Among the leading sellers were insiders at Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM), Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN).

On January 5th, Qualcomm announced that it would buy Wi-Fi chipmaker Atheros Communications (NASDAQ: ATHR) for $3.1 billion. Qualcomm shares had been rising sharply since December 31st, when they closed at $49.49. After the deal was made public, Qualcomm’s shares rose to $52.03. Bloomberg reported that insiders sold about 28 million shares during that week. That looks to be about a third of the total number of Qualcomm shares that were traded that week.

The story is much the same at H-P. Some 10 million shares in the company were sold last week by insiders out of a total number of shares traded of about 100 million.

At Amazon.com, about 1.67 million shares were sold by insiders out of roughly 25 million traded last week.

So far in 2011, all three companies have posted share price gains ranging from more than 2% (Amazon) to just less than 8% (H-P). Qualcomm’s gain since the beginning of the year is above 5%.

As much as it would be nice to uncover a juicy conspiracy here, there doesn’t appear to be anything sinister at this point. At least not as far as making trades on inside information is concerned.  It has been a huge move for the stock market and many corporate insiders like to book big profits just like the rest of us.

Qualcomm’s shares are off slightly, at $51.99, near the top of the stock’s 52-week trading range of $31.63-$53.03. H-P shares are up slightly, to $45.57, near the middle of the 52-week range of $37.32-$54.75. Amazon stock is slightly lower, at $183.85, approaching the top of the 52-week range of $105.80-$188.45.

Paul Ausick

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $198 at BofA/ML.
American Capital Agency Corp. (NASDAQ: AGNC) Raised to Buy with $30 target at BofA/ML.
American Express Company (NYSE: AXP) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $53 at BofA/ML.
Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE: NLY) Raised to Buy with $18.50 target at BofA/ML.
Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD) Started as Buy at Citigroup.
Atheros Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHR) Cut to Market Perform at William Blair.
BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. (NYSE: BJ) Maintained Hold but cut estimates at Argus.
Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD) Started as Hold at Wunderlich.
China Mobile Limited (NYSE: CHL) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
DR Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) Maintained Outperform with $36 target at Credit Suisse.
Motorola Solutions Inc. (NYSE: MSI) Started as Hold at Argus.
Rackspace Hosting, Inc (NYSE: RAX) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Randgold Resources Ltd. (NASDAQ: GOLD) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

If you missed yesterday’s analyst calls from 247WallSt.com, the Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades included tickers AA, AMZN, AEP, ADSK, AAPL, BKS, BA, KO, HBAN, NFLX, GOOG, PEP, PCLN, Q, SONC, YHOO.

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JON C. OGG

This morning came the confirmation.  Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) announced that it and Atheros Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHR) have entered into a definitive agreement where Atheros will become part of QUALCOMM.

The potential target list is probably a large one.  This deal will likely create a belief that companies like Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) and Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) will need to go do a deal with a company like ARM Holdings plc (NASDAQ: ARMH); it will also bring a focus on Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) and Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL)as those companies are listed as acquirers in most rumor and trading circles.

QUALCOMM gets to expand into new territory here with this deal.  The CDMA giant is intended to help accelerate its technology and platform expansions to new businesses beyond cellular and to “provide access to significant new growth opportunities.”

The initial talk was close to $45.00 per share, or about $3.1 billion.  It was not originally known if QUALCOMM would dilute with stock to buy Atheros or whether it would tap into its $10 billion cash arsenal.  The terms called for $45.00 per share in cash, in-line with the enterprise value discussed of about $3.1 billion.

Atheros shares rose nearly 20% yesterday alone and its shares had risen almost 40% in the 3-month period before yesterday.

As far as what this adds, Thomson Reuters has estimates as being $922.38 million in revenues for 2010 and $935.08 million in revenues for 2011.  Thomson Reuters expects QUALCOMM to have  $12.77 billion in revenues for fiscal September-2011 and $14 billion for fiscal September-2012.

JON C. OGG

Aluminum Corp Of China (NYSE: ACH) Cut to Undeweight at JPMorgan.
Atheros Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHR) Raised to Outperform at William Blair.
Brinker International (NYSE: EAT) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ Merrill Lynch.
CommScope, Inc. (NYSE: CTV) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Reiterated Buy and $175 target at Auriga.
Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) Raised target to $6.30 at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Nordic American Tanker Shipping (NYSE: NAT) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Panera Bread Co. (NASDAQ: PNRA) Cut to Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Ship Finance International (NYSE: SFL) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TRV) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.
Teekay Corp. (NYSE: TK) Cut To Neutral From Overweight By JPMorgan; Raised To Buy From Hold By Jefferies.

