24/7 Wall St. » APEI

Expected Price Gains at For-Profit Education Companies (APOL, EDMC, APEI, STRA, DV, WPO, COCO, BPI, LOPE, CECO)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:06:57 +0000

Share prices at for-profit education companies peaked in June and July this year, following a slow start. At the beginning of the year there was widespread fear that new federal rules related to student loans, recruiting practices and employment upon graduation would eviscerate revenues and earnings. However, the rules changes were less onerous than anticipated, and stock prices gradually climbed back up. Enrollments are still a problem at some schools, but share prices are well above lows at most of the companies.

The ten companies we have looked at are Apollo Group (NASDAQ: APOL), Education Management (NASDAQ: EDMC), American Public Education (NASDAQ: APEI), Strayhorn Education (NASDAQ: STRA), DeVry (NYSE: DV), Washington Post (NYSE: WPO), Corinthian Colleges (NASDAQ: COCO), Bridgeport Education (NYSE: BPI), Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ: LOPE), and Career Education (NASDAQ: CECO).

All data is from Yahoo! Finance, and current share prices were gathered in the mid-afternoon today.

Apollo Group has a median target price of $53.00 from 15 brokers. Shares are trading today at $46.09, for an implied gain of $6.91, or 15%. Apollo’s forward P/E is 12.72 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $33.75 to $54.23, and at today’s price that is about 37% above its 52-week low and 15% below the 52-week high. The company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings a couple of weeks ago and jumped more than 10% in a day. But lower enrollments plague the company, which has managed to keep revenue up by raising tuition and fees.

Education Management has a median target price of $20.00 from 11 brokers. Shares are trading today at $20.48, about 0.5% above the target price. Education Management’s forward P/E is 13.36 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $11.56 to $28.61. At today’s price it is about 77% above its 52-week low and 28% below the 52-week high. The company beat both quarterly EPS and revenue estimates when it reported earnings last week. But a warning on future enrollment and profit declines have cooled enthusiasm for the shares.

American Public Education has a median target price of $45.00 from 10 brokers. Shares are trading today at $35.11, for an implied gain of $9.89, or 28%. APEI’s forward P/E is 14.50 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $26.15 to $49.29, and at today’s price that is about 49% above its 52-week low and 26% below the 52-week high. The company reports earnings next week and is expected to post EPS of $0.42 on revenue of $62 million. The EPS figure is less than the June quarter, but better than the same period a year ago.

Strayhorn Education has a median target price of $104.00 from 12 brokers. Shares are trading today at $83.06, for an implied gain of $20.94, or 25%. Strayhorn’s forward P/E is 11.39 and the company pays a dividend yield of 4.6%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $69.34 to $165.73 Today’s price is about 29% above its 52-week low and 50% below the 52-week high. The company reports earnings on Thursday and is expected to post EPS of $1.07 on $139 million in revenue. That is a big dip from the same quarter a year ago, when EPS came in at $1.72, and an even bigger dip sequentially, from $2.53 in the June quarter.

DeVry has a median target price of $52.50 from 16 brokers. Shares are trading today at $38.14, for an implied gain of $14.36, or 38%. DeVry’s forward P/E is 8.55 and the company pays a dividend yield of 0.6%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $34.24 to $66.85, and at today’s price that is about 11% above its 52-week low and 43% below the 52-week high. The company missed both EPS and revenue projections last week when it reported its first fiscal-quarter 2012 results. Enrollment was also lower as bleak job prospects keep potential students away.

Washington Post has a median target price of $275.00 from just a single broker. Shares are trading today at $336.80, about 18% above the target price. The forward P/E is 19.44 and the company pays a dividend yield of 2.6%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $308.50 to $455.68. Today’s price is about 9% above its 52-week low and 26% below the 52-week high. The Kaplan education division of the company contributes more than 50% of Washington Post’s revenues and nearly half of net income. The company is expected to post EPS of $3.85 on revenue of $1 billion this Friday. The lack of coverage makes this stock a tough one to figure out.

Corinthian Colleges has a median target price of $2.00 from 10 brokers. Shares are trading today at $2.04, fractionally above the target price. Corinthian’s forward P/E is 9.93 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $1.24 to $6.12, and at today’s price that is about 65% above its 52-week low and 67% below the 52-week high.

