NOTE TO EDITORS: The Following Is an Investment Opinion Being Issued by Ridgewater Equity (RWE).

The markets were able to pull it together somewhat to close off the intraday lows. Volume finished at 3.75 Billion shares on the NYSE and 1.98 Billion shares traded on the NASDAQ. Today’s tough earnings news came from companies such as DR Horton (DHI) and Dell Inc. (DELL). Both companies got hit hard following their results. [...]

Dominion Resources (D) was downgraded today by analysts at Citigroup and the stock is now at $36.00, down $0.81 (-2.2%) on volume of 2,391,354 shares traded. The analysts reduced D...(Click the story link or go to http://www.marketintelligencecenter.com for the full story)

Brian Chin of Citi downgraded his rating on Dominion Resources Inc (NYSE: D) from "hold" to "sell," while reducing his estimates for the company. The target price has been reduced from $33 to $32.

Citi says that positive newsflow from D has pumped up market expectations. D had announced that it will sell its Marcellus gas reserve assets over the next 24 months and it has signed a VEPCO settlement. D's share price had appreciated on both these announcements, Citi mentioned.

Citi believes that D's guidance for 2010 is aggressive relative to forward commodities prices. According to Citi, the guidance is based on a gas curve range of $6.75-$7.25/mmbtu, which is significantly more than current forwards of $5.60/mmbtu.

Citi reduced the EPS estimates for 2010 and 2011 from $3.16 to $3.13 and from $3.34 to $3.11, respectively.

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In 1995, the NASDAQ was trading around 1000. On 3/10/2000, it hit a peak of 5048. Such euphoria had not been seen since the railroad boom of the 1840s or the automobile boom of the 1920s. Now it is China’s turn. Last quarter China grew at a brisk 8.9% rate thanks to the government’s aggressive stimulus. The following are 14 Chinese stocks that trade on U.S. exchanges and have dividends over 2%:[More...]

Windstream Corp. (WIN), a leading rural telecom carrier, reported operating results for the third quarter with adjusted earnings per share of 24 cents, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 21 cents. Adjusted EPS excludes one-time items such as restructuring charges, merger and integration costs and non-cash pension expense. Reported net income of $80 million (18 cents [...]

(WIN) Windstream Corporation Beat Expectations – But Sales Dip

Windstream Corp. (WIN), a leading rural telecom carrier, reported operating results for the third quarter with adjusted earnings per share of 24 cents, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 21 cents. Adjusted EPS excludes one-time items such as restructuring charges, merger and integration costs and non-cash pension expense.
 
Reported net income of $80 million (18 cents a share) reflects a 24% year-over-year decline on account of lower revenues, which declined 8% year over year to $734 million.  Service revenues fell 5% year over year to $704.9 million while product revenues declined 44% to $29.4 million. Average monthly service revenue per customer remained stable year over year at $79.99. Operating income declined 17% year over year to $225.4 million.
 
Windstream continues to experience steady decline in its fixed-line business given the rapid customer migration to cellular services. Total access lines declined by roughly 27,000 lines in the quarter to reach approximately 2.93 million lines, down 5.2% year over year. This was, however, partly offset by net addition of 26,000 high-speed Internet customers, bringing the total broadband customer base to approximately 1.05 million (up 9% year over year).
 
Momentum for digital TV business continues with more than 11,000 new customers added during the quarter. Windstream’s video subscriber base reached roughly 323,000, representing 18% penetration of primary residential lines. 
 
The company generated $242 million cash from operation in the quarter and spent $67 million in capital expenditure, resulting in a free cash flow of $175 million. Windstream exited the quarter with $290 million in cash and cash equivalents and $5.2 billion in total debt.
 
Windstream remains committed to its share repurchase initiatives leveraging healthy free cash flow generated through its ongoing cost-cutting measures. The company repurchased 8.9 million shares in the third quarter, returning roughly $89 million to its shareholders. Approximately $80 million remaining under the current $400 million share buyback authorization which is set to expire at the end of 2009.
 
