24/7 Wall St. » SINA

Busted Zynga IPO Weighs Further On Social Media Shares (ZNGA, GRPN, LNKD, SINA, SOCL, GSVC)

Administrator — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:35:05 +0000

Zynga, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) is an initial public offering in trouble. Whether you call it a busted IPO, a broken IPO, or something else is up to you, but the sell-off from the start needs to be a lesson to the underwriters and to the investors who buy shares of initial public offerings.

What was unique about this IPO is that the entire Class A share voting class, the shares which the initial public offering investors were buying last week, appear to have a whopping total of 1.8% of the voting rights after you tally up the B Shares and the C shares into the equation.

The new investors were buying into a public valuation of $7 billion after the company sold $1 billion worth of the common stock. The social video game company is taking a toll elsewhere.

Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) is down 2.8% at $22.40 with a post-IPO range of $14.85 to $31.14. LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) is down 0.1% at $65.76 with a post-IPO range of $55.98 to $122.70. Sina Corporation (NASDAQ: SINA) is down almost 4% more at $52.88 against a 52-week range of $46.86 to $147.12 as China regulation on microblogs increases.

Global X Social Media Index ETF (NASDAQ: SOCL) has not traded, signs that “social media” in stock ETFs can be skipped.

GSV Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: GSVC) is trading higher as a beneficiary of owning Twitter shares now that Prince Walid bin Talal of Saudi Arabia has taken a $300 million stake in Twitter. GSV owns Twitter shares (and Facebook shares) and its shares are up 1.3% at $14.19 on the day.

Zynga shares are trading down another 4.7% at $9.05 after closing at $9.50 on Friday. Unfortunately, Zynga’s IPO price was $10.00 per share.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Corporate Governance, Internet, IPOs, Media Tagged: GRPN, GSVC, LNKD, SINA, SOCL, ZNGA

Zynga Becomes Busted IPO In First Day (ZNGA, LNKD, GRPN, SINA, SOCL)

Administrator — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:41:29 +0000

Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) was supposed to be attractively priced as far as how the company was given a $7 billion valuation at its IPO price. Some talk was that the IPO could have been valued at $10 billion. So, after a $10.00 pricing and an opening price listed at $11.00, shares hit a high of $11.50 before falling back under $10.00 to become a busted IPO for a bit. (Story updated throughout the day)

To qualify as a busted IPO all that has to happen is that the stock has to trade under the formal initial public offering price. The reasons don’t matter. The logic does not matter. The tale of the ticker tape on any given days does not matter. All that matters is the share price versus the IPO price. In the case of Zynga, the IPO is currently hovering about two-cents above the $10.00 pricing at 11:36 AM EST with some 72.5 million shares traded. Shares were trading down as low as $9.50 earlier.

UPDATE 1:17 PM EST: A boutique firm named BTIG has reportedly issued a “Buy” rating on Zynga but shares are still down around $9.47 on more than 95 million shares traded.
UPDATE 12:54 PM EST: Shares are at $9.60 on just over 91 million shares… Busted!
UPDATE 11:55 AM EST: Underwriters appear to have been holding this up at $10.00 after having been in the red earlier.have been

As far as some fundamental data, Cowen & Co. initiated coverage with a “Neutral” rating due to its valuation. Earlier than today, Stern Agee started coverage with a rare “Sell” rating before the IPO even was priced.

The real question boils down to whether or not this valuation can be maintained due to justified growth. Zynga has a huge dependence upon Facebook for its games. It is trying to diversify away from that Facebook dependence, but nothing ever happens overnight (even at software companies).

Another big question is just how much time people can and will spend playing each one of these social network games. Empires & Allies, Farmville, CityVille, CastleVille, Mafia Wars, and Adventure World… Is it fair to ask just what percentage of the people who are actively playing these games are employed? It is hard to imagine that entrepreneurs and busy-bee workers have endless time to play all of these games.

