barclays (NYSE:BCS).

Barclays believes the shares of emerging-market sotcks may drop because of the increase in commodity prices, while Japanese stocks could rally on reconstruction related to the devastation from the earthquake in Japan.

Maneesh Deshpande, heads of the top-ranked equity-linked strategies team in Institutional Investor magazine’s 2010 survey, said, “Japanese gross domestic product grew at a relatively fast rate for the next eight quarters. Against this outlook for Japan, emerging markets face increasing headwinds on account of mounting inflation due to increasing commodity prices and geopolitical risks in the Middle East.”

Bloomberg data show that the Japan ETF’s implied volatility, the key gauge of option prices, for at-the-money options expiring in 30 days is 28.63. That’s down from 51.84, the highest in more than two years, as of March 16. The current reading compares with a median of 19.56 over the past year.

Deshpande recommends buying iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (NYSEArca:EEM) exchange-traded fund and selling January $9 puts on the iShares MSCI Japan ETF (NYSEArca:EWJ).

Barclays (BCS) Successfully Growing Brand in U.S., Landing Big Deals

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) has been working hard to implement its five-year plan to boost its brand in the U.S., and has won some significant deals along the way.

Barclays Capital, a division of Barclays PLC, "had roles in the $4.7 billion debt financing for KKR & Co.'s (NYSE:KKR) buyout of Del Monte Foods Co. and the $3.4 billion financing for the buyout of Tomkins PLC, the two largest leveraged buyouts of 2010. It also had recent big loan-refinancing deals for Dunkin' Brands Inc., Burger King and Michael Foods," according to the Wall Street Journal.

"Now it, along with other lenders, faces speed bumps. In the past two weeks, $19.5 billion of leveraged-loan and high-yield bond offerings have been postponed or canceled because of market turmoil, according to Standard & Poor's Leveraged Commentary & Data. That put a crimp on an otherwise strong start to the year.

"Through last week, Barclays had 33 U.S. loan deals this year, totaling $10 billion, nearly double in number what it had during last year's full first quarter, according to Dealogic. It currently ranks fourth among U.S. leveraged lenders, up from eighth last year."

Barclays was trading at $18.88, gaining $0.03, or 0.16 percent, as of 1:58 PM EDT.




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Libor Probe of BofA (BAC), Citigroup (C), Barclays (BSC), WestLB (WDLG), UBS (UBS)

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Barclays (NYSE:BCS), Citigroup (NYSE:C), WestLB (WDLG.UL) and UBS (NYSE:UBS) are being investigated by regulators in Britain, Japan and the United States over the alleged manipulation of Libor rates.

Libor rates are the benchmark for interbank borrowing costs.

The Financial Times, citing people familiar with the investigation, reported Barclays, BofA, and Citi had all received subpoenas from U.S. regulators. Investigators had also demanded information from WestLB, although the German bank said it had not been subpoenaed, the paper said.

Swiss bank UBS had said on Tuesday it received subpoenas from Japanese and U.S. regulators regarding whether it made "improper attempts" to manipulate the London interbank offered rate.

Some lawyers said the regulators, who are investigating the setting of dollar Libor prices in 2007 and 2008 - just before and during the financial crisis - faced a tough task.

"Unless significant in terms of evidence, to prove such in such turbulent markets would be less than clear cut -- and like searching for the needle in a hay stack," said Tom O'Riordan, a partner at law firm Paul Hastings.




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Apple's (AAPL) iPad Expected to Ship Soon

With most believing Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will unveil the iPad 2 at an announced special event on Wednesday, the question is how long the company will take before the first shipments begin.

Not long at all, say supply chain sources, who tell Barclays (NYSE:BCS) that the iPad 2 will likely arrive at market in April, just like its predecessor. Evidently, its design and specifications were finalized earlier this month and it’s headed into manufacturing now. Barclays analyst Kirk Yang expects iPad 2 shipments to start in early April, with two million units for that month.

“The April shipment time frame (vs. the earlier market expectation of small shipments in March) is primarily due to production line setup and training, and not likely due to any product re-design,” he says. “None of the component suppliers suggest any type of re-designs nor delays.”

Like most everyone else, Barclays expects the iPad 2 to be faster, thinner and lighter and outfitted with cameras and FaceTime support. Its unit shipment forecast for the device: 28.8 million for fiscal 2011 and 40 million for fiscal 2012.





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Citigroup (NYSE:C), Barclays (NYSE:BCS), HSBC (NYSE:HBC) Evacuate Workers from Egypt

Citigroup (NYSE:C), Barclays (NYSE:BCS) and HSBC (NYSE:HBC), among other financial institutions in Egypt, has evacuated non-Egyptian employees from the region for their safety.

The central bank of Egypt also ordered all banks closed on Monday, as turmoil and danger escalates.

Commenting on evacuating their people, Citigroup said they have about 600 workers in Egypt, with the majority of them being local. Foreign nationals wanting to leave Egypt were evacuated Sunday evening.

Barclays said they pulled out less than 10 of its people, and HSBC said they also pulled out a "small number" of foreign nationals working for them.

