24/7 Wall St. » SOA

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (BBY, SD, ALL, JCP, KIM, AEP, CVX, D, F, HON, PG, SOA, CPHD, INFI, NRGY, RVBD)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:07:13 +0000

All three major US indexes opened lower this morning following the report that US GDP grew by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. A rise of 3% was expected. Combined with the lack of a solution the Greek debt swap and lackluster earnings from several major US companies, the DJIA has remained down all day though the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 have turned positive (barely). There’s still about half an hour to go before the close, so there’s still some hope that all the indexes will finish the week on an uptick, no matter how small. WTI crude oil is down -0.13% at $99.57/barrel and Brent crude is up 0.55% at $111.40/barrel. Gold is higher by 0.50% at $1,738.50.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 74 points to 12,660.61 (-0.58%), the NASDAQ rose more than 11 points (0.40%) to 2,816.55, and the S&P 500 fell -0.16% or about 2 points to 1,316.33.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) started as ‘outperform’ with a $32 target price at Credit Suisse; Sandridge Energy Inc. (NYSE: SD) started as ‘buy’ at Canaccord Genuity; The Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL) started as ‘outperform’ at William Blair; J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) raised to ‘overweight’ at Piper Jaffray and maintained as ‘buy’ with target price raised to $49 at Argus; and Kimco Realty Crop. (NYSE: KIM) cut to ‘neutral’ at Citigroup.

Earnings reports since markets closed on last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP) is down -2.62% at $40.20; Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) is down -2.10% at $104.35; Dominion Resources Inc. (NYSE: D) is down -1.91% at $49.88; Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is down -3.69% at $12.27; Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) is up 1.31% at $58.59; and Proctor & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) is down -0.51% at $64.47.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Solutia Inc. (NYSE: SOA) is up more than 40% at $27.35, after posting a new 52-week high of $27.85 earlier today. The specialty chemicals company has agreed to be acquired by Eastman Chemical Co. (NYSE: EMN) for $3.4 billion in cash and stock.

Cepheid (NASDAQ: CPHD) is up more than 25% at $42.98 after posting new 52-week high of $43.03 earlier today. The medical diagnostics equipment maker has boosted its sales outlook and is enjoying a halo effect from the hostile takeover bid for Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN).

Infinity Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: INFI) is down -40% at $5.97. The drug maker has cancelled further trials of a pancreatic cancer drug that does not perform better than placebo.

Inergy L.P. (NYSE: NRGY) is down nearly -24% at $17.31 after posting a new 52-week low of $17.23 earlier today. The natural gas distribution company is cutting payouts to its unitholders.

Riverbed Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) is down nearly -19% at $24.38. The networking technology company warned this morning that first-quarter sales growth would not meet previous expectations.

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

8:30 a.m. – Personal income and outlays
11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6-month Treasury bill auctions

Have a great weekend.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Close, The Day Tagged: AEP, ALL, BBY, CPHD, CVX, D, F, HON, INFI, JCP, KIM, NRGY, PG, RVBD, SD, SOA

Morning Movers (INFI, RVBD, SOA, INFA, F)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:06:27 +0000

There are several stocks trading more heavily than usual this morning, and also experiencing large gains or drops in share prices. These include Infinity Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: INFI), Riverbed Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD), Solutia Inc. (NYSE: SOA), Informatica Corp. (NASDAQ: INFA), and Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F).

After the first half-hour of trading, Infinity Pharmaceuticals is down more than -31% at $6.81. Volume is nearly 4x the daily average of about 64,000 shares traded. The drug maker has cancelled further trials of a pancreatic cancer drug that does not perform better than placebo.

Riverbed is down nearly -21% at $23.66. Volume is already nearly 3x the daily average of about 3.1 million shares traded. The networking technology company warned this morning that first-quarter sales growth would not meet previous expectations.

Solutia is up more than 41% at $27.56 after posting a new 52-week high of $57.85 earlier. Volume is already 12x the daily average of about 1.3 million shares traded. The specialty chemicals company has agreed to be acquired by Eastman Chemical Co. (NYSE: EMN) for $3.4 billion in cash and stock.

Informatica is up nearly 15% at $44.00. Volume has already exceeded the daily average of 1.7 million shares traded. The business software and services company has raised its outlook for the first quarter.

Ford is down more than -4% at $12.18. Volume is already about 80% of the daily average of about 54 million shares traded. The automaker missed earnings estimates this morning.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Roundups, The Day Tagged: F, INFA, INFI, RVBD, SOA

52-Week High Club (ALGN, GLTX, SOA)

247wallst — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:01:12 +0000

Align Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN) rose over 15.5% to a yearly high of $19.25 after the maker of teeth straightening technology forecast first quarter earnings of $0.12 or more, topping analyst estimates.

Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ: GNTX) rose over 14.4% to a yearly high of $20 after the maker of vehicle mirrors reported 4Q earnings that beat analyst consensus.

Solutia Inc. (NYSE: SOA) rose over 12% to a yearly high of $14.20 after the chemical company reported earnings of $0.43, beating analyst estimates.

Garrett W. McIntyre

Filed under: Autos, Earnings, Industry, Medical Tagged: ALGN, Chemicals, GNTX, SOA

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (DVN, ECA, STR, RSG, APC, AIN, AVB, BRE, CBST, DLTR, MEOH, SOA, SU, UDR)

247wallst — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 07:51:17 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market upgrades and downgrades we have seen from Wall Street analysts this Monday morning:

Devon Energy (DVN) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
EnCana (ECA) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Questar (STR) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Republic Services (RSG) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
Anadarko Petroleum (APC) Cut to Sell from Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Apartment Investment (AIV) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
AvalonBay (AVB) Cut to Underperform at KBW.
BRE Properties (BRE) Cut to Underperform at KBW.
Cubist (CBST) Cut to Underperform at Leerink Swann.
Dollar Tree (DLTR) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
Methanex (MEOH) Cut to Sector Perform at CIBC.
Solution (SOA) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Suncor Energy (SU) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
UDR (UDR) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.

Jon C. Ogg
December 8, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AIN, APC, AVB, BRE, CBST, DLTR, DVN, ECA, MEOH, RSG, SOA, STR, SU, UDR

Solutia’s Second Secondary Comes At Deep Discount (SOA)

247wallst — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 08:21:27 +0000

We have seen a secondary offering now priced out of Solutia Inc. (NYSE: SOA). The company sold 10,714,284 shares of common stock at a price of $14.00 per share to raise some $150 million in gross proceeds and $145 million in net proceeds.

The company listed the use of funds from the offering to repay theremaining $128 million balance on its 15.5% bridge credit facility andfor general corporate purposes. This will pay off the facility in full.The joint underwriters were listed as Deutsche Bank and Jefferies.

Unfortunately, this was at a steeper discount than many such secondaryofferings. Shares closed at $15.49 yesterday and shares have traded ina range of $11.02 to $15.98 since it has relaunched as a stock in lateMarch. The good news is that this closes that bridge financing out for good.

What is interesting is that the company just on August 11 sold more than 22 million shares of common stock at $13.00 to put $277 million towards the $400 million bridge credit facility. The company had previously stated that it planned to repay this facility before the end of February 2009.

Jon C. Ogg
August 21, 2008