Movers: Whole Foods, Toyota, AnnTaylor, Yahoo, Cisco Systems

Stocks in the news Thursday

From Standard & Poor's Equity Research

Whole Foods Market (WFMI) announces an agreement to sell Series A Preferred Stock due 2020 to Green Equity Investors V, L.P., an affiliate of Leonard Green & Partners, L.P. for $425 million, which equates to an ownership interest, assuming conversion of preferred stock to common, of about 17% at this time. Jonathan D. Sokoloff and Jonathan A. Seiffer of Leonard Green & Partners, L.P. intend to join board of directors of WFMI. S&P reiterates hold.

Toyota Motor (TM) falls 13.97 to 66.40 after the auto maker posts JPY 140B, vs. JPY 451B, second quarter net income. S&P downgrades to sell from hold.

Ahead of third quarter earnings reports from General Motors (GM) and Ford (F) scheduled for tomorrow morning, Citigroup widens its loss estimates for both companies. For GM, Citi says its revised year-end 2008 cash estimate of $15 billion would be just above GM's $11-$14 billion minimum threshold, underscoring urgency to address liquidity. In related news, rival Japanese auto maker Toyota reported sharp decline in third quarter net income.

Amdocs Limited (DOX) posts $0.54, vs. $0.54, fourth quarter non-GAAP EPS despite 14% revenue rise. Says absent unprecedented extreme volatility in exchange rates and the rapid strengthening of US$, non-GAAP EPS would have been within its guidance range of $0.61-$0.63. Sees first quarter revenue of $785-$810 million (vs. fourth quarter's $825.3 million). Says it cannot commit to full-year guidance. S&P keeps buy. Baird downgrades to neutral.

AnnTaylor Stores (ANN) falls 2.95 to 9.07 after the retailer says it will expand its restructuring program to further cut costs and lowers its third quarter EPS and revenue guidance due to weaker-than-expected sales and margin. ANN now sees third quarter EPS at about breakeven, excluding restructuring and non-cash impairment costs, and sees net sales of about $527 million, vs. $601 million last year. Notes third quarter same-store sales fell about 19% vs. a year ago. Adds that it expects the current weakness in consumer spending to persist through the fourth quarter of this year and into 2009.

Yahoo (YHOO) rises 0.49 to 14.41. At the Web 2.0 Summit, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang reportedly said he believes a deal between YHOO and Microsoft (MSFT) is still the best option for the firm. He noted that he remains open to selling the Internet company to Microsoft, but at the right price. S&P reiterates buy.

Cisco Systems (CSCO) posts $0.37, vs. $0.35 a year ago, first quarter GAAP EPS on 8% sales rise. S&P says the company guides for January-quarter sales down about 12% from the October-quarter, below the slight sequential increase it had projected; keeps hold; S&P lowers fiscal year 2009 estimates and price target.

Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) posts 2.4% higher October same-store sales without fuel, 2.5% higher with fuel, 2.3% higher total company sales. Expects U.S. same-store sales growth for November to be between 1% and 3%. Separately, announced price rollbacks across all categories in the store that could save customers an additional $200 million during the next seven weeks.

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