We have taken a look at the moves and the changes in short interest, and then added in on color on each where applicable.

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) is one that just isn’t going anywhere and is in a perpetual turnaround.  And the pressure in Europe which built up probably only added more fuel to the short sellers.  This was one of the worst performing of the ADRs during that troubled period.  before things stabilized. At June 15 settlement date the short interest was 29,654,276 shares, which is up 8.9% from 27,239,231 on May 28.

Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: ABK) is one of the ongoing brands which could vanish.  The company has even gone so far as to warn that it could be facing bankruptcy protection.   This period was brutal on the stock price as it went from over $1.00 down to under $0.90 and things have been even worse since the June 15 settlement date at Ambac.  It may even feel like a mystery that the short interest did not grow.  The June 15 short interest was listed as 71,653,753 shares, down by -7.6% from 77,529,115 on May 28.

Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI) has the two classes of shares, although not for long… It is also trying for a reverse split to keep its shares above the $1.00 NYSE minimum.  The selling was mixed here, which is surprising considering how many traders and companies believe it could implode.  We have it as one of the brands that could disappear.   June 15 “A Shares”: 5,925,502 was up 16% from 5,108,280 on May 28. “B Shares”: 23,666,143 was down -17.2% from 28,588,235 on May 28.

Borders Group, Inc. (NYSE: BGP) is in the doghouse and short sellers believe it could topple into bankruptcy protection.  It is yet another one of our brands that may disappear.  June 15: 4,193,322 was up 21.3% from 3,457,975 on May 28.

Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD) is still one of our “stocks that could double” per our picks, but the company has to find its footing and may need new blood in order for this to happen.  June 15: 18,397,733 was up 5.5% from 17,441,727 on May 28.

Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) is another of our “stocks which could double” and its shares have been bouncing around at all prices with the market.  Pershing Square’s Ackman also disclosed how large his stake was.  Shorts got more aggressive though.  June 15: 497,392,313 shares short was up 14.7% versus 433,618,690 on May 28.

DryShips Inc. (NYSE: DRYS) may have that Greek issue and it may just have that transportation issue.  The shorts came out more against it, although it could always be part of those offerings it loves to do from time to time.  June 15: 35,894,737 shares was up by +11.4% versus 32,224,218 on May 28.

Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) and Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) were two surprises considering the awful woes that have set in after the FHFA is seeking the delisting of the common and preferred shares from NYSE now.  These are also still two candidates for a disappearing brand.  Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (NYSE: FRE) at June 15 was 51,679,910 shares short, down only -0.3% from 51,840,580 on May 28.  Federal National Mortgage Association (NYSE: FNM) at June 15 was 135,468,832 shares short and down only by -0.2% versus the 135,771,853 on May 28.

Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) is another one that the short sellers got right.  It has such a small percentage of smartphones that Nokia is becoming more synonymous with poor peoples’ phones.  Its earnings took shares down hard, so short sellers cleaned house here against the Finns.  June 15: 81,384,713 shares short was up over 27% versus 63,888,089 on May 28.

Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) is probably just arbitrage bets and other shorters covering now that it is being acquired.  Palm’s June 15 short interest was 26,680,444 shares, which is down by -14.2% from the 31,109,807 on May 28.

PMI Group, Inc. (NYSE: PMI), the company that borrowers love to hate, was 21,671,711 shares in the short interest on the June 15 settlement date versus 17,975,874 on May 28.

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ: BPOP) has become much more actively traded than in months before due to that large offering it had.  Much of this change may be covering of bets and exiting arbitrage spreads for those traders.  At June 15 its short interest was listed as 19,168,645 shares, down almost 25% from the 25,518,384 on May 28.

Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE: RAD) is another one of the “stocks which could still potentially double” per our picks, but the company is severely hamstrung and the new blood that has been brought in only just recently saw it post a narrower loss than expected. June 15 short interest was 23,654,512 shares, up 14.2% from the 20,718,870 listed by NYSE on May 28.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is a perpetual tug of war between short sellers who believe it can implode and those who want to see it recover to its glory days.  The June 15 short interest was a whopping 227,767,942 shares, up 6.2% from the 214,514,322 counted on May 28.

Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) saw many shorts exit here as it has the only real 4G phone per the news.  The problem is that the news is very mixed over how well these are really selling.  Still, short sellers decided that maybe they should not be in the fight.  June 15: 72,613,518 shares in the short interest is high, but that is down a sharp 27.8% from the 100,520,184 shares short on May 28.

