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.

If you enjoyed the top analyst calls, you can sign up in the box below to join our morning email list to receive news directly in your inbox each morning. We include major analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPO and M&A news, special situation developments, observations on Warren Buffett and key market gurus, as well as special exclusive feature stories.

JON C. OGG

Closing bell. The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 207 points to 12,043.19 (1.75%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 58 points (2.2%) to 2,697.97, and the S&P 500 rose 1.87% or more than 23 points to 1,261.10.

Analyst upgrades and downgrades. There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX) started at ‘overweight’ at Barclays. Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ: CECO), Clorox Corp. (NYSE: CLX), and Rockwell Collins Inc. (NYSE: COL) were cut to ‘underperform’ at BofA/Merrill Lynch; and Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) and Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT) were started as ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse.

Market reacts to earnings. Here are today’s big post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: Fair Isaac Corp. (NYSE: FICO) is up about 25%, at $33.95; Lamar Advertising Co. (NASDAQ: LAMR) is up nearly 25%, at $26.18; Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: OWW) is up 40%, at $2.66; K-Swiss Inc. (NASDAQ: KSWS) is down more than -33%, at $3.09; and Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) is down about -13%, at $48.73.

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

Medivation Inc. (NASDAQ: MDVN) is up 140%, at $39.74 after posting a new 52-week high of $40.15 earlier today. The company reported that an experimental prostate cancer drug reduced death risk by 37%.

Sonesta International Hotels Corp. (NASDAQ: SNSTA) is up nearly 41%, at $30.65 after posting a new 52-week high of $31.06. The company has agreed to be acquired for $31/share by an affiliate of Hospitality Properties Trust (NYSE: HPT).

SonoSite, Inc. (NASDAQ: SONO) is up about 29%, at 39.62 after posting a new 52-week high of $40 earlier today. Sonosite is reported to have hired Morgan Stanley to find a buyer for the company and talks are already in progress with potential buyers, including Samsung Electronics.

Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) is down more than -37%, at $6.53 after setting a new 52-week low of $6.52 earlier today. The company today reiterated its forecast for only modest sales of its Provenge anti-cancer drug.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) is down nearly -20%, at $59.51. The company reported slowing sales in Europe, a region where the company had pinned its hopes for growth.

Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWR) is down about -14%, at $1.75. The company is seeking additional financing and has been unable to get its largest customer and majority shareholder Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) to commit to the financing.

Stay tuned for Friday. The G-20 summit opened today and will continue meeting tomorrow and over the weekend. Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW) releases its October report on US online job demand. We have noted the following event (all times Eastern):

• 8:30 a.m. – Non-farm payroll data for October

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athenahealth (NASDAQ: ATHN) downgraded to market perform at JMP Securities, cut to neutral at Baird.
Bare Escentuals (NASDAQ: BARE) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
China Unicom (NYSE: CHU) Raised to Buy at eutsche Bank.
Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Dr. Pepper Snapple (NYSE: DPS) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs; Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
El Paso Pipeline (NYSE: EPB) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Equity One (NYSE: EQY) Cut to Sell at UBS.
Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ: LAMR) Raised to Overweightat JPMorgan.Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) Cut to Hold at Kaufman Bros.
Triquint Semiconductor (NASDAQ: TQNT) Started as Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Ultra Petroleum (NYSE: UPL) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about 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

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) Cut to Hold at Needham.
GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ: LAMR) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
National Bank of Greece (NYSE: NBG) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs… a little too late.
Sierra Wireless (NASDAQ: SWIR) Raised to Outperform at RBC.
Sonicwall Inc. (NASDAQ: SNWL) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) Started as Hold at Needham.
Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) Raised to Market Perform at Bernstein.
Websense, Inc. (NASDAQ: WBSN) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list to hear about top analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPOs and secondary offerings, ongoing day trader and options trader alerts, stock and market rumors, Buffett and guru investor news, M&A and more.

JON C. OGG
FEBRUARY 9, 2010

Investors are starting to treat this SPAC as a pre-merger entrance into the Chinese advertising market.  This in a sense gives small-cap investors a chance to buy into what they will hope can become the next Focus Media Holding Ltd. (NASDAQ: FMCN), the larger pure-play Chinese advertising stock with a $1.88 billion market cap… Or even the other player called VisionChina Media Inc. (NASDAQ: VISN) with a $716 million value today after a 3% gain, or the AirMedia Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AMCN) with a $554 million market cap after an 8% gain today.  It will be a stretch to compare this smaller player to Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CCO) or to Lamar Advertising Co. (NASDAQ: LAMR), but those are the clear leaders in America for U.S. investors.

As of a June 30 date, Ideation said its trust account held about $78.8 million (including deferred underwriting fees of US$2.7 million) from the IPO proceeds raised in November 2007 and it noted that its per share liquidation value of the trust was about $7.8815.  The size of the merger per a presentation is $174 million and is listed as 44% of the fully diluted combined entity interest.  The ultimate value of the transaction is dependent upon how much GAAP income the company produces.

