The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 161 points to 13,241.93(1.23%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 55 points (1.78%) to 3,122.57, and the S&P 500 rose 1.39% or more than 19 points to 1,416.50.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) cut to ‘market perform’ at Wells Fargo; Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) cut to ‘perform’ at Oppenheimer; Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY) cut to ‘neutral’ at Credit Suisse; Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) raised to ‘buy’ at Wunderlich; and Magic Investment Corp. (NYSE: MTG) started as ‘market perform’ at Keefe Bruyette Woods.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Cal-Maine Foods Inc. (NASDAQ: CALM) is down -5.7% at $39.58; and Saratoga Resources Inc. (AMEX: SARA) is up 6.9% at $7.43. After markets close today Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) and Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA (NYSE: GOL) report earnings. Before the markets open in the morning, we’ll get earnings from Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) and homebuilder Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN).

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Verenium Corp. (NASDAQ: VRNM) is up nearly 20% at $3.69 after posting a new 52-week high of $4.15 earlier today. The enzyme maker is selling some assets. More coverage here.

Schulumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) is down -1.1% at $72.36. The oil field services giant warned on earnings. More coverage here.

A123 Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: AONE) is down about -13.4% at $1.47 after posting a new 52-week low of $1.45 earlier. The company will recall certain batteries for replacement. More coverage here.

AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ: AUDC) is down -16.2% at $2.95. The network gear maker lowered its outlook. More coverage here.

Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ARNA) is up more than 24% at $2.99 after posting a new 52-week high of $3.19. The drug-maker has begun the process of getting a new drug to market in Europe. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Tuesday. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren are giving speeches. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 9:00 a.m. – S&P Case-Shiller housing price index
• 10:00 a.m. – Conference Board consumer confidence index
• 10:00 a.m. – Richmond Fed manufacturing index
• 11:30 a.m. – 4-week Treasury bill auction
• 2:00 p.m. – 2-year note auction

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Paul Ausick

Verenium’s big product was supposed to be an enzyme to speed up and maker cheaper the manufacture of cellulosic ethanol. Like other custom enzyme companies such as Codexis Inc. (NASDAQ: CDXS) and Solazyme Inc. (NASDAQ: SZYM), Verenium has had to turn to food and other products to make ends meet until the ethanol ship comes in.

Investors are very happy with the sale. Just before the market opens this morning, Verenium’s shares are up more than 36% at $4.20, which will be a new 52-week high if it holds.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down nearly 15 points to 12,962.81(-0.11%), the NASDAQ fell nearly 26 points (-0.86%) to 2,950.48, and the S&P 500 fell -0.39% or more than 5 points to 1,634.33.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) raised to ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse, Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) reiterated as ‘outperform’ and target price raised to $64 at Credit Suisse; Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) raised to ‘buy’ at Stifel Nicolaus; Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW) started as ‘outperform’ at BMO; and MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS) and Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) cut to ‘market perform’ at Bernstein.

Earnings reports since markets closed last Friday have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Calavo Growers Inc. (NASDAQ: CVGW) is down -1.37% at $26.63; Cross Country Healthcare Inc. (NASDAQ: CCRN) is up 0.19% at $5.39; Superior Industries International Inc. (NYSE: SUP) is up 7% at $19.06; Verenium Corp. (NASDAQ: VRNM) is down -10% at $3.10; and Nature’s Sunshine Products Inc. (NASDAQ: NATR) is up more than 16% at $17.00.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: KERX) is up nearly 34% at $4.95. The biopharma company is expected to win FDA approval soon for a cancer drug.

TranS1 Inc. (NASDAQ: TSON) is up about 22% at $4.00. The medical device maker received a code-change approval from the American Medical Association that incorporates one of TranS1’s devices.

Archipelago Learning Inc. (NASDAQ: ARCL) is up more than 22% at $11.05 after posting a new 52-week high of $11.21. The subscription-based provider of education products is being acquired for $291 million ($11.10/share) by a privately held competitor.

GreenHunter Energy Inc. (AMEX: GRH) is down about -12% at $2.75. The independent oil & gas company had no news today, but early weakness in crude prices moved share prices down for several small energy companies.

Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) is down nearly -14% at $21.18. The social networking company is seeing some profit-taking today following its successful IPO last Friday that saw shares gain about 64%.

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

11:30 a.m. – 4- and 52-week Treasury bill auction
3:00 p.m. – US Treasury STRIPS

Paul Ausick

Chinese solar maker JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) reported first quarter results yesterday. The company posted earnings per ADS of $0.41, better than analysts’ estimates of $0.32. Revenue rose 91% year-over-year, to $556.4 million, compared with estimates of $552 million. The company’s margins shrunk, however, from 23% a year ago to 17.3%, and there are concerns that margins will shrink further for the rest of this year.

Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) did not report earnings yesterday, but did lower its guidance for the quarter ended in March. Shipments are expected to fall from an earlier estimate of more than 351 megawatts to 320-322 megawatts. The company did predict that margins would be slightly better than expected, up from 30% to 32%-32.5%. For the full year, Trina reiterated shipment guidance of 1,750-1,800 megawatts, up from last year by about 66%-70%. Trina reports first quarter results on May 17th.

