The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Pandora, Honda Motor, Tata Motors, Daimler and Tesla Motors

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – March 24, 2014 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include the Pandora (P-Free Report), Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC-Free Report), Tata Motors Limited (TTM-Free Report), Daimler AG (DDAIF-Free Report) and Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA-Free Report).

Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.

Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:

Pandora Hikes Rate

Internet radio service provider Pandora (P-Free Report) recently announced that it would raise the fees for its ad-free service by $1.00 to almost $4.99 per month from May onward.

Reportedly, this move was initiated by the company in order to cover the continuously increasing cost of licensing tunes. The amount paid as royalties to artists has increased 53.0% over the last five years and is expected to go up by another 9.0% in 2015.

In such a scenario, Pandora found no other way of retrieving costs than to raise its fees. This announcement comes on the heels of a federal judge’s ruling, which stopped Pandora from lowering the current royalty rate of 1.85% to 1.70%, which it pays to songwriters to license their music.

Pandora is doing away with its $36.0 annual subscription. Instead, yearly subscribers will now move to a monthly $3.99 loyalty plan once their membership expires. This new plan would add up to an amount much higher than what existing members had been paying so far and thus prove to be costly for them.

The company, however, claimed that only 3.3 million users out of a total of 250 million users will get affected by the price hike. Moreover, Pandora will continue offering its highly individualized programmable music stations for free, with advertisements.

This hike in rates may adversely affect the subscription base of the company amidst stiff competition, which in turn may lead to reduction in growth and profitability of the company going forward.

Pandora enjoys a first mover’s advantage in the music streaming industry. We believe that the company already has a popular service, driven by its effective discovery engine and a well-established infrastructure.

Currently, Pandora has a Zacks Rank # 3 (Hold).

Honda U.S. Production Hits 20M

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC-Free Report) achieved two production milestones in the U.S. recently. The company completed the production of 20 million vehicles in the nation on Mar 20. The 20 milllionth vehicle was also the 10 millionth Honda Accord built in the U.S.

The milestone was achieved in Honda’s Marysville Auto Plant, which was incidentally the plant in which the automaker made the first U.S.-built Accord on Nov 1, 1982. It also holds the honor of being the first Japanese auto plant to begin manufacturing in the U.S.

Honda has three other plants in America in East Liberty, OH, Lincoln, AL and Greensburg, IN. It is building another one – the Performance Manufacturing Center – in Marysville, OH, which will be the sole global producer of the new Acura NSX from next year. Additionally, Honda produces engines in Lincoln, AL, and Anna, OH, and automatic transmissions in Russells Point, OH, and Tallapoosa, GA, to supply to its four auto plants.

All the four present auto plants in America contributed to the production of 20 million vehicles. These plants manufacture 11 car and truck models for Honda. Annual production of these plants in 2013 was 1,309,917 units, a record high and a 7.4% improvement over 2012. Additionally, the company manufactured 23.77 million automobile engines and 18.64 million transmissions in the U.S.

Currently, shares of Honda retain a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Some other automobile stocks worth considering are Tata Motors Limited (TTM-Free Report), Daimler AG (DDAIF-Free Report) and Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA-Free Report). Tata Motors and Daimler sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) while Tesla is a Zacks Rank #2 stock.

Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.

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