Top Day Trader Alerts (DPTR, FDX, NKE, SASR, TEVA, TSL)

These are this morning’s top day trader and active trader alerts. We have added the price moves and color on each stock as of approximately 8:40 AM EST unless stated otherwise, as well as historical data for a comparison.

Delta Petroleum Corp. (NASDAQ: DPTR) shares are surging by 20% at $1.64 on over 1 million shares pre-market.  The market cap as of yesterday was only $384 million, yet the company said it was going to sell part of the Piceance acreage for $400 million.

FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) is lower despite having raised its guidance with earnings this morning after its profit more than doubled.  The new range for 2010 earnings is $3.60 to $3.80 EPS versus a prior target of $3.45 to $3.75 EPS.  The issue here is one of valuation as the stock was up about 150% from 2009 lows.  Shares are down almost 3% at $87.30 on about 500,000 shares.

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) is hitting new 52-week highs this morning after posting $1.01 EPS and $4.7 billion in revenue versus Thomson Reuters estimates of $0.89 EPS $4.6 billion in revenues.  Volume is still rather thin but the stock is up 4% at $73.75.  $71.33 is the old 52-week high.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: SASR) is one of the top drops today although this is thin volume usually.  Shares are down 10% at $13.40 after it priced a public secondary offering of 6.5 million shares at $13.50 per share  to raise approximately $87,750,000.00.  The market cap here was only $245 million yesterday and shares were at $14.91 on Wednesday’s close. The 52-week trading range was $8.19 to $17.92 and the stock’s average volume is only about 50,000 shares.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NASDAQ: TEVA) closed yesterday at $59.94, but shares are up 4.15% at $62.43 on almost 1 million shares at 8:35 AM EST.  Teva reached an agreement for about $5 billion deal to buy German generic drug maker Ratiopharm.  Teva’s market cap was $53 billion before the effects of this deal.  The 52-week range is $42.77 to $62.17 and the average share volume is about 5.3 million shares.

Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) is down almost 4% at $22.19 after a close of $23.08 yesterday and versus a 52-week range of $3.73 to $31.18.  After the close yesterday, Trina announced a follow-on public secondary offering of 7,900,000 ADRs via Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Barclays Capital.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Exponential Volume Club (AKNS, BBI, FNM, FUQI, LSI, VIVO, PLCM, SNV, VHC, VLTR)

We have taken a look at the movers up and down today and pulled out the key names we have seen on news with exponential trading volume.  We have also included the news and relative color on the trading day and offered a link to each where applicable.  Share prices as of a 12:25 PM EST snapshot…

Akeena Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKNS) is up on the announcement that it will provide solar installation services for Lowe’s.  674K shares, up 8.6% at $1.13 on over 2X trading volume and versus 52-week range of $0.67 to $1.98.

Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI) look like BlockKnocker actually.  Shares are down 32% at $0.27 on 22.4 million shares… about 4X volume already on the heels of a bankruptcy warning.

Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) is up over 7% at $1.13 on 40 million shares, about 166% normal volume already.  Fannie cut its mortgage forecast but sold $5 billion in new bills.

Fuqi International, Inc. (NASDAQ: FUQI) is down now over 36% at $12.05 on 12 million (plus) shares… that is now already over 12X volume.  52-Week range is $3.65 to $32.68.  These guys won the “Mr. Dumas Accounting Award” today.

LSI Corporation (NYSE: LSI) is back if you have forgotten about the old semiconductor and chip company.  LSI raised its guidance on strong product sales and even announced a $250 million share buyback plan.  LSI is up 8% at $6.29 on 26 million shares versus ‘only’ about 9 million shares otherwise.

Meridian Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ: VIVO) lowered its ficsal 2010 guidance: Net sales are now expected to be between $145 million and $153 million, compared to the previous guidance range of $160 million to $165 million. Diluted earnings per share is expected to be between $0.70 and $0.80, compared to the previous guidance range of $0.90 to $0.95.  Shares are down 15% at $20.17 on over 1.3 million shares.  That is 5X volume and the 52-week range is $14.79 to $26.20.

