Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO) Reiterated Buy and Raised target to $30 at BofA/ML.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Started as Equal Weight at Barclays.
BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) Started as Outperform at RBC.
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) Started as Equal Weight at Barclays.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Started as Overweight at Barclays.
Hansen Natural Corporation (NASDAQ: HANS) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
HDFC Bank Ltd. (NYSE: HDB) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
HJ Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: HRC) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Started as Overweight at Barclays.
Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs; Cut to Hold at Canaccord Genuity.
Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) Started as Neutral at UBS.
SLM Corporation (NYSE: SLM) Raised to Outperform at Bull of the Day at Zacks.
SYKES Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ: SYKE) Reiterated Strong Buy as Value at Zacks.
Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) Started as Buy at UBS.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) Started as Equal Weight at Barclays.

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

Boyd Gaming Corp. (NYSE: BYD) Reiterated Outperform at Credit Suisse.
The Buckle Inc. (NYSE: BKE) Raised to Hold at S&P Equity Research (late-Thursday call).
Canadian Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) Maintained Buy with $20 target at Auriga.
Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (NASDAQ: CLNE) Maintained Neutral, lowered estimates, but Raised target to $15 at BofA/ML.
Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENER) maintained Neutral but target cut to $2.50 at Credit Suisse.
Evergreen Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: ESLR) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Hansen Natural Corporation (NASDAQ: HANS) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE: IM) Raised to Buy at S&P Equity Research (late-Thursday call).
J.C. Penney Co., Inc. (NYSE: JCP) named Bull of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
Mobile Telesystems (NYSE: MBT) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Protective Life Corp. (NYSE: PL) Raised to Neutral at BofA/ML.
Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) Raised to Hold at S&P Equity Research (late-Thursday call).
Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) Reiterated Outperform and target raised to $41 at Credit Suisse.

You can 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

Aflac Inc. (NYSE: AFL) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Started as Buy at Stern Agee (late Monday call).
Assurant Inc. (NYSE: AIZ) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Bucyrus International (NASDAQ: BUCY) Maintained Buy but removed from Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
DreamWorks Animation SKG (NYSE: DWA) Cut to Market Weight at Thomas Weisel.
Hansen Natural Corporation (NYSE: HANS) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Strategic Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: BEE) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
Teekay Corp. (NYSE: TK) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
US Bancorp (NYSE: USB) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

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

Sponsor: 26 Cheap Stocks to Sell – Cheap stocks have been on a tear recently, but nine out of ten stocks are circling the drain!

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) said Q1 profit basically doubled with strong deferred revenues, along with “Call of Duty” and “World of Warcraft” sales.  It also raised its 2010 earnings guidance.  Shares were up over 2% last night and the stock is up 4.3% at $10.94 on almost 50,000 shares.

American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) managed a surprise profit on lower write-downs and on lower restructuring expenses.  AIG also said that earnings grew at most of its core insurance operations. Shares are up 4% at $38.25 on over 150,000 shares.

Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) reported a Q1 profit on stronger sales.  Margins grew as well and we have seen at least one positive research call on ity this morning.  Shares were up more than this earlier, but the stock is up 5% at $10.10 on thin trading volume.

Federal Signal Corp. (NYSE: FSS) priced a 10.5 million share secondary offering at $6.25 per share after a $6.46 close.  This $61.7 million raised is less than some $75 million expected.  Shares are down 4.6% at $6.16 on over 50,000 shares.

Genoptix, Inc. (NASDAQ: GXDX) is down 14.5% at $31.00 after a $36.26 close, but volume is thin around 20,000 shares.  Lower than expected earnings are to blame here.

Hansen Natural Corporation (NASDAQ: HANS) is not looking so natural after Q1 profits fell over 20% and under Thomson Reuters estimates after it saw price declines.  Shares are trading down 14% at $36.57 but on very thin trading volume.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) is after reporting its first real profit in two years, and on very strong revenue to beat Thomson Reuters estimates.  Shares are up 2.5% to $22.20 this morning on over 100,000 shares.

