Jeffries had asked all of their TMT analysts to present one controversial stock or theme ahead of the conference. They requested stocks or themes where the analysts felt that information or data presented at the conference may have an impact.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was a featured stock. Always volatile, as DRAM chip pricing tends to fluctuate, Jefferies sees capacity restraint translating into long-term pricing stability. The Jefferies price target for this stock is $15. The Thomson/First Call consensus estimate is $12. The stock has traded up since last week and appears to be breaking a triple top at $10.25.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp, (NASDAQ: CTSH) was also a focus stock. Cognizant provides information technology (IT), consulting, and business process outsourcing services worldwide. The issue to be discussed was a pending immigration bill proposed in the Senate that could affect work visas for offshore hiring. Jefferies has a price target for this stock of $80. The consensus target is even higher at $86. The stock posted record earnings yesterday.

Workday Inc. (NYSE: WDAY) had a recent and highly successful initial public offering that hit the radar at Jefferies. The interest at the conference was in the corporate switch from old line HR companies like Automatic Data Processing Inc. (NASDAQ: ADP) handling HR/payroll outsourcing to new cloud-based competitors. Workday is a stock to buy, with a $76 price target. The consensus target is much lower at $60. Workday has traded up 5% since our story a week ago and was initiated as a stock to buy at Oppenheimer late yesterday with an $80 price target.

Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) was another stock that was looked at closely. The market fears that Red Hat’s strong growth rate may be slowing. Management was expected to outline the strength of current bookings and how Linux workloads are outperforming Windows workloads. The Jefferies price target for the stock is $65, while the consensus is lower at $59. Red Hat is also up more than 5% since our story last week.

Data networking and wireline equipment stocks were among featured sectors at the conference. Jefferies has three solid stocks to buy, but they did not post their price targets in the report.

Broadsoft Inc. (NASDAQ: BSFT) released earnings on Tuesday and beat expectations on the top and bottom line. The shift by enterprises from premise-based PBX solutions to cloud-based, mobile-centric unified communications is proving to be a significant opportunity for the company. The consensus target price for the stock is $31.

Calix Inc. (NYSE: CALX) impressed the Jefferies analysts in their presentation at the conference. Calix provides broadband communications access systems and software for fiber- and copper-based network architectures. The company has enjoyed a steady increase in gross margin from the low 30s to the high 40s, and believes this trend will continue to the low 50s. The consensus price target for the stock is $9.90.

Infinera Corp. (NASDAQ: INFN) provides optical networking equipment, software and services to communications service providers, Internet content providers, cable operators and subsea network operators worldwide. Their presentation at the conference was very positive on future growth prospects. The consensus price objective for the stock is $8.50, which is below where it is currently trading.

Often the featured stocks at a Wall Street firm’s conference trade higher as new or game-changing data is presented. Investors may want to keep their eyes open for names they like that are presenting at conferences this summer and in the future.

With keynote speakers ranging from Ajay Banga, the CEO of MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) to Bill Smith, president of AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) Network Operations, every aspect of technology, media and telecom will be open for discussion.

Jeffries has asked all of its TMT analysts to present one controversial stock or theme ahead of the conference. It requested stocks or themes where the analysts felt that information or data presented at the conference may have an impact. It makes sense to keep an eye on the stocks mentioned during next week’s conference, as any catalyst may move the stocks one way or another.

We present the stocks from the Jefferies analysts by sector.

Semiconductors: Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) will be the featured stock. It is always volatile, as DRAM chip pricing tends to fluctuate, and Jefferies sees capacity restraint translating into long-term pricing stability. The Jefferies price target for this stock to buy is $15. The Thomson/First Call consensus estimate is $12.

Computer Services and IT Consulting: Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (NASDAQ: CTSH) is one of the focus stocks in this category. Cognizant provides information technology (IT), consulting and business process outsourcing services worldwide. The issue to be discussed will be an immigration bill proposed in the Senate that could affect work visas for offshore hiring. The Jefferies price target for this stock to buy is $80. The consensus target is even higher at $86.

