Dow, S&P 500 end down slightly as Apple, energy weigh

Atlantic Equities Downgrades Hartford Financial Services (HIG) to Neutral

October 28, 2015 7:16 AM EDT

Atlantic Equities downgraded Hartford Financial Services (NYSE: HIG) from Overweight to Neutral.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Hartford Financial Services click here. For more ratings news on Hartford Financial Services click here.

Shares of Hartford Financial Services closed at $45.34 yesterday.

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Piper Jaffray Remains Bullish on Hartford Financial (HIG) Following 3Q results

October 27, 2015 10:40 AM EDT

Piper Jaffray reiterated an Overweight rating on Hartford Financial Services (NYSE: HIG), and cut the price target to $52.00 (from $53.00), following the company's 3Q15 earnings results. HIG reported 3Q15 Op EPS of $0.86 vs. consensus $0.98.

Analyst John Nadel commented, "Solid Commercial Lines AY results were... More

Valeant Pharma (VRX) Halts the Bloodletting Following Conference Call

October 26, 2015 1:03 PM EDT

Down 52% from the Sept 21 Hillary Clinton tweet, 42% from the initial Sept 28 Citron Research short report, and 22% from Citron's Oct 21 'smoking gun' report, the last month or so has been a low point in Valeant Pharmaceuticals' (NYSE: VRX) corporate history. Today bears and bulls are battling hard as the company attempted to address concerns raised by short sellers in a conference call earlier. The focus of the call was on the company's ownership and relationship with specialty pharmacies, with Philidor front and center. The company also appointed an Ad Hoc committee to review... More

Guidance Will be Key Focal Point With Apple's (AAPL) FQ4 Report - FBR

October 26, 2015 12:30 PM EDT

FBR affirms its Outperform rating and $175 price target on Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) ahead of the company's Q4 report.

Analyst Daniel Ives sees Apple posting Q4 revenue and EPS of $50.9 billion and $1.86, along with 49 million iPhone unit sales.

Ives continued, Apple has become a battleground stock given the confluence... More

RBC Weighs in on Apple (AAPL) Related to Weak Numbers from Dialog

October 26, 2015 12:04 PM EDT

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is getting slammed today (-3.3%) as investors attempt to read-thru weak results from supplier Dialog ahead of tomorrow's earnings reports from the iPhone giant.

Dialog reported in error and ahead of its 10/28 scheduled date weak September-quarter results and December-quarter guidance below exceptions. Specifically, Dialog reported Sept-qtr revenues/EPS of $330M/$0.68 vs. expectations of $354M/$0.70. For Dec-qtr, DLG guided to $430M-$460M... More

Valeant (VRX) CC Seen as Step Forward at BMO Capital But More Needed to Rebuild Investor Confidence

October 26, 2015 10:35 AM EDT

BMO Capital analyst Alex Arfaei offered some initial thoughts from Valeant Pharmaceuticals' (NYSE: VRX) conference call to address recent allegations against the company.

The analyst highlighted:

Whats new? Valeant disclosed that specialty pharmacies account for 7.2% of Valeant net revenue YTD, while Philidor accounts for 5.9% of Valeant net revenue YTD. The rationale for lack of disclosure: Philidor is not considered material to Valeants business for reporting purposes. More clarity on the Philidor relationship: Valeant explicitly stated that it does not own or control Philidor, nor does it believe that it has legal... More

Mizuho Provides Quick Thoughts on Valeant (VRX) Slides/Call

October 26, 2015 9:14 AM EDT

Mizuho Securities analyst Irina Koffler provided the following quick thought on Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: VRX) slides and call:

· The Valeant slide deck delves into details of its specialty pharmacy operations: The company went to great length to review operations of Philidor and mechanics of the business and these details are applicable to other companies with specialty pharmacy distribution, in our view. We believe that the clarity should benefit the sector overall, and most specifically, companies like Horizon (HZNP) which utilize less complex... More

Valeant Pharma (VRX) says ad hoc committee will review issues brought up in today's WSJ

October 26, 2015 8:43 AM EDT

Valeant Pharma (NYSE: VRX) says ad hoc committee will review issues brought up in today's WSJ.

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Valeant Pharma (VRX) Regains Some Early Losses as Conference Call Starts

October 26, 2015 8:09 AM EDT

Valeant Pharma (NYSE: VRX) shares have firmed in the early minutes of today's conference call. Shares are down 3% after trading down over 10% earlier.

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