Monthly Archives: April 2007

Full Research Summary (APR 30, 2007)

ACGL cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
ADO raised to Buy at UBS.
AGP cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
AGU cut to Hold at Citigroup.
AHO raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
AYE raised to Outperform at Wachovia.
BGFV started as Outperform at CIBC.
BMY raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
CAL raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
CIEN raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
CMCSA reitr Outperform but target and estimates raised at Credit Suisse.
CNC cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
CPT raised to Mkt Perform at Wachovia.
CQP started as Hold at Citigroup.
ED cut to Hold at Jefferies.
EDE cut to Hold at Jefferies.
EEP cut to Mkt Perform at Wachovia.
EEQ cut to Mkt Perform at Wachovia.
FLIR cut to Peerp Perform at Bear Stearns.
HTCH raised to Hold at WRHambrecht.
INSU raised to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
MDCO cut to Underperform at RBC.
MOH cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
MTB raised to Neutral at B of A.
NST cut to Hold at Jefferies.
OCR cut to Mkt weight at Thomas Weisel.
POT cut to Hold at Citigroup.
RFMD raised to Outperform at CIBC.
SALM cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
TEF raised to Overweight at HSBC.
TTES started as Outperform at Bear Stearns.
WCG cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
WFR cut to Sector Perform at RBC; cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Jon C. Ogg
April 30, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: April 30, 2007 – 6:53 am in Analyst Calls

Pre-Market Stock News (APR 30, 2007)

(ARLP) Alliance Resource $1.03 EPS vs $0.93e.
(ASTM) Aastrom Biosciences initiates adult stem cell clinical trial for Peripheral Arterial Disease.
(BCE) BCE says it will finish its strategic review for a targeted Q3 date.
(BEAV) BE Aerospace $0.40 EPS vs $0.32e.
(CGEN) Compugen names new CFO.
(D) Dominion agreed to sell its offshore natural gas and oil exploration & production to ENI Petroleum for roughly $4.76 Billion.
(DVA) DaVita $0.72 EPS vs $0.72e.
(HERO) Hercules $1.03 EPS vs $0.85e.
(HUM) Humana $0.42 EPS vs $0.40e.
(IOTN) Ionatron named as largest speculative play by Cramer.
(ISE) International Securities Exchange trading up 30+% at more than $60.00 after reports that Deutsche Boerse is considering a $2.6 Billion bid for the exchange at $68.00 per share.
(ISV) Insite Vision announces FDA approval for AzaSite; which triggers $19 million milestone payment.
(MDH) MHI Hospitality entered into a real estate joint venture with private equity giant Carlyle Group.
(MER) Merrill Lynch announced a $6 Billion share buyback plan.
(NOVN) Noven Pharma $0.20 EPS vs $0.18e.
(NPTH) Enpath Medical is being acquired by Wilson Greatbatch for $14.38.
(NTE) Nam Tai Electronics $0.19 EPS vs $0.22e.
(PENN) Penn National Gaming was named as the final takeover candidate for private equity by Jim Cramer.
(RSH) RadioShack $0.29 EPS vs $0.14e.
(SGMO) Sangamo BioSci announced research and license agreement with Genentech for ZFP technology for protein pharmaceutical production.
(SYY) Sysco Foods $0.35 EPS vs $0.36e.
(YHOO) Yahoo! is acquiring an online ad exchange firm called Right Media for $680 million; YHOO already held 20% stake.
(VZ) $0.54 EPS vs $0.53e (although company says operating number $0.56); Revenues $22.58 Billion vs $22.5B(e).
(ZBRA) Zebra Tech $0.39 EPS vs $0.36e.

Jon C. Ogg
April 30, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: April 30, 2007 – 6:41 am in Pre-Market Activity

Earlybird Analyst Calls (APR 30, 2007)

ADO raised to Buy at UBS.
AGP cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
AHO raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
AYE raised to Outperform at Wachovia.
BMY raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
CAL raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
CMCSA reitr Outperform but target and estimates raised at Credit Suisse.
CNC cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
ED cut to Hold at Jefferies.
EDE cut to Hold at Jefferies.
MOH cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
NST cut to Hold at Jefferies.
RFMD raised to Outperform at CIBC.
WCG cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
WFR cut to Sector Perform at RBC; cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Jon C. Ogg
April 30, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: April 30, 2007 – 6:16 am in Analyst Calls

Siemens, Apple, And Hewlett-Packard: Are Scandals Good For Shareholders?

