After the first half-hour of trading, Insmed is up nearly 33% at $5.10. Volume has already reached 20x the daily average of 82,000 shares traded. The biotech company announced that the FDA has lifted a clinical hold on a lung disease drug.

Ascent Solar is down more than -14% at $0.91. Volume is already 4x the daily average of 227,000 shares traded. The solar panel maker is likely experiencing some profit taking from the recent run-up in solar stocks.

Cogent Communications is down more than -15% at $15.87. Volume is 7x the average daily volume of 357,000 shares traded. The network communications provider is suffering from the shutdown last night of the Megaupload website, one of Cogent’s largest customers.

Google is down nearly -8% at $589.43. Volume is already 50% higher than the daily average of about 2.9 million shares traded. The search giant reported higher costs and lower earnings last night. We have more coverage here.

Allos Therapeutics is down nearly -11% at $1.48. Volume is already exceeds the daily average of 631,000 shares traded. The drug maker has received a negative opinion on use of one of its cancer drugs from a European regulator.

Paul Ausick

Insmed, Inc. (NASDAQ: INSM) shares are down more than -30%, at $3.01 after posting a new 52-week low of $2.75 this morning. The FDA has requested another study of the company’s Arikace treatment for cystic fibrosis patients suffering from a lung infection. The request continues a clinical hold on late-stage testing of the drug until the company completes a new nine-month study and to provide information on the risk-benefit profile of Arikace.

Allos Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALTH) is down more than -17%, at $1.45, after posting a new 52-week low of $1.38 earlier this morning. The company’s proposed acquisition by AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAG) has been withdrawn following the acquisition of 5.8% of AMAG shares by a hedge fund manager opposed to the deal who has offered $18/share for AMAG. Two other investment firms that together own about a third of Allos’s shares also oppose the Allos acquisition.

Superior Energy Services, Inc. (NYSE: SPN) is down more than -17%, at $22.66, after posting a new 52-week low of $22.19 this morning. The company has agreed to buy another oil field services company, Complete Production Services, Inc. (NYSE: CPX) for $2.7 billion. The deal includes $555 million in cash ($7/share) and 0.945 shares of Superior stock for each share of Complete stock. The combined company would have a market cap of around $4 billion, still far smaller than other industry players.

Clean Diesel Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: CDTI) is down more than -12.5%, at $2.91, in a 52-week range of $0.79-$44.38. The company makes and sells emissions control systems and other products for both heavy-duty diesel vehicles and lighter vehicles fueled by gasoline, diesel, and natural gas. Since posting the high last October, the stock has been on a steadily falling trend with the exception of about three or four price spikes that had the short-term effect of doubling the stock’s price before it turned downward again.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) shares are down about -8.5%, at $2.21, after setting a new 52-week low this morning of $2.20. The company held an analysts meeting last Friday which had opposite effect from what it intended. Six firm put downgraded the stock this morning: Deutsche Bank to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ with a $3 target price cut; JPMorgan from ‘overweight’ to ‘neutral’; Collins Stewart from ‘buy’ to ‘neutral’ with a $3 price target; Kaufman Brothers from ‘buy’ to ‘hold’; Mizuho from ‘buy’ to ‘neutral’; and Raymond James from ‘strong buy’ to ‘outperform’.

Tegal Corp. (NASDAQ: TGAL)is down more than -13%, at $2.03, in a 52-week range of $1.50-$4.95. The company participates in large scale solar power projects. The company has been trying to auction its intellectual property portfolio and was forced last week to extend the deadline for bids by two weeks. That pushed the shares down to the 52-week low and the continuing softness no doubt signals that investors are worried about how successful the IP sale will be.

Paul Ausick

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.

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

We have compiled the news or the catalyst for each, as well as offered additional color and an expected move for the week ahead.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) is already worth almost $80 billion so we’d normally not care so much about one upcoming drug.  The issue coming this Wednesday is a FDA panel review of its Meridia drug, which is to treat obesity.  As the obesity class is largely unmet and as there have been many FDA roadblocks on this indication for others, this could easily be a new blockbuster drug if ultimately approved.