Bridgeport Education has a median target price of $26.00 from 10 brokers. Shares are trading today at $22.94, for an implied gain of $3.06, or 13%. Bridgeport’s forward P/E is 8.88 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $13.89 to $30.62, and at today’s price that is about 65% above its 52-week low and 25% below the 52-week high. The company posted better-than-expected third-quarter earnings this morning and raised full-year EPS guidance to $2.95 to $2.98. Enrollment is expected to fall by about 5,000-8,000 students by the end of December.

Grand Canyon Education has a median target price of $18.50 from 10 brokers. Shares are trading today at $15.97, for an implied gain of $2.53, or 16%. Grand Canyon’s forward P/E is 13.22 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $12.26 to $20.66, and at today’s price that is about 30% above its 52-week low and 35% below the 52-week high. The company reports third-quarter earnings next week and is expected to post EPS 0f $0.25 on $109 million in revenues.

Career Education has a median target price of $20 from 11 brokers. Shares are trading today at $15.79, for an implied gain of $4.21, or 27%. The forward P/E is 8.77 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $12.24 to $27.60, and at today’s price that is about 29% above its 52-week low and 43% below the 52-week high. The company reports third-quarter earnings next week, and the consensus EPS estimate is $0.34 on $457 million in revenue. The EPS estimate has been trimmed from $0.46 over the past three months. Shares gained nearly 5% on October 19th, following the strong earnings report from Apollo.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: General Tagged: APEI, APOL, BPI, CECO, COCO, DV, EDMC, LOPE, STRA, WPO

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (BAC, CHTR, HAL, EP, KO, IBM, JNJ, STT, APEI, BMI, CROX, HALO, HOG, HGSI, USU)

Administrator — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:08:25 +0000

Today was a day of red that went to a day of green. Earnings were at first a disappointment, and producer price index came out far hotter at +0.8% on the headline number before the +0.2% reading if you back out food and energy prices from the producer prices. The market rallied with financial stocks from the start of the day and the market losses suddenly became gains. Homebuilders also looked a bit less-pessimistic in their latest survey. The big news came from a report out of England that France and Germany have supposedly agreed to increase the European Financial Stability Fund to up to $2 billion ahead of the Sunday meeting, although this seems to be a stretch based upon Europe’s slowness to act so far.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up triple digits with a gain of 178 points to 11,575.46, the NASDAQ rose more than 42 (1.6%) to 2,657.43, and the S&P 500 rose 2% or 24 points to 1,225.28. Today’s top analyst upgrade and downgrade calls were numerous and included Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR), Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL), and more than a dozen other companies.

There has been a turnaround from the indicated loss in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) after its earnings showed that book value managed to actually grow and the stock was up almost 10% at $6.63 late in the session.

Some food for thought… Now the MLP and pipeline sector may look cheap on the heels of the El Paso Corporation (NYSE: EP) buyout.

As far as the other big earnings report reactions today (prices within 20 minutes of the closing bell): The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) was down 0.3% at $66.79; International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM) was a huge drag on teh DJIA with shares still down 4.5% at $178.30; Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) was up 1.2% at $64.54; State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) was up 9% at $36.97.

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

American Public Education Inc. (NASDAQ: APEI) lost more than 20% of its value to $30.05 after the American Military University will see far lower tuition assistance from the U.S. Marine Corps.

Badger Meter Inc. (NYSE: BMI) was a loser even if it is supposed to be a water winner after missing earnings estimates. Shares were down 13% at $29.08 in the final minutes of the day.

Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) was a disaster after an earnings warning that would not have been so bad had the stock not been up 100% from its 52-week lows before the report. The stock was down a massive 39% at $16.20 right before the close on more than 8-times normal volume of 25 million shares.

Halozyme Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: HALO) was such a winner that it should be called “Master Chief” for its stock ticker. Its subcutaneous Herceptin trial met the study goals and the stock was up over 18% at $7.34 right before the close. This was not even a 52-week high.

Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG) was about 4% shy of sales targets in its earnings report and that had the stock down 7% to $34.56 right before the close. With a 52-week high of $46.88, it seemed a bit harsh of a reaction even with slightly lower margin guidance.

Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) was up over 15% at $12.95 on reports that a $25.00 per share buyout could be headed its way. We gave a handicap on the odds of a deal happening.

USEC Inc. (NYSE: USU) broke a major run higher today and still no news exists. The belief is that the loan approval from the DOE may get a better review now that solar loan fraud seems to be prevailing after Solyndra. Shares were down 4% at $2.10 right before the close. Still, this was a $1.30 stock just last Thursday.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. We have speeches to watch from Rosengren and Lockhart on the docket as well as a hearing about ETFs. Here are some economic releases due in the morning and throughout the day:

8:30 September CPI
8:30 Housing Starts
10:30 Weekly Oil Inventories
2:00 PM Beige Book

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Economy, The Day Tagged: APEI, BAC, BMI, CHTR, CROX, EP, HAL, HALO, HGSI, HOG, IBM, JNJ, KO, STT, USU

Are New Rules For For-Profit Colleges An Opportunity? (APEI, WMT, APOL, EDMC, CECO, COCO, DV, STRA, WPO)

247wallst — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 15:11:27 +0000

Earlier this month, while everyone’s attention was focused on the midterm elections, the US Department of Education published proposed new rules governing access to federal direct and federally guaranteed student loans. The most controversial of the new rules is that to maintain their eligibility to receive new student loan funds schools must maintain a repayment rate of 65%. Repayment means that interest and principle payments are up to date.
That may sound like a pretty low bar, but the repayment rate at for-profit colleges is a mere 36%. The threat to loan funds available to students at for-profit schools has pushed share prices down by an average of about 32% since the beginning of the year. American Public Education, Inc. (NASDAQ: APEI) has bucked the trend, staying about flat due mainly to a deal with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT). For-profit schools including Apollo Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL), which owns the University of Phoenix, Education Management Corp. (NASDAQ: EDMC), Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ: CECO), Corinthian Colleges, Inc. (NASDAQ: COCO), DeVry Inc. (NYSE: DV), and Strayer Education, Inc. (NASDAQ: STRA) are all down at least 20%, with Corinthian down nearly 70% in the past 52 weeks. The Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO), owner of the Kaplan schools and test preparation programs, is down only slightly in the same time period, thanks in large part to its for-profit schools.
The schools have been under fire for their student loan practices for years, and the Secretary of Education notes that “students attending for-profit schools are the most likely to default [on student loans]. While for-profit schools have profited and prospered thanks to federal dollars, some of their students have not. Far too many for-profit schools are saddling students with debt they cannot afford in exchange for degrees and certificates they cannot use. This is a disservice to students and taxpayers, and undermines the valuable work being done by the for-profit education industry as a whole.”
Federal rules prohibit a school, public or private, from collecting more than 90% of its student fees in the form of federal loans and grants. Some of the schools, such as The University of Phoenix and the Kaplan schools, are in danger of exceeding that limit, which, of course, would limit enrollment and, ultimately, growth. Corinthian has already said that “a substantial percentage” of its schools may exceed the 90% limitation.
Even worse from the schools’ perspective is a rule that would require schools to track the number of graduates who are gainfully employed and can pay back their loans. The for-profit schools have raised such a stink about this rule that the Dept. of Education has agreed to delay a rule until sometime next year.
The change of political control in the US House of Representatives is not expected to reverse the drive for tighter federal oversight of loans and grants. The state of Florida is investigating whether Kaplan, Phoenix, and others may have misrepresented themselves to students. The Republican party, which has mostly been sympathetic to the for-profit schools, is not expected to press for relaxing the rules while the schools are under investigation.
The news on regulations at for-profit schools has been around long enough to have been priced in to different companies’ stocks. For some this may seem like a buying opportunity, but unless Congress takes action, which is highly doubtful, the regulations overhang will keep weighing on these stocks, no matter how good their balance sheets look.