The stock charts for Siemens (SI), Apple (AAPL), and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) look outstanding over the last year. All have outperformed the S&P, by a lot.

The companies share one thing in common. Scandals. Apple has options problems that caused its former CFO who was also a board member to leave the company. It is still not clear if CEO Steve Jobs is off the hook.

At Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), the former chairman was spying on board members. She left. So did several others. The US attorney go involved. There were news reports that the new CEO was aware of some of the spying. The stock shot up.

Over at Siemens (SI), the company has lost its chairman, and the CEO is leaving in three months. In Siemen’s case, it appears that executives and consultants for the company were handing out bribes. The situation is being investigated on both sides of the Atlantic.

The lesson appears to be simple. All Wall St. wants to do is make money. The ethics of the companies are not terribly important. If a few rules get broken along the way, so what. The stock is moving up.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.

Posted on: April 30, 2007 – 5:37 am in Research

Europe Markets 4/30/2007

Shares in Europe were higher at 6.20 AM.

The FTSE rose .8% to 6,472. Barclays (BCS) was up .8% to 731. BP (BP) was 1.8% to 568. BT (BT) was up 1.3% to 318.5. Reuters (RTRSY) was up .2% to 477. Vodafone (VOD) was up 1% to 144.3.

The DAXX rose .6% to 7,421. DaimlerChrysler (DCX) rose .4% to 59.86. DB (DB) rose .3% to 113.08. DT (DT) rose 1.3% to 13.53. Siemens (SI) rose a fraction to 90.01.

The CAC 40 rose .5% to 5,959. Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) fell .2% to 9.7. AXA (AXA) rose .4% to 33.69. France Telecom (FTE) rose .4% to 21.54. ST Micro (STM) was flat at 14.39.

Data from Reuters.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: April 30, 2007 – 5:28 am in International Markets

Trading Stocks: Fire The Humans

Reuters (RTRSY) is beginning to market a new piece of software tha scans the news. It can tell the difference between the good news and bad news about a public company. The software program will then buy or sell shares based on its analysis of the content.

According to The Wall Street Journal: "Based on a list of 20,000 words and phrases, the new program scores news articles based on how often words such as "excellent" and "disappointing" appear."

The alledged advantage of the new software is that it is fast. It can beat most humans in a race to sift through news and make "buy" or "sell" decisions according to the data.

The price point for the product starts just above $250,000, less than an investment bank would pay an experienced trader. Consider the savings.

As they say in the science fiction movies:"Take me to you leader".

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: April 30, 2007 – 4:55 am in Technology Companies

Media Digest 4/30/2007 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Barron’s

According to Reuters, Porsche made a below-market offer for control of VW. The smaller company believes that the offer will be rejected, but is required by law becase Porsche own over 30% of VW.

Reuters writes that Airbus has begun job cuts, and will eliminate 4,100 jobs in France.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Yahoo! (YHOO) plans to buy the 80% of Right Media that it does not already own for $680 million. The deal gets Yahoo into the online ad exchange market.

The Wall Street Journal also reports that large company stocks, which have lagged the market, are doing better due to strong earnings.

The WSJ also reports that shares in European chip-makers may rise. Companies like ST Microelectronics (STM) have forecast that chip demand will rise in the second half of the year.

The Wall Street Journal laso writes that Reuters (RTRSY) will begin to market a ?computer program that will scan news articles, measure whether companies are getting positive or negative news coverage and trigger stock trades based on the information."

The New York Times reports that ads for Pfizer’s (PFE) Viagra are getting more racy as the drug loses market share.

FT reports that management at Citigroup (C) is concerned that a large activist shareholder might try to get the bank to break itself into pieces.

Barron’s survey of large investors indicates that most think it will take the Dow much longer to get from 13,000 to 14,000 than it did to climb from 12,000 to 13,000.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: April 30, 2007 – 3:34 am in Press Digest

Asia Markets 4/30/2007

Shares in Asia were mixed with Shanghai up sharply.

