TSC Ratings' Updates: Kohl's

ADCT's debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63 is somewhat low overall, but it is high when compared with the industry average, implying that the management of the debt levels should be evaluated further. Even though the debt-to-equity ratio shows mixed results, the company's quick ratio of 3.51 is very high and demonstrates very strong liquidity.

ADCT had been rated a hold since Jan. 15, 2008.

MDS(MDZ Quote) has been downgraded from hold to sell. MDS, a life sciences company, provides products and services for the development of drugs, and the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. It operates in three segments: pharmaceutical research services, isotopes and molecular imaging, and analytical instruments. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself, feeble growth in its earnings per share, deteriorating net income and poor profit margins.

Despite any intermediate fluctuations, we have only bad news to report on this stock's performance over the last year: It has tumbled by 29.08%, worse than the S&P 500's performance. Consistent with the plunge in the stock price, the company's earnings per share are down 233.33% compared to the year-earlier quarter. Despite the heavy decline in its share price, this stock is still more expensive (when compared with its current earnings) than most other companies in its industry.

MDZ has experienced a steep decline in earnings per share in the most-recent quarter in comparison with its performance from the same quarter a year ago. The company has suffered a declining pattern in earnings per share over the past two years. During the past fiscal year, MDZ swung to a loss, reporting -22 cents vs. 23 cents in the prior year.

The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed when compared with that of the S&P 500 and the life sciences tools & services industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 242.8% when compared with the same quarter one year ago, falling from $7.00 million to -$10.00 million.

The gross profit margin for MDZ is currently lower than what is desirable, coming in at 32.70%. It has decreased from the same quarter the previous year. Along with this, the net profit margin of -3.10% is significantly below that of the industry average.

The return on equity has improved slightly when compared to the same quarter one year prior. This can be construed as a modest strength in the organization. Compared with other companies in the life sciences tools & services industry and the overall market, MDZ's return on equity significantly trails that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.

MDZ had been rated a hold since Jan. 25, 2007.

Additional ratings changes from Sept. 8 are listed below.

Ticker	Company Name	Change	New Rating	Former Rating
ADCT	ADC Telecommunications Inc.	Downgrade	Sell	Hold
FFKT	Farmers Capital Bank	Upgrade	Buy	Hold
KSS	Kohl's Corp.	Upgrade	Buy	Hold
MDZ	MDS Inc.	Downgrade	Sell	Hold
SGC	Superior Uniform Group Inc.	Upgrade	Buy	Hold
TO	Tech/Ops Sevcon Inc.	Downgrade	Hold	Buy
WBMD	WebMD Health Corp	Upgrade	Hold	Sell