We covered the short interest changes for the January 13 settlement date and compared them to the December 30 short interest data and added in other color if applicable.

Alcatel Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU) rose to 22.54 million shares from over 18.2 million for a gain of almost 24%.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) rose 18.5% to 186.1 million from over 157 million at the end of December.

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) saw nearly a 6% gain to 34.76 million shares in the short interest to its highest level in a year.

Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND) saw a gain of 12% to 10.46 million shares during its time of accounting woes, but this is still not as large as in OCT/NOV-2011.

First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) was down only marginally.  The solar leader (and whipping boy) was down again to 18.04 million shares from a reading of 18.7 million at the end of 2011. Be advised that this was FIVE STRAIGHT lower readings in the short interest.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) was up by 14.7% to 147.1 million.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) remains a battleground stock and the uptick was less than 1% to 26.489 million shares in the short interest.  That is still down about 10% from last year’s peak.

Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) posted another rise in the short interest to a new year record of over 32.2 million shares in the short interest.  So much for loving the lupus drug.

LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) continues to see rising bets against its stock.  The reading was 6.9 million shares short and that marks EIGHT STRAIGHT gains in the bets against the stock.

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) may feel after-the-fact now that earnings are out, but the short interest rose by a sharp 25% to 11.422 million shares.  That is the highest short interest reading since last March.  Today’s gains have to be some short covering.

Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) has had the vultures circling it for some time but this last short interest reading of 36.6 million was down more than 3% and was actually the lowest short interest reading since the end of last July.  Maybe all the short-sale money has been made since the stock fell about 75%.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) always has a high short interest due to its low price and controversial stock… What is interesting is that the gain was not even 2% in short shares to 305 million BUT… That is the highest short interest since the end of last May.

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JON C. OGG

ADTRAN, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADTN) Cut to Hold at Needham Research.
Advance Auto Parts (NYSE: AAP) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Air Products and Chemical, Inc. (NYSE: APD) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Arcelor Mittal (NYSE: MT) Cut to Neutral at HSBC.
Automatic Data Processing. Inc. (NYSE: ADP) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE: BKU) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) Cut to Sell at Societe Generale.
Cardtronics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CATM) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Cash America International (NYSE: CSH) Raised to Buy at Sterne Agee.
Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) maintained Buy with $130 target but cut estimates at Argus.
Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) Maintained Sell at Argus.
Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) Started as Buy with $14 price target at Maxim.
Lamar Advertising Co. (NASDAQ: LAMR) maintained as Outperform and named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks.
MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE: SMG) Cut to Underperform at BMO Capital.
UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Veolia Environnement (NYSE: VE) Cut to Neutral at HSBC.
Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Weatherford International Inc. (NYSE: WFT) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.

Read Also: Jim Cramer touts Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) as a cheap catch-up semiconductor stock. This creates a chart versus fundamental event in price.

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JON C. OGG

Our screen process did not limit the scope to positive earnings, but we did use a minimum market valuation of $1 billion to avoid the smaller and even more speculative names in an already speculative sector.  The companies are all expected to rise 20% more and include the following stocks tied to biotech and the biohealth sectors: ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARIA); Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN); Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD); Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI); Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN); Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ: INCY); Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAZZ); Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE); and Theravance, Inc. (NASDAQ: THRX).

Unfortunately, some of these are biotech implosions where companies have run into problems. Others are pre-revenue and could be tomorrow’s drug giants in cancer and other indicated treatments.  Some may even be acquired.  We have included the current share price and recent price history, as well as based the implied upside upon the consensus price target objective from Thomson Reuters.  Recent fundamental data and color has been added on each if applicable.

There are also the ETF products via the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology (NASDAQ: IBB) and the SPDR S&P Biotech (NYSE: XBI).  The iShares variation trades at $104.30 and its 52-week range is $83.96 to $110.02.  Gilead (and Pharmasset) would be the largest implied holding of the iShares ETF with almost 16% weighting combined.  The SPDR variation trades at $66.48 and its 52-week range is $47.01 to $75.17. The SPDR also only contains ARIAD (and Pharmasset) of the biotechs with the most implied upside below. 

ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARIA) currently trades around $12.50, has a market cap of about $1.65 billion, and the Thomson Reuters consensus price target of $15.91 leaves an implied upside of about 27%.  Its 52-week trading range is $5.04 to $13.50 and 2011 has been a year where the company’s share price has come close to challenging the prior highs from 1999 to 2000. It is still pre-revenue for the most part and losses are expected to continue at least through 2012.  ARIAD is focused around oncology and its shares are up from a $10.42 per share offering of almost 25 million shares that raised nearly $250 million for the company.  This was one of the good secondary offerings that allows the company to raise development and commercialization funds without becoming dependent solely upon a single partner.

