24/7 Wall St. » IRBT

Morning Movers (IPSU, DMND, TLEO, IRBT, TRIP)

Paul Ausick — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:28:18 +0000

The three major US equities indexes opened higher this morning as traders await an agreement on the still-pending Greek debt swap. The DJIA is about 39 points at about 12,923, the Nasdaq Composite is up more than 4 points at about 2,920, and the S&P 500 is about 1 point at about 1,351.

There are several stocks trading more heavily than usual this morning, and also experiencing large gains or drops in share prices. These include Imperial Sugar Co. (NASDAQ: IPSU), Diamond Foods Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND), Taleo Corp. (NASDAQ: TLEO), iRobot Corp. (NASDAQ: IRBT), and TripAdvisor Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP).

After the first half hour of trading this morning, Imperial Sugar is up nearly 50% at $5.03. Volume is about already more than 4x the daily average of about 430,000 shares traded. The sugar refiner and marketer said it is nearing a sale of one of its divisions.

Diamond Foods is down about -37% at $23.20 after posting a new 52-week low of $21.44 earlier this morning. Volume is already about 6x the daily average of 2.6 million shares traded. The snack food maker will re-state accounting and that jeopardizes the deal to purchase the Pringles brand from Proctor & Gamble (NYSE: PG). See our coverage here.

Taleo is up nearly 17% at $45.53 after posting a new 52-week high of $45.55 earlier. Volume is already about 30x the daily average of about 680,000 shares traded. The maker of cloud-based software is being acquired by Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL). More coverage here.

iRobot is down more than -31% at $26.42. Volume is about 8x the daily average of around 290,000 shares traded. The robot manufacturer lowered its Q1 and full year forecasts below expectations.

TripAdvisor is down nearly -16% at $28.88. Volume is already more than double the daily average of about 2 million shares traded. The Internet travel company projected lower revenue and higher expenses for 2012.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire Tagged: DMND, IPSU, IRBT, TLEO, TRIP

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ACOR, BP, ED, FICO, BEN, GPS, IRBT, KMP, LDK, LTD, ERIC, MXIM, MRGE, MOS, OVTI, PNK)

Administrator — Mon, 23 May 2011 12:22:30 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Monday morning.

Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACOR) Raised to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
BP plc (NYSE: BP) Raised to Buy at Soc-Gen.
Consolidated Edison Inc. (NYSE: ED) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Fair Isaac Corp. (NYSE: FICO) Raised to Hold at Argus.
Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE: BEN) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) Raised to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ: IRBT) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (NYSE: KMP) Started as Buy at Janney Capital.
LDK Solar Co. Inc. (NYSE: LDK) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Limited Brands, Inc. (NYSE: LTD) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs; Reiterated Buy at Argus.
LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Merge Healthcare (NASDAQ: MRGE) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan; Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
OmniVision Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: OVTI) Reiterated Buy with $45 target at Gleacher & Co.
Pinnacle Entertainment (NYSE: PNK) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

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

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ACOR, BEN, BP, ED, ERIC, FICO, GPS, IRBT, KMP, LDK, LTD, MOS, MRGE, MXIM, OVTI, PNK

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (AFFX, APD, ACAS, AMLN, AMAT, AINV, CTXS, DRYS, XOM, IRBT, LRCX, NFLX, NSR, NHY, NYX, BTU, UPS)

247wallst — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:57:12 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market analyst downgrades and cautious calls we are seeing this Thursday morning:

Affymetrix (AFFX) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Air Products (APD) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
American Capital (ACAS) Cut to Underperform at KBW.
Amylin Pharma (AMLN) Cut to Sell at Canaccord.
Applied Materials (AMAT) Started as Sell with $8 target at Auriga.
Apollo Investment (AINV) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
Citrix Systems (CTXS) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
DryShips (DRYS) Cut to Underperform at Oppenheimer.
Exxon Mobil (XOM) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
iRobot (IRBT) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Lam Research (LRCX) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Netflix (NFLX) Started as Sell at Maxim Group.
Neustar (NSR) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Norsk Hydro (NHY) Cut to Market Perform at Bernstein.
NYSE Euronext (NYX) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
Peabody Energy (BTU) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
United Parcel Service (UPS) Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.

Jon C. Ogg
January 29, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: ACAS, AFFX, AINV, AMAT, AMLN, APD, BTU, CTXS, DRYS, IRBT, LRCX, NFLX, NHY, NSR, NYX, UPS, XOM

The 52-Week Low Club (NWK)(MGM)(PDGI)(RDEN)

247wallst — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:48:56 +0000

Network Equipment (NWK) Misses numbers and gets downgraded. Falls to $3.95 from 52-week high of $15.75.

MGM Mirage (MGM) Slowdown in casino earnings at key rival. Sells off to $47.89 from 52-week high of $100.50.

Pharmanet Development (PDGI) Awful quarter. Shares dumped to $15.41 from 52-week high of $43.05.

Elizabeth Arden (RDEN) Posts loss. Drops to $13.13 from 52-week high of $28.05.

Hologic (HOLX) Profit picture falls apart. Sells down to $21.25 from 52-week high of $36.44.