Still, video games are larger than movies. Social networking is larger than life itself if you ask the younger generation. LinkedIn Corporation (NASDAQ: LNKD) is down 2.5% at $64.70 today and that is down almost 50% from its post-IPO high. Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) is down over 5% at $21.80 today. Even Sina Corporation (NASDAQ: SINA) is down 5% at $50.13 on news that Beijing is telling Sina that the site has to know the real identities before users can start or post to microblogs. Is it any surprise that the Global X Social Media Index ETF (NASDAQ: SOCL) has not even traded today?

Sadly, the investors who bought $1 billion worth of the Zynga stock at the IPO price this morning only have a combined 1.8% voting power if you look through the prospectus because of the larger voting B Shares and the super-voting B Shares.

Whether or not Zynga remains a busted IPO will be known at the end of the day and in the coming days. If it falls too much ahead then perhaps the investment community will not allow companies coming public in 2012 to dictate such terms where the new shareholders who are coming in far later at a far higher price can have such little power over a company.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Internet, IPOs, Media Tagged: GRPN, LNKD, SINA, SOCL, ZNGA

Friday’s Top Ten Stocks on the Move (ADBE, ATHN, CVC, CAM, CRYP, ISTA, MRVL, RIMM, RRR, SINA)

Administrator — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:17:39 +0000

Friday is turning out to be a big day with many stocks on the move for an options expiration date. Some of the big shares with news and on the move are as follows: Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE); athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN); Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC); Cameron International Corporation (NYSE: CAM); CryptoLogic Limited (NASDAQ: CRYP); Ista Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISTA); Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL); Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM); RSC Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: RRR); and Sina Corporation (NASDAQ: SINA). We have compiled news summaries on each and added color if applicable.

Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) rose after reporting earnings of $0.67 EPS on revenues of $1.15 billion, while Thomson Reuters for earnings of 60 cents a share in the quarter on revenue of $1.09 billion. Adobe sees non-GAAP profits of ranging from 54 to 59 cents a share for its fiscal first quarter ending in February and $2.37 to $2.47 a share for the full year. Those views compare to the current average analyst estimates for earnings per share of 58 cents and $2.44 in the respective periods. Shares are up 4.7% at $27.70.

athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN) is trading up about 3% at $50.50 after both Leerink Swann and Oppenheimer raised their analyst ratings.

Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC) is indicated down 7% after COO Rutledge resigned from the company. Interestingly enough, Reuters said that this means Cablevision could end up being in play after the resignation.

Cameron International Corporation (NYSE: CAM) is trading up about 2.2% at $45.85 after BP agreed to indemnify Cameron against current and future claims in the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

CryptoLogic Limited (NASDAQ: CRYP), which would win from any loosening online gambling regulations in America, surged in the after-hours on news that it has agreed to a buyout offer by the Amaya Gaming Group at $2.50 per share. Shares were up 35% last night at $2.14 and the 52-week trading range was $0.84 to $2.19.

Ista Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISTA) is seeing a major pop with shares up more than 60% after the proposed $6.50 per share acquisition and buyout proposal from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (NYSE: VRX). Valeant is about 75-times the size of Ista, and the $6.22 share price of Ista compares to a $3.89 close on Thursday and compares to a 52-week range of $2.88 to $11.39.

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) has not yet traded but is indicated higher by almost 1% after increasing its share buyback plan by $500 million last night.

Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) just cannot get its act together. Despite what appeared to be an earnings beat, RIM guided lower, delayed a new launch due to chipset concerns, it keeps remaining on the same path, and it keeps losing market share despite having nearly 75 million Blackberry subscribers. This company just needs new management and it really needs to figure out a way to show that its security is far superior than that of smartphones from Apple or Google. Shares are down 10% at $13.58 in the pre-market session.

RSC Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: RRR) is going to be up about 50% on the United Rentals buyout at $18.00 per share.

Sina Corporation (NASDAQ: SINA) is trading lower by more than 4.3% at $50.50 after China is going to start requiring microblog users (which Sina hosts) to get users’ real names before allowing them to access posting privileges.

