The Fly on the Wall Market Snapshot Feb 12, 2010
At this hour, US equity futures are trading down. Overseas, the Asian markets were mixed, while the European markets are lower. Analyst UPGRADES include: Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at bofa/Merrill…Marriott (MAR) upgraded to Perform from Underperform at Oppenheimer…Pier 1 Imports (PIR) upgraded to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer. DOWNGRADES: 3M Company (MMM) downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at bofa/Merrill…Coinstar (CSTR) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Brigantine. ehealth (EHTH) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies. Hot News: Motorola (MOT) will separate into two independent public companies, targeting the first quarter of 2011 for its planned separation. One will include the Mobile Devices and Home businesses, and the other will include its Enterprise Mobility Solutions and Networks. mcafee (MFE) announced a stock buyback of up to $500M of shares through December 2011. Also, the company announced that COO and CFO Rocky Pimentel will be retiring later this year. mcafee initiated an external search for a new CFO and plans to complete this process later this year. ..Arbitron (ARB) announced that the New York’s Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order effective immediately requiring the Spanish Broadcasting System to resume encoding its broadcasting signals for Arbitron’s Portable People Meter radio ratings service until Tuesday, February 16…Office Max (OMX) Chairman and CEO Sam Duncan will retire from his positions and as a member of the board of directors on February 28, 2011.