Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Bank of America, Citigroup, Microsemi Corp., Foster Wheeler AG and Web.com.

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – May 7, 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: Bank of America (BAC - Analyst Report), Citigroup (C - Analyst Report), Microsemi Corp. (MSCC - Snapshot Report), Foster Wheeler AG (FWLT - Analyst Report) and Web.com (WWWW - Snapshot Report).

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Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:

Bank of America: Rumors & Denials

Over the past several days there have been many rumors and "leaked reports" on the need of additional capital by all the banks "stress tested" by the regulators -- and by Bank of America (BAC - Analyst Report) and Citigroup (C - Analyst Report) in particular. This morning, many newspapers have reported that the capital shortfall for Bank of America is $35 billion.

The report appears to be true, given that The New York Times has quoted bank’s chief administrative officer. It also appears that the bank is planning to convert the TARP preferred shares to common equity.

Microsemi's Limited Exposure

Microsemi Corp. (MSCC - Snapshot Report) is well positioned in strong growth markets. Its High Reliability products for the defense, aerospace, commercial air and medical markets are extremely well positioned. Since these products have limited exposure to the uncertain conditions in the market, growth is expected to continue.

High-reliability products have higher ASPs and higher margins. Management's current R&D effort is focused on this area, since it is expected that a higher percentage of sales from this line would improve the profitability of the company. This would, in turn, enable it to generate the targeted model of 50-55% gross margin and 30% operating margin.

Foster Wheeler Meets Expectations

Foster Wheeler AG (FWLT - Analyst Report) reported results for the first quarter of 2009. In summary, Operating Revenues were $1.265 billion and EPS were 57¢; our estimates were $1.254 billion and 57¢. Close enough for government work!

To put the quarter into perspective, Operating Revenues were down by 29.6% while EPS were off by 40.0%, even though the number of Shares declined by 12.8%. Drilling down into the details, Contract Profit declined by 25.0% to $162.8 million, while the Contract Profit Margin rose from 12.1% to 12.9%. S,G&A Expense rose 6.7% to $69.3 million and, as a percent of Sales, climbed from 3.6% to 5.5%. Other Income was off by 41.5% to $8.2 million, while Other Deductions were only off by 4.7% to $6.1 million. Interest Income declined by 74.6% to $2.7 million, while Interest Expense was only down by 32.3% to $4.2 million.

Web.com Expands in Slower Market

Web.com (WWWW - Snapshot Report) is a leading provider of Web services for small and medium businesses (SMBs). The company uses a factory approach that is applicable for thousands of customers.

Web.com posted good Q1 results with revenue and EPS exceeding our estimate as well as the company's guidance. With the acquisition of Solid Cactus, WWWW is expected to hold a strategic position in the SMB market.

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