Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day Highlights: Prologis, Hewitt Associates, Lan Airlines and Wilmington Trust

Business Wire, Jan 23, 2007

CHICAGO -- Zacks Equity Research highlights Prologis (NYSE: PLD) as the Bull of the Day and Hewitt Associates (NYSE: HEW) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Lan Airlines S.A. (NYSE: LFL) and Wilmington Trust (NYSE: WL). 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 Prologis (NYSE: PLD). The company had a strong 3rd quarter and exceeded our FFO estimates by a comfortable margin, $0.08 per share. Rents and occupancies in the company's global portfolio are improving. The entire industrial sector is being propelled by positive absorption and limited new supply deliveries in most North American markets. Additionally, PLD continues to realize strong gains from merchant building, as asset valuation for top industrial properties are increasing. PLD is a skilled and seasoned developer, as well as the best positioned industrial REIT to benefit most from increased demand in emerging international markets.

Bear of the Day:

Our Bear of the Day recommendation is for Hewitt Associates (NYSE: HEW). While Hewitt is the clear leader in the emerging human resources BPO (business process outsourcing) market, near term results continue to be negatively impacted by the up-front costs as the company develops this business niche. In addition, revenue declined in fiscal 2006, primarily due to the loss of the Bank of America contract. Lastly, the acquisition of Exult has compressed the company's overall margin. The stock appears overvalued on depressed earnings from business development upfront costs; hence, the stock is downgraded to a Sell.

Analyst Blog:

We are keeping our Buy recommendation on Lan Airlines S.A. (NYSE: LFL). The company's third quarter 2006 results were positive, and fourth quarter traffic statistics were very encouraging. The outlook for future quarters looks even better, due to the positive economic outlook for Latin America, falling international oil prices, continued strength in most Latin American currencies, and the successful implementation of several cost reduction initiatives. Moreover, the start of an interesting project to redesign its domestic and regional business model should lead to better results in the medium term.

We are reiterating our Buy rating and $46 target after Wilmington Trust's (NYSE: WL) Q4 earnings release on Friday. EPS missed consensus by $0.02, and NIM fell by 18 bps, which we think drove the 3% decline in price. EPS missed our forecast by only $0.01, however, and net interest income matched our forecast (which relatively few have done so far this earnings season). The key to the NIM miss was an increase in cash sweep funds (an accommodation product for HNW clients), which grossed-up the balance sheet at a near-zero spread.

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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