USEC Options Alert… Obama-Nuclear Stock (USU)

There has been some increased trading activity in the stock of USEC Inc. (NYSE: USU).  This is based upon more belief that the loan guarantee denied last Summer may be back on because the Obama administration has talked about adding nuclear power and more loan guarantees tripling to possibly $54 billion in the 2011 budget that is supposed to be submitted Monday. The activity is taking place in the APRIL-2010 $5.00 CALLS and the $6.00 CALLS. So far we have seen 1,916 contracts trade versus an open interest of 3,824 contracts in the $5-strike and 1,654 contracts traded versus an open interest of 4,883 contracts in the $6-strike.

USEC shares are up 8% at $3.99 on 2.8 million shares as of 1:20 PM EST. The 52-week trading range is $3.22 to $7.24 and the average daily volume is now only 1.53 million shares.

JON C. OGG

Yucheng Shows How Dire Chinese Bank Situation Is (YTEC)

Yucheng Technologies Limited (NASDAQ: YTEC) is getting killed after the IT-solutions provider for Chinese banks reported earnings.  The company’s guidance for 2010 is awful as a direct play on Chinese bank spending post-cuts that have now been mandated.

The company is offering some clarity over the Chinese loan-halt situation: “We believe that the prospective reserve ratio increase by the People’s Bank of China and the possibility that non-performing loans may increase in the near future, which would adversely affect the profits of Chinese banks, caused Chinese banks to reevaluate their spending and contract signings ahead of the New Year. As a result, contracts that management had been negotiating in the fourth quarter 2009 have slipped into 2010, and as negotiations progress may become more limited in scope or provide lower margins. We anticipate banks to remain cautious initiating new projects in the near term. Overall, the shifts in the banking market caused us to experience a revenue shortfall in the fourth quarter of 2009.”  In short, business is falling off a cliff.

The company issued guidance based upon uncertainty based on approximately 25% growth on the top-line and 10% to 15% growth on the bottom-line.  That puts first quarter 2010 expectations of revenues of $11.6 to $12.2 million and non-GAAP EPS of $0.08 to $0.10. Thomson Reuters has estimates at $0.08 and $13.5 million in revenues.

The 2010 annual guidance expectations are where things fall off the proverbial cliff…. revenues guidance $65 to $68 million and non-GAAP EPS of $0.30 to $0.36, versus Thomson Reuters estimates of $0.91 EPS and $84.14 million in revenues.

At 9:00 AM EST we have just hit 1 million shares and the average volume is 165,000 shares.  The price drop is horrific… -48% at $3.48.  The 52-week range had been $4.06 to $9.64.  Shares closed at $6.74 yesterday and had been $8.00 just two weeks ago.

JON C. OGG

Ford on Cruise Control at 120 MPH (F)

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is seeing huge volume after the only remaining public US auto maker posted a full year profit for 2009.  That was unthinkable a year ago.  The shares are only up 2% at $11.80 as of 8:56 AM EST, but we have already seen 11.7 million shares trade hands.  Average volume is $97 million shares and the 52-week range is $1.50 to $12.14.  Keep in minds as far as the $12.00 handle… that price has not been seen since March 2005.

-JON OGG

Flextronics Lags EMS Stocks (FLEX)

Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX) closed at $7.10 but shares are down 3.8% at $6.83 on 98,065 shares of stock as of 8:43 AM EST.  This is effectively making the stock the worst reaction for the electronics manufacturing service or EMS stocks.  The earnings Were $0.17 EPS and $6.6 billion in revenues versus Thomson Reuters estimates of $0.15 EPS and $6.3 billion.  The guidance is the problem because other EMS  players have raised guidance: $0.13 to $0.16 EPS on $5.8 to $6.2 billion in revenues; Thomson Reuters estimates are $0.13 EPS and $5.8 billion.  Sometimes good isn’t good enough.

