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Top Active Trader Alert Stocks (ALVR, ABK, BIOF, FSLR, BLUD, ITMN, IVR, JASO, PEP, AIB)

Administrator — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 13:04:13 +0000

Active traders and day traders have many stocks to choose from this Thursday morning. We are tracking moves in Alvarion Ltd. (NASDAQ: ALVR), Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: ABK), BioFuel Energy Corp. (NASDAQ: BIOF), First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR), Immucor, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLUD), InterMune, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITMN), Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc. (NYSE: IVR), JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO), PepsiCo inc. (NYSE: PEP), and Allied Irish Banks plc (NYSE: AIB).

Alvarion Ltd. (NASDAQ: ALVR) is soaring this morning after winning a 4G network pact in Canada. Shares are up over 22% at $2.31 and volume is close to 1 million shares in the pre-market.

Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: ABK) had a huge gain yesterday and this morning is a session of giving a little back to the market gods. Shares are down 4% at $0.75 on about 300,000 shares.

BioFuel Energy Corp. (NASDAQ: BIOF) is trading up again on E15 hopes and shares are up another 8.8% at $3.08 on almost 200,000 shares pre-market.

First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) announced last night that it was raising its MW guidance for 2011 based upon new additional contracts signed with existing customers. Shares are up 2.4% at $142.00 but volume is still rather light.

Immucor, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLUD) lowered its guidance and shares are trading lower by 17.7% at $16.81 and volume is approaching 50,000 shares.

InterMune, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITMN) is on the rise
Shares are trading up 10.4% at $14.85 on close to 200,000 pre-market shares.

Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc. (NYSE: IVR) is down after disclosing a sale of 8.5 million shares in a secondary offering. Shares are down 4.35 at $20.86.

JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) is higher after another signed contract last night was announced; shares are up 2% at $9.13 but volume is still rather light for a ‘news event’ trading day.

PepsiCo inc. (NYSE: PEP) is not your normal mover each morning but its earnings came in ahead with guidance that appears to be shy of expectations. Shares are down 2.65% at $66.30, but the stock had been lower by more than 3% a few minutes earlier.

Allied Irish Banks plc (NYSE: AIB) is down almost 4% at $1.23 at a new 52-week low despite the M&T share sale.

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JON C. OGG

Filed under: Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert Tagged: ABK, AIB, ALVR, BIOF, BLUD, FSLR, ITMN, IVR, JASO, PEP

Top Active Trader Alert Stocks (IRE, AIB, BIOF, COST, EQIX, JASO, MON, TTES)

Administrator — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 12:31:19 +0000

Active traders and day traders have many stocks to choose from this morning. We are tracking moves in The Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE), Allied Irish Banks plc (NYSE: AIB), BioFuel Energy Corp. (NASDAQ: BIOF), Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST), Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ: EQIX), JA Solar Holdings, Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO), Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON), and T-3 Energy Services Inc. (NASDAQ: TTES).

The Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) is trading up 4.6% at $3.86 while Allied Irish Banks plc (NYSE: AIB) is trading down almost 4% at $1.29 after Fitch ratings downgraded Ireland today.

BioFuel Energy Corp. (NASDAQ: BIOF) is trading up 4% at $2.50 on almost 50,000 shares, likely on more hopes of approval on E15… Keep in mind that this ran to $2.40 from $1.95 yesterday and the market cap before this morning’s pop up was $61 million.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) beat earnings but the run up had already factored much of that move into the shares. The stock is down 2% at $63.40 on active volume; shares had been under $54 as recently as late-July.

Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ: EQIX) is getting crushed as shares are down nearly 25% at $79.65 on active trading after it slashed Q3 and 2010 guidance; at least two downgrades have also been seen.

JA Solar Holdings, Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) is trading up 6% at $8.80 after a supply agreement with BP Solar was announced. Shares are up about 6% at $8.80 in active trading.

Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) is recovering slightly after earnings despite a slightly weaker report and despite guidance for 2011 being a tad softer than expectations. Much of the news was priced in as this one got killed. Shares are trading up 1.8% at $49.40 on active trading volume.