–Paul Ausick

Filed under: Turnarounds Tagged: APEI, APOL, CECO, COCO, DV, EDMC, STRA, WMT, WPO

The Unusual Suspects For The Week Ahead (ARO, APEI, IRE, BRK-A, BRK-B, CSCO, DNDN, GSAT, HPQ, RIMM, SD, TGT, TNH, DIS, GLD)

Administrator — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 15:18:56 +0000

There are many issues on deck for The Unusual Suspects that are carryover issues from Friday or which have events on the schedule. This week’s Unusual Suspects for the week ahead covers Aeropostale, Inc. (NYSE: ARO), American Public Education, Inc. (NASDAQ: APEI), The Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A), Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN), Globalstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: GSAT), Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), Research-in-Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM), SandRidge Energy, Inc. (NYSE: SD), Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT), Terra Nitrogen Company, L.P. (NYSE: TNH), Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), and even the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD). We have given a large rundown of the event or catalyst for each, as well as our directional expectations for the week ahead.

Aeropostale, Inc. (NYSE: ARO) did some technical damage and the fundamentals may be shifting here. This is a company that managed to grow sales during much of the recession and either the cycle is peaking or there are issues. When it said that same-store sales grew only 1%, it also gave the revenue figure for its Q2 period rising 9% to $495.1 million with an expected earnings of $0.45 to $0.46 EPS vs. $0.38 a year ago but versus a prior guidance of $0.45 to $0.48 EPS. The company said the guidance was “due primarily to the challenging retail environment, as well as a change in consumer shopping behaviors.” The company has earnings estimates of $2.79 EPS this year, $3.02 EPS next year, and $3.36 two-years out. Shares are not expensive in valuation at under $25.00 versus a 52-week range of $19.10 to $33.24, but the problem is this was over $30.00 as recently as July 23. This one was weak on above average volume. Aeropostale shares have to fly lower. If this follows the same pattern as late 2008 when it broke under the 200-day moving average as we saw this week, then this will stabilize for a few days and then it will fall about 15% lower. There is more risk than reward in the stock.

American Public Education, Inc. (NASDAQ: APEI) murdered its shareholders with its lower full-year guidance based upon lower military student enrollments. Shares hit a new 52-week low of $28.50 with a closing price of $28.96. The 32% drop on Friday, along with the new legislation after industry investigations that risk federal funding, is going to keep pressure on it and on peers (for-profit education peer tickers are APOL, CECO, COCO, WPO, LOPE, BPI, CPLA, EDMC, DV, ESI, LINC). The turbulence and volatility here will likely remain elevated for this company and its related peers.

The Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) had its ADRs touted by Barron’s in this weekend’s edition for international traders. It noted, “A Brighter Day for Two Bailed-Out Banks : Lloyds Banking Group and Bank of Ireland appear poised to perform well.” We have previously noted how this one could run up to $5.50 before any real resistance comes into play. This leaves about 20% upside if our call is right. The stock is still under the highs on Monday of $4.86 with a $4.75 close, but this Friday’s close versus the prior Friday’s close IRE’s brought a gain of almost 4%. Unless the Euro-currency tanks, there is more room to run higher here.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) reported earnings on Friday after the close that can be interpreted as both bearish and bullish. Earnings were $3.074 billion versus $1.78 billion in the second quarter of 2009 as $1,866 per share on an adjusted basis. The net figure after you back out a $671 per share hit against earnings from the derivatives losses comes to earnings of $1,195 per share. Thomson Reuters had estimates at $1,360.44. The A-Shares closed at $120,600.00. Berkshire Hathaway still holds the week old “top performer” as we said the performance of the conglomerates was making “2010, The Year of the Conglomerates.”

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) may be a winner of the H-P scandal as its efforts to go into the data center now competes against H-P. Cisco has earnings on Wednesday after the closing bell. and it was in our “Next Week’s Can’t Miss Earnings” on Friday before the close. At $24.07, its 52-week trading range is $20.68 to $27.74.

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) was reported after the close Friday as having received a letter from the FDA hitting it on marketing materials, which we have outlined at BioHealthInvestor.com with our expected outlook. Profit taking versus buyout rumors (hopes).

Globalstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: GSAT) is still up considerably from the lows of late-2008 and early-2009 but at $1.77 this is down close to 90% from the post-IPO highs of late 2006. The sat-phone provider had a late-Friday amended S-3 filing around 2:40 PM EST showing that holders would be able to sell up to 13,000,000 shares from stockholders associated with its acquisition on December 18, 2009 of certain assets and the assumption of certain liabilities of NOXA Holdings LLC. Go back to December 18 and the stock was only trading at $0.95 versus the $1.77 close on Friday. Some guys who sold their company are now able to lock in an extra 84% in gains on top of the business sale. With an average volume of about 700,000 shares and with trading volume having been low and under average volume every day since July 16, it seems like a selling volume wave from holders is about to come into play that could make shares a bit cheaper. Its 52-week range is $0.61 to $2.11.

Filed under: Calendar, Earnings, The Day, The Week Tagged: APEI, ARO, BRK-A, BRK-B, CSCO, DIS, DNDN, GLD, GSAT, HPQ, IRE, RIMM, SD, TGT, TNH

Over $8 Billion in New Stock Buyback Plans (RL, APEI, DTV, EMN, SWKS, WBMD, ATML, GD, OC, PCL, AUTC, DISCA, FMCN, CVLT, WRB, WMS, VRSN)

Administrator — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:36:25 +0000

2010 has been called the year of dividend by us, but it seems that share buybacks in earnings season are still alive and well. Of the buybacks we have tracked in various earnings releases or new authorizations this week, we found more than $8 billion had been earmarked for buybacks. That does not even include some smaller plans.

The big buybacks we tracker were as follows, mostly from more recent to earlier in the week: Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL), American Public Education, Inc. (NASDAQ: APEI), DIRECTV (NASDAQ: DTV), Eastman Chemical Co. (NYSE: EMN), Skyworks Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS), WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ: WBMD), Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML), General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD), Owens Corning (NYSE: OC), Plum Creek Timber Co. Inc. (NYSE: PCL), AutoChina International Ltd. (NASDAQ: AUTC), Discovery Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA), Focus Media Holding Limited (NASDAQ: FMCN), CommVault Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CVLT), W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB), WMS Industries Inc. (NYSE: WMS), and VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN).

There are some of these that were new plans. Some were in addition to existing plans. Some appear to have been voted on earlier and were included in earnings announcements. We have a few of the standout plan announcements listed out below, and then we have a table showing the big plans and the total amount.

American Public Education (NASDAQ: APEI) got crushed after earnings and the amount thrown forward into a buyback may seem insignificant to a market cap north of $550 million. It announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a program to repurchase up to $20 million worth of shares of common stock.

Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL): “The program permits the Company to repurchase $250 million of its shares of Class A Common Stock, subject to market conditions. This amount is in addition to the $319 million available at the end of the first quarter of Fiscal 2011 as part of previously authorized stock repurchase programs, bringing the Company’s total current authorizations to $569 million.”

VeriSign Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) was included in the earnings report and the company said the Board approved it last week: “the Board of Directors approved an additional authorization for share repurchases of approximately $1.1 billion, which brings the total amount authorized and remaining under the plan to $1.5 billion.”

DIRECTV (NASDAQ: DTV) repurchased $1.72 Billion of company stock in the second quarter and its Board approved an additional $2.0 Billion stock repurchase program.

Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA) said its board of directors has approved a stock repurchase program and is authorized to purchase up to $1 billion of its common stock.

General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) authorized management to repurchase up to 10 million shares of the issued and outstanding common stock on the open market, which comes to roughly $635 million in today’s price.

Company	Buyback
Ralph Lauren (RL)	$569,000,000
American Public Education (APEI)	$20,000,000
DIRECTV (DTV)	$2,000,000,000
Eastman Chemical (EMN)	$300,000,000
Skyworks Solutions (SWKS)	$200,000,000
WebMD Health Corp. (WBMD)	$150,000,000
Atmel Corporation (ATML)	$200,000,000
General Dynamics (GD)	$635,000,000
Owens Corning (OC)	$285,000,000
Plum Creek Timber Co. (PCL)	$200,000,000
AutoChina International Ltd. (AUTC)	$55,000,000
Discovery Communications Inc (DISCA)	$1,000,000,000
Focus Media Holding Limited (FMCN)	$300,000,000
CommVault Systems (CVLT)	$66,900,000
W. R. Berkley Corporation (WRB)	$260,000,000
WMS Industries Inc. (WMS)	$300,000,000
VeriSign, Inc. (VRSN)	$1,500,000,000
TOTAL BUYBACK DOLLARS	$8,040,900,000