The 52-week trading range is $1.81 to $7.97 and average volume is over 8 million shares. Shares had been down 7% and the Needham upgrade to BUY is probably keeping this from being worse.

JON C. OGG

Double-Digit Percentage Earnings Movers (ALGN, NFLX, QCOM, TTEK)

We have at least four stocks up or down by double-digit percentages in the after-hours session based upon their earnings reports.  These are Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN) and Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) up; Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) and Tetra Tech Inc. (NASDAQ: TTEK) down…

Price snapshots below are as of 7:00 PM EST:

Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN) beat earnings at $0.16 EPS and revenue rose 16.9% year over year to $86.6 million.  Estimates were $0.09 EPS and $80.6 million. Guidance for next quarter is $0.12 to $0.14 EPS on revenue of $85 to $88 million vs. estimates of $0.08 EPS and $80.42 million.

• Align Technology, Inc. $16.69 close… up 10.5% at $18.45 on 82,130 shares

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) said everything right that it could short of issuing any guarantees.  The movie rental player added 1.1 million customers and said that its fourth quarter profits rose 36% and gave strong expectations for 2010.  Shares were up about 15% in the after-hours session after the close.

• Netflix, Inc. $50.97 close… shares up 15.2% at $58.72 on 1,331,429 shares

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) beat earnings as was expected, but the company gave very ugly guidance considering the number of smartphones and mobile web devices that are coming online in 2010.  There was just no pretty way to paint today’s report.  Average sales prices per unit were brought down by 4.2% for 2010.

• QUALCOMM Incorporated $47.20 close… down 10% at $42.48 on a whopping 6,085,526 shares

Tetra Tech Inc. (NASDAQ: TTEK) is supposed to be one the companies in the sweet spot ahead of the State of the Union, but the company must not be too robust about its chances of garnering remediation and infrastructure revenues from the handouts that may be coming.  It lowered guidance for the year due to the downturn in the commercial construction market.  Earnings were $0.30 EPS and revenue rose 4% to $343.5 million.  Thomson Reuters estimates were $0.29 EPS and $339.7 million in revenues.  It sees Q2 earnings of $0.20 to $0.23 EPS and $310 to $330 million in revenues, while it sees 2010 at $1.08 to $1.18 EPS and $1.4 to $1.5 billion.  Thomson Reuters was looking for $0.30 EPS and $354.7 million in revenues and the year estimates were $1.32 EPS and almost $1.50 billion in revenues.

• Tetra Tech, Inc. $25.07 close…  down 10.25% at $22.50 on 13,591 shares

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list to hear about top analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPOs and secondary offerings, ongoing day trader and options trader alerts, stock and market rumors, Buffett and guru investor news, M&A and more.

JON C. OGG

Sanmina Rocking (SANM)

Sanmina-SCI Corporation (NASDAQ: SANM) posted a Q1 profit and earnings blew out the consensus Thomson Reuters data with strong margin gains…. guidance was raised too, but there was suspicious strong and active rally trading seen yesterday. Shares rose 14% last night after closing at $12.30.  This morning we have a 15.8% gain to $14.25 but only on 47,040 shares.  This is a 52-week high as the range was $0.73 to $12.45 and average volume is about 1 million shares.

JON C. OGG

Apple Chart Set-Up (AAPL)

Apple Inc.(NASDAQ: AAPL) is trading up 2.2% at $207.54 on 760,0000 shares as of 8:50 AM EST.  You already knew about the blow-out it reported, but the accounting changes made the report very difficult to use for a real comparison.  It also had solid growth in iPhones and Mac sales, but the iPods unit sales declined as everyone who wants an iPod already has one.  The chart may be more directing than the news now with the following moving averages:

• 5-day $207.13
• 10-day $207.95
• 20-day $209.68
• 50-day $203.26

To catch everyone’s take any time on Apple, you can see those at AppleFinancialNews.com.

