24/7 Wall St. » BRLC

The 52-Week Low Club (BRLC)(PFE)(NOK)(WBS)

247wallst — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:59:40 +0000

Webster Financial (WBS) Bank needs to raise cash. Falls to $21.77 from 52-week high of $46.40.

Pfizer (PFE) Concerns about product pipeline. Sells down to $18.45 from 52-week high of $27.33.

Nokia (NOK) Drop in consumer spending will hurt cellphone sales. Trades down ot $26.36 from 52-week high of $42.22.

Syntax Brillian (BRLC) CEO is out. Crushed down to $.51 from 52-week high of $7.14.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Syntax-Brillian CEO Out, For Now (BRLC)

247wallst — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:58:44 +0000

Syntax-Brillian Corporation (NASDAQ:BRLC) is up to some more changes today. The company has appointed Greg Rayburn as Interim-CEO with an effective date of June 4, 2008. It says that Rayburn will replace James Ching Hua Li on an interim basis, who will take an indefinite leave of absence from the company to address personal issues.

Under Board approval granted on June 4, 2008, Mr. Li will be compensated according to the original terms and conditions of his employment agreement during his leave of absence and will continue to serve as a director of the Company.

Rayburn was appointed Syntax-Brillian’s Interim Chief Operating Officer on April 16, 2008 and is a Senior Managing Director and the Practice Leader of FTI Palladium Partners, the interim management practice of FTI Consulting, Inc.

He has previously been CEO of International Outsourcing Services, LLC from 2007 to 2008; Chief Executive Officer of Muzak Holdings LLC from 2005 to 2006; Chief Operating Officer of aaiPharma Inc. from 2004 to 2005; Chief Restructuring Officer of WorldCom, Inc. from 2003 to 2004; and Chief Executive Officer of Sunterra Corporation from 2000 to 2002.

Syntax-Brillian shares are down some 5% at $0.70 today in the first 25 minutes of trading and shares met the 52-week low this morning. Its 52-week trading range is $0.69 to $7.14. Eighteen months ago this was a $10.00 stock.

The Company also announced the resignation of two directors:
Man Kit (Thomas) Chow, effective May 28, 2008;
and Christopher C.L. Liu, effective May 30, 2008.

This stock is one we have had under question for far too long to think much good is happening there.

Jon C. Ogg
June 5, 2008

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (ADS, GRMN, HST, JEF, MHS, NCC, RHT, CRM, BRLC, VLTR)

247wallst — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 07:01:40 +0000

These are some of the top analyst calls that we are focusing on this Tuesday morning in pre-market trading hours:

Alliance Data (NYSE: ADS) raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) started as Neutral at JPMorgan.
Host Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: HST) Cut To Hold From Buy By Deutsche Bank.
Jefferies Group (NYSE: JEF) Cut to Neutral at Banc of America.
Medco Health Solutions (NYSE: MHS) raised to Buy at Jefferies.
National City (NYSE: NCC) raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank; Downgraded to Underperform at Bear Stearns.
Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) started as Buy at Piper Jaffray.
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) started as Buy at Piper Jaffray.
Syntax-Brillian (NASDAQ: BRLC) raised to Outperform at Robert W. Baird.
Volterra Semi (NASDAQ: VLTR) raised to Buy at Piper Jaffray.

Jon C. Ogg
April 22, 2008

Jon Ogg is a producer of and editor for both the Special Situations newsletter and the "10 Stocks Under $10" weekly newsletter for 247WallSt.com; he can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com and he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

The 52Week Low Club (CBEY)(BRLC)(BX)(DGX)(LTM)(AVR)

247wallst — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:00:10 +0000

Aventine Renewable Energy (NYSE: AVR) Bad earnings and liquidity issues. Down to $6.79 from 52-week high of $20.85.

Life Time Fitness (NYSE: LTM) Bad outlook from 2008. Sells off to $30.40 from 52-week high of $65.09.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) Forecast is below Wall St. numbers. Falls to $46.44 from 52-week high of $58.63.

Blackstone (NYSE: BX) Environment getting worse for private equity. Drops to $15.25 from 52-week high of $38.

Syntax Brillian (NASDAQ: BRLC) Falls on problems with creditors. Down to $.83 from 52-week high of $9.04.

