TSC Ratings' Updates: Halliburton

We've downgraded real estate investment trust Vornado Realty Trust(VNO Quote) from buy to hold. This rating is based on the company's strong revenue growth, improved cash position solid return on assets, countered by a decline in earnings and lower return on equity. Although the company has undertaken strategic initiatives to strengthen its operations, high leverage and a possible failure to finance pending projects due to the downturn in the global economy may restrict future performance.

Vornado Realty Trust's New York revenue advanced 18.3% year over-year to $261.99 million, Washington, D.C., revenue spiked 11.1% to $153.38 million, and retail revenue jumped 7.0% to $129.99 million. Cash and cash equivalents during the latest second quarter more than doubled to $1.71 billion from $743.51 million a year ago, supported by a 3.4% increase in cash flow from operating activities to $231.94 million. Return on assets improved 104 basis points to 3.66% on a 2.9% reduction in asset base. As a result of lower net income during the quarter and a 2.2% rise in stockholders' equity, return on equity dropped 26 basis points to 8.15%. The company's debt-to-equity ratio improved to 1.92 from 2.02.

Recently, Vornado agreed to set up a 50/50 joint venture with Reliance Industries Limited of India under which each partner will commit around $250 million for the joint venture to acquire, develop and operate retail shopping centers across key cities in India. Vornado also sold its Tysons Dulles Plaza office building complex in Virginia for $152.80 million and recorded a net gain of $56.83 million

Other ratings changes include Daktronics(DAKT Quote), downgraded from buy to hold, and Xfone(XFN Quote), downgraded from hold to sell.

All ratings changes generated on Oct. 14 are listed below.

Ticker	Company	Current	Change	Previous
ABAX	Abaxis	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
AKO.A	Embotelladora Andina	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
AKPB	Alaska Pacific Bancshares	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
APSA	Alto Palermo	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
ARM	ArvinMeritor	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
ATU	Actuant	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
CCRN	Cross Country Healthcare	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
CGT	CAE	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
DAKT	Daktronics	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
DT	Deutsche Telekom	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
FSS	Federal Signal	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
GPX	GP Strategies	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
GR	Goodrich	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
HAL	Halliburton	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
HAST	Hastings Entertainment	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
HSC	Harsco	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
MRO	Marathon Oil	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
PMD	Psychemedic s	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
TESS	Tessco Technologies	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
TWIN	Twin Disc	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
USTR	United Stationers	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
VNO	Vornado Realty Trust	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
XFN	Xfone	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
Source: TheStreet.com Ratings

Each business day, TheStreet.com Ratings updates its ratings on the stocks it covers. The proprietary ratings model projects a stock's total return potential over a 12-month period, including both price appreciation and dividends. Buy, hold or sell ratings designate how the Ratings group expects these stocks to perform against a general benchmark of the equities market and interest rates.

While the ratings model is quantitative, it uses both subjective and objective elements. For instance, subjective elements include expected equities market returns, future interest rates, implied industry outlook and company earnings forecasts. Objective elements include volatility of past operating revenue, financial strength and company cash flows.

However, the rating does not incorporate all of the factors that can alter a stock's performance. For example, it doesn't always factor in recent corporate or industry events that could affect the stock price, nor does it include recent technology developments and competitive dynamics that may affect the company.

For those reasons, we believe a rating alone cannot tell the whole story, and that it should be part of an investor's overall research.