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Top After-Hours Movers on Earnings & Beyond (BIDU, BRCM, COMV, HXL, NFLX, SANM, SPWRA, TXN)

Administrator — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 21:16:06 +0000

We are tracking some major movers in the after-hours session this Monday evening, mostly on earnings. The top movers and shakers in the after-hours today are Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), Comverge, Inc. (NASDAQ: COMV), Hexcel Corporation (NYSE: HXL), Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), Rent-A-Center Inc. (NASDAQ: RCII), Sanmina-SCI Corp. (NASDAQ: SANM), SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWRA), Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN).

We have offered news summaries and reactions on each, with color if applicable.

Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) is again saying “valuation analysis be damned” because it is soaring after beating estimates. Shares rose 1.6% today, but the stock is up another 5.4% at $164.90 at yet another all-time high.

Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) is a winner despite a drop by more than one-third in earnings due to solid revenue growth and guidance being put at $1.9 to $2.0 billion for the current quarter versus $1.93 billion Thomson Reuters consensus. Shares are actually up more than 8% at $37.98 in the after-hours.

Comverge, Inc. (NASDAQ: COMV) said that its preliminary revenues are expected to range from $31.5 million to $32.5 million versus $17.0 million in the second quarter 2010, sending shares up about 10% in thin volume after the close to $3.37.

Hexcel Corporation (NYSE: HXL) is soaring after beating earnings estimates. Shares are up an unusually high 8% at $25.97 in the after-hours session above the $24.39 52-week high.

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) is taking a serious breather after earnings rose more than 55% after disclosing the implications of its new pricing plan. This has shares down 8.4% at $259.00 in the after-hours session. Here is some of the scenario about how we think Netflix can get shares up to $400…

Rent-A-Center Inc. (NASDAQ: RCII) reported light earnings and guided earnings under expectations for the quarter ahead. Shares are down over 7% at $27.78 in the after-hours session.

Sanmina-SCI Corp. (NASDAQ: SANM) was down over 3% today but beating earnings and raising guidance for the quarter ahead may set a good tone for EMS companies on Tuesday. Shares are up 8.5% at $10.00 in the after-hours session after the stock was actually close to 52-week lows.

SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWRA) gave a negative report that it tried to pass off as a mixed report. It is now looking for a loss. Shares were halted for news that it sees a loss due to Germany and Italy, but the stock is down 7% to $19.39 in the after-hours session after having fallen some 6.5% today in regular trading.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) is up marginally despite earnings disappointments and despite some weak segment guidance. It appears that analog actually held up better than expected. Shares closed down almost 1% but the stock is up 1.3% at $31.72 after the earnings report.

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, dividend trends, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: After-Hours Activity, Trading Alert Tagged: BIDU, BRCM, COMV, HXL, NFLX, SANM, SPWRA, TXN

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AGU, AMZN, BJ, COMV, ETFC, GRNB, MPEL, MCP, NGG, NFLX, STX, TSO, TXT)

Administrator — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 12:05:07 +0000

These are some of this Thursday’s key analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls.

Agrium Inc. (NYSE: AGU) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE: BJ) Raised to Buy at Janney.
Comverge, Inc. (NASDAQ: COMV) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC) Reiterated as Outperform at FBR.
Green Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRNB) Cut to Underperform at KBW; Cut to Sell at Wunderlich.
Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE: MCP) Started as Buy at Gabelli (late Wednesday call).
National Grid plc (NYSE: NGG) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Raised to Neutral from Sell at Janney; Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Tesoro Corp. (NYSE: TSO) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC.
Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) Cut to Hold at S&P Equity Research (late Wednesday call).