Workday Inc. (NYSE: WDAY) had a recent and highly successful initial public offering, and it is on the radar at Jefferies. The interest at the conference will be in the corporate switch from old line HR companies like Automatic Data Processing Inc. (NASDAQ: ADP) handling HR/payroll outsourcing to new cloud-based competitors like Workday. Jefferies has an Underperform rating on ADP and a $55 price target. The consensus is $63. Workday is a stock to buy, with a $76 price target. The consensus is much lower at $60. This could be an interesting pair trade.

Technology Software: Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) is another stock that will be looked at closely. The market fears that Red Hat’s strong growth rate may be slowing. Look for management to outline the strength of current bookings and discuss how Linux workloads are outperforming Windows workloads. The Jefferies price target for the stock is $65. The consensus target is lower at $59.

Technology Communication Equipment: Investors are concerned about the current pace of carrier capital spending, particularly in North America. Jefferies expects a relatively positive backdrop for communication infrastructure as carriers globally (particularly in North America, China and Germany) increase their spending on routing, optical and wireless infrastructure. Expected to benefit are JDS Uniphase Corp. (NASDAQ: JDSU), Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) and Infinera Corp. (NASDAQ: INFN). All three are stocks to buy at Jefferies, but we did not have price targets.

Other Wall Street firms have been known to stake out observers at competitors’ conferences to gain access to information. You can be sure also that there will be lots of media coverage via CNBC and financial websites. Stocks in the past have shown movement either up and down over conference commentary, so investors may want to keep an eye on these stocks and see if they react.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) maintained Hold but price target cut to $420 from $500 at Jefferies.

America Movil SAB (NYSE: AMX) cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Brookdale Senior Living Inc. (NYSE: BKD) cut to Underperform at Macquarie.

Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) maintained Buy on Focus List with $65 target at Argus.

CVS Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS) cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS) raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs and maintained Buy with $60 target at Argus.

Life Time Fitness Inc. (NYSE: LTM) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) raised to Outperform at BMO.

Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) started as Outperform at Pac-Crest.

RadioShack Inc. (NYSE: RSH) cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.

Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) cut to Neutral at Citigroup.

Sherwin-Williams Co. (NYSE: SHW) raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD) maintained Outperform and raised target to $31 from $26 at Credit Suisse.

TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX) started as Overweight at Barclays.

United Rentals Inc. (NYSE: URI) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

VeriFone Systems Inc. (NYSE: PAY) raised to Positive at Susquehanna.

Xoom Corp. (NASDAQ: XOOM) started as Buy at Needham, started as Market Perform at Raymond James, started as Outperform at William Blair and started as Overweight at Barclays.

UBS came out with a list of eight stocks to buy now.

Here are 11 stocks which analysts expect to rise 50% to 100% (or more) over the next year.

The U.S. dollar index rose 0.38% today, now at 81.906. The GSCI commodity index is down 0.8% at 650.13, with commodities prices mostly higher today. WTI crude oil closed down 0.8% today, at $92.05 a barrel, losing 5.6% on the month (more coverage here). Brent crude trades down 0.7% at $111.10 a barrel. Natural gas is up about 1.3% today at about $3.48 per million BTUs following the weekly storage report (more coverage here). Gold settled down 1.1% today at $1,578.10 an ounce, down about 5% for the month of February.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 21 points to 14,054.25 (-0.15%), the NASDAQ fell about 2 points (-0.07%) to 3,160.19, and the S&P 500 fell -0.09% or more than 1 point to 1,514.56.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) started as ‘outperform’ at BMO; Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) started as ‘overweight’ at Barclays; Saks Inc. (NYSE: SKS) cut to ‘underweight’ at Morgan Stanley; First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) reiterated as ‘hold’ at Argus; and VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) started as ‘hold’ at Stifel Nicolaus.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in several price moves today, including these: Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ: CECO) is down 9% at $3.25; Continental Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLR) is up 4.7% at $87.88; GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT) is down 6.5% at $2.87; Limited Brands Inc. (NYSE: LTD) is up 2.7% at $45.72; Monster Beverage Corp. (NASDAQ: MNST) is up 3.3% at $51.27; Sturm Ruger & Co. Inc. (NYSE: RGR) is up 2.6% at $54.89 (more coverage here); Universal Display Corp. (NASDAQ: PANL) is up 13.5% at $31.67; Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS) is up 4.5% at $15.92; Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC) is down 9.1% at $14.06; Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS) is down 1.1% at $46.10; and Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD) is down 6.2% at $44.52 (more coverage here).