All of these are pre-market trading indications and some are likely to change substantially throughout the trading day.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert Tagged: ADBE, ATHN, CAM, CRYP, CVC, ISTA, MRVL, RIMM, RRR, SINA

24/7 Wall St. Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades of the Week (AVL, BRK-B, CRZO, DPZ, GILD, GT, GOOG, GMCR, HPQ, LULU, RIMM, SINA, WDC)

Administrator — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 12:31:31 +0000

This last week had some very interesting and influential analyst calls. We compile summaries of many top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations each morning from Wall Street research calls and we then review these at the end of each week. Those calls which stand out the most become the Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades of the Week. This was a wild week and ended up being a massive gainer due to the coordinated central banking efforts meant at keeping liquidity in the capital markets in Europe.

The top calls of the week were seen in the following companies: Avalon Rare Metals Inc. (AMEX: AVL); Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B); Carrizo Oil & Gas (NASDAQ: CRZO); Domino’s Pizza, Inc. (NYSE: DPZ); Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD); Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE: GT); Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG); Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR); Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ); Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU); Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM); Sina Corporation (NASDAQ: SINA); and Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC).

We have outlined the research summaries here on each, and we have added color or linked to more details on the calls if applicable.

Avalon Rare Metals Inc. (AMEX: AVL) is considered the speculative step child in the field of rare-earth metals. Still, this week came coverage from Citigroup with a “Buy” rating this last Monday. The prior closing price had been $2.63 and the stock ramped mid-week. The high close was $3.34 on Wednesday even though it closed down over 5% on Friday at $3.05. The high close in the week would have given a gain of 27% and the gain for the week was still up 16%. The 52-week range is $2.29 to $10.11, making this a leveraged call with huge upside if things work out at the company.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B) very rarely shows up in research calls, so it was a surprise when Zacks came out and named Warren Buffett conglomerate as the Bull of the Day with a $91.00 target for the next six-months.

Carrizo Oil & Gas (NASDAQ: CRZO) was only a reiterated Buy rating on Thursday by Canaccord Genuity but the implications offer huge upside if the firm is right. The firm called it a top small cap idea with multiple ways to win and with a “valuation too tepid.” The new $49.00 price target implies upside of 71%.

Domino’s Pizza, Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) was a cautious call because of valuation, but it may offer insight into how much investors should be willing to pay for the pizza delivery leader. The stock was started as Hold at KeyBanc on Friday, which was also the day that this hit a 5-year high. 24/7 Wall St. originally went out with the “buy the value here” call early in 2011 when shares were under $20.00 and we had already taken this one off the list because of value concerns. Friday’s call may point to more and more peak-values here.

Filed under: Analyst Calls, The Week, Value Investing Tagged: AVL, BRK-B, CRZO, DPZ, GILD, GMCR, GOOG, GT, HPQ, LULU, RIMM, SINA, WDC

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (LULU, CLF, DPZ, WNR, SINA, GES, BIG, ZUMZ, RY, BNS, YRCWD, WDC, RIMM, THC, JASO)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:12:02 +0000

Stocks got off to a good start this morning following the Labor Department’s report on non-farm payrolls, up slightly less than expected at 120,000 new jobs, and an unexpected drop in US unemployment from 9% to 8.6%. Also supporting prices this morning was news that the European Central Bank would lend 100-200 million euros to the IMF to hand out to debtor nations in the Eurozone. Gains peaked in the early morning and have remained up only modestly since about noon. The dollar strengthened against both the euro and the yen, keeping gains for both crude oil and gold at under 1%. Crude oil is trading at $100.83/barrel and gold is trading at $1,747.10/ounce just before today’s close.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down less than 1 point to 12,019.42 (-0.01%), the NASDAQ rose less than 1 point (0.03%) to 2,626.93, and the S&P 500 fell 0.02% or less than 1 point to 1,244.28. Folks, that’s flat!