Radian Group Inc. (NYSE: RDN) is up along with PMI Group Inc. (NYSE: PMI) after KBW upgraded both stocks this morning.  Radian is up 2.6% at $10.10 and PMI is up 4.7% at $4.45 this morning.

Sequenom Inc. (NASDAQ: SQNM) is down after earnings with an in-line loss despite higher revenues.  Margins fell over 10% on increased costs.  Auriga remained cautious on this one. Shares are down 8% at $5.15 on relatively thin volume.

Trico Marine Services Inc. (NASDAQ: TRMA) has an appropriate acronym for its ticker.. Trauma… Its Q1 loss was worse than expected and it also said it is looking for ways to improve its financial liquidity and may need the 30-day grace period on an interest payment. Shares are down a whopping 31.5% at $1.67 on about 100,000 shares.

Also, we compiled a huge list of stocks that rose yesterday during the bloodbath.  These are not funds nor ETFs, are not inverse ETFs, most are not in mergers, and the hurdle here was active trading and a 2% gain.

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

Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Frontier Oil Corp. (NYSE: FTO) Started as Outperform at Bernstein.
Hansen Natural Corporation (NASDAQ: HANS) Started as Buy at Standpoint Research.
IAC/Interactive Corp. (NASDAQ: IACI) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) Started as Buy at Argus.
Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) Raised to Buy at Lazard.
OfficeMax Inc. (NYSE: OMX) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
VeriSign Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.

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

• Hansen Natural (NASDAQ: HANS) 1.36M
• Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) stake cut entirely, he should have known better
• P.F. Chang’s (NASDAQ: PFCB) 1.13M
• Heinz (NYSE: HNZ) stake cut to 9.7M shares from 14.8M

He can’t get involved in all of these stocks, but historically tradershave followed him in his ventures whether they are active or not.  Our ownSPECIAL SITUATION newsletter readers got to see a ride of about 20% from bottom to topin his Wendy’s International (NYSE: WEN) activities with Arby’s and Trian Acquisition 1 (AMEX: TUX).  As ofthis filing date, Peltz’ TRIAN Funds also held 113.435 Million sharesof Wendy’s.

Jon C. Ogg
August 14, 2008

American International Group (NYSE: AIG) was down almost 2% at $38.20 late in the day.  Some funding deals in the billions just aren’t that well received.  This had managed to get just back above the low part of the range of $38.15 to $72.96.

Gaiam Inc. (NASDAQ: GAIA) was down 4% at $14.59 late in the day, which was slightly above the prior 52-week low; range of $14.49 to $30.73.  Not all green lifestyle media stocks are created equally; better get the spin-off soon.

Hansen Natural (NASDAQ: HANS) was down almost another 2% late in the day at $28.00, prior low was $28.20 and high was $68.40.

Loral Space (NASDAQ: LORL) was down over 9% at $19.90 late in the day, prior range was $20.04 to $51.56.  This isn’t regularly on the wall of shame, but the company posted a wider loss Monday.

Playboy (NYSE: PLA) better get the Heff’s doing something.  This one keeps getting worse and shares were at $5.58 late in the day; under the $5.84 to $12.00 range.  How much is that L.A. mansion worth?

Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL) was down 6% at $29.31 late in the day; prior range was $30.04 to $45.17.  So much for borrowing against the house to take a cruise.  At least the people can choose who they have dinner with now.

Secure Computing (NASDAQ: SCUR) was down 4% at $4.94 late in the day, not so secure it sounds like.  Prior range $5.05 to $10.54.

Jon C. Ogg
May 20, 2008

Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: CCE) was down less than 1% at $21.48 in the last hour; prior 52-week range was $21.55 to $27.09. Who would have guessed that bottling Coke and other drinks would result in this. 

GeoEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOY) suffering from geospatial imaging sector woes.  While this was well above the 52-week lows, it has been more volatile than plastique in a lightning storm, and shares went as low as $16.05 today; Prior range $17.00 to $37.37.