United States Natural Gas Fund (NYSE: UNG) is the ETF that traders probably hate more than any other energy commodity ETF product because of the tracking errors and roll-dates that many believe take this one gradually down closer to ZERO… Interestingly enough, the June 15 short interest was 10,833,137 shares, which was actually down by -5.9% from the 11,512,906 counted on May 28.

Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG) is another highly controversial low-priced stock that has millions of customers and has historically seen many traders and investors bet against its survival.  The short interest here is muted compared to the past, and the stock was actually hitting 52-week highs recently.  The June 15 short interest was 2,605,495 shares, down by -8.7% from the 2,852,429 shares counted on May 28.

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

Nokia said today that its sales outlook for its second fiscal quarter will be at or below the bottom of its previously announced range of EUR6.7 – EUR7.2 billion. The company also expects operating margins to be at or below its expected range of 9%-12%. The company blames lower than expected gross margins for the low operating margins and the lower revenues to reduced volumes and lower prices.

For the full year, the company expects its mobile device value market share for 2010 to be “slightly lower” than 2009 and its volume market share to be flat. Annual operating margins are expected to be at or below the announced range of 11%-13%, although the company does expect a pickup in operating margin in the fourth quarter.

The turnaround is based on the company’s expected introduction of its N8 smartphone in the third quarter. That device features an upgraded Symbian3 operating system, turn-by-turn navigation, and a 12 megapixel camera.

Of the features planned for the N8, the operating system upgrade is the most critical to Nokia. Recent enhancements to Apple’s iOS, the new 2.2 version of Android from Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), and the widely admired webOS release from Palm Inc. (NASDAQ:PALM) have left the venerable Symbian platform in the rear-view mirror. Nokia needs the upgraded OS to entice apps developers to its platform and buyers to its Ovi apps store.

Nokia delayed the release of its revamped OS in April due to what the company called “quality requirements.” That led the company to reduce its profitability outlook from a range of 12%-14% to the current 11%-13%. The company knows that it has to make a splash on the high-end smartphone business with Symbian3 to get back on track.

Nokia may have done the right thing by withholding the new OS until it is fixed, but the delay raises expectations even as it defers revenues. That’s a tough combination to overcome. Nokia shares are down about 10% on double average daily volume so far.

Paul Ausick

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE:S), which overestimated its first weekend sales of the new EVO 4G smartphone by a factor of three, still had record sales for the new device from Taiwan’s HTC Corp. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) introduced its new 4G iPhone earlier this week to a kind of ho-hum response from observers who expect the company to break new ground every time Steve Jobs appears on a stage.

Still, smartphones are selling so well for everyone, except perhaps Palm Inc. (NYSE:PALM), that parts are hard to get. Verizon Wireless, which sells both the Motorola Droid and the HTC Droid Incredible phones, has said it could would sell more of devices if it could build them . As usual, screens are the likely suspect in the parts shortage.

Also sure to bolster Motorola shares is today’s announcement that the company has reached an agreement with Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ:RIMM) that will end all existing litigation between the two companies. Financial terms were not disclosed other than that the deal includes an upfront payment by RIM and future royalty payments to Motorola. The companies also agree to cross-license some patent rights related to industry standards and technologies, and to transfer unspecified patents to each other.

Motorola’s success with the Droid, even in the face of  competition from the Droid Incredible, has got to make the company feel better after a steep 10-year drop in its share price from nearly $60/share to around $7/share today.

Just this past April Motorola fell from among the top five in mobile phone sales according to IDC, getting booted out by RIM. The rankings are based on total sales of both feature phones and smartphones, so RIM’s achievement was especially impressive because it sells only BlackBerry smartphones. But then Motorola really didn’t have a smartphone either.

Verizon Wireless is planning to add up to four more Motorola Android-based smartphones to its lineup by the end of the year featuring a front-facing camera that could be used for mobile video conferencing. Verizon plans to launch two new phones in July and has already agreed to spend serious money promoting the Motorola phones. Verizon Wireless reportedly spent $100 million promoting the Droid.

Motorola has a long way to go to return to the heady days of $60 share prices. But the company appears to have pointed itself in the right direction.

Paul Ausick

What exactly is that device that you can hold in your hand and use to read a book, surf the web, and send an email or text message? Industry analysis firm IDC is beginning to distinguish between a tablet PC that uses an x86 processor and a full-blown operating system and a tablet device that incorporates an ARM-type chip and a mobile operating system.

