Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: BJ’s Wholesale Club, Inc., Stone Energy Corp., NetEase.com Inc., Nordstrom Inc. and 3SBio Inc.

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--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: BJ’s Wholesale Club, Inc. (NYSE: BJ), Stone Energy Corp. (NYSE: SGY), NetEase.com Inc. (Nasdaq: NTES), Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) and 3SBio Inc. (Nasdaq: SSRX).

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Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:

BJ’s Wholesale May Benefit

BJ’s Wholesale Club, Inc. (NYSE: BJ) is the third-largest warehouse club operator in the U.S. It offers customers a broad array of branded merchandise at lower prices than traditional wholesalers, discount retailers, supermarkets, and specialty retailers.

BJ’s reported strong sales for the third quarter. Total sales increased by 13.4% to $2.4 billion, and comparable-club sales increased by 11.9%. The company also upped its earnings guidance for the third quarter to $0.45-$0.49 per diluted share, from previous guidance of $0.36-$0.40 per diluted share. We are increasing our fiscal 2008 EPS estimate, but we are slightly reducing our fiscal 2009 EPS estimate.

Stone Energy Increasing Steadily

Lafayette, Louisiana-based Stone Energy Corporation (NYSE: SGY) is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company engaged in the acquisition and subsequent exploration, development, operation and production of oil and gas properties located primarily in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM).

Stone Energy’s third-quarter 2008 earnings were hurt by production slowdowns caused by hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which more than offset the contribution from higher oil and gas price realizations. On average, Stone produced 129 MMcfe/d during the quarter, down from 203 MMcfe/d during the year-ago period.

NetEase.com a Near-Term Hold

NetEase.com Inc. (Nasdaq: NTES) is one of the leading providers of online gaming, advertising, and web-based communication services, besides providing other interactive content in China.

The company’s results for the third quarter were mixed, with increased sales but lower earnings as a result of increased foreign exchange losses. The company expects 2009 earnings to maintain the current rate of growth, despite a weakening global economy. NetEase faces intense competition in the gaming and advertising market. We believe that China's online gaming and advertising industry is in the midst of unparalleled growth and NetEase is well positioned to benefit from this trend.

Nordstrom Estimates Declining

Seattle-based specialty retailer Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) operates a chain of department and outlet stores. The company reported weak third-quarter results. Its sales declined 8.4% year-over-year to $1.805 billion, and its earnings per share declined 50% to $0.33. What’s more, the company issued fourth-quarter guidance that was well below consensus expectations.

The stock appears cheap, trading at just 6.6x our fiscal year 2008 EPS estimate and 7.6x our fiscal year 2009 EPS estimate. JWN shares also trade a discount to its long-term growth rate and well below its 5-year average P/E of around 18x. As such, we think the stock will trade in-line with the overall market for the next six months.

3SBio: Solid Q3 Results

3SBio's (Nasdaq: SSRX) third-quarter results were solid and in line with our expectations on an adjusted basis. Net revenues amounted to RMB68.2 million (US$10.0 million) in the third quarter 2008, compared with RMB56.1 million in the third quarter 2007, representing an increase of 21.6%.

The company's flagship product EPIAO is the number 1 brand in the EPO market. Second lead product TPIAO has gained rapid physician acceptance for thrombocytopenia and is making a meaningful contribution to the company's top line growth. The recent deal with US-based AMAG Pharmaceuticals will boost SSRX expansion into IV Iron market and sustain long term growth.

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