Alkermes, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALKS) had a game-changing week after it is now going to be profit-oriented after its ELAN Corp. plc (NYSE: ELN) deal was announced this week.  We have seen analysts chime in about what this means.  Cowen raised it to Outperform and Leerink Swann raised it to Outperform.  We expect more positive calls next week as it reports earnings.  The close the prior Friday was $14.47 and the close this Friday was $17.76 after closing up each day of the week.  Our more detailed analysis is available at BioHealthInvestor.com.

Apollo Global Management, LLC (NYSE: APO) has been public for just over a month and its quiet period ended for research analysts.  This was trading under its IPO price yet all but only one analyst at Wells Fargo was cautious with a “Market Perform” rating.  All of the other calls were “Buy/Outperform/Overweight.”  The initial move went from $17.97 the prior Friday and then the shares (units) rose to $18.50 on Monday and then to $18.71 by Tuesday.  Unfortunately, shares closed at $18.27 on Friday so this remains a pressured IPO.

Dean Foods Co. (NYSE: DF) was raised to “Buy” at Goldman Sachs on Friday after earnings this week.  More importantly, Goldman Sachs said that Dean Foods could actually double over the next two years.  What makes this call stand out even more is Dean Foods has already almost doubled from its lows of the last year.  In 2007, this milk and dairy company’s stock traded north of $40.00.  The stock closed at $13.41 this week after earnings, up more than 20% from the close of $10.97 the prior Friday.

E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC) was given two calls in its favor this week.  The turnaround online broker raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs with a $19 price target early this week.  Then came another upgrade to “Strong Buy” from “Outperform” at Raymond James. These calls fit in a bit with our take that goes back to last year and even in 2009… E*TRADE will be acquired.  Now its turnaround is finally producing positive earnings and the company’s writedowns and charge-offs are getting to the point where there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  That light does not even look like it is a freight train.  These calls had limited price impact as the close a week earlier was $15.92 and the close on this Friday was $16.06.

Penson Worldwide Inc (NASDAQ: PNSN) got what will feel like a very bad call this week. One analyst downgrade came from Sandler O’Neill maintaining a “Hold” rating but cutting the target to $4.50 from $5.50.  It could be inferred that the research call started the move when shares were getting clobbered this last week, but our take is that the call exacerbated the move on issues tied to charges on a municipal bond issue. Whether the call was the catalyst or just an accelerating factor is arguable as the issue has been there before, but the move was extreme.  Shares were at $5.35 the Friday before, and the stock hit a low of $2.73 before the company issued clarification news. The good news is that shares had recovered to $3.34 by Friday’s close, making a recovery bounce of some 22%.  We’ll have to see if other firms can support the company this coming week.

SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWRA) was supposed to be a game-changing stake as a near-merger with Total when that stake was recently taken.  That created a move up from about $16 to $21 when it came about.  At the end of the week we saw two very negative calls … SunPower was maintained as “Sell” at Auriga and it was downgraded to “Hold” at ThinkEquity.  Instead of rising, SunPower had a stagnant week.  It closed at $21.41 a week earlier and closed at $21.23 for roughly a 1% loss this last week.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, dividend trends, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) is down 6.3% premarket to $19.22, relative to a 52-week range of $8.65-$26.17.

Penson Worldwide (NASDAQ: PNSN) is up nearly 6% premarket to $3.30, relative to a 52-week range of $2.73-$7.95.

Vermillion, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRML) is down 11.5% premarket to $6.50, relative to a 52-week range of $3.33-$20.85.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is down 4.7% premarket to $16.36, relative to a 52-week range of $12.94-$18.84.

The company’s press release says that it expects to resolve this situation without a loss.  Furthermore, it said that even if a loss were realized, it would have “no impact on the Company’s solid regulatory capital or sound financial condition.”

In the May 9, 2011 10_Q report it had approximately $42.6 million in non-accruing receivables collateralized by securities related to the Retama Development Authority, which have declined in liquidity.  This $42.6 million is said to represent only 0.49% of Penson’s $8.7 billion in average daily customer balances during the first quarter of 2011.

Penson’s operating companies had more than $100 million in excess regulatory capital at the end of March and that figure is said to already reflect the deduction of these illiquid receivables.   The companies also held more than $5.8 billion in cash or cash equivalents at the end of the March quarter.

