To qualify as a penny stock, the formal criteria is that they have to trade under $1.00 per share. Some investors refer to stocks under $5.00 in the same light. In each of our screens and companies we have analyzed, the common themes that may seem obvious are serious trouble and weak business metrics. Some of these companies are large household names, while others are small and only known to a handful of investors.

What is interesting about troubled companies is that some may turn around. Those turnarounds could even be huge. Some may just stabilize or hold up as “less bad versus expectations,” and that could keep these from “breaking the buck.” Unfortunately, some of these companies already have traded under the $1.00 level in the past year, and a weakening stock market and weakening economy only add to the risks here. Some companies may even try the doomed move of a “reverse stock split” to avoid the penny stock status.

In each case we have outlined some basic issues that actually could save each of these companies. Some of the solutions are long shots, but the law of averages should come to the rescue for at least some of these troubled companies.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) is caught in the middle of a death spiral. It is basically leaderless, and so far every new technological gain by AMD is somehow rapidly outpaced elsewhere. The fab-lite model has not helped, and AMD is going through major layoffs right now. Now that shares have fallen under $2.00, the risk is growing and growing. Its market cap is now down to only about $1.4 billion. Wall St. already is expecting a loss to be wider in 2013 over 2012, and it is looking for sales to decline more than 10% in 2013 after an expected drop of about 17% in 2012. At $1.98, the 52-week range is $1.96 to $8.35. What could save AMD: a sudden stumble by Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC); resurfaced regulatory pressure on Intel; an ARM partnership for servers takes off; massive interest in low-priced Windows-based laptops and desktops.

Alcatel-Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU) is in serious trouble. The turnaround and restructuring just never ends. Now the company finds itself with a large debt maturity suddenly not so far away. It keeps moving from one-stop to more specialized markets, which carriers can slow down if demand softens. Alcatel is trying to shrink its way to success, and it has so far been unable to telegraph that it can unlock any real value from the Bell Labs patent portfolio that came along with Lucent in the merger. With a focus on specialized and advanced communications, other giants like Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) can keep price pressure up to the point that margins remain suppressed (or worse). The ongoing situation in Europe is not helping its old core markets there either. At $1.10, its 52-week range is $0.91 to $2.66, and its market cap is only $2.7 billion. What can save Alcatel-Lucent: one of its forecasts and promises actually gets lived up to; restructuring efforts somehow work better than its historic efforts; increased focus on patents being successful; resurgence of growth in Latin America, China and Asia; a major stumble by Cisco or other key competitors.

Geron Corp. (NASDAQ: GERN) was once the poster child of what stem cell research should be. Now it is hard to describe Geron since it has been a year since the company announced the discontinuation of its stem cell business. BioTime Inc. (NYSEMKT: BTX) has offered Geron a buyout offer for its stem cell lines, but this remains an unknown issue. It also recently discontinued a breast cancer study. Many troubled biotech and emerging biohealth players find their shares close to book value or under due to expected losses, and if that occurs here the stock easily has more room to fall. At $1.28, the 52-week trading range is $1.21 to $2.99, and the market value is only $167 million. What can save Geron: a new development pact; a new discovery; continued lower losses; BioTime success in offer to shareholders; possible offer going from asset buy to whole company purchase.

MGIC Investment Corp. (NYSE: MTG) remains challenged, and the stock has fallen 15% from the end of October. Mortgage claim costs may not be going away any time soon, and the tentative Freddie Mac settlement already has come and gone as far as the share price is concerned. A softening economy is now a risk all over again to this insurer. While its book value is still twice its share price, this one keeps losing money and revenues are expected to continue declining. At $1.68, its 52-week range is $0.66 to $5.15. It has been a penny stock before, and not that long ago. What could save MGIC: amnesty from legacy liabilities; government assistance for insurers to keep housing going; favorable court rulings; further resolution of Fannie/Freddie issues.

OCZ Technology Group Inc. (NASDAQ: OCZ) was supposed to be a winner because of the growth potential in solid state drives and other components. The problem is that the revenue model can no longer be relied upon. OCZ’s earnings situation has become a disaster and the company now cannot properly handle its SEC filings. It has even tried layoffs. Many law firms have initiated class actions or investigations here. The company trades under book value, but it has no guidance now and the few analysts that follow it expect losses of $0.70 per share for 2012 and $0.13 per share for 2013. The losses are mounting and that management “shake-up” was less than comforting. At $1.31, its 52-week week range is $1.23 to $10.05, and its market value is now only $88 million. What can save OCZ: A turnaround success; a low-ball buyout offer; clarity in its guidance and in its quarterly filings; sudden increased customer attention.

Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. (NYSE: OSG) has been a total disaster, and the company has a growing list of class-action efforts, including investigations for class actions. The company itself has even warned that it may file for bankruptcy protection over tax issues (and weak business) as its credit line is out and coming due soon. The death spiral we saw has left this one with a market cap of only $44 million, and the oil shipper is expected to post wide per-share losses of $6.88 in 2012 and $4.38 in 2013. At $1.44, its 52-week range is $1.02 to $15.16. What could save the company: international domicile; resurgence of oil shipments; renegotiated shipping terms; a bottom-fish private equity or ship buyer.

RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) is now barely a $2 stock, and its market cap is down to $210 million. Nothing works for this retailer, and even rival Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is in trouble. RadioShack is still under an interim CEO, and the bleeding has become monumental here. RadioShack is expected to lose money in the coming Christmas quarter, as well as to lose money this year and next in virtually no sales growth for 2013. It is unfortunate, but this retailer just has not been able to catch a break. What could save it: overseas growth initiatives underway in emerging Pacific markets; hot new consumer electronics; great CEO replacement; total bottom-fishing buyout offer; decision to unlock the balance sheet to distribute the book value surplus as a return of capital and then an even leaner model.

Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) is still dangerously close to the $1.00 mark. Each gain seems to be incremental only, and each gain seems to be short-lived. The 1990s model that the retailer thrived under now has much wider competition, and the corner drug store is not as necessary as it was in the 1990s. Even if Rite Aid holds steady in its core business, a strong market sell-off alone could take this one back into penny-stock land. At $1.09, its 52-week range is $1.05 to $2.12. Things got so bad during the recession that Rite Aid shares went under $0.40 at the peak of selling during the recession. What could save Rite Aid: a recapitalization that leaves shareholders alive; an unknown exclusive relationship; a white knight.

Before thinking that any of these names are too great or have too much history, it is important to realize the history of companies that get overtaken by their industry or where they just become obsolete through time. Blockbuster, Lehman Bros., Eastman Kodak, A123, AMR, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Nortel, MF Global, Borders and many others were all once great stocks.

JON C. OGG

The U.S. dollar index is higher today, now up 0.08% at 80.320. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.7% today at 676.64, with commodities prices mostly lower on the stronger dollar and corn well below $8.00/bushel again. WTI crude oil closed up 0.1% today, at $96.54/barrel, as prices reacted to some big transactions and more hope for a boost from China’s stimulus deal announced last week (more coverage here). Brent crude trades up 0.3% at $114.59/barrel. Natural gas is up 3% today to $2.76/thousand cubic feet. Gold closed at $1,731.80/ounce, down 0.5% today, as traders wait for Thursday’s Fed meeting.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than 52 points to 13,254.29 (-0.39%), the NASDAQ fell more than 32 points (-1.03%) to 3,104.02, and the S&P 500 fell -0.61% or nearly 9 points to 1,429.08.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) started as ‘buy’ at Monness Crespi Hardt; Itron Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) started as ‘buy’ at BofA/ML; NRG Energy Inc. (NYSE: NRG) raised to ‘buy’ at Goldman Sachs; Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ: CELG) cut to ‘neutral’ at UBS; and Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) raised to ‘buy’ at Nomura.

Some companies that reported earnings since markets closed last Friday and have recent share price changes today include Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: PPHM) is down 0.2% at $4.49 after posting a new 52-week high of $5.14 earlier today; RF Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: RFIL) is up 11.9% at $4.47 after posting a new 52-week high of $4.98 earlier today; and John Wiley & Sons Inc. (NYSE: JW-A) is down 5.4% at $48.55.

Earnings releases scheduled before markets open on Tuesday morning include Majesco Entertainment Co. (NASDAQ: COOL), Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE: PANW), Hanwha Solarone Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: HSOL), and Unified Natural Foods Inc. (NASDAQ: UNFI).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

Geron Corp. (NASDAQ: GERN) is down 56.9% at $1.25 after posting a new 52-week low of $1.23 earlier today. The biopharmaceuticals maker has stopped a breast cancer drug trial. More coverage here.

Titan Machinery Inc. (NASDAQ: TITN) is down 23.1% at $19.51 (more coverage here). The farm and heavy equipment retailer lowered guidance this morning and badly missed earnings estimates. More coverage here.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) is up 8.1% at $30.08. The coffee roasting firm continues to get a boost from a ratings upgrade last Friday that might have been a bit exuberant. More coverage here.