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

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AGU, AMZN, BJ, COMV, ETFC, GRNB, MCP, MPEL, NFLX, NGG, STX, TSO, TXT

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AAPL, AMZN, BP, CEO, COMV, DELL, DTV, EXC, GD, HPQ, SUN, TIF, STEC)

Administrator — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 12:32:53 +0000

These are some of this Thursday’s top analyst calls with upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research notes:

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Started as Buy at Janney (late yesterday).
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Started as Market Perform at Thomas Weisel.
BP plc (NYSE: BP) Cut to Hold at Bofa/Merrill Lynch; Cut to Underweight at Barclays.
CNOOC Ltd. (NYSE: CEO) Raised to Overweight at HSBC.
Comverge, Inc. (NASDAQ: COMV) Started as Buy at Needham.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) Started as Neutral at Janney (late yesterday).
DIRECTV (NYSE: DTV) Cut To Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC) Cut to Underperform at Macquarie.
General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) Started as Overweight at HSBC.
Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ) Started as Buy at Janney (late yesterday).
Sunoco Inc. (NYSE: SUN) Raised to Market Perform at BMO Capital.
Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
STEC Inc. (NASDAQ: STEC) Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

JON C. OGG

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Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AAPL, AMZN, BP, CEO, COMV, DELL, DTV, EXC, GD, HPQ, STEC, SUN, TIF

The Smart Grid Surge Hitting Home (ITRI, COMV, ELON, ED, CEG, DUK, FPL, NVE, POM, SO)

247wallst — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:37:50 +0000

We are seeing at least some significant moves from the company’s who have announced that they are grant recipients under part of the $3.4 billion Smart Grid pledge from the Obama administration day. We are seeing the big moves in the companies which traders and investors believe will receive the direct orders from the utilities, and are even seeing gains down in the utilities and power companies who are getting direct grants.

Itron Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI), for smart metering systems, was up 3% at $59.56 with a $2.38 billion market cap. Comverge, Inc. (NASDAQ: COMV), for peaking and base load capacity solutions to electric utilities, operators, and electric markets, is up 10% at $12.95 with a $286 million market cap. Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON) is up 7% at $14.70 with a $598 million market cap.

In the utility sector we are seeing the following moves:

Consolidated Edison Inc. (NYSE: ED) up 0.3% at $41.47; $136 million grant vs. $11.4 billion market cap.
Constellation Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE: CEG) up 0.4% at $32.03; $200 million grant vs. $6.45 billion market cap.
Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE: DUK) up 0.15% at $15.95; $200 million grant vs. $20.7 billion market cap.wins $200 million smart grid grant
FPL Group Inc. (NYSE: FPL) down 2.2% at $50.95; $200 million grant vs. $21 billion market cap.
NV Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NVE) up 1.3% at $11.52; $138 million grant vs $2.7 billion market cap.
Pepco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: POM) up 0.4% at $14.51; $168 million grant vs. $3.2 billion market cap.
Southern Company (NYSE: SO) up 0.35% at $32.69; $165 million grant vs. $26 billion market cap.

Many of the beneficiary companies have not reported yet their awards.

Jon C. Ogg
October 27, 2009

Posted in Green Biz, Politics, Utilities Tagged: CEG, COMV, DUK, ED, ELON, FPL, ITRI, NVE, POM, SO

Rough Week For Smart Grid Players (ITRI, DGII, COMV, ENOC, ELON)

247wallst — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:21:02 +0000

Itron Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) is supposed to be one of the winners in the stimulus package. The advanced metering company is known as the Smart Grid meter reader to many traders. The company is involved in metering, data collection and utility software solutions for electric, water, and gas utilities, and it claims nearly 8,000 utilities worldwide as its customer base. This is one of the companies deemed to be a winner under the Obama stimulus package. Where this gets interesting is that Digi International (NASDAQ: DGII), Comverge, Inc. (NASDAQ: COMV), EnerNOC Inc. (NASDAQ:ENOC), and Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON) are all other smart grid plays and not large caps that have had a rough week in stock prices.