Polycom, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCM) is still running on rumors of an Apax Partners acquisition.  Shares are up 9.85% at $33.45 on 11.8 million shares, about 10X volume.  The $33.44 high today market a two-year high.

Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE: SNV) is up after Jim Cramer touted this one as a potential homerun last night on CNBC Mad Money.  Shares are up 4.2% at $3.74 on 28.2 million shares, or about 2X volume already.  The 52-week range is $1.45 to $5.24.

VirnetX Holding Corp. (NYSE AMEX: VHC) won a $105.75 million patent ruling against Microsoft… This could be triple the amount under certain circumstance.  Shares are up 13.4% at $6.34 on 2.6 million shares.  The 52-week range is $1.05 to $7.99 but that $7.99 may be a false print because that is listed as today and the intraday chart does not show that.  Today’s move is over 5X volume.

Volterra Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: VLTR) is proof that stocks which hit new highs rarely do it once only.  Shares are up 5.7% at $24.90 on 700K shares, more than double its average volume.  The 52-week range is $8.03 to $25.05 and that $25.03 is today’s high.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Top Day Trader Alerts (ERIC, CIT, FUQI, GGP, PLCM, HOG, GE, ABK)

LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (ERIC) is down almost 3% at $10.97 on over 100,000 shares as of 8:35 AM EST.  The stock was downgraded at BofA/ML and at Goldman Sachs.  The 52-week range is $7.62 to $11.33 and the average volume is over 6 million shares.

CIT Group, Inc. (NYSE: CIT) is trading up despite a $1 billion loss.  Volume is thin as of 8:35 AM EST but the shares are actually up 3% at $37.38 versus a post-bankruptcy emergence trading range of $24.83 to $37.88.

Fuqi International Inc. (NASDAQ: FUQI) issued an earnings warning and miss, issued an accounting restatement for Q1 2009 to Q3 2009, and said margins were lower.  The company even partly blamed delays into Chinese New Year.  At 8:35 AM EST we have seen a 29% drop to $13.47 for the Chinese jeweler and we are close to 400,000 shares.

General Growth Properties Inc. (NYSE: GGP) is trading higher on late day reports that it may be getting a higher Simon Property buyout offer. There has yet to be a higher bid and what that bid would be is up for discussion. At 8:35 AM EST we have only about 20,000 shares traded but shares are up 2% at $15.40.

Polycom, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCM) is running up to more than two-year highs in pre-market trading on reports that the company may go private in a deal with Apax Partners.  More buyout rumors, again.  Shares at 8:35 AM EST have already gone over 1 million shares versus a full day’s volume of about 1.4 million shares.  The stock is up 9% at $33.20 and the old 52-week high is $30.50.

Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE: HOG) was up all day yesterday on KKR buyout rumors. The stock is thin in pre-market volume today but the shares are up 0.7% at $28.55.  Shares hit an intra-day high of $28.35 yesterday.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is trading up again this morning.  At 8:38 AM EST we have seen close to 500K shares trade and the stock is up about 0.9% at $18.24.  Yesterday’s high was $18.14, which is also a 52-week high.

AMBAC Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: ABK) is actually trading up after the troubled financial guaranty company delayed its earnings report.  The company is said to be in talks with counterparties and it has recently noted its NYSE listing requirements with its share price so low.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Rumors Drive Volume (GGP, SPG, HOG)

The rumor mill is back.  It is also tiring.  Today we had two gainers seen in General Growth Properties Inc. (NYSE: GGP) and in Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE: HOG).  Details on each are as follows, along with unofficial closing bell levels.

General Growth Properties Inc. (NYSE: GGP) just spiked at the end of the trading day on rumors that a higher bid was coming from Simon Property Group (NYSE: SPG).  Shares turned in an unofficial closing bell of +2.64% at $15.14 on 3.8 million shares.  Average volume is 3.9 million shares but this one ripped up from $14.50 to over $15.00.  The official close will likely be slightly different.

Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE: HOG) was crazy today on KKR-led buyout rumors.  The ‘buyout rumor mill’ is back strong now that the market has become more enthusiastic.  This one is hard to imagine on the surface with a $6.6+ billion market cap before any buyout premium.  Its 52-week range is $10.86 to $30.00 and today’s high was $28.98.  We have an unofficial closing bell level of being up almost 7% at $28.34 on more than 18 million shares versus an average closer to 3.3 million shares per day.

JON C. OGG

Stock/Option Explosion: The GE Breakout on 52-Week Highs (GE)

General Electric Co. (GE) is seeing a break-out.  Yesterday it was Goldman Sachs, today JPMorgan helping with comments on the conglomerate.  The prior 52-week high was $17.52 that was hit back on September 19 2009 after it went ex-dividend.  This morning shares opened up at $17.49 after a $17.29 close on Monday.  Now shares are trading at $17.65 and we have seen a high print of $17.68 this morning.

What is most impressive is that GE’s share volume today is through  the roof… At 10:31 AM EST we have seen 63 million shares trade hands versus an average daily volume of 73 million shares.

Also impressive is the stock options volume today.  We have seen over 20,000 of the MARCH-2010 $17.50 CALLS trade versus an open interest of 174,000+ contracts.  Based on the last trade, those only have to hit $17.77 for the trade to be profitable (before commissions and fees).

We have also seen almost 30,000 contracts in various strikes trade of the APRIL-2010 CALLS….

Stay tuned.  If today will hold, this is probably a breakout.  You know the old mantra… “Stocks hitting 52-week highs tend to keep hitting 52-week highs.”

JON C. OGG

AIG Price-Volume Spike (AIG)

American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG) saw a rather large price and volume spike late in the afternoon.  Before 2:30 PM EST AIG shares went from being down around the lows of the day at $33.30+ and went all the way up to $36.37 in a very rapid fashion.  We have seen notes that Macquarie may bid for a $3.5 billion aircraft lease assets and then there are comments that Berkowitz owns more than 13 million shares now.  At 3:00 PM EST the stock is trading about 3% around $35.50 and we have seen 32 million shares trade hands versus an average of almost 14 million shares.

JON C. OGG

Boston Scientific’s Ides of March (BSX)

Is it ironic that Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) has another round of awful news out on one of its key products on the Ides of March? It gets harder and harder to imagine that this company is ever going to be able to manage a proper turnaround.

The troubled medical device maker announced today that it has stopped shipments and is now in the process of recalling (retrieving) field inventory of all of the company’s implantable cardioverter defibrillators and cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators after it has determined that some manufacturing process changes were not submitted for approval to the FDA.

Boston Scientific identified two instances of changes which were successfully validated but were not submitted to the FDA. It further plans to work with the FDA to resolve the situation as soon as possible and said that it has no indications that the manufacturing process changes pose any significant risks and is not recommending explantation or removal of the devices.

This one was active in pre-market trading but after 65 minutes since the open, we have a total of 89 million shares and a price drop of 12.7% at $6.79. The 52-week range is $6.33 to $11.77 and the average volume is ‘only’ 21 million shares.

4X-volume in an hour…. Be advised that this $6.33 low that is listed was put in this morning. We would note that the low close last year was $6.14 and the intraday low was $6.08 hit on two days. Today’s 52-week low would not be a low if you made it a 53-week low.

JON C. OGG

Top Day Trader Alerts (BIDU, PEP, MNKD, TM, AMLN, ALKS, BCON, ISPH)

Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) is running on word that Google is now much more likely than not about to close its China website.  At 8:45 AM EST we have seen 77,000 shares trade and the stock is up 3.8% at $571.43.  The old 52-week high is $559.47.

