EmailThe consumer discretionary group is outperforming the broader market in early trade. The retail group is also in the green with the Retail HOLDRS Trust (RTH) 0.4% and the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) 0.4%. Trading higher following earnings/guidance: YUM +8.7%, HST +2.6%, COST +2.3%. Other notable mentions: JCP flat (Vornado Realty discloses 10.7% position in amended 13D filing), AMZN flat and EBAY 0.7% (Amazon.com and Ebay sales growth slowed in September, according to reports), Leaders: TRLG 21.2% (confirms Exploration of Strategic Alternatives), JACK 1% (Qdoba announces its President and CEO Gary Beisler plans to retire), BBY 0.8% (Best Buy announces it is conduction a search for a new CFO), CBRL 0.7% (Biglari Holdings responds to Cracker Barrel's assertion that misreports about incoming Chairman James Bradford were a "misunderstanding"), WTSLA 2.1% (appoints Lynda Davey as Chairman of the Board)... Laggards: MGAM -1.7% (announces resignation of Jerry Smith as General Counsel; company to commence search for new General Counsel).
Analyst related: Upgrades: ANF 3.5% (upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray), RL 2.2% ( upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray), DLTR 2% (upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo), VLKAY 1.3% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup ), WSM 2.1% (upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at William Blair)... Downgrades: HD flat (downgraded to Perform at Oppenheimer based on valuation), AEO -0.2% (downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray), GCO -1.7% (downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray), KMX -1% (downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at boutique firm), ZNGA -2.7% (downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray), PAG -2% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee), GPI -2.4% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee)... Misc: DECK 0.2% (ests target lowered to $39 at Canaccord Genuity on UGG price cuts, weak international, and Tom's threat), AMZN -0.2% (Wal-Mart same-day delivery not a threat for Amazon - Caris; assumed Outperform at Credit Suisse), MHP 0.9% (initiated with an Overweight at Barclays), IMAX 1.6% (initiated with an Outperform at Credit Suisse), EBAY 0.7% (assumed Neutral at Credit Suisse), GMCR -3.7% (cautious comments at OTR and Dougherty).