Adobe Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) are one issue.  It appears as though Steve Jobs decided that he was being too much like some other Technocrats in his heavy-handed and severely limiting blockage of Flash.  This last week Apple relaxed some App restrictions and requirements, and Wall Street’s vote was that this means that Adobe’s Flash will now get to run on iPhone and iPad platforms. While Adobe closed down 2% at $32.20 Friday, its shares closed up 9.5% for the week and its 52-week range is $26.01 to $38.20.  With Samsung apparently bringing a tablet earlier than expected, Steve Jobs may have waited too long to stop his heavy-handed tricks.

Allos Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALTH) was up 6.8% at $4.25 on Friday after it was floated out there are as one of the possible takeover candidates in the sector.  Frankly, the argument sounded weak but there was over 300% normal share volume and the low call option volume was actually well above normal trading levels.  The 52-week trading range is $3.58 to $8.79.

Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY) has earnings this coming Tuesday.  With all the technology warnings seen and with the building of inventories, we have been critical of the lack of any guidance from the company.  It has to be expected that Best Buy will talk down the yearly results when it reports, but there is a lot of that warning already baked into the cake now.  At $33.88, its 52-week range is $30.90 to $48.83.

Cheniere Energy, Inc. (AMEX: LNG) saw a large pop of Friday night after it already closed up almost 6% at $2.66 Friday because of a Department of Energy approval allowing it to sell LNG all over the world.  But then came more than a 10% pop after Jim Cramer talked it up on CNBC’s MAD MONEY.  The 52-week trading range is $1.77 – $5.40, but investors may also not want to forget about the Cheniere Energy Partners LP. (AMEX: CQP) in there also.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) has its analyst meeting on Tuesday.  You know the routine and it is not an uncertain outlook.  Chambers needs to address this dividend.  Cisco is a tech growth leader, but the stock has been dead money and by the looks of it all the share buybacks conducted to date have just been to keep employee stock options from diluting the stock too bad.  Chambers always talks about “Caishe-flow” and he needs to start paying a dividend.

Citigroup (C) may earn $20 billion in 2012 (FT)

Macquarie Group, Australia’s largest investment bank, is on the hunt for more U.S. assets. (Bloomberg)

Regulators have told Bank of America (BAC) management that the financial firm must become “much smaller” (Fox Business).

Apple (AAPL) is still making changes to the iPad ahead of its April 3 launch.  (Forbes)

Biotechs Dendreon (DNDN), Allos Therapeutics (ALTH), Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN) and Auxilium Pharmaceuticals (AUXL) are probable takeover targets (Barron’s)

Douglas A. McIntyre

America First Tax Exempt Investors, L.P. (Nasdaq: ATAX) priced its secondary offering of 4,200,000 limited partnership interests at $5.05 per unit.  The firm raised about $19.95 million in net proceeds after the  payment of fees.  This one is trading up 0.5% at $5.08 and the 52-week trading range is $4.25 to $7.00.

ARYx Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARYX) announced that it has secured $35 million in a committed equity financing facility.  It will sell shares of common stock to Commerce Court Small Cap Value Fund over a 24 month period.  There is a maximum number of shares that can be sold and it is under no obligation to utilize any of the $35 million.  The company is also free to enter other equity and debt financing transactions.  ARYx shares are down 3% at $3.04 and the market cap here is $83.5 million.

AspenBio Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: APPY) is getting slashed and burned on its secondary offering.  It sold 4,482,609 shares of common stock at $1.70 per share, but that is after a $2.16 close yesterday.  Shares are down 17% at $1.79 on 175,000 shares.  This one is raising cash close to the bottom as the 52-week trading range is $1.05 to $7.78.

Avis Budget Group, Inc. (NYSE: CAR) is under pressure as it has filed to sell some $250 million in convertible senior notes and on word that it intends to simultaneously enter into a warrant transaction to effectively hedge the convertible note sale.  These transactions often see selling, and that is what we are seeing here.  Shares are down 9% at $12.06 today and the market cap ius roughly $1.25 billion.

