Applied Signal Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: APSG) confirmed on Friday that it was exploring strategic alternatives; shares are up 5.3% at $32.99 and above the $31.65 year high put in on Friday.

Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARNA) announced that the FDA Rejected its Lorcaserin diet drug; shares are actually higher by 3.7% at $1.69 this morning.

Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) is trading higher after Goldman Sachs added the bank to its Conviction Buy List.  Shares are up about 3% at $4.23.

CommScope, Inc. (NYSE: CTV) is soaring on news that it is talks with Carlyle over being acquired for $31.50 per share versus a $23.12 close on Friday and versus a 52-week range of $18.39 to $34.95.

Foster Wheeler AG (NASDAQ: FWLT) is trading lower after its CEO is leaving to pursue other interests.  Shares are down 1.6% at $23.65 this morning.

Novatel Wireless Inc. (NASDAQ: NVTL) is up on thin volume with shares up 5% at $11.30, likely on more hopes of getting iPad business from carriers.  We have not confirmed but BMO has reportedly upgraded the stock.

Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. (NYSE: PPD) is trading higher this morning after announcing that it is exploring strategic alternatives to increase shareholder value; it disclosed that it is evaluating an offer received from a well-known private equity firm to acquire it at $60.00 cash per share.  Shares are up 11.3% at $62.50 versus a 52-week trading range of $30.68 to $68.66.

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SVA) is lower after it lowered its revenue guidance.  Shares are down about 6.7% at $3.77 in pre-market trading.

Sohu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: SOHU) is trading up after earnings with a 20% sales gain and 12% income gain.  Shares are up almost 7% at $65.76 before the open versus a 52-week trading range of $40.05 to $71.50.

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JON C. OGG

Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOR) is down over 5.5% at $9.79 after the FDA said it needed more time to review its Supplemental New Drug Application for its Acthar decision for infantile spasms.

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) is playing a 2% game of giveback today and shares are down at $40.99.  There has been some steady hope of a deal here on and off coming down the pipe, but the Medicare review period over reimbursements (a possible price shakedown) is a steady thorn in the side of PROVENGE in the fight against prostate cancer.

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SVA) is trading up 7.5% at $4.30 on above average volume.  The company disclosed that there were THREE upcoming presentations:

• Morgan Stanley Global Healthcare Unplugged Conference, New York, scheduled for September 14 at 2:10 pm ET.
• Morgan Stanley China Global Healthcare Day, Boston, September 15 in one-on-meetings with investors.
• UBS Global Life Sciences Conference, New York, scheduled for Monday, September 20 at 10:00 AM ET.

Stem cells are back in vogue…. Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN), StemCells Inc. (NASDAQ: STEM), Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTM), Cytori Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CYTX), Neostem, Inc. (AMEX: NBS), BioTime, Inc. (NASDAQ: BTIM) and Pluristem Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: PSTI) are all trading higher on word that US District Court has lifted that ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cells.

VIVUS Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) is down 3.5% at $6.11 but it is on light trading volume.  Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: OREX) is down 3.4% at $5.14 on thin volume, and this is the one that Takeda got on the map for a potential $1 billion obesity pill pact announced in recent weeks.  Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARNA) is also down 4% at $7.13 on fairly active trading volume.

Santarus Inc. (NASDAQ: SNTS) is up after it secured a license for a Type II diabetes drug for the exclusive manufacturing and commercial rights to Cycloset in the U.S. with S2 Therapeutics and VeroScience.  The company will pay an upfront $5 million fee and will then pay royalties to its partners from the Cycloset sales.  Santarus shares are trading up over 14% at $2.54 on about 10-times normal trading volume.

Genzyme Corporation (NASDAQ: GENZ) is up today on hopes of a higher Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) bid, although this appears to be  on a false rumor.

There was a massive push for drug and biotech research calls today.  Stocks given new coverage, upgrades, and downgrades were Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NASDAQ: TEVA), Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN), Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACOR), Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG), Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI), Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB), Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD), EXACT Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ: EXAS), ZymoGenetics Inc. (NASDAQ: ZGEN), Dyax Corp. (NASDAQ: DYAX), IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ: IDXX), and ViroPharma Inc. (NASDAQ: VPHM) all have major research calls with a FULL RESEARCH SUMMARY WITH INDIVIDUAL CALLS HERE.

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JON C. OGG

We have outlined the news and the impact, volume and relative moves, and added in color on each where appropriate.

Ardea Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: RDEA) is trading lower on the pricing of a public offering of 3,500,000 shares of its common stock via Jefferies.  Shares are down now only 2.5% at $21.21 on 1 million shares, but the stock opened at $21.01 and went as low as $20.91 this morning.

Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVNR) is still up but well off highs after it plans to present Phase III data on Zenvia at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology layer in the week in Toronto.  Shares were up 7% earlier and the intra-day high was $2.71.  Shares are up 3.2% at $2.56 today on almost 1.8 million shares.

Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG) is up ahead of this week’s R&D day (Thursday) that will showcase drugs beyond Revlimid and after it was listed as a best in class for 2010 by the RBC research team.  Shares are up 2.7% at $63.71 on 2.5 million shares; and the 52-week trading range is $37.62 to $65.79 and the average volume is 3.3 million shares.

Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) went over $40.00 today to a new all-time high.  We gave a full run down including stock options pricing analysis over at BioHealthInvestor.com.  The stock is up 4% at $39.73 and the volume is now more than double normal at 6.7 million shares.

Encorium Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENCO) is hard to track after shares were lower after it delayed filing its annual report.  With a $10+ million market cap, enough said despite the move up.  Shares are up a sharp 53% at $3.24 on over 4 million shares.

