CHICAGO -- 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: Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC), Reuters (Nasdaq: RTRSY) and International Rectifier (NYSE: IRF).

See the latest posts to the Analyst Blog by visiting: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2673

Here are highlights from Thursday's Analyst Blog:

Reuters Merger Looks Like Win-Win

The merger with Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC) serves to value Reuters (Nasdaq: RTRSY) at a premium to the current market price, which is good news for the shareholders. This merger, while unexpected, is good for both companies as the combined data sources should create added value to its customer bases and smooth over its revenue streams.

Tom Glocer, the CEO of the new combined group, should be able to cut costs while working towards a fast integration of the two companies' products and offerings. We continue to rate the stock a Hold with possible upsides from the proposed merger, and have a $77.25 price target.

The terms of the merger with Thomson serve to value the company at a premium to the current market price, which is good news for the shareholders. Much of this premium, however, is due to the uncertainty in obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals. The company reported in-line revenue growth in the first quarter of 2007 on a constant-currency basis although the strong Pound caused revenues to decline 1.1% on an actual basis.

Short-Term, IRF Faces Headwinds

International Rectifier (NYSE: IRF) is an OEM [original equipment manufacturer] of power semiconductors that control, condition or convert electrical power in a wide range of end-user applications. March results have been held up by an accounting irregularity investigation. The company's target gross margin of 50% appears to be several quarters away and tied to the non-focus products sale, which happened in April.

Further, the company has several patents expiring in 2008, which will result in a loss of $40 million in annual revenue. Consequently, we continue to rate shares of IRF a Hold.

The strategic decision to sacrifice revenue growth for margin expansion in the near-term may hurt the valuation multiples assigned to the company in the marketplace. Although we believe that in the long-term, this strategy will produce a company with higher quality earnings and a more consistent earnings stream, the near-term transition process will probably not provide the opportunity for significant share appreciation.