After markets close today and before they open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear from Body Central Corp. (NASDAQ: BODY), Cell Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: CTIC), Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (NASDAQ: CLNE), Deckers Outdoor Corp. (NASDAQ: DECK), Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS), Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP), Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE: PANW), and SandRidge Energy Co. (NYSE: SD).

Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) was scheduled to report after closing today, but announced a delay until tomorrow, ahead of tonight’s deadline to receive an offer from founder Richard Schulze (more coverage here).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) is down 24.3% at $4.53. The daily deals web site absolutely cratered on a dismal earnings report last night. More coverage here.

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) is down 18% at $17.34. The department store operator posted results that were even worse than Groupon’s. More coverage here.

Broadsoft Inc. (NASDAQ: BSFT) is down 30.8% at $21.39. The Internet communications company posted good earnings last night, but guidance was way below expectations.

Stay tuned for Friday. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is giving a speech. Automakers will be announcing February car sales throughout the day.We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 8:30 a.m. – Personal income and outlays
• 8:58 a.m. – PMI manufacturing index
• 9:55 a.m. – University of Michigan/Thomson Reuters consumer sentiment index
• 10:00 a.m. – Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index
• 10:00 a.m. – Construction spending

Broadsoft Inc. (NASDAQ: BSFT) downgraded after poor expense guidance at Mizuho, Oppenheimer, and boutique Northland Securities.

Deutsche Bank A.G. (NYSE: DB) raised to Buy at KBW.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) started as Outperform at BMO.

Edison International (NYSE: EIX) raised to Outperform ast BMO.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) reiterated Hold at Argus but that is after multiple downgrades Wednesday.

Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) cut to Underperform at BofA/Merrill Lynch, cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo and cut to Underperform at Raymond James.

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) maintained Buy but lowered price target to only $25 from $35 by Argus.

Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) started as Overweight at Barclays.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) started as Overweight at Barclays.

Saks Inc. (NYSE: SKS) cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.

UBS A.G. (NYSE: UBS) cut to Market Perform at KBW.

Vitamin Shoppe Inc. (NYSE: VSI) cut to Neutral at BofA Merrill Lynch.

VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) started as Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.

Here is a list of the Seven Safest Banks in America for 2013.

Things are soft enough that VMware also got into the pink slip charades by announcing that 900 jobs, or almost 7% of its force, will be eliminated. For the quarter, the virtualization software maker posted adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.81 on revenues of $1.29 billion. In the same period a year ago, the company reported EPS of $0.62 on revenues of $1.06 billion, and the Thomson Reuters consensus was $0.78 EPS and $1.28 billion in revenues. VMware’s outlook shows that it now expects revenue in a range of $1.17 billion to $1.19 billion for the first quarter, and it expects to post revenues of $5.23 billion to $5.35 billion for the year, south of the $1.25 billion consensus for the quarter and under the $5.42 billion consensus for the year.

VMware expects full-year license revenue to rise by 8% to 11% in 2013, a lower annual growth rate than the 13% increase in licensing revenue in 2012. The long and short of the matter is that it seems the available future market share for virtualization is becoming smaller and smaller. It is not that virtualization is waning, but finding the number of companies and new systems that need virtualization is getting harder as all the big companies have made their moves already in virtualization.

We have read repeatedly how ever more businesses have made the move to virtualize their systems, and it is shocking how Wall St. got this one so wrong. Here are the multitudes of analyst downgrades we have seen on VMware so far on Tuesday:

• Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley
• Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray
• Cut to Neutral at Stern Agee
• Cut to Hold at Topeka Capital
• Cut to Neutral at MKM Partners

VMware shares are down 19.6% at $78.90, and that will be a new 52-week low as the 52-week trading range had been $79.46 to $118.79. The move is also hurting EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) as the superdominant shareholder. EMC shares are down 6.6% at $23.53. Citrix Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CTXS) is down 4.25% at $68.41 and Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) is down by 2% to $55.07 so far on the news.

Even after the large drop this morning, VMware still trades at almost 6.5-times expected revenue and trades at almost 25-times expected earnings. What happens when growth has peaked in high-beta stock sectors? Usually you see a share price adjustment and earnings and sales multiples come down closer to the rest of the market.

