Stocks to Open Lower Ahead of New Home Sales. Stocks to Watch: BA, BP, CHS, GENZ, ISRG, LULU, KMB, MWV, and SOHU

Published on Monday, 26 July 2010 08:46 Written by Christopher Lynn

New York, July 26^th (TradersHuddle.com) – Stock futures pointed to a weak opening, after last week sharp gains on earnings strength. Investors awaited a report that may show new-home sales may continue close to a record low.

European shares were flat to slightly lower Monday as investors digested the impact of Friday's European Union bank stress-test results.

On the economic front, the government will release the June report on new home sales at 10 am.

Today’s stocks to watch: Boeing (NYSE:BA), BP (NYSE:BP), Chico's FAS (NYSE:CHS), Genzyme (NASDAQ:GENZ), Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG), Lululemon athletica (NASDAQ:LULU), Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB), MeadWestvaco (NYSE:MWV), and Sohu.com (NASDAQ:SOHU).

Boeing (NYSE:BA), the 2^nd largest commercial aircraft maker in the world, will be in focus, as investors get positioned ahead of the release of its earnings report tomorrow. The analysts expect on average for the company to report a profit of $1.01 per share on revenue of $16.12 billion.

BP (NYSE:BP), the troubled energy company, climbed more than 2% in pre-market trading after the company said that its taking steps to reconnect with well and resume relief well drilling operations, after Tropical Storm Bonnie passed. Mounting speculation that its Chief Executive, Tony Hayward, will step down, when the company releases its earnings report on July 27^th. Numerous reports said that the BP will replace Tony Hayward with Bob Dudley, the American that was put in charge of the oil spill containment and clean up efforts. The management move will help BP to move past the oil spill incident and begin restructuring the company and rebuild the relationship with the U.S. government.

Genzyme (NASDAQ:GENZ), the Cambridge based biotechnology company, gained closed to 4%, following Friday’s jump of more than 15%. Genzyme surged on Friday on speculation that Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE:SNY), the French drug giant, was looking to acquire the company. After the close, the Wall Street Journal reported that Sanofi had approached Genzyme and that talks were at very early stages. Over the weekend more articles discussed Genzyme’s takeover potential, with new speculation that also GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK), the U.K. based pharmaceutical and health related consumer products maker, approached the biotechnology company looking to acquire it.

Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG), the maker of da Vinci surgical systems, said it would repurchase up to an additional $150 million. The board of the company authorized the repurchase program of outstanding common stock, pushing the authorized amount of share repurchases to $300 million, which includes $150 million remaining under the previous $300 million authorized in March 2009.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB), the maker of Huggies diapers and Kleenex tissue would likely see upside bias after analysts removed the stock from Goldman Sachs’ Conviction Sell List. On the flip side, Chico's FAS (NYSE:CHS), the private label casual clothing and related accessories for women retailer, would likely see downward pressure after analysts added the stock to the Conviction Sell List at Goldman. Chico’s fell close to 4% in pre-market trading.

Lululemon athletica (NASDAQ:LULU), the designer and retailer of athletic apparel, was initiated with a Hold at Weeden. The firm said they believe Lululemon has one of the best growth profiles in retail today but also one of the most expensive valuations. Shares may have a bearish bias in today’s trading session.

MeadWestvaco (NYSE:MWV), the global packaging company, was initiated with Outperform at RBC Capital and a target of  $32, ahead of its scheduled earnings release on July 28^th. Analysts expect on average for the company to report a profit of $0.33 per share on revenue of $1.57 billion.

Sohu.com (NASDAQ:SOHU), the Chinese search engine and Internet portal, reported better than expected earnings on revenues that were higher than analysts’ estimates, but the company guided third quarter revenues that were in-line. Sohu reported a profit of $0.82 per share, $0.02 better than consensus; revenues climbed 14.9% year over year to $146.1 million. The company issued guidance for third quarter; it sees non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.00-1.05, and revenues of $153-158 million. Shares of Sohu climbed 1.55% in pre-market trading.