TSC Ratings' Updates: Panasonic

Shares are down 46.2% on the year, probably driven by the decline of similar magnitude in the overall market, as well as by lower earnings per share compared to the same quarter one year earlier. The fact that the stock has come down in price over the past year should not necessarily be interpreted as a negative; it could be one of the factors that may help make the stock attractive down the road. Right now, however, we believe that it is too soon to buy.

We've downgraded home products retailer Williams-Sonoma(WSM Quote) from hold to sell, driven by its feeble growth in its earnings per share, deteriorating net income, disappointing return on equity and generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself.

Williams-Sonoma experienced a steep decline in earnings per share of 140% in the most recent quarter in comparison with its performance from the same quarter a year ago. Earnings per share have declined over the last two years, and we anticipate that this should continue in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, the company reported lower earnings of $1.79 vs. $1.81 in the prior year. For the next year, the market is expecting a contraction of 87.7% in earnings to 22 cents. Net income has significantly decreased by 140.6% compared with the same quarter a year ago, underperforming the specialty retail industry and the S&P 500. Current return on equity is lower than its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a clear sign of weakness within the company. On the basis of ROE, Williams-Sonoma has underperformed the industry but outperformed the S&P 500.

Revenue fell by 16% since the same quarter a year ago, underperforming the industry average. Shares are down 71.7% on the year, which is worse than the decline in the S&P 500. The fact that the stock has come down in price over the past year should not necessarily be interpreted as a negative; it could be one of the factors that may help make the stock attractive down the road. Right now, however, we believe that it is too soon to buy.

Other ratings changes include Kenneth Cole Productions(KCP Quote) and Supreme Industries(STS Quote), both downgraded from hold to sell.

All ratings changes generated on Dec. 5 are listed below.

Ticker	Company	Current	Change	Previous
ADS	Alliance Data Systems	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
ARJ	Arch Chemicals	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
ATK	Alliant TechSystems	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
CFFC	Community Financial	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
COV	Covidien	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
CW	Curtiss-Wright	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
DDMX	Dynamex	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
FCBN	First Citizens Bancorp	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
FGXI	FGX International	HOLD	Upgrade	SELL
HBOS	Heritage Financial	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
HDNG	Hardinge	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
HEI.A	Heico	Heico	Downgrade	BUY
HITT	Hittite Microwave	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
KCP	Cole Kenneth	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
LKQX	LKQ	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
NFG	National Fuel Gas	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
NHP	Nationwide Health	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
PC	Panasonic	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
PNC	PNC Financial	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
PRCP	Perceptron	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
STS	Supreme Industries	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
SUMT	SumTotal Systems	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
WEL	Boots & Coots	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
WSM	Williams-Sonoma	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
Source: INSERT SOURCE

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.

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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.