Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day Highlights: Amdocs, GameStop, Merck, Schering-Plough and Citigroup Inc.

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – September 2, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Amdocs (DOX - Analyst Report) as the Bull of the Day and GameStop (GME - Analyst Report) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Merck (MRK - Analyst Report), Schering-Plough (SGP) and Citigroup Inc. (C - Analyst 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:

We maintain our Outperform recommendation for Amdocs (DOX - Analyst Report) following its strong results for the fiscal third quarter of fiscal 2009. The company has industry-leading technology integration products for large transformational projects and managed services.

Long-term fundamentals for Amdocs remain firm due to the transition of telecom service providers to converged and consolidated solutions. Amdocs maintains a very strong financial position with healthy order backlog.

Recently, the company has won a series of large managed services contracts in various parts of the world. Except North America, operations in other regions have started gaining momentum.

Bear of the Day:

The video game industry, which surged ahead for a number of years, is now grappling with the recession. Heavy job losses and reduced access to credit markets have led to lower discretionary spending

This has resulted in lower demand for video game consoles and new software. This unfavorable backdrop was evident from GameStop’s (GME - Analyst Report) dismal recent results. Despite the weak environment, management expects the release of popular titles in the second half of 2009 to stimulate sales.

We maintain an Underperform rating on the stock until we see an upturn in the company's growth trajectory.

Latest Posts on the Zacks Analyst Blog:

Merck Lays Merger Groundwork

With the merger of Merck (MRK - Analyst Report) and Schering-Plough (SGP) scheduled to be completed by the fourth quarter this year, Merck is busy with the necessary groundwork.

Yesterday, the company announced the new management structure post merger. The current chairman, president and CEO of Merck, Richard T. Clark, will continue to head the combined company. The merged entity will comprise five main divisions -- Global Human Health, Animal Health, Consumer Healthcare, Research and Manufacturing.

Global Human Health, the combined company’s largest segment, will be headed by Kenneth Frazier, who is currently heading that division of Merck. This division will include prescription drugs, biologics and vaccines along with an emerging-markets group. Both the Research and Manufacturing segments will be headed by the respective current heads at Merck.

Citi Sells Credit Card Portfolio

Citigroup Inc. (C - Analyst Report) announced on Monday the sale of ownership of three North American partnered credit card portfolios, representing approximately $1.3 billion in managed assets.

The sale constitutes the divesture initiatives taken by Citigroup to offload weak businesses and troubled assets that have caused huge losses in the past quarters. The portfolios were part of Citi Holdings, one of the company's segments resulting from the split earlier in the year. Citi Holdings holds the company's riskier assets and tougher-to-manage ventures, while Citicorp comprises the core franchise focusing on traditional banking around the world to generate long-term profitability.

Terms of the deals and the acquirer were not disclosed. Citigroup will continue to service the card portfolios through the first half of 2010 when the acquirer takes on those responsibilities.

Get the full analysis of all these stocks by going to http://at.zacks.com/?id=5507.

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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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