The really bad news in solar PV came from Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENER), which reported its fiscal third-quarter results yesterday. Revenue fell -70% from the same period a year ago, to $21.5 million compared with analysts’ estimates of $35.2 million. Excluding a one-time impairment charge of $223 million, the company posted an EPS loss of -$0.41, better than Street expectations for an EPS loss of -$0.48.

The bad news just kept rolling for the company though. It said that it plans to cut 300 jobs, about 20% of its workforce and that the company president has resigned. Interim CEO Jay Knoll, the company’s general counsel, noted that changes in European solar incentives had and will continue to have a serious impact on the company’s business.

Knoll is an interesting choice as interim CEO. He was general counsel for auto parts maker Collins & Aikman Corp. when that company filed for bankruptcy in 2005. Five of the company’s officers, not including Knoll, settled a fraud investigation by the SEC for more than $7.4 million. Most of the payment came from David Stockman, the company’s CEO and chairman, and one-time budget director for President Ronald Reagan.  Stockman was later cleared of all criminal charges.

If Knoll assumes a permanent role as the company’s CEO, then one might conclude that a bankruptcy filing would not be far off. If another CEO is brought on board, the company may decide to try to stick it out. This one is worth watching.

Energy Conversion Devices’ shares are up more than 2.5% in early trading, at $1.54, still near the bottom of the company’s 52-week range of $1.48-$7.15. That low was set yesterday.

The US Department of Energy has stopped taking loan guarantee applications for financing new alt energy projects. The DOE has issued guarantees of about $1.6 billion for 19 different projects so far, and has about $800 billion left to allocate to projects that can close guarantees and start construction by September 30th. Both First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) and SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWRA) have received conditional guarantees totalling about $2.6 billion. Solar-panel maker Ascent Solar Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTI) withdrew an application last month.

Biofuel start-up Verdezyne, Inc. has closed another round of venture funding. The company did not specify the amount raised, but did say that it landed investments from BP plc (NYSE: BP) and Dutch biochemical firm DSM. The new funding is expected to help get Verdezyne through another two years of development, including the construction of two pilot plants to produce bioethanol and adipic acid, a polymer substitute.

BP purchased the biofuels portion of Verenium Corp. (NASDAQ: VRNM) last year for $98 million. The recent announcement by Total SA (NYSE: TOT) that it would acquire a 60% stake in SunPower could have started the ball rolling (again) for new investments by major energy companies in fledgling biofuels ventures.

Paul Ausick

LDK Solar Co., Ltd. (NYSE: LDK) reports earnings after markets close today, and analysts are estimating EPS $0.85 and $783.87 million in revenues. Estimates for next quarter are $0.70 EPS and $801.64 million in revenues.  Shares closed at $10.31 last Friday, within a 52-week range of $4.97 to $15.10.

Chinese battery maker Advanced Battery Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ABAT) is also scheduled to report earnings after markets close today, but that’s not the company’s biggest issue. The company is the target of a report by Prescience Investment Group that states that ABAT is “fabricating its SEC financial statements.” Thomson Reuters has estimates for EPS of $0.10 on revenue of $32.47 million. Estimates for next quarter are for EPS of $0.11 on revenue of $35.81 million. The stock closed at $1.46 last Friday, and came with a penny of matching its 52-week low this morning. The 52-week range is $1.33-$4.35.

Real Goods Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: RSOL) is a solar PV integrator and system installer. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.00 on revenue of $18.33 million after markets close today. Estimates for next quarter are EPS of $0.03 on revenue of $23.73 million. The stock closed at $2.45 on Friday and is currently trading at $2.50, near the bottom of its 52-week range of $2.25-$4.80.

Another battery maker, A123 Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: AONE), is expected to report an EPS loss of -$0.46 on revenue of $18.16 million after markets close today. Estimates for next quarter are for an EPS loss of -$0.39 on revenue of $38.43 million. Shares closed on Friday at $5.74, within a 52-week range of $5.21-$11.53. The shares are up about 1% this morning, at $5.80.

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (NASDAQ: CLNE), the T. Boone Pickens company that offers a compressed natural gas alternative to gasoline engines, reports earnings after markets close today. Analysts expect an EPS loss of -$0.09 on revenue of $66.90 million. Estimates for next quarter include an EPS loss of -$0.06 on revenue of $73.46 million. Shares closed at $15.39 on Friday, within a 52-week range of $11.75-$19.36. Shares are down slightly this morning, at $15.35.

Solazyme is different from companies like Codexis, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDXS), Amyris, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMRS), Gevo, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEVO), and Verenium Corp. (NASDAQ: VRNM), which depend on photosynthesis in algae to convert sugars to useful oils. Solazyme’s process involves fermentation of sugars then basically squeezing the oil out of the algae. In the photosynthesis process, the algae excrete oil into a pond and then the water is processed to extract the oil. Solazyme’s process is faster and cheaper.

