Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day Highlights: ASM Lithography, BJ's Wholesale Club, NTL, Inc. and Suncor Energy

Business Wire, Nov 30, 2006

CHICAGO -- Zacks Equity Research highlights ASM Lithography (Nasdaq: ASML) as the Bull of the Day and BJ's Wholesale Club (NYSE: BJ) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on NTL, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTLI) and Suncor Energy (NYSE: SU). 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 ASM Lithography (Nasdaq: ASML). ASML is the largest OEM of advanced photolithography systems used within the semiconductor manufacturing industry. September quarter revenue and EPS were in-line with consensus estimates. ASML saw a 50% surge in orders in the June quarter. Going forward we expect revenue to be flat and orders to fall from very high levels. The company has the leading position in the next generation immersion lithography tools, which will lead to long-term growth. We are reiterating our buy rating on the shares of ASML.

Bear of the Day:

Our Bear of the Day recommendation is for BJ's Wholesale Club (NYSE: BJ). While we expect decent Holiday results from BJ's, we expect the company to struggle in 2007. The weakness will come from slower consumer spending and competitive pressures from larger industry players. As a result, BJ's will have a tough time meeting current earnings estimates. With its stock trading at 18 times our fiscal 2007 EPS estimate, we don't believe this future slowdown is reflected in its stock price. What's more, we think the recent surge in BJ shares (which was due to the CEO's surprise resignation and talk of a possible takeover) marks a good exit point.

Analyst Blog:

NTL, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTLI) is, in our view, in the early stages of a turnaround, poised to generate positive EPS and strong free cash flow growth beginning in 2007. A new management team is set to re-brand the services, formerly notorious for poor customer service (the new name is to be released soon) and roll out digital services to expand ARPU, reduce churn and slow its market-share drain from the onslaught of new entrants into NTL's markets. On the cost side, we expect lower interest expense, capital expenditures and income taxes to triple free cash flow in 2007. The stock is currently trading at a steep discount to chief competitor BSkyB and to its cable peers, a discount that we think will narrow over the next year as profitability improves.

We are maintaining our Buy recommendation on Suncor Energy (NYSE: SU) shares following the company's better-than-expected third-quarter results. The stock has pulled back in the recent past on commodity price weaknesses. We, however, like the company for its highly visible production growth profile through its oil sands-focused upstream business. The company's access to roughly 12 billion barrels of recoverable reserves in the prolific Canadian oil sands and its extensive expertise in this non-conventional energy source make Suncor shares a direct play on the Canadian oil sands. Our six-month target price is $90.

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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