Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day Highlights: Alliance Resource Partners, Overstock.com, Coca-Cola FEMSA and The Hartford Financial Services Group

Business Wire, August 2, 2006

CHICAGO -- Zacks Equity Research highlights Alliance Resource Partners, L.P. (Nasdaq:ARLP) as the Bull of the Day and Overstock.com (Nasdaq:OSTK) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Coca-Cola FEMSA (NYSE:KOF) and The Hartford Financial Services Group (NYSE:HIG). 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 Alliance Resource Partners, L.P. (Nasdaq:ARLP). Alliance is set to benefit from coal s favorable long-term price outlook and is low-priced relative to peers. ARLP also yields 5.5% and has been continually raising its dividend since its formation in late '99. However, the partnership is experiencing modest margin performance and flat sales growth. As newer growth opportunities come to fruition, sales growth and margins should rebound, boosting the stocks near-term performance. We reiterate our Buy rating on the units but have lowered our six-month target price to $42.

Bear of the Day:

Our Bear of the Day recommendation is for Overstock.com (Nasdaq:OSTK). Overstock.com's second quarter results demonstrated that the company continues its transformation from being fast-growing, unprofitable Internet retailer to a slow-growing, unprofitable Internet retailer. We expect further weakness in the company's results in future quarters, as the company doesn't appear to be able to turn around its business. We maintain our Sell rating and lower our target price from $15 to $13.

Analyst Blog:

We are changing our current recommendation on Coca-Cola FEMSA S.A. de C.V., or FEMSA (NYSE:KOF) from Buy to Hold. Even though the company had positive operating figures in the second quarter and the short-term outlook for Latin America is still positive, we were disappointed by lower-than-expected net income. Additionally, we understand that the international environment is less positive for Latin American stocks. We are reducing our 2006 and 2007 earnings estimates.

In our view, The Hartford Financial Services Group (NYSE:HIG) is poised to continue its double-digit earnings growth driven in part by strong premium growth and margin expansion in its variable annuity business in Japan, coupled with high single-digit earnings in its P&C operations. Also, it appears that HIG's variable annuity sales are re-accelerating after introducing a GWMB rider to compete with peers. However, the stock's valuation has plateau'd, we believe, after expanding considerably (with the life group), far outpacing its peer group. We now believe the stock is approaching a fair valuation and rate it a Hold.

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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