Merrill Lynch Quotes (51 Quotes)

Deflationary pressures in food continue to be severe and are not projected to ease until the second quarter. Better buying and category management efforts are expected to result in some gross margin improvement.

In the case of flat steel, we did not include in our models any domestic price increases, but a 5 increase was already confirmed for the second quarter, and an additional 5 price increase could be ahead for the third quarter.

These earnings growth rates may prove to be too robust and may cause the market problems later on in the year. Keep a close watch.

We caution against extrapolating too much from this figure to any individual company's outlook. The 6.9 figure does not necessarily translate to the average payment increase a given MA plan ultimately receives.

We are pleased that the Supreme Court ruled in our favor. The fact that the court was unanimous confirms what we said from the start this case had no merit.

We expect group's performance to continue to be volatile as concerns about a promotional and lackluster holiday season remain the near-term focus.

Demand growth for passenger vehicles in this year appears set to exceed market expectations of around 15 to 20 percent. Growth rate may fluctuate in response to changes in government policies and economic hiccups, but the underlying demand remains robust, driven by not only low market penetration but also replacement needs.

We remain bullish on gold over the medium to long term and believe that the arguments for gold outweigh the arguments against.

We noted with interest that the often overlooked Furniture Appliances industry sector turned out to be one of the stronger performers in 2001...based on market capitalization, Furniture Appliances ranks 11th out of the universe of 78 industry groups with a 28.7 percent one year return.

We believe this configuration has lasted so long it may be having a beguiling effect on the market. And with no obvious catalyst for a reappearance of volatility, the obvious risk is that investors take this stability for granted.

We believe UPS is the most financially fit, well managed parcel company and, in our opinion, one of the quality management bets in the industry.

The April IEA report supports our belief that rising inventories, moderating demand growth and Saudi Arabia's commitment to put more oil into the market will put downward pressure on oil prices.

This makes us confident that Compass should be able to sell this business for a price in excess of 1.2 billion pounds.

With sustainable high-teens earnings-per-share growth, no matter what the cycle, we think a market multiple significantly undervalues this excellent retailer.

On the face of it, this sounds like a positive piece of news for Cairn, however, we think ONGC are most likely to look to a acquire an additional stake in Cairns 70 per cent owned Rajasthan block, rather than a full blown corporate move.

Congressional pressure is one of the factors underlying the Bush administration's leverage on China to allow foreign exchange flexibility.

Financially, there might be reason behind the madness.

Risk of brain-drain and lost business dissipates now that leadership and succession issues are resolved.

Questions remain about the sustainability of the turnaround at Fiat Auto and profitability of underlying business, in the absence of further exception items (like assets sales and the GM one off gain).

One of the factors contributing to retail margin pressures in January was a shift in advertising to later in the year, in support of Target's evolution to more a department store and gift destination.

Ironically, it does not appear to be from the commodity corner as many believe, but instead from the labor-related costs.

From a hardware standpoint, the largest exposure outside of Sony itself is Microsoft, which could benefit if the company is able to overcome supply problems with Xbox 360.

We expect Nokia device gross margin to stabilize resulting from the transition to lower-cost entry-level phones and a much stronger mid-range and high-end portfolio.

Although the bookies were due a run of better form ... we remain concerned about the underlying structural issues at work within the industry.

The euro zone has just edged ahead of Japan, and is now the region investors would most like to overweight in the next year.

We believe the recent turmoil at AOL is probably helping Yahoo's online advertising business on the margin.

It's not going to be that much of a negative for the consumers. After all, they're paying much lower prices than we've paid for six months... ( It ) might actually make everybody a winner n the sense that it could create a little stability in the market.

Technology, demographics and industry consolidation are driving profound changes in the private-client business.

Viacom will, in our view, benefit from substantial consolidator economics over the next 12 to 18 months and a larger component of more-recession-resistant local advertising, as opposed to national advertising.

We met with BT's management yesterday and we did discuss the possibility of a break up. He thought the financial engineering could work but he thought long term separating BT Wholesale from BT Retail would destroy value.

The market environment continues to become increasingly competitive as the international field of participants continues to grow. The competition among bankers, financial advisers, attorneys, private equity firms and other participants has been equally impressive.

We get the sense that this was really a personal decision made by Mr. Nelson and that he was not pushed out by the company.

Our marketing plans do not call for us to refer to the university in any way nor do we have any intention of using the reputation of the university to promote the brand.

Our intermediate-term 'strong buy' rating for Intel stands -- first-quarter PC inventory rebuild should temper seasonal weakness.

Stephanie Villalba lost her sex discrimination case. She lost her claim for costs. She has now lost her appeal on points of law relating to victimization and unequal pay. It is time for both of us to move on.

We believe Yahoo is 'priced to perfection,' and that near-flawless quarters are required to support its multiple.

Every major player in the electrical appliances retailing sector will have similar expansion plans. So land grab will be the dominant theme in the short term.

Any reading at or above 61 percent generates 'sell' signals, whereas any reading at or below 50 percent generates 'buy' signals. The model remains well into 'sell' territory.

Compass has issued, for the first time in a while, a trading statement that does not include a profit warning. Trading and management's initiatives appear to be running to schedule.

Winners are naturally bullish.

Other suitors may appear for one or both companies. However, European power is changing rapidly and neither company can ignore the implications.

Recent disruptions of crude oil production in Nigeria and tensions between the West and Iran over its nuclear program... have contributed to concerns about OPEC's ability to supply the market.

The fundamentals in the mobile handset environment do not appear to be improving. In fact, recent news from component suppliers all point towards order push outs and delays in the release of new handsets.

We believe CFO Mike Lehman is one of the most conservative on the Street, and we have no reason to believe there are any accounting irregularities at the company.

There is no obvious single deal.

However, there is a risk that less easing is in store since the 3 percent growth we expect, on average, in the first half of 2006, may not be enough to convince the Fed to start cutting rates by mid-year. Thus there is a risk that the yield curve remains inverted for longer than we have built into our forecast.

The combination of the two rulings re-affirms our view that the majority of challenges to composition of matter patents are speculative and unlikely to be successful.

We remain cognizant of the fact that in an industry which is currently operating at full capacity to meet demand, any significant curtailment of production would be difficult to make up.

PSA will replace nearly one third of its model line-up in 2006, which should drive more rapid volume growth in 2006 than the pedestrian level reached in 2005.

Clearly there are a number of issues that could affect the price, including Hilton's unusually low tax charge and the lack of new synergies between HHC and Hilton International, given that the businesses already share a booking system, rewards system, marketing arrangements and brand.