Irobot (IRBT) CFO departs as do solid numbers. Falls to $13.19 from 52-week high of $24.30.

Douglas A. McIntyre

52-Week Low Alert: iRobot; iWarning; iCFO Exit (IRBT)

247wallst — Thu, 01 May 2008 08:09:18 +0000

iRobot Corp. (NASDAQ: IRBT) shares are seeing their share of sellers today. The company posted a loss of -$0.16 EPS on $57.3 million in revenues, while First Call estimates were -$0.16 and $55 million. Unfortunately, despite the stock well off of highs this story doesn’t get much better.

The company’s guidance for fiscal-2008 is now $0.12 to $0.17 EPS on revenues of $295 to $305 million, while estimates are $0.23 EPS and $298 million.

The company also lost its CFO Geoffrey Clear, who is resigning to pursue opportunities with emerging companies with $50 to $300 million in revenues.

To add insult to injury, shares are down about 13% pre-Market to $13.90, and that will mark a new 52-week low if that holds. The prior 52-week range was $14.51 to $24.30.

Jon C. Ogg
May 1, 2008

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (BVF, CERN, GIGM, IRBT, MHS, MDP, SII, STLD, STI, TRI)

247wallst — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 06:49:30 +0000

These are not all of the analyst calls, but these are ten of the calls affecting shares this Wednesday morning:

Biovail (NYSE: BVF) cut to Sector Perform at CIBC.
Cerner (NASDAQ: CERN) raised to Buy at Jefferies.
GigaMedia (NASDAQ: GIGM) started as Nuy at Brean Murray.
iRobot (NASDAQ: IRBT) raised to Buy at Kaufman.
Medco Health (NYSE: MHS) raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Meredith (NYSE: MDP) cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Smith International (NYSE: SII) raised to Overweight at JPMorgan; also cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ: STLD) cut to Hold at Citigroup.
SunTrust Banks (NYSE: STI) raised to Market Perform at KBW.
Triad Hospitals (NYSE: TRI) started as Overweight at JPMorgan.

Jon C. Ogg
April 23, 2008

TASER & iRobot: Creating the Terminator? (TASR, IRBT)

247wallst — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 07:32:05 +0000

TASER International, Inc. (TASR-NASDAQ) has announced a strategic alliance with iRobot Corp. (IRBT-NASDAQ) to develop a new robotic capability utilizing TASER(r) technologies. This combination of capabilities is intended to allow law enforcement, federal, and military users to employ TASER technology from an iRobot(r) platform at a safe distance to engage, incapacitate, and control dangerous suspects without exposing those personnel, the suspect, or bystanders to unnecessary risks.

The two companies have initially integrated TASER(r) X26 electronic control device technology into the iRobot PackBot(r) Explorer. This proof-of-concept integration is being shown to Law Enforcement and Military customers to explore customer needs and requirements. The companies expect these initial customer interactions will lead to the development of products that may include a full line of TASER kits for iRobot platforms to a family of fully integrated robots.

This sounds sort of like a natural fit, although you have to wonder how effective or how robust this will really be for a long time. If they can make it look like Arnold Schwarzenegger they may have a real hit on their hands.

Jon C. Ogg
June 28, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Pre-Market Stock News (June 14, 2007)

247wallst — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 06:56:16 +0000

(APPAD) AP Pharmaceuticals announces the pricing of its underwritten public offering of 21.2 million shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $1.65 per share.
(BBND) Bigband Networks announced order for its routers by Korean cable operator.
(BIDU) Baidu.com noted as positive speculative play in China by Cramer on Mad Money.
(BIOF) BioFuel priced its IPO at$10.50 per share.
(BOT) CBOT may get a sweetened bid from CME according to WSJ.
(CEO) CNOOC noted as one of the solid and stable companies in China by Cramer on Mad Money.
(CHL) China Mobile noted as one of the solid and stable companies in China by Cramer on Mad Money.
(FMCN) Focus Media noted as positive speculative play in China by Cramer on Mad Money.
(GIVN) Given Imaging receives FDA marketing clearance for PillCam ESO 2.
(HOKU) Hoku Scientific traded up over 60% after a $678 million order from Suntech power.
(IRBT) iRobot received Lockheed Martin order to be the provider of the Centralized Controller Device for the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems program.
(IVZ) INVESCO announced a $500 million share buyback plan.
(K) Kellogg is trying to create healthier recipes for sugary cereals.
(SNY) Sanofi-Aventis traded down 3% after an FDA review panel voted 14-0 against its diet drug over lack of safety concerns.
(SRZ) Sunrise Assisted Living received activist shareholder complaints for management change by Millennium Partners.
(SSW) Seaspan noted as one of the solid and stable companies in China by Cramer on Mad Money.
(SYT) Sygenta announced that its CEO will retire at the end of 2007.
(TASR) Taser announced an extended range electronic projectile.
(TGEN) Targeted Genetics reported Phase I/II swelling reduction in inflammatory arthritis clinical data.
(WMT) Wal-Mart reportedly has theft rising at stores.
(ZILA) Zila’s CEO has resigned effective immediately to pursue other interests.

Jon C. Ogg
June 14, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.