Gammon Gold, Inc. (NYSE: GRS) could be in the first wave of many smaller gold players to raise cash now that gold is over $1,000 per ounce.  The company announced a $100 million bought deal financing with a syndicate of underwriters including BMO and UBS.  The underwriters agreed to buy on a bought deal basis some 11.24 million shares of common stock at $8.90 per share.  We have shares down 5.5% at $8.85 on about 1,7 million shares (only 900K on average trading day).

LINN Energy, LLC (NASDAQ: LINE) priced some 7,500,000 units of limited liability company interests at $21.90 per unit.  Net proceeds are about $157 million before any overallotments.  This one is down 3.4% at $22.35 and the 52-week trading range is $10.81 to $24.09.  The market cap before the effect of any offering dilution is listed as $2.7 billion.

Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: SGMO) is getting its wings clipped this morning.  It priced its secondary offering of 3,000,000 shares of common stock at $7.20 per share.  This one has doubled this year and shares are down almost 11% at $7.12 after closing at $8.00 yesterday.  The 52-week trading range is $1.82 to $9.39 and the market cap before any effects of the dilution is listed as $293 million after today’s drop.

As long as the capital markets stay open, we’d expect more and more companies use the strength to raise cash either for acquisitions or for a rainy day.

JON C. OGG
OCTOBER 7, 2009

The most substantial activity is in RIM (RIMM)   Tibco (TIBX)  United Community Banks (UCBI)  and Allos (ALTH).

Douglas A. McIntyre

Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) may be worth almost 30% more than its current price according to a Barron’s feature article.  The article notes that this is the one  video game company to benefit the most if  games will eclipse film and television in as little as five years… With its wildly popular Guitar Hero, World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and more…. Barron’s thinks it has the most to gain.

American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) has become crack for day traders.  Runs of $5 and $10 in a day are being seen and they  are now so fast that that many traders are having to buy and sell put and call options because they can’t get a fill fast enough on the stock unless they want to risk trusting a market order.  This volatility is not likely to stop as long as the markets stay favorable.  Interestingly, there are no real targets on it, its value is completely up for debate, and it is heavily shorted.  After closing up 5% just above $50.00 on Friday, and after seeing $55.00 intra-day, we wanted to beg the sinful question… What does $100 AIG look like????

In yesterday’s DAY TRADER alerts, we noticed that four of our six picks were hitting new 52-week highs… Traders frequently chase stocks on highs as more highs often beget more highs….

The FDA calendar…. Allos Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: ALTH) is braced for a September 2 announcement from a regulatory panel which is reviewing its cancer drug candidate pralatrexate.  This stock pulled back and came down about 7% from the highs of the week to close at $7.48 and its 52-week trading range is $3.82 to $9.95.  With a $667 million market cap, Allos is going to be one of this week’s top small-cap biotech stocks to watch.  You don’t have to take our word for it… Look at Friday’s massive options trading just in the SEPTEMBER Put and Call options where bets were made with real cash:

• $7.50 CALLS 1,070 contracts traded Friday vs. open interest of 5,086 contracts.
• $10.00 CALLS 3,251 contracts traded Friday vs. open interest of 19,302 contracts.
• $12.50 CALLS 2,121 contracts traded Friday vs. open interest of 1,255 contracts.
• $2.50 PUTS 11,649 contracts traded Friday vs. open interest of 4,616 contracts.
• $5.00 PUTS 12,871 contracts traded Friday vs. open interest of 54,723 contracts.
• $7.50 PUTS 2,865 contracts traded Friday vs. open interest of 6,074 contracts.

