Ace Ltd. (NYSE: ACE) Started as Buy at Stern Agee.

American International Group (NYSE: AIG) Started as Buy at Stern Agee.

Avis Budget Group, Inc. (NYSE: CAR) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Bankrate, Inc. (NYSE: RATE) Started as Buy at Canaccord Genuity.

CIENA Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) Reiterated Outperform with $25 target at Credit Suisse.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation (NASDAQ: CTSH) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) Reiterated Neutral but with $12 target at Credit Suisse.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) Started as Buy at Needham.

EnerSys (NYSE: ENS) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.

Expeditors International (NASDAQ: EXPD) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Started as Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.

Millennial Media Inc. (NYSE: MM) Started as Buy at Canaccord Genuity.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) Cut to Neutral from Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.

National Bank of Greece (NYSE: NBG) Cut to Reduce at Nomura.

PetroChina Co. Ltd. (NYSE: PTR) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.

Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) Started as Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.

ValueClick (NASDAQ: VCLK) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ: VECO) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.

Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.

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JON C. OGG

Today, A123 announced a new battery technology it calls Nanophosphate EXT, which the company says eliminates the need for costly and heavy temperature-control equipment on batteries for hybrid and micro-hybrid electric vehicles. All-electric cars like the Chevy Volt from General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM), the all-electric version of the Prius from Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) the Leaf from Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. (OTC: NSANY), the Focus Electric from Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), and the vehicles from Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) get a generic wave in the company’s press announcement, but the micro-hybrid market is what A123 is targeting. Johnson Controls and Maxwell are among the key players here.

Micro-hybrid is a fancy new name for cars that incorporate new stop-start technology that shuts off a car’s engine when the car is stopped and restarts it automatically when the driver steps on the gas again. A123, Exide, and Johnson are all making batteries that can absorb this kind of punishment, while Maxwell is attacking the problem with what the company calls ultra-capacitors. Either system improves gasoline mileage by anywhere from 5%-10%.

The global market for micro-hybrid vehicles is expected to swell to more than 39 million vehicles by 2017, and the energy storage devices market is expected to reach $6.9 billion according to A123. The advantages micro-hybrids hold over all-electric technology, for example, are no requirement for special charging stations, far less use of scarce resources like lithium, and much lower cost. From a car-makers point of view, the possible impact on sales is negligible from micro-hybrids because the technology is both cheap and nearly invisible to buyers who don’t have to adapt to a whole new kind of car.

A123 shares have jumped 50% just before noon today, to $1.56 in a 52-week range of $0.82-$5.91. Share prices have been hit hard by a recall of defective battery packs and an explosion in a lab that was testing one of the company’s battery packs. More than 16 million shares have traded hands so far this morning, about 8x normal volume.

Paul Ausick

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Reiterated as Outperform with $675 price target at FBR; Maintained Buy with $800 target at Canaccord Genuity.

American Capital Agency (NASDAQ: AGNC) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) Raised to Outperform at Bernstein.

Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs; Started as Equal-weight at Barclays; Started as Buy at UBS; Started as Buy at Citigroup; Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) removed from U.S. 1 List but maintained Buy rating at BofA/ML.

Dick’s Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) removed from U.S. 1 List but maintained Buy rating at BofA/ML.

EnerSys Inc. (NYSE: ENS) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.

HollyFrontier Corp. (NYSE: HFC) Raised to Buy with $40 target price at Argus.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (NYSE: KKR) Started as Buy with $16 target at Argus.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) Maintained Hold at Argus.

NASDAQ OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) Cut to Underperform from Neutral at Zacks.

TeleNav, Inc. (NASDAQ: TNAV) Cut to Underperform at Baird.

