The 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) +0.9% and the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) +0.7%. Trading higher following earnings/guidance: PIR +4.6%, KR +2.8%... Trading lower following earnings/guidance: SFD -4.2%, SCHS -3.6%... Near unchanged mark following earnings/guidance: LUB.
Other notable mentions: RAH flat (discloses it is in process of restating financial statements of guarantors for the three and six months ended March 31, 2011), HSY flat (disclosed David Tacka, Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer, will step down in anticipation of retirement)... Leaders: COST 2% (Costco Wholesale Corp and Controladora Comercial Mexicana agree to transaction concerning Costco de Mexico), HBI 1.4% (announced that it intends to redeem in July 150 mln of its Floating Rate Senior Notes due 2014 as part of plans to pay off its ~$300 mln of floating-rate bond debt in 2012), IGT 10.1% (authorizes new $1 bln share repurchase; $400 mln accelerated stock buyback), P 1% (expands local sales strategy with local reseller program, upgraded to Overweight from Market Perform at Albert Fried), FDO 3.6% (continued strength), AZO 0.6% (names Ron Griffin as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Customer Satisfaction)... Laggards: MMUS -3.5% (announces management change; CFO and COO Karen VanDerBosch to assume CEO duties on an interim basis).
Analyst related: Upgrades: NKE 0.3% (upgraded to Hold at McAdams Wright Ragen based on valuation), BBY 1.9% (upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup), Z 5.8% (upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at Pacific Crest), EAT 1.2% (upgraded to Buy at Argus; tgt $37), FDO 3.6% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Cleveland Research)... Downgrades: VMED -2.2% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman), DRI 2.3% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Lazard)... Misc: IRG 1% (initiated with a Buy at KeyBanc, initiated with an Outperform at Raymond James), TSLA 0.4% (initiated with a Buy at Lazard Capital).






