24/7 Wall St. » CRYP

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (ZNGA, AAPL, SCCO, AMGN, DFS, RIMM, DRI, STEI, HOV, ZQK, ISTA, RRR, MRT, INHX, CRYP, CIE)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 21:08:47 +0000

US equity markets opened solidly higher this morning, but began to lose momentum by mid-morning. From there it’s been a mostly downhill day with the DJIA creeping back to nearly flat with about an hour of trading left this week. The release of November’s CPI — flat and up just 0.1% excluding food and energy — made no impact on trading. The IPO of social game maker Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) went out at $10/share, but appears to be headed for a lower finish by about -5%. The US dollar showed some muscle today, and Treasury yields were lower, keeping the appetite for risk under wraps. WTI crude rose about 0.3% to $94.16/barrel and Brent crude was up by the same percentage at $103.91. Gold closed at $1,598.60, up about 1.4%.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 6 points to 11,862.68 (-0.05%), the NASDAQ rose more than 14 points (0.56%) to 2,555.33, and the S&P 500 rose 0.3% or more than 3.5 points to 1,219.40.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including an “outrageous” prediction from the UK’s Saxo Bank that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) would lose half its value in 2012. Other ratings actions today include Southern Copper Corp. (NYSE: SCCO) restarted as ‘equal weight’ with a $35 target price at Morgan Stanley; Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) raised to ‘neutral’ with a target price of $57 at Goldman Sachs; and Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) raised to ‘buy’ at Stifel Nicolaus. Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) received a number of ratings changes this morning following an uninspired earnings report and delayed release of its new operating system software: shares cut to ‘market perform’ at BMO Capital Markets; maintained as ‘hold’ at Needham; maintained as ‘neutral’ at Credit Suisse; maintained ‘hold’ with lowered price target of $15 at Canaccord Genuity.

Here are today’s post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: Research in Motion Ltd. is down more than -11.5% at $13.38, after posting a new 52-week low of $13.12; Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI) is down -0.5% at $43.52; Steward Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ: STEI) is down more than -1.5% at $5.41; Hovananian Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: HOV) is down more than -4% at $1.29; and Quiksilver Inc. (NYSE: ZQK) is up more than 11% at $3.42.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

ISTA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ISTA) is up nearly 71% at $6.65. The eye-care drug company is the target of a hostile takeover bid from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (NYSE: VRX) at a 68% premium to last night’s closing share price, or $6.50/share. More coverage here.

RSC Holdings Inc. (NYSE: RRR) is up more than 57% at $17.88, a new 52-week high. The construction and industrial equipment rental company is being acquired by competitor United Rentals Inc. (NYSE: URI) for $18/share, or about $1.9 billion in cash and stock.

Morton’s Restaurant Group Inc. (NYSE: MRT) is up nearly 33% at $$6.85. The steakhouse chain has agreed to an all-cash acquisition by privately held Landry’s Inc. at $6.90/share, for a total price of about $116.6 million.

Inhibitex Inc. (NASDAQ: INHX) is down more than -20.5% at $10.32. The biopharmaceutical firm is being hit with concerns over a new hepatitis C drug following the withdrawal of a rival drug discovered to impair liver function.

CryptoLogic Ltd. (NASDAQ: CRYP) is up more than 42% at $2.25, after posting a new 52-week high of $2.30 earlier today. The online gambling software maker is expected to get a takeover offer from Amaya Gaming Group (OTC: AMYGF) worth about $34.5 million.

Cobalt International Energy Inc. (NYSE: CIE) is up more than 21% at $10.90. The oil & gas E&P company was able to extend its lease on a deepwater rig from Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) that enables the company to continue exploring for two prospects offshore of Angola that the company believes may hold up to 2 billion barrels of crude.

Stay tuned for Monday. Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Jeffrey Lacker is speaking in Charlotte, NC. Here are other noteworthy events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

10:00 a.m. – National Association of Builders housing market index
11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6- month Treasury bill auction
1:00 p.m. – Two-year Treasury note auction

Have a great weekend.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AAPL, AMGN, CIE, CRYP, DFS, DRI, HOV, INHX, ISTA, MRT, RIMM, RRR, SCCO, STEI, ZNGA, ZQK

Friday’s Top Ten Stocks on the Move (ADBE, ATHN, CVC, CAM, CRYP, ISTA, MRVL, RIMM, RRR, SINA)

Administrator — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:17:39 +0000

Friday is turning out to be a big day with many stocks on the move for an options expiration date. Some of the big shares with news and on the move are as follows: Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE); athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN); Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC); Cameron International Corporation (NYSE: CAM); CryptoLogic Limited (NASDAQ: CRYP); Ista Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISTA); Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL); Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM); RSC Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: RRR); and Sina Corporation (NASDAQ: SINA). We have compiled news summaries on each and added color if applicable.

Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) rose after reporting earnings of $0.67 EPS on revenues of $1.15 billion, while Thomson Reuters for earnings of 60 cents a share in the quarter on revenue of $1.09 billion. Adobe sees non-GAAP profits of ranging from 54 to 59 cents a share for its fiscal first quarter ending in February and $2.37 to $2.47 a share for the full year. Those views compare to the current average analyst estimates for earnings per share of 58 cents and $2.44 in the respective periods. Shares are up 4.7% at $27.70.

athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN) is trading up about 3% at $50.50 after both Leerink Swann and Oppenheimer raised their analyst ratings.

Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC) is indicated down 7% after COO Rutledge resigned from the company. Interestingly enough, Reuters said that this means Cablevision could end up being in play after the resignation.

Cameron International Corporation (NYSE: CAM) is trading up about 2.2% at $45.85 after BP agreed to indemnify Cameron against current and future claims in the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

CryptoLogic Limited (NASDAQ: CRYP), which would win from any loosening online gambling regulations in America, surged in the after-hours on news that it has agreed to a buyout offer by the Amaya Gaming Group at $2.50 per share. Shares were up 35% last night at $2.14 and the 52-week trading range was $0.84 to $2.19.

Ista Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISTA) is seeing a major pop with shares up more than 60% after the proposed $6.50 per share acquisition and buyout proposal from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (NYSE: VRX). Valeant is about 75-times the size of Ista, and the $6.22 share price of Ista compares to a $3.89 close on Thursday and compares to a 52-week range of $2.88 to $11.39.

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) has not yet traded but is indicated higher by almost 1% after increasing its share buyback plan by $500 million last night.

Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) just cannot get its act together. Despite what appeared to be an earnings beat, RIM guided lower, delayed a new launch due to chipset concerns, it keeps remaining on the same path, and it keeps losing market share despite having nearly 75 million Blackberry subscribers. This company just needs new management and it really needs to figure out a way to show that its security is far superior than that of smartphones from Apple or Google. Shares are down 10% at $13.58 in the pre-market session.

RSC Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: RRR) is going to be up about 50% on the United Rentals buyout at $18.00 per share.

Sina Corporation (NASDAQ: SINA) is trading lower by more than 4.3% at $50.50 after China is going to start requiring microblog users (which Sina hosts) to get users’ real names before allowing them to access posting privileges.

All of these are pre-market trading indications and some are likely to change substantially throughout the trading day.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert Tagged: ADBE, ATHN, CAM, CRYP, CVC, ISTA, MRVL, RIMM, RRR, SINA

52-Week Low Club (December 28, 2007)

247wallst — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 15:01:00 +0000

Some of these stocks hit 52-week lows and recovered off of lows so they won’t have a low close. But these did all touch or breach the 52-week lows. At the end we also broke out retail stocks, financial stocks, airlines & transports, and hotels. A separate report could have been compiled for REIT’s as well, but many of those were left off because of room or volume. There were enough 52-week lows today that you might even wonder if there had been a mini-crash in the markets. Here are the 52-week lows for December 28, 2007:

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD)… imagine if the company got Hector Ruiz to leave.
American Greetings (NYSE: AM)…again.
AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN)… new entrant.
Carmike Cinemas (NASDAQ:CKEC)
ChipMOS (NASDAQ:IMOS)
Corp. Office Property (NYSE: OFC)
Cryptologic (NASDAQ: CRYP)
Diebold (NYSE:DBD)
Fortune Brands (NYSE:FO)
Group 1 Auto (NYSE: GPI)
Infinera Corp. (NASDAQ: INFN)
Introgen (NASDAQ:INGN)
Japan Smaller Cap Fund (NYSE: JOF)
Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ: LAMR)
Legget & Platt (NYSE: LEG)
Martha Stewart (NYSE: MSO)
Marvell Tech (NASDAQ:MRVL)
Mattel (NYSE:MAT)
McClatchy (NYSE:MNI)
Micron Tech (NYSE:MU)
NGAS Resources (NASDAQ:NGAS)
Nortel Networks (NYSE:NT)
Owens Corning (NYSE:OC)
Omnicare (NYSE:OCR)
Prestige Brand (NYSE: PBH)
PC-Tel (NASDAQ:PCTI)
Ruth’s Chris (NASDAQ:RUTH)
SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK)
Theravance (NASDAQ:THRX)
Tractor Supply (NASDAQ:TSCO)
Wendy’s (NYSE: WEN)
World Fuel Services (NYSE:INT)
U-Store-It (NYSE:YSI)