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

Atheros Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHR) beat expectations on the surface, but the drop here appears to be tied to weaker PC-related revenues.  There have been under 100,000 shares traded so far, but the stock is trading down 6.75% at $28.40 versus a 52-week range of $21.77 to $43.90 and a close yesterday of $30.46.

Cirrus Logic Inc. (NASDAQ: CRUS) is lower after a 118% gain in revenue to $81.9 million slightly beat Thomson Reuters estimates; Revenue guidance was put at $98 to $106 million, above estimates of $86+ million.  As this is a seller of chips for iPad and iPhone, this wasn’t good enough.  Shares are down 5.7% at $16.48 on over 350,000 shares.  The 52-week range is $4.44 to $18.85.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) is trading lower by 3% at $141.20 on about 1 million shares after the investment banking giant posted lower income.  Keep in mind that there is already talk that the earnings may have been sand-bagged.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) was light on the top-line and its raised guidance for 2010 was slightly under consensus.  Shares are down almost 5% at $123.80 on almost 100,000 shares.

MGIC Investment Corporation (NYSE: MTG) is up this morning after a surprise profit after what may have been 3 years worth of losses.  Shares are trading up almost 5% at $8.20 on over 300,000 shares.  Its 52-week range is $3.72 – $13.80.

Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) must really need a new CEO to lead the company after all of its troubles.  Rumors and reports of a new CEO search have shares up 2.5% at $9.04 on almost 700,000 shares.

SandRidge Energy, Inc. (NYSE: SD) is showing an unexpected rop for a day-two indication now that it has closed on its Arena Resources buyout.  While on thin volume, we show shares down 2% at $6.30 in the pre-market trading.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) is getting slapped after meeting expectations.  Shares are down 5.7% at $24.10 on about 140,000 shares.

Tupperware Brands Corporation (NYSE: TUP) is getting hit hard after its Q2 earnings miss.  Shares are down 11.25% at $38.40 on only about 25,000 shares.  Traders may want to watch shares of Newell Rubbermaid Inc. (NYSE: NWL) for any downward sympathy, although no shares of Newell have yet traded this morning.

Zions Bancorp. (NASDAQ: ZION) is getting clipped after an unexpected wider loss.  Shares are down 8.4% at $19.62 on about 200,000 shares.

JON C. OGG

• Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) Raised to Neutral from Underperform at Merrill Lynch.
• Atheros Communications (NASDAQ: ATHR) Raised to Buy from Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Huntsman (NYSE: HUN) raised to Hold from Underperform at Jefferies & Co
• Level 3 Communications (NASSDAQ: LVLT) Cut to Sell from Hold at Citigroup.
• Mid-America Apartment (NYSE: MAA) raised to Outperform at Robert W. Baird.
• Real Goods Solar (NASDAQ: RSOL) started as Perform at Oppenheimer.
• Teradyne (NYSE: TER) Raised to Buy from Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Teva Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: TEVA) raised to Overweight at HSBC.
• Third Wave (NASDAQ: TWTI) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFMI) Cut to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Jon C. Ogg
June 30, 2008

Reuters writes that revenue and income fell at Texas Instruments (TXN).

Reuters reports that subscribers fell at NetFlix (NFLX) in the most recent quarter and the company moved guidance down.

Reuters also reports that quarterly earnings rose at American Express (AXP).

Reuters also writes that Nissan’s earnings fell on a weaker product mix. The company kept its forecast for the year.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Wall St. firms postponed at $3.1 billion offering for an LBO of GM’s (GM) Allison unit.

The Wall Street Journal writes that BP (BP) posted a slight rise in quarterly profits.

The New York Times writes that Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) has agreed to buy software company Opsware.

FT writes that Expedia (EXPE) had to cut its share buy-back due to poor conditions for raising debt for the offer.

Barron’s writes that Atheros (ATHR) shares fell after that company’s earnings announcement.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Jon C. Ogg
June 19, 2007

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