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JON C. OGG

Filed under: Dividend, Shareholder Issues, Stock Buybacks Tagged: APEI, ATML, AUTC, CVLT, DISCA, DTV, EMN, FMCN, GD, OC, PCL, RL, SWKS, VRSN, WBMD, WMS, WRB

Top Day Trader Alerts (ATVI, ATPG, APEI, CROX, GNVC)

Administrator — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 13:07:54 +0000

Day traders have a few big movers to choose from this Friday morning. While many stocks are moving after earnings, there are several percentage gainers and losers that stand out in the pack for day traders and active traders. We are seeing significant moves in shares of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI), ATP Oil & Gas Corp. (NASDAQ: ATPG), American Public Education, Inc. (NASDAQ: APEI), CROCS, Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX), and GenVec, Inc. (NASDAQ: GNVC).

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) is getting clipped this morning after its revenue for Q2 and outlook for Q3 failed to ignite any buying. Shares are trading down over 7% at $10.90 on almost 1 million shares.

ATP Oil & Gas Corp. (NASDAQ: ATPG) reported a wider loss than expected; shares are down 15% at $11.29 on about 400,000 shares.

American Public Education, Inc. (NASDAQ: APEI) is getting crushed after it guided lower due to military recruiting. A GAO report from yesterday also is pressuring the group on a continued basis as for-profit education is under fire in D.C. Shares are down over 35% and just under $27.50 on over 500,000 shares.

CROCS, Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) is surging higher this morning after it beat earnings estimates and guided higher for next quarter. The ugly-shoe maker is seeing shares up almost 9% at $13.67 on over 130,000 shares.

GenVec, Inc. (NASDAQ: GNVC) is trading higher on news that it has a hearing loss development pact with Novartis. Shares are trading up 13%, but this is still a penny stock trading at $0.58.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert Tagged: APEI, ATPG, ATVI, CROX, GNVC

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ARO, AEO, APEI, AWR, ADSK, CECO, COCO, DV, KLIC, RTP, RIG)

Administrator — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 12:15:33 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Friday morning:

Aeropostale, Inc. (NYSE: ARO) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE: AEO) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
American Public Education, Inc. (NASDAQ: APEI) Cut to Market Perform at BMO.
American States Water Company (NYSE: AWR) Cut to Hold at Brean Murray.
Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Career Education (NASDAQ: CECO) Cut to Market Perform at BMO.
Corinthian Colleges, Inc. (NASDAQ: COCO) Cut to Market Perform at BMO.
Devry, Inc. (NYSE: DV) Cut to Market Perform at BMO.
Kulicke & Soffa Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: KLIC) Cut to Underperform at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RTP) Raised to Outperform at BNP Paribas.
Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ADSK, AEO, APEI, ARO, AWR, CECO, COCO, DV, KLIC, RIG, RTP

The Unusual Suspects (APOL, STD, BDX, BBY, BP, CTIC, FDX, NFLX, NLST, QCOR, ROSE, WEN, APEI, COCO, UPS)

Administrator — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 15:05:58 +0000

This weekend’s edition of the UNUSUAL SUSPECTS is an unusual list indeed. We have many big issues to watch for the coming week. Our cast of characters in the UNUSUAL SUSPECTS includes Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL), Banco Santander SA (NYSE: STD), Becton Dickinson and Company (NYSE: BDX), Best Buy Co Inc. (NYSE: BBY), BP plc (NYSE: BP), Cell Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: CTIC), FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX), Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), Netlist, Inc. (NASDAQ: NLST), Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOR), Rosetta Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ: ROSE), and Wendy’s/Arby’s Group, Inc. (NYSE: WEN).

We have provided detail on what to watch for, expected moves, and added color on each where applicable.

Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) closed up 1.6% at $51.10, American Public Education Inc. (NASDAQ: APEI) closed up 2.9% at $47.48, and Corinthian Colleges Inc. (NASDAQ: COCO) closed up 2.5% at $11.93 all on positive sector development chatter. Reports were out Friday that there will be a delay to a pending government measure that would penalize schools for graduating students with high debt-to-income ratios. If that is the case, then these stocks could recover far more than 2% as a group.

Banco Santander SA (NYSE: STD) closed up 6.5% on Friday based on the notion that the bank’s CEO said at the annual meeting that he still expects to have a similar net profit for 2010 as it did in 2009 when it posted a profit of about 8.89 billion e[uros. This was a runner-up bank on our list of the year’s worst performing ADRs as we were looking for grossly oversold opportunities in Europe.

Becton Dickinson and Company (NYSE: BDX), a recently added Buffett holding, was given a positive article in Barron’s. The maker of syringes was noted as “Could Give Investors a Shot in the Arm” as it is poised for stronger growth than what estimates have factored in based upon innovative products. Barron’s said “The stock may jump 40%” and based upon a -0.1% day on Friday at $69.69 with a 52-week range of $63.41 to $80.56, this could be up about 4% or so on Monday if the market is healthy.

Best Buy Co Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is reporting earnings on Tuesday morning and Thomson Reuters sees estimates at $0.50 EPS and $10.94 billion in revenues. This is going to be one of the first companies giving us a real outlook (hopefully) on whether consumer spending in electronics is expected to hold up through summer and into later in 2010.

BP plc (NYSE: BP) is at it, again. It isn’t the one that got away, but the one that never goes away. Shares closed up again on Friday, but it is still hard to ignore those options trades this last week that showed options bets were being made for either a possible bankruptcy or an outright implosion beyond what has already been seen as its stock had been down by more than half. CEO Hayward is due to testify this week and we have Monday as the day the expected D-day… “Dividend Decision Day.”

Cell Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: CTIC) already closed up big in percentages with a 24% gain to $0.45 Friday on above-normal trading volume, and this is a couple week’s after diluting shareholder value. Its exploratory analysis of trial data of Pixuvri in those with relapsed or refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was said to show that patients who experienced complete responses to the drug had a 63% chance of being alive at 24 months versus only a 20% chance in patients treated with other drugs. The speculative (and questionable for many) company also said that the study showed a 21% improvement in overall survival rates in other patients. With a $0.12 to $1.90 range of the last 52-week period, this has a chance for a trader-interest revival after the penny stock imploded earlier this year.

FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) is due for earnings on Wednesday of the coming week. Thomson Reuters has estimates of $1.32 EPS on $9.04 billion in revenues. The company will have some currency exposures, but it will be interesting to see if it expects the recent economic woes in Europe to slow down some of its 2010 growth expectations. At $80.63, its 52-week range is $49.76 to $97.75. After just hiking its dividend, we think there is much more room for dividend hikes down the road as its yield is paltry compared to rival United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE: UPS).

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) closed at $120.69 on Friday after putting in a new 52-week high intra-day of $121.55 and it closed out the week with almost an $11.00 gain. The video rental subscribing service came in as the #1 pole position stock on the IBD 100 this weekend of stocks with bullish charts. IBD said that the video renter is expected to up its EPS 21% in Q2, which would be the lowest in about 10 quarters.

Netlist, Inc. (NASDAQ: NLST) may be back as a “Small-cap trader-go-to momentum player” after Friday’s news that its HyperCloud memory module was selected to run on Viglen servers for high-performance computing applications. Shares closed up 29% at $2.45 and shares rose more than 6% to $2.61 in the after-hours session on more than 100,000 extra shares traded. With a 52-week range of $0.30 to $7.98 and with shares having been so parabolic before, the ‘only’ 2.2 million shares on Friday could mean more buyers and sellers start their war next week based on the notion that many will have missed the news and move entirely.

Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOR) was hit in the after-hours session on Friday and will of course be one to watch on Monday morning and beyond. The FDA extended out its date to approve the injectable drug Acthar for infantile spasms, which was listed as being to review the information on the labeling and potential post-approval commitments. This closed up only 0.1% at $10.19 on Friday, but shares fell a sharp 8.2% to $9.35 on over 115,000 shares in the after-hours session on Friday after the news broke.

