Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Jones Soda Co., Raytheon Co., Georgia Gulf Corp., Avis Budget Group Inc. and Acorda Therapeutics Inc

Business Wire, Sept 24, 2008

CHICAGO -- Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Jones Soda Co. (Nasdaq: JSDA), Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN), Georgia Gulf Corp. (NYSE: GGC), Avis Budget Group Inc. (NYSE: CAR) and Acorda Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: ACOR).

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Here are highlights from Tuesday's Analyst Blog:

Jones Soda Trying to Energize

Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Jones Soda (Nasdaq: JSDA) develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes premium soda products under the Jones Soda, Jones Energy (citrus energy drink), Jones Organics (ready-to-drink organic tea), Jones Naturals (non-carbonated juice & tea), Jones Pure Cane Soda (premium soda), Jones 24C (enhanced water beverage), and WhoopAss (citrus energy drink) brands.

The last six quarterly earnings reports were negative surprises. Throughout last year, management pared revenue guidance from the initial estimation of 50%; actual gross revenues increased only 5% and net revenues increased only 2%. However, the stock has discounted the majority of the negative developments. The rating is a Hold.

Raytheon a Buy, But With Risks

Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) is the one of the largest aerospace and defense companies in the U.S., with a well-diversified line of military products, including missiles, radars, sensors, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment, communication and information systems, naval systems, air traffic control systems, and technical services.

Going forward, however, concerns about long-term growth of defense spending in the face of continuing budget deficits and risks related to the company's program execution remain significant risks. Accordingly, we note a bias to outperformance and maintain our BUY recommendation on RTN common stock with a six-month target price of $63.50.

Georgia Gulf Chasm Widens

Georgia Gulf Corporation (NYSE: GGC) is a leading North American manufacturer and marketer of two integrated chemical product lines, chlorovinyls and aromatics. Its key products are chlorine, caustic soda, vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), cumene, phenol and acetone. Under the Royal Group brand, Georgia Gulf manufactures a complete line of custom and other vinyl-based building and home improvement products.

Demand for the company's products is also expected to remain weak due to the downturn in the US housing and auto markets. Moreover, the company may need to sell its assets to comply with the debt covenants. As a result, we have a Sell rating with a target of $2.50.

Avis Near-Term View Fuzzy

Avis Budget Group (NYSE: CAR) is comprised of the vehicle rental operations of Avis Rent-A-Car, Budget Rent-A-Car, and Budget Truck Rental. Avis is the world's second largest general-use car rental business with over 2,200 locations in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Latin American/Caribbean region.

The near-term outlook for the Avis Budget Group is difficult to ascertain. The truck rental business is experiencing pricing pressure and the economy is weakening. Revenue enhancement and cost cutting initiatives have been implemented that should fuel significant financial improvements.

Acorda Therapeutics Overvalued

Acorda Therapeutics (Nasdaq: ACOR) is a biotechnology company whose mission is to develop and market therapies to restore neurological function in people with spinal cord injury (SCI), multiple sclerosis (MS) and related conditions of the nervous system. Core technologies developed by Acorda for SCI and MS have potentially broad applicability for other neurologic conditions.

The company released full data from its phase III MS-F204 clinical trial this month. The data is consistent with previous phase III data on Fampridine-SR showing improvement in walking speed and leg strength for the responder population.

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