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Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc., Marriott International, BJ's Restaurants, Inc., News Corporation and CEMIG
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Chicago, IL – April 27, 2009 - Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (DO), Marriott International (MAR), BJ's Restaurants Inc. (BJRI), News Corporation (NWS) and CEMIG (CIG).
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Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:
Diamond Offshore Glitters
Deepwater drilling powerhouse Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (DO) reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and announced another special dividend. We see few signs of the downturn in oilfield activity levels in Diamond’s quarterly report -- a trend that we see continuing for many quarters to come.
Management did indicate on the call that fresh contracting activity has slowed down significantly, which will weigh on dayrates in contract rollovers. But Diamond has limited exposure to these softening fundamentals, particularly in its core deepwater drilling fleet. Approximately 95% of its deepwater fleet is booked for this year and the number for next year is 73%.
Marriott Rally Unwarranted
Today’s strength in shares of Marriott International (MAR) was unwarranted, in our opinion, and we would use the rally as a selling opportunity.
Shares of Marriott rose more than 12% today after the company reported first-quarter results that exceeded Street expectations. The results were $0.11 above our estimate, and $0.10 above the Street consensus.
BJ's Beats Estimates
BJ's Restaurants Inc. (BJRI) reported better-than-expected earnings after the market closed today. EPS grew 20% to $0.14 per share in 1Q09, beating our estimate and the consensus by $0.02 on record low -- and potentially unsustainable -- G&A expenses.
Earnings at the microbrewery were fueled by unit expansion, with the number of restaurants open at March 31 rising by 22%. In response to a slowing economy, the company has slowed unit growth to a planned 12% in 2009.
NewsCorp: More Top-Level Changes
Since posting a weaker than expected 2Q09 financial result on February 5, 2009, the year so far for News Corporation (NWS) has been marked by a number of key personnel changes. Commencing with the stepping down of long-time employee, President and Chief Operating Officer and CEO of the Fox Group Peter Chernin, followed by the appointment of former AOL CEO Jonathan Miller to the position of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Digital Media Group and Chief Digital Officer for News Corporation.
Finally, on Tuesday of this week, the company announced that MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe would not be renewing his contract and stepping down in the near future. However, Mr. DeWolfe would remain on the board of MySpace China and continue to act as strategic advisor to the company.
CEMIG Continues to Expand
Yesterday CEMIG (CIG) announced the acquisition of Terna Participacoes by US$ 1.05 Billion. Terna belonged to the Italian group Rete Elettrica Nazionale S.p.A.. CEMIG acquired 65.86% of the shares of Terna and has an option for the remaining 34.14% of the company.
As we have stated in our last report on CIG, the company has an ambitious investment program for the next years, including an active role in the slowly consolidation of the Brazilian electrical industry. Even though CEMIG is a state owned company (it is controlled by the Government of the State of Minas Gerais in the Southeast of Brazil), it has been expanding nationally and internationally.
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