Pepsico, Inc. (NYSE: PEP) is trading higher at new 52-week highs.  This might not be a monster move but yet another 52-week high after it announced a share buyback plan of $15 billion and the dividend was raised by 7% to $1.92 from $1.80 per year.  Shares are up 1.5% at $66.03 as of 8:41 AM EST on thin volume.  The old 52-week high was $65.25 and Friday’s close was $65.10.

MannKind Corp. (NASDAQ: MNKD) is HALTED PENDING NEWS….. Stay tuned, this could be a big day of trading volume versus a 2.3 million share per day average.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) is seeing a potential win today on news that regulators have been unable to reproduce the results from that recent runaway Prius and on word that the results are inconsistent with what had been described in the incident.

Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN) is trading up despite an FDA on its once per week Byetta approval as a Type II diabetes drug.  The FDA is ok with its safety issues, but wants expanded data for labeling.  At 8:42 AM EST we have seen 750,000 shares trade hands and shares are up about 8.35% at $21.95.  This is not an approval, but it leans much closer to an approval compared to other FDA delays.  Keep in mind that the 52-week high is $21.58.

Alkermes, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALKS) is the technology behind the once per week absorption/delivery method for Amylin.  Its shares are up almost 11% at $13.55 on 125,000 shares as of 8:42 AM EST.

Beacon Power Corp. (NASDAQ: BCON) announced earnings and revenues this morning, but most important is that it said it needs to raise funds.  Unfortunately this is a penny stock. At 8:39 AM EST we have shares down 1.3% at $0.45 on 35,000 shares.

Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISPH) is trading lower after its eye drug failed a mid-stage trial endpoint.  Shares closed at $7.06 on Friday, but the stock is down over 16% at $5.90 on 28,700 shares as of $8:46 AM EST.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Top Day Trader Alerts (AIG, DRYS, PSUN, RFMD, ZUMZ)

American International Group, Inc. (AIG) up 3.4% at $36.30 on 338,000 shares as of 8:40 AM EST.  Yesterday’s gap up was lost during the day, so let’s see what Friday has in store.

DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) is trading up 2.75% at $6.35 on 320,000 shares as of 8:40 AM EST.

Pacific Sunwear of California, Inc. (NASDAQ: PSUN) is lower on a downgrade and after the company issued disappointing guidance.  Shares closed at $5.75 yesterday and now the stock at 8:40 AM is down over 14% at $4.93 on 277,000 shares.

RF Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: RFMD) is trading up after Jim Cramer touted the stock.  Shares closed at $4.73 on Thursday and shares are up 5.7% at $5.00 on over 150,000 shares as of 8:43 AM EST.

Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ: ZUMZ) is lower after the company posted a rise in profits yet guided for a soft quarter. This is unfortunate considering last week’s sales gains that were announced.  Shares are down almost 9% at $18.44 on only about 6,000 shares as of 8:42 AM EST.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Top Day Trader Alerts (AIG, BPAX, C, DVN, ICO, TEAR)

American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG) is going for a DAY THREE…. Shares are up 5% at $38.18 and we have already seen 1 million shares as of 8:33 AM EST.

BioSante Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: BPAX) is up almost 17% at $2.00 on just over 1 million shares as of 8:27 AM EST.  The company announced positive Leukemia vaccine results.  Shares closed at $1.71 yesterday and the 52-week range is $1.13 to $2.70.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) is up 0.76% at $3.99 on word that Vikram Pandit is potentially going to raise billions via continued asset sales.  The impressive figure is that at 8:33 AM EST we have seen over 28 million shares trade hands.  This has now gotten used to 1 billion shares due to its low share prices.

Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN) announced $7.0 billion in property sales and oil sands joint ventures to BP…. It has entered into agreements to sell all of its assets in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, Azerbaijan and Brazil.  Shares are up 2.4% at $73.44 on over 200,000 shares as of 8:33 AM EST.  For a size comparison, Devon’s market cap is $32 billion.

