24/7 Wall St. » ADLR

24/7 Closing Bell (ORCL, RNOW, CAT, MCD, IVN, PAL, RGLD, MAT, SJM, SLE, CI, HS, ETN, LO, METR, NFLX, TXN, ADLR, MOBI, ASYS, SXCI, DRAM)

Paul Ausick — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:12:36 +0000

Stocks opened higher this morning, helped along by a host of merger announcements. Techs got boost when Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) said it would pay $1.5 billion for cloud-based customer service provider RightNow Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: RNOW). Strong earnings from Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) were among quarterly reports that gave markets a push higher as well. Investors are also buying on news from Europe that the EU’s takeover fund will be significantly expanded. Oil prices gained nearly 4% on an improved global economic outlook. The market gave back some gains late in the day on word that another downgrade of US debt may be coming if the Congressional supercommittee fails to deliver a budget agreement.The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up nearly 106 points to 11,914.75 (0.89%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 62 points (2.35%) to 2,699.44, and the S&P 500 rose 1.29% or nearly 16 points to 1,254.21.There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including a re-iteration of the ‘outperform’ rating for McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) at Credit Suisse. The brokerage maintained the company on its Focus List and lifted the stock’s target price to $104. Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (NYSE: IVN) was started at ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse, as was North American Palladium Ltd. (NYSE: PAL). Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ: RGLD) was raised to ‘outperform’ at National Bank.

We also want to call out some of the other mergers and acquisitions announced this morning. Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT) acquired HIT Entertainment for $680 million. J.M. Smucker Co. (NYSE: SJM) is paying $350 million for the food service coffee and tea business of Sara Lee Corp. (NYSE: SLE). Today’s biggest deal has insurance company CIGNA Corp. (NYSE: CI) paying $3.8 billion for HealthSpring Inc. (NYSE: HS) as the insurance industry keeps on consolidating.

Here are today’s big post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: Caterpillar’s shares are up nearly 5%, at $91.66; Eaton Corp. (NYSE: ETN) up about 4.5%, at $44.12; Lorillard, Inc. (NYSE: LO) down less than -0.5%, at $115.16 after missing EPS estimates this morning; Metro Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: METR) down nearly -8% after posting an EPS loss of -$0.41; Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) up more than 1.5% in anticipation of the company’s earnings release after the bell today; and Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) up more than 3.6% on expected earnings after today’s markets close.

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

Adolor Corp. (NASDAQ: ADLR) is up about 132%, at $4.49, on news of its acquisition by Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBST) for $190 million, or $4.25/share. Adolor’s 52-week trading range is $1.09-$4.53, and the high was set today, anticipating that the company will hit milestones in the acquisition offer that could add up to $35 million to the purchase price.

Sky-mobi Ltd. (NASDAQ: MOBI) is up 42%, at $5.55, on a strategic partnership with SINA Corp. (NASDAQ: SINA). Sky-mobi’s Maopao mobile social network will now be able to offer SINA’s Weibo.com microblog as a downloadable application.

Amtech Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASYS) is up more than 23%, to $11.25. The company, which makes manufacturing equipment for solar makers, is getting boost from today’s rise in solar stocks.

SXC Health Solutions Corp. (NASDAQ: SXCI) is down more than -20%, at $44.98. HealthSpring, which is being acquired by CIGNA, is one of SXC’s biggest customers, accounting for about a third of the company’s sales.

Dataram Corp. (NASDAQ: DRAM) is off more than -10%, at $1.10. Spot prices for dynamic RAM continue to weaken, a trend that caused Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) results to tumble last quarter.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: General Tagged: ADLR, ASYS, CAT, CI, DRAM, ETN, HS, IVN, LO, MAT, MCD, METR, MOBI, NFLX, ORCL, PAL, RGLD, RNOW, SJM, SLE, SXCI, TXN

Endless Mergers… More to Come! (CBST, ADLR, HS, CI, CVH, MAT, RNOW, ORCL, SLE, SJM, ANDS, NYX)

Jon C. Ogg — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:24:45 +0000

Monday is called “Merger Monday” for a reason and this morning is a classic example of its namesake. We have seen multiple deals and news outstanding on pending deals. We recently noted that far too many companies in technology have been rumored as takeover targets, and not a single one of the deals announced was in the most recent technology rumor mill.

Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CBST) is pulling a rabbit out of its hat. Cubist was once believed to be a solid acquisition candidate when its share price was much lower, but now the company has come out and announced that it is acquiring Adolor Corporation (NASDAQ: ADLR) for about $190 million in a deal that could rise to $225 million if certain milestones are achieved. Adolor loves the price as the shares are up 129% at $4.40 today. That is above the $4.25 buyout price, but the possible upside for the milestones is why.

HealthSpring Inc. (NYSE: HS) is being acquired for $3.8 billion by CIGNA Corporation (NYSE: CI) in a $55 buyout offer in close to a 35% premium. Insurers continue to consolidate. Elsewhere in healthcare, Coventry Health Care Inc. (NYSE: CVH) was listed as one which could be acquired by Barron’s over the weekend and its shares are up almost 6% at $31.66 in conjunction with healthcare consolidation news and on hopes for more pin action.

Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT) is acquiring HIT Entertainment in a $680 million acquisition from Apax Partners and a private equity consortium. Mattel’s market cap is $9.6 billion. The deal locks up the Thomas & Friends toys.

Rightnow Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: RNOW) is much more well known ”right now” since Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) has announced a buyout of the company. This $1.5 billion purchase comes to $43.00 per share and the stock hit a new all-time high of $42.92. RightNow is in cloud-based customer experience software products and services.

Sara Lee Corporation (NYSE: SLE) is a company that has been a rumored (and hoped for) buyout target for longer than one can easily recall in the food sector. The company is selling off the majority of its food service coffee and tea operations to J.M. Smucker Co. (NYSE: SJM) for about $350 million. Considering it is a $10.5 billion company by market capitalization, this is no real game-changer.

Elsewhere in M&A news, Anadys Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ANDS) is at a year high of $3.68 and it now has a formal class action suit filed against the merger where Roche is set to pay out $3.70 per share. This was a $10 and higher stock in 2006.

NYSE Euronext, Inc. (NYSE: NYX) and its Deutsche Bourse merger is still hanging in the wind. The merger has a hearing in the European Union on October 27 to address some of the concerns brought up by regulators. At $26.70 today, this is way down from the highs above $41.00 over the last year.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Healthcare, Mergers & Acquisitions, Mergers and Buy Outs, Software, Technology Tagged: ADLR, ANDS, CBST, CI, CVH, HS, MAT, NYX, ORCL, RNOW, SJM, SLE

Top Active Trader Alert Stocks (ADLR, BAC, CAT, YHOO)

Mike Sauter — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:52:02 +0000

Active traders and day traders have many stocks to choose from this Monday morning. We are tracking news and moves in shares of Adolor Corporation (NASDAQ: ADLR), Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC), Caterpillar, Inc. (NYSE: CAT), and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO).

Adolor Corporation (NASDAQ: ADLR) is up 133% to $4.47, above a 52-week range of $1.09-$2.83.

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) is up 1.5% before market open to $6.56, relative to a 52-week range of $5.13 – $15.31.

Caterpillar, Inc. (NYSE: CAT) is up 5% premarket to $91.78, relative to a 52-week range of $67.54 – $116.55.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is up 3% premarket to $16.61, relative to a 52-week range of $11.09 – $18.84.

Filed under: Active Trader, Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert Tagged: ADLR, BAC, CAT, YHOO

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (ADLR, MDRX, CRDN, CAG, IFF, MFE, TWX, VRTX, VOD, WWWW)

Douglas A. McIntyre — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:06:34 +0000

These are some of the top analyst downgrades and negative calls we are seeing this Wednesday morning:

Adolor (ADLR) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
Allscripts (MDRX) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
Ceradyne (CRDN) Cut to Underperform at Wachovia.
ConAgra (CAG) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
International Flavors (IFF) Started as Underweight at Lehman.
McAfee (MFE) Cut to Underperform at FBR.
Time Warner Inc. (TWX) Cut to Market Perform at Bernstein.
Vertex (VRTX) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Vodafone plc (VOD) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Web.com (WWWW) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.

Jon C. Ogg
September 3, 2008

Short Selling Volatile Biotechs (June 2007) (DNDN, NFLD, NSTK, ADLR, ALTH, COLY, CEGE, NUVO)

Douglas A. McIntyre — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:36:45 +0000

Stock Tickers: DNDN, NFLD, NSTK, ADLR, ALTH, COLY, CEGE, NUVO

Many of the recent biotech implosions are always interesting to see if short sellers are getting out of the way or adding pressure. Out of the biotechs we covered with recent implosions here is what we saw from May to June. Oddly enough, only Dendreon (DNDN) out of this group showed a drop in the short interest out of this group from May to June..

