Wall Street to Main Street: News, Views and Commentary: May 1, 2006   by Louis Victor

It's Monday May 1, 2006, and kicking off the first day of May is a massive protest that will be taking place across the United States today in protest of the pending immigration bill that would make being an illegal immigrant in the United States a felony.

If this bill does get passed this will have an impact on the U.S. economy, companies like Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN), Cargill and Swift have said that it will shut down several beef and pork plants to allow workers to attend the rallies.

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Political Front As the deadline has come and gone, the tension builds as it relates to Iran and the enriching of uranium. Iran said that it would cooperate if they did not have to deal with the United Nations. That sounds a tad bit suspicious.

Still on the subject of Iran, they deny entering Baghdad to hunt down and attack Kurds, this just puts a nice spin on our efforts in Iraq and the pending conflict in Iran.

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China Could Open Doors for More IPO's

The China Securities Regulatory Commission has given an indication that they will once again open the doors for additional public offerings. This is comes close to year since China put the brakes on new offerings, in a statement that came out of their office they said that fundraising including IPO's will resume according to market oriented conditions. The only worry is that funds will rotate out of existing publicly traded companies to roll into the IPO's. Movers and Shakers Some major movers in Friday's trading session included Amerigroup Corp (NYSE: AGP) which traded up $3.87 to close at $25.83, Commscope, Inc (NYSE: CTV) which traded up $4.72 to close at $33.05, Snap On (NYSE: SNA) which traded up $4.03 to close at $41.50, Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE: AEM) which traded up $3.19 to close at $6.70, Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG) which surged up $23.83 to close at $127.00, Ventana Medical Systems (NASDAQ: VNMI) which traded up $7.90 to close at $48.70 and Advent Software (NASDAQ: ADVS) which traded up $3.82 to close at $35.20.

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Analyst Upgrades/Downgrades

Recent Analyst upgrades include Mcafee, Inc (NYSE: MFE) which was upgraded to a Buy from a Neutral by Janney Montgomery, Wachovia Corp (NYSE: WB) which was upgraded to a Outperform from an In-Line by Goldman Sachs, Anaren Microwave (NASDAQ: ANEN) which was upgraded to a Buy from a Neutral by Pacific Growth Equities, Omnicell, Inc (NASDAQ: OMCL) which was upgraded to a Strong Buy from a Buy by First Albany and Cooper Cameron Corporation (NYSE: CAM) was upgraded to a Outperform from a Market Perform by Raymond James.

Recent Analyst downgrades include KB Home (NYSE: KBH) was downgraded to a Neutral from a Buy by Janney Montgomery, Pulte Corporation (NYSE: PHM) was downgraded to a Neutral from a Buy by Janney Montgomery, The Ryland Group (NYSE: RYI) was downgraded to a Neutral from a Buy by Janney Montgomery and Landec Corp (NASDAQ: LNDC) was downgraded to a Neutral from a Buy by Sidoti & Co.

Recent Analyst Coverage Initiations include Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) which was initiated with a Buy rating and a $63 price target by Lazard Capital Markets and Leap Wireless (NASDAQ: LEAP) which was initiated with an overweight rating and a $54 price target by Morgan Stanley.

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Tid Bits

Hartford Financial Services (NYSE: HIG) moved up to $91.93 as others in their sector got hit hard last week. The company reported better than expected earnings due to the strong sales of products such as variable annuities and mutual funds. They also gave a better profit outlook for their full year. They may be dragged down in today's trading session as they may get bundled in with Humana (NYSE: HUM) as they report earnings. Similar to when Aetna (NYSE: AET) dragged down the sector last week.

Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) dropped down below $30 as they closed down $1.65 to close at $29.64. This is due to their diluting shareholders with a 3.5 million share secondary offering. We initially liked Netflix in their niche industry but the secondary offering and the dilution factor puts us on the sidelines, as this will impact both their earnings and shareholder value.

The banks made nice movement last week as Citigroup (NYSE: C), JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) rose to the occasion as Citigroup closed up $1.80 to close at $49.95, JP Morgan Chase closed up $1.43 to close at $45.38 and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) closed up 88 cents to close at $49.92.

Intuitive Surgical jumped up over 23 percent as the stock traded up $23.83 to close at $127.00 on Friday, They beat the estimate as they reported earnings of 38 cents up from 25 cents for the same period last year.

Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) dropped $2.84 to close at $25.88 after reporting a wider first quarter loss, I wonder if this recent decline can be blamed on the shorts as well as Patrick Byrne has claimed time and time again.

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Wall Street Corner with Larry Oakley

The "Elder Statesman of Financial Writers" Larry Oakley focuses on Pacific Rim Mining Corp. (AMEX: PMU)

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FURIOUS FIVE

This is the first of our "Furious Five" companies that we see excelling in their industry in 2006. This is our first addition to this week's Furious Five is American Eagle Outfitters (NASDAQ: AEOS) it trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol AEOS.

For the entire segment subscribe to Wall Street to Main Street for FREE at www.namcnewswire.com We cannot stress enough that investors need to do their due diligence, call the companies, get the information, consult with your investment advisor and if you do not have one consider getting one. Put the same time into investigating these companies as you do when you go to purchase a new television, it's only for your protection. When it comes to thinly traded securities stagger your orders or put a limit order in to avoid a run up.

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Louis Victor NAMC Newswire 888-463-9237

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About the Author

Louis Victor is the host of the syndicated podcast show and financial newsletter "Wall Street to Main Street" which is featured on the NAMC Newswire Radio. He has been involved in the financial industry for over two decades, on the retail and investment banking ends. He is also well versed in the advertising and marketing industries, which has given him insight into market trends and unqiue companies that may be under the radar.