American Capital, Ltd. (NASDAQ: ACAS) is up after earnings: Q1 EPS was $0.17 versus $0.09 expected from Thomson Reuters; net asset value was listed as $8.98 vs. $8.29 a year ago and versus the $6.09 close yesterday.  Shares are up over 4% at $6.32 on about 80,000 shares.

Beazer Homes USA Inc. (NYSE: BZH) is up this morning after pricing its 12.5 million shares secondary offering at $5.81 after a close of $5.81 and a close of $6.88 on Monday.  Shares are up over 2% at $5.92 on active volume.

BP plc (NYSE: BP) is trading up over 2% at $51.51 on over 1 million shares as the damages it owes may be severely capped by disaster laws and as traders try to look for a bottom.

Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) is trading lower after $0.38 EPS and a 1% revenue drop to $431 million versus Thomson Reuters estimates of $0.42 EPS and $484.5 million.  Shares are trading down 11.7% at $33.10 versus a 52-week range of $19.40 to $40.47.

InterMune Inc. (NASDAQ: ITMN) is the worst stock on NASDAQ with shares down almost 80%.  Full news at BioHealthInvestor.com on the FDA major delay in complete response letter.  Shares are down 77% at $10.13 on 4 million shares.  The prior 52-week range was $10.48 to $49.46 and this was a $9.00 stock last night at the re-open from the Halt.

Melco Crown Entertainment Limited (NASDAQ: MPEL) is trading down after a Goldman Sachs SELL rating this morning.  Shares closed at $4.60, but shares are down almost 5% at $4.38 on over 85,000 shares.

Myriad Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN) is the second worse performer on disappointing earnings and guidance.

Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSIR) is up 12% at $8.50, but on very thin volume.  The company receives from the FDA an Orphan Drug Designation for its stem cell treatment for Type-1 diabetes.

Ryanair Holdings plc  (NASDAQ: RYAAY) is down after another cut to the PIIGS in Portugal and on continued worry over business from teh Iceland volcano.  Shares closed at $27.14 and ADR shares are down 3.1% at $26.30 on about 15,000 shares.

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JON C. OGG

Other stem cell stocks received a big boost from the news.  Neostem Inc. (AMEX: NBS), which operates a operates a center for the collection and storage of stem cell, rose as high as 7.6%.  StemCells Inc. (NASDAQ: STEM), which attempts to treat organ disorders with stem cells,  climbed as high as 7.2%

Garrett W. McIntyre

Opexa Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: OPXA) led the rise in stem cell stocks, surging over 40%.  The company seeks to develop treatments to major illnesses, such as multiple sclerosis and diabetes, through stem cell research.  The company’s stock has risen 2837% off its lows for the year.

StemCells Inc (NASDAQ: STEM) rose over 30% to a high of $1.45.  The company engages in research aimed at developing treatment for organ damage using stem cells.  The company’s stock is up over 1544% off its low for the year.

Garrett W. McIntyre

American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is getting hit on another analyst downgrade.

Helicos BioSciences Corporation (NASDAQ: HLCS) is up big after selling four Helicos Genetic Analysis Systems. -JON OGG

Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSIR) is getting clobbered and will be active in stocks and options on an exponential basis on negative stem cell study news.

Intellon Corp. (NASDAQ: ITLN) is soaring by 45% on a buyout offer…

SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) is very active because of $1,000 gold…

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JON C. OGG
SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

This latest analysis continued to show no serious safety concerns with the therapy and safety was not a factor in the decision to stop enrollment.

It is believed that a systemic design flaw in the trial would likely affect the utility of the data for purposes of registration. Osiris is keeping the trial blinded and expects a solid data package for use in designing future trials in Crohn’s disease.

A trial design problem is not as bad as safety issues nor as bad as just outright failures.  But this is a huge hit when you consider that the trial had reached Phase III.  It is possible that some design changes in the trial may keep it from having to go back to scratch, but this is a serious issue at the company either way.

Shares of Osiris are getting hit hard.  The pre-open trading  has this one down over $5.00 or 28% to $13.04.  We have also seen 135,000 shares trade hands, which is close to its 190,000 average daily volume.

JON C. OGG
MARCH 27, 2009

• Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTM) +87% at $0.62
• Cytori Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CYTX) +38% at $3.20
• Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) +29% at $4.99
• Neostem, Inc. (AMEX: NBS) NOT TRADED
• Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSIR) NOT TRADED…. in pact with Genzyme, but for adult stem cells.
• StemCells Inc. (NASDAQ: STEM) +55% at $2.15
• Thermogenesis Corp. (NASDAQ: KOOL) +41% at $0.57

Many of these stem cell stocks will trade more on a “vote of confidence” rather than over what this means as far as “new news” is concerned.