The Nikkei was closed for Golden Week.

The Hang Seng fell 1.1% to 20,307. China Life (LFC) was down 1.6% to 24.5. China Mobile (CHL) was down 1.5% to 71.15. HSBC (HBC) was down .1% to 144.4. PCCW (PCW) was off .4% to 4.85.

The Shanghai Composite rose 2.2% to 3,841.

Data from Reuters.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: April 30, 2007 – 3:06 am in International Markets

Chrysler: Magna The Wrong Buyer

Word around Wall St. is that Canadian car parts company Magna International (MGA) is the leader among companies that want to buy Chrysler from DaimlerChrysler (DCX). Magna already does parts and assembly work for Daimler, and also has large relationships with other manufacturers like BWM.

Magna shareholders should encourage management to stay away from the aquisition. The company’s own financials are a good indication that buying further into the North American market is a poor idea. Magna’s revenue last year was $24.2 billion. North American grew the most slowly of its geographic units, up only 2% in revenue over the year before. Magna’s earnings before taxes for 2006 were down 19% to $778. North America was the drag that hurt profits.

At $80, Magna trades near a 52-week high. If its buys a money losing operation like Chrysler, it will have to manage a company with more revenue that it has. It is hard to imagine that this will not compromise the ability for the executive team to focus on its own core busines.

It is difficult to see what Magna brings to the situation. Daimler certainly knows as much as Magna about running a car company. The unions are not likely to give Magna any concession beyond what they would give Daimler.

In a Chrysler deal, the Magna shareholders risk the company’s stock price recovery to take on a troubled car company that operates primarily in a troubled market.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: April 30, 2007 – 2:55 am in Mergers and Buy Outs

Apple, Microsoft, Sony, And NetFlix: The Myth Of Convergence

The New York Times rans a breathless article about Silicon Vally start-up Vudu. The company makes an internet-ready set-top box that can deliver films from the company’s 5,000 movie archive. The strength of the technology is that the films can be played immediately. Most current systems require a download time before content plays.

Convergence has been the Holy Grail of content and technology companies for a decade. The dawn of broadband helped convince PC and TV companies that the two platforms could be married. Intel (INTC) and Microsoft (MSFT) both built components for PCs that could be used for video viewing. The new Xbox and Sony (SNE) Playstation3 both have the ability to connect to the internet and play DVDs on the TV screen. Tivo’s (TIVO) primary product allows shows to be recorded and played instantly. Amazon (AMZN) has launched the UnBox. And small private companies like SlingBox also have products that serve part of the covergence market.

The trouble with convergence is that it was dead before most of these devices were launched. A digital cable TV will give consumers the opportunity to play thousand of movies. Fast-forward. Rewind. The works. The telephone companies will offer the same thing with fiber-to-the-home.

Inventors want Wall St. to think that DVDs have become too inconvenient for the video crowd. But, they can be picked up in food stores, gas stations, Wal-Marts, and plenty of other locations. Or, NetFlix (NFLX) or BlockBuster (BBI) will put them in the mail.

Many homes already have a set-top box, a DVD player, and perhaps a VHS or Tivo attached to the television. Most consumers cannot work the three remote controls that they have now.

The UnBox, that Xbox movie functions, and the Vudu are competing for a market the TV viewer does not need. He already has too many options.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.

Posted on: April 29, 2007 – 4:21 pm in Consumer Electronics

Starbucks reports Thursday but can they maintain the momentum?