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) raised to ‘buy’ at KeyBanc. Other ratings action Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) raised to ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse; Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) started as ‘hold’ at KeyBanc; Western Refining Inc. (NYSE: WNR) raised to ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse; Sina Corp. (NASDAQ: SINA) raised to ‘buy’ at Deutsche Bank; and Guess? Inc. (NYSE: GES) cut to ‘neutral’ at Citigroup.

Here are today’s big post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading:
Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE: BIG) is down -8.6%% at $36.34; Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ: ZUMZ) is up 23.9% at $28.95; Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY) is up 3.4% at $47.82; and Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE: BNS) is down -3.1% at $48.08.

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

YRC Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCWD) is up 29.7% at $12.61. The freight hauler concluded a 1-for-300 reverse split that drove the share price to $9 from $0.03.

Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) is up about 7% at $31.30. The computer disk drive maker announced that it was resuming operations at one of its flooded Thai plants and raised its revenue estimate for the current quarter. More details here.

Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) is down about -9.6% at $16.79. The smartphone and tablet maker announced an inventory writedown of $485 million for unsold PlayBook tablets and said that full-year earnings would be lower. Detailed coverage here.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. (NYSE: THC) is down more than -10% at $4.20. The health care facilities operator likely is suffering from a lowered target price from BMO Capital Markets with rating of ‘market perform’.

JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) is down nearly -7% at $1.74. The solar PV maker is likely giving back gains made over the past two days. The was little reason for the gain in the first place, so that investors are taking it back should be no surprise.

Stay tuned for Monday. We have noted a speech due from Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans and short-term Treasury bill auctions in the morning. Here are other noteworthy events scheduled for Monday (all times Eastern):

10:00 a.m. – Census Bureau factory orders report
10:00 a.m. – Industrial Supply Management non-manufacturing index

Have a great weekend.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: BIG, BNS, CLF, DPZ, GES, JASO, LULU, RIMM, RY, SINA, THC, WDC, WNR, YRCWD, ZUMZ

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ACI, AMT, BRK-B, CLF, CCI, DE, DPZ, GES, LOW, LULU, SINA, SNN, WNR, WAG, SLF, WPI, TEVA)

Administrator — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 13:19:44 +0000

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

Arch Coal, Inc. (NYSE: ACI) named as Bear of the Day with a $13.00 price target at Zacks.
American Tower Corporation (NYSE: AMT) Started as Outperform at Macquarie.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.B) named as Bull of the Day with a $91.00 price target at Zacks.
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Crown Castle International Corporation (NYSE: CCI) Started as Outperform at Macquarie.
Deere & Company (NYSE: DE) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.
Domino’s Pizza, Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) Started as Hold at KeyBanc.
Guess? Inc. (NYSE: GES) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) Raised to Buy at KeyBanc.
Sina Corporation (NASDAQ: SINA) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank
Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE: SNN) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Western Refining Inc. (NYSE: WNR) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Argus made changes to its institutional model portfolio: added shares of Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) and sold out of shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE: SLF).

Credit Suisse is out positive on generics saying that the news flow on generic Lipitor has obscured the bigger picture on Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: WPI) and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NASDAQ: TEVA). The firm recommends buying WPI after its recent weakness as strong fundamentals just got cheaper. It also recommends buying TEVA for the longer term and as a turnaround story for 2012.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ACI, AMT, BRK-B, CCI, CLF, DE, DPZ, GES, LOW, LULU, SINA, SLF, SNN, TEVA, WAG, WNR, WPI

The New Social Media ETF’s Interesting (and odd) Composition (SOCL, SINA, NTES, GOOG, YNDX, RENN, GRPN, LNKD, UNTD)

Administrator — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:48:31 +0000

These ETF products which trade in the U.S. but are composed of a bunch of internationally listed shares are often a bit sluggish on their trading. Now we have a new ETF that may hit home for much of the younger generation and those looking for “an in” into the internet’s growth… Here comes a SOCIAL MEDIA ETF! Global X Funds is now launching the Global X Social Media Index ETF (NASDAQ: SOCL).

