Premarket Roundup: Jackson Hewitt, Guess

Among the premarket stories for Thursday, August 27, from AP Financial News:

NEW YORK (AP) — An Oppenheimer analyst downgraded tax return preparer Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. on Thursday, citing a big jump in the stock price this summer and upcoming fiscal first-quarter results that may disappoint investors.

NEW YORK (AP) — Guess Inc. is playing its third-quarter earnings forecast conservatively and is likely to beat estimates, an analyst said Thursday as he raised the clothing company's price target.

SEATTLE (AP) — Computer maker Dell Inc. is expected to say Thursday that earnings fell nearly 28 percent in the most recent quarter as the recent trends that have plagued the PC industry continued.

NEW YORK (AP) — A Natixis Bleichroeder analyst downgraded shares of Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp. Thursday, as the medical device maker's stock was trading near his target price.

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Sigma Designs Inc. fell ahead of Thursday's market open after the chip designer posted a 50 percent decline in fiscal second-quarter profit and offered a disappointing outlook.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Stabilizing demand and reduced costs should help boost earnings for Whirlpool Corp., an analyst said Thursday as she upgraded the appliance manufacturer's stock and raised her 2010 earnings estimate for the company. Shares rose in premarket trading.