Mark Vickery

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Zacks Equity Research highlights St. Jude Medical (NYSE: STJ) as the Bull of the Day and AAR Corporation (NYSE: AIR) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Sangamo Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: SGMO), State Auto Financial Corporation (Nasdaq: STFC) and Robert Half International (NYSE: RHI).

Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http:// at.zacks.com/?id=2676.

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day: St. Jude Medical (NYSE: STJ)

St. Jude Medical is a leading medical device manufacturer producing consistent double-digit revenue and earnings growth over the past decade. Revenue growth is fueled by numerous product introductions, advancing in technological sophistication, and capturing higher margins.

We look for global demographic trends -- aging populations in developed nations and the rapid urbanization of developing countries -- to fuel long-term growth in this stock. These trends both give rise to growing demand for cardiovascular health care. STJ should remain somewhat insulated from the recent economic fallout.

We move our rating to Buy. Our estimates are being trimmed slightly ahead of the quarter due to the current economic upheavals, but at current prices, we still find the stock to be very attractive. This is supported by the company's consistent financial performance and relatively inelastic demand for their products. Management tends to guide investors with caution, often exceeding their own guidance.

Bear of the Day: AAR Corporation (NYSE: AIR)

AAR Corp. provides goods & services to commercial airlines and the defense establishment. On the commercial side, demand for he Wood Dale, Illinois-based company's product offerings moves with the size of the fleet -- which is declining -- while requirements for its services may grow as the airlines outsource more maintenance, repair and overhaul work.

For defense, AIR designs and manufactures mobility products, aircraft internal cargo loading/unloading systems and composite structures. AIR has leveraged its balance sheet to support its commercial aircraft leasing activities, which, at this point, is not considered a positive.

Consequently, Zacks opinion has been lowered to Sell and our target price has been adjusted to reflect the current market environment. The average P/E for the Aerospace/Defense suppliers group is 7.23.

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Sangamo Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: SGMO)

Sangamo Biosciences is a biopharmaceutical company engaging in designing and developing engineered transcription factors for gene regulation.