The Global X Social Media Index ETF tracks the Solactive Social Media Index, and the three largest components in the underlying index are DeNA Co., Sina Corp. (NASDAQ: SINA) and Netease.com Inc. (NASDAQ: NTES) at 10% exposure each. Other components are Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) at 4.75%, Yandex N.V. (NASDAQ: YNDX) at 4.75%, Renren Inc. (NASDAQ: RENN) at 4.75%, and Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) at 4.75%. Other components in the Solactive Social Networks Index which were not given up by name nor by weighting come to 28.15% and two of the names shown on the Solactive breakdown that were not identified by Global X were LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) and United Online Inc. (NASDAQ: UNTD).

This is the first ETF of its kind with a focus on social media companies. The aim of the ETF is to includes companies “from all over the world that provide social networking, file sharing, and other web-based media applications.”

We won’t bother sharing the growth figures because you have already heard them in some iteration or another. The index will be adopting new companies as they come public and it even noted that it will “capture these new companies shortly after their public debut.”

The international country exposure is as follows:

China 36.28%
United States 26.22%
Japan 19.95%
Russia 9.55%
Germany 2.28%
“other” 5.65%

Does it seem a bit odd that China is the leading nation in social media’s weighting here considering that the powers that be in China restrict more web usage compared to Western nations? That may change after Facebook comes public but it is a bit difficult to fathom today.

Needless to say, this is not an ETF which is suitable for widows and orphans.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: ADR, Entertainment, ETF, Internet, IPOs, Media, Mutual Funds Tagged: GOOG, GRPN, LNKD, NTES, RENN, SINA, SOCL, UNTD, YNDX

Media Digest (8/24/2011) Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

247wallst — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 10:19:15 +0000

Hurricane Irene will move up the East Coast, possibly hurting business activity. (Reuters)

Sprint-Nextel (NYSE: S) to begin selling the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone 5 in mid-October. (Reuters)

Samsung to begin an aggressive push to sell smartphones in emerging markets. (Reuters)

China says Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has not asked for approval of its deal to buy Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI). (Reuters)

Japan employs new measures to stop the rise of the yen. (WSJ)

EU nations begin sharp cuts in defense budgets. (WSJ)

Profits of miner BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) rise sharply. (WSJ)

Facebook adds new privacy controls for its users. (WSJ)

Groupon runs into trouble as its builds its China business. (WSJ)

Regional manufacturing indices show an economic slowdown across the country. (WSJ)

Eurozone governments may ask Greece to pledge real estate and other assets against new loans. (WSJ)

Oil exports from Libya to start soon. (WSJ)

China warns Sina (NASDAQ: SINA) about its Weibo microblogging service. (WSJ)

Kraft (NYSE: KFT) cuts its coffee prices by 6%, which affects Maxwell House and Yuban. (WSJ)

Heinz (NYSE: HNZ) adds more low-priced products to bolster sales while the economy slows. (WSJ)

Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH) to start a national 4G service. (WSJ)

Markets continue to pound the price of Bank of America’s (NYSE: BAC) stock. (WSJ)

The FDIC says the number of troubled banks in the U.S. fell in the second quarter. (WSJ)

Moody’s cuts Japan from Aa2 to Aa3. (WSJ)

The Green Street Advisors Commercial Property Price Index was unchanged in July. (WSJ)

Consumer electronics companies that cannot get strong sales for tablet PCs and smartphones are exiting the market quickly. (NYT)

McGraw-Hill (NYSE: MHP) may spin off its education business. (FT)

Technology M&A returns to levels similar to those before the recession. (FT)

EU-based banks have announced 40,000 layoffs in the past month as the sovereign debt crisis worsens. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Filed under: Press Digest Tagged: AAPL, BAC, BHP, DISH, GOOG, HNZ, KFT, MHP, MMI, S, SINA

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AER, AYR, BBY, BBT, CMG, CREE, HPQ, JDSU, LDK, LOGI, LULU, RIMM, SHLD, SINA, SU, TSO, VRSK)

Administrator — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 12:24:27 +0000

