MORNING COFFEE

Q2 EPS and Q3 Estimates A Mixed Bag. With more than half of the S&P 500 companies reporting their Q2 earnings the quarter seems to have been a fairly decent one.  So far 65.96% of the companies have reported EPS the have beat Wall Street estimates, 21.63% have missed estimates and 12.41% have met their estimates.  But Wall Street traders have had some concerns with Q3 future guidance. Estimates for Q3 have steadily declined from 4.8% back in March to -1.6% currently.  The decline has occurred as worried traders watch Europe and China as their economies slow down.  The ratio of negative-to-positive Q3 forecasts is now the worst since 2001. 

Upgrades

Deere & Co. (DE): Piper Jaffray raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight and raised their target price from $85.00 to $93.00. Pre-market: 79.00 +0.90 (1.15%)

Helmerich & Payne (HP): Canaccord Genuity raised their rating from Hold to Buy. Pre-market: 49.10 +0.51 (1.05%)

Con-Way (CNW): Robert W. Baird raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform and raised their target price from $42.00 to $43.00.

Noble Energy (NBL): FBR Capital raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform and raised their target price from $100.00 to $120.00. Pre-market: 89.55 0.00 (0.00%)

Arch Coal (ACI): Sterne Agee raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and placed a target price of $13.00 on the company. Pre-market: 7.17 +0.37 (5.44%)

Arch Coal (ACI): Global Hunter raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and placed a target price of $18.00 on the company. Pre-market: 7.17 +0.37 (5.44%)

Downgrades

JPMorgan Chase (JPM): Deutsche Bank lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and lowered their target price from $43.0-0 to $40.00. Pre-market: 36.58 -0.31 (-0.84%)

Electronic Arts (EA): Longbow lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral. Pre-market: 11.37 -0.04 (-0.35%)

Watson Pharmaceuticals (WPI): Sun Trust lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral. Pre-market: 79.77 0.00 (0.00%)

PETsMART (PETM): Nomura lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and maintained a target price of $70.00. Pre-market: 67.89 -0.30 (-0.44%)

Coverage Initiated

United Technologies (UTX): JPMorgan Chase initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and target price of $98.00. Pre-market: 74.27 -0.01 (-0.01%)

Cirrus Logic (CRUS): Canaccord initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $35.00. Pre-market: 29.73 +0.77 (2.66%)

Earning Reports

CIT Group (CIT): Reported EPS of -$0.35 beating estimates by +$0.14.

Diebold (DBD): Reported EPS of $0.49 missing estimates by -$0.09.

Franklin Resources (BEN): Reported EPS of $2.12 beating estimates by +$0.04. Pre-market: 112.21 0.00 (0.00%)

Loews Corp (L): Reported EPS of $0.14 missing estimates by -$0.61. Pre-market: 41.09 -0.61 (-1.46%)

Markets: 
Futures at 8:46: Dow -0.32%. S&P -0.24%. Nasdaq +0.11%. Crude -0.37% to $89.80. Gold -0.09% to $1616.50.

Europe: London +0.81%. Paris +0.57%. Frankfurt +0.87%. 

Asia: Japan +0.80%. Hong Kong +1.61%. China -0.89%. India +1.81%.