Using that distinction, the iPad from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:APPL) is a tablet device, as is the rumored Slate tablet from Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) which will use the WebOS operating system developed by Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ:PALM). Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) is readying a device that uses the Android mobile operating system from Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), and, not to be left out, Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ:RIMM) is prepping a tablet device that will be tethered to a BlackBerry phone running RIM’s proprietary operating system. Amazon Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Kindle is neither, and could face some tough sledding ahead.

One name notable for its absence is Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), which has had only spotty success getting its mobile version of Windows into the tablet market. The company is scheduled to release later this year a product called Windows Phone 7, a new version of Windows for mobile devices.

The distinction IDC is making between tablet PCs and tablet devices goes to the heart of the coming market wars between full-featured desktops and laptops, and smartphones. Which market is going to feel the greater impact from tablets?

So far, with only the iPad making any significant sales, there is really no way to predict because the iPad doesn’t really compete with smartphones because it can’t make phone calls. It doesn’t really compete with PCs either because it can run only one application at a time. It is in a class of its own, much like the iPhone was at its launch.

The difference is that the iPhone was a superior phone. It was immediately obvious that the iPhone was not only different, but also better.

The iPad is not a phone and not a computer. The million or so iPads sold so far is an impressive feat. But depending on which forecast you believe, Apple will sell between four and ten million iPads in 2010. The low-end of that range is right about where the iPhone ended up in its first year of sales, although it launched in June because the iPad launched in April.

A recent survey by Boston Consulting Group may offer some pointers about where the tablets are headed. BCG surveyed 13,000 consumers around the world and more than a quarter said they plan to purchase an e-reader or a tablet within a year. That number doubles to half when respondents were familiar with tablets or e-readers.

Some 66% of respondents want a multi-function device, while only 24% want a dedicated e-reader like the Kindle. Here’s the catch: US consumers are only willing to pay as much as $200 for the multi-function device. Apple’s lowest priced iPad now costs $499.

Another interesting result of the BCG survey is that consumers are willing to pay about the same amount for a single copy of an online magazine as they pay for a hardcopy. Consumers are also willing to pay $5-$10/month for a newspaper subscription. That’s decent news for periodical publishers.

Book publishers, though, really get smacked. Consumers are willing to pay just $5-$10 for a digital book. At those prices, book publishers cannot make money. That doesn’t bode well for Amazon, which has tried to persuade book publishers to keep prices low — and losing the argument.

The largest question the tablet makers face is whether or not the new tablet, PCs or devices, will meet consumer expectations. If buyers think they’re getting a feature-rich PC substitute for about $200, they are going to be disappointed, word will spread, and the market will tank. If, however, expectations are set such that buyers understand that the tablets are limited to certain functions, which they excel at, — and the price is low enough — the satisfied customers will generate more sales.

And once there are tablets from names like H-P and Dell, the competition will work to move prices down and feature lists up. The ultimate winner will be the tablet that delivers beautiful pictures on a low-power, multi-function device that costs less than $200. It’s going to take a while to find out which company that is.

Paul Ausick

Reuters:   Investors are concerned about the Greek rescue package.

Reuters:   Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) defended Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) and was optimistic about the economy.

Reuters:   Oil remained at about $86.

Reuters:   Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) got a good response to sales of its 3G iPad.

Reuters:   Investors are looking for Hewlett-Packard’s (NYSE: HPQ) plans for a tablet PC now that its deal to buy Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) has been announced.

Reuters:   Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) joined Apple in its criticism of Adobe’s (NASDAQ: ADBE) Flash.

WSJ:   Greece said its will support new austerity.

WSJ:   Shopping-mall owner General Growth Properties said that it favors a deal by Brookfield as it exits Chapter 11.

WSJ: “The FDIC’s Sheila Bair has urged lawmakers to scrap a controversial Senate plan that would force banks to spin-off their derivatives businesses, saying it could destabilize banks and drive risk into unregulated parts of the financial sector.”

WSJ:   Interactive Data may have an LBO backed by Warburg Pincus and Silver Lake.

WSJ:   Zale will defer a payment to Citigroup (NYSE: C),

WSJ:   The CEO of Sears Holdings (NYSE: SHLD) still has interim status.

WSJ:   Auto sales probably rose sharply in April.

WSJ:   Apple will kill its Lala.com music service.

WSJ:   The advances bought to BP plc (NYSE: BP) by its CEO are being hurt by the Gulf spill.

WSJ:   The US military is becoming more active in buying metals in the world markets.

WSJ:   Companies are beginning to end salary freezes.

WSJ:   Monster (NYSE: MST) sees the job market rebounding.

