The company expects to realize net proceeds of $42.1 million from the share sale. The underwriters have a 30-day over-allotment option of about 2.41 million shares. Lazard Capital Markets LLC is the sole book-running manager for the offering, Stifel Nicolaus Weisel is co-lead manager, and ROTH Capital Partners, LLC is co-manager of the offering.

The shares are being offered from a shelf registration filed yesterday. The company did not indicate how the net proceeds would be used.

Shares of Discovery Labs are down -18% at $2.87 in a 52-week range of $1.44-$5.39.

Among the major movers at around noon today are Transcend Services Inc. (NASDAQ: TRCR), Discovery Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: DSCO), The Bon Ton Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: BONT), Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P), and Vermillion Inc. (NASDAQ: VRML).

Transcend Services is up nearly 40% at $29.25. Volume is already approaching 20x the daily average of about 65,000 shares traded. The medical transcription service is being acquired by Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) for $300 million in net cash ($29.50/share).

Discovery Laboratories is up nearly 22% at $4.57 after posting a new 52-week high of $5.39 earlier this morning. Volume is already around 25x the daily average of about 656,000 shares traded. The drug maker has received FDA approval for a respiratory drug to treat premature infants.

Bon Ton Stores is up about 32% at $6.94. Volume is already more than 6x the daily average of around 240,000 shares traded. The retailer reported lower-than-expected earnings and revenues, but its forecast is above expectations.

Pandora Media is down more than -23% at $10.97. Volume is already about about 8x the daily average of around 2.1 million shares traded. The Internet radio company posted worse than expected earnings last night. More coverage here.

Vermillion is down about -25% at $2.25. Volume is already more than 11x the daily average of about 290,000 shares traded. The medical device maker’s stock more than doubled yesterday, and today’s action is likely a bit of profit-taking following an analyst’s downgrade. More coverage here.

Paul Ausick

There are several stocks trading more heavily than usual this morning, and also experiencing large gains or drops in share prices. These include the Transcend Services Inc. (NASDAQ: TRCR), Discovery Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: DSCO), The Bon Ton Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: BONT), Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P), and Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ).

Transcend Services is up nearly 40% at $29.27. Volume is already more than 12x the daily average of about 65,000 shares traded. The medical transcription service is being acquired by Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) for $300 million in net cash ($29.50/share).

Discovery Laboratories is up nearly 26% at $4.71. Volume is already around 12x the daily average of about 656,000 shares traded. The drug maker has received FDA approval for a respiratory drug to treat premature infants.

Bon Ton Stores is up about 28% at $6.72. Volume is already about 3x the daily average of around 240,000 shares traded. The retailer reported lower-than-expected earnings and revenues, but its forecast is above expectations.

Pandora Media is down more than -24% at $10.83. Volume is already about about 5x the daily average of around 2.1 million shares traded. The Internet radio company posted worse than expected earnings last night. More coverage here.

Canadian Solar is down about -12% at $2.90. Volume is already about equal to the daily average of around 1.3 million shares traded. The solar panel maker reported very poor earnings this morning and its outlook is also weak. More coverage here.

Paul Ausick

Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) is seeing a slight drop after yesterday’s monumental drop.  Shares are down 0.9% at $37.66.

Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: ABK) moved again last night after the close and is holding with 6% gains at $1.01 based on continued hopes that the Bank-Mortgage fraud fears will help the insurers recovery lost money.

Discovery Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: DSCO) is only a penny stock but is up after it announced the completion of Phase IIa in a study of aerosolized KL4 surfactant in cystic fibrosis.  Shares were up as much as 20% and now ‘only’ 11% at $0.24 because of the penny increments.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is down 2.3% at $16.76 on active volume in the pre-market after its earnings were deemed to be short.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is soaring after it beat earnings expectations.  Shares are up close to 10% at $598.00 on active trading.  Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) is following Google up this morning, and shares are indicated up over 3% at $101.25 in the pre-market.

Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) is trading lower so far after earnings; shares are down over 6% at $22.39 on active volume for the stock before the open.

National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE: NBG) is indicated up after indications are out that the interbank may open up for Greek banks.  Shares were up as much as 6% per ADR here and the stock is now up 4% at $2.35 in the pre-market on active trading.

Seagate Technology plc (NASDAQ: STX) is soaring on word that an indication of interest has been shown to the company in a possible go-private transaction.  Shares are up nearly 19% at $15.08 on very active trading.  Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) is its key US competitor and its shares are also up 8% at $32.00 in active pre-market trading.

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JON C. OGG

Allied Irish Banks plc (NYSE: AIB) said its loss deepened and it had increased bad debt items.  Shares are getting crushed by 8% to $2.50 on over 100,000 shares.  The Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) is getting shelled on the news as well with a 4% drop to $4.48 on almost 150,000 shares.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) is surging now that it has put itself up for sale.  Shares are up 25% at $16.10 in early indications on over 30,000 shares. Borders Group, Inc. (NYSE: BGP) is being viewed as a secondary beneficiary on the news as shares are indicated up about 7% at $1.42.

Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) is higher on a research call as it was reiterated Buy at Needham based upon plant buildouts and over hopes of additional product revenues.  Shares are up 5.5% at $35.70 on almost 100,000 shares.