Windstream continues to acquire smaller rural carriers to expand its customer base. The company has received unanimous approval from Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission for its impending acquisition of rural phone and Internet service operator D&E Communications (DECC) for $159 million. The acquisition will strengthen Windstream’s foothold in Pennsylvania, providing 165,000 access lines and 44,000 high-speed Internet customers.

To boost its high-speed Internet business, Windstream is buying privately held regional competitive local exchange carrier NuVox Inc for roughly $643 million. The acquisition will strengthen Windstream’s presence across the Southeast and Midwest states, where NuVox has a strong market presence. The deal will also provide meaningful cost synergies and 90,000 new business customers across 16 states.

Read the full analyst report on "WIN"
Read the full analyst report on "DECC"
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Companies featured in this segment: Duke Energy Incorporated (NYSE:DUK), Dominion Resources Incorporated (NYSE:D), Southern Company (NYSE:SO), E.ON AG OTC:EONGY), Electricite de France SA (EPA:EDF), Australasian Resources Limited (ASX:ARH), Citic Pacific Limited (HKG:0267), NRG Energy Incorporated (NYSE:NRG), Edison International (NYSE:EIX), PepsiCo Corporation (NYSE:PEP)

Companies featured in this segment: Dominion Energy (NYSE:D), FPL Group Incorporated (NYSE:FPL), General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW), The Shaw Group Incorporated (NYSE:SHAW), ABB Limited (NYSE:ABB), Mitsui & Company Limited (NASDAQ:MITSY), Siemens AG (NYSE:SI), Canadian Solar Incorporated (NASDAQ:CSIQ), GDF Suez SA (EPA:GSZ), Eni SpA (NYSE:E), Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG (ETR:EBK), E.ON AG (OTC:EONGY), Marubeni Corporation (OTC:MARUY), SNC-Lavalin Group Incorporated (TSX:SNC)

Companies featured in this segment: General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), BP plc (NYSE:BP), Dominion Resources Incorporated (NYSE:D), DuPont (NYSE:DD), Williams Companies Incorporated (NYSE:WMB), AES Corporation (NYSE:AES), CF Industries Holdings Incorporated (NYSE:CF), Terra Industries Incorporated (NYSE:TRA), Agrium Incorporated (NYSE:AGU), E.ON AG (OTC:EONGY), RWE AG (OTC:RWEOY), Energie Baden-Wuerttemburg AG (ETR:EBK), CEZ AS (PRG:BAACEZ), Edison SpA (BIT:EDN), and Scottish and Southern Energy plc (LSE:SSE)

Companies featured in this segment: General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), International Paper Company (NYSE:IP), Hitachi Limited (NYSE:HIT), Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY), Dominion Resource (NYSE:D), Detroit Edison Company (NYSE:DTE), Japan Steel Works Limited (TYO:5631), Holcim Limited (VTX:HOLN), Grid Corporation of India Limited (BSE:532898), and Reliance Power Limited (BSE:532939)

Companies featured in this segment: American Electric Power Company Incorporated (NYSE:AEP), Dominion Resources Incorporated (NYSE:D), Metso Oyj (OTC:MXCYY), Progroup AG, Siemens AG (NYSE:SI), Cooper Industries Limited (NYSE:CBE), OneEnergy Limited, CLP Holdings (OTC:CLPHY), Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TYO:6503), Electricity of Vietnam, The Bechtel Group, Chiyoda Corporation (TYO:6366), ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM), Santos (NASDAQ:STOSY), Oil Search Limited (ASX:OSH), Nippon Oil Corporation (TYO:5001), AGL Energy Limited (ASX:AGK), WorleyParsons Limited (ASX:WOR), KBR (NYSE:KBR), Air Products & Chemicals International (NYSE:APD), ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), The Boeing Company’s (NYSE:BA), and Textron Incorporated (NYSE:TXT).