Hickey and Walters (Bespoke) submit: Below we show the 20 stocks in the Russell 3,000 stocks index that have the largest amount of analyst coverage, along with the the stocks that have the highest percentage of buy ratings. We limited our list of highest % of buys to those stocks that have at least 10 analysts covering them.

As shown, technology stocks have the largest amount of analyst coverage, with Texas Instruments (TXN) topping them all at 44. These stocks are up an average of 7.73% year to date compared to the S&P 500's YTD return of 7.77%. The 20 stocks with the highest percentage of buys are up an average of 19.53% year to date. There are 3 stocks that have at least 10 analysts covering them with all buy ratings -- United Therapeutics Corp. (UTHR), Williams Scotsman International (WLSC) and Superior Energy Services (SPN).

• 35% of Mohawk's business comes from new residential construction, 40% from carpet replacement and 25% from commerical demand.
• Mohawk's earnings are at risk because housing starts were off 35% year over year and subprime mortgage lenders have run into trouble. "We have called carpet dealers all over the country and, except for a couple of pockets, business is terrible. Carpet dealers have told us their business is very, very bad."
• Mohawk's carpet business sales have been weak. Segment unit sales declined in every quarter of 2006 despite two double digit price increases over the last 14 months, and carpet sales were declined in Q4 2006.
• Analysts forecast Mohawk's 2007 EPS at about $6.46, whereas EPS in fact will be closer to $5.94, down from $6.57 EPS in 2006.
• Mohawk will earn about $6 in 2008 versus consensus of $7.

Robert's predictions are consistent with a recent article in Bloomberg which argued that January's weak housing starts will hit the wider economy at the end of 2007 (summary here). But they contradict a bullish article about Mohawk by Tom Sullivan in the February 5th edition of Barron's (summary here).