Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day Highlights: Ctrip.com, H&R Block, Nelnet, Inc. and Eli Lilly and Company

Business Wire, June 13, 2006

CHICAGO -- Zacks Equity Research highlights Ctrip.com (Nasdaq: CTRP) as the Bull of the Day and H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Nelnet, Inc. (NYSE: NNI) and Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY). 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 Ctrip.com (Nasdaq: CTRP), which reported strong financial results for the first quarter of 2006, easily beating management's EPS guidance and consensus estimates. Ctrip's results were driven by strong growth in its air ticket booking business. We think Ctrip's recent results demonstrate that the company's long-term growth story remains intact.

Bear of the Day:

Our Bear of the Day recommendation is for H&R Block (NYSE: HRB), As expected, earnings in fiscal year 2006 were at the low end of previous guidance. Competition remains intense in the tax business, while fundamentals in the mortgage business continue to deteriorate.

Analyst Blog:

We are reiterating our Hold rating on shares of Nelnet, Inc. (NYSE: NNI) at this time, while decreasing our price target to reflect lower peer multiples overall. Our quarterly estimates are virtually unchanged. In late May, NNI announced a large share repurchase program, but we think capital levels may prevent them from using the full authorization. Q1 "base" EPS was $0.06 short of our estimate, but the quarter was actually quite strong (primarily on the fee income side) apart from a sizeable provision to reflect the new 1% risk-sharing. The OIG / DOE audit remains in progress, with a new request received in mid-April, and a negative surprise on that front could be painful for the shares.

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. Lilly products treat depression, schizophrenia, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, osteoporosis and many other conditions. Lilly has one of the best pipelines in the industry in our view. New products should drive above industry average growth over the next few years. We think investors should establish a position in the shares before what we believe will be a very positive next few quarters. We rate the shares a Buy with an aggressive $66 price target.

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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