KSW Corp. (NASDAQ: KSW)) is up 22.1% at $4.97 after posting a new all-time high of $5.02 earlier today. The HVAC company is being acquired by Related Companies for $5 a share in a transaction worth $32.1 million.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) put up a new high today of $260.00 before pulling back to $257.63 later.

Apple also put up a new high today of $683.29 before falling back to $665.61.

Stay tuned for Tuesday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 7:30 a.m. – National Federation of Small Businesses small business optimism index
• 8:30 a.m. – International trade
• 11:30 a.m. – 4-week bill auction
• 1:00 p.m. – 3-year note auction

Paul Ausick

Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) Reiterated Buy with $18 target at Argus.
Air Products & Chemicals Inc. (NYSE: APD) Reiterated Buy at BofA/ML.
Chimera Investment Corporation (NYSE: CIM) Cut to Sell at Wunderlich.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) Maintained Underperform at Credit Suisse; Reiterated Buy with $22 target at Argus.
Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Gentiva Health Services (NASDAQ: GTIV) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE: PAA) named Value stock of the day at Zacks.
Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) Raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Sunoco Logistics, LP (NYSE: SXL) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
TIBCO Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TIBX) Started as Market Perform at BMO Capital; Started as Market Outperform at JMP Securities.

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JON C. OGG

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) was up the most of all networking stocks this year, so it can’t be too shocking to see it whacked yet again.  Shares are down over 12% at $3.11.

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) is no surprise and the news is AIG and the bank’s risks to future suits etc… Shares are down 9.3% at $7.42.

Cheniere Energy, Inc. (AMEX: LNG) is one of the still very speculative players and the precipitous drop in nat-gas is not helping a leveraged player today.  Shares are down a whopping 18% at $6.40.

Crude Carriers Corp. (NYSE: CRU) is following is big leg down from Friday and shares are down 15% at $7.01.

DR Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI) is down 5.1% at $9.87 and the 52-week low is $9.73. When credit gets tighter, how great is it for homebuilders in an already-weak market?  Ditto for all of its peers.

Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) is down for the risk to U.S. auto sales as the buyers who rely upon credit can easily put off car buying.  Ford is down 6.5% at $10.13… risk of double-digits again? That was a 52-week low today.  General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) is now down 5.5% at $24.86 and shares came within two cents of the post-IPO lows of $24.49 already today.

Freescale Semiconductor Inc. (NYSE: FSL) may be highly diversified, but that is not helping.  It was not exactly on the most solid footing when the IPO came about and shares are down another 9.5% at $10.73 after having hit a new 52-week low of $9.57.

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) has no news as the leader in stem cell research, but StemCells Inc. (NASDAQ: STEM) is down almost 17% at $2.16.  Geron shares are down 9.5% at $2.68 today.

Imperial Sugar Co. (NASDAQ: IPSU) lost over half its value on Friday after management just lost all credibility with its discussion about a loss.  The company had just been out pitching its new “alternative sweetener model” rather than just sugar but the damage is extreme now.  Shares are down another 14% at $8.09.

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) is suffering with the international growth scene now.  How many people need satellite phones if the purses get tightened too much?  Shares are down almost 7% at $7.38.

Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) is probably seeing a few less up-sales this week and shares are trading down 5.5% at $41.87 on the day.  That is still well above $the $28.44 low of the last year.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is getting unusually punished due to the risks to auto sales being the first economic spot hit.  Who cares if Howard Stern is there or not on a day like today?  Shares are down 7% at $1.68.

Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) is down yet again and down another 7.8% at $3.43 in active trading.  We said the worst was not over there just last week and stick by that statement.  It will take a bull market to save Sprint.

VirnetX Holding Corporation (AMEX: VHC) is the patent player that sues companies for royalties. How relevant it is when its “patent partners” are getting whacked so hard is up to.  The market vote is that the model is not relevant as shares are down 15% at $18.71 this morning.  Keep in mind that the 52-week range is $5.65 to $41.77.  Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS) is another “patent licensing operation” that is suffering, with shares down 8% at $10.64 and the stock hit a 52-week high of $10.15 today.

Another day of selling as the great flush continues… The good news is only that the bad news is bad enough and it has been bad enough that at some point you have to expect bargain buyers to surface.

