Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) lost in its 3PAR acquisition to Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ).  Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) has been a large acquirer of companies, and Oracle’s CEO recently noted: ‘We’d love to have a storage market share like NetApp’s.’ ” International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) recently announced an agreement to buy Netezza Corporation (NYSE: NZ)for $1.7 billion in cash to own its data warehouse, analytic, and monitoring appliances franchise.  The big new threat and rival is Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) as it moves from networking to all aspects in networking into data center sales, and this is part of what is forcing large data center and IT giants to adapt as companies are smart enough to know that Cisco is a formidable and tough competitor.

NetApp is one of the great growth stories of recent years.  Shares were briefly under $36.00 in early August before the latest wave of tech mergers and now shares are north of $50.00.

NetApp would make a great acquisition for the position it holds with a solid performance in enterprise storage and data management software and hardware products.  The problem is that its valuation is high and it may be no different than”the one that got away”‘  Thomson Reuters has estimates of $2.03 EPS for April-2011 and $2.23 EPS for April-2012, so its $50.60 share price gives a normalized forward earnings multiple of about 23.75-times one-year forward blended earnings expectations.  Its trailing 12-month P/E ratio is over 37 according to Yahoo! Finance and the company now boasts a market cap of $18+ billion.

This article was about insider selling, so here are some of the insider sales and/or registrations of note in recent filings from the last ten days or so:

• Dir. Wall sold 30,000 shares
• VP Salmon sold 42,300 shares
• CFO Gomo registered 90,000 shares
• Off. Mendoza registered 103,551 shares
• holder Kryder registered 73,604 shares
• CEO Georgens registered 200,000 shares

Again, insiders sell stock all the time in most tech companies.  Insiders often have planned share sales and any company officer by now knows that estate planning of ANY person is not smart if it requires that wealth concentration be locked up in only one asset.

Normally, we do not even cover these events any longer unless they are worth noting, This is more than 500,000 combined over the last two weeks, which would  be worth more than $25 million in today’s prices.  If insiders had been approached about a real deal that involved a high-premium buyout would they still be selling shares?  Maybe.  Common sense would dictate not.

Thomson Reuters also now presents an interesting case.  The $50+ share price has now surpassed an average analyst price target that is closer to $46.00.  That alone won’t be a clear case for or against the company, but it shows that the analysts covering the stock either have to downgrade the stock or they will have to raise their targets.

JON C.  OGG

Arc Sight, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARST) is trading higher this morning based  on a potential sale that rocketed shares higher yesterday.  Shares are up 4% at $38.08 on over 50,000 shares.

ImmunoGen Inc. (NASDAQ: IMGN) is getting whacked by 25% to $6.25 this morning after partner Genentech disclosed a receipt of a Refuse to File letter from the FDA for trastuzumab-DM1.

J. Crew Group, Inc. (NYSE: JCG) is down after its 2010 guidance was not up to par.  Shares are down almost 7% at $31.10 on over 50,000 shares.

Netezza Corporation (NYSE: NZ) is surging after profits quadrupled and after raising full year guidance.  Shares  are up 17% at $17.50.  This is higher than early indications, but trading volume is still thin at under 20,000 shares.

3PAR, Inc. (NYSE: PAR) up 10.9% at $38.87 versus the matched $27 offer from Dell against HP.

Somaxon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOMX) is up 3% at $4.74 on a second day run after yesterday’s P&G deal.  Volume is rather light at almost 70,000 shares.

SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWRA) is trading up up 4.7% at $10.50 on an analyst upgrade.

Sterling Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: STSA) is down 10% at $0.53 after it completed a recapitalization yesterday.

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

BT Group (BT) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Callaway Gold (ELY) Raised to outperform at JMP Securities.
CBS Corp. (CBS) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Citrix Systems (CTXS) Cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
Duke Energy (DUK) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Infosys (INFY) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Liberty Media (LINTA) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Netezza (NZ) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Research In Motion (RIMM) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
VMware (VMW) Cut to Underperform at Jefferies.

