24/7 Wall St. » PPO

Morning Movers (VVUS, ONVI, CTHR, PPO, GNK)

Paul Ausick — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:17:52 +0000

The three major US equities indexes opened about flat this morning as US jobless claims came in near expectations at 351,000 new claims (our coverage here). The European Commission’s forecast of a mild recession in the European Union is weighing on stocks and the dollar is losing ground to the euro and the British pound. In the first half hour of trading, the DJIA is down about 39 points at around 12,900, the Nasdaq Composite is lower by nearly 2 points at around 2,931, and the S&P 500 is down more than 3 points at around 1,354.

There are several stocks trading more heavily than usual this morning, and also experiencing large gains or drops in share prices. These include the Vivus Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS), Onvia Inc. (NASDAQ: ONVI), Charles & Colvard Ltd. (NASDAQ: CTHR), Polypore International Inc. (NYSE: PPO), and Genco Shipping & Trading Ltd. (NYSE: GNK).

Vivus is up more than 96% at $20.63 after posting a new 52-week high of $21.44 earlier. Volume is already about 10x the daily average of about 2.4 million shares traded. The drug maker yesterday received an FDA panel approval for its obesity drug. More coverage here.

Onvia is up about 34% at $4.21. Volume is already about 20x the daily average of 6,500 shares traded. The government contractor service has rejected a buyout bid at $4.25/share, boosting hopes of a bidding war for the company.

Charles & Colvard is up more than 26% at $3.85 after posting a new 52-week high of $3.99 earlier. Volume is already about 3x the daily average of around 27,000 traded. The jewelry maker smashed earnings expectations for its fourth quarter.

Polypore is down nearly -14% at $37.46. Volume is already about 1.5x the daily average of around 1.9 million shares traded. The specialty filter maker missed earnings expectations and forecast a weaker current quarter.

Genco is down nearly -12% at $7.24. Volume is already more than 9x the daily average of about 700,000 shares traded. The dry bulk shipper priced a secondary offering of 7.5 million shares at $7.10/share.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire Tagged: CTHR, GNK, ONVI, PPO, VVUS

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AVAV, AET, ALU, ANN, CAH, CMA, GLW, FDX, JAKK, M, PNC, PPO, RDS-A, SKX, TEVA, UA, WY)

Administrator — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:29:51 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street brokerage and research firms this Monday morning.

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Aetna, Inc. (NYSE: AET) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Alcatel-Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU) Cut to Sell at S&P Equity Research.
Ann Inc. (NYSE: ANN) Cut to Underperform at Barclays.
Cardinal Health Inc. (NYSE: CAH) Reiterated Buy with $52 price target at Argus.
Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) Raised to Outperform at RBC.
Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAKK) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.
PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC) Cut to Market Perform at BMO.
Polypore International Inc. (NYSE: PPO) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Skechers U.S.A., Inc. (NYSE: SKX) Raised to Neutral at Stern Agee.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NASDAQ: TEVA) Cut to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.
Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UA) Reiterated Buy with $90 target at Argus.
Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE: WY) Cut to Sell at UBS.

If you enjoyed the top analyst calls, you can sign up in the box below to join our morning email list to receive news directly in your inbox each morning. We include major analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPO and M&A news, special situation developments, observations on Warren Buffett and key market gurus, as well as special exclusive feature stories.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: AET, ALU, ANN, AVAV, CAH, CMA, FDX, GLW, JAKK, M, PNC, PPO, RDS-A, SKX, TEVA, UA, WY

Opportunities & Risks In Clean Energy Funds (PBW, TSLA, SOLR, SQM, PPO, TAN, FSLR, MYBUF, TSL, SPWRA, GEX, CREE, ICLN, OEZVF, EOC, KWT, WFR)

Administrator — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 17:01:33 +0000

Clean energy funds first sprung up in about 2005, with the PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy Fund (NYSE: PBW). Others have followed, but for the most part these funds have fairly low assets under management and the market for the funds is relatively limited as demonstrated by the volumes. The fall from grace after 2008′s alternative energy peak has not exactly been the greatest help in the world for these funds.