Starbucks (SBUX ) reports earnings this Thursday, May 3rd after the market close. Get ready to read about 5,000 articles this week about "how will Starbucks report? " and if the company doesn’t report something impressive, you can bet we’ll see a drop in the share price.
The guys from 247WallSt. have been touring the country’s Starbucks and providing some insight about what they are seeing at just a few of the thousands of coffee houses they own.  Now that Starbucks has grown to become one of the largest corporations on the planet, how can you bank on their share price to continue to increase?
We’ve seen this happen before, once a company is so huge (i.e. Wal-Mart (WMT)) it starts to trade flat because, what else could they possibly do next?   I live in Seattle, the birthplace of Starbucks, and believe me, you can throw a rock from one Starbucks to the next, they are everywhere.  Todd Sullivan has told us over and over again that McDonalds (MCD) and everyone else is and has been taking away Starbucks’s market share one Latte at a time. For Starbucks’ shares to keep climbing, they are going to need an impressive guidance this Thursday.  So what I really care about on Thursday is how is their international operations doing and how fast can they turn the East’s tea drinkers, into double-tall, no-foam, 4 Splenda, vanilla mocha lovers? 
Starbucks is planning to have its first stores in Russia and India before 2008, putting the company in 41 countries. Two weeks ago SBUX announced it will open its first store in Bucharest, Romania – one of 2,400 locations planned for this fiscal year, a pace of seven new stores each day.  That’s great, but if people world-wide don’t make the "same store sales" numbers increase, where does that leave Starbuck’s shareholders?
They have nearly 3000 coffeehouses in 37 countries and last year their international division brought home profits of $108 million.  That number has got to increase steady going forward under the increased competition otherwise shares of SBUX will just stay put.
Starbucks is one of those stocks that everyone seems to own, even my Mom owns shares, who’s Mom doesn’t own shares?  That’s great if every other American has shares of SBUX in their 401(k)’s, the company isn’t going anywhere, but if the growth doesn’t impress Wall Street, what’s the point of owning them?
Frank Lara Jr.
Frank Lara Jr. can be reached at feedback@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.
Posted on: April 29, 2007 – 3:54 pm in Food

If everyone loves RadioShack (RSH), why the 2008 Puts?

Julian Day is a hero, he brought RadioShack (RSH) back from the dead and received a nice little compensation package valued at $19 million for 2006 after coming on board last summer.

RadioShack’s stock has gone up 84% since last June and with shares currently trading near the 52-week high at around $27, it would appear Julian and Co. could do no wrong. RadioShack reports earnings Monday, April 30th, so its game time.

Jim Cramer loves Julian, back in March he took the No. 2 spot as Cramer’s most favorite CEO when he picked his TOP 9 CEO’s. Cramer went on to say:
"RadioShack is run by a really fabulous guy [Julian Day] , and he’s running it for profit,". He said when shares were about $27 in late March that the stock could keep going up and he would buy it "hand over fist" if it came down a little. Cramer then said: "This is a company that was so poorly run it’s scary,…they’ve got management with a brain now." MJ at Baseball - Yikes

Cramer’s No. 1 CEO pick was Sears Holding Corp’s (SHLD) CEO Eddie Lampert. It’s no secret Eddie and Julian go way back with the two of them returning an ailing Kmart to profitability and the rest is history. These are the two most coveted CEO’s on Wall Street right now, so to assume they could miss is like betting against Michael Jordan at the free-throw line. But hey, even the pro’s miss. Or better yet, try to start a new career like switching to baseball, wasn’t that painful to watch?

So with Julian at the helm, everyone is expecting another stellar quarter. However there are quite a few fans of Julian out there that think his luck is going to run out by January 2008.

RSH PUTS

Just take a look at the Calls and Options currently out there on RSH for the rest of 2007. For the most part, there isn’t a ton of activity, but come Puts for 2008 it’s overwhelmingly obvious that there are plenty of doubters of RadioShack’s staying power.

When’s the last time you visited a RadioShack? It feels like a time warp to 1987. The Onion did a pretty funny take on Julian and RadioShack suggesting Julian can’t figure out how they are still in business. Granted that is satire, but after reviewing the bets against him, maybe they’re onto something?

Frank Lara Jr.
April 27, 2007

Frank Lara Jr. can be reached at feedback@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: April 29, 2007 – 3:52 pm in Retail

Siruis: Mel Karmazin’s $31 Million Pay Day

Wall St. can whine about something else going on at Sirius (SIRI). The stock is down. The merger with XM (XMSR) is not progressing smoothly. Howard Stern makes too much money.

Mel Karmazin, the Sirius CEO, made $31 million last year. Most of that was restricted stock and options. The cash portion was $4.25 million.The National Association of Broadcasters, which are trying to block the merger, called the pay "outlandish", according to The New York Post. A Sanford Berstein analyst commented that the disclosure of Karmazin’s package could not have come at a worse time. His concern is that opponents of the merger will use the pay day to make management look greedy.