We wanted to get some outside views on this besides the firm that started coverage today.  According to our friends over at SPACupdate.com, “Ideation is one of three blank checks trading above its redemption value, and for good cause. Its deal, yet another where a SPAC will succeed buying a Chinese asset, has great predecessors in terms of its ability to generate value. TM Entertainment & Media, a China-focused SPAC that just brought public an advertising company, has kept its head above water post-deal announcement, something that SPACs have had difficulty doing for the last 18 months.”

Today is active, but the real interest started last week from the ROTH China investor conference.  As you will see, the volume was much larger then:

DATE     VOLUME… Close
OCT. 16: 339,300.. $8.01
OCT. 15: 425,800.. $7.95
OCT. 14: 983,500.. $7.95

Our own take is that part of the excitement is the Chinese market and the recovery prospects there.  This strategy may have seemed full of nothing but risk early in 2009.  But now that the global recovery has begun, China is perhaps on the front-line of recovery compared to the United States where many feel we are the slowest to recover.

SPACupdate.com also spoke of other Chinese deals and noted, “There are other China-focused SPACs that have performed outstandingly well after bringing companies public: Spring Creek Acquisition Co.’s merger resulted in its stock exploding over time, to about $32 per share. Pantheon China; ChinaGrowth North and ChinaGrowth South; these are all SPACs that directed capital at Asia and successfully found value-generating targets. China Opportunity Acquisition Co., led by Harry Edelson is yet another. We would not be surprised to see future SPACs emerging either from the TSX, or, still, domestically, that look to capitalize on M&A opportunities in China.”

The Roth presentation is here for a full background piece and for terms of the deal.  The date to watch now is for Ideation’s Special Meeting of Stockholders, which  will be held on October 27, 2009 at 8:30 am Eastern Time at the offices of Akerman Senterfitt in Miami, Florida.  There is no such thing as a done deal after everything we have seen over the last year, but investors are betting on the future value of this merger ahead of any formal closing.

Jon C. Ogg
October 19, 2009

• Carnival (CCL) Raised to Outperform at William Blair.
• Iamgold (IAG) Raised to Buy at BofA-Merrill.
• Lamar Advertising (LAMR) Raised to Perform at Oppenheimer.
• Lubrizol (LZ) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
• OmniVision Technologies (OVTI) Raised to Neutral at Baird.
• Royal Caribbean (RCL) Raised to Outperform at William Blair.
• Sigma Designs (SIGM) Raised to Buy at Collins Stewart.

JON C. OGG

• AIG (AIG) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
• Anaren (ANEN) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Avon Products (AVP) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
• CarMax (KMX) Cut to Market Perform at Raymond James.
• Citi Trends (CTRN) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Edwards Lifesciences (EW) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
• Femsa (FMX) Cut to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.
• Lamar Advertising (LAMR) Started as Sell at Citigroup.
• Trustmark (TRMK) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
• VMware (VMW) Started as Underperform at Bernstein.

Jon C. Ogg
August 7, 2008

The major U.S. companies failed to rise to a call for arms by buying up every bit it could after the Asian Contagion in 1998 as our last chance to buy those properties worldwide.  Now that The US Dollar has become the US Peso, it seems that the U.S. could see a realm of US-based companies come under acquisition fire that could ultimately change the flags of large current brands.  There are literally dozens more that could fit the bill here, but all of these companies are probably "CFIUS-free" as far as critical infrastructure or key to national security.

"Richie Rich & Retail"
Saks Inc. (NYSE: SKS) isn’t even at a $2 Billion market cap right now and may be one of the few high-end retail crown jewels that could still easily be acquired by a foreign buyer.  Despite some defenses and despite the company having paid out cash in lumps in the past, this chain is perhaps the largest luxury sales channel in the U.S. that is a pure play and with all that oil money sloshing around, it could easily make a nice trophy buy that is a money maker to boot.

"Two Huge Food Scores"
Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY) is worth close to $9 Billion now and any deal would only come if very friendly to founding family members because of controlling voting stakes and tiered stocks.  After the Buffett-Wrigley-Mars transaction, anything is possible in the sector.  Options have been active as well, although it is possible this may be just on an "efficient" partnership or venture as well.

What about Whole Foods Markets Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI)?  Whole Foods cannot be taken down in a hostile deal, or it would at least have trouble in that manner, but as Europeans have looked at some of our luxury brands and a market cap of almost $4 Billion it is fathomable.  This might seem counterintuitive that the largest organic or health chain could be gobbled up by a foreign entity, but it isn’t out of the realm of possibilities considering its higher margins than traditional food grocers.

"Taking the biggest bite in financials"
E*TRADE Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC) could be the cheapest score for any overseas buyer that wants to suddenly stabilize a volatile financial that has been down and out with the simultaneous goal of HSBC is buying its Indian operations and it just upped its authorized number of shares… ever wonder the the TD meant in TD Ameritrade brand? Toronto Dominion.  Are there any other cheap ways to buy 4.3 million online trading accounts without making any major dent in a large US Bank?