T-3 Energy Services Inc. (NASDAQ: TTES), which is into products used in the drilling and completion of new oil and gas wells, is HALTED PENDING NEWS.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert Tagged: AIB, BIOF, COST, EQIX, IRE, JASO, MON, TTES

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (BIOF, CSX, CYH, PSYS, SLH, UHS)

247wallst — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 06:35:10 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades and positive calls we are seeing in trading early this Thursday morning:

Biofuel Energy (BIOF) Raised to Hold at Citigroup.
CSX Corp. (CSX) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Community Health Systems (CYH) Started as Outperform at Baird.
Psychiatric Solutions (PSYS) Started as Outperform at Baird.
Solera Holdings (SLH) Started as Buy at SunTrust.
Universal Health Services UHS) started as Outperform at Baird.

Jon C. Ogg
August 14, 2008

Energy Watch Part I: Alternative Energy’s Biggest Losers (HYDG, NBF, BIOF, PEIX, XNL)

247wallst — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:15:00 +0000

We have been reviewing which publicly traded energy companies have lost the most value in the past year, and we are breaking these down by sector and by sub-sector. While composing this list is not particularly amusing, it does give an us an idea of what’s happening in the energy business. The days of throwing darts at a group of energy stocks are seeming to be farther and farther in the past as investors seem to be looking at quality more than evvery after turbulent times. Today’s installment looks at alternative energy.

Hydrogen fuel cell start-up HydroGen (NASDAQ: HYDG) tops the list withdrop of nearly 96%, from a 52-week high of $3.94 to $0.14. The companyis developing a 400-kW phosphoric acid fuel cell, and is burning cashat the rate of nearly $2 million a month. The NASDAQ exchange haswarned the company of possible delisting by January 1, 2009, unless itcan bring its share price up to the minimum $1/share. The company laidoff approximately 64% of its Ohio workforce in May, but even that isnot likely to help for long.

Nova Biosource Fuels (AMEX:NBF) has dropped more than 89%, from a highof $3.10 to $0.28. Nova is building distilleries to make biodiesel froma wide variety of feedstocks, such as soybean oil, pork fat, and beeftallow. The company’s problems stem from a shortage of working capital,a shortage of feedstocks, and higher prices for the feedstock that isavailable. The company needs to complete a demonstration project by theend of September in order to meet the terms of one of its creditagreements. That looks to be a formidable challenge.

Ethanol stocks are also taking a beating. BioFuel Energy (NASDAQ:BIOF)has fallen from a high of $8.40 to $0.90. It establisheda new low yesterday, brought on by its announcement that it does nothave the cash to meet a $26 million hedging loss. The company is hopingto persuade Cargill to agree to a payment schedule that BioFuel canmeet. This does not look good.

Another player in the sector is Pacific Ethanol (NASDAQ: PEIX), which garnered much attention in recent years as Bill Gates was once a massive stakeholder. He’s been a seller but he probably wishes he would have unloaded it all long ago. Its recent earnings didn’t add any love and shares are down close to $2.00 with a 52-week range of $1.45 to $12.80. In 2006 this was trading over $30.00, so it is a serial disappointment.

Xethanol (AMEX:XNL) is down almost 64% in the past 52 weeks, from ahigh of $1.20 to its current $0.49. The news is even worse when yourecall that the stock hit an all-time high of around $15 about 2 yearsago. Fears that the federal subsidy will be eliminated or reduced orthat Brazil will begin exporting ethanol to the US have not improvedthe outlook for any ethanol producer. Add in higher corn prices, andthe recipe doesn’t look too appetizing.

The unproven alt-energy companies, like HydroGen and Nove Biosource,face financing problems in the tight capital markets. The establishedtechnologies, like ethanol, face weakening prices, higher costs,relatively low barriers to entry, and have an embedded social/politicalput option in them. The alt-energy arena is searching for a place and away to make money in difficult times for everybody.