The moaning and groaning is understandable. The Sirius stock price is down almost 40% over the last two year. But, how much of this can be laid at Karmazin’s feet?

The broad problems that face satellite radio can not be solved by any executive. Programming is expensive. The two satellite radio firms each has over $1 billion in debt. And, competition from products like the Apple (AAPL) iPod did not exist when satellite radio was developed.

Karmazin was never going to come cheap. He is arguably the best radio executive of the last two decades. He was the head of CBS (CBS). He did not need the Sirius job. And, he is probably the best salesman in the media business, a good choice for trying to make the case to Washington that the merger is essential to the survival of the two companies and will not create a monopoly.

But, Washington is Washington. Executives who make a lot of money are easy targets. It is unlikely Sirius was ever going to get someone for less money. And, it would be hard to argue that anyone else was a better candidate.

In the calculus of the merger, Karmazin’s pay is a red herring.

Douglas A. Mcintyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.

Posted on: April 29, 2007 – 11:15 am in Compensation

GDP: Economy Definitely Slowing, Consumer Fighting Valiantly

By William Trent, CFA of Stock Market Beat

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Posted on: April 28, 2007 – 2:32 pm in Economy

Recent Activity in the S&P 500

From Ticker Sense

First off, we would like to apologize for the lack of posts recently.  We have been backed up but should be able to provide more substance starting next week. 

At the end of this week, which proved our Dow A/D theory to be quite wrong, we decided to highlight the S&P 500 sectors that are most Overbought or Oversold.  Below is a table showing the percentage of each sector that is either overbought, oversold or neutral.  As we would expect a strong week very few stocks are oversold, with Energy and Utilities leading the pack; however, over one third of the S&P 500 remains neutral.  The Trading Envelope appears below for historical comparison.

Sp_ob_os

Sp_ob_os_te_2

http://www.tickersense.typepad.com/

Posted on: April 28, 2007 – 2:30 pm in Research

This Week on StockHouse April 23 to 27

Earnings season was in full force this week, and the Dow closed above 13,000 points for the first time.

For a fast rundown of what’s hot and the companies that are attracting attention of StockHouse users, check out the StockHouse Top Five (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19631 ) assembled by Sean Mason and Keri Korteling.

This week, posters to the Dianor Resources BullBoard were discussing the company’s future in the context of its 1.5 carat yellow diamond find (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19639 ). Sean Mason got the news and some background in this week’s Buzz on the BullBoards.

A diamond miner with a property in Lesotho, Southern Africa (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19618 ) was one of the micro-cap prospects that Danny Deadlock examined in his weekly column. 

Hot on the heels of the launch of its molybdenum participation stock, Sprott Asset Management was investing in a resource junior with the Copaquire copper-moly prospect (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19619 ) in Chile. The Resource Report also updated readers on the details of the company’s other project, a copper property called Tobaco.

Trading Discipline is a new column featuring technical analyst Don Rodgers. The inaugural edition provided advice about averaging down (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19620).

The Micro-cap Spotlight shone on a genetic analysis tools company that recently agreed to be acquired (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19624 ), and suggested that investors take profits off the table.

Currency trading is often the purview of experts. This week’s Weekly Wizard, Richard Regan, talked about managed currency programs, education for traders, and a recent successful trade. (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19627)

The Bio Check by Leon Hamerling and J. Paul reviewed one small biotech with a well executed plan to target a particularly problematic bug (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19629).

As equities continue to gain ground, bonds look less attractive (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19632 ). There are other factors affecting the treasuries, and Steven Saville remains a bond bear.

While equities look hot, Don Vialoux said that investors may want to take profits on their S&P500 ETFs (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19638 ), where there are signs of weakness.

The Financially Fit column this week looked at more special situations (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/editorial.asp?edtID=19643 ) where investors can benefit – mergers & acquisitions and stock splits.

StockHouse Editor Keri Korteling, meanwhile, profiles a blogger who’s trumpeting undiscovered resource stocks in Best of the Blogs. (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19644) 

And STANDUP Advice columnist John J. De Goey proposed (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/editorial.asp?edtID=19645 ) a new fee structure for financial advice fees for mutual funds.

