Hold - Price 24.13 on Nov. 24 by Sterne Agee & Leach CBE expects 4Q08 earnings per share to fall below its prior guidance range of 83 cents to 92 cents....We've reduced our 4Q08 EPS to 70 cents and our full-year '08 [estimated] EPS to $3.40 (from $3.58). We are reducing our 2009E EPS to $3.15 from $3.40 previously....CBE retains significant exposure to [North American] commercial and residential construction, which together account for an estimated 17% to 18% of CBE's sales. About 21% of sales are from Europe, which has also seen a significant downturn...the global credit freeze, dollar appreciation, customer destocking, ...and increased volatility of key commodity inputs have created difficult pricing environments...[leading] CBE to reduce production levels to avoid excess inventory build. Market cap: $3.8 billion.

Buy - Price 42 on Nov. 25 by Wedbush Morgan Q3 EPS of 47 cents...[beat] guidance of 40 cents to 43 cents/consensus 44 cents. Q4 guidance is for $1.07 to $1.15 EPS on sales of $1.38 billion to $1.42 billion, and low to low-mid-single-digit comps [same-store sales] ...Q3 comp of 6.2% versus 1.9% beat our estimated 3%....Strong merchandising, including ability to flex the in-demand consumables category, is attracting new customers....We're raising our full-year E-EPS to $2.50 (from $2.44); guidance is $2.45 to $2.53. Reiterating Buy; we believe DLTR's momentum should continue through the holidays.... Raising target to 44 (from 43), which assumes DLTR should trade at 16.5 times our revised '09E EPS of $2.68 -- a 10% premium to our projected longer-term earnings-growth rate of 15%. Market cap: $3.7 billion.

Neutral - Price 7.77 on Nov. 26 by Merriman Curhan & Ford Reading, Pa.-based EnerSys is a leading supplier of lead acid batteries for industrial markets. About 42% of revenue is generated in North America, with the rest mainly from Europe and Asia. ENS shares trade at a price/earnings ratio of 4.7 times our fiscal-year '09 EPS estimate and 7.8 times our FY10 estimate, and at 0.49 times book of $14.39 per share and 1.18 times tangible book of $5.98 per share. While...the shares may look cheap to some investors...there is very little visibility on FY10 earnings levels, and our $1 EPS estimate could end up being optimistic if the recession is deeper than expected. Market cap: $387 million.

Buy - Price 9.29 on Nov. 26 by Jefferies & Co. Upgrading from Hold. An aging populace and primary focus on nondiscretionary rehabilitation make HLS largely resilient to an economic downturn. Medicare accounts for about 67% of revenue; 2.2% is paid by Medicaid; 1.5% is reserved as uncollectible. [Most] Medicare patients [are getting] nondiscretionary treatment for conditions like strokes, debility/polyneuropathy, fractures...and replacements. Strong cash flows and discretionary [capital expenditure] give management significant deleveraging resources, which can be amplified by incremental income-tax recoveries and derivative proceeds. HLS paid down $208 million of long-term debt in the first ten months of '08 and is targeting a debt-to-Ebitda ratio of 4.5 times or less by the end of 2010, representing a full-turn improvement....Given the resiliency of HLS...to the economic environment and its '09 [free cash flow] yield of 14.1%, we believe shares should trade at a 10 times multiple, which translates to our 13.50 target. Investor concerns about HLS' leverage [seems] to be the primary risk to this story. Market cap: $817.5 million.

Outperform - Price 12.24 on Nov. 26 by Barrington Associates Lisle, Ill.-based Molex, the second-largest connectors company globally, is being pressured by the economic downturn. Sales were up in its first fiscal quarter ended September, although below expectations, and earnings...were up over 13%. Molex ...has a number of advantages...it has been steadily gaining market share in a highly fragmented industry....It enjoys significant benefits from a global marketing reorganization and is well into a restructuring program....The stock price is already down [by more than] 60% from its 52-week high and, despite sharp earnings reductions by analysts...it sells at a P/E [of about 8.8 times] -- half of what would in normal times [be] an attractive entry level for the high-quality and well-financed growth-cyclical company. Target: 20. Long-term investors should be building positions. Market cap: $2.2 billion.

Market Perform - Price 24.82 on Nov. 25 by Morgan Keegan Noble updated its fleet status, highlighting five additional months of shipyard for a drillship and...a semisubmersible. The update also noted new jackup contracts in Mexico and the Mideast, and deferral of the bulk of shipyard time scheduled for 4Q into first-half '09. We're maintaining our '08 EPS at $5.68, but decreasing our '09 EPS to $7.30 from $7.45, given added shipyard days; we maintain our '10 EPS of $7.96. Term contracts continue to provide a stable earnings stream.... [Although] quality assets are providing industry-high margins and higher day rates, we're [sidelined] in light of the economy. Market cap: $6 billion.

Buy - Price 17 in Nov. 25 by Howe Barnes PBIB announced via 8-K that it completed a sale of $35 million of preferred stock to the Treasury/Capital Purchase Program... [which] will raise PBIB's Tier 1 capital ratio to 12.21% from 9.55% and total capital ratio to 14.14% from 11.49% (pro forma basis) at 3Q08....We're maintaining our '08E-EPS at $1.90 and reducing '09E-EPS to $1.93 from $2.... Our estimates assume the new capital will be deployed in PBIB's security portfolio .... [Balance]-sheet growth and a focus on expense controls should lead to consistent EPS growth.... [We see] 34.4% total return potential. Target: 20, [with] 5.42% dividend yield. Market cap: $140 million.

Market Perform - Price 25.10 on Nov. 24 by Keefe, Bruyette, Woods Target: 29. Following the recent announcement that USB assumed certain assets and liabilities of Downey Savings and Loan and PFF Bank & Trust from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., we are increasing our 2010 EPS estimate to $2.67 from $2.60 per share....USB estimates its loss exposure to be approximately $2.3 billion. USB is assuming $12.1 billion in deposits, or approximately 8% of USB's current deposit base, and 213 branches primarily located in the Bay Area and Southern California. Market cap: $43.7 billion.