"Taking Our Beer & Booze Away"
Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) is a stock that has had its share of problems in the last 12 months, but with a market cap of under $5 Billion and the huge brans name portfolio of brand ownership or distribution in wine, beer, and spirits this could easily be put into an international portfolio.  Some individual states might throw up the foreign control flags, but the U.S. as a whole wouldn’t be able to claim the national security card.

Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. (NYSE: BUD) is one of the current "takeover rumor" stocks with InBev as the leading candidate.  While this has a $40 Billion market cap and seems like it would be a stretch, that isn’t really Wall Street’s attitude.  Major large brand and distribution channels could be partly financed by selling off part of its distribution unit and other units.

"Telecom"
Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) has already been a rumor target of Deutsche Telekom and others of late, and even with a $24 Billion market cap this would probably not get much government blocking because of the inherent trouble the company has let itself get into. 

Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) has a mere market cap of just over $4 Billion and frankly would have no infrastructure issues from the Feds.  It would be easy to imagine a Carlos Slim wanting to gobble this up or another bid from the south, particularly as many of its customers would make more and more calls south-bound.  It was once a MetroPCS merger candidate in a failed deal, but the buyer here would have to be able to instantly scale those figures up into profitability.  But Cricket and pre-paid cellular isn’t exactly CFIUS material.

"Metals Galore"
US Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) has a market cap of almost $20 Billion and Alcoa, Inc. (NYSE: AA) has a market cap north of $32 Billion, so neither are exactly small fish.  But here is the issue: the international metals and mining companies have no become so large that either company is actually considered small in the global scheme now.  Both have also been rumor targets.  Heaven help us if the metals and mining giants get to control aspects of supply, demand, and manufacturing.

"We Will Control All You See"
Lamar Advertising Co. (NASDAQ: LAMR) is a company that might make a nice trophy for China’s Focus Media or another larger ad and display company perhaps out of Europe.  This company is still held by insiders and it wouldn’t go down without a fight if it wasn’t a friendly deal, but with under a $4 Billion market cap and with it not having any critical infrastructure there wouldn’t be any issue of a foreign owner here.

If you think that these are off base, consider these and consider howmuch the world has turned.  Also consider how many brands you consumeor use daily, weekly, or monthly, or at least that millions ofAmericans use regularly.  Here are some:

• Miller Beer… part of SAB Miller (South Africa), with Altria owning a small stake.
• Coors owned by Molson of Canada.
• Jaguar and Rover… former Brit brands, punted by Ford to Tata Motors in India.
• Activision Inc. is now essentially part of Vivendi’s Blizzard games.
• GE Plastics is now part of SABIC, in Saudi Arabia.
• Paine Webber became part of UBS, which is Swiss.
• IBM’s PC unit went to Lenovo, in China.
• Gateway is now owned by Acer.
• Lucent became part of Alcatel-Lucent, which was nothing less than a French-led buyout
• 7-Eleven is now Japanese owned.
• Dr. Pepper just came back to shareholders, sort of… had been part of Cadbury Schwepps until just recently.

This may just be the post-American cycle taking effect or maybe it isthe flattening out of the world.  Whatever it ends up being, it isn’tgoing to be without controversy and without change.  As a reminder, this is probably only a very short list of companies that could have been 40 long.  Sovereign wealth funds and foreign entities could also team up with US private equity firms if any foreign ownership concerns became too large.

You can join our open email distribution list to hear about other speculation or rumor targets for mergers, IPO’s, secondary offerings, and other key special situations.

Jon C. Ogg
May 28, 2008

Jon Ogg produces and edits the SPECIAL SITUATIONS newsletter; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

• AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) raised to Overweight at HSBC Securities.
• Bunge (NYSE: BG) raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
• Cameco (NYSE: CCJ) cut to Hold at TD.
• Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) raised to Market Perform at Wachovia.
• Dawson Geophysical (NASDAQ: DWSN) started as Hold at Jefferies.
• InterNAP (NASDAQ: INAP) cut to Neutral at Merriman Curhan Ford.
• Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ: LAMR) cut to Underweight at JP Morgan.
• Monster Worldwide (NASDAQ: MNST) cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
• National City (NYSE: NCC) Raised to Sector Perform at RBC
• Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ: SGEN) raised to Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.

Jon C. Ogg
March 19, 2008

• Clorox (NYSE: CLX) downgraded to Underweight at Lehman.
• Estee Lauder (NYSE: EL) raised to Equal-weight at Lehman.
• Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ: LAMR) started as Buy at Jefferies.
• Regions Financial (NYSE: RF) downgraded to Sell from Hold at Citigroup.
• Thornburg Mortgage (NYSE: TMA) raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.

Below are some sector calls:

• COMM. TOWERS: American Tower (NYSE: AMT) & Crown Castle (NYSE: CCI) raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

• ONLINE TRAVEL DOWNGRADES: Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) downgraded to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.  Priceline.com (NASDA: PCLN) and Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW) downgraded to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.  There was an upgrade though, as Credit Suisse raised its Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) raised to Outperform from Neutral.

• US AUTO’s: Ford (NYSE: F) downgraded to Peer Perform from Outperform at Bear Stearns. General Motors (NYSE: GM) downgraded to Underperform at Bear Stearns.

Jon C. Ogg
February 6, 2008