WSJ:   New FCC airwaves auctions could hurt Sirius (NASDAQ: SIRI).

WSJ:   Investors still see risks in bonds from Portugal and the UK.

NYT:   Deflation could hurt Greece.

NYT:   More and more studios and TV producers are offering programming on handsets.

NYT:   Media executives are still getting rich pay packages as they cut workers.

NYT:   Academics say a Senate financial reform bill addresses the wrong parts of the problem.

NYT:   Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube will offer live coverage of sports events.

FT:   Goldman Sachs will alter some of its trading packages which may help it settle with the SEC.

FT:   Buffett says derivatives legislation could move up costs of financial instruments.

FT:   A rally in bonds has pushed junk bonds to near face value.

Bloomberg:   Shares in BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) and Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP dropped on a large tax to be imposed on them by Australia.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Each is laid out in detail below.

BP plc (NYSE: BP) might as well hire someone named Valdez to run the disaster here, because this Gulf oil spill is only getting worse and worse than expected.  Now, The Lanier Law Firm is suing it in a class action suit alleging that BP, Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG), Cameron International Corporation (NYSE: CAM) and Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) were negligent in failing to properly operate, inspect, and maintain the Deepwater Horizon rig.  BP’s US listed ADRs were at $60.00 just on April 21, and by Friday’s close the stock went out at $52.15 and it traded about 60 million shares.  This drop has caused a technical violation on the charts as the 50-day moving average is $56.98 and the 200-day moving average is $54.66.  This weekend’s edition Barron’s said that BP and RIG have been overly punished.  Here is the latest on the spill map.

Continental Airlines, Inc. (NYSE: CAL) and UAL Corporation (NASDAQ: UAUA) have reportedly agreed to the share exchange ratios for their proposed no-premium merger.  This is one of those “good for them, bad for you and me” scenarios where they get to ultimately fire thousands of overlapping job positions, consolidate providers, and simultaneously be able to charge more and more where they see fit for airline tickets and all the nickel-and-dime service fees.

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) had a huge week after the FDA has finally approved Provenge for advanced prostate cancer.  Shares hit a high of $57.67 on Friday, but closed down at $54.06 (still up 7.7%) on over 46 million shares traded.  We gave a detailed 2010 outlook for Dendreon this weekend showing the ups and downs, the analysts, the charts, and more at BioHealthInvestor.com.

E*TRADE Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC) may have looked or felt bad from the Citadel 172 million share secondary offering at $1.75 per share. If underwriters exercise that 25 million share overallotment option, Citadel will own about 26.5% of E*TRADE.  Some dilution is good and some dilution is bad, but this was good dilution.  Investors want Citadel out of there, particularly so that E*TRADE can eventually get back the rights to its order flow that Citadel has such an influence over.  More importantly, Citadel is a hurdle for any would-be takeover and there is still chatter that one or both of the two giant competing online-discount brokers would want to buy it out.  As long as Citadel is this dominant, the deal is much more difficult to do.  This hit $1.99 last Monday after a $1.90 close, yet shares closed down almost at the lows of the week at $1.69.  This will be one to watch, particularly since it fell well under that secondary offering price.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) had its annual meeting this last week.  24/7 Wall St. got an exclusive interview with Chairman & CEO Jeff Immelt, and in this interview Immelt committed to a higher dividend, discussed the GE portfolio and spin-offs, expected hurdles for return on capital and more.  The issues we discussed are long-term issues that will still be relevant in a week, month, and longer.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is the cover story at Barron’s this weekend.  The article is titled “Liftoff at J&J” and the thesis is that earning will get a lift in coming years from the economy, its product pipeline, and a great balance sheet.  The bearish case that J&J is fairly valued at the current mid-$60′s price is a big mistake, and the financial bible article notes that shares should be up 10% to 20% within a year or two.  This will probably be good for up to a 2% pop on Monday morning, at least in a static market scenario.

National Fuel Gas Co. (NYSE: NFG) was brought on CNBC’s MAD MONEY in an interview with Jim Cramer on Friday, and he called this one the best nat-gas play you’ve never heard of.  It has a massive upside in the Marcellus Shale play that is underfollowed and almost unknown.  The company has raised dividends many years and it has many operations around natural gas via transport, exploration, utility, and production.  Cramer called this the most undervalued nat-gas play in Marcellus.  The 52-week range is $30.56 to $54.42; shares closed down 0.6% at $52.02 Friday and traded up 1.1% to $52.58 in Friday’s after-hours session.  If the weakness in oil and gas doesn’t clip the sector endlessly, this could open up a percent higher or so.

Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) is one to watch.  Now that Bono and Jonathan Rubinstein have showed how cheaply they will buckle at a $5.70 takeout price versus a 52-week range of $3.65 to $18.09, there is always a chance that Palm could get a competing offer from a competing suitor.  This is pure speculation of course, but not based solely on guesswork nor on hope and prayer.  There is an optionszone.com options trade set-up here from yours truly that shows a speculative bet.  There are investments, there are trades, and there are bets… this one is the latter, with a low-premium and a high-risk and high-reward possibility.

Popular Inc. (NASDAQ: BPOP) has already been a winner with shares up big in the last 3 months.  Shares closed up 4.5% at $3.95 on Friday, but shares rose b 8.6% to $4.29 in the after-hours session on more than 900,000 shares.  Westernbank Puerto Rico was seized by the FDIC on Friday with about $11.9 billion in assets; Banco Popular agreed to acquire Westernbank’s deposits and about $9.4 billion of its assets, with the FDIC keeping the rest for future sale.  The old 52-week high is $4.23, so this could mark a 52-week high.

POZEN, Inc. (NASDAQ: POZN) isn’t about standing around and looking cool in night clubs.  Shares closed down 10% on Friday at $10.85, but the shares rifled higher in after hours trading after the FDA approved the its arthritis treatment Vimovo.  Pozen is now due a $20 million milestone payment from AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN), its marketing partner on the drug.  Shares went out in the after-hours session up 21% at $13.15 on over 5.9 million shares combined in regular and after-hours trading.  The prior 52-week range is $5.16 to $12.68, so watch to see if the 52-week will hold here.

SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is far from the largest company and far from the most market-moving stock on deck for earnings, but the earnings are due Tuesday morning.  If any single stock on deck is a true cult stock, this is it.  Shares closed at $1.18 on Friday and the 52-week high is only $1.22.  The company already gave some guidance but the outlook here on new cars with conversions and sign-ups is going to be crucial here.  Estimates from Thomson Reuters appear to be roughly a break-even quarter on $671.3 million in revenues.

Our technical analysis affiliate is Adam Hewison of INO, and he has a short and quick audio-video presentation showing a lot of caution here on the DJIA.  This lists 11,254 as the problem area of the DJIA based upon a 61% retracement, and that 50% retracement is down all the way around 10,350… Still, Hewison is taking more of a ‘tread carefully’ approach versus a ‘bail and short’ strategy.

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

Sponsor: 26 Cheap Stocks to Sell – Cheap stocks have been on a tear recently, but nine out of ten stocks are circling the drain!

Short covering may have driven Palm’s (NASDAQ: PALM) price up after the Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) offer. (Barron’s)

“Omers, the Canadian pension fund, is close to agreeing its first European buy-out since opening a London office six months ago, after it emerged as the favourite to buy Inchcape Shipping Services, the port and shipping agent.” (FT)

“Goldman Sachs is in talks over a potential settlement with an investor that claims that it lost money and went out of business after buying into a $1bn (£660,000) mortgage-backed security.” (FT)

Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) may try to settle charges by the SEC (NYPost)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) rose after its Q1 profit rose 10% and announced a $150 million add-on to its stock buyback plan. Shares are trading up 11% at $36.81 on over 125,000 shares.  The prior 52-week trading range was $15.86 to $34.86.

ATS Medical Inc. (NASDAQ: ATSI) is the biggest gainer of the trading day as Medtronic is acquiring it for $4.00 per share after a $2.59 close.  Shares are trading up 53% at$3.96 on over 3 million shares, so it is already close to 15-times normal trading volume.

Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) is trading up after Q1 earnings rose over 100% on acceptance of its new ad system and on Google woes in China. Shares are trading up 15% at $715.92. The prior all-time high and 52-week high is $651.50.  We have barely seen 100,000 shares in teh pre-market, but it only trades 1.5 million shares.

Dune Energy Inc. (AMEX: DNE) is trading higher after reaching an agreement in principle to sell its interests in the South Florence field for $30 million to a private party.  It also gave its drilling plan for 2010.  Shares are trading up 11% at $0.27 on about 40,000 shares.  A big percentage gainer, but tiny volume and a tinier share price.

Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK) is trading lower despite the notion that it swung to a first-quarter profit from recent patent deals and due to a revenue rebound.  Still, this was short of estimates, so even good news is not good enough news for Kodak.  Shares are trading down 6.6% at $7.80 on about 150,000 shares.