JON C. OGG

Citrix Options Shadow VMWare Earnings (CTXS, VMW)

VMWare Inc. (NYSE: VMW) soared in after-hours trading, and in our earnings summary we already noted that that this sets a very high bar for Citrix Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CTXS) as a result of the strong virtualization market.  We did not see this options trading in our reviews throughout the trading day, but it turns out that options traders were making very bullish options bets in Citrix today potentially as a virtualization trade.

In the FEB-2010 $45.00 CALLS, there were 14,614 contracts traded versus an open interest of a mere 5,840 contracts.  That is larger than the entire open interest.  The $40.00 PUTS saw some 1,194 contracts trade versus an open interest of 3,135 contracts.  The MAR-2010 $45.00 CALLS traded some 1,466 contracts versus an open interest of 919 contracts.

It turns out that VMWare options for FEB-2010 were very active today, but not very active in any single contract. VMWare rose 18% to $49.61 on 1.9 million shares in the after-hours session.  Citrix traded only 23,178 shares during the after-hours session, butt the after-hours last trade was $41.90 after closing at $41.15.

(after-hours reporting)

JON C. OGG

Apple Preview… Stock/Options Volume Spike (AAPL)

Apple  Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) reports after today’s close and this will be the highlight of the earnings after Monday’s closing bell.  Thomson Reuters has estimates pegged at $2.07 EPS (non-GAAP of course) and revenues of $12.06 billion…  Whispers are significantly higher.  Analysts are close to $240 in price targets, options traders are braced for a move of more than $10 and the chart is giving some very mixed notions in either direction.  We have a very detailed and much more expanded preview posted over at Investorplace.com showing future growth expectations,  past guidance, comparable margin data, and far more details on options and open interest, the charts, more analyst data, competing firm data, and more.

At 12:45 PM EST we have shares up 2.2% at $202.51 on 17.2 million shares.  The average daily volume is 18.2 million shares, so we should hit 150% of normal trading volume if today’s volume holds up.  As a note, this one traded over 20 million shares each day last week and Friday was more than 31 million shares.

In options we have now seen over 71,000 of the active call options trade with a FEB-2010 expiration, while we have seen 57,000 contracts trade of the PUTS for FEB-2010 expiration.

Want the full run-down of analyst calls and post-earnings takes tonight and tomorrow?  Visit our sub-site that aggregates all Apple-related stories with a headline and link to each story out there on Apple at WWW.APPLEFINANCIALNEWS.COM to bookmark.

JON C. OGG

CIENA Runs on Analyst Initiation (CIEN)

CIENA Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) is trading up this morning on an analyst call.  Auriga gave it a Buy rating with an $18 target.  The firm has said that the transformational acquisition of Nortel’s metro-ethernet operations is off to a good start.  Shares closed at $12.24 Friday, and shares are up at $12.68 on 25,250 per-market shares at 8:59 AM EST.  The 52-week range is $4.98 to $16.64 and average volume is over 7.1 million shares.

JON C. OGG

Analyst Whacks Apple (AAPL)

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is down 1.37% at $205.22 on over 4.4 million shares as of 10:05 AM EST.  Frankly, Apple holders might feel lucky that the drop is only by that little.  Deutsche Bank has removed Steve Jobs and friends from its short-term buy list ahead of next week’s earnings and ahead of the iSlate launch (the tablet).  Any analyst cutting ratings can have an impact, particularly when you consider the trading range seen over the last 52-week period of $82.33 to $215.59 and over 18 million shares of stock on an average day.  Be advised, the charts matter here… very much.  The 50-day moving average is $203.42.  The stock has been under the 20-day moving average (now $210.05) as of yesterday.  By the way, if you eat, drink, breathe, and sleep Apple news, we have the sub-site we use for our Apple research via http://www.applefinancialnews.com/

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list from 24/7 Wall Street to hear about top analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPOs and secondary offerings, ongoing day trader and options trader alerts, stock and market rumors, Buffett and guru investor news, M&A and more.