The U.S. dollar index rose sharply today, now up 0.45% at 79.609. The GSCI commodity index is down 0.2% at 643.49, with commodities prices mostly higher today. WTI crude oil closed down 1.6% today, at $88.66 a barrel, for a weekly gain of 2.2%. Brent crude trades down 1% at $109.06 a barrel. Natural gas is down 0.4% today at about $3.45 per thousand cubic feet. Gold settled up 0.9% today at $1,660.10 an ounce,but posted a loss of 2.2% for the week.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 119 points to 13,192.61 (-0.89%), the NASDAQ fell more than 29 points (-0.96%) to 3,021.01, and the S&P 500 fell -0.94% or more than 13 points to 1,430.17.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: MDRX) cut to ‘hold’ at Argus; Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG) cut to ‘neutral’ at Credit Suisse; Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) cut to ‘neutral’ at Janney; Brinker International Inc. (NYSE: EAT) raised to ‘buy’ at Sterne Agee; and Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) cut to ‘market perform’ at FBR Capital Markets and reiterated as ‘buy’ at BofA/ML.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have resulted in the following price change as of the last half hour of trading today: Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) is up 6.3% at $105.27; Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) is up 4.5% at $54.96; and Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) is down 3.1% at $36.38 (more coverage here).

After markets close today and before they open on Wednesday morning we are scheduled to hear only from Stein Mart Inc. (NASDAQ: SMRT).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) is down 21.1% at $11.14. The smartphone maker posted weak results after markets closed last night. More coverage here.

Ameristar Casinos Inc. (NASDAQ: ASCA) is up 19.6% at $26.40 after posting a new 52-week high of $26.59 earlier today. The casino operator is being acquired by competitor Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: PNK) for $26.50 a share. More coverage here.

Daquo New Energy Corp. (NYSE: DQ) is up 421.5% at $6.26. The Chinese maker of polysilicon for solar panel manufacturing raised the number of common shares in one U.S. American Depositary Share (ADS) from 5 to 25.

Herbalife Inc. (NYSE: HLF) is down 20.8% at $26.68 after posting a new 52-week low of $26.04 earlier today. The nutrition and weight-loss food maker has been hammered by comments from William Ackman, who holds a massive short position in the stock. More coverage here.

Halozyme Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: HALO) is up 26.1% at $6.96. The drug development company will collaborate with industry giant Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) on six new injectable medicines.

Stay tuned for next Wednesday. U.S. markets close at 1:00 p.m. on Monday and are closed all day Tuesday for the Christmas holiday. No data releases are scheduled for Monday. We have noted the following events on the schedule for Wednesday (all times Eastern):

• 7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
• 9:00 a.m. – S&P Case-Shiller housing price index
• 10:00 a.m. – Richmond Fed manufacturing index
• 11:30 a.m. – 4-week Treasury bill auction
• 1:00 p.m. – 3- and 6-month Treasury bill auctions

Have a great weekend!

Paul Ausick

The U.S. dollar index fell today, now down 0.02% at 79.249. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.7% at 644.73, with commodities prices mostly lower again today. WTI crude oil closed up fractionally today, at $90.01 a barrel. Brent crude trades down 0.2% at $110.17 a barrel. Natural gas is up 3.8% today at about $3.45 per thousand cubic feet following the EIA report on gas storage inventories (more coverage here). Gold settled down 1.3% today at $1,645.90 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up nearly 60 points to 13,311.72 (0.45%), the NASDAQ rose about 6 points (0.20%) to 3,050.39, and the S&P 500 rose 0.55% or nearly 8 points to 1,442.69.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX) raised to ‘buy’ at Deutsche Bank; BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) started as ‘overweight’ at J.P. Morgan; Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) started as ‘outperform’ at William Blair; Boston Beer Co. (NYSE: SAM) started as ‘neutral’ at Citigroup; and LinnCo (NASDAQ: LNCO) started as ‘outperform’ at Wells Fargo.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have resulted in the following price change as of the last half hour of trading today: Bed, Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) is down 6.8% at $56.19 after posting a new 52-week low of $54.33 earlier today; Jabil Circuit Inc. (NYSE: JBL) is up 8.1% at $20.07; Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX) is down 2% at $32.38; Carmax Inc. (NYSE: KMX) is up 8.9% at $37.94 after posting a new 52-week high of $38.24 earlier today; Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) is down 5.3% at $36.98; ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG) is up 0.6% at $30.13 after posting a new 52-week high of $30.86 earlier today (more coverage here); Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) is down 3.8% at $38.26 (more coverage here); KB Home (NYSE: KBH) is down 6.9% at $15.52 (more coverage here); Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) is up 19.7% at $1.25; and Scholastic Corp. (NASDAQ: SCHL) is down 1.5% at $28.85.