Read More »

Posted on: April 28, 2007 – 2:28 pm in Research

Friday’s Top Biotech & Medical Stocks

by H.S. Ayoub
BioHealth Investor.com

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Posted on: April 28, 2007 – 2:26 pm in Biotech

IBD Weekly Top Ranked Medical Stocks

From BioHealth Investor

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Posted on: April 28, 2007 – 2:25 pm in Biotech

Brunswick–Comments From TheStockMasters

It’s finally Friday and Miller time:
Miller TIme
What a week and we hope you all took some profits after what could have been the best week in the market in the last 5 years.
One of our favorite companies the Brunswick Corp. (BC), reported a 32% drop in first-quarter earnings yesterday but the decline was less than expected and its stock surged 9%. Today shares are a bit down at $33 and change but still, that’s not bad for largest maker of recreational boats and marine engines.
Let’s not forget they also make some of the best bowling balls ever. The kind our friend The Dude can appreciate.
The Dude
However the Bowling & Billiards segment didn’t do so hot this quarter. That segment is comprised of the Brunswick retail bowling centers; bowling equipment and products; and billiards, Air Hockey and foosball tables. Bowling & Billiards sales in the first quarter of 2007 totaled $105.8 million, down from $114.7 million in the year-ago quarter. Operating earnings were $8.3 million in the first quarter versus $12.8 million in the year-ago quarter.
Still, the Dude loves bowling.

www.thestockmasters.com 

Read More »

Posted on: April 28, 2007 – 2:23 pm in Research

Unusual Options Activity (April 28, 2007)

It wasn’t all that long ago that we were dicussing the implosion of the CBOE Volatility Index (the VIX) as it was trying to suck its way to under 10.0 for the first time since the mid-1990’s.  We had our mini-meltdown in the market shortly after that and the beloved "fear index" got closer to 20.0 and even got above it on intraday readings.  This now seens to have settled into a range of 12.0 to 14.0, which still makes options affordable for hedgers and speculators alike. 

We always like to see which stock options show strange activity, because it is usually in reaction to news or (better yet) a glimpse into speculators’ minds about potential events.  Here is a brief look at a portion of this Friday’s unusual options:

General Electric (GE) saw the most active options on Friday in the MAY07 $37.50 Calls, which can’t be all that surprising after Citigroup launched what may be sheer fantasy analysis to derive a $45.00 target if GE were to partially split itself apart.

Amazon saw 33,955 contracts trade of its MAY07 $60 Puts trade; probably all the overvalued comments and "ran too much" after Bezos and crew made every critic look like weasels.

Goodyear Tire (GT) saw 25,767 contracts of its JUL07 $30 Calls trade. Hmmm, not usually an options "most active" name. 

Tyco (TYC) saw 24,900 of its JULY07 $27.50 Calls trade, which is obviously someone getting ready for the imminent split into three.  Tyco is about to become TRI-CO.

Omnicare (OCR) traded 24,000+ contracts in the SEP07 $35 Puts trade.  This one is screaming toward a new yearly low after missing profits and guiding lower.  Omnicare also saw other contracts showing much more volume than "almost ever."

Eastman Kodak (EK) is one of the more interesting plays after 20,000 contracts traded in the JAN09 $30 Calls.  This one has been the beneficiary of rumors circulating earlier in the week that ’someone somewhere’ may want to acquire the company.

Antigenics (AGEN) saw 1,164 of its JAN08 $5 Puts trade, which is very odd for a company like this.  We’ll have to go back to the drawing board and do some digging a) to verify if that number is correct, and b) to look at the open interest in teh Puts and Calls out in JAN08 because it seems high for a low priced biotech with a $150 million market cap and no revenues.

Microsoft (MSFT) still holds the poll position in open interest of "stocks" with the JAN08 $30 Calls having some 345,588 contracts in the open interest.  After the last earnings number, that may even be higher after the 33,000+ contracts that traded.

Lastly, where would we be if we ignored the beloved Dendreon (DNDN) as the king of near-dated options speculations.
Jon C. Ogg
April 28, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: April 28, 2007 – 12:22 pm in Options