JON C. OGG

Animal Health (AHII) may be one of the worst performing stocks today.

Financial giant CIT (CIT) may have one of its best days in months.

Earnings pushed ADM (ADM) way up on large volume.

An earnings warning did not do much to hold Marvell Tech (MRVL) back.

Douglas A. McIntyre

• First Mercury (FMR) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
• GOL Linhas Areas Inteligentes S.A. (GOL) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
• Hansen Medical (HNSN) Cut to Neutral at Merriman Curhan Ford.
• ImClone (IMCL) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
• Monster Worldwide (MNST) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
• Osiris Therapeutics (OSIR) Cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
• Wyeth (WYE) Cut to Neutral at HSBC.

Jon C. Ogg
August 1, 2008

If you look at Tradesports.com for the political futures, you can see the Presidential nominee futures right now if you want to make a determination where the actual money bets are going right now.  McCain is priced at $93.00 and Romney is now priced at $1.90, so this would indicate a 92.9% probability of a McCain nomination.  The Democrat race is much closer right now with Tradesports showing a Hillary Clinton nomination with a $54.60 price (down $8.40), and Obama with a $47.40 price (up $8.90).  So the futures are showing a McCain essentially as a shoe-in now, yet the Democrat race is still too close to call.  Guess what, this would be a win-win for stem cell research beyond this year.

Last June (boy, these guys have been running forever already) both Clinton and Obama criticized Bush’s stem cell veto.  There you can see a link to each comment from either candidate.

StemCells Inc. (NASDAQ: STEM) shares have surged some 20% in the lasttwo trading days, and shares are some 40% under its 52-week highs.Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) shares are basically flat over thelast two days and are almost 50% under 52-week highs.   AastromBiosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTM) shares are up over 20% in recentsessions with shares off more than 50% from their 52-week highs.  Thereare some other stocks that have stem cell exposure as well:

• Invitrogen Corp. (NASDAQ: IVGN) also has a broader stem cellmonitor kit for analyzing the state of human embryonic stem cells,although this is a much larger company and its shares are up some 3%after earnings.
• Osiris Therapeutics (NASDAQ: OSIR) also has an FDA fast track designation for its stem cell treatment PROCHYMAL for the highly debilitating Crohn’s Disease.
• Two smaller plays here are Thermogenesis (NASDAQ: KOOL) and the OTC stock Cryo-Cell International (OTCBB: CCEL).
• There is also a smaller AMEX listed company called NeoStem Inc.(AMEX: NBS) that just yesterday announced a New York state license forADULT Stem Cell collection, so this one may have an implied ‘less controversial stance’ to it.

Obviously this is a controversial area for many, and there are manyarguments on both sides that have merit.  This is the Wall Street angleto a controversial situation.

Jon C. Ogg
February 6, 2008

• Activision (ATVI) raised guidance on Guitar Hero III sales; stock up 8% pre-market.
• Barrier Therapeutics (BTRX) announced positive results of higher dose escalation clinical safety study with pramiconazole.
• Casual Male (CMRG) indicated lower after missing earnings and guiding lower.
• CIGNA (CI) is acquiring Great-West Healthcare for $1.5 Billion.
• Citigroup (C) sold a $7.5 Billion stake to Abu Dhabi Fund.
• GlobalSantaFe (GSF) has received a subpoena from the SEC seeking documents related to the company’s ongoing internal investigation.
• Hydrogenics (HYGS) received a $1.7 million order for three fuel cell hybrid MiniBuses for an Expo in Spain.
• Osiris Therapeutics (OSIR) announced positive one-year data from Chondrogen trial for knee repair in its preparation of adult stem cells formulated for direct injection into the knee.
• Penford Corp (PENX) announced a 2 Million share common stock offering, although this was under the existing shelf offering.
• Pharmacopeia (PCOP) and GlaxoSmithKline identified two new additional lead compounds that will trigger milestone payment of $1 million to Pharmacopeia.
• Qiao Xing (XING) telegraphss medium and long-term business plans and will continue to take steps to ensure growth of 20% to 30% per year for the next 5-years.
• Sepracor (SEPR) announced the completion of its SEC investigation and no enforcement action was recommended.
• Smith & Nephew (SNN) announces precautionary knee recall.
• Staples (SPLS) $0.42 EPS vs $0.40 est.
• Tech Data (TECD) $0.73 EPS vs $0.60 est. (unsure if comparable) sales guidance for Q4 looks a tad light.
• Tenet Healthcare (THC) entered into a new national insurance coverage agreement with UnitedHealthcare (UNH).

Jon C. Ogg
November 27, 2007

Jon Ogg produces the 24/7 Wall St. Special Situation Investing Newsletter; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.