After markets close today and before they open on Monday morning we are scheduled to hear from Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE), Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT), Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM), and Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) is up 33.8% at $32.19 after posting a new 52-week high of $33.38 earlier today. The owner of the NYSE is being acquired by Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE: ICE). More coverage here.

Eloqua Inc. (NASDAQ: ELOQ) is up 31.6% at $23.58. The business application software firm is being acquired by Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) for $871 million.

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: MDRX) is down 14.3% at $9.15. The medical records software firm fired its CEO and terminated its search for a buyer.

Winnebago Industries Inc. (NYSE: WGO) is up 14.5% at $16.12 after posting a new 52-week high of $16.42 earlier today. The recreational vehicle maker beat profit and revenue estimates handily this morning.

Stay tuned for Friday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 8:30 a.m. – Durable goods orders
• 8:30 a.m. – Personal income and spending
• 8:30 a.m. – Chicago Fed national activity index
• 9:55 a.m. – University of Michigan/Thomson Reuters consumer sentiment
• 11:00 a.m. – Kansas City Fed manufacturing index

Paul Ausick

Still, when you see big sales ahead of big events you have to wonder. Perhaps these insiders decided that stocks could only go further down after the election. Who knows for sure. Here are some of the big share sales we have seen from corporate insiders that came in the days immediately before the election. As a reminder, many insiders expect that the 15% capital gains tax is not going to be in effect even if a grand bargain is reached over the coming fiscal cliff.

Affiliated Managers Group Inc. (NYSE: AMG) saw director William Nutt exercise options and turn around sell 275,000 shares for gross proceeds of more than $35 million, versus a cost basis of about $15 million. Those sales were on November 5 and 6.

AFLAC Inc. (NYSE: AFL) Chairman Daniel Amos sold some 50,000 shares at $52.27 on November 6 for gross proceeds of more than $2.6 million.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. (NASDAQ: CBRL) saw director Michael Woodhouse sell 21,318 shares at $65.19 for almost $1.4 million in gross proceeds on November 6. He also sold shares the day after the election for almost another $800,000 in gross proceeds.

Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE: CCI) saw Senior V.P. Philip Kelley sell some 22,000 shares at $67.21 for gross proceeds of almost $1.5 million on November 6.

Eaton Corp. (NYSE: ETN) saw its general counsel named Mark McGuire sell some 40,000 shares at $50.50 to raise just over $2 million in gross proceeds on November 6.

Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) saw its CEO Dara Khosrowshahi exercise 25,000 options at $6.97 and then sell the shares at $60.37 on November 6. Gross proceeds were more than $1.5 million.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is routinely on the insider share sale list, so we would not be looking for a smoking gun here. Still, co-founder Sergey Brin sold more than 83,000 shares for gross proceeds of more than $56.8 million. Director John Doerr sold about $5 million worth of shares on November 5. In the past two weeks, Chairman Eric Schmidt raised more than $100 million in shares, but Schmidt is a constant seller under share sale plan.

Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS) saw a whopper of a share sale on Novbember 6. A director named William Kellogg sold more than 585,000 shares at $55.00 for gross proceeds of more than $32.2 million. Another director also sold shares to raise some $537,000 in gross proceeds. Keep in mind that this was before tepid guidance as well.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. (NYSE: KKD) saw its key owner sell more than hundreds of thousands of shares in many blocks from November 1 to November 5, but he is more than a 10% owner per SEC regs.

NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N) saw its CTO and Chairman Evan Goldberg exercise 20,000 options at $1.50 per share, and then sell the 20,000 shares at $62.42, for a total of almost $1.25 million. That sale was on November 5. A director named Deborah Farrington also sold 4,000 shares for total gross proceeds of almost $250,000.

