Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day Highlights: SINA Corp., Pain Therapeutics, VeriSign, Commerce Bancshares and Buckeye Partners

Business Wire, Nov 17, 2008

CHICAGO -- Zacks Equity Research highlights SINA Corporation (Nasdaq: SINA) as the Bull of the Day and Pain Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: PTIE) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRSN), Commerce Bancshares Inc. (Nasdaq: CBSH) and Buckeye Partners, L.P. (NYSE: BPL).

Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2676.

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day: SINA Corporation (Nasdaq: SINA)

SINA is one of the most well-known online brands in China. The company is a leading provider of online media and value-added information services to global Chinese community.

SINA continues to do well in its online brand advertising and is increasing the gap between itself and its closest competitors in the online brand ad market. Chinese Internet penetration has reached 20.0%, and it has accelerated over the past six months.

With the recent turmoil in the global economic environment, we are lowering our price target to $35.00 while maintaining our Buy rating.

Bear of the Day: Pain Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: PTIE)

Pain Therapeutics, Inc. is focused on the development of novel treatments for the management of pain and other therapeutic indications. Lead pipeline candidate, Remoxy, an abuse-deterrent version of pain drug oxycodone, should have significant commercial opportunity upon approval due to its ability to reduce the potential of drug abuse / misuse.

While we believe that Remoxy will see significant demand once launched, we are concerned that the candidate may not receive final approval at the upcoming FDA action date of December 10, 2008. Remoxy received a mixed response from an FDA advisory panel recently; we fear that the FDA might require the company to conduct additional studies to establish its abuse-deterrent qualities.

We are also concerned about the possibility of the company facing a patent infringement lawsuit for Remoxy. Moreover, the rest of the company's pipeline is too early stage to get excited about. As such, we downgrade our rating to Sell with a target price of $5.

Latest Posts on the Zacks Analyst Blog:

VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRSN)

VeriSign, Inc. provides essential Internet infrastructure services to companies, service providers and website owners. VeriSign has three core offerings: Internet security, registry services and communications services.

VeriSign is the gatekeeper of the Internet. Its registry, security and communications services are essential for the smooth functioning of the online world. Moreover, the Internet keeps expanding. Not only can people plug in to the Internet by means of wired connections, the Web is more and more made up of wireless connections, leading to booming usage.

Commerce Bancshares Inc. (Nasdaq: CBSH)

Commerce Bancshares reported 3Q08 earnings of $0.37 per share, down 52.6% year-over-year, mainly due to $0.29 per share non-cash expense related to the purchase of auction rate securities from its customers.

Excluding the one-time items, operating earnings of $0.69 per share were two pennies below consensus. After reviewing the results and based on credit concerns, we are moderating our FY08 and FY09 estimates. We maintain our Hold recommendation on the shares.

Buckeye Partners, L.P. (NYSE: BPL)

We are maintaining our Buy recommendation on Emmaus, Pennsylvania-based Buckeye Partners, a master limited partnership (MLP) and one of the largest independent common carriers of refined petroleum products in the U.S in terms of volume delivered, with approximately 5,400 miles of pipelines, located mostly in the Northeast and the Midwest.

The weakening economy, falling commodity prices and tight credit have led to dramatic slides across equity markets. BPL has fallen 25% from mid-'08 and now has a distribution yield that is trading more than 100 basis points above historical ranges.

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: 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.

About the Analyst Blog

Updated throughout every trading day, the Analyst Blog provides analysis from Zacks Equity Research about the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets.

About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today by visiting http://at.zacks.com/?id=2677.