E*Trade Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC) is lower after affiliates of Citadel filed to sell up to 170 million shares of common stock.  Shares are trading down 4.9% at $1.75 on over 5 million shares, but this was down almost 7% in some trading last night.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) has caught 4 analyst upgrades after its earnings and guidance beat expectations on order pushouts.  Shares are trading up 8.7% at $19.26 on active trading of about 215,000 shares.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) is a disappointment despite that its earnings rose 90% and despite a raised outlook for the year.  Nothing goes up forever. Shares are trading down 10.8% at $77.50 on about 135,000 shares of stock.  The 52-week range is $34.73 to $99.61, so this is now down over 20% from highs.

Oshkosh Corp. (NYSE: OSK) is still a winner on military-ATV sales as earnings sailed past estimates.  Shares are indicated up 4.6% at $44.40 on thin trading volume.  The 52-week range is $9.25 to $44.57.

Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) is a top gainer this morning and up over 25% above $5.80 after H-P announced it would buy the smartphone maker for $5.70 per share.  Shares are trading up 26% at $5.83 on over 35 million shares with almost 45 minutes still to go before the open.  This traded over 50 million shares alone in the after-hours session last night.

Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE: SNV) is lower after it priced 255 million shares in a common stock offering at $2.75 per share, which is effectively a 14% discount to the closing bell price.  It also sold 12 million tangible equity units at $25.00 each. Shares are trading down 7.5% at $2.94 on over 38 million shares.

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

Sponsor: 26 Cheap Stocks to Sell – Cheap stocks have been on a tear recently, but nine out of ten stocks are circling the drain!

Twitter has, by most estimates, 100 million members, which makes it one of the largest social networks in the world. All major media companies are on Twitter and some have more than one million Twitter users. It raises the question of whether there is wisdom in crowds.

24/7 Wall St. will look at the Twitter posts at Reuters Biz, WSJ, Financial Times, CNN Money, MarketWatch, CNBC, and 24/7 Wall St. each day to see which stocks are most frequently mentioned. It is clear that in this area of social media these tweet are a sign of which companies the Twitter universe is interested in. These financial sites are followed by a combined 625,000 Twitter users which makes them a sizeable sample of Wall St.’s interests. In some cases, we will publish the actual tweets from the sites.

Among the daily top trending  symbols on stock twitter aggregator StockTwits are Palm (NASDAQ: PALM), Baudi (NASDAQ: BIDU), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD), Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ: GMCR), Ford Motor (NYSE: F), and First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR).

CNN Money: Oil prices continue gains http://bit.ly/bmI7DJ

CNN Money: Exxon profits up 38%, but miss estimates http://bit.ly/b9ltTT

CNN Money: Initial claims for unemployment insurance fall for second week in a row, declining to 448,000, Labor Department says. $$

Reuters Biz :Exxon quarterly profit up 38 percent, misses Street http://link.reuters.com/zuc99j

Reuters Biz: Procter & Gamble profit tops its view http://link.reuters.com/heb99j

Reuters Biz: Motorola posts profit, smartphone sales rise http://link.reuters.com/hab99j

Reuters Biz: Colgate profit falls due to Venezuela charge http://link.reuters.com/kyz89j

FT: UAL chiefs may make millions in Continental merger: The top five executives at UAL Corp, parent of United Airlines… http://bit.ly/cnUssW

MarketWatch: U.S. first-time jobless claims fall by 11,000 to 448,000 http://on.mktw.net/9f54uS

MarketWatch: Exxon Mobil first-quarter profit surges 38% to $6.3 bln; shares dip in pre-market trades http://on.mktw.net/ansbqI

Douglas A. McIntyre

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AFLAC Inc. (NYSE: AFL) Raised to Strong Buy at Raymond James.
AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) Cut to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.
ARM Holdings plc (NASDAQ: ARMH) Cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) target raised to $1,000 at Susquehanna.
Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE: ABX) Raised to Buy at Jefferies; targets raised at CIBC and TD.
The Children’s Place Retail Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCE) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) has been upgraded s far at Baird, Soleil, Deutsche Bank, and Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.
Hecla Mining Co. (NYSE: HL) Cut to Neutral from Buy at UBS.
Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) Raised to Hold from Sell at Morgan Joseph; Raised to Hold from Sell at Kaufman Bros.; Cut to Neutral from Buy at MKM Partners.
Premiere Global Services, Inc. (NYSE: PGI) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.

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JON C. OGG

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