US Stock Market Closing Notes (DEC 18, 2006)
(ABBI) Abraxis Rose 4.9% to $29.24 after it showed 60% gain in ABRAXANE in tumor response compared to Taxotere. (AHO) Royal Ahold fell 1.5% to $10.59 despite reports that it’s is in talks with…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Will Comcast Finally Do Blockbuster In?
Stocks: (BBY)(CMCSA) Comcast is testing a program that allows consumers to see a movie on cable VOD that same day it is available in DVD form at stores. The time period between the release…
Cramer’s Retail Picks Today
On today’s STOP TRADING segment on CNBC Cramer went back over Under Armour (UARM) as it becomes (UA) on NYSE. The company already said that it didn’t go into football cleats to go into…
CEO’s Who Need to Leave: Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos, BUT Only a Title Change
Amazon.com (AMZN) would do better if Bezos dropped only one of his two titles: CEO & President. He can stay one and can stay as Chairman. Think about it. Shareholder groups are becoming more…
Skype Founders Attack TV World
The world of video is already crowded with movie downloads to PCs and iPods, fiber-to-the-home TV on the way, video on demand from cable, and new services from companies like Amazon coming along almost…
Someone Finally Slaps Home Depot (HD)
A proxy fight at Home Depot? Could be. Rational Investors wants an independent committee of the household retailer’s board to do a strategic review and look at management performance. After buy-out rumors and complaints…
Why Is Oracle Off More Than Other Tech Stocks Ahead of Earnings
Out of the ‘Horsemen’ stocks, Oracle (ORCL) is the only on that has actually pulled back more than 10% from its recent post-earnings highs. ORCL is up 2.3% today to $18.09, but shares closed…
Cramer Makes 2 Big Buyout Predictions
Jim Cramer made 2 significant company buyout calls on CNBC just a few minutes ago: He noted that Alcoa (AA) will not be public this time next year, as he thinks it will go…
Monday Morning M&A Roundup (DEC 18, 2006)
There is a reason the term MERGER MONDAY was coined, and this Monday is certainly living up to its name. It is likely that the year-end could be blamed for this as many firms…
Select Analyst Calls (DEC 18, 2006)
APPB raised to Buy at UBS.ATO started as Overweight at JPMorgan.AYE raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.BBBY started as Outperform at Cowen.BHI raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.C raised to Buy at Merrill Lynch.COO…
Pre-Market Stock Notes (DEC 18, 2006)
(ABBI) Abraxis showed 60% gain in ABRAXANE in tumor response compared to Taxotere alone.(AGO) Assured Guaranty filed to sell 1.5M shares for holder.(AHO) Royal Ahold is in talks with private equity over potentially selling…
Europe Markets 12/18/2006 BT Down, VW Up
Stocks: (BCS)(BP)(BT)(GSK)(PUK)(RTRSY)(UL)(VOD)(BAY)(DCX)(DB)(DT)(SI)(ALA)(AXA)(FTE)(V) Markets in Europe were narrowly mixed at 6.30 AM New York time. The FTSE was flat at 6,258. Barclays was up .1% to 728.5. BP was up .6% to 583.5. BT was…
Poor Holiday Spending Trends Could Hurt E-commerce And Retail Alike
Stocks: (WMT)(TGT)(FD) MasterCard Advisors says that holiday spending is growing at about half of last year’s 8% increase. The news is not exactly a bright spot for companies like Wal-Mart, Target, or Federated. They…
Wal-Mart: Are You A Member Of The Communist Party? (WMT)
It is not enough that Chinese unions set up shop at Wal-Mart stores in the Asian country. Now the Communist Party has set up a branch for Wal-Mart employess. It is hard to say…
US Telecoms Flex Muscle In Asia (VZ)(T)
Verizon and AT&T are both working on deals to set up high-speed cable between the US and Asia. The infrastructure would help handle the increased high speed internet and phone traffic from corporations and…
Sony Joins The iPod Race (SNE)(MSFT)(AMZN)(AAPL)
Sony has decided that it cannot stay out of the race to catch the iPod, so it joins companie like Microsoft and Sandisk in pursuing the Holy Grail of multimedia devices. The Japanese consumer…
Media Digest 12/18/2006 Reuters, NYTimes, WSJ, FT
Stocks: (ESRX)((CMX)(CVS)(HET)(VZ)(T)(WMT)(BMET)(LLC)(SNE)(GE)(GOOG)(VIA)(CMCSA) According to Reuters, Express Scripts offered to buy Caremark RX for $26 billion, threatening a bid by CVS. Reuters writes that Casino firm Harrah’s is close to a $16.7 billion buyout from…
Asia Markets 12/18/2006 Yahoo Japan Up, Japan Tobacco Down
Stocks: (CAJ)(FUJ)(HIT)(HMC)(NTT)(NIPNY)(SNE)(TM)(CHL)(CH)(PCW)(HBC) Shares in Asia were modestly higher. The Nikkei rose .3% to 16,962. Bridgestone was up .9% to 2650. Canon was up .3% to 6720. Daiwa Securities was up .2% to 1338. Fuji…
Indevus Buyout of Valera to Grow Earnings
From BioHealth Investors Indevus Pharmaceuticals (IDEV) just announced it was purchasing Valera Pharmaceuticals (VLRX). News of the $120M acquisition sent IDEV down 7%, and pushed VLRX up 60%. VLRX is a much smaller company,…
Pain Therapeutics Jumps Almost 8% on Higher Volume
From Volume Spike Investor Shares of Pain Therapeutics (PTIE) gained almost 8% on Friday as volume spiked more than 5 times the 3-month average daily volume. There were no news releases or other significant…