Other Barrons research reports

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CBOE Holdings • CBOE-Nasdaq
Hold • Price 24.03 on Sept. 6
by Sandler O'Neill
The Chicago Board Options Exchange announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the exchange's rule filing, on a pilot basis, to launch the trading of SPXpm.

SPXpm is the all-electronic option on the U.S. benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 Index, and is similar to the SPX option traded on the CBOE floor, except for the "p.m." settlement. SPXpm will trade on C2, the CBOE's all-electronic exchange.…The CBOE saw its highly profitable index volumes climb 53.7% in August (and 48.4% third-quarter-to-date) with the surge in market volatility.…The CBOE has stated that it will most likely launch SPXpm after contract expiration in the third week of September.…Depending on the uptake in volumes in 4Q11, there could be modest upside to our 38-cent EPS estimate (also potential modest upside from electronic access fees for those liquidity providers that want trading permits). Longer term, there could be over-the-counter opportunities related to the S&P 500 index. CBOE management believes the S&P 500 index option is the most dominant equity-derivative contract traded in the OTC market in the U.S.…CBOE's license to exclusively trade the S&P 500 Index options comes up for renewal in 2018. We're maintaining estimates, price target, and Hold rating [and our]…2011 and 2012 EPS estimates of $1.55 and $1.69, respectively, and our 25 price target, based on 15 times our 2012 estimate. Market cap: $2.2 billion.

Energizer Holdings • ENR-NYSE
Buy • Price 70.54 on Sept. 6
by Standpoint Research
We're upgrading Energizer Holdings from Hold to Buy...[We had] dropped it from Buy to Hold on Aug. 26, and decided to lock in a 1,500-basis-point gain versus the S&P and market overreaction (10% move) to Hurricane Irene—and what that would do to the top and bottom lines at ENR (battery sales). The shares have come down by $6 since our downgrade, and are trading where they were before the hurricane bounce; [they] are once again undervalued by 20%, looking out to 2012-13.…A six-dollar move on this low-beta name is, in our opinion, significant…we believe…that the ceiling and floor for this stock is $85/$65. Market cap: $4.9 billion.

FLIR Systems • FLIR-NYSE
Hold • Price 24.81 on Sept. 7
by Morgan Joseph TriArtisan
FLIR Systems [designs, manufactures and sells thermal-imaging infrared cameras to the military and other customers]. [In the week before Labor Day,] FLIR shares fell 2.1%. The company has announced new support contracts with the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy, each valued at about $10 million per year for up to five years. While the media have speculated that FLIR could be a potential acquirer of Elcan Optics, we think FLIR will take a pass, as it did when Axsys was sold. The reason FLIR did not pursue Axsys is because Axsys' specialized optics business (similar to Elcan's) operated under a different and less-profitable model than FLIR's off-the-shelf approach. Market cap: $4 billion.

Sourcefire • FIRE-Nasdaq
Buy • Price 26.51 on Sept. 7
by Lazard Capital Markets
We are at the crossroads of a major change in enterprise-network security, and we believe Sourcefire is well-positioned to capitalize on these trends and gain market share.…Our 29 target, based on our discounted-cash-flow analysis, implies a current estimated 2012 enterprise value/sales multiple of 3.9 times plus cash. Market cap: $793.5 million.

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