The company’s Lions Gate Entertainment Inc. issued the 4% notes in a private placement in January 2012 and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. issued 5,837,781 common shares in connection with the acquisition of Summit Entertainment, LLC in January 2012.  Summit is the group which was tied to the Twilight saga.

The notes are convertible into common shares of Lions Gate at the option of the holder any time before maturity and the conversion price was approximately $10.50 per common share subject to adjustment in certain circumstances.

The company noted, “We will not receive any proceeds from the sale by the selling securityholders of the notes, the common shares issuable upon conversion of the notes, or the Summit Shares.”

Lions Gate shares are up 3.2% at $12.22 and while today’s filing could increase the float this is one of those instances which should have been fairly easy to assume was coming.  It is also worth considering that just because the shares can be sold that they might not be sold, and those notes may not all be converted into stock even though the profit is there.  After all, this stock was under $10.00 in January and it has rallied as high as over $15 going into the launch of The Hunger Games.

JON C. OGG

Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) Raised to Sector Perform at RBC.

Airgas Inc. (NYSE: ARG) Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc (NYSE: APD) Started as Underweight at Morgan Stanley.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Reiterated at Buy and raised target to $740 at Stern Agee; Reiterated Buy and raised target to $700 at Credit Suisse.

ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.

CA Inc. (NASDAQ: CA) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC.

Digital River Inc. (NASDAQ: DRIV) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC.

Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.

Guess? Inc. (NYSE: GES) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE: HOG) Raised to Outperform at BMO.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.

Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation (NYSE: LGF) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan; Hunger Games looks larger than Twilight.

OmniVision Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: OVTI) Raised to Buy at Needham.

United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.

United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX) Reiterated near-term Hold and long-term Buy.

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JON C. OGG

This movie is possibly going to have a $100 million opening weekend if the hype and figure are accurate.  Fandango noted that the IMAX release is currently only slated for one week because the Wrath of the Titans is expected to take its place.

By the Lions Gate acquisition of Summer for the Twilight saga rights and final movie due later this year, the production house gets to market the film to the same fans under the same platforms.

Lions Gate rose almost 8% to $14.25 on reports that thousands of theaters worth of tickets have already sold out for the opening weekend.  The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $5.76 to $14.46.

It looks like Jim Cramer may be right about Lions Gate being a $15.00 stock after all.

JON C. OGG

Core Laboratories NV (NYSE: CLB) almost made it to $125.00 today and shares are still up about 2% as the company is a production enhancer for the petroleum industry.

Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE: CLH) is up 6.5% at $69.90 after earnings beat yet again.  This one has had a serious run over the last decade and is now a $3.7 billion stock in environmental remediation. 

Commvault Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CVLT) went north of $55.20 today on strength of its data and information management software applications.  So much for considering this a buyout candidate at an all-time high trading at about 50-times earnings.

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) is up almost 7% after earnings ahead of tax season as more and more ‘do-it-yourselfers’ are doing their own taxes.  The market value here is now $18.2 billion.

Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation (NYSE: LGF) briefly hit a new all-time high of $12.75 on the day and shares are still positive.  This is ahead of the trilogy for The Hunger Games. It looks like Jim Cramer was right here about ultimately heading to $15.00 per share, at least so far.

Lorillard, Inc. (NYSE: LO) was a surprise all-time high above $130 today. It is a tobacco stock worth $17 billion and its dividend is now counted as bout 4.9%.

Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) continues to win from just being the swipe merchant who wins off of each and every time a consumer has his card swiped at the register.  Shares are now over $400.00 and the dividend has a long way to go before drawing in big dividend chasers.

Mead Johnson Nutrition Company (NYSE: MJN) is shocking to see on the list considering that its false alarm over Enfamil being mistakenly put as the cause for infant deaths. The company was cleared of this and it remains a strong player. Shares went over $78.00 today.

Sourcefire, Inc. (NASDAQ: FIRE) is up 22% after a great earnings forecast based upon strong cyber security demand.  Shares went over $44.00 today, ap almost 100% from its 52-week low and up from a brief low of $5.00 or so back at the peak of the end of 2008 selling.