In addition to the PowerShares fund, we’ll take a quick look here at the Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSE: TAN), Market Vectors Global Alternative Energy ETF (NYSE: GEX), iShares S&P Global Clean Energy Index Fund (NASDAQ: ICLN), and Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF (NYSE: KWT).

PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy (NYSE: PBW) is a non-diversified index tracker. The largest of its 58 holdings is SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWRA) at 3%, followed by Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA), GT Solar International Inc. (NASDAQ: SOLR), Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE: SQM), and Polypore International Inc. (NYSE: PPO). The fund’s market value is $448.7 million, and its 52-week range is $7.98-$11.42. PBW’s NAV is 9.00.

Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSE: TAN) invests at least 90% of its assets in stocks included in the MAC Global Solar Energy Index. It’s top five holdings are First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) at 14.38%, Hong-Kong listed GCL Poly Energy Holdings Ltd. at 8.99%, Meyer Burger Technology AG (OTC: MYBUF), Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) at 5.3%, and SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWRA). Assets under management total $165.2 million and the NAV at June 7th was $7.12. The 52-week range is $6.12-$9.16.

Market Vectors Global Alternative Energy ETF (NYSE: GEX) tracks the price and yield performance of the Ardour Global Index, and invests at least 80% of assets in stocks included in that index. The fund’s top five holdings are First Solar at 8.8%, Vestas at 8.37%, Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) at 6.21%, Enel Green Power SpA at 6.1%, and Iberdrola Renovables SA at 5.73%. The fund has $140.3 million of assets under management and its NAV is $19.22. The shares’ 52-week range is $17.81-$22.76.

iShares S&P Global Clean Energy Index Fund (NASDAQ: ICLN) tracks the price and yield performance of the S&P Global Clean Energy Index. The top five holdings are Germany’s Verbund AG (OTC: OEZVF) at 5.58%, Iberdrola Renovables at 5.47%, Empresa Nacional de Electricidad S.A. (NYSE: EOC) at 5.46%, China Longyuan at 5.44%, and SunPower at 5.4%. The fund’s net assets total $71.1 million and the NAV is $16.54. The shares’ 52-week range is $14.09-$19.00.

Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF (NYSE: KWT) is an index tracker for solar energy companies. It’s top five holdings are First Solar at 9.54%, MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR) at 8.89%, Trina at 8.54%, SunPower at 6.35%, and Norway’s Renewable Energy Corp. ASA at 6.07%. The fund’s assets under management total just $29 million and its NAV is $10.55. The shares’ 52-week range is $9.04-$14.33.

Many of these funds (and their components) are down considerably and they are down so much against the 2008 peak-energy highs that many investors would rather not be reminded. 24/7 Wall St. has maintained for quite some time that many alternative energy investments may really just be leveraged oil bets in disguise. These have not even lived up to that universally when oil rose. Now investors will hope that the decommissioning of nuclear plants can be the next frontier for growth. If not, global austerity measures may force solar projects to actually be evaluated on their real underlying costs basis just like other projects.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Alternative Energy, ETF, Green Biz, Mutual Funds, Nuclear, Oil & Gas, Utilities Tagged: CREE, EOC, FSLR, GEX, ICLN, KWT, MYBUF, OEZVF, PBW, PPO, SOLR, SPWRA, SQM, TAN, TSL, TSLA, WFR

Weak Market, Strong Stocks Again (AOL, ABCO, PPO, KO, KFT, MO, RAI)

Administrator — Fri, 07 May 2010 20:45:46 +0000

This morning we ran a list of stocks which actually closed up 2% or more yesterday during the sell-off waves. We looked through the list of about 20 stocks, and of those listed only three closed up today: AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) closed up +2.6% Thursday and closed up 0.37% at $21.76 today after a late day recovery. The Advisory Board (NASDAQ: ABCO) rose by +11% Thursday, and rose 2% to $38.09 today. Polypore International Inc. (NYSE: PPO) +15% Thursday, rose another 1.44% to $19.68 today.

