Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day Highlights: Philippine Long Distance Telephone, Centennial...

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Tue Jan 15, 2008 6:00am EST

Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day Highlights: Philippine Long Distance Telephone, Centennial Communications, Anglo-American and Eastman Chemical.

CHICAGO--(Business Wire)--Zacks Equity Research highlights Philippine Long Distance
Telephone Company (NYSE: PHI) as the Bull of the Day and Centennial
Communications Corp. (Nasdaq: CYCL) as the Bear of the Day. In
addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Anglo-American
(Nasdaq: AAUK) and Eastman Chemical (NYSE: EMN). Full analysis of all
these 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 Philippine Long Distance
Telephone Company (NYSE: PHI). We reiterate our BUY recommendation for
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company. The company has maintained
its position as the country's dominant telecommunications service
provider by expanding its presence in all segments of the industry.
PLDT also continues to generate substantial free cash flow.
Furthermore, vigorous subscriber gains in wireless phone and broadband
internet should sustain steady growth in the coming years.

   Bear of the Day:

   Our Bear of the Day recommendation is for Centennial
Communications Corp. (Nasdaq: CYCL), a regional provider of wireless
and integrated communications. Revenue performance has been
lackluster, following slow subscriber growth and lower roaming
traffic. We remain concerned with net debt of approximately $2.0
billion and limited cash liquidity, although the company redeemed
approximately $20 million of debt by November 2007. Moreover, we are
not encouraged by management's outlook for 2008. We continue to await
indications of improved operating profitability as changes in business
strategy are taking longer to push upside trends in earnings.

   Analyst Blog:

   We are maintaining a Hold recommendation on Anglo-American
(Nasdaq: AAUK). The company is benefiting from strong demand for
commodities around the globe and increasing production. However, risks
to global economic growth remain, and the strength of the South
African rand could have a significant impact on future earnings.
Headquartered in London, Anglo-American, Plc is a global leader in
mining and natural resource sectors. It has significant and focused
interests in gold, platinum, diamonds, coal, base metals, ferrous
metals, industrial minerals and forest products.

   Eastman Chemical (NYSE: EMN) has a strong fibers business and
solid financials, plus a potential PET restructuring. However, a lack
of free cash flow, PET capacity increases coupled with slowing growth,
and PET industry overcapacity with higher raw material costs force us
to rate the stock a Hold with a target of $66. On January 10, 2008,
Eastman Chemical Company announced that its earnings per share
excluding gains and costs for fourth-quarter 2007 are likely to be
above the high end of the current range of analyst estimate, which is
$1.06 per share. Positive impact of selling prices offsetting higher
raw material and energy costs, earnings associated with a recent
licensing of acetyl technology for the production of acetic acid, and
lower general administrative expenses are expected to drive earnings.
The company's share prices are to rise more than 5% after the fourth
quarter results.

   Get the full analysis of all these 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.

   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
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   About Zacks

   Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which
was formed in 1978 by Leonard Zacks. As a PhD in mathematics Len knew
he could find patterns in stock market data that would lead to
superior investment results. Amongst his many accomplishments was the
formation of his proprietary stock picking system; the Zacks Rank,
which continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin.
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   The performance of the Zacks Rank portfolios shown above for
annual and year-to-date periods are the linked monthly total returns
(price changes + dividends) of equal weighted hypothetical portfolios,
consisting of those stocks with the indicated Zacks Rank, assuming
monthly rebalancing and zero transaction costs. These are not the
returns of actual portfolios. The hypothetical portfolios were created
at the beginning of each month from Jan 1988 forward based on the
values of the Zacks Rank available to Zacks' clients before the
beginning of each month. The portfolios created monthly from 1988
through September 2006 exclude ADRS and are comprised of stocks that
have the indicated Zacks Rank and were covered by at least two
analysts at the time of the stocks inclusion in the portfolio.
Starting in October 2006 and going forward, the portfolios are
comprised of all stocks with the indicated Zacks Rank and do not
exclude ADRs, which is more reflective of the list of stocks that
customers will find on the Zacks web sites. 2007 returns are for the
period of Jan 1 - Jun 30, 2007. These performance numbers have been
audited from 1995 through 2003 by Autschuler Melovan, a division of
American Express Financial.

Zacks.com
Terry Ruffolo
Media Relations
312-265-9213
Visit: www.zacks.com

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