Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Overstock.com, Kyocera Corporation and Pride International.

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: Overstock.com (Nasdaq:OSTK), Kyocera Corporation (NYSE:KYO) and Pride International (NYSE:PDE).

E[acute accent]Here are highlights from yesterday's Analyst Blog:

E[acute accent]OSTK Remains a Sell

E[acute accent]Overstock.com (Nasdaq:OSTK) shares are up close to 45% in the March even though its fundamental picture remains largely unchanged. News that the SEC is investigating parties possibly involved with manipulating OSTK shares coupled with the huge short position in the stock has lead to an explosive "short squeeze." Traders who were betting the stock would decline (short sellers) have been scared or even forced into covering (buying) their shares, driving much of the rise in the stock. Nevertheless, OSTK remains the same unprofitable company with dramatically slowing sales growth. We maintain our Sell rating on the stock and our target price of $20.

E[acute accent]Mixed Outlook on KYO

E[acute accent]Kyocera Corporation (NYSE:KYO) is a diversified company with several strong businesses, while others struggle to remain competitive. The company has excelled in some industrial product areas, such as fine ceramics, components, and others, high volume consumer products have been its downfall as the company struggles to compete on a cost basis. Given this mixed outlook, we continue to rate Kyocera shares a Hold and reduce our price target to $90.00. E[acute accent]Fine ceramics is Kyocera's strongest business, as it is the dominant supplier of ceramic IC packages and a leading global manufacturer of passive electronic components. The company has also leveraged this expertise into the rapidly growing market for solar energy, producing a broad range of solar cells for commercial and personal use. The company's key competitive advantages include its deep knowledge base in "technical ceramics." Based on its technology and market leadership, the company has been able to compete aggressively in both the areas of pricing and quality. E[acute accent]We are concerned about weakness in the Japanese and global economy, which has been accompanied by the appreciating yen, high oil prices, and increasing material costs. In particular, the components market turned significantly negative in the second half of fiscal 2005, after showing a strong first half. The company sells a diverse variety of products and each of its businesses is subject to intense competition in terms of price, technological change, product development, quality, and speed of delivery. A significant portion (60% in fiscal year 2005) of Kyocera's revenues has been from foreign sales in recent years, making the company vulnerable to an appreciating yen and political and economic changes in its worldwide markets.

E[acute accent]Note on Brazilian Leadership

E[acute accent]As I informed in this blog last week, yesterday night the Brazilian financial minister, Mr. Antonio Palocci, was forced to resign due to continued accusations regarding a political scandal. The new minister, Guido Mantega, is seen as a weak character, but I do not believe the change will have any effect on the current economic policy. The short-term consequence of this situation will be negative, including higher volatility for Brazilian stocks and the Brazilian currency (real). However, in the medium-term the crisis can be positive, increasing the chances that the opposition presidential candidate Geraldo Alckmin, considered a much better candidate by Big Business in Brazil and by the investment community, could win the election toward the end of the year.

E[acute accent]$38 Target for Pride

E[acute accent]Pride International's (NYSE:PDE) fourth-quarter earnings came in weaker than expected, reflecting higher operating expenses due to increased shipyard time and rig mobilizations. The company has also delayed its 10K filing due to an ongoing internal investigation of potential improper payments to government officials in Latin America. We have lowered our 2006 EPS estimate ($2.07 vs. $2.21) to reflect higher than earlier expected fleet downtime, but raised our 2007 EPS estimate ($3.68 vs. $3.42) to reflect the continued momentum in dayrate gains. Our Buy recommendation remains unchanged as we continue to like the stock for its strong offshore drilling leverage. E[acute accent]Houston, Texas-based Pride is a leading contract driller with operations in all major hydrocarbon-producing regions of the world. The company's fleet of land and offshore drilling rigs is made up of 290 units, including two ultra-deepwater drill-ships, 12 semi-submersibles, 29 jackups, 20 tender-assisted barge and platform rigs, and 227 land rigs. Pride's land drilling rigs are located primarily in South America. Pride has divided its operations in five segments: Eastern Hemisphere (includes Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Russia, and Kazakhstan), Western Hemisphere (includes Brazil, Venezuela, and Mexico), U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Latin America Land, and E & P Services. The E&P Services segment comprises the company's maintenance and workover services, mostly in South America. We believe that Pride will eventually divest this business.

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