Advance Auto Parts Inc. (NYSE: AAP) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Aeropostale, Inc. (NYSE: ARO) Raised to Market Perform at FBR Capital.
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE: AEO) Raised to Outperform at FBR Capital.
CF Industries Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CF) Maintained Strong Buy as Value at Zacks.
Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) added to Focus List at Citigroup.
Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: CY) Reiterated Strong Buy as Aggressive Growth at Zacks.
Kinetic Concepts, Inc. (NYSE: KCI) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. (NYSE: KKD) Maintained Strong Buy as Momentum & Value at Zacks.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) Cut to Underperform at FBR Capital.
Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO) Reiterated Buy but raised target to $60 at Argus.
Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) Raised to Buy at ThinkEquity.
Prudential Financial. Inc. (NYSE: PRU) Added to Focus List at Credit Suisse.
RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Semtech Corp. (NASDAQ: SMTC) Reiterated Buy but raised target to $33 at Gleacher & Co.
Sequans Communications SA (NYSE: SQNS) Started as Outperform at Baird; Started as Buy at Needham; Started as Buy at UBS.
Universal Tech Institute (NYSE: UTI) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Wendy’s/Arby’s Group Inc. (NYSE: WEN) Reiterated Sell at Argus.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) Maintained Buy with $19 target at BofA/ML.

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

Monday brought on low closes and lowest post-IPO prices for shares of Demand Media, Inc. (NYSE: DMD), General Motors Company (NYSE: GM), Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE: KMI), Sequans Communications S.A. (NYSE: SQNS), and even in the recent Zipcar, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZIP).  We have outlined the trends and the underlying trading issues governing each right now.  There may even be some market-related opportunity being created here.

Demand Media, Inc. (NYSE: DMD) had a rough Monday.  The news driving it lower on Monday was a ‘reaffirmed guidance; where the company admitted that the algorithm changes did have some impact on traffic but at much less of a negative rate than what third parties had been reporting.  This late-January IPO was hotter than what we originally expected in its outsourced content and SEO-farm business model.  The original offering was 8.9 million shares, with a boost at the last-minute in shares sold by holders, and the price of $17.00 per share was above the $14.00 to $16.00 indicated price range.  After its debut, shares hit a high of $25.00 and closed at $22.65.  This still gave the company a market cap of about $1.5 billion at the time.

What was interesting about Demand Media was tha there was some controversy around the business model.  Its content is largely dependent upon freelancers.  Let’s just say that those same freelancers don’t exactly strike it rich, and in many cases are not even earning more than beer-money.  Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has also been at part of a SEO discussion for changing its algorithm, although there is some thought that Demand Media did not get penalized like many thought.  This was actually the highest Internet valuation in years.

Demand Media shares hit a low on Monday of $16.91 and closed at $17.33 with more than a $2.00 drop on the day.  The trading volume of 1.596 million shares was also the highest since its debut. 

General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) is still suffering from its Government Motors misnomer as investors are afraid that the government will sell its stake sooner rather than later to get out of holding its troubled bailout holdings.  Losing its CFO so quickly was a huge blow, and something that investors took as a slap in the face.  Government Motors boosted its IPO price range and the deal came public at $33.00 per share and the IPO back in November raised more than $23 billion from the common and preferred shares.

GM even beat earnings and revenue expectations on its first report ever.  One issue is that some feel the auto market is going to be crimped by Japan’s woes on parts, some feel that 2011 car sales may not keep growth rates up, and some fear that the $100+/barrel oil and $4/gallon gasoline may drive buyers back to smaller cars.  Higher buying incentives act as another concern as the company may be giving away too much to get a car sale.

GM shares hit $29.90 and closed down almost 1% at $29.97 on Monday.  This was the first close under $30.00 since its IPO and the busted-IPO is now down about 10% from its IPO and down far more than that from the $39.00+ highs seen in early 2011.

The company’s solutions serve as what it calls “the core wireless broadband communications platform” in smartphones, USB dongles, portable routers, embedded wireless modems for laptops, netbooks, tablets, and other consumer multimedia and industrial devices.  Motorola Solutions Inc. (NYSE: MSI) is listed as roughly a 5% owner along with several venture capitalists.

From 2005 to 2010, Sequans has shipped more than 6.3 million semiconductor solutions.  Some of the deployments are as follows:

• HTC EVO 4G launched by Sprint;
  HTC EVO Shift smartphone launched by Sprint;
  KDDI announced that the HTC EVO WiMAX smartphone incorporates its solutions and is expected to be introduced in Japan in April 2011;
  Sprint’s HTC EVO View 4G 7” tablet computer and the HTC EVO 3D smartphone both use its solutions.

For 2008 and 2010, total revenue increased from $22.7 million to $68.5 million while its annual net loss fell from $8.3 million to $2.7 million.  HTC represented about 66% of the company’s total revenue in 2010.

UBS and Jefferies were named as joint book-runners and co-managers were listed as Baird, Needham & Company, and Natixis.  Financial terms other than up to $110 million in ADS shares were not yet set, but the company will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker of “SQNS” after the IPO.

JON C. OGG