Allis-Chalmers Energy, Inc. (NYSE: ALY) is soaring on news that Seawell is offering to buy the company for $890 million or $4.25 per share in cash, a 85% premium to yesterday’s $2.30 close.  Shares are up 61% at $3.71 on almost 500,000 shares.

Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) is trading higher after $0.36 EPS vs. $0.27 expected; Revenue grew by 14% to $472.8 million vs. $459 million expected.  Shares are trading up 3.5% at $28.41 on over 50,000 shares.

Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) is trading down after a patent case ruling against Lilly for Strattera, and that patent was out to 2017.  Lilly also announced job cuts and lower 2010 guidance.  Shares are down 4.2% at $35.05 on over 30,000 shares.

Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE: JWN) posted 39% income gains but its outlook was unchanged.  Shares are trading down 5% at $31.76 on thin volume.

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) missed earnings estimates as many feared but the stock had already traded off so much that investors are buying the stock this morning.  Shares are up 4.25% at $9.34 against a 52-week trading range of $8.65 to $18.96.

PDL BioPharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: PDLI) is getting hit after it received a letter from Genentech relating to European patents.  Shares are now down 10% at $5.57 on more than 125,000 shares.

Premier Exhibitions Inc. (NASDAQ: PRXI) is soaring in reaction to its press release saying that the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk Division, has issued an opinion granting a salvage award to RMS Titanic Inc.  The Company has been awarded 100% of the fair market value of the artifacts, which the Court set at approximately one hundred ten million dollars.  Shares are trading up 98% at $2.30 on about 9,000 shares in the pre-market.  Average volume is roughly 72,000 shares, the 52-week range was $0.68 to $1.65, and the pre-news market cap was listed as $54.3 million.

Spreadtrum Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD) is trading higher after the Chinese maker of baseband chips for wireless devices significantly beat earnings expectations and raised guidance b a similar amount for the quarter ahead.  Shares are up 8.7% at $10.72, but volume is thin.  The 52-week range is $2.67 to $11.15 and the average volume is about 850,000 shares.

Telestone Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: TSTC) is getting whacked this morning after earnings on thin trading volume.  Shares were down 18% last night and the drop right now is 16% at $11.42.  Its 52-week range is $4.24 to $24.94 and average volume is 324,000 shares.

Trubion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRBN) is soaring after signing a definitive merger agreement with Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE: EBS); holders will receive an upfront payment of $1.365 per share in cash and 0.1641 shares of Emergent BioSolutions common stock, representing $4.55 per share before dilution.  Trubion shares are up 49% at $4.49, but trading volume is very thin as it is a micro-cap stock with low volume.  The 52-week range is $2.29 to $6.75.

Unica Corporation (NASDAQ: UNCA) is the daily double after IBM agreed to pay $21.00 per share in cash versus a $9.55 close.  Shares are up 117.8% at $20.80 on nearly 1 million shares.  This is an all-time high for Unica.

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JON C. OGG

Unica closed at $9.55 but the buyout price is $21.00 per share in cash.  IBM noted that the Unica acquisition will expand Big Blue’s ability to help organizations analyze and predict customer preferences and develop more targeted marketing campaigns.  Unica is said to have over 1,500 global customers in diverse sectors of financial services, insurance, retail telecommunications, travel and hospitality. Customers include Best Buy, eBay, ING, Monster, Starwood and US Cellular.

The merger is subject to Unica shareholder approval (and regulatory approval), although it is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2010.  Unica shares closed at $9.55 on Thursday and the 52-week trading range is $6.13 to $11.00.  It had a tiny market cap of $205 million before the deal was announced.

This stock traded above $15.00 for a very short period in 2007, but since it has been public from late-2005 that was the high.  It would be hard to imagine that Unica shareholders would say that they deserve more in this high-premium buyout.

Another small enterprise analysis company gets gobbled up by the majors.

JON C. OGG

Jon C. Ogg
July 10, 2007