Annaly Capital Management (NYSE: NLY) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Energy Recovery, Inc. (NASDAQ: ERII) Raised estimates at Janney Capital Markets.
Humana, Inc. (NYSE: HUM) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Dat Zacks Investment Research.
Juniper Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR) Reiterated Buy at Jefferies.
Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) Raised to Neutral at Zacks Investment Research.
Marvell Technology Group (NASDAQ: MRVL) Reiterated Buy at Janney Capital Markets.
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM) Reiterated Buy and $32 target at Gleacher & Co.
RC2 Corporation (NASDAQ: RCRC) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
Strategic Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: BEE) Started as Buy at BofA/ML.
ONEOK Partners (NYSE: OKS) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Union Drilling Inc. (NASDAQ: UDRL) Raised to Buy at Gabelli & Co.

JON C. OGG

Aflac Inc. (NYSE: AFL) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Started as Buy at Stern Agee (late Monday call).
Assurant Inc. (NYSE: AIZ) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Bucyrus International (NASDAQ: BUCY) Maintained Buy but removed from Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
DreamWorks Animation SKG (NYSE: DWA) Cut to Market Weight at Thomas Weisel.
Hansen Natural Corporation (NYSE: HANS) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Strategic Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: BEE) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
Teekay Corp. (NYSE: TK) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
US Bancorp (NYSE: USB) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

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JON C. OGG

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Aeterna Zentaris Inc. (NASDAQ: AEZS) Reiterated Outperform but Target raised to $2 from $1.50 at RBC.
Alberto-Culver Co. (NYSE: ACV) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDRX) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
China Automotive Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CAAS) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) Started as Buy at Brean Murray.
Hewlett Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) Started as Buy at Brean Murray.
Strategic Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: BEE) Raised to Neutral at Baird.
Silicon Image Inc. (NASDAQ: SIMG) Raised to Buy at Needham.
Sybase, Inc. (NYSE: SY) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) Cut to Hold at Kaufman; Cut at Lazard late Friday on the bad court review news.  TiVo’s technical trade set-ups are also available at VSInvestor.com.
Telefonica SA (NYSE: TEF) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Warner Chilcott plc (NASDAQ: WCRX) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.

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We have provided the news, the move, the change, and relative color on each where applicable.

Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) sold off yesterday after an initial post-split pop-up, and shares are lower again after Jim Cramer gave it a ‘sell’ call on CNBC’s MAD MONEY.  Shares are down 2.7% at $73.58 on 140,000 shares.

BioSphere Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ: BSMD) is surging on thin volume after the announcement that it will be acquired by Merit Medical Systems for about $96 million in cash for $4.38 per share.  Shares were trading up 43% at $4.30 on about 15,000 shares.

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) is trading lower with the market but also on word that NPD showed a 26% decline in video game sales.  This should have been known at least by EA because they already got hit recently on guidance after a poor earnings report.  Shares are down 2.2% at $17.69 on over 40,000 shares.

Hauppauge Digital Inc. (NASDAQ: HAUP) was one of the huge stealth news stocks yesterday that posted what looks to be an exponential run at the end of the day.  The news is that its WinTV-HVR TV tuner boards for PCs can now stream live TV over the Internet to the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch and any Apple Macintosh computer which supports a Safari web browser.  The last 30 minutes brought literally a 200% rally to $3.03 and shares are up another 37% at $4.17 on over 600,000 shares.  This is a new 52-week high and average volume is under 70,000 shares.

J. C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE: JCP) reported $0.25 EPS vs. $0.11 EPS a year ago, for a gain of 140% in net income. This only meets estimates and we saw both Kohl’s (KSS) and Nordstrom (JWN) lower after earnings yesterday.  JCP shares are down 2% at $26.60 on under 10,000 shares pre-market; shares were down almost 2% yesterday as well.

National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE: NBG) is in the dog house again, always in the dog house. The E.U. and emerging markets are lower and NBG is down 2.5% at $2.72 on the thought that the bailout in the E.U. does nothing long-term.

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) was lower this morning due to sales guidance being deemed a disappointment after earnings last night.  Shares are down 5.8% at $13.80 on 250,000 shares.

Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: BEE) is lower after selling 66 million shares in a secondary offering versus a $5.20 close.  Shares are trading down 5.7% at $4.90 on already almost 2 million shares.  The 52-week range is $0.94 to $6.97 and the average volume is only 2.7 million shares.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) it trading higher after a quick Jim Cramer tout on CNBC’s MAD MONEY.  Cramer said with its Alibaba stake it is worth $20 to $25 per share.  Shares are up 1.6% at $16.40 on almost 50,000 shares.  Normally that might not be much, but this is with a down-market today.