JON C. OGG
JANUARY 22, 2010

Somaxon, The Great Double (SOMX)

Somaxon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOMX) has soared in after-hours trading after it provided an update on the status of its New Drug Application for Silenor for the treatment of insomnia and said that the FDA acknowledged that this resubmission would be considered a complete response.  This also noted that no additional safety or efficacy data was needed and it now sees a decision from the FDA by March 21, 2010.

At 6:13 PM EST we have shares up literally over 100% at $2.56 (52-week range is $0.18 to $4.80).  The last prints show that it traded 1.79 million shares in the after-hours session since the 4PM closing bell.

JON C. OGG

Some Banks May Win In Regulation (CMA, FITB, STI, KEY, RF)

We won’t bother telling you about the proposed regulation that was just proposed by the White House today, nor will we bother telling you how bad that regulation will be for the bulge bracket brokerages and money center banks on huge volume losses earlier after the news broke this morning.  Oddly enough, this may actually be a positive development for many of the regional banks who do not rely upon extensive trading gains, hedge fund operations, private equity dealings, and other ‘risk-based activities’ that are now being directly targeted even after most ha ve repaid their debt back to the government.

• Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA) up 10% at $36.97
• Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) up 9.3% at $12.36
• SunTrust Banks, Inc. (NYSE: STI) up 8.7% at $25.46
• KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) up 7.76% at $7.50
• Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) up 5.2% at $7.09

Price moves as of 2:00 PM EST
JON C. OGG

Top Tech Movers (EBAY, GRMN, LOGI, PLXS, JAVA, ORCL, STX)

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) ex-Skype figures were up 18% and the company beat estimates and raised guidance.  Frankly, after a 125% gain the guidance did not seem strong enough to justify this move, but the market is always stronger than one voice or one opinion.  Shares are up 8.8% at $24.20 on 1.47 million shares. (8:46 AM EST)

Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) is getting o deal with a free navigation tool, this time from Nokia rather than from Google.  You know what  this will do to the stock on ‘free’ GPS and PND services even if Garmin is a far leader.  Shares are down 7% at $33.62 on about 30,000 shares.  8:48 AM EST)

Logitech International (NASDAQ: LOGI) profits rose over 40% on cost cuts and the sales decline slowed; guidance: $500 million and $515 million in sales, gross margin of about 34%, and operating income between $15 million and $20 million.  Shares are trading up 0.3% at $18.52 on 173,000 pre-market shares (total average volume is only 1.05 million shares).  (8:50 AM EST)

Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ: PLXS) is running higher after posting $0.44 EPS vs. $0.34 estimates and sees next quarter $0.44 o $0.52 EPS vs. $0.31 estimates from Thomson Reuters.  Shares are up 7% at $31.02, a new high above the 52-week high of $31.00.  pre-market volume is only 37,000 shares versus average volume of 226,000 shares per day. (8:52 AM EST)

Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) is finally going to be acquired by Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) after the EU figured out they could clear the takeover after a drawn out investigation brought to light that Sun just can’t make it on its own.  Oracle is up 0.15% at $25.10 but was up almost 2% in overseas trading at one point this morning.  Sun Microsystems is up 0.5% at $9.48 on the news.  (8:41 AM EST)

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ: STX) proved that the world is addicted to storage and drives after significantly beating estimates and please on guidance. This sets up a very high bar for rival Western Digital that is reporting earnings after he close. Shares are trading up almost 11% at $19.70 after a $17.76 close, making a new 52-week high above $19.04. We have also seen 624,000 shares. (8:42 AM EST)

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list to hear about top analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPOs and secondary offerings, ongoing day trader and options trader alerts, stock and market rumors, Buffett and guru investor news, M&A and more.

