The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: McGraw-Hill, Nokia, Apple, Google and Microsoft - Press Releases
May 02 2012 - 4:30AM
Zacks
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – May 2, 2012 – 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 McGraw-Hill (MHP), Nokia
Corp. (NOK), Apple Inc. ( AAPL),
Google Inc. ( GOOG) and Microsoft
Corp. ( MSFT).
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free Profit from the Pros newsletter:
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Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst
Blog:
S&P Downgrades Nokia to Junk
McGraw-Hill (MHP)-owned rating agency Standard
and Poor's (S&P) recently downgraded the credit rating of
Nokia Corp. (NOK) to BB+ from BBB-. The rating
agency has also downgraded the company’s short-term credit rating
to B from A-3. With this downgrade, Nokia’s debt now falls under
the junk category, which is a notch lower than its previous
investment grade rating of BBB-.
The company’s poor first quarter results coupled with the news
that Samsung Electronics has surpassed Nokia as world’s largest
mobile phone maker was mainly responsible for the rating
downgrades.
Recently, Nokia announced disappointing financial results for
first quarter 2012 based on increased competition from
Apple Inc.’s ( AAPL) iPhone and a gamut of
smartphones that runs on Google Inc.’s ( GOOG)
Android operating system. Nokia also faces stiff competition in the
low-end segment from Chinese manufacturer ZTE.
S&P also held Nokia’s disappointing outlook for the second
quarter of fiscal 2012 responsible for the downgrade. Recently,
Fitch also downgraded Nokia’s credit rating to junk category while
Moody’s slashed it to near junk status. S&P has warned that it
could further slash the telecom giant’s ratings if it fails to
improve its financial performance.
Currently, Nokia is in a transition phase, shifting from its own
Symbian-based feature phone to Microsoft Corp. (
MSFT) developed windows-based smartphones. Sales has been slowing
and as per data published by research firm Strategy Analytics,
Nokia has been overtaken by Samsung as the world’s largest mobile
phone manufacturer, with 44.5 million smartphones sold in the first
quarter compared to Nokia’s 12 million.
Moreover, Nokia’s latest LTE-based Lumia 900 smartphone is
facing some data connection problems, which could hamper Lumia’s
success. To reduce its loss, the company plans to trim down its
costs, improve its cash flow and introduce innovative new
products.
Based on these measures, we believe Nokia plans to turn around
its fortunes and avoid any further downgrades. However, we remain
very much skeptical regarding the company’s turnaround any time
soon.
We, therefore, retain our long-term Underperform recommendation
on Nokia. Currently, Nokia has a Zacks #5 Rank, implying a
short-term Strong Sell rating.
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APPLE INC (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report
GOOGLE INC-CL A (GOOG): Free Stock Analysis Report
MCGRAW-HILL COS (MHP): Free Stock Analysis Report
MICROSOFT CORP (MSFT): Free Stock Analysis Report
NOKIA CP-ADR A (NOK): Free Stock Analysis Report
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