Westamerica Bancorp (NASDAQ: WABC) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

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JON C. OGG

Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) Started as Hold at Jefferies.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Cut to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.
AMERCO, Inc. (NASDAQ: UHAL) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN) Started as Outperform with $22 target at Credit Suisse.
Arch Coal, Inc. (NYSE: ACI) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Canon, Inc. (NYSE: CAJ) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $37 at BofA/ML.
Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) Cut to Market Perform Wells Fargo.
Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR) started as Overweight with $76 target at Morgan Stanley.
EnerSys Inc. (NYSE: ENS) named as Value Stock of the Day at Zacks.
Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ: EQIX) Reiterated Buy with $155 target at BofA/ML.
Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ: INCY) Cut to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.
Lorillard, Inc. (NYSE: LO) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. (NYSE: WFR) Raised to Hold at Jefferies.
Newell Rubbermaid, Inc. (NYSE: NWL) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $24 at BofA/ML.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) Started as Hold at Jefferies.
Renren Inc. (NYSE: RENN) Reinstated as Neutral at Credit Suisse.

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JON C. OGG

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up nearly 113 points to 11,893.86 (0.96%), the NASDAQ rose 3.5 points (0.13%) to 2,625.15, and the S&P 500 rose 0.86% or more than 10 points to1,239.70.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) was added to Zack’s ‘Strong Sell List’. Other changes included Advance Auto Parts Inc. (NYSE: AAP) cut to ‘neutral’ at Credit Suisse; Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) raised to ‘buy’ at Deutsche Bank and Citigroup and target price raised to $26 at Credit Suisse; Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) maintained at ‘hold’ with a $7.50 price target at Canaccord Genuity; SandRidge Energy, Inc. (NYSE: SD) cut to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs; and Computer Sciences Corp. (NYSE: CSC) cut to ‘underweight’ at JPMorgan.

Here are today’s big post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: EnerSys (NYSE: ENS) is up more than 18%, at $26.09; Frontline Ltd. (NYSE: FRO) is up nearly 18%, at $6.05; FutureFuel Corp. (NYSE: FF) is up about 9.5%, at $11.44; Flotek Industries, Inc. (NYSE: FTK) is up more than 13%, at $8.41; Quad Graphics, Inc. (NYSE: QUAD) is down -24%, at $13.90; and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) is down more than -41%, at $39.44.

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

IntraLinks Holding, Inc.) is down nearly -13.5%, to $4.76, a new 52-week low. The company’s stock was downgraded yesterday from ‘buy’ to ‘hold’ following a disappointing earnings report and another 52-week low earlier this week.

HollyFrontier Corp. (NYSE: HFC)  is down  more than -3.5%, at $29.38. The company has sold some assets to Holly Energy Partners LP (NYSE: HEP). Because HFC owns 44% of HEP, the deal’s long-term effects could reduce HFC’s revenues somewhat.

Pandora Media, Inc. (NYSE: P) is down about -4.5%, at $14.70. There’s no news, other than that there is so much competition in the streaming music business that it’s tough to pick a winner. Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is a current favorite following its turnaround.

Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) is up more than 6%, to $8.84. The company may be willing to sell part of its valuable spectrum assets. Shares are also likely to be getting some help from T-Mobile USA’s report today that it has added subscribers.

Here are some things on tap for Friday. It’s Veteran’s Day, so banks and the bond market are closed though the stock market is not. Federal Reserve Bank governor Janet Yellen and San Francisco Fed president John Williams are giving speeches tomorrow afternoon. We have noted the following events (all times Eastern):

• 9:55 a.m. – Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index.

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Paul Ausick

BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT) was down about 1% after its secondary offering after S&P weighting changes.

Alcoa, Inc. (NYSE: AA) is down about 4% after an analyst downgrade from Goldman Sachs.

Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ: CENX) is getting clipped by more than 6% this morning after yesterday’s gains.

Gentium S.p.A (NASDAQ: GENT) is surging on mixed Phase III treatment trial of Defibrotide for severe veno-occlusive disease.

EnerSys (NYSE: ENS) is indicated much lower on an insider-backer share sale of 3.2 million shares to Goldman Sachs.

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) is down after earnings, and we made some support calculations for key levels to watch in the coming days if the weakness persists here.

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ: CERS) is seeing a huge surge on news that Swissmedic has approved the use of platelet components treated with Cerus’ INTERCEPT Blood System.

This volume took place late yesterday, but we started seeing elevated put and call options trading in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL).  This could have been H-P related or it could have merely been options rolling trades from August to September ahead of Friday’s expiration.  So far AAPL shares are down less than 1% at $162.75 on only 100,000 shares.

