Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Visteon Corporation, Ford, eBay, Kimco Realty and Town Sports International Holdings Inc

Business Wire, Jan 26, 2009

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: Visteon Corporation (NYSE: VC), Ford (NYSE: F), eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY), Kimco Realty (NYSE: KIM) and Town Sports International Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CLUB).

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Here are highlights from Friday's Analyst Blog:

Visteon Target Lowered to $0

Michigan-based Visteon Corporation (NYSE: VC) is one of the world's largest automotive component manufacturers, catering to both original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and the aftermarket. The company has 41,500 employees with 170 facilities in 26 countries across North America, South America, Europe, South Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

Visteon's near-term prospects have been dampened by constant production cuts at Ford (NYSE: F), higher costs, decline in global vehicle production, and an unforeseen industry scenario.

eBay's Q4 Sales $90 Million Off

eBay's (NASDAQ: EBAY) 4th quarter sales were about $90 million shy of our forecast, but its EPS was $0.03 ahead. The EPS upside was due to a lower tax rate and a lower share count.

What's more, management's outlook for the first quarter of 2009 was well below expectations. eBay expects to have sales of $1.80 billion to $2.05 billion and pro forma EPS of $0.32-$0.34.

Kimco Realty Downgraded

Operationally, Kimco Realty's (NYSE: KIM) portfolio continues to perform well. KIM continues to sign new leases at higher rents and most of the company's current leases are at below market rents. In addition, the company has adequate liquidity on its line of credit to address 2009 debt maturities.

We think KIM is one of the best-positioned retail REITs in the continued economic downturn. KIM has a geographically diverse portfolio with concentrations in high income, high growth areas. We are changing our current recommendation to hold due to macroeconomic factors.

CLUB's Valuation Attractive

Town Sports International Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CLUB) is a fitness leader in the markets in which it operates, including the metro areas of New York, Boston, Washington DC, and Philadelphia. We believe that the company's strategy of clustering locations throughout a metro area will continue to generate strong results.

Despite significantly tempered expectations in light of the current recession, we consider the shares of CLUB to be undervalued at current levels. Shares of CLUB are trading at approximately 3.8x our 2009 EBITDA estimate, a multiple which we consider to be excessively low.

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