CHICAGO, Feb. 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- [ Zacks Equity Research ] highlights Discover Financial Group (NYSE: [ DFS ]) as the Bull of the Day and Amazon.com (Nasdaq: [ AMZN ]) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on AutoZone (NYSE: [ AZO ]),Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE: [ HOV ]) and Priceline.com (Nasdaq: [ PCLN ]).

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Full analysis of all these stocks is available at [ http://at.zacks.com/?id=2678 ].

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

[ Bull of the Day ]:

We are upgrading our recommendation on Discover Financial Group (NYSE: [ DFS ]) to Outperform based on its exceptional card sales volume, strong balance sheet and rapidly expanding acceptances. Steady inorganic growth is also a long-term positive.

The company's fourth quarter earnings modestly beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate on lower loan loss provisions, higher transaction and credit card sales volumes, along with record-low delinquency and charge-off rates. Higher consumer spending and merchant acceptance contributed to the substantial expansion of income across segments.

While acquisitions enhanced Discover's product portfolio, a dividend increase and share buyback also injected optimism. The company's extensive network, sound capital position and cost-containment initiatives will help accentuate growth over the long term.

[ Bear of the Day ]:

Amazon.com (Nasdaq: [ AMZN ]) is one of the largest online retailers in the world and despite its high market share continues to grow strongly. However, the company's decision to significantly increase the number of fulfillment centers to cater to demand across different markets will likely continue to negatively impact its earnings.

Stiff competition and the corresponding negative impact on prices are also expected to continue. We expect that current investments will drive the next growth phase, but it is not clear how long this investment phase will continue, which makes us incrementally cautious.

We are therefore downgrading the shares from Neutral to Underperform. Amazon.com's current trailing 12-month earnings multiple is 136.2X, compared to the 38.0X average for the peer group and 14.3X for the S&P 500. Our target price of $166 represents 126.7X our 2011 earnings estimate.

Latest Posts on the Zacks [ Analyst Blog ]:

Data to Keep 13,000 Tough to Maintain

Soft Durable Goods data will likely give investors no encouragement to cross the major psychological barrier that they have been struggling with in recent days. We also see data about home prices and consumer confidence on tap for release a little later, but the overall trading action today will likely be not much different from the tentativeness that we have been seeing lately.

With respect to Europe, all eyes are on the European Central Bank's (ECB) second bank liquidity operation, scheduled for tomorrow. The German parliament passed the Greek bailout on Monday and we have a fairly successful government bond auction from Italy this morning, rounding out a fairly benign Euro-zone backdrop for today's market action.

In today's major domestic economic releases, the January Durable Goods Orders report came in significantly weaker than expected, though the prior month's numbers were modestly revised higher. 'Headline' Durable Goods Orders dropped a greater-than-expected 4% in January, compared to the strong gains in the December reading when orders increased 3.2%.

The non-defense capital goods orders, which strips out defense and aircraft orders given their inherent 'lumpiness' on a month-to-month basis, was down 3.4% in January, after December's 3.8% gain. The non-defense capital goods series is an excellent proxy for capital expenditure trends in the economy, but I wouldn't read too much into this month's 'softish' reading, due to seasonal factors. This series has a well documented tendency to drop or behave unusually in the first month of the quarter.

On the European front, the market is bracing for Wednesday's second round of cheap long-term funding program by the ECB. The central bank's first long-term refinancing operation (LTRO) for €489 billion back in December was instrumental in turning around the sentiment on the Euro-zone situation. Many in the market dubbed the LTRO program as a back-door quantitative easing program along the lines of the Fed's bond purchase program.

There has been a consistent easing of pressure in the government bond markets of Italy and Spain ever since the December operation. The expectation is that Wednesday's second round of LTRO, expected to be roughly of the same size as the first round, will further consolidate those gains.

On the earnings front, we have better-than-expected results from AutoZone (NYSE: [ AZO ]) and Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE: [ HOV ]), Priceline.com (Nasdaq: [ PCLN ]) came out with better-than-expected results after the close on Monday and guided higher for the first quarter.

Get the full analysis of all these stocks by going to [ http://at.zacks.com/?id=2649 ].

About the Bull and Bear of the Day

Every day, the analysts at Zacks Equity Research select two stocks that are likely to outperform (Bull) or underperform (Bear) the markets over the next 3-6 months.

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Discover Financial Group, Amazon.com, AutoZone, Hovnanian Enterprises and Priceline.com

Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day Highlights: Discover Financial Group, Amazon.com, AutoZone, Hovnanian Enterprises and Priceline.com