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

AerCap Holdings N.V. (NYSE: AER) Started as Outperform with $16 target at Credit Suisse.
AirCastle LTD (NYSE: AYR) Started as Neutral with $14 target at Credit Suisse.
Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) Raised to BUy at S&P Equity Research (late Thursday).
BB&T Corporation (NYSE: BBT) Started as Hold at Citigroup.
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG) Raised to Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) Cut to Market Perform at JMP.
Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) Cut to Neutral at UBS; Cut to Neutral at Baird.
JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ: JDSU) Maintained Buy but cut target to $17 at Argus.
LDK Solar Co., Ltd. (NYSE: LDK) cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
Logitech International (NASDAQ: LOGI) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) Raised to Equal-Weight at Barclays.
Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) Raised to Hold from Underperform at Jefferies.
Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD) Maintained Hold at Argus.
Sina Corporation (NASDAQ: SINA) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Suncor Energy INc. (NYSE: SU) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Tesoro Corporation (NYSE: TSO) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSK) Raised to Outperform at KBW.

You are invited to 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

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AER, AYR, BBT, BBY, CMG, CREE, HPQ, JDSU, LDK, LOGI, LULU, RIMM, SHLD, SINA, SU, TSO, VRSK

Top Active Trader Alerts (CBOU, GENT, IVR, JASO, JDSU, NTAP, SINA, BCS, LYG, CS, ALU)

Administrator — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 12:38:29 +0000

News (and more rumors) out of Europe and a Morgan Stanley downgrade of global growth are acting to attack the markets this morning. Back on the rack… We have many movers and shakers this morning and our aim is to single out the movers on news rather than just the movers with the ticker. tape. This morning’s top active trader alert stocks are the following:

Caribou Coffee Company, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOU) is giving up even more on an insider secondary offering with the shares down 7.8% at $13.60.

Gentium S.p.A (NASDAQ: GENT) is a loser that is less of a loser than originally indicated. The company withdrew its NDA for Defibrotide after FDA cited numerous “Refuse to File” issues. The FDA has also requested that Gentium conduct additional quality reviews and requested additional details regarding the conduct and monitoring of the trials by the independent review committee. Ouch. Shares closed down 2% at $8.79 on Wednesday and shares were down close to 30% at $6.30 in the after-hours session after it was reopened. The reaction this morning is down “only” 19.9% at $7.04.

Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc. (NYSE: IVR) is down on another secondary offering. The mortgage REIT had one secondary offering at the end of June and it has now said that it will sell 20 million more in shares. Shares are trading down over 6% at $18.06 in pre-market trading.

JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) is down after posting a loss and lowering its sales guidance for the next quarter. Shares are down more than 11% at $3.40 this morning.

JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ: JDSU) is almost considered impressive when you consider the snap-back reaction…. The fiber optic leader reported $0.04 net EPS on $0.23 adjusted EPS. The guidance is where the trouble comes into play. Shares closed down 1.7% at $11.70 and the stock initially was down more than 10% last night. This morning we have shares down a mere 3% at $11.35. A loss that is a win.

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) is hitting new 52-week lows by the looks of it. The company reported $0.54 EPS guided earnings down at $0.38 to $0.42 EPS for next quarter. The company also announced the retirement of its CFO. Shares were down over 3% at $41.66 on Wednesday but the stock is now down over 13% at $35.93 on Thursday morning. Keep in mind that the prior 52-week low was $38.00.

Sina Corp. (NASDAQ: SINA) is one of the few winners even after the net profit fell on rising costs. Sales were up 20% and it is growing the user base. The ADR is up 3% at $95.75.

European banks are getting hammered all over again. Here are some of the ADRs getting hit:

Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS) is down 7.3% at $10.73;
Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE: LYG) is down 6.9% at $2.00;
Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS) is down 4.8% at $27.91.
Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) is no bank but shares are down 4.6% at $3.53 as a leveraged tech proxy from Europe.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert Tagged: ALU, BCS, CBOU, CS, GENT, IVR, JASO, JDSU, LYG, NTAP, SINA