JON C. OGG

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than 89 points to 12,801.23 (-0.69%), the NASDAQ fell more than 23 points (-0.8%) to 2,903.88, and the S&P 500 fell -0.69% or more than 9 points to 1,342.64.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) raised to ‘buy’ at Deutsche Bank; Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) started as ‘overweight’ at both Barclays and Morgan Stanley; American Superconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: AMSC) raised to ‘buy’ at Goldman Sachs; Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) reiterated as ‘buy’ and target price raised to $450 at Argus; and Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) started as ‘buy’ at Citigroup.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: LinkedIn Corp. (NASDAQ: LNKD) is up more than 18% at $90.44 (more coverage here); Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) is down -2.84% at $12.30; Capstone Turbine Corp. (NASDAQ: CPST) is down -9.8% at $1.26; Green Plains Renewable Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRE) is down -3.5% at $11.20; Kona Grill Inc. (NASDAQ: KONA) is down -3.8% at $6.05; True Religion Apparel Inc. (NASDAQ: TRLG) is down more than -27% at $26.75; Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (NYSE: LGF) is up 6.5% at $11.73 after posting a new 52-week high of $12.24 earlier today; Move Inc. (NASDAQ: MOVE) is up 14% at $8.65; Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL) is down -2.7% at $100.70; Pharmacyclics Inc. (NASDAQ: PCYC) is up more than 14% at $22.65 after posting a new 52-week high of $23.57 earlier today; Alcatel Lucent (NYSE: ALU) is up more than 13% at $2.2 (more coverage here); FLIR Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: FLIR) is down -3.3% at $24.90; and Ruth’s Hospitality Group Inc. (NASDAQ: RUTH) is up 3.2% at $6.19.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) is down more than -10% at $43.94. The thin-film solar panel maker is having trouble meeting a financing requirement related to the sale of one of its solar farms to Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC). More coverage here.

Tandy Brands Accessories Inc. (NASDAQ: TBAC) is up nearly 71% at $1.77. The clothing accessories maker announced strong earnings and two new brand licensing agreements today.

Cobalt International Energy Inc. (NYSE: CIE) is up 35% at $32.27 after posting a new 52-week high of $36.51 earlier today. The independent oil & gas producer reported significantly better-than-expected flows from a test well offshore of Angola.

RPX Corp. (NASDAQ: RPXC) is up more than 11% at $19.21. The patent risk management company has a contract with Alcatel Lucent that could be very valuable as the larger company begins more aggressively to license its 29,000 patents.

Amyris Inc. (NASDAQ: AMRS) is down more than -28% at $6.95 after posting a new 52-week low of $6.85 earlier today. The biofuel maker’s stock was downgraded following a negative outlook from the company for 2012.

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

• 11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6-month Treasury bill auctions

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Have a great weekend.

Paul Ausick

Eurozone Crisis Meetings

The financial disaster in the eurozone is still without a systematic solution. The European Central Bank leaders will meet this week. It is nearly certain that the central bank will keep rates low, or perhaps even drop them. But, as the U.S. has demonstrated, low rates are not the key to GDP improvement. The ECB also has said it will not be the financial catalyst of a rescue of weak nations in the region. Germany’s Merkel and France’s Sarkozy are set to meet to discuss how job growth might be renewed in the region. How a fund to help save the eurozone might be structured will also be part of talks. As long as each of these issues is open, the rescue of the eurozone will remain incomplete.

Chevy Volt Production

General Motors (NYSE: GM) said it will match demand for its Chevy Volt electric car with adequate production. That should not be difficult. Battery fire problems have prompted analysts to question whether GM can sell many of the cars. GM has offered to reinforce battery housings in the Volt. This is an admission there is more risk to owning a Volt than anyone might have expected. Production of the Volt could be so tiny that it will become uneconomic for GM to stick with the model at all.

Gadgets on Parade

The International Consumer Electronics Show opens this week in Las Vegas. It is the world’s largest exhibition of gadgets each year. All of the major software, hardware and internet companies will display their latest products. So will hundreds of small firms, each with hopes it can strike gold with consumers, and perhaps with big companies that will buy or license their technologies. The show is so vast that it will be hard for any product, whether from a big company or a small one, to rise above the chaos of an event attended by hundreds of companies and tens of thousands of potential customers.

Douglas A. McIntyre

A judge blocks the $285 million settlement between Citigroup (NYSE: C) and the SEC. (Reuters)

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) says Kindle sales rose 4X on Black Friday compared to the same day a year ago. (Reuters)

General Motors (NYSE: GM) offers loaner cars to Chevy Volt owners. (Reuters)

Thomas H. Lee Partners may bid for the U.S. operations of Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO). (Reuters)

Some MF Global customer money may have been found in Europe. (Reuters)

Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) may offer some of its BlackBerry security features on the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android devices. (Reuters)

Aol (NYSE: AOL) says it does not compete with Yahoo!, but still could hire good talent. (Reuters)

Facebook may launch an IPO in the spring that would raise $10 billion and value the company at $100 billion. (WSJ)

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and other financial firms are in settlement talks with MBIA (NYSE: MBI) over losses incurred during the financial crisis. (WSJ)

Amazon.com’s Kindle emerges as the primary competition to the Apple iPad. (WSJ)

Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) increases its forecast for annual earnings. (WSJ)

Toyota (NYSE: TM), a huge employer in Japan, may move production because of the value of the yen. (WSJ)

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York says Americans cut debt 0.6% in the third quarter, mostly through defaults and debt repayment. (WSJ)

The National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers say state budget deficits have improved. (WSJ)

The OECD says global growth will slow. (WSJ)

Cyber Monday sales rise 18% by some measures. (WSJ)

Black Friday sales may not help forecasts for the balance of the holiday season. (WSJ)

Summit Entertainment and Lions Gate (NYSE: LGF) are in M&A talks. (WSJ)

Icahn Enterprises (NYSE: IEP) offers to buy Commercial Metals (NYSE: CMC) for $1.73 billion. (WSJ)

The UK will increase its bank levy to raise $3.9 billion. (WSJ)

Nomura Holdings (NYSE: NMR) sharply decreases its exposure to eurozone paper. (WSJ)

Bets against the euro hit a 17-month high. (WSJ)

Tightened credit at EU banks hampers business growth. (NYT)

Silver Lake and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) may bid for a stake in Yahoo! (NYT)

Tokyo Electric Power Company will sell assets to raise $3.2 billion. (NYT)

The Polish foreign minister says that only Germany can save the eurozone. (FT)

The FHFA Office of Inspector-General says that mortgage companies often press his agency in a way that hurts its financial position. (FT)

Moody’s may cut the ratings of a number of European banks. (Bloomberg)

The Fiscal Policy Institute says most New York State growth since 2008 has come in low-level jobs. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Lions Gate has priced this secondary public offering of 19,201,000 shares of common stock at $7.00 per share.  Shares closed yesterday at $7.10 and the 52-week range is $5.69 to $7.84. 

All of the shares are being sold by certain investment funds affiliated with Carl Icahn.  After the offering is completed the Carl Icahn funds will still own approximately 3.1% of the outstanding common shares of Lions Gate.  The sellers have also granted an overallotment option to the sole underwriting firm of Piper Jaffray to purchase up to an additional 2,879,985 common shares.   & Co. is acting as the sole underwriter in the offering.

Shares of Lions Gate are right at the $7.00 pricing, so the stock is down 1.4% from yesterday’s close.  Frankly, for a stock that trades only about 550,000 shares per day, an offering of this size is being very well absorbed even though this technically does not change the real float.

When you consider that Icahn was adding to the Lions Gate stake in 2009 at less than $5.00 per share, this was not exactly a bad outcome for Icahn.

JON C. OGG

Now that Icahn has fled his efforts in Clorox Corporation (NYSE: CLX) and jettisoned his Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (NYSE: LGF) efforts, Icahn has some spare time and some spare cash to slosh back into another activist effort.

There is no easy solution here, not even for Carl Icahn.  R-I-M is Canadian outfit.  Despite its massive sell-off this year, R-I-M still has a market value of $12 billion.  Lions Gate is worth less than $1 billion and Clorox is worth nearly $9 billion.  Moving up the food chain in size gets harder and harder to do.

If there is truth here, Mr. Icahn might want to consider the case where he got stuck in Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO).  He was not able to force a buyout there.

The rumor is that Carl Icahn has made an approach of some sort to the troubled company.  He does have the success of Motorola to trump as a winning card, but R-I-M has such troubles that you wonder if anyone (even a new CEO) could make a real difference here.

The rumor could be a buyout, but more likely it would be a rumor to push the company into acting faster, with new leadership, and with a more aggressive nature.  It could end up being a very painful situation to simply acquire a company when it is losing this much market share this rapidly.

RIM is up nearly 6% at $22.95.

JON C. OGG

The market’s faith that there could be more interest in Clorox has disappeared. Shares fell as low as $64 in early August. That was after the firm announced its results for the most recent fiscal quarter. The company reported 4% sales growth and 20% growth in diluted earnings per share from continuing operations in the fourth quarter. Its forecast for the upcoming year was disappointing.

If Icahn cannot sell his shares at more than $70, the investment will begin to look like those he made in Lions Gate (NYSE: LGF), Blockbuster, and Motorola, before the handset and mobile equipment firm was split into two pieces. Icahn recently sold his stake in Lions Gate for $7 a share, which is about what he paid for his position. Icahn’s decision to buy Motorola, which he did in 2007, has not paid off. He held his shares for most of that period. Blockbuster declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy nearly two years ago.

Icahn’s recent track record is an example of how a large institutional investor can lose his touch. It may be that he has taken on too many investments and cannot focus on the complexities of all of them at once. Or, he may have just become a below average investor.

Douglas A. McIntyre