Opexa Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPXA) rose on news that it was presenting drug study data on the Phase II data on its multiple sclerosis drug Tovaxin in the middle of this month.  Shares are up 9% at $2.41 on about 166% of normal volume with almost 600,000 shares traded already today.

PURE Bioscience (NASDAQ: PURE) is not a biotech as far as drugs…. If this keeps you from getting germs, that is good enough for us on such a wide move.  Shares are up after the EPA registered its antimicrobial sanitizer and plans to launch the product in April to be used in food processing plants, as well as in homes and restaurants under “IV-7 Ultimate Germ Defense for Food Contact Surfaces.”  This one is up 20% at $1.95 on more than 1 million shares, about 9-times normal volume for this $68 million market cap stock.

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SVA) held up far better than what earlier indications were signaling.  This was down about 7% pre-market after the earnings report showed that the swine flu shot boosted Sinovac’s 4Q profit.  Shares are down 3.5% at $5.73.  The volume is more than double its normal trading volume with some 1.8+ million shares traded today.

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JON C. OGG

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX) is up 6.6% and was actually the top percentage gainer in early indications.

Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) is down less than 1% on an analyst downgrade when shares are almost at 52-week highs.

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SVA) is up almost 2% on a positive analyst call after last week’s news was muted.

US Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) is up almost 4% on the Goldman Sachs’ conviction buy call.

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JON C. OGG

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) Raised to Outperform at FBR.

AGA Medical (AGAM) Started as Buy at Citigroup; Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo; Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Baidu, Inc. (BIDU) Cut to Market Perform at Bernstein.
Deere & Co. (DE) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Genzyme (GENZ) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
HSBC Holdings plc (HBC) Raised to Buy at BofA Merrill Lynch; Started as Outperform at FBR.
Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (SVA) Reiterated Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
US BAncorp (USB) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
US Steel (X) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs; replaces Freeport McMoRan (FCX).

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JON C. OGG

Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) are bouncing by over 10% this morning now that equities have stopped the drop for now.

Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: HOV) is down about 10% … maybe all those ‘great home sales figures’ are either not so great or are not sustainable.

InnerWorkings Inc. (NASDAQ: INWK) is down sharply on an earnings warning.

Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) is down, but not as bad as you might think, on the EU probe of the Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) buyout…. Silly children must be in charge over there.

Sepracor, Inc. (NASDAQ: SEPR) is already at exponential trading volume on the buyout news.

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (AMEX: SVA) is challenging $10.00 again… China approved it for a vaccine against swine flu for the Chinese market.

Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ: ZUMZ) is up over 10% after negative same store sales were not as bad even at -12.1%… it caught 3 analyst upgrades.

You can join our open email distribution list which goes out several times per week if you wish to be notified by email when the top day trader alerts hit, along with news of IPO’s, key offerings, guru investor data on Buffett and others, mergers, and more.

JON C. OGG
SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) is hitting new 52-week highs and is now a triple off lows after its strong report.

OmniVision Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: OVTI) is hitting new 52-week highs on very strong guidance.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is actually up about 10% on earnings if you consider where it was before the earnings report leaked right before the closing bell.

American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG) is up about 10% again on several bits of ongoing news.

Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARUN) is hitting a new 52-week high after earnings.

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (AMEX: SVA) is soaring to new 52-week highs on swine flu pact news in Beijing….

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-The 24/7 Wall Street Team

• AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAG), a biopharmaceutical company developing iron compounds to treat anemia, saw shares rise 4% to $56.00 after brokerage firm Robert W. Baird initiated coverage with an OUTPERFORM rating.
• American Oriental Bioengineering Inc. (NYSE:AOB) shares are down almost 7% at mid-day with relative high volume trading to $9.50 on no real news.
• Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) stock shows no reaction to deal with Japanese drug giant Takeda Pharmaceutical. Takeda is to purchase Amgen’s Japanese unit for up to $902 million plus royalties on sales in exchange for access to 13 of Amgen’s new drugs. Amgen hopes this will curb costs and provide cash as their high-selling anemia drug sales slow due to safety issues. 
• Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) shares are down $1.76 to $57.94 at mid-day. Although earnings reported last Thursday met Wall Street expectations, the outlook for the success of its multiple myeloma cancer treatment, Revlimid, is mixed. Today, the company released Phase II data and news for its psoriasis drug CC-10004. The recent study showed positive results and the company announced plans to increase dosages. 
• Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:MNTA) shares continued to take a beating after they announced their earnings release date this morning. They had a rough quarter after the FDA rejected their genetic blood-thinner in November, losing about 60% of its share price. Shares are down $0.37 to $7.54 at mid-day. 
• Omrix Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:OMRI) shares are slightly recovering today after a sharp plummet over the last 2 weeks following the FDA approval for competitor ZymoGenetics’ (ZGEN) Recothrom, that will compete with Omrix’s Evithrom in the thrombin drug market. Omrix announced last Friday that their CFO is resigning. Shares are up 4% to $21.27 on relatively heavy trading volume at mid-day. A month ago, shares were trading at over $30. 
• Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (AMEX:SVA), the Chinese vaccine provider, has shares up over 5% to $4.11 at mid-day after Sinovec announced the private placement of 2,500,000 common shares for $9.75 million to Sansar Capital Management. 
• StemCells Inc. (NASDAQ:STEM) stock continued to rise after news last Thursday that it plans to collaborate with Casey Eye Institute to study their leading product candidate, HuCNS-SC, a probable treatment for retinal degeneration which is a leading cause of blindness. Shares are up over 15% at mid-day to $1.77.

Rachel Lopez
February 4, 2008