JON C. OGG

Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) has faced similar accounting issues and the news has also affected solid Chinese companies like Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) and Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE). Both Suntech and Yingli shares are taking more hits today on relatively little news.

One development that could be weighing on Chinese shares today is a report from Taiwanese solar PV makers that orders for the third quarter are falling off sharply for deliveries after August.  Taiwan is not a big supplier of solar PV panels, so it’s possible to draw too general a conclusion from this.

What could very well be happening is that customers for all solar PV modules are placing what are essentially just-in-time orders, believing that the 30% price drop so far this year will continue. Inventories remain high, putting more pressure on prices and giving customers even more leverage.

Low-price suppliers like LDK Solar Inc. (NYSE: LDK) and First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) are better positioned to weather the pricing storm that is crushing margins. But LDK suffers from being associated with the other Chinese firms that have been hit by accounting issues.

The bad news about demand has been known for months. The accounting troubles are relatively new, and could continue to put pressure on the Chinese companies for a while yet.

But no one appears to be safe today. First Solar shares are down more than -1%, at $123.72, in a 52-week range of $111.40-$175.45. JA Solar’s shares are down nearly -1.7%, to $4.65, barely above the bottom of a 52-week range of $4.34-$10.24. Trina is down about -1.7%, to $18.49, in a 52-week range of $16.60-$31.89. Suntech is down more than -2.5%, at $7.33, again close to the bottom of a 52-week range of $7.05-$11.20. Yingli is down the most, -4.35%, at $7.26, again very near the bottom of a 52-week range of $7.01-$14.29. The Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSE: TAN) is off about -0.3%, at $6.57, in a 52-week range of $6.44-$9.34.

Paul Ausick

We included the research summaries, included price action data, and added in color if applicable.  At the end we also have three macro-calls which are bonus calls that are not really equity calls but which need to be considered by investors.

The Active Network, Inc. (NYSE: ACTV) is a strange company and one which we figured would be given ratings like Neutral, Hold, Market Perform, and the like as it is an online community that offers application services technology and marketing access to community service and sports organizations.  It has a $1 billion market cap as well. Shares closed at $18.89 on Friday, up from $18.01 the week before and versus a $15.00 IPO price which has never been breached.  Still, the analyst community was entirely positive as the post-IPO quiet period came to an end:

• Citigroup- Buy
• RBC- Outperform
• Stifel Nicolaus- Buy
• ThinkEquity- Buy

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) may not seem like much on the surface because it was a reiterated Buy and the target was raised only $15 to $500 for the stock, but this call from Canaccord Genuity did actually move the meter.  Apple shares closed up 0.7% at $359.71 on a day that the NASDAQ closed down 0.45%.  What is amazing is that this was actually the highest closing price since the $360.00 close on March 4 and it was about ten days ahead of the earnings report.

Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL) is being dubbed “The Misnomer Call of the Week” after Credit Suisse started coverage with a “Neutral” rating and gave a $95.00 price target objective.  By our take, Neutral implies no direction or no real value for the stock to move either way.  What makes this one dubious is that the price was already just above $105 going into the call.  This was really a “Stealth Sell Rating” by our take.  The Thomson Reuters consensus price target is $105.29 now, which implies that the rest of the analysts on average are “Neutral.”

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) was given a key analyst call and shares were up almost 10% at $4.39 on Friday.  J.P.Morgan started coverage with an “Overweight” rating for the stem cell leader and assigned a $6.00 price target. The call was timed almost perfectly as all stem cell shares rallied on reports that Swedish doctors were able to use stem cells to replace the trachea of a patient suffering from advanced cancer.  Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good, but the call had to impact the overall group as well.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) took a downgrade on Friday from Morgan Stanley, where the rating was cut to Equal-Weight from Overweight and the target was cut to $600 from $645 in the call.  With this being 4 trading days before earnings, we could not help but notice the impact.  Google was started with a Buy rating at Collins Stewart earlier in the week and it was given that street-high $800 target from Canaccord Genuity just the week before.