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) is another implosion story due to lower adoption rates of PROVENGE for prostate cancer, although some are hoping and expecting that the new reimbursement rates (and physician clarity) may help the company regain some of its lost footing.  At $7.58, the market cap is barely $1.1 billion and the $11.05 Thomson Reuters price target leaves an implied upside of over 45%.  To show just how bad this one has gone, the 52-week trading range is $6.46 to $43.96.

Also Read: Small Caps With 50% Upside in 2012

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) recently traded at $39.88 and it is one of the biotech giants with a market cap of about $30 billion. THe 52-week trading range is $34.45 to $43.49 and the Thomson Reuters consensus price target of $48.86 leaves an implied upside of 22.5%. The last time Gilead was above $50.00 was in early 2009.  Gilead is somewhat surprising to see on the list considering its controversial $11 billion acquisition of Pharmasset when that target acquisition is not expected to generate sales for at least another year.  The company has new HIV medication that is helping to boost the value but the company is diversifying to include more target markets.

If you go back to the highs from earlier this year based upon its new lupus drug’s great hopes, the stock is now down close to 75% from those highs.  Technically, a double in the stock would still not the stock back to its highs.

After increased short selling and after more tepid of a market responses to its lupus treatment, it seems that Human Genome will not turn a profit until 2014.  The report’s angle is based upon a wider doctor support in 2012 and a slight increase in demand.

The problem is that doctors have been slow in recommending Benlysta for lupus patients because the drug is relatively expensive against prior drugs which have been on the market for 40 years or more.  Doctors also say that the reimbursement process for Benlysta has been both challenging and time consuming. That is about to change in 2012 and that is the key driving force behind why Human Genome Sciences could double per Barron’s.

What is interesting is that the Thomson Reuters consensus price targets still has enough old price targets that have not been adjusted to the much lower current prices that the analyst field is already calling for a double in the stock and then some.  At $7.54, the Thomson Reuters consensus price target is above $18.00 today.

After having raised funds and with having a solid partnership under its belt, Human Genome Sciences should have enough capital to get it to profitability by 2014.  This is a blockbuster drug potentially and that could easily help out in the company’s valuation of $1.5 billion today.

JON C. OGG

Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) Started as Equal-Weight by Evercore Partners.
Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) Cut to Negative from Neutral by Susquehanna; Reiterated Buy and raised price target objective to $93 by Argus.
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE: DO) Cut to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.
Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) Started as Equal-Weight at Barclays.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Reiterated Outperform with $700 price target objective.
Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) Started as Equal-Weight at Barclays.
Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE: MCP) Started as Hold by ThinkEquity.
NetEase.com (NASDAQ: NTES) featured as aggressive growth stock of the day by Zacks Investment Research.
Newpark Resources, Inc. (NYSE: NR) featured as the Value stock of the day by Zacks Investment Research.
Pepco Holdings Inc (NYSE: POM) Raised to Outperform with $23 price target objective by Credit Suisse.
Pharmacyclics Inc. (NASDAQ: PCYC) has been downgraded by RBC Capital Markets and by Global Hunter this morning.
Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD) was initiated as “Underperform” by a firm called Imperial Capital.
SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) was initiated with a Buy rating and was assigned a $2.20 price target objective by Citigroup; Sirius was also featured as the Bull of the Day by Zacks Investment Research.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) lowered estimates and targets by Credit Suisse.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) Started as Market Perform by BMO.

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JON C. OGG

After reviewing and filtering all of these research reports, we end up with the top analyst calls of the week.  The top analyst calls of the week were in the following stocks: American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE: AWK); Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE: NLY); ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH); Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC); Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC); Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C); J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM); Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT); Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL); Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN); Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND); Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI); OpenTable, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPEN); SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK); Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO); Vical Inc. (NASDAQ: VICL); and YRC Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCW).

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE: AWK) was down on Friday, but earlier in the week it was added to the #1 Strong Buy List at Zacks.  Despite its performance and valuations, we still see this one as a favorable stock for most investment portfolios.

Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE: NLY) saw shares slide this last week but we had an analyst duel.  Wells Fargo raised Annaly to Outperform on Thursday, but Ladenburg Thalmann cut the rating to Neutral from Buy.

ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) was given a much better upside call against Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) by BMO Capital Markets mid-week, but this call goes against what the consensus analyst group is calling for.  BMO raised ARM to Outperform and simultaneously downgraded Intel to Market Perform in the call.

Banking Sector Alert: On Tuesday afternoon came a bank sector downgrade by S&P Capital IQ, where Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) were both downgraded to “Hold” from “Buy.” On Wednesday morning Credit Suisse actually raised Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) to “Outperform” and it gave a $48 price target.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) was one of the few infrastructure players given a positive call by a new round of research calls by Morgan Stanley this last Wednesday.  The firm started Caterpillar with an “Overweight” in a call which was cautious among many infrastructure and farming equipment makers.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (NASDAQ: CTSH) is down more than 4% premarket to $68.00, relative to a 52-week range of $53.54 – $83.48.

