Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day Highlights: Anheuser-Busch, Cost Plus, CACI International and TOTAL S.A

Business Wire, Dec 6, 2007

CHICAGO -- Zacks Equity Research highlights Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD) as the Bull of the Day and Cost Plus, Inc. (Nasdaq: CPWM) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on CACI International (NYSE: CAI) and TOTAL S.A. (NYSE: TOT). Full analysis of all these 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 Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD). Anheuser-Busch Companies is benefiting from industry consolidation of production and a growing international beer presence from management's astute acquisition strategy. Though there are concerns about higher commodity costs, especially energy, agricultural and packaging costs, the results year-to-date demonstrate management's ability to implement productivity programs to offset the negative inflationary effects. Valuation, demographic trends and the significant multi-year 100-million share-repurchase program make the stock an attractive investment at current levels.

Bear of the Day:

Our Bear of the Day recommendation is for Cost Plus, Inc. (Nasdaq: CPWM). Cost Plus' third quarter EPS was better than expected, and management's guidance for the fourth quarter was in line with our prior forecast. Still, we continue to believe that the company's turnaround efforts will fail to gain traction because of the difficult headwinds facing home furnishings retailers. Those headwinds, which include housing, gas prices and the credit markets, should persist for the next several quarters. Until the housing market shows signs of stabilizing, we would avoid CPWM shares. We rate the stock a Sell with a target price of $2.00, which is 8x our fiscal year 2009 EPS estimate.

Analyst Blog:

A robust funded backlog points to healthy near-term visibility for CACI International (NYSE: CAI). While contract activity has been strong in the last few quarters, backlog to revenue conversion has been somewhat soft in view of the constrained funding environment. CAI raised its FY2008 revenue guidance from a range of $2.05 - $2.15 billion to a range of $2.25 - $2.35 billion while maintaining its FY2008 EPS range of $2.50 to $2.80. The company also lowered its FY2008 operating margin forecast from a range of 7.0% - 7.4% to 6.6% - 7.0% with the recently experienced pressures persisting. While we have adjusted our FY2008 revenue estimates accordingly, we maintain our Buy rating and target price of $55. Our target price implies a P/E multiple of 20.7x when applied to our 2008 EPS estimate, roughly equivalent to the median multiple for the industry.

We maintain our Buy rating on TOTAL (NYSE: TOT) ADRs after the company reported third quarter results. We continue to like the company for its positive production-growth profile, attractive returns and an improving outlook for the refining and chemical businesses. We also like the company's active share buyback program and the recent increases in the dividend. Growth in production now is higher than its peers, and we expect momentum to accelerate in the coming quarters. We increase our price target as earnings momentum improves.

Get the full analysis of all these 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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