-The 24/7 Wall Street Team

• EnerSys (ENS) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
• LM Ericsson (ERIC) Raised to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
• Sherwin-Williams (SHW) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
• UDR (UDR) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
• BT Group (BT) Cut to Sell at UBS.
• Builders Firstsource (BLDR) Cut to Neutral at Sun Trust Robinson Humphrey.
• PACCAR (PCAR) Cut to Underweight at HSBC.
• Veolia Environnement (VE) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

JON C. OGG

May 15, 2009

Some of the companies we have looked at in this sector are Altair Nanotechnologies (NASDAQ:ALTI), privately held A123 Systems Inc., Active Power Inc. (NASDAQ:ACPW), Beacon Power Corporation (NASDAQ:BCON), Exide Technologies (NASDAQ:XIDE), EnerSys (NYSE:ENS), C&D Technologies Inc. (NYSE:CHP), and Axion Power International, Inc. (OTCBB:AXPW).

Certainly the interest in hybrid electric cars has generated publicity about battery and fuel cell development. The financial stimulus package before Congress includes $2 billion in grants for advanced battery development. For the transportation sector, advanced batteries need to be lighter and last longer. Current lithium-ion technology, though state-of-the-art, is hampered by the rising cost of the raw material and the relatively short life span of Li-ion batteries. Altair Nanotechnologies (NASDAQ:ALTI) and privately-held A123 Systems Inc. are both working on improving Li-ion performance.

By focusing on batteries for transportation applications, the stimulus package ignores a potentially more important use for advanced batteries: storage for electricity generated by wind and solar power plants.

If solar-generated power created during daylight hours could be stored and put on the grid during non-daylight hours, the impact of large solar installations would essentially double. Similarly, if wind-generated power could be stored for use when the wind isn’t blowing its popularity would soar.

Such batteries would need to be very large and able to respond to requests quickly to meet peak generation demand. Much of the development of this type of battery has been in the uninterruptible power supply space. For example, Active Power Inc. (NASDAQ:ACPW) uses a flywheel technology to build systems that provide up to 3600 kVA as a bridge to firing up a stand-alone generator in the event of a power failure. The flywheel technology can be scaled up to 2000 kW of storage, but that’s at least an order of magnitude too small to be useful in wind/solar storage project. Beacon Power Corporation (NASDAQ:BCON) is also a pure-play flywheel company, but its technology is still very much in the development phase.

To reach the scale needed for big wind and solar projects, the old stand-by lead-acid battery probably offers the most potential. The basic technology is more than 100 years old, but it has the advantage of being less expensive and scalable. Companies such as Exide Technologies (NASDAQ:XIDE), EnerSys (NYSE:ENS), C&D Technologies Inc. (NYSE:CHP), and Axion Power International, Inc. (OTCBB:AXPW) are all working on improving lead-acid technology and scalability. Axion has patented lead-carbon technology that significantly decreases the amount of lead needed in a battery and is currently working on a couple of utility-scale demonstration projects.

The $2 billion in the US economic stimulus package is a huge amount by the standards of the battery industry. The interesting thing to watch here will be how the Department of Energy divvies up the money. The battery companies, with a couple of exceptions, are very small with very low share prices. They employ few people, and won’t employ many more even with new federal money.

By virtue of its authority to make grants, the DOE could decide which companies win and which companies lose. That has never proven to be the best way to develop a market. It does, however, have the advantage of making things happen quickly.

Remember the ethanol boom following the government’s requirement for increased ethanol content in gasoline? Fortunes were made off this.  Ethanol promised to be so big that even Bill Gates jumped into the ring very early via an investment in a company no one ever heard of before he got in.  But the winners are not always winners in the end.  Think of where ethanol stocks are now. That kind of market distortion could happen with advanced battery technology as well.

The good news about the sector is that there are very large companies who have their eyes on the arena.  The world’s largest conglomerate has its hands tied right now, but it has shown some interest recently in battery technology.  We all need power.  Whether we all need ethanol is something we don’t care to debate, because we are firmly entrenched in our own thoughts there.

Paul Ausick
February 13, 2009