Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE: BZH) is playing give-back in the after-hours session.  Shares closed up 4.7% at $6.88 ahead of earnings, but the earnings came out showing the report was helped out on a note exchange gain.  The good news is that orders were up 49% and its cancellations fell.  The real kicker is a 12.5 million share secondary offering along with 3.5 million tangible equity units and $300 million aggregate principal in unsecured notes due in 2018.  Shares are trading in the after-hours session down 5.5% at $6.50 on over 240,000 shares since the 4:00 PM close.

BP plc (NYSE: BP) saw its ADRs a tad lower in the after-hours session despite a late day recovery after word came out that BP has slowed the oil escape rate at its offshore disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.  The problem is that this appears to have been take out of context as a MarketWatch headline said the oil leak has not been reduced.  Shares closed down 3.76% at $50.19 today, and the after-hours session shows shares down 0.3% at $50.05 but on almost 2 million shares since the 4:00 PM closing bell.

Federal Signal Corporation (NYSE: FSS) is trading lower after it announced a $75 million public offering of common stock.  Shares closed marginally lower at $8.04, but the stock is now shown to be down almost 6% at $7.57 on almost 25,000 shares since the 4:00 PM close.

Intevac Inc. (NASDAQ: IVAC) rose over 5% to $14.70 today ahead of earnings, and the company reported a $0.06 EPS positive earnings rather than a -$0.03 EPS estimate from Thomson Reuters.  Shares are trading in the after-hours session up 5.4% at $15.50 on over 20,000 shares.

Leapfrog Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: LF) closed up 4.1% at $7.12 ahead of earnings.  Despite a sales gain of more than 40%, it lost $23 million in its latest quarter.  In the after-hours session the stock is down 18% at $5.80 on only about 34,000 shares traded since the closing bell.

McKesson Corporation (NYSE: MCK) was quiet as a church mouse with a 0.1% gain at $64.87 on the day, but then came its earnings report after the closing bell.  Shares are trading up 4.5% at $67.77 on 148,000 shares since the closing bell.

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) may be a confusion… Shares closed up 5.8% at $9.89 on very active trading today as chip news helped and the note came that Apple already had sold 1 million iPads.  At 5:24 PM EST we see shares down at $9.35, a drop of about 5.5% on over 4.5 million shares after the closing bell.  Be advised that this conflicts with price data seen at 5:10 elsewhere; now it appears to be back to only -0.2% at $9.87 in after-hours.  Much of that appears to have been clean-up trades that were not counted and went through in the after-hours session so the prints would not alter trading.

NutriSystem Inc. (NASDAQ: NTRI) closed down over 4% as investors feared another poor quarter of earnings.  The bears were the ones who got the disappointment tonight. Earnings were $0.15 EPS vs. $0.12 estimates from Thomson Reuters, although revenues were down about 2% to $158.8 million vs. $155.5 million expected.  As this is a battleground stock still often with a high short interest, the shares are trading up 9.9% at $20.34 and shares had been up over 10% initially.

Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE: PBI) reported $0.55 EPS vs. $0.54 estimates; revenue fell 2% To $1.35 billion rather than $1.377 billion expected from Thomson Reuters.  For 2010 it reaffirmed a range of $2.30 to $2.50 EPS vs. the $2.40 estimate but revenues are expected only to be flat to up 3% for the year.  Shares closed up almost 2% at $25.88 in normal trading, but the stock is down over 7% at $24.00 on almost 50,000 shares in the after-hours trading session since the 4:00 PM close.

Powerwave Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: PWAV) reported -$0.05 EPS vs. $0.00 estimates from Thomson Reuters and revenues were down over 20% to $114.5 million versus estimates of $130+ million.  Shares closed up 0.5% at $1.79 but the stock was indicated down over 10% a few minutes ago in the after-hours session with a $1.45 low.  It appears there were items in report because there have been 740,000 shares since the closing bell at 4:00 PM  and the last trade shows shares down at $1.71.

Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOR) was viewed as a disappointment after a day of profit taking ahead of the coming FDA meeting.  Shares closed down 5% at $9.28 and the after-hours session has shares down 3% at $9.00.  The stock is down 3% at $9.00 on only about 22,000 shares since the 4:00 PM closing bell.

Simon Property Group Inc. (NYSE: SPG) rose despite it having submitted a new and publicly undisclosed buyout offer to General Growth Properties Inc. (NYSE: GGP).  Simon shares were up 4.2% at $92.78 today and General Growth shares were helped by a very late day run on the news to close up almost 7% at $16.78.  Both shares are effectively flat in the after-hours session, but we’d expect a move in the morning as more details of any revised offer are made public.

JON C. OGG

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This actually outlines some of its favorite tech names that have double-digit earnings growth and P/E ratios under the S&P 500.  Here are some of the picks below:

• Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) remains its number one pick.
• IBM (NYSE:IBM), Seagate Tech (NYSE: STX), and Ingram Micro (NYSE: IM) are also listed.
• Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is noted as one that investors should continue to own for its upcoming catalysts.
• EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) is noted as another standout stock.
• Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is also noted positively here as one to own because of its long-term turnaround potential.

While it is positive on these names above, Goldman Sachs is negative on two companies that it doesn’t believe benefited from any spending.  The two negative stocks noted are:

• Lexmark (NYSE: LXK) was noted as likely to post weak numbers, and it is less than $1.00 above the 52-week lows;
• Intevac Inc. (NASDAQ: IVAC), which is trading only about 1% above its 52-week low.

This also follows its raise yesterday where Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) was raised to the Americas Conviction Buy List.

Jon C. Ogg
January 18, 2008