Paul Ausick
August 13, 2008

Citigroup Pans Ethanol… On Flooding (VSE, BIOF, ADM)

247wallst — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 07:35:55 +0000

Ethanol stocks appear to be under pressure this morning. Citigroup has downgraded the group to a SELL rating, partially based upon the Midwest flooding. VeraSun (NYSE: VSE) and BioFuel Energy (NASDAQ: BIOF) were cut to a "SELL" rating from "BUY" and Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM) was cut to "HOLD" from "BUY."

Over the last week and a half the flooding has caused irreparable damage to this year’s corn market. Corn prices have risen and are likely to destroy margins despite the subsidy. Cash costs are running above sell-through rates for small and mid-sized producers and Citi even believes some may be forced to shut down over the coming months.

Jon C. Ogg
June 12, 2008

VeraSun (VSE), BioFuel Energy (BIOF): More Corn To The Rescue

247wallst — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 18:33:20 +0000

Several recent ethanol IPOs have had a tough time as concerns mount that a lack of corn supply could drive their cost of revenue up. The four companies the represent most of the money taken in from the capital markets recently are BioFuel Energy (BIOF), U.S. BioEnergy (USBE), VeraSun (VSE), and Aventine Renewable Energy (AVR). They may be about to get a hand.

According to CNNMoney, American farmers are ready to grow their biggest corn crop ever, an astonishing 12.8 billion bushels. The ethanol industry will need it. CNN figures say "ethanol production is forecast to double by the end of 2008 to more than 13 billion gallons."

Fear of lack of corn has hammered stock prices. VeraSun hit $30 a bit over a year ago. It now trades at about $14. Shares of the company and its peers have recovered slightly. Part of this is due to a the House of Representatives beginning to amending an energy bill expected to call for greater use of alternative fuels. But, that is could comfort if the cost or materials stays high.

VeraSun’s revenue has been fairly flat for the last three reported quarters, at around about $145 million. But cost of revenue has gone up from $88 million in the September 2006 quarter to $135 million in the March 2007 quarter.

That trend may finally move into reverse.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Pre-Market Stock News (June 14, 2007)

247wallst — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 06:56:16 +0000

(APPAD) AP Pharmaceuticals announces the pricing of its underwritten public offering of 21.2 million shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $1.65 per share.
(BBND) Bigband Networks announced order for its routers by Korean cable operator.
(BIDU) Baidu.com noted as positive speculative play in China by Cramer on Mad Money.
(BIOF) BioFuel priced its IPO at$10.50 per share.
(BOT) CBOT may get a sweetened bid from CME according to WSJ.
(CEO) CNOOC noted as one of the solid and stable companies in China by Cramer on Mad Money.
(CHL) China Mobile noted as one of the solid and stable companies in China by Cramer on Mad Money.
(FMCN) Focus Media noted as positive speculative play in China by Cramer on Mad Money.
(GIVN) Given Imaging receives FDA marketing clearance for PillCam ESO 2.
(HOKU) Hoku Scientific traded up over 60% after a $678 million order from Suntech power.
(IRBT) iRobot received Lockheed Martin order to be the provider of the Centralized Controller Device for the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems program.
(IVZ) INVESCO announced a $500 million share buyback plan.
(K) Kellogg is trying to create healthier recipes for sugary cereals.
(SNY) Sanofi-Aventis traded down 3% after an FDA review panel voted 14-0 against its diet drug over lack of safety concerns.
(SRZ) Sunrise Assisted Living received activist shareholder complaints for management change by Millennium Partners.
(SSW) Seaspan noted as one of the solid and stable companies in China by Cramer on Mad Money.
(SYT) Sygenta announced that its CEO will retire at the end of 2007.
(TASR) Taser announced an extended range electronic projectile.
(TGEN) Targeted Genetics reported Phase I/II swelling reduction in inflammatory arthritis clinical data.
(WMT) Wal-Mart reportedly has theft rising at stores.
(ZILA) Zila’s CEO has resigned effective immediately to pursue other interests.

Jon C. Ogg
June 14, 2007

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