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JON C. OGG

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Getty Realty Corp (NYSE: GTY) filed last night to sell 4.5 million shares of common stock.  It plans to use the proceeds “for the acquisition of properties in the gas station and convenience store sector, repayment or refinancing of outstanding indebtedness under its credit agreement and general corporate purposes.”  J.P. Morgan and BofA Merrill Lynch are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering.  Shares closed at $24.08, and shares are indicated down 2.8% at $23.27.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAZZ) filed to sell up to $12,247,438 worth of common stock, which would be 7 million shares, via Barclays. All of the net proceeds from the offering will be used to repay a portion of its outstanding senior secured notes. Shares are indicated down around $8.50 after a $9.06 close.

OmniCare, Inc. (NYSE: OCR) filed an automatic shelf registration statement with the SEC for it and its numerous subsidiaries.  OCR did not disclose terms nor amounts, but listed that it could sell any combination of Debt securities, Guarantees of Debt Securities, Common Stock, Preferred Stock, and/or Warrants.

Rocky Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ: RCKY) is trading lower this morning after pricing a 1.8 million share secondary offering at $8.40 per share.  The close yesterday was $9.15.  Proceeds to the company will be about $14.1 million, assuming no overallotment option is exercised, to be used to repay debt. The book runner was Robert W. Baird and the co-manager was D.A. Davidson.

Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: BEE) filed to sell 40 million shares of common stock for debt exchange tenders.   J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and BofA Merrill Lynch will act as joint book-running managers for the Offering, and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. will act as co-manager.  Shares closed at $5.93 yesterday, and shares are indicated down 13% at $5.14.

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• AUTONATION (NYSE: AN)                                5,263,588
• BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY (NYSE: BRK-A)         4,050
• CANADIAN NATL RY (NYSE: CNI)                     33,859,544
• COCA COLA FEMSA S A B (NYSE: KOF)         857,128
• FISHER COMMUNICATIONS (NASDAQ: FSCI)  455,700
• FOMENTO ECONOMICO (NYSE: FMX)             20,966,795
• GAMCO INVESTORS (NYSE: GBL)                  90,845
• GRUPO TELEVISA SA (NYSE: TV)                  19,680,400
• OTTER TAIL (NASDAQ: OTTR)                         2,556,499
• PATRIOT COAL (NYSE: PCX)                          2,408,653
• PLANETOUT (NASDAQ: LGBT)                        521,739
• PNM RESOURCES (NYSE: PNM)                    7,019,550
• REPUBLIC SERVICES (NYSE: RSG)               34,873,836
• SIX FLAGS (NYSE: SIX)                                   10,210,600
• STRATEGIC HOTELS & RESORT (NYSE: BEE) 4,190,000

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Jon C. Ogg
November 14, 2008

Strategic Hotels & Resorts is in a tough spot right now as anowner and operator upscale and luxury hotels in North America andEurope.  It is also a REIT and it is no secret that REIT’s have beenunder pressure as the need for capital puts any themat risk since they need to borrow to operate and continue payingdividends.  Its current dividend yield today is roughly 15%.

In a filing last night, Bill Gates’ Cascade Investments has become anactivist investor in Strategic Hotels & Resorts.  Gates’ totalstake is now 4.069 million shares.  Assuming no changes to the June 30levels, this makes Gates one of the top ten holders of this stock.

The filing noted that the Gates’ entity may "engage in discussions with theIssuer’s board of directors and management concerning the business andstrategic direction…." and "may engage in discussions with othershareholders of the Issuer to discuss matters of mutual interest…."

So if Bill Gates is going activist, you’d wonder why Goldman Sachs cutestimates and targets on Strategic in a broad lodging sectordowngrade.  Goldman Sachs took its prior $8.20 target down to $5.00 as the outlook for travel and lodging and entertainment spending is weakening rapidly and now expected to go well into 2009.

Shares are up today by 3% at $6.04, but the average trading volume hereis rather light.  What Gates is ultimately able to accomplish here isstill unknown.  He has invested in hotels before and the entire marketcap is just over $450 million.  If he wanted to he could easily buy theentire company. 

This stock is down almost 75% from its 52-week highs.  Its 52-week trading range is $5.46 to $22.74.

Jon C. Ogg
October 7, 2008