Tree.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: TREE) may have just gotten its future dimmed.  Tree’s LendingTree.com unit filed a lawsuit last week against technology provider Mortech, Inc. for contract violation.  Mortech’s technology helps automate lender offer pricing and LendingTree asserts that Mortech violated its contractual covenants by partnering with Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) to launch an online mortgage loan aggregator service similar to LendingTree.   It said that it “was unsuccessful in resolving the dispute amicably and therefore took legal action” and is seeking temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction enjoining Mortech from assisting Google.  Tree has every reason to be scared here.  Google entering subscriber businesses or other premium businesses that offer a close alternative for free in order to hopefully score on advertising dollars down the road.  Go ask Stifel Nicolaus what it think this will do TREE… the brokerage firm cut its rating to SELL after the news.  This fell almost 6% on Thursday and then fell almost 7% on Friday to $7.38.  This was hitting $10.00 briefly in early August and its 52-week trading range is $1.42 to $13.07.

Earnings season is officially over.  But there are some stragglers still dribbling earnings, and VeriFone Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: PAY) is among them with its report on Tuesday September 1… VeriFone is not a market-call make or break stock, but the company has never really recovered from its pre-accounting woes.  Thomson Reuters has estimates pegged at $0.18 EPS on close to $202.2 million in revenue.  The merchant transaction processor closed at $11.06 on Friday and the 52-week trading range is $2.31 to $21.17 and its market cap is still just under $1 billion.  But when you go back to its pre-fraud stock level that had nothing to do with a recession or a bear market,  VeriFone went from $50.00 to $20.00 and then spent almost all of 2008 between $10 and $20 before the rug was yanked out from under it again.  So why do we care?  The stock is at a major inflection point.  Its 2005 IPO was at $10.00 and now literally just about every single investor who bought VeriFone since November 2008 is now very profitable.  This is also right at the old support level of 2008… Watch this one as the earnings reaction either way could be a substantial one.  Oddly enough, the options trading here in this one has been very soft.

S&P announced some index changes on Friday, and this will likely create pops in the two new S&P entrants.  Exponent Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPO) will replace Kirby in the S&P SmallCap 600 after the close of trading on Tuesday, September 8.  Encore Wire Corp. (NASDAQ: WIRE) will replace Axsys Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AXYS) in the S&P SmallCap 600 after the close of trading on a date to be announced since Axsys Technologies is being acquired by General Dynamics (NYSE: GD).

Speaking of Axsys Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AXYS), this will also be one to watch this week.  Axsys has received an early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, meaning there were no problems by the government review of its proposed acquisition by General Dynamics (NYSE: GD).  But the deal does remain subject to Axsys shareholder approval and customary closing conditions. Axsys is going to be key to watch as it has a special stockholder meeting for September 1, 2009 regarding this merger.  Many consider the buyout at $54.00 one that is too cheap, and its stock is already at $54.00.  We had a hedge fund manager contact us regarding the “deal looking too cheap” and he gave more detailed information on the options trading.  For starters, Gabellli’s GAMCO Investors, Inc. (NYSE: GBL) has amassed a rather large stake of close to 10% and many feel they and other holders are going to try to press for more many.  Our own digging around looks like many are wanting north of $60.00, and the 52-week highs aren’t just north of $60.00… the high is over $73.00.  The NOV-2009 $55 CALLS had 1,671 contracts trade on Friday versus a listed open interest of 15,496 contracts and we saw the FEB-2010 $55 CALLS had 2,224 contracts trade on Friday versus a listed open interest of 10,595 contracts.  Some think a better deal is going to be demanded.

Enjoy your weekend, and don’t be too shocked this week as trading volume starts to dry up with so many traders and investors out during the pre-Labor Day holiday week.  All major US financial markets are closed on Monday, September 7.

You are welcome to join our open email distribution list if you wish to receive reminders and updates on information like this and on IPO’s, mergers, Buffett and guru position changes, key analyst calls, and more.
JON C. OGG
AUGUST 29, 2009

The full presentation can be seen at BioHealthInvestor.com.

JON C. OGG
May 27, 2009

You can see that full pre-report here at BiohealthInvestor.com.  As always be advised that there may be new sets of data released between now and the actual meeting from May 29 to June 2, 2009 in Orlando, Florida.