Citigroup was trading at $4.78, up $0.07, or 1.38 percent, as of 1:33PM EST.

ASML (Nasdaq:ASML), Varian (Nasdaq:VSEA), Teradyne (NYSE:TER) Have More Upside than KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ:KLAC) Says Barclays

KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ:KLAC) had a decent quarter, according to Barclays, and should do fairly well in 2011, although GMs could remain under pressure. They like ASML (Nasdaq:ASML), Varian (Nasdaq:VSEA) and Teradyne (NYSE:TER) better in the sector.

Barclays says, "Overall, this was a good quarter for KLAC, notwithstanding a less favorable mix, which weighed on GMs. Looking ahead, we think that the favorable foundry and logic capex mix should help KLAC achieve a $3B+ run rate quite easily, though the metrology and reticle inspection intensive nature of foundry spend might keep a lid on GMs. To this end, we raise our CY11 revenue/EPS to $3.24B/$4.80 (cons $2.8B/$3.93) and introduce CY12 at $3.25B/$4.90 (cons $2.8B/$3.91)...Given our positive view on the cycle, the shares should work - however, at this point, we see greater upside for our favorites, in particular, ASML Inc (ASML), Varian Semi (VSEA) and Teradyne (TER)."

Barclays maintains an 'Equalweight' on KLA-Tencor (KLAC), which closed Friday at $43.69, down $0.99, or 2.22 percent. Barclays raised their price target on KLA from $50 to $53.

Travelers (NYSE:TRV), ACE (NYSE:ACE), Arch Capital (Nasdaq:ACGL) Better Bets Than Chubb (NYSE:CB) on Valuation

Chubb (NYSE:CB) has a lot going for it, unfortunately for them at this time, peers like Travelers (NYSE:TRV), ACE (NYSE:ACE) and Arch Capital (Nasdaq:ACGL) are trading at or below 1X book value, making them a preferable investment at this time.

Barclays says, "CB has a solid franchise in our view as evidenced by strong 4Q10 underwriting results and aggressive share repurchase activity. However, CB's valuation is above peers, and we prefer other high-quality P&C insurers that trade at or below 1x book value such as Travelers (NYSE:TRV), ACE Ltd (NYSE:ACE) and Arch Capital (Nasdaq:ACGL).

"We are reducing our 2011 EPS estimate for CB to $5.65 from $5.75 (consensus=$5.80) to reflect higher than anticipated catastrophe losses. No change to our 2012 EPS estimate of $5.60 (consensus=$5.73)."

Barclays maintains an 'Equalweight' rating on Chubb Corporation (CB), which closed Friday at $57.97, down $1.36, or 2.29 percent. Barclays has a price target of $59 on Chubb.

Potash Corp. (NYSE:POT) Will be Driven by Crop Prices in 2011

Strong crop price should continue on through 2011, and as crop prices go so should fertilizer demand go, and that ends up working strongly for Potash Corp. (NYSE:POT) and other fertilizer companies.

Barclays says, "With a strong correlation between crop price movement and fertilizer equity performance, it is no secret that fertilizer stocks began trending higher in mid-2010 as crop price forecasts started to gradually increase. With crop fundamentals continuing to strengthen on increasing demand and critically low ending inventories, there is no sign of crop price weakness in the short term. In our opinion, until we see crop prices begin to stagnate or even retreat by way of weakening crop fundamentals (either through demand destruction or supply improvements), we expect fertilizer equities to continue to perform well in 2011."

Barclays maintains an 'Overweight' rating on Potash Corp. (POT), which closed Friday at $174.16, up $0.02, or 0.01 percent. Barclays raised their price target on Potash from $165 to $198. Full year 2011 EPS estimate was boosted from $8.15 to $9.03.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Guidance Conservative Says Barclays

Citing a plethora of catalysts, Barclays believes the already solid guidance given by Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) for the current quarter and full year 2011 is on the conservative side.

Barclays says, "Post close wireless innovator QCOM delivered impressive December quarter results and raised both its March and FY11 outlook sharply (even ex-$250M boost from royalty resolution). We believe QCOM remains a core growth pick given leverage to Smartphones, Tablets, 3G momentum and accelerated 4G deployments. We believe the guidance for EPS and chip margins remains conservative with design and customer wins at Mobile World Congress (2/14/11) and incremental opportunities with AAPL's new iPhone for mid CY11 are likely to further boost sentiment.

"FY11 moves up from $12.7B to $13.9B with extra $650M from chips and $550M from royalties with CY11 device ASP estimate up from $186 to $195. FY11 EPS to over $3.00 from $2.75 and WCDMA/CDMA market size raised again to 775M units from 765M. We believe chip margin guidance of 23% for FY11 versus 30% in December may prove conservative.

"We consider resolution of 2nd larger (we believe) dispute should further lift EPS and while opex moves up again our CY11 EPS moves up crisply from $2.80 to $3.02. Laterals: QCOM's 60 dual core Snapdragon wins for Tablets/Phones could temper sentiment towards NVDA's Tegra."

Barclays reiterates an "Overweight" rating on Qualcomm (QCOM), which closed Thursday at $54.90, up $3.04, or 5.86 percent. Barclays has a price target of $62 on QCOM.