Off of our “Defensive Stocks” listed today, only four of our sixteen go-to stocks closed up: The Coca-Cola Company up 0.7% at $52.67; Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) up 2.9% at $30.07; Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO) up a whopping penny at $20.76; and Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI) up 1.2% at $52.17.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Defensive Stocks, HI/LOW Tagged: ABCO, AOL, KFT, KO, MO, PPO, RAI

Despite Crash, Many Stocks Rose (ABVT, AOL, CBEY, CKP, CAAS, CI, CNK, CLWR, RDEN, HTRN, HNT, IO, ITMN, KERX, MED, PCS, PACR, PPO, TDC, TIE, ABCO)

Administrator — Fri, 07 May 2010 11:31:23 +0000

Yesterday was a Cluster-something or an outright debacle. The stock market was a sea of red, but outside of inverse-ETF products there were actually many winners. We tried to look for the active gainers and screen out most of the gainers from a merger because of the obvious and we also screened out the gold plays and other fund-related products. Here are the winners of 2% or more from Thursday despite a deadly stock market:

Abovenet Inc. (NASDAQ: ABVT) +5.2%
AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) +2.6%
Cbeyond Inc. (NASDAQ: CBEY) +3.6%
Checkpoint Systems Inc. (NYSE: CKP) +10.6%
China Automotive Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CAAS) +5%
CIGNA Corporation (NYSE: CI) +2.9%
Cinemark Hldgs Inc. (NYSE: CNK) +4.4%
Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) +5.7%
Elizabeth Arden Inc. (NASDAQ: RDEN) +5.7%
Healthtronics Inc. (NASDAQ: HTRN) +32%
Health Net Inc. (NYSE: HNT) +5.8%
Ion Geophysical Corporation (NYSE: IO) +3.7%
Intermune Inc. (NASDAQ: ITMN)… although it imploded this week.
Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: KERX) +6.8%
Medifast Inc. (NYSE: MED) +7.8%
MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS) +4.1%
Pacer International (NASDAQ: PACR) +10%
Polypore International Inc. (NYSE: PPO) +15%
Teradata Corp. (NYSE: TDC) +3%
Titanium Metals Corp. (NYSE: TIE) +12%
The Advisory Board (NASDAQ: ABCO) +11%

Imagine how well some of these might have done had the market not been a blood-bath.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: HI/LOW, Trading Alert Tagged: ABCO, ABVT, AOL, CAAS, CI, CKP, CLWR, CNK, HNT, HTRN, IO, ITMN, KERX, MED, PACR, PCS, PPO, RDEN, TDC, TIE

Early Bird Analyst Upgrades (RATE, BBY, GOL, HIW, IPCS, JAH, PPO)

247wallst — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 06:04:37 +0000

These are some of the early upgrades and positive calls we are seeing from Wall Street research analysts this Friday morning with about two and a half hours until the open:

Bankrate (RATE) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Best Buy (BBY) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
GOL Linhas (GOL) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Highwoods (HIW) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
iPCS (IPCS) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Jarden (JAH) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Polypore International (PPO) Raised to Outperform at Baird.

Jon C. Ogg
October 31, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: BBY, GOL, HIW, IPCS, JAH, PPO, RATE

Early Bird Analyst Downgrades (DO, ESV, HBC, MORN, PPO, PWAV, RDC, TDW, TROW)

247wallst — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 06:00:00 +0000

These are some of the early analyst downgrades we are seeing from Wall Street this Friday morning with about two and a half hours until the open:

Diamond Offshore (DO) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Ensco (ESV) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
HSBC (HBC) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Morningstar (MORN) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
Polypore International (PPO) Cut to Hold at BB&T.
Powerwave (PWAV) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Rowan Companies (RDC) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Tidewater (TDW) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
T. Rowe Price (TROW) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.

Jon C. Ogg
October 31, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: DO, ESV, HBC, MORN, PPO, PWAV, RDC, TDW, TROW