Cbeyond (NASDAQ: CBEY) Investors not happy with quarterly numbers. Sells down to $15.58 from 52-week high of $46.51.

Douglas A. McIntyre

The 52-Week Low Club (AIG)(PRU)(ALL)(NURO)

247wallst — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:58:41 +0000

American International Group (NYSE: AIG) Warns about more potentia write-offs and bad financial controls. Falls to $44.52 from 52-week high of $72.97.

PNM Res (NYSE: PNM) Numbers miss Wall St. estimates. Drops to $13.31 from 52-week high of $34.28.

CNA Financial (NYSE: CNA) Profits drop on investment losses. Shares sell off to $25.17 from 52-week high of $51.96.

Prudential NYSE: PRU) Industry woes and still slipping from earnings. Down to $66.76 from 52-week high of $103.27.

UBS (NYSE: UBS), Allstate (NYSE: ALL), and HSBC (NYSE: HBC) also all hit new lows.

Neurometrix (NASDAQ:NURO) Appears one of the company’s medical devices did not get approval. Falls to $5.25 from 52-week high $12.10.

Syntax Brillian NASDAQ: BRLC) Delays filing results. Drops to $1.88 from 52-week high of $9.08.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Syntax-Brillian: Some Companies Just Can’t Get It Right (BRLC)

247wallst — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 13:12:03 +0000

Even after a management quasi-shuffle in earlier months, Syntax-Brillian Corp. (NASDAQ:BRLC) has learned to keep disappointing.

Early this morning the distributor of Olevia LCD televisions cut its sales targets as its China business changes to a royalty-based model. It now expects sales for the current quarter to be in a range of $155 to $175 million. Unfortunately for shareholders, that compares to $242.4 million in the year-ago quarter and estimates of just over $300 million. The company has thus also lowered its fiscal June 2008 targets as well, but we won’t bore you with any further details.

We cannot blame a company for having to change its model, and we cannot blame a company if it has troubles merely in quarter meeting expectations. That is life in the investment world. But some companies, regardless of who runs them almost seem to have a culture of disappointing. That culture seems to be prevalent at Syntax-Brillian, and we’ve warned about its trust issues in the past.

Shares are down another 8% today at $3.00 and have traded as low as $2.87, and surprisingly haven’t put in new 52-week lows. Its 52-week trading range is $.76 to $11.70. This is one of those instances where if you had the news ahead of time you might be expecting new lows.

If we covered this in our "10 Stocks Under $10" Letter, it probably wouldn’t be with much enthusiasm. In fact, well you get the idea.

Jon C. Ogg
November 28, 2007

Pre-Market Analyst Calls (October 2, 2007)

247wallst — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 06:42:46 +0000

ACAD started as Hold at Citigroup.
ALB raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
AMB raised to Buy at B of A.
APD cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
BAC started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.
BDN cut to Neutral at B of A.
BIIB cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
BRLC cut to Neutral at R.W.Baird.
CBS cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
CNH cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
CYPB started as Outperform at FBR.
ELN started as Underperform at FBR.
FRX raised to Hold at Citigroup.
MDCO raised to Buy at UBS.
MON removed from Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy List.
MPG cut to Sell at B of A.
NOK cut to Mkt Perform at JMP Securities.
NVT raised to Hold at Deutsche Bank (ooops); cut to Neutral at UBS.
ONXX cut to Peer Perform at at Bear Stearns.
PDLI raised to Outperform at Wachovia.
PLD raised to Buy at B of A.
RATE cut to Neutral at Merriman Curhan Ford.
SLG cut to Neutral at B of A.
STEI started as Buy at B of A.
UBS raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
VAL cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
WAG cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs (late Monday call); cut to Neutral at Merrill Lynch.

Jon C. Ogg
October 2, 2007

The 52-Week Low Club

247wallst — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:11:00 +0000

Enterra Energy (ENT) Second big daily drop after suspending dividend. Down to $1.63 from 52-week high of $10.30.

Bearingpoint (BE) Management consultants. Not doing a very good job of it. Drops to $4.51 from 52-week high of $9.00.

Navigant Consulting (NCI) Financial and regulatory consultancy company to do reorganization, may hit financial statement. Consulting must not be a very good business. Down to $12.55 from 52-week high of $22.63.

