Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: C.R. Bard, Amdocs Ltd., IBM Corp., Rite Aid Corporation and Wal-Mart.

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: C.R. Bard (NYSE: BCR), Amdocs Ltd. (NYSE: DOX), IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM), Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE: RAD) and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT).

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Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

C.R. Bard Quoted as a Buy

C.R. Bard (NYSE: BCR) operates in vascular, urology, oncology and surgical specialty markets. These end-markets should remain insulated from the current economic turmoil. Many of the company's products are used in interventional medicine - life-saving surgical procedures.

We look for the company to finish in the upper end of their guidance. Future quarters will be met with a headwind from foreign exchange. However, with less than a third of sales outside of the United States, the impact will be less than for BCR's competitors.

Amdocs Buy Rec Reiterated

Amdocs Ltd. (NYSE: DOX), a leading provider of CRM and billing software for communications service providers, continues to perform in line with our expectations, supported by its industry-leading technology integration products for large-scale transformational projects and managed services.

Long-term fundamentals remain firm as a result of global telecom carriers' transition to converged and consolidated solutions. In addition, the company maintains a strong financial position with a healthy order backlog. Management indicated caution with respect to near-term business performance based on global economic uncertainties which may generate some fluctuations in its near-term results. We confirm our Buy recommendation on the shares.

IBM Buy Rating Maintained

On January 20, 2008, IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) announced its fiscal 2008 4th quarter results that were mixed, with revenue coming in below expectations but pro forma EPS beating our expectation. Net income from continuing operations were $4.4 billion versus $4.0 billion in the same quarter last year. With aggressive cost-cutting, diluted earnings from continuing operations for the quarter reached $3.28, up 17.1% from $2.80 in the prior-year quarter.

Total revenue of $27.0 billion was down 6.4% (down 1.0% when adjusted for currency) from $28.9 billion in the year-ago quarter. Earnings were boosted by a reduction in the tax rate in the 4th quarter.

Rite-Aid Feels Wal-Mart Pressure

Management at Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE: RAD) was executing a turnaround strategy centered on increasing the profitability of the existing store base. However, management acquired Brooks Eckerd prior to a convincing turnaround in profitability and increased the debt burden of the company.

Moreover, Wal-Mart's (NYSE: WMT) entrance into the retail generic drug market began pressuring the company's pharmacy margin.

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