JON C. OGG

Cree Soars (CREE)

Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) is up significantly in the early hours after beating estimates.  It posted $0.38 EPS vs. $0.30 estimates; revenues rose 35% to $200 million versus $187 million estimates. At 8:57 AM EST we have shares up over 12% at $60.75 on 145,000 shares.  The prior 52-week high was $60.00, the low is $16.07; average volume here is almost 1.7 million shares.

JON C. OGG

Eating Up Bare (BARE)

Bare Escentuals, Inc. (NASDAQ: BARE) is soaring this morning as the NASDAQ’s top gainer, on a buyout.  The all-natural cosmetics maker is being acquired by Japan’s Shiseido for $1.7 billion.  This comes to $18.20 per share.  The 52-week trading range is $2.45 to $14.87.  At 7:57 AM EST we have seen a rise of more than 40% to $18.07 and we have seen 235,000 shares trade hands.  Average volume is just over 1 million shares.  Keep in mind that this was a $30 to $40 stock back in 2006 and 2007 after it came public and it was north of $20 before the stock fell off a cliff in mid-2008.  This is a high-premium buyout, yet it will be challenged by some holders most likely.

JON C. OGG

A123 Scores New Pact (AONE)

A123 Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: AONE) is surging this morning.  The electric car battery and appliance battery maker is up 12% at $22.49 at 8:46 AM EST on almost 450,000 shares.  It is hard to use ranges and averages since it is a recent IPO but average volume is 2.6 million shares and the post-IPO range is $14.31 to $28.20.  A124 has announced a battery supply agreement with Fisker Automotive, which is a new American automaker building premium green vehicles.  The company will also collaborate on Project Ninja, which is expected to commence in 2012.

JON C. OGG

Options Alert Seen in Anadys (ANDS)

Anadys Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ANDS) is trading 8,000 calls, 20-times average, as the March $2.50/$5.00 call spread is bought for 4,000 contracts at a $0.35 cost with shares at $2.35.  Shares looked to have carved out a higher low here and are bouncing today, 5.4% higher.  Anadys has seen its Hepatitis C drug meet key goals in recent trials and shares trade 3.3X cash value, and may be set for a partnership.

Shares of Anadys are up 5% at $2.35 on about 450,000 shares as of NOON EST.  The 52-week trading range is $1.44 to $8.43 and the average daily volume in the stock is only about 600,000 shares.

JON C. OGG

Auxilium Pre-Data Options Trading (AUXL)

Auxilium Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AUXL) is not your traditional options alert, but the trading is ahead of a conference presentation.  This has traded an odd spread that first traded for 2,500 contracts in a multi exchange sweep, and the trade has been emulated with more than 4,000 contracts trading.  Traders are buying the March $32.50 calls at the offer and selling the June $40 calls in a diagonal calendar spread that is bullish with shares at $29.50, trade costing $1 to put on that is profitable with shares above $35 in March, a 20% move from here.  Shares are currently near the lower end of its recent range, and the company will present at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference on January 14th.  Auxilium is awaiting FDA approval of XIAFLEX for Dupuytren’s Contracture, expected soon.  Shares have a $42 target at Jefferies and there is a 10% short float, 10 days to cover.  Implied volatility recently touched near 1 year lows, making the trade a cheap way to take a bullish gamble in shares.  Data as of 2:21 PM EST.

Joe Kunkle, OptionsHawk.com

Immunomedics Stock/Option Spike on Patent (IMMU)

Immunomedics, Inc. (NASDAQ: IMMU) has spiked higher on a US patent #7,641,901 in a released titled “Potential Lupus Drug Gains U.S. Patent”…. After HGSI the lupus word is all thatw as needed.  The company already has 141 US patents and 302 worldwide patents…. Shares are off of highs already… Its $3.93 price is a gain of 20.2% after a $3.27 close yesterday and its 2.95 million shares as of 10:49 AM EST compares to average daily volume of 823,000 shares.  The market cap is $295.5 million after the gain, and the 52-week trading range is $0.84 to $7.17.

