Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Family Dollar, Costco, Macy`s, JC Penney and L-3 Communications Holdings Inc.

CHICAGO--(Business Wire)--
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:
Family Dollar (NYSE: FDO), Costco (Nasdaq: COST), Macy`s (NYSE: M), JC Penney
(NYSE: JCP) and L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LLL).

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the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=4579.

Here are highlights from Tuesday`s Analyst Blog:

Consumer Confidence Crumbles

As for expectations about the future, there are still more people out there who
expect things to get better over then next six months rather than deteriorate,
but the margin is closing. In October, 20.8% expected to see things get better
versus 18.3% who thought things will get worst by next spring, a 2.5% margin.
Last month 21.3% expected improvement while 14.6% expected things to get worse,
a margin of 6.7%. Only 10.3% expect their personal incomes will be going up over
the next six months, down from 11.2% last month.

If people are not confident about the future, they are less likely to open up
their wallets. As we move into the Christmas shopping season, this drop in
confidence could be setting the stage for a very weak retail season, although
last year was not exactly great and so retailers will have the benefit of easy
comps.

I suspect that the discount-oriented stores like Family Dollar (NYSE: FDO) and
Costco (Nasdaq: COST) will be better positioned to weather the storm than
mid-priced retailers like Macy`s (NYSE: M) and JC Penney (NYSE: JCP). Over the
long term, less consumer spending is a good thing, since it is the only way that
we will get the savings rate back up. However, in the short term it directly
causes economic weakness, and with it even fewer jobs and less confidence.

L-3 Tops Estimates, Raises Guidance

Before the opening bell, L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LLL) released
strong third quarter results. In the reported quarter, the company clocked
earnings per share (EPS) of $2.12, soundly beating both the Zacks Consensus
Estimate of $1.85 and the year-ago quarterly EPS of $1.73.

Net sales rose 5% to $3.8 billion in the reported quarter from $3.7 billion in
the year-ago quarter. The upside came mainly from the Command, Control,
Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C3ISR) and
Aircraft Modernization and Maintenance (AM&M) segments. However, these were
partially offset by decrease in the Government Services and Specialized Products
segments sales year-over-year.

C3ISR segment sales rose 21% year-over-year primarily due to increased demand
and new business from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) for airborne ISR and
networked communication systems for manned and unmanned platforms. AM&M sales
increased 17% due to higher revenues from systems field support services,
Special Operations Forces logistics support and higher sales for Joint Cargo
Aircraft (JCA).

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