Retail Stocks on 52-week lows: Ann Taylor (NYSE:ANN), Big Lots (NYSE:BIG), Borders Group (NYSE:BGP), Bon Ton Stores (NASDAQ:BONT), Chico’s FAS (NYSE:CHS), Finish Line (NASDAQ:FINL), Liz Claiborne (NYSE: LIZ), Macy’s (NYSE: M), Office Max (NYSE:OMX), Petsmart (NASDAQ:PETM), Stage Stores (NYSE:SSI)

Financial stocks on 52-week lows: Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC), Citigroup (NYSE:C), Canseco (NYSE: CNO), Discover Financial (NYSE: DFS), Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB), Fortress Investment (NYSE: FIG), MBIA Inc. (NYSE: MBI), Washington Mutual (NYSE:WM)… urgh! When does it stop?

Airlines/Transports on 52-week lows: Airtran Holdings (NYSE: AAI)…again. Did they launch a Friends Die Free rewards plan? Continental Airlines (NYSE:CAL), Fedex (NYSE:FDX), Mesa Air (NASDAQ:MESA), Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA)… near $100 oil is a real pain.

Hotels Hitting 52-week lows: Host Hotels (NYSE: HST), Lasalle Hotel (NYSE: LHO), Starwood Hotels (NYSE:HOT), Sunstone Hotel (NYSE: SHO), Wydham Worldwide (NYSE:WYN). Maybe these all wish they could get the private equity buyers back in the sector. If only they could still borrow.

These CEO’s new year’s resolutions are all the same: "In 2008 I want to keep my stock off the 52-week low lists."

Jon C. Ogg
December 28, 2007

Online Poker Protesting May Highlight Few Shares (CRYP, GIGM, UBET)

247wallst — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 06:43:17 +0000

We have noted several stocks in the past for online gambling repeals that would benefit if online gambling bans for U.S. citizens were lifted. Among these that trade in the U.S. are:

Cryptologic (NASDAQ:CRYP) is sort of the pure-play stock that traders would look at that trades in the U.S., although the former Canadian company moved overseas closer to its European client-base.
Taiwan’s online gaming software company that traders look to is GigaMedia Ltd. (NASDAQ:GIGM).
YouBet.com (NASDAQ:UBET) is one such company, although it too has had issues in the past.

The Poker Players Alliance is petitioning Capitol Hill this week to repeal part of the ban on online gambling, or at least for online poker. The alliance apparently represents 800,000 poker enthusiasts and is looking to get poker put in the same exemptions as online horse racing, lotteries, and fantasy sports. This follows a move by Congressman Barney Frank which we covered earlier this year, and his efforts are apparently gathering more support.

Interestingly enough, playing poker online is still done regularly and legally. But processing payments is the illegal part for U.S. citizens, and the laws currently allow the government to go after financial institutions that facilitate such payments if they process online gambling payments for U.S. citizens.

In the U.K., stocks like PartyGaming Plc and 888 Holdings Plc are two of the online gambling companies that would benefit from a repeal in online gambling for poker.

It is probably far too soon to make bets, no pun intended, on how this turns out. Even if the puritanical ban ends up getting repealed, it is not something that will happen overnight.

Jon C. Ogg
October 23, 2007

Pre-Market Stock News (August 20, 2007)

247wallst — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 07:03:52 +0000

(AXP) American Express is selling its private banking unit.
(CFC) Countrywide is laying off loan originators and support staff as applications are down and to cut costs.
(CHINA) CDC Corp. announced a $225 million share stock offering.
(CLWR) Clearwire has insiders from debt conversion selling $369 million in stock.
(CRYP) Cryptologic gets a pact from World Poker Tour.
(EMC) EMC could be worth 20% more in a year according to Barron’s.
(GOOG) Google took a stake in Chinese community Web site Tianya.cn for social networking.
(KFN) KR Financial has shareholders selling 16 million shares; and will have a public rights offering up to $270 million; principals of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts will purchase up to approximately $100 million of common shares at $14.40 if not fully subscribed.
(KNSY) Kensey Nash $0.11 EPS vs $0.15 est.
(LLNW) Limelight Networks announced that MyVideo.de video delivery service in Germany has selected Limelight as its exclusive provider of CDN services.
(LOW) Lowe’s trading up 4% after $0.67 EPS vs. $0.61 estimates; same store sales fell 2.6% for the quarter.
(LYV) Live Nation may win Madonna from Warner Music in a $100 million deal.
(MHP) McGraw Hill down on JPMorgan downgrade.
(NDAQ) NASDAQ is reviewing alternatives to divest its stake in London Stock Exchange; says $1 Billion will be used to retire debt and buyback stock.

Jon C. Ogg
August 20, 2007