Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day Highlights: Hercules Tech Growth Capital, Sears Holdings, Toyota Motor, General Motors and Ford

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 10, 2011 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Hercules Tech Growth Capital (HTGC - Analyst Report) as the Bull of the Day and Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD - Analyst Report) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis Toyota Motor Corp. (TM - Analyst Report), General Motors (GM - Analyst Report) and Ford (F - Analyst Report).

Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2678.

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

We are upgrading our recommendation on Hercules Tech Growth Capital (HTGC - Analyst Report) to Outperform on its better-than-expected second quarter results and renewed credit facilities. Second quarter distributable net operating income (DNOI) came in a nickel ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Increased investment income and improved net realized and unrealized gain on investments were the primary contributors.

A strong balance sheet and high level of liquidity were also among the positives. Despite the capital market disruption and sluggish economic recovery, we expect a steady pace of new investments by venture capitalists. This could lead to new investment opportunities.

Our six-month target price of $11.00 per share equates to about 11.7x our DNOI estimate for 2011. This price target implies an expected total return of 24.3% over that period, which is consistent with our long-term Outperform recommendation.

Bear of the Day:

Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD - Analyst Report) disappoints with its overall second-quarter 2011 results. The company's adjusted loss of $1.13 per share was well above the Zacks Consensus Estimated loss of $0.64 per share, while widening drastically from the prior-year quarter loss of $0.19 per share, primarily due to a sluggish top-line performance.

Management's cost-cutting initiatives for boosting profits did not help; improvement in merchandise mix and customer services would have been a better option. Moreover, intense competition and exposure to adverse foreign currency translations may undermine the company's future operating performance.

Furthermore, rising debt and declining cash and equivalents may adversely impact the company's future expansion and operational activities. Currently, we are maintaining a long-term Underperform recommendation on the stock.

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Toyota: Made In India

Toyota Motor Corp. (TM - Analyst Report) plans to export its Indian made vehicles for the first time in its history. The automaker will begin exporting India-manufactured vehicles to South Africa. However, it will design the vehicles especially for the South African market.

The automaker decided to export the Etios sedan to South Africa from March next year. Etios has been launched and produced exclusively in the Indian market in 2010. Toyota plans to raise the annual production capacity in India to 310,000 vehicles in 2013 from 160,000 vehicles presently.

Toyota has been struggling with waning sales in the U.S., its most important market, due to production disruptions from the twin disasters in Japan. It has already lost its No.1 position to General Motors (GM - Analyst Report) and Ford (F - Analyst Report) in terms of sales. In the first nine months of the year, its sales fell 9% in the U.S.

As a result, Toyota is focusing on emerging markets in Asia for its sales growth. Recently, it announced plans to invest ¥30 billion ($388 million) for building an assembly plant in Indonesia in order to tap demand from the fast-growing Southeast Asian market. With the addition of the plant, the automaker’s production capacity in Indonesia will nearly double to 200,000 vehicles per year.

The new plant will be built adjacent to its existing factory in the Jakarta suburbs of Karawang, which will also be expanded by the automaker in two years. The plant will start operations from the first half of 2013 and is expected to assemble three subcompact models, including a low-priced strategic vehicle that is under development for the Indonesian market.

Toyota, a Zacks #3 Rank (Hold) company, posted a profit of ¥1.16 billion ($14.21 million) or ¥0.37 per share for the first quarter of its fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, which plummeted from ¥190.47 billion ($2.33 billion) or ¥60.74 per share a year ago.

The sharp fall in profit was attributable to the substantial decline in vehicle sales all over the world, especially North America and Europe due to disruptions in supply of parts caused by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March 2011.

Toyota expects revenues to be flat at ¥19.0 trillion for fiscal 2012 compared with the prior year. It has also lowered its guidance for operating income and net income for the fiscal year by 3.9% and 4.5% to ¥450 billion and ¥390 billion, respectively.

Get the full analysis of all these stocks by going to http://at.zacks.com/?id=2649.

About the Bull and Bear of the Day

Every day, the analysts at Zacks Equity Research select two stocks that are likely to outperform (Bull) or underperform (Bear) the markets over the next 3-6 months.

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Read the full analyst report on HTGC

Read the full analyst report on SHLD

Read the full analyst report on TM

Read the full analyst report on GM

Read the full analyst report on F