CHICAGO, Jul 22, 2008 (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: General Motors (NYSE: GM),
Amphenol Corp. (NYSE: APH), Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY), POSCO (NYSE:
PKX) and Kookmin Bank (NYSE: KB).

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free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=4579

Here are highlights from Monday's Analyst Blog:

Concerns Mounting for GM

Weak North American sales, falling production volumes and rising
raw material costs are increasing our concerns for General Motors
(NYSE: GM). Significant incentives designed to stimulate sales and
keep inventories lean are eating into margins. Furthermore, GM sales
are hampered by poor resale values. The company is at a disadvantage
compared to its competitors owing to huge pension and health care
costs.

GM is undertaking a broad global assessment of its assets for
monetization, which is expected to generate approximately $2 billion
to $4 billion of additional liquidity. The company has suspended
dividends on common stock. These compel us to rate the shares a Sell
with a six-month target price of $10.00.

APH Stays a Hold

Amphenol Corp. (NYSE: APH) reported record revenues of $847
million in Q2:FY08, exceeding the Street's consensus of $816 million,
on the back of strong growth in the interconnect segment. Given the
recent run-up in the stock, we maintain our Hold rating with a target
price of $49.

The company's top-line growth is benefiting from improved
end-market demand, new product rollouts, and market share gains. We
remain optimistic about Amphenol's long-term growth prospects in the
mobile devices business. The company continues to expand the use of
its products into fast-growing sub-markets such as PDAs, laptops, and
desktop computers.

How Safe Is It Anyway?

Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY) reported disappointing sales that were
$400 million below consensus, but just $47 million below our forecast.
The difficult macro environment has consumers trading down to cheaper
alternatives, and away from the company's Lifestyle stores. Even so,
Safeway's second-quarter EPS were a penny ahead of consensus and a
penny below our estimate. The upside was due to cost-cutting efforts
and lower interest expense.

We continue to believe Safeway's remodeling efforts, Lifestyle
stores, and Blackhawk gift card business will lead to solid long-term
growth. Still, we think these positives are offset by near-term
headwinds such as the difficult macro conditions and consumers trading
down. We maintain our Hold rating. Our target price is $28, which
roughly 11x our 2009 earnings estimate.

Costs Weighing on POSCO

POSCO (NYSE: PKX) is well-positioned to achieve long-term growth
as the company is rapidly shifting production to higher-margin
products and undertaking investments to secure low-cost raw material
supply. Moreover, the company's new FINEX technology will provide
meaningful cost-savings over the long term.

However, the company's margins may suffer from high energy and raw
material costs like iron ore and coking coal. Moreover, concerns of an
economic slowdown cast a shadow on the future steel price outlook. We
reiterate our Hold recommendation on shares of POSCO.

Kookmin Now a Sell

We are reducing our rating on Kookmin Bank (NYSE: KB) to Sell from
Hold given our expectations for slower growth in earnings. In
addition, we are lowering our target price to $50. KB is expected to
report second earnings on July 28.

We are cutting our EPADS estimates to $8.18 from $8.30 for 2008
and to $8.63 from $8.75 for 2009, solely due to appreciation of the US
dollar against the South Korean won. We expect pressure on the net
interest margin to offset loan growth, with only lackluster earnings
growth over the near term.

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