JON C. OGG
AUGUST 10, 2009

Arcelor Mittal (MT) Raised to Hold at Citigroup.
BB&T Corp. (BBT) Raised to Market Perform at FBR.
ev3 Inc. (EVVV) Started as Outperform at Baird.
Greenhill (GHL) Started as Outperform at William Blair.
MEMC Electronics (WFR) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Netezza (NZ) Started as Outperform at William Blair.
Petrobras Brasileiro (PBR) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Sybase (SY) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
SunTrust (STI) Raised to Market Perform at FBR.

JON C. OGG

• Force Protection (NASDAQ: FRPT) Raised to Buy at Collins Stewart.
• Infosys (NASDAQ: INFY) Started as Outperform at William Blair.
• Netezza (NYSE: NZ) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
• Optimer Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: OPTR) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
• United Therapeutics (NASDAQ: UTHR) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
• US Bancorp (NYSE: USB) Raised to Hold from Sell at Sandler O’Neill.
• VMware (NYSE: VMW) Started as Perform at Oppenheimer.

Jon C. Ogg
November 11, 2008

We have First Call estimates at $0.02 EPS on $34.34 million in revenues, and next quarter estimates appear to be $0.00 EPS on $33.3 million in revenues.

The average price target out there still appears to be $18.00, but this stock was hit really hard with the stock market after the market malaise.  Shares closed up some 10% today to $8.95, and the 52-week trading range was $7.02 to $17.57.

The strong CRM earnings numbers, despite high valuations, are to thank for at least some after-hours support.  Stay tuned.

Jon C. Ogg
February 27, 2008

• Avid Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:  AVID). Selling at lowest level since 2003 today at around $19.20 due to downgrades and poor outlook. The former low was $23.50. 
• Cerner Corp. (NASDAQ: CERN). This healthcare solutions company isn’t looking so healthy after disappointing quarter, although isn’t hasn’t spent the whole day trading under the 52-week low. 
• Digital River Inc. (NASDAQ: DRIV). Not meeting the street, the e-commerce company was trading at $30 at mid-day. The prior 52 week low was $32.
• Millipore Corp. (NYSE: MIL). Low sales lead to a new low. Trading at $64.61 at mid-day, the prior 52 week low was $64.90. 
• Netezza Corporation (NYSE: NZ). Was down over 8% at mid-day, this data warehouse appliance provider on somewhat of a head scratcher….
• Omnicell Inc. (NASDAQ: OMCL). Perhaps this medication control company needs to take a dose of its medicine as shares fall to as low as $17.61, although it is back above its prior low of $18.28 at mid-day. 
• Harris Interactive Inc. (NASDAQ: HPOL). Down 21% at mid-day after a disappointing earnings call. The prior low was $2.90.
• Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: FLE). This mobile home maker didn’t spend all day under the 52-week lows, but the weakness after yesterday’s earnings and a downgrade persisted. Apparently tornadoes aren’t the only ones that don’t like mobile homes.   
• Actuate Corp. (NASDAQ: ACTU). For a company that provides software for business intelligence, business isn’t looking too hot. Down 23% at mid-day $4.34, its prior low was $4.91.

Have a great weekend, particularly if you are doing Mardi Gras parties and the Super Bowl!

Rachel Lopez
February 1, 2008

Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley acted as joint book-running managers with Needham & Co. and Thomas Weisel acting as co-managers.  Here is the summary of the filing back in March.

Netezza is an unprofitable provider of data warehouse appliances that sells large systems to enterprise-size companies. The Netezza Performance Server® system, or NPS®, integrates database, server and storage platforms in a purpose-built unit to enable detailed queries and analyses on large volumes of stored data. The results of these queries and analyses, often referred to as business intelligence, provide organizations with actionable information to improve their business operations.

Jon C. Ogg
July 19, 2007

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