Eleven Must-Read Weekend Stock Stories for Monday

March 2, 2013 by Jon C. Ogg

24/7 Wall St. has tracked many stocks on the move in the last week. Now it is the weekend and this can be considered your weekend cheat sheet for the stocks you need to have your eye on come Monday morning. We are featuring 11 weekend stock stories. After all, your money matters to us even if the markets are taking the weekend off.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has fallen out of favor and is actually getting less coverage now that so much media attention was given to the spending sequestration dilemma in Washington, D.C. Apple shares hit a new 52-week low on Friday And the stock briefly traded under $430. The $1 billion Samsung judgment has been cut by $450 million on Friday. Apple’s share price is getting closer and closer to what portfolio manager Jeffrey Gundlach had been forecasting as a reversion price. The real question that investors will have on Monday and the rest of the week is whether or not anyone starts to care again.

Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS) is still in trouble if it stays on its own but new interest from founder Riggio has shares back up again. Barron’s reported over the weekend that Riggio should pay at least $19 per share for the retail unit. The report even gave B&N a combined value for the bookstores and the Nook operations at more than $38 per share.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) released its annual earnings for 2012 and Warren Buffett released his annual letter to shareholders on Friday. While shares have outperformed other conglomerates in 2012, investors may start to look at that premium over book value compared with this year’s strong performance. Buffett’s stock is also trading up virtually at all-time highs.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) will be in focus on Monday, as will Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) and Shire PLC (NASDAQ: SHPG), after late-Friday news that the $60 billion Big Pharma stock considered these and is considering other companies for large acquisitions. While Biogen hit a new all-time high on the pop, Shire actually rose more as the company may be more acquirable and would be cheaper on a raw dollar basis and is currently cheaper on its relative earnings multiples to buy.

Depomed Inc. (NASDAQ: DEPO) will be on watch as it has an FDA panel meeting regarding its menopause drug, and there appears to be a coin-toss over whether or not this will be a win or loss. Expect shares to be halted all day Monday.

Forestar Group Inc. (NYSE: FOR) was highlighted in Barron’s as “rich assets, cheap shares” for its real estate, energy, water and timberland assets with shares trading at a whopping 40 percent discount to its net asset value. For whatever it is worth, its consensus analyst price target is $25.67 versus the closing price of $17.56. Investors also need to know that the small cap Forestar pays no dividend currently and that its market cap is a mere $605 million.

Intuitive Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) is becoming a battleground stock and the debate goes on. Bill Alpert of Barron’s warned this weekend that despite shares recovering on Friday after FDA questions on Thursday, the high price shares may not see much of an increase. The rain on Friday was over 8%, but that still did not recover all of Thursday’s losses.

Nymox Pharmaceutical Corp. (NASDAQ: NYMX) saw shares tank to a new 52-week low on Friday and the stock was halted after a circuit-breaker was triggered. The company said that no news or material information was out there, but the stock still closed down 8.75% at $5.32 on the day. Unfortunately, Nymox with its $177 million market cap has no real analyst following at all and that means that no one can pound the table in its defense on Monday.

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE: PANW) was pumped up in Barron’s this weekend as a cyber security player that is winning with the well documented cyberattacks. While the article said that the stock was trading at a whopping 137 times next year’s earnings, the article also said that Palo Alto has no debt and almost 5 dollars a share in cash it also gave a price target of $72 from one other analyst.

Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE: BTU) was listed in the Barron’s Commodities Corner over the weekend as a winner for a turnaround in coal, with some caution remaining of course about the coal sector. The company was the best mentioned name of the lot and also as the largest publicly traded coal company that is uniquely situated to serve demand that is still growing from Asia. After a 4.6% drop to $20.56 on Friday, its 52-week range is $18.78 to $33.78 and analysts according to the Thomson Reuters consensus still appear to have a price target north of $32 here.

TransCanada Corp. (NYSE: TRP) is edging closer to approval of the keystone pipeline if the State Department report helps sway the Obama administration with its report that the pipeline will not harm the environment.

Here are Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades from Wall Street research calls.

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