CHICAGO, Jan. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- 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 includeHome DepotInc. (NYSE: HD), Lowe's Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW), Wal-Mart Inc. (NYSE: WMT), Qualcomm Inc(Nasdaq: QCOM) and Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT).
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Here are highlights from Monday's Analyst Blog:
Home Depot Gears Up for Spring
The world's largest home improvement retailer Home DepotInc. (NYSE: HD) is warming up for the spring season. The company recently announced plans to hire more than 70,000 temporary employees, level with last year's seasonal hiring.
In 2011, the company had plans to hire around 60,000 people but finally employed 10,000 more. Though hiring for the spring season is temporary, the company pointed out that about half of people hired in 2011 were retained with permanent positions.
Home Depot, like every home improvement company, hires seasonally every spring time to make the best of its busiest selling season. During spring, home improvement companies roll out sales offers on shrubs, lawn care products, fertilizers and other gardening products, grills and patio furniture for better results than their rivals.
This year, Home Depot plans to start hiring a month in advance to beat competition from its closest peers Lowe's Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) and Wal-Mart Inc. (NYSE: WMT). Starting early will also give the company to hire the competitive advantage of having the best employees for the busiest season. The company plans to begin hiring in February.
The top home improvement company, Home Depot Inc., with 2,252 retail stores across the globe, offers a diverse range of branded and proprietary home improvement items, building materials, lawn and garden products, and related services. Currently, the company employs more than 300,000 associates.
Home Depot currently has a Zacks #2 Rank, implying a short-term Buy rating. We continue to have a long-term 'Neutral' recommendation on the stock.
Qualcomm Enhances Snapdragon Usage
Qualcomm Inc(Nasdaq: QCOM) recently unveiled its Snapdragon S4 processor for tablet devices powered by Microsoft Corporation's (Nasdaq: MSFT) latest Windows 8 operating system.
Microsoft has decided to install Snapdragon S4 processor in its Windows 8-based devices as it will reduce battery consumption while using 3G/LTE networks. Moreover, this new processor will also support increased downloading speed and higher graphics, which will further improve the efficiency of the Window-based devices.
It is for the first time mobile chipsets will be deployed to run the new Windows 8 software that will allow quick start to the PC and easy access to the network.
Qualcomm is one of the leading chipset suppliers for the smartphones. Most of the Android-enabled smartphones use Qualcomm processor. Going forward, we believe that such massive demand for Qualcomm processor will lead to huge market traction for the company. In the fourth quarter of 2011, Qualcomm shipped approximately 127 million chipsets and is expected to ship around 146 – 154 million MSM chipsets during the first quarter of fiscal 2012.
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