U.S. Airways (NYSE:LCC), United Continental (NYSE:UAL) Revenue Accelerating

Commenting on earnings and revenue of U.S. Airways (NYSE:LCC) and United Continental (NYSE:UAL), Barclays said they see them continuing to grow alongside fuel.

Barclays says, "Yesterday we got solid earnings and strong revenue data points from U.S. Airways (NYSE: LCC) and United Continental (NYSE: UAL) suggesting the revenue environment is accelerating alongside fuel. Capacity outlooks were unchanged, but the market was prepared for that outcome after last week. Cost guidance from both was roughly in line, but revenue data points were encouraging. LCC's revenue guidance was very much in line with our expectations, but UAL's January RASM guidance was by far the biggest upside surprise thus far during earnings season. Our estimates for LCC rise slightly, but our UAL forecast rises substantially on much better than expected revenue trends in 1Q. Given the estimate changes we expect from others for UAL, we expect the shares to rise further relative to the sector.

"Adds up to a powerful outlook; stocks should perform better. Fundamentally, we believe earnings season provided support for our robust earnings and cash flow outlook across the sector in 2011. Rising fuel is a risk, but investors should be mindful of the historical correlation between unit revenue and fuel. Demand acceleration along with rapid changes in the fare structure in recent weeks should allow for significant earnings gains despite rising fuel. As the market's comfort with the sector grows, we believe the shares will trade much better."

United Continental Holdings (UAL) closed Thursday at $26.96, gaining $1.17, or 4.54 percent. US Airways ended the trading session at $11.05, up $0.25, or 2.31 percent.

ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) Earnings May Fall Short

In an earnings preview of ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) by Barclays, they see the energy giant coming in a penny short on fourth quarter earnings.

Barclays says, "We expect XOM to report 4Q10 EPS of $1.59 per share, compared to consensus of $1.60 per share...Upstream: Earnings are expected to be $6,677 million or $15.1/boe, up 13% q-o-q but flat y-o-y. Production is expected to be 2,455 mboe/d, up 3% y-o-y...Downstream: We expect downstream earnings of $522 million, compared to $1,160 million in 3Q10 and a loss of $189 million in 4Q09...Chemicals: We forecast income of $1,409 million, up 97% y-o-y and up 15% q-o-q."

Barclays reiterates an "Equalweight" rating on ExxonMobil (XOM), which closed Thursday at $79.88, up $0.22, or 0.28 percent. Barclays has a price target of $85 on Exxon.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) Led by Solid U.S. Performance

Concerns surrounded Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) recently over what type of earnings report they'd have in light of Australian operations, but the U.S. market helped them exceed expectations, and Australia performed better than expected.

Barclays says, "The beat was driven in part by strong U.S. performance coupled with higher than expected revenues at the company's Australian operations. The quarter also benefitted from a lower-than-expected tax rate because of lower contributions from Australia, which has a higher effective tax rate than the company's other operations. Strong results were partially offset by higher-than-expected Australian costs and weaker than expected performance from the company's trading and brokerage division."

Barclays maintains an "Overweight" rating on Peabody Energy (BTU), which closed Thursday at $62.38, down $0.76, or 1.20 percent. Barclays boosted their price target on Peabody from $70 to $75.

EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG) Clarifies Guidance Cut

A number of investors were stymied and concerned over the guidance cut by EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG), which wasn't communicated clearly, and left many with concerns over the performance of the company.

Barclays says, "The November guidance cut had little to do with operating performance/execution. EOG provided little help at the time to investors trying to understand the negative guidance on its Q3 call but it has, in subsequent meetings, provided explanations. The 11%/18% cuts in 2011/2012 volumes were more a result of reduced drilling activity than of any other factor. Confused investors assumed drilling results, especially in the Eagleford, were the main reason for the disappointment. We expect investors to be more willing to focus on the positives going forward."

Barclays reiterates an "Overweight" rating on EOG Resources (EOG), which closed Wednesday at $102.28, gaining $2.41, or 2.41 percent. Barclays boosted their price target on EOG from $117 to $124.

Ford (NYSE:F) Probably Volatile in Short Term, on Guidance Versus Expectations

With some analysts having an strong bullish sentiment over Ford (NYSE:F), it appears whatever guidance they give (probably more conservative), will cause some volatility in the stock in the short term.

Barclays says, "We believe Ford is likely to report strong 4Q10 results that could beat our just ahead of consensus EPS of $0.49 (consensus at $0.48), with upside potential from another release of loss provisions at Ford Credit, as strong lease residuals and low charge-offs have allowed Ford Credit to consistently beat expectations in 2010. At the same time, anticipating the stock reaction on earnings is difficult as some of the more bullish Street expectations are well above consensus, and any 2011 guidance from Ford is likely to be directional and conservative, which could create additional volatility...Longer term, we continue to see upside potential as favorable product and pricing support further improvement in earnings power over the mid-term."

Barclays maintains an "Overweight" rating on Ford (F), which closed Wednesday at $18.37, up $0.48, or 2.68 percent. Barclays has a price target on Ford of $23.