The quote is as follows, from CEO Philip Pendergraft: “We believe the activity of the Company’s stock related to the Retama related collateral is unwarranted. We hope this news release will aid in putting this issue to rest. Penson Worldwide remains strongly financed, with ample excess regulatory capital and a solid business, and none of this affects or involves any correspondents or their customers. We continue to move ahead with our 2011 plan, which calls for reducing quarterly losses and generating a small profit (excluding first quarter non-operating items) for the year.”

The release does contain one note… Penson announced the resignation of Thomas R. Johnson from its Board of Directors because, “Based on Mr. Johnson’s position as chief executive officer of Call Now, Inc, a holder of a portion of the Retama related collateral, both Mr. Johnson and the Company felt it appropriate for him to resign his position at this time.”

At 3:30 PM EST we have shares down 21.8% at $3.07 on more than 6.1 million shares, but the stock was halted at 3:17 PM EST.  We had given a volume spike analysis early today at VSInvestor.com and this should at least mitigate some of those concerns that were in the market.

JON C. OGG

• Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT) started as Buy at UBS.
• Advanced Energy (NASDAQ: AEIS) Raised To Overweight By JP Morgan.
• American Superconductor (NASDAQ: AMSC) Cut to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.
• Cree (NASDAQ: CREE) started as Hold Lazard Capital.
• DRS Tech (NYSE: DRS) cut to Neutral at UBS; cut to market perform at FBR.
• FormFactor (NASDAQ: FORM) Raised To Overweight From Neutral By JP Morgan.
• FreightCar America (NASDAQ: RAIL) Raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.
• Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS) raised to Outperform at Bernstein.
• Penson Worldwide (NASDAQ: PNSN) Raised to Overweight at JP Morgan.
• Sovereign Bancorp (NYSE: SOV) Raised To Market Perform at KBW.

Jon C. Ogg
May 9, 2008

Jon Ogg produces and edits the "10 Stocks Under $10" weekly newsletter for 247WallSt.com.

Chip and tech stocks on 52-week lows: AMAT, AMD, ADTN, ARRS, ATML, BBND, CHRT, FCS, FEIC, IDTI, IM, KLAC, KLIC, LRCX, LSCC, LSI, MCRL, MRVL, MU, NSM, STM, TER, XLNX

Financial Giants on 52-Week lows: BAC, BBT, BSC, CYN, DFG, EFX, FIC, FITB, FHN, MCO, NCC, PNSN, SNV, SBP, WFC, ZION.

We kept the REIT’s and the usual suspects in retail off the list that have been here day in and day out (although many hit new 52-week lows).  Here is the huge list of others 52-week lows:

• Automatic Data (ADP), Cardinal Health (CAH), Career Education (CECO), Diebold (NYSE: DBD), EchoStar (DISH), Superior Offshore (DEEP), Dow Chemical (DOW), Eastman Kodak (EK), Emmis (EMMS), Ford (F), Fortune Brands (FO), General Motors (GM), Hasbro (HAS), Helen of Troy (HELE), Interpublic (IPG), Mattel (MAT), McClatchy (MNI), Media General (MEG), Nortel Networks (NT), Owens Corning (OC), Paychex (OPAYX), PHH Corp. (PHH), Playboy (PLA), Radio Shack (RSH), Rite Aid (RAD), Sherwin Williams (SHW), Sprint Nextel (S), Starbucks (SBUX), Starwood Hotels (HOT), Sun Microsystems (JAVA), Symantec (SYMC), Travelzoo (TZOO), VF Corp (VFC), Warner Music Group (WMG), Waste Management (WMI), Weight Watchers (WTW), Wendy’s (WEN)

Imagine how large this list would have been if retailers and REIT’s were included.
Jon C. Ogg
January 2, 2008

