Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day Highlights: Baker Hughes, ArthroCare, La-Z-Boy, Marriott and Harley Davidson.

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – June 12, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Baker Hughes (BHI - Analyst Report) as the Bull of the Day and ArthroCare (ARTC - Analyst Report) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on La-Z-Boy (LZB - Snapshot Report), Marriott (MAR - Analyst Report) and Harley Davidson (HOG - Snapshot Report).

Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2676.

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

Our continued favorable view of Baker Hughes (BHI - Analyst Report) shares reflects the company's limited exposure to the weak North American natural gas market, its leading product-centric asset portfolio with a strong international presence, and excellent financial health.

While the operating environment remains challenging worldwide, the hardest-hit region is the onshore U.S. market due to its natural gas-centric orientation. Of the large-cap service players, Baker Hughes has the least exposure to this market.

Despite these positive attributes, the stock remains cheap on most conventional valuation metrics. Our current target price is $50 per share.

Bear of the Day:

ArthroCare (ARTC - Analyst Report) develops, manufactures and markets products based on their patented Coblation technology. Coblation combines bipolar radiofrequency energy with a saline solution to gently and precisely remove soft tissue at low temperatures, typically 40 to 70 degrees Celsius.

We recommend avoiding this stock until the company has resolved its ongoing issues - financial restatements, FBI probe and class action suits. The company's patented Coblation technology and other innovative, clinically superior surgical devices for the surgical treatment of soft-tissue conditions should help pull them from the mire once they emerge on the other side of the aforementioned issues.

The company has been unable to complete its financial statements for the quarter ended March 31, 2009 and does not expect to file them until the restatement process, the Audit Committee's review of the scope and nature of the Company's internal controls, and management's review of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting have been completed.

Latest Posts on the Zacks Analyst Blog:

Homeowners Owning “Less Home”

Consumption going forward is going to have to be based on wages and salaries, and the growth of consumption will have to be based on the increase in wages and salaries, not on asset appreciation.

Actually, given the need to rebuild savings, consumption growth will have to lag wage and income growth. With unemployment high and rising, there is little likelihood that people are going to be getting significant raises anytime soon.

This will be a drag on all discretionary purchases. It will hurt a broad range of companies, ranging from durable goods retailers like La-Z-Boy (LZB - Snapshot Report) to hotel firms like Marriott (MAR - Analyst Report) to makers of high-priced toys like Harley Davidson (HOG - Snapshot Report). This is not just a short-term effect for this year’s earnings, but a long-term drag on their growth potential. As such, it should affect not only current earnings but the multiple investors are willing to pay for those earnings.

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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.

About the Analyst Blog

Updated throughout every trading day, the Analyst Blog provides analysis from Zacks Equity Research about the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets.

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Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

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