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) saw a major jump after the entertainment research team at Bank of America Merrill Lynch reiterated its Buy rating.  What mattered was that it was a street-high price target objective at $325.00 as the bogey.  We already opined that calling a top or predicting when this major run ends is nearly impossible, but we would caution one thing: that is only 10% left in implied upside to the highest analyst target.  After the run this one has seen, its earnings or another event could easily take out 10% of the share price.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $500 at Canaccord Genuity.
Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) Started as Neutral with $30 target at Credit Suisse.
Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: STD) Cut to Underperform at Bernstein.
Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL) Started as Neutral with $95 target at Credit Suisse.
Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Cut to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.
Hudson City Bancorp (NASDAQ: HCBK) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: IART) Started as Neutral at BofA/ML.
Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) Maintained Hold and $35 target at Canaccord Genuity.
Standard Motor Products (NYSE: SMP) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TJX) Raised to Hold at Citigroup.
Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ: TSCO) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $80 at BofA/ML.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $100 at Argus.
Western Refining Inc. (NYSE: WNR) Reiterated Buy as Value at Zacks.

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JON C. OGG

Our screen was looking for roughly 50% upside or more to the consensus analyst price target at Thomson Reuters.  We also screened out extreme small cap names and those which are too thin in volume.  We came up Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALNY), Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN), Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN), Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: HALO) and VIVUS Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS).  There were actually enough in the $200 million to $1 billion range that we’ll probably have another list tomorrow.  Thomson Reuters has a consensus price target of $17.94 but a median price target of $15.00.  The analyst field is also very mixed here and the coverage looks a bit stale by our count.  The lower target still implies upside of more than 55%.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALNY) is fresh off news that it won a $10 milestone payment from Takeda in Japan on part of its gene silencing drug collaboration.  Alnylam transferred its RNA technology and it stands to win up to $1 billion ($140 million or so collected so far) if all milestones and targets get reached.  With shares at $9.65, its 52-week trading range is $8.79 to $17.59 and its market cap is almost $410 million.

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) was surprising to see on the list of implied upside targets despite its Provenge which has been approved for prostate cancer.  Shares are already up big from before its approval, but they are also considerably from highs.  The revenue stage has not yet gone into full tilt as production is being ramped up through 2011 and into 2012. At $36.17 its 52-week trading range is $25.78 to $57.67 and its market cap is about $5.2 billion.  Thomson Reuters has a consensus price target of $54.50, implying upside of just over 50%.  Bristol-Myers’ recent approval has helped this class of drugs which use the body’s immune system to fight cancer back in favor. Shares were around $33.00 on Friday versus $36.17 today.

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) is the king of stem cells in America as far as the investor community is concerned.  Analysts have an average price target of $10.13 but the median target is actually $8.00.  At $4.98, this still represents about 60% implied upside to the lower target and more than 100% to an average target.  The 52-week range is $4.37 to $6.40 and its market cap is roughly $641 million.  Again, the analyst crowd is very far apart here on expectations.  Another risk to consider is that the company conducts secondary offerings on and off as it needs to raise cash to fund its expensive R&D pipeline.  This stock tends to pop around stem cell study news and presentation results being given at key conferences.

Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: HALO) is about six-weeks past news that it and partner Roche announced the first patient received subcutaneous MabThera (rituximab) as an anticancer biologic in a Phase 3 registration trial using Enhanze technology.  This was the second Roche cancer medicine after Herceptin to enter a Phase 3 registration study as part of the Halozyme-Roche collaboration. The clinical trial also triggered a milestone payment of $5 million to Halozyme. At $6.76 its 52-week trading range is $5.79 to $9.11 and its market cap is $685 million.  Thomson Reuters has a consensus price target of $10.80, implying upside of about 60%.  We would note that the consensus price targets are rather far apart here and no major analyst calls have been seen in some time.

VIVUS Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) has one of the more promising obesity drug candidates.  At $6.36 its 52-week trading range is $4.69 to $13.68 and its market cap is about $520 million. Thomson Reuters has a consensus price target of $9.36, implying upside of more than 47%. Just be advised that this ‘more promising’ notes has severe caveats.  The FDA doesn’t seem to endorse anything related to obesity treatments due to side effects and safety profiles.  The reason there is so much implied upside is because there are those who are fighting over whether or not VIVUS will win full FDA approval.

Stay tuned for another screen of other biotech-related shares in BioHealth for Thursday as there are many others with large implied upside ahead.  As always, do your own due diligence when it comes to “Wall Street Research” and always understand what you are investing in.  Speculative biotech stocks aren’t exactly for widows and orphans.

JON C. OGG

ActivIdentity Corporation (NASDAQ: ACTI) is soaring this morning after receiving a $162 million buyout offer from Assa Abloy.  Shares are up about 42.4% at $3.22 on more than 1 million shares.

Allied Irish Banks plc (NYSE: AIB) is becoming an all-too-regular character in this cast, but a movers report just about always has large moves each morning now… usually to the downside.  Shares are down 4.75% at $1.20 on over 20,000 shares.