• Kenexa (Nasdaq: KNXA) announced on November 8, 2007 that it authorized the repurchase of up to 2 million shares of the company’s common stock, and it has already completed the repurchase of over 1 million shares since the approval of the repurchase program.  It only has about 25.5 million shares outstanding.
• Edgewater Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: EDGW) announced that its Board of Directors authorized the purchase of up to $5.0 million of the Company’s common stock; approximate market cap is $87 million.
• Harvard Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ: HBIO) has authorized the repurchase of up to $10 million of its common stock over the next 24 months; shares rose 5% Friday and its market cap is $130 million.
• Pomeroy IT Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:PMRY) authorized a somewhat unusual program to repurchase up to $5 millionof its outstanding common stock.  In addition, the Board adopted awritten trading plan under Rule 10b5-1 of the Act to facilitate therepurchase of its common stock. Rule 10b5-1 allows the Company topurchase its shares at times when the Company would not ordinarily bein the market because of the Company’s trading policies or thepossession of material non-public information. Pomeroy’s market cap is$86 million.
• Alcon, Inc. (NYSE:ACL) approved a new share repurchase program that allows for the purchase of up to $1.1 billionof shares of outstanding common stock targeted over a twelve monthperiod.  The $1.1 billion share repurchase program provides for a purchase of shares from the company’s majority shareholder,Nestle, S.A. Specifically at a rate of three shares fromNestle for every share acquired by the company in the market. This new program is in addition to thecompany’s existing repurchase program, under which, as of December 5,2007, the company has remaining authorization to repurchase up to 2.8million shares. It is anticipated that the new repurchase program willcommence in the first quarter of 2008.
• The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) authorized an additional $1 billionfor purchases of its common stock through 2009, and this is in additionto the approximately $300 million remaining under previous sharerepurchase authorization. With a $1.3 Billion total plan, it has $17Billion market cap.
• International Assets Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:IAAC) renewed the Company’sshare repurchase authorization for an increased amount of $5,000,000 in shares of common stock.  The renewal will be effective January 1, 2008. IAAC’s market cap is $226 million.
• 4Kids Entertainment (NYSE:KDE) saw its shares rise on a 1 million share buyback of around $11 million; market cap is $157 million.  FULL REVIEW with value investor synopsis.
• Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) was the biggy of the week, but you wouldn’t haveknown it if you saw the stock trades.  It is reinstating its sharerepurchase plan and will spend up to $10 Billion in share buyback.  Its market cap is $55.8 Billion.  FULL COVERAGE.

Many of these buyback stocks are under review for our Special Situation Investing Newsletter.

Here are some of the big updates or increases that took place this week:

• ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT) has been making updates on itsongoing share buyback in the E.U.   Under the new share buy-backprogram announced on 13 September 2007, Arcelor Mittal has repurchased4,450,000 shares from 29 November until 5 December 2007 at an averageprice of EUR 48.7403 and for a total amount of EUR 215,773,685.00.
• Penson Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: PNSN) has authorized the expenditure of up to an additional $12.5 millionto buy back Company common stock, bringing its total buybackauthorization since July 2007 to $37.5 million.  As previouslyreported, during Q3 & Q4, Penson has bought a total of 1,474,503shares, equal to approximately 6% of shares outstanding in the initialrepurchase plan.
• Celadon Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CLDN) completed its 2 Million share buyback and authorization an additional 2 Million Share Buyback through December 3, 2008; it has 23.76 million shares outstanding.
• H.B. Fuller Company (NYSE:FUL) recently completed its $100 million share repurchase planthat was announced in July and approximately 3.6 million shares ofcommon stock were repurchased; its market cap is $1.56 Billion.
• Health Grades, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGRD) gave an update on itsstock repurchase program: From November 12 through December 3, 2007, itpurchased an additional 309,600 shares on the open market at an averageprice of $5.48 a share.  As of December 3, it has purchased 1,570,554shares of its common stock on the open market at an average price of$4.78 a share. The aggregate purchase price is approximately $7.5million.  Based on it stock repurchase program of 3 million shares intotal, HealthGrades remains able to purchase an additional 1,429,446shares.
• Templeton Russia and East European Fund, Inc. (NYSE:TRF)authorized management to withdraw the Fund’s proposed secondaryoffering of the Fund’s shares of common stock AND authorized managementto reinstate the Fund’s open-market share repurchase program, which wassuspended in connection with the Fund’s proposed secondary offering.This closed-end fund has 5.44 million shares outstanding.

Here was the FULL COVERAGE of our Buyback Summary from Monday Dec. 3:
The Day In Stock Buybacks (SMTC, ASI, EQR, DFS, LCUT, IBM, CPT)

Jon C. Ogg
December 7, 2007

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