But this week has been a rough week for Itron. Last Friday this closed at $63.17 and it closed out 2008 at $63.74. Shares closed at $58.04 yesterday. Despite the market woes this week, the weakness here at Itron appears to be over worries of a delay in the company’s advanced metering infrastructure deployment. We saw that this was due to software issues as a pact with San Diego Gas & Electric has fallen short of initial hopes in numbers of homes. There are some security concerns in the software from what we have seen and been told, although to what extent is still in the air.

Pacific Crest cut earnings targets for 2009 over the last week and UBS downgraded the stock to Neutral earlier this month. The company is set to report earnings next week on Wednesday, February 18. Based upon what we have seen in many infrastructure support companies, it is no shock that traders have been selling this one ahead of earnings as so many are very cautious on even the “good” and “smart” capital expenditures being pushed down the road from utilities.

Just last week, Itron announced a collaboration with Digi International (NASDAQ: DGII) to enable utilities to remotely monitor and control distribution automation devices utilizing the OpenWay advanced metering infrastructure network by Itron. DGII closed yesterday at $7.96, down from $8.65 last week and from a high this week of $8.89.

Comverge, Inc. (NASDAQ: COMV) is another player that is deemed to be a winner in the smart grid. It is in the field of measuring peak and base load capacity for electric utilities and grid operators under the Smart Grid. Its shares were at $5.57 last week and are trading at $5.25 this morning.

EnerNOC Inc. (NASDAQ:ENOC) provides demand response applications and joins up utilities and end users to work around peak load demand for many large customers. This can include automatically shutting down HVAC units, dimming street lighting and the starting of back up generators to smooth out the disturbance. This stock closed out last week at $12.11, and even with a small gain this morning it is at $11.28.

Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON) is up this morning after the announcement that it joined The Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition (DRSG). Echelon is a pure-play for the grid stocks as it provides both an advanced metering system and networking technology to extend energy management applications into individual devices inside homes and businesses. If it weren’t for a 5% gain because of a “Smart Grid” headline boosting it to $6.70 early on, it would have looked worse here too. This was at $6.99 last Friday.

Jon C. Ogg
February 13, 2009

Posted in Cult Stock, Infrastructure, Technology Companies, Utilities Tagged: advanced meter readers, COMV, Digi International DGII, electric grid, ELON, ENOC, ITRI, Itron, Obama, smart grid, smart grid monitors, smart grid stocks, stimulus package

Worst Corporate Press Release Of The Day: Comverge (COMV)

247wallst — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:39:25 +0000

Most companies would never think of sending out a press release congratulating the new president. It looks too self-serving and smarmy.

Comverge (COMV) could not help making itself look foolish. The provider of clean energy solutions issued a press release congratulating Mr. Obama "on his commitment to usher in a new era in America’s energy policy — an era that calls upon comprehensive clean energy solutions to power our future. "

To make certain that the company looked like it was aligning itself with all that is right and good, it added Robert M. Chiste, Chairman, President and CEO of Comverge, said, "Comverge is uniquely positioned to support these goals and lead by example while demonstrating the benefits inherent in President-elect Obama’s commitment to a clean energy future. Our clean energy technologies for demand management and smart grid are very cost-effective now, even without government subsidies."

Comverge also believes that first degree murder should be punished by life in prison and that people should not be allowed to smoke in restaurants.

The press relations effort is working, The stock is only off 80% from its 52-week high of $35.25.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted in Politics Tagged: COMV

Top Early-Bird Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (COMV, CRM, V, BRCM, GW, IDTI, MRVL, QELP, STI)

247wallst — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 06:34:26 +0000

These are some of the top analyst calls we are seeing this Tuesday morning:

Comverge (COMV) started as Buy at Jefferies.
Salesforce.com (CRM) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Visa (V) started as Outperform at William Blair.

Broadcom (BRCM) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Grey Wolf (GW) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Integrated Device Tech (IDTI) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Marvell Tech (MRVL) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Quest Energy Partners, L.P. (QELP) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
SunTrust Banks (STI) Re-initiated as Sell at Citigroup.