Pentair Ltd. (NYSE: PNR) saw multiple insiders sell shares on November 5 and 6 for gross proceeds of roughly $10 million.

Raymond James Financial Inc. (NYSE: RJF) saw Chairman Thomas James sell some 90,000 shares at $39.60 on November 6, for gross proceeds of $3.56 million.

Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) saw CEO James Whitehurst sell 100,000 shares for $49.97 per share (VWAP of course) for $4.99 million in gross proceeds on November 5.

Riverbed Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) saw President Eric Wolford exercise almost 25,000 options and then sell almost 75,000 shares for a VWAP of $18.93 on November 5. His sale brought in gross proceeds of more than $1.4 million.

Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) saw its CFO and its chairman sell more than $1 million worth of shares combined between the two of those officers on November 5.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) saw massive insider selling. Mel Karmazin’s ouster (retirement) may be impacting it. CEO Karmazin sold 8.5 million shares between November 5 and 6 for gross proceeds of more than $24 million.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) saw numerous options exercised but William Sheedy, its president of the Americas region. He sold 10,000 shares for gross proceeds of more than $1.43 million on November 6. Other insiders exercised options and presumably sold even more shares.

YUM! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) saw Scott Bergen exercise options at $22.53 and sell 24,400 shares at $73.07 on November 6. The sale was for $1.782 million and that netted out capital gains of more than $1.2 million. Chief Content Officer Scott Greenstein also raised close to $20 million in gross share sales after exercising options. Other big share sales were noted by insiders as well on November 5 and 6.

These are not at all the total number of shares sold in the day of and the day before the election. Many of the filings will not come in until later today as insiders have two days to submit their share sales.

JON C. OGG

The U.S. dollar index rose today, now up 0.05% at 79.561. The GSCI commodity index is down 0.9% at 657.68, with commodities prices mixed. WTI crude oil closed down 0.6% today, at $91.37 a barrel. Brent crude trades up 0.6% at $110.47 a barrel. Natural gas is up 3.4% today to $2.9333 per thousand cubic feet. Gold closed at $1,766.40 an ounce, up 0.1%.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than 101 points to 13,457.55 (-0.75%), the NASDAQ fell more than 43 points (-1.36%) to 3,117.73, and the S&P 500 fell -1.05% or more than 15 points to 1,441.59.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX) cut to ‘sell’ at Citigroup; Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) cut to ‘reduce’ at Nomura; Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) put on ‘Conviction Buy List’ with a target price of $43 at Goldman Sachs; General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) reiterated as ‘buy’ with a target price of $25 at BofA/ML; and Automatic Data Processing Inc. (NASDAQ: ADP) cut to ‘neutral’ at UBS.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in some price moves today, including pSivida Corp. (NASDAQ: PSDV) is down 1.8% at $1.66; Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX) is down 2.7% at $33.45 (more coverage here); Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) is down 4% at $55.24 (more coverage here); FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE: FDS) is 4.1% at $98.64; Neogen Corp. (NASDAQ: NEOG) is up 7.6% at $43.03; Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) is up 0.5% at $37.20 after posting a new 52-week high of $59.00 earlier today (more coverage here); and Vail Resorts Inc. (NYSE: MTN) is up 8.5% at $57.22 after posting a new 52-week high of $59.46 earlier today.

Before markets open tomorrow we are scheduled to hear from Jabil Circuit Inc. (NYSE: JBL) and Synnex Corp. (NYSE: SNX).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: PPHM) is up 46.5% at $1.70. The drugmaker disclosed some with research data discrepancies yesterday that sent the stock plunging. Is this a dead-cat bounce? More coverage here.

Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) is down 4.6% at $11.78. The office supply company said today that it would close 15 stores by the end of the year. More coverage here.

BioFuel Energy Corp. (NASDAQ: BIOF)) is up 7.7% at $6.41. The ethanol maker will close one of its two plants due to high feedstock costs and a surplus of ethanol. The stock could also still be feeling the effects of new investment by hedge fund manager David Einhorn.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is up 0.4% at $752.00 after posting a second consecutive all-time high today of $764.89. The online search giant is getting a lot more attention now that it’s pretty clear that Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) is no immediate threat to Google’s business.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
• 10:00 a.m. – New home sales
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
• 1:00 p.m. – 5-year note auction

Paul Ausick