Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day Highlights: salesforce.com, Torchmark Corporation, Anchor BanCorp Wisconsin and Xilinx

Business Wire, April 18, 2006

CHICAGO -- Zacks Equity Research highlights salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) as the Bull of the Day and Torchmark Corporation (NYSE:TMK) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Anchor BanCorp Wisconsin (Nasdaq:ABCW) and Xilinx, Inc. (Nasdaq:XLNX). Full analysis of all four stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2676.

Here is a synopsis of all four stocks:

Bull of the Day:

Our Bull of the Day recommendation is for salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM), the market leader in the on-demand CRM space. Salesforce.com continues to see substantial subscriber and customer growth. While struggles with system outages appeared to have hampered customer signings in the first quarter, we believe that with its systems now upgraded, problems are likely to subside. We would therefore use the pull-back in price as a buying opportunity and reiterate our Buy recommendation on the shares of salesforce.com with a six-month target price to $60.00.

Bear of the Day:

Our Bear of the Day is for Torchmark Corporation (NYSE:TMK). We expect premium growth to accelerate to the flat-to-low double-digit range in 2006. However, we think the dramatic margin expansion occurring in the Health segment has peaked, leaving earnings to grow in line with premiums. In addition, we expect mid single-digit growth in investment income, as the company is still investing new money at lower rates than the portfolio's average yield. We see no catalyst for meaningful upside in the stock price and therefore believe it will under-perform the market.

Analyst Blog:

We are upgrading Anchor BanCorp Wisconsin (Nasdaq:ABCW) to a Hold in anticipation of Q4 earnings, as the shares have fallen below our $30 price target (unchanged). ABCW is Wisconsin's largest thrift, offering personal and business banking services in a 19-county footprint. A relatively diverse loan portfolio argues for a premium multiple, and noninterest income is a larger component of revenue than for most peers. Valuation was our primary concern when we initiated coverage in January, with the shares trading at a sizeable premium to peers. The shares still look fully valued, and our price target anticipates some further contraction in the P/B multiple, but growth should offset this contraction. We view the $0.64 annual dividend as secure.

In Q3, revenue rose 13% sequentially and 27% year-over-year at Xilinx, Inc. (Nasdaq:XLNX), thanks to broad-based product and market demand. The gross margin came to 63%, up from 61.4% in Q2 due to improving yields from new products and better than expected demand for mainstream products. Despite a strong showing in Q3, the stock dropped because of conservative guidance for the March quarter. Nevertheless, we like the long-term prospects of the company. We continue to rate Xilinx a Buy and have set our price target to $32.

Get the full analysis of all four stocks by going to http://at.zacks.com/?id=2649.

About the Bull and Bear of the Day

Every day, the analysts at Zacks Equity Research select two stocks that are likely to outperform (Bull) or underperform (Bear) the markets over the next 3-6 months.

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