Hansen Natural Corp. (NASDAQ: HANS) shares fell another 5% to $28.50 in the last hour but shares were as low as $28.20.  This one is making the list more than just once now.  The short sellers that bet against this one probably feel like they are monsters in their own right.

iPass Inc. (NASDAQ: IPAS) fell sharply after earnings and subsequent downgrades.  Shares were down 16% at $2.15 in teh last hour; prior 52-week range was $2.43 to $5.69.  Selling wi-fi spots probably is going to be tough once WiMAX does really hit the U.S.  Looks like the only thing people are passing at iPass is gas.

The Knot Inc. (NASDAQ: KNOT) was down almost 15% at $9.93 last in the day after posting a 65% drop in earnings.  Maybe bridezillas are not doing research anymore or maybe they are just using wedding planners.  Either way, you know when times are tough people don’t go as extravagant on weddings.  Presumable that ad spending might be down too.

3D Systems Corp. (NASDAQ: TDSC) won "the daily fugly" award after its earnings report.  In the last hour shares were down almost 40% at $8.67; prior 52-week trading range was $11.51 to $26.50.   3-D is tough to explain to blind people.

Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) seems counterintuitive with screaming oil prices, but its power costs and energy demands are costing more and more and it can’t pass the costs along.  Shares were at $44.70 at the end of the day and the prior 52-week trading range was $44.94 to $78.68.

Jon C. Ogg
May 9, 2008

Tesoro Corporation (TSO) Broker downgrade. Dips to $22.92 from 52-week high of $65.98.

Playboy Enterprises (PLA) Earnings weaken. Falls to $7.01 from 52-week high of $12.

Soundbite Communications  (SDBT) Analyst downgrade. Falls to $2.44 from 52-week high of $8.25.

Hansen Natural (HANS) Earnings miss estimates. Sells off to $28.51. from 52-week high of $68.40.

Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA) Misses on earnings. Dips to $4.92 from 52-week high of $14.78.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Cult stocks are often fad stocks, but they tend to see explosive volume on news and often have high short interest.  Many of these stocks have been covered in our weekly "10 Stocks Under $10" newsletter we send out too.  Here is a breakdown of these individually:

Today after market close we’ll get to see the earnings out of DivX,Inc. (NASDAQ: DIVX). The estimates for the digital media company fromFirst Call are $0.14 EPS on $25.04 million in revenues.  Next quarterestimates are $0.07 EPS on $21.49 million in revenues. Estimates forfiscal Dec-2008 are $0.47 EPS on $98.24 million in revenues. The52-week range is $6.12 to $19.35. Shares are trading at $7.56 inmid-day Monday trading.

• DIVX just made our newsletter watch list this weekend as one we’ll update fortomorrow because of a large short interest, huge sell-off, and more.

Tuesday after market close we’ll get to see the earnings out ofValueClick Inc. (NASDAQ: VCLK). The estimates for the onlineadvertising company from First Call are $0.16 EPS on $169.62 million inrevenues.  Next quarter estimates are $0.17 EPS on $174.90 million inrevenues. Estimates for fiscal Dec-2008 are $0.79 EPS on $739.00million in revenues.  The 52-week range is $16.11 to $36.70.  Sharesare trading at $20.73 in mid-day Monday trading.

• If there is one advertising name that is of interest to the public now that MSFT-YHOO is off, it’s ValueClick.

Wednesday after market close we’ll get to see the earnings out of CROCSInc. (NASDAQ: CROX). The estimates for the footwear and apparel companyfrom First Call are $0.10 EPS on $196.67 million in revenues.  Nextquarter estimates are $0.43 EPS on $252.19 million in revenues.Estimates for fiscal Dec-2008 are $1.60 EPS on $1.00 billion inrevenues. The coverage is very thin and that they are greatly variedfrom estimate to estimate.  The 52-week range is $9.53 to $75.21.Shares are trading at $10.16 in mid-day Monday trading. 

• CROX we recently covered in our "Under $10" letter as one that is adone fad stock.  But, money is money.  Traders will get all sorts oftrading opportunities to buy on weakness and sell into strength.

