Abbott Labs, Logitech, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase and Regions Financial

Chicago, IL - April 17, 2009 - Zacks Equity Research picks Abbott Laboratories (ABT - Analyst Report) as Bull of the Day and Logitech International, Inc. (LOGI - Analyst Report) as Bear of the Day. In addition, the analysts at Zacks Equity Research discuss the latest on Wells Fargo (WFC - Analyst Report), JP Morgan (JPM - Analyst Report) and Regions Financial (RF - Analyst Report).

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

Bull of the Day

Abbott Laboratories (ABT - Analyst Report) discovers, develops, manufactures and sells a diversified line of healthcare products. We expect high-single digit EPS growth over the next five years driven by strong sales of Humira and the company’s rapidly growing vascular business.

Several new drug applications have recently been filed with the FDA which should accelerate sales in the pharmaceutical business.

We believe ABT possesses a low risk profile and will continue to trade at an industry premium. Accordingly, we reiterate our Buy recommendation with a price target of $65.

Bear of the Day

Logitech International, Inc. (LOGI - Analyst Report) reported results for the third quarter of 2009 with weaker than expected revenues and earnings due to weakening demand, lower gross margin and higher effective taxes. The company currently assumes that this relatively weak macroeconomic environment will weaken further in the coming months.

Its outlook anticipates that the economy will have an impact on the European consumer as well. It plans to reduce global salaried workforce by between 550 and 600 employees, and this is expected to generate annual cost savings beginning in 2010 of approximately $50 million.

We now estimate that revenue and EPS will reduce by 2.5% and 26.5% respectively in 2009 compared to 2008. We are maintaining a Sell on LOGI with a target price of $11.00.

Recent Analysis from the Analyst Blog

TARP Recipients Not Lending More 

Except for housing lending, banks extended less credit to businesses and consumers in February compared to January. The median decline in total lending was 2% in February, with nine banks reporting an increase in lending and 12 banks reporting a decline.

Housing loans have picked up recently as a result of record low mortgage rates, as we have seen in the recent results/preannouncements of banks like Wells Fargo (WFC - Analyst Report), JP Morgan (JPM - Analyst Report) and Regions Financial (RF - Analyst Report). During the month, residential mortgage originations increased by 35%, mainly due to the surge in refinancing of existing mortgages. Mortgage refinancing increased of 42% and home equity originations increased 18% month-over-month.

Loan origination for other consumer lending products, including auto, student and other consumer loans, decreased by 47% from January to February.

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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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