Dendreon (DNDN)…can’t forget them. Recently we noted how options were weighing on the stock and how the company probably had a news vacuum coming up.
June Short Interest: 40.8 million shares, down almost 2% from May.
May Short Interest: 41.66M.

Adolor Corp. (ADLR)
June Short Interest: 6.5 million shares, up almost 10% from May.
May Short Interest: 5.9 million shares.

Allos Therapeutics (ALTH) didn’t implode, but it looked like it was going to. Short sellers didn’t have the news ahead of time so maybe the short-covering was a savior.
June Short Interest: 5.17 million shares, up 30% from May.
May Short Interest: 3.97 million shares.

Northfield Labs (NFLD)….going, going, gone…..Biotech Zombie.
June Short Interest: 8.06 million shares, up 8% from May.
May Short Interest: 7.4 million shares.

Nastech Pharma (NSTK) was Cramer’s biotech zombie he said was looking up back in March. Short sellers bet against Cramer.
June Short Interest: 5.09 million shares, up 21% from May.
May Short Interest: 4.2 million shares.

Coley Pahrmaceuticals (COLY)….short sellers didn’t know this was getting the bad news at the cut-off date.
June Short Interest: 4.7 million shares, up 5% from May.
May Short Interest: 4.46 million shares.

Cell Genesys (CEGE)
June Short Interest: 15.4 million shares, up almost under 10% from May.
May Short Interest: 14 million shares.

Nuvelo Inc. (NUVO)…short sellers didn’t know for sure that Bayer was bailing here…..
June Short Interest: 8.06 million shares, up 8% from May.
May Short Interest: 7.44 million shares.

The Biotech HOLDRs (BBH) are hard to draw an inference to because of the size differentials and volume, but its June short interest was up more than 4% from May with a reading of 1.72 million shares.

Jon C. Ogg
June 27, 2007

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

Pre-Market Stock News (June 11, 2007)

Douglas A. McIntyre — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 06:48:10 +0000

(ADLR) Adolor said a complete response to the POI ‘Approvable’ Letter now targeted for 3Q 2007.
(ALXN) Alexion Pharm says studies show efficacy and safety of it’s Soliris in broad population of PNH patients in Phase III studies examining Soliris for the treatment of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.
(BYBI) Backyard Burgers agrees to be acquired for $6.50 cash per share.
(CHINA) CDC Corp making a gaming company acquisition.
(CSGS) CSG Systems is paying $23.5M cash to acquire private ComTec.
(CUP) Peru Copper gets a friendly takeover offer from Aluminum of China.
(EME) EMCOR raised guidance and announced a 2-1 stock split.
(ENDO) Endo pharmaceuticals’ FROVA Phase III study data showed short-term prevention treatment reduces frequency and severity of menstrual migraine.
(ERIC) Ericsson in GSM expansion pact with China Mobile.
(GERN) Geron says research indicates its embryonic stem cell based therapy for spinal cord injury evades direct attack response by the human immune system.
(GOOG) Google announced search and ad pact with Sina in China.
(GOL) Gol Intelligent Airlines said Continental will sell its tickets for travel to Brazil and South America.
(IBM) IBM paying close to $750 million to acquire Telogic AB in Sweden.
(IMCL) Imclone said FDA accepted and granted priority review of ERBITUX sBLA for overall survival in patients with advanced colorectal cancer.
(JOSB) Jos. A. Bank $0.45 EPS vs $0.42e.
(MDVN) Medivation’s Dimebon maintains statistically significant benefit on all five efficacy endpoints in Alzheimer’s disease after one year of therapy
(NGA) North American Galvanizing trades ex-split to reflect a 3-2 stock split.
(NRMX) Neurochem presents update on Alzhemed, but said that no predictions or conclusions can yet be made regarding the outcome of the Phase III study.
(OI) Owen-Illinois is selling its plastics unit to rexam for $1.8 Billion.
(OSUR) OraSure received a CE mark of approval from the EU for its OraQuick rapid HIV test.
(PRGS) Progress Software added one of the Dow Jones news feeds to its algorithmic trading platform.
(PRW) Pro-Pharmaceutical submits data to begin a 505B2 filing with FDA for new formulation of Irinotecan for potential cancer treatment indications.
(RIMG) Rimage announced a $6.5M order from new major national retail customer.
(SINA) Sina in strategic search and ad partnership with Google in China.
(TRLG) True Religion CEO reduced holdings of 2.3 million shares in a private placement.

Jon C. Ogg
June 11, 2007

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