Wednesday after market close we’ll get to see the earnings out ofHansen Natural Corporation (NASDAQ: HANS). The estimates for thebeverage distributor from First Call are $0.35 EPS on $220.73 millionin revenues.  Next quarter estimates are $0.61 EPS on $337.18 millionin revenues. Estimates for fiscal June-2008 are $2.14 EPS on $1.22billion in revenues. Estimates for fiscal June-2009 are $2.62 EPS on$1.48 billion in revenues. The coverage is thin and that they aregreatly varied from estimate to estimate.  The 52-week range is $30.77to $68.40. Shares are trading at $35.17 in mid-day Monday trading. 

• Isthere a bigger cult stock in the beverage and specialty drink space?

Thursday after market close we’ll get to see the earnings out ofLocal.com Corp. (NASDAQ: LOCM). The estimates for the localized onlinesearch engine from First Call are -$0.20 EPS on $8.20 million inrevenues.  Next quarter estimates are -$0.17 EPS on $9.49 million inrevenues. Estimates for fiscal Dec-2008 are -$0.55 EPS on $41.04million in revenues. The coverage is very thin and that they aregreatly varied from estimate to estimate.  The 52-week range is $2.77to $13.74. Shares are trading at $5.00 in mid-day Monday trading.

• Local.com has been covered successfully on two occasions in the "Under$10" weekly letter for trading opportunities ahead of events.  Staytuned here.

Thursday after market close we’ll get to see the earnings out ofRealNetworks Inc. (NASDAQ: RNWK). The estimates for thenetwork-delivered digital media product provider from First Call are-$0.03 EPS on $141.57 million in revenues.  Next quarter estimates are-$0.02 EPS on $150.27 million in revenues. Estimates for fiscalDec-2008 are -$0.06 EPS on $623.08 million in revenues.  The 52-weekrange is $5.07 to $8.76. Shares are trading at $6.52 in mid-day Mondaytrading. 

• As this one received a huge cash infusion from Microsoft and as it hasmillions of players on desktops, this one is very-cultish.

Thursday after market close we’ll get to see the earnings out of Rick’sCabaret International Inc. (NASDAQ: RICK). The estimates for thepremier operator of adult nightclubs from First Call are $0.28 EPS on$14.82 million in revenues.  Next quarter estimates are $0.30 EPS on$15.68 million in revenues. Estimates for fiscal Sept-2008 are $1.17EPS on $58.05 million in revenues.  The 52-week range is $7.51 to$29.79.  Shares are trading at $19.04 in mid-day Monday trading.   

• Can you believe we covered this one as the market cap grew past $100million?  At one point it was up huge, but shares have come back offlately.  Are topless bars recession-proof?

Thursday after market close we’ll get to see the earnings out of TrueReligion Apparel Inc. (NASDAQ: TRLG). The estimates for the apparelcompany from First Call are $0.26 EPS on $45.16 million in revenues.The coverage is thin and that they are greatly varied from estimate toestimate.  The 52-week range is $13.89 to $23.74.  Shares are tradingat $19.45 in mid-day Monday trading.   

• Huge short interest in a company that makes $150 jeans look cheap, andone that at one point tried to sell itself.  Also has the cool jeansimage and wide celebrity use base.  Citi recently downgraded it. Does it get more cultish?

Thursday morning we’ll get to see the earnings out of Vonage HoldingsCorporation (NYSE: VG). The estimates for the broadband telephoneservices company from First Call are -$0.07 EPS on $222.30 million inrevenues. Next quarter estimates are -$0.02 on $227.64 million inrevenues. Estimates for fiscal Dec-2008 are -$0.16 EPS on $923.50million in revenues. The coverage is thin and that they are greatlyvaried from estimate to estimate.  The 52-week range is $0.89 to$3.77.  Shares are trading at $1.85 in mid-day Monday trading.   

• Vonage has also recently appeared in the "10 Under $10" weekly letter as one to watch asit is testing the water for a financier to see if it can clean up itsbooks.

As a reminder, all earnings dates are subject to change and may have already changed from the last available data.  Many cult stocks have very thin analyst coverage, and many cult stocks get no real analyst coverage at all.

Jon C. Ogg
May 5, 2008