Rosetta Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ: ROSE) already had a good week a week after Stifel Nicolaus raised its rating to BUY with a $35 Price Target. Now this weekend, Barron’s also said the stock looks like a Buy as the little driller “has inspired a gusher of optimism among some investors, as it drills in shale areas. One bull sees the stock doubling if its most important energy plays pan out.” At $25.23, it has already gained handily as the 52-week range for the independent oil and gas company is $7.08 to $26.48. With the notion of a double being hinted at, this could by up at least 4% or 5% on Monday in a market-neutral scenario and could conceivably open up at new 52-week highs.

Wendy’s/Arby’s Group, Inc. (NYSE: WEN) was one of our recent “stocks which could double” and one of the reasons was the potential for further sector consolidation. Shares closed up over 7% on Friday after Trian disclosed a verbal inquiry regarding a possible takeover of the combined fast food chains. While there is n clue about who or what Nelson Peltz is getting inquiries from or how he will work with them, Wend’s/Arby’s is now in the possible M&A targets. At $4.65, its 52-week range is $3.55 to $5.55.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Calendar, Cult Stock, Earnings, Editor's Picks, Entertainment, Trading Alert Tagged: APEI, APOL, BBY, BDX, BP, COCO, CTIC, FDX, NFLX, NLST, QCOR, ROSE, STD, UPS, WEN

American Public Education Filing Takes Toll (APEI)

247wallst — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:26:00 +0000

American Public Education, Inc. (NASDAQ: APEI) filed to sell just over 4.2 million shares of common stock after the close yesterday after earnings and it is taking its toll on shares this morning.

Affiliates of backer ABS Capital Partners are selling out what appearsto be the entire 23.4% stake in the company.

The company is a provider of online post-secondaryeducation directed at the needs of the military and public servicecommunities. It operates American MilitaryUniversity and American Public University.

The company also gave earnings after the close. Net courseregistrations of approximately 38,900 in the third quarter of 2008, ayear-over-year increase of 54%. Net income for the third quarter of2008 increased approximately 72% to $3.8 million, or $0.20 per share, compared with $2.2 million,or $0.18 per share, in the sameperiod of 2007. Its third quarter 2008 revenue increased 56% to $27.4million, compared with $17.6 million in the third quarter of 2007.

Shares are trading down almost 7% at $40.11 on over 200,000 shares this morning. Its 52-week trading range is $27.56 to $53.24.

JON C. OGG
NOVEMBER 13, 2008

Posted in Secondary Offering Tagged: APEI

IPO’s That More Than Doubled in 2007 (JASO, YGE, MELI, VMW, LULU, MASI, RCH, APEI, ATHN, DM)

247wallst — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 08:20:35 +0000

247WallSt.com wanted to bring a list of the best and worst in IPO’s for 2007. We already gave a list of the large money losing IPO leaders of 2007 and this list should show you which of the recent IPO’s that are up more than 100% so far since the IPO pricing.

JA Solar Holdings (NASDAQ:JASO) Feb. 6 at $15.00; recently $75.43 or +402%.
Yingli Green Energy Holding (NYSE:YGE) June 7 at $11.00; recently $40.09 or +264.4%.
Mercadolibre Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) Aug. 9 at $18.00; recently $60.40 or +235.5%.
VMware (NYSE:VMW) Aug. at $29; recently $88.71 or +202%.
Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) July 26 at $18.00; recently $49.16 or +173.1%.
Masimo Corp. (NASDAQ:MASI) Aug. 7 at $17.00; recently $41.37 or +143.3%.
China Architectural (NYSE: RCH) Sept. 28 at $3.50; recently $8.45 or +141.4%.
American Public Education (NASDAQ:APEI) Nov. 8 at $20.00; recently $44.00 or +120%.
Athenahealth Inc (NASDAQ:ATHN) Sept. 19 at $18.00; recently $38.37 or +113.1%.
Dolan Media (NYSE: DM) Aug. 1 at $14.50; recently $29.80 or +105.5%.

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Jon C. Ogg
December 26, 2007