Ericsson Telephone (NASDAQ: ERIC) is up 2.48% before market open to $10.35, relative to a 52-week range of $8.83 – $15.44.

Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) is up nearly 9% before market open to $37.25, relative to a 52-week range of $28.49 – $36.42.

Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) is down 6.7% premarket to $9.65, relative to a 52-week range of $9.68 – $30.15.

It was just on Tuesday that Human Genome Sciences was downgraded to Underperform by Zacks, but it was also given the dubious honor of being named The Bear of the Day.  

The company earmarked the funds for general corporate purposes, but it included that it may repurchase its outstanding 2.25% Convertible Subordinated Notes due 2012 before their scheduled maturity date on August 15, 2012. Also noted was capped call transactions to reduce the potential dilution and/or to offset any potential cash payments in excess of the principal amount of the converted notes.

This offering is being underwritten by Citigroup.  Our take is that this company is simply raising refinancing capital here rather than taking on any massive new undertaking on top of a poor lupus drug reception so far.  The size compares to a market capitalization rate of $1.95 billion.

There is still over two hours until the market opens and shares are indicated down another 2.5% after closing at $10.25 yesterday.  The 52-week range is $9.68 to $30.15.

JON C. OGG

Alcatel-Lucent SA (NYSE: ALU) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) Started as Hold at Canaccord Genuity.
Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Started as Buy at MKM Partners.
Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) Raised to Outperform with $48 target at Credit Suisse.
Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE: LAD) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.
Logitech International SA (NASDAQ: LOGI) Cut to Strong Sell at S&P (late-Monday call).
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) Cut to Hold at Canaccord Genuity.
Questar Corporation (NYSE: STR) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

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JON C. OGG

Markets opened higher this morning on renewed hope for a deal on Europe’s debt debacle. At a meeting of EU leaders, the group approved a 9% capital buffer to go into effect by June 2012. That’s a start, but hardly the end of the long-running disagreement on how the continent should deal with its banking problems. Stocks got a boost from solid earnings from Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) and Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW). Oil prices have dropped more than $2.50/barrel following the weekly EIA report that US crude inventories increased by 4.7 million barrels. New home sales were also up for the first time in five months, following price cuts averaging 3.1%.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up nearly more than 162 points to 11,869.04 (1.39%), the NASDAQ rose more than 12 points (0.46%) to 2.650.67, and the S&P 500 rose 1.05% or nearly 13 points to 1,241.97.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including target price and estimate cuts on Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) at BofA/ML, but the firm maintained its ‘Buy’ rating on the stock. Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) was maintained at ‘buy’ with a raised target price of $70 at Argus; First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) was cut to ‘hold’ at both Kaufman and Jefferies, and cut to ‘sell’ at S&P Capital IQ; 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) was lowered to ‘market perform’ at William Blair; and The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) was cut to ‘neutral’ by Citigroup.

Here are today’s big post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: Boeing is up more than 5% at $66.91; Corning is up 3.6% at $14.22; American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP) is up 0.67%, at $38.91; ConocoPhillips Corp. (NYSE: COP) is up nearly 2%, at $72.03; Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC) is up 1%, at $42.75; and Complete Production Services, Inc. (NYSE: CPX) is up slightly, at $31.06, after trading lower for most of the day.

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

Cheniere Energy, Inc. (AMEX: LNG) is up about 70%, to $10.41. The company signed a 20-year agreement with BG Group plc to sell the British company 3.5 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas annually. The deal is worth about $8 billion, and deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2015.

First Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFCH) is up more than 24%, at $6.76. The company has sold $198 million of some performing loans and other classified assets.

Rentech, Inc. (AMEX: RTK) is up more than 25%, to $1.51. The company successfully launched an IPO today of Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P. (NYSE: RNF) at an offering price of $15-$19/share. RTK owns about 61% of RNF and all of the general partner interests in the new company.

Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) is down about -21%, at $10.05, after posting anew 52-week low of $9.68 earlier in the day. The company reported weak earnings today, and its lupus drug failed to meet already low sales expectations.

DeVry Inc. (NYSE: DV) is down-17%, at $38.36. The company’s earnings failed to meet analysts’ estimates and enrollment also declined in its undergraduate degree programs.

Radioshack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) is down nearly -12%, at $11.80. The company missed earnings expectations as it transitions from being a T-Mobile reseller to a Verizon Wireless reseller.

Stay tuned for Thursday.  We have noted the following events (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – Third quarter GDP report
8:30 a.m. – Unemployment claims
10:00 a.m. – Pending home sales from National Association of Realtors
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas report
1:00 p.m. – Seven-year US Treasury note auction
4:30 p.m. – Federal Reserve balance sheet released

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