CIENA Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) is trading lower after it reaffirmed guidance because it is offering $175 million in notes.  Shares are down almost 3% at $15.13 on more than 100,000 shares.

Corinthian Colleges, Inc. (NASDAQ: COCO) is lower after its President/COO resigned and no replacement was named.  Industry pressure got too much perhaps.  Shares are down 5% at $6.00 on more than 50,000 shares.

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) is seeing continued interest after yesterday’s news of an enrollment in a stem cells study.  Shares are up 4.7% at $5.94 on almost 50,000 shares.

Interactive Intelligence (NASDAQ: ININ) was halted but the company changed its guidance:  expects to report revenues of $41 to $42 million and non-GAAP EPS of $0.35 to $0.39 and it expects 20% annual revenue growth.  Thomson Reuters has estimates of $0.23 EPS and $37.88 million.

King Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NYSE: KG) is soaring after Pfizer announced a $3.6 billion acquisition of the company for a price of $14.25 per share.  Shares are up 39% at $14.14 on more than 38 million shares.

MedQuist, Inc. (NASDAQ: MEDQ) is trading lower after a record date for its special dividend.  Shares are down 13% at $10.00 on low volume.

Synaptics Incorporated (NASDAQ: SYNA) is lower after its CEO left the company and on lower guidance.  Shares are trading lower by 6.5% at $24.14 on over 50,000 shares.

TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TQNT) is trading up after offering guidance this morning, a day after a downgrade on valuation concerns.  Shares are trading up 3.4% at $9.40 on more than 200,000 shares.

Tongxin International Ltd. (NASDAQ: TXIC) is trading lower after NASDAQ rejected the company’s plan and its request for continued listing on the NASDAQ Stock Market.  Shares are down almost 15% at $3.15 on about 15,000 shares.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Alexza Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ALXA) is getting crushed after the FDA declined to approve its AZ-004 for treatment of agitation in schizophrenic or bipolar disorder patients.  This is and was its lead program.  Shares hit a new 52-week low under the prior 52-week range of $1.93 to $3.92; shares are down a whopping 52% at $1.45 and we have seen 8.3 million shares trade hands.

Alkermes, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALKS) is trading slightly lower ahead of its decision due Tuesday for the approval of its opioid addiction treatment Vivitrol.  The drug is already approved as an injection treatment for alcohol dependence and the company has already had Phase III results showing that Vivitrol helped patients against opioid addiction. A panel has already recommended approval of the drug.  Shares hit a new 52-week high again this morning of $16.03, but shares are currently down 0.9% at $15.78.

Allos Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: ALTH) is down after its experimental drug called pralatrexate increased non-small cell lung cancer patients’ survival rate more than an existing treatment in a mid-stage study.  Unfortunately, the data was mixed enough that shares are down 5.7% at $4.31 in active trading.

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) is up despite potential competition.  Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) showed that study data in men with advanced prostate cancer lived nearly four months longer on a new pill,  one which the company noted would change clinical practice.  Dendreon shares are up 3% at $40.41 on fairly active trading and its 52-week trading range is $24.79 to $57.67.

Geron Corp. (NASDAQ: GERN) is trading up after it enrolled the first patient for its early stage human-embryonic stem-cell treatment for spinal cord injuries in less than two months after the FDA removed a clinical hold.  Shares are up over 7% at $5.74 on active volume versus a 52-week range of $4.37 to $7.18.

Genzyme Corporation (NASDAQ: GENZ) is still in the mystery category.  The company’s denial of a $69 bid from Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) was met with a final seeking of strategic alternatives to find a bidder who would pay more.  The biotech giant even went as far as to call it an opportunistic bid that is now hostile.  Shares closed at $72.75 on Friday, so it seems as though there may not be a huge hope of a competing bid that is aggressively higher than Sanofi-Aventis’ $69 offer.  Shares are trading up 0.25 at $72.92 today on hope of a higher offer.

Immunogen Inc. (NASDAQ: IMGN) is trading higher after positive cancer data and a deal with Novartis (NYSE: NVS).  Full news is at BioHealthInvestor and shares are up 5.7% at $7.71 on very active trading.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAZZ) did not get a FDA nod  for its JZP-6 for fibromyalgia.  The FDA said more studies are needed,  and shares are actually up today.  In late-morning trade, shares are up 3.3% at $10.45 on active trading volume.  The 52-week range is $6.01 to $13.95.

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JON C. OGG