Jon C. Ogg
August 26, 2008

Early-Bird Analyst Downgrades (AAP, ALNY, COMV, DISH, DPS, HAS, NATI, NVTL, STEL)

247wallst — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:32:50 +0000

These are some of the early analyst downgrades or negative calls we are seeing this Wednesday in early pre-market hours:

Advance Auto Parts (AAP) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Alnylam Pharma (ALNY) Started as Underperform at Leerink Swann.
Comverge (COMV) Cut to Neutral at Broadpoint Capital.
DISH Network (DISH) Cut to Market Perform at Bernstein.
Dr. Pepper Snapple (DPS) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Hasbro (HAS) Cut to Underperform at BMO Capital.
National Instruments (NATI) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Novatel Wireless (NVTL) Cut to Sell at Piper Jaffray.
StellarOne (STEL) Cut to Underperform at Baird.

JON C. OGG
August 20, 2008

52-Week Low Club (ALTU, SIL, CEG, COMV, EIX, ZINC, MIR, ZOLT)

247wallst — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:09:56 +0000

Over the last three days it has been thin for 52-week lows, but a good market drop sure brings a reminder to the wall of shame. Here are some of today’s key 52-week lows.

Altus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALTU) tanked after Phase III cystic fibrosis tests failed to please on all fronts.
Apex Silver Mines (AMEX: SIL) fell nearly 40% after earnings disappointed. At least they can use those mines for mushroom growth if they don’t find silver.

Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEG) Fell over $11.00 to new 52-week lows after an analyst raised more questions about the company.
Comverge (NASDAQ: COMV) fell on its sword after missing estimates and lowering targets on regulatory changes at a major client.
Edison International NYSE: EIX) hit another 52-week low after selling $400M in bonds.
Horsehead Holdings (NASDAQ: ZINC) hit new lows as earnings failedto give any inspiration. Shares closed almost 5% under the prior rangeof $9.04 to $26.14. With this stock name we could think of two newnicknames for the company, but we’ll be nice.
Mirant (NYSE: MIR) Followed Edison to join the wall of shame again down 2% under prior 52-week lows.
Zoltek Technologies (NASDAQ: ZOLT) was a shocker of an earningsdisappointment with wind power under question. Shares fell to $15.52,well under the old $17.75 to $48.78 52-week range.

Jon C. Ogg
August 12, 2008

Cramer’s Green Picks For Each Presidential Candidate (FSLR, COMV, SGR, NRG, COMV)

247wallst — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:36:34 +0000

On CNBC’s MAD MONEY this evening, Jim Cramer said that as part of his green week and in picking alternative energy stocks, he wanted to identify which stocks would win under the alternative energy projects under each presidential candidate.

On the Democratic side, he said he wanted to identify which stocks would win under both Hillary Clinton and under Barack Obama. He noted how the alternative and renewable energy policies are pages and pages on their websites. These were the following:

For solar power, he’s still gung-ho booyaah-ing First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR).
For a smart electric grid play, he thinks Comverge (NASDAQ: COMV) is the play.
Lastly, he thinks agriculture stocks are the winners with all their lobbying. But…. these aren’t green companies.

On the Republican side, Cramer identified the picks he thinks will do well under John McCain. He also noted that his policy on alternative energy is less detailed and only one web page on his website. These picks are as follows:

McCain has been a pro-nuclear fan, and his main pick is Shaw Group (NYSE: SGR) as the builder and designer of nuclear facilities. His second pick was NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG) as the main nuclear power promoting utility in the U.S.
Cramer also said that McCain also believes in a smart grid, and that pick is also Comverge (NYSE: COMV).

Last night, Cramer went over his picks that he thinks will win in natural gas and on Monday night he returned to talk about his old picks in alternative energy stocks with Buy, Hold, or Sell recommendations on those.

Jon C. Ogg
April 23, 2008