Discovery Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: DSCO) is down sharply but off its lows after caution in its business outlook.  Shares are down a sharp 10% at $0.28 on 220,000 shares.  Shares were down over 15% in earlier indications; the 52-week range is $0.17 to $1.69.

ExpressJet Holdings Inc. (NYSE: XJT) is the biggest gainer after it was disclosed that SkyWest is acquiring it for a mere $133 million.  Shares are up 100% at $6.58 on over 100,000 shares.

Funtalk China Holdings Limited (NASDAQ: FTLK) has decided to postpone its previously announced proposed public offering of approximately 12,000,000 ordinary shares by selling shareholders.  Shares are surging by 22% to $8.64 on about 50,000 shares.

priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN) is surging this morning after beating earnings estimates and considerably raising guidance.  Shares are up 17% at $270.37 on about 50,000 shares. Keep in mind that the 52-week high is right at $273.93.

Sequenom Inc. (NASDAQ: SQNM) is trading up on active volume after the rating was raised to Buy at Soleil; shares are up 6.6% at $6.31 on over 100,000 shares in early trading.

SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is one of the more active stocks with over 4 million shares traded after it reported above-estimates on revenues and raised targets for 2010.  Shares are up 4% at $1.05.

Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI) beat earnings but despite the recovery it has some sales growth items as the numbers for growth were mostly in-line after the luxury grocer reported that earnings were up 88%.  This one has already run significantly higher.  Shares are down almost 6% at $37.25 and the 52-week range is $24.18 to $43.18.

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JON C. OGG

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) is trading higher after Credit Suisse upgraded the solar player to Outperform from Neutral and gave it a $150 target price.  Shares are up 4.4% at $124.02 this morning.

Fannie & Freddie are at it again…. Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) is down another 14% at $0.48 on active volume and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) is trading down 13% at $0.65 on slightly less volume.  This is after large price drops yesterday based upon the FHFA requesting delisting from the NYSE.

Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: NBIX) is trading up 4.3% at $5.60 after it and Boehringer announced a pact to develop diabetes drug that is a small molecule GPR119 agonist for the treatment of Type II diabetes and other indications.  That is after the Abbott deal yesterday.

Discovery Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: DSCO) is down 15% after a common stock and warrant offering was proposed a day after it received financing from Kingsbridge Capital.

Oncothyreon Inc (NASDAQ: ONTY) is up 20% at $4.35 after the company announced that Merck-Serono is resuming the Stimuvax clinical program in lung cancer.

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) is trading up after Jim Cramer gave the company a Buy signal last night on CNBC’s MAD MONEY.  Shares closed at $11.77 and are up about 3.1% at $12.14 this morning on more than 50,000 shares.

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JON C. OGG

Sponsor: 5 best investments for 2010 – The next nine months represent a bold new era for investors.

AllState Corp. (NYSE: ALL) is holding up better than we would have expected considering a Goldman Sachs downgrade to Sell.

Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) had unbelievable options trading yesterday, although it appears to be a dividend capture trade… over 1 million SEPT-2009 contracts were traded yesterday on that basis.

American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG) is holding up rather well considering the downgrade.  We have color on price channels and trading patterns on this one because of how sketchy this stock is.

American Axle (NYSE: AXL) is soaring by 17% on an upgrade, a rather tall task for a research call.

Discovery Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: DSCO) is up about 50% on an FDA review date.

Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) may not be anywhere close to the old highs, but an analyst upgrade is helping it get close to challenging 52-week highs.

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JON C. OGG
SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

Blackbaud (BLKB) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Citrix Systems (CTXS) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Discovery Labs (DSCO) Cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
Eaton Vance (EV) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Federated Investors (FII) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Southwest Air (LUV) Cut to Sell at Argus.

JON C. OGG

Citrix Systems (CTXS) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Discovery Labs (DSCO) Cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
Eaton Vance (EV) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Federated Investors (FII) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
FPL Group (FPL) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Rackspace (RAX) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

JON C. OGG

Discovery Laboratories (NASDAQ: DSCO) shares are on roller coaster ride as they anticipate the await approval for Surfaxin, a preventative medicine for respiratory distress syndrome in premature infants. Last Friday, the stock dropped 50% after the FDA wrote an Approvable Letter to Discovery requesting more information. Today it is up 33% after Discovery announced that additional clinical trials will not be necessary. Shares are trading at $1.87 on extremely high relative trading volume. The 52-week range is $1.29 to $3.75.

EPIX Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: EPIX) announced the mid-stage human clinical trial launch of Alzheimer’s treatment, PRX-03140, making it eligible for a milestone payment of $7.5 million from GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK). Shares are up over 8% to $1.80. The 52-week range is $1.28 to $6.70.

Pluristem Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: PSTI) shares are down over 13% today on no new relevant news. Shares are down $0.63 to $3.96. The 52-week range is $1.52 to $28.00.

Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: VNDA) shares are up almost 40% today after reporting narrower first quarter losses last Thursday, beating expectations. Also, Caris initiated coverage on the company with a “Buy” rating and a $22.00 price target, specifically citing the expectation that schizophrenia treatment Fanapta, will gain regulatory approval in July. Today, shares are up $1.68 to $5.89. The 52-week range is $2.70 to $22.49.

Rachel Lopez
May 5, 2008