For whatever this is worth, the stock does trade options and the volume there has spiked up as well: the JAN10 $5 CALLS traded 1,499 contracts versus an open interest of 4,620 contracts.  The same strike for FEB10 traded 435 contracts versus 2,901 open interest.

JON C. OGG

When GE Gets a Volume Alert (GE)

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is not the world’s most common stock to see giving high-volume trade alerts.  Yet that is what is happening today.   The market is fighting to remain positive, but GE shares are up considerably.  This may be on outside activity than anything as it has positive locomotive news and as airplane engine orders are strong.  But today may be more and more of an example of how the economy is recovering handily.  As long as the financial world doesn’t create another tail-spin, then GE is set to weather the recovery better than most.  There has been some activity in the stock options, but today’s move is mostly in the stock. At 12:47 PM EST we have seen 103 million shares trade hands, which is already getting close to 150% of the average daily volume 76 million shares.  More importantly this is already the most active share trading volume since November 9, 2009 when it traded 102.9 million shares.  The most active recent day was Nove mber 6, 2009 when the stock traded 165 million shares.

At 12:47 PM shares are up 5.95% at $16.36.

JON C. OGG

TASER’s Stunning Volume (TASR)

TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ: TASR) is soaring this morning after receiving and shipping three significant orders in December 2009.  This now puts revenues above expectations at approximately $32 million for the quarter versus $28.7 million consensus.  The 2009 figure does include approximately $3.5 million of revenue deferred in Q3 2009 relating to the TASER X3 trade in program.

• The first order for 2,250 ADVANCED TASER(R) M26 Electronic Control Devices and related accessories for the Brazilian Ministry of Justice.
• The second order was for the Philadelphia Police, PA, for 1,000 TASER(R) X26(TM) ECDs and related accessories.
• The third order was for the Chicago Police Department, IL, for 386 TASER X26 ECDs and related accessories.

Shares are up 11.2% at $5.23 on 557,000 shares as of 9:38 AM EST.  That makes this already above the full daily volume in 8 minutes as teh average volume is 453,000 shares, and the 52-week trading range is $3.11 to $5.88.

JON C. OGG
January 6, 2010

Beazer Offering Trumps Orders (BZH)

Beazer Homes USA Inc. (NYSE: BZH) is down this morning after an after-hours sell-off.  The company said that quarterly orders jumped 37%, but the company is also raising cash.  Beazer is selling 18 million shares and $50 million in convertible notes.  This was down 7.75% at $5.00 versus a $5.42 close on Tuesday in the after-hours on over 100,000 shares last night.  At 8:49 AM EST we have shares trading down 9.5% at $4.90 on only about 8,000 shares.

JON C. OGG

CIENA Stock & Options On Move (CIEN, NOK, SI)

CIENA Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) has seen what is nothing short of an odd move today in both the stock and in in call options activity.  There are some hints out there that Nokia-Siemens, the venture of Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) and Siemens AG (NYSE: SI), may go after CIENA after their failed attempt to acquire the Metro Ethernet Networks unit.  The Nokia-Siemens venture went after this unit, but CIENA won the deal despite some after-cut-off attempts.  CIENA shares are up 5% at $11.57 on 14.4 million shares as of 2:18 PM EST.  The 52-week trading range is $4.98 to $16.64 and the average volume is about 7.3 million shares per day.

Options trading is also VERY active considering the dead-money nature of this stock.  The JAN-2010 $12.50 CALLS have traded 15,615 contracts versus a prior open interest of 9,359 contracts.  The FEB-2010 $12.00    CALLS have also seen 13,110 contracts trade versus a prior open interest of 1,408 contracts.

While the markets stayed strong, CIEN remained fairly weak.  Yesterday’s $11.02 close was the first closing price above $11.00 since the day before Christmas.  If today’s gain hold, this would mark the highest CIENA share prices since December 11, 2009.

JON C. OGG