Animal Health (AHII) Distributor of animal health products posts earnings and Wall St. is not happy. Falls to $8.78 from 52-week high of $15.74.

Syntax Brillian (BRLC) LCD TV maker still dropping after weak numbers. Down to $3.58 from 52-week high of $11.70.

Knight Capital (NITE) Wall St. unhappy that NITE owns a hedge fund. Shares keep moving down. Hit $11.73 from 52-week high of $21.78.

Douglas A. McIntyre

The Week’s Corporate Gaffes On Wall Street (CEPH, MER, AGE, AMTD, BRLC)

247wallst — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 15:58:00 +0000

This week’s "Corporate Gaffe of the Week" should actually be shared by several companies.

What may be the blue ribbon winner is Cephalon (NASDAQ:CEPH). Reports noted that the company sent out a "Dear Doctor Letter" warning that its pain management drug FENTORA for cancer patients has a pretty severe side effect: Death! How ironic is it that a pain drug causes death, or that a cancer patient would die from a pain aid rather than cancer? The real problem is if you look at the company website, Cephalon was just touting the positive study results on FENTORA not even a month ago.

When an analyst at a bulge bracket brokerage firm downgrades a key financial stock, it can actually pull down that same brokerage firm’s stock. This happened when Merrill Lynch downgraded shares of DJIA component American Express (NYSE:AXP). Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER) shares fell over 2% at one point Friday morning in sympathy with American Express, so that took away about $1.7 Billion in market cap from Merrill Lynch stock. The good news is that the brokerage stocks continued their rise and Merrill’s stock recovered. Butchers can chop off their own fingers if they take too big of cuts at a time.

TD Ameritrade (NASDAQ:AMTD) announced that over 6 million of its client accounts had personal contact information taken in a data hack, and customers have received unwanted email ads that the company disclosed in its SPAM investigation. This is just a runner up because it could have been far worse.

Syntax-Brillian (NASDAQ:BRLC) is no runner-up, it really screwed up after it delayed its earnings by a day. It wasn’t the report from the last quarter that hurt it, but the guidance and extraordinary back-items did hurt. Oh yeah, and the CFO left the company. Ouch.

The worst timed analyst call on Wall Street this week: A.G.Edwards on Cardica (NASDAQ:CRDC). Shares in Cardica (CRDC) fell of a cliff after an A.G. Edwards analyst downgraded the stock on muted enthusiasm for its new surgical product. The fellow must have felt a bit embarrassed after the stock popped 20% initially on news the company "received a key European approval for its new device for connecting blood vessels during heart bypass surgery." This call wasn’t the analysts fault, but was probably still a problem. In the financial markets you can be right on your call and accurate in your prediction, but you can still go bankrupt because of other issues.

I have always known that the way the current ethanol mandates in the US were implemented and how they are mandatory was a slick sales job at best, even though I am a supporter of alternative and renewable energy. But a report surfaced this week that gave the "Climate Change" crowd a jump over the "Global Warming" crowd. Apparently, those who claim to have lower emissions are, well, exaggerating or just lying.

Who said there is no such thing as a funny side of Wall Street?

Jon C. Ogg
September 14, 2007

The 52-Week Low Club

247wallst — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 15:05:34 +0000

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) Telecom equipment merger has become train wreck. Drops to $8.96 from 52-week high of $15.43.

Nortel (NT) Down in sympathy with ALU. Falls to $16.32 from 52-week high of $31.79.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (KKD) Company looks like it is heading for extinction. Down to $3.01 from 52-week high of $13.93.

King Pharmaceuticals (KG) Loss on patent ruling still driving this to ground. Down to $11.67 from 52-week high of $22.25.

New York Times (NYT) Pains of the newspaper industry. Falls to $19.92 from 52-week high of $26.90.

Syntax Brillian (BRLC) Company cuts guidance and CFO leaves. Drops to $3.98 from 52-week high of $11.70.

Avid Technology (AVID) Media content production company takes a header. Down to $22.55 from 52-week high of $40.68.

Level 3 (LVLT) Big networl provider has a ton of high-yield debt. Falls to $4.41 from 52-week high of $6.80

Douglas A. McIntyre