All these companies depend on genetic modification to create enzymes to convert sugars from feedstocks like sugar cane, corn, and cellulose into oils. All the processes produce oil — the trick is to maintain a decent cost structure and then to get the process up to scale.

The only large consumer to step up to the plate for biofuels is the US government. Both the US Navy and the US Air Force have conducted tests with biofuel blends and both have declared the tests successful.

While the biofuels can reduce carbon emissions by up to 85% over petroleum-based products, the is no other benefit to the Navy and the Air Force, according to a study published by the RAND Corporation earlier this year.  RAND points out that biofuels don’t make ships or planes operate better in any way.

The other problem, of course is scale. The only process that can supply large quantities of an alternative fuel is the tried-and-true Fischer-Tropsch gas- or coal-to-liquids technology that has been around since the 1920′s.

And lower carbon emissions. Here’s what RAND says: “Fuel use in tactical systems represents less than 1 percent of U.S. energy-related emissions of greenhouse gases. The greater benefit, again, would result if early use of alternative fuels by the Defense Department were to accelerate the use of alternative fuels in the much larger civilian marketplace.”

For Solazyme and the other algae-to-oil companies, short- and medium-term returns will have to come from someplace besides fuel. And while nutritional supplements, cosmetics, and drugs are large markets, they have neither the size and scope of the energy business.

The company does have non-binding agreements to provide millions of liters of its biofuel to a variety of buyers, providing it can produce enough of the stuff. From January 2010 through February 2011, Solazyme produced 500,000 liters of oil.

The four existing biofuels companies have had mixed success, with only Amyris showing a substantial gain since it has become a public company. But with crude oil above $100/barrel, a company like Solazyme that has demonstrated some success and some ability to scale could be a best seller.

Paul Ausick

FULL Solazyme S-1 Filing Here

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is trading lower after Bank of America/Merrill Lynch cut the rating to NEUTRAL from BUY.  Shares are down 2.3% at $120.40 on over 60,000 shares, but the stock was challenging $119 earlier.

Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARNA) is up as a VIVUS-FDA side trade stock.  Shares are up 10% at $4.72 on over 300,000 shares.

BP plc (NYSE: BP) is down about 1% this morning after it delayed well-cap tests at the Gulf of Mexico disaster until later Wednesday.  This morning the oil flows freely.

NBTY Inc. (NYSE: NTY) is surging by 44% to $54.12 after receiving a $3 billion takeover from private equity for the vitamin and supplements operation.  We have already seen close to 6 million shares traded.

Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: OREX) is also trading higher on the VIVUS drug class tie ahead of its FDA panel decision today.  Shares are up 2.4% at $5.69 on almost 30,000 shares.

Verenium Corporation (NASDAQ: VRNM) is trading up massively after getting a biofuels deal for $98 million for its units from BP.  This was a $30 million company, and shares were up 81% at $4.47 on 20,000 shares.

VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) SHARES ARE HALTED…. The company has its Qnexa FDA panel decision due today… stay tuned.

JON C. OGG

Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) shares are getting hammered as the most active premarket issue on very poor earnings and metrics..

Akamai Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: AKAM) down sharply on heavy volume after it missed expctations and guided lower for Q3.

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) shares are falling after poor earnings on lower revenue amid weaker demand.

Verenium Corp. (Nasdaq: VRNM) shres are one of the top percentage gainers on fairly strong volume on a BP cellulosic ethanol venture.

Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: ARIA) shares continue to climb on strong premarket volume, amid optimism for its drug pipeline.

American Axle & Manufacturing Holding Inc. (NYSE: AXL) shares are up strongly on discussions with lenders.

Trico Marine Services Inc. (TRMA) are one of the more uncommon premarket gainers, after it beat EPS expectations by 23 cents a share.

-The 24/7 Wall St. Team

The best performing company, Ener1, is down ‘only’ by just under half.  Just the sort of group one might turn to for advice on how to make money in the cleantech industry.  If any of these companies can get that Obama spending money for green business efforts, they better be on that track now.

You can go to the full list of presentations at the ThinkEquity conference if you choose.

Paul Ausick
March 25, 2009

Beacon Power Corporation (NASDAQ: BCON) was supposed to be one of the fly-wheel winners in advanced battery technologies.  It also recently took a hit after it raised cash.  Yet the annual report yesterday said that the company will need to raise more cash to satisfy “Our continuation as a going concern.”  That doesn’t mean it is there quite yet, but it does need funding from 2009 to 2011.

Environmental Power Corporation (NASDAQ: EPG) develops, owns, and operates renewable energy production facilities in the United States.  Its annual report noted a going concern as well, yet the company said it is pursuing a number of financing avenues.  The leash looks pretty short as it said it “hopes to obtain the financing it requires by the end of the first half of 2009.”

Verenium Corporation (NASDAQ: VRNM) is down over 10% this morning at $0.345.  The cellulosic ethanol and high-performance specialty enzymes developer disclosed the going concern note.

Let’s hope that if these firms head to D.C. with their hat in hand to ask President Obama for money that they don’t fly a private jet.

JON C. OGG