EmailThe consumer discretionary group is slightly outperforming the broader market in early trade. The retail group is mixed with the Retail HOLDRS Trust (RTH) 0.3% and the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) flat.
A few education names are seeing early strength. Some names trading higher include: COCO +13.5% EDMC +7.9% ESI +4.5% CECO +3.9% APOL +2.7% STRA +1.8% DV +1.36% WPO +1.0% BPI +0.9% LINC +0.7% Other notable mentions: Leaders: BBY 7.4% (early strength may be attributed to continued M&A speculation), AEO 2.5% (expects to incur an after-tax loss of $35-50 mln with the exit of 77 kids; closing related charges, which are anticipated to be primarily taken in Q2 and Q3; also Janney adding to Best Ideas List), HTZ 0.5% (Conversion right triggered on Hertz's Convertible Senior Notes), RCL 1.5% (Barron's discusses positive view on Royal Caribbean)... Laggards: GM -0.8% (Peugot SA and GM announce logistics agreement), LVS -0.7% and MPEL -1.6% (Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau reports June gross gaming rev (GGR) +12% YoY to $2.9 bln; GGR +20% YTD).
Analyst related: Upgrades: TIF flat (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Canaccord), BUD -0.8% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Societe Generale), IGT 1.1% (upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital), P 0.7% (upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James), ANF 0.6% (upgraded to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna), FDO 1.5% (Hearing upgraded at Johnson Rice)... Downgrades: PNK -5.7% (downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse), OPEN -6.9% (downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays), DLTR -1.4% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Nomura, downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank), NKE 1.2% (downgraded to Hold at Argus)... Misc: IMAX 4.4% (initiated with an Overweight at JPMorgan), KFT flat (Kraft Foods added to Stifel Nicolaus Select List, replacing General Mills).
