Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day Highlights: Southern Copper, AMCORE Financial, Zimmer Holdings and Dynavax.

CHICAGO -- Zacks Equity Research highlights Southern Copper (NYSE: PCU) as the Bull of the Day and AMCORE Financial (Nasdaq: AMFI) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Zimmer Holdings (NYSE: ZMH) and Dynavax Technologies Corporation (Nasdaq: DVAX). Full analysis of all four 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 Southern Copper (NYSE: PCU). We have a positive outlook on Southern Copper's profit picture based on the favorable global demand for copper. We think the company is well positioned to expand production amidst higher ore grades at its mines. Further, the company has undertaken various exploration projects which will enhance the production capacity, once operational. This, in conjunction with high copper prices, provides a favorable backdrop for revenue. Based on these positive fundamental factors, we continue to reiterate our Buy rating with a six-month target price of $55.00.

Bear of the Day:

Our Bear of the Day recommendation is for AMCORE Financial (Nasdaq: AMFI). GAAP EPS was $0.51, but excluding several non-recurring items we see core earnings as $0.46 per share (which could easily round down to $0.45 with a minor change in assumptions), a penny or more short of our estimate and consensus. AMCORE Bank signed a Consent Order with the OCC in August, implying to us that increased compliance measures to-date have not been quite sufficient. Our estimates are falling by $0.01-0.02 per quarter at this time, and consensus looks to have fallen as well. Our new price target (up $1 on higher peer multiples) implies a -7.8% expected total return over the next six months.

Analyst Blog:

Zimmer Holdings (NYSE: ZMH) reported third quarter EPS results above our expectations with revenue missing our estimate by $19 million. The company has only slight operating leverage remaining and is becoming more reliant on stock buybacks to generate EPS growth. Although our revenue estimates decline, our 2006 EPS estimate increases on the third quarter upside and our 2007 EPS estimate remains at $3.88 on a lower expected share count. At the group average 1.3x 2007 P/E/G on the company's reduced expected 15% growth outlook, our ZMH target moves down to $73.00, or roughly 19x our 2007 EPS estimate.

Dynavax Technologies Corporation (Nasdaq: DVAX) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on drug development activities for the treatment and prevention of various infectious and inflammatory diseases. It has four products under clinical stages of development and a number of others in pre-clinical studies. We are intrigued by Dynavax's proprietary ImmunoStimulatory Sequence (ISS) technology and are pleased with the progress made by the company with its two lead candidates, Tolamba and Heplisav. We maintain our Hold rating on Dynavax with a target price at $7.50.

Get the full analysis of all four 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.

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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.

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