International Coal (NYSE: ICO) priced 22,371,365 shares of common stock in a secondary offering at $4.47 per share share.  Shares are actually up 2% at $4.57 on 350,000 shares as of 8:29 AM EST.

OccuLogix Inc. (NASDAQ: TEAR) announced that TLCVision Corporation will be incorporating the TearLab Osmolarity System in eight of its U.S. centers to study dry eye disease symptoms related to LASIK surgery.  Shares are up 45% at $4.05 on 40,000 shares as of 8:28 AM EST.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Top Day Trader Alerts (AEO, AIG, C, FACT, FNM, FRE, SOLR, ITMN)

These are this Wednesday’s top active stocks with moves on news or continued trends of yesterday.  We have offered price and volume data as well as added color where appropriate:

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE: AEO) is trading higher after it announced last night that it was closing down its MARTIN+OSA concept store brand.  Shares actually rose on the news. American Eagle’s profit rose this morning and the outlook is allowing shares to hold their own.  At 8:36 AM EST we have shares still up 4.6% at $17.95 on 314,000 shares.  The 52-week trading range is $8.79 to $19.86.

American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG) is managing to continue yesterday’s gains.  The stock at 8:38 AM EST is up 2.75% at $33.67 on almost 500,000 shares.  This is on the heels of yesterday’s gains to $32.77 versus the Monday close of $29.10.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) is up on two bits of news.  Apollo is reportedly about to purchase Citi’s real estate unit called Property Investors, with about 65 real estate investments in 26 countries and the net asset value is said to be $3.5 billion. Its preferred 8.875% $2 billion offering was also oversubscribed.  At 8:40 AM EST we have shares up 2.9% at $3.93 and we have already seen a whopping 60 million shares trade hands with 50 minutes until the open.  Be advised, Citi traded over 1 billion shares yesterday and the stock closed at $3.82 versus a close of $3.56 on Monday.

Facet Biotech Corporation (NASDAQ: FACT) is up about 66% at $26.96 after its $27/share cash buyout has been signed with Abbott.  At 8:35 AM EST we have seen 9 million shares trade hands.  The deal is approved by both companies, and it seems unlikely that a higher bid would come in even from Biogen Idec.

Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) are continuing yesterday’s run higher despite the notion that some of the financial rumors were all but shot down by analysts and market pundits.  Fannie Mae is up 3.7% at $1.11 on 1.2 million shares; Freddie Mac shares are up 1.5% at $1.30 on 900,000 shares (8:42 AM EST).

GT Solar International, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOLR) priced a secondary offering of 25 million shares of common stock at $4.85 per share versus a $5.15 close on Tuesday.  The sale is being made by a selling stockholder rather than the firm raising capital.  Shares are down 2.3% at $5.03, but the 8:35 AM EST trading volume is 567,000 shares.  This one trades just over 1 million shares per day and the 52-week trading range is $3.63 to $9.04.

InterMune Inc. (NASDAQ: ITMN) is launching after the FDA panel backed its lung drug.  This is a 52-week high as the prior 52-week range was $10.48 to $25.37.  At 8:35 AM EST we have shares up 64% at $38.17 on right at 1 million shares in the pre-market.  We saw a similar move last night after the halt was taken off.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Russell 2000 Top Performers Since the Crash (ATSG, AXL, ARM, BZ, CKEC, CTIC, CNO, GPRE, HGSI, LZB, PIR, PWER, PMI, UIS, VNDA)

The bull market is officially one-year old now.  March 9, 2009 was the absolute low for the index levels.  VSInvestor.com has pulled many of biggest stock movers from the Russell 2000 Index.  Amazingly, we had to include stocks which up a whopping 800% just to get the list down to close to 40 stocks.  This shows many ten-baggers or 1,000% gains.

Some of the key stocks which showed gains in the ten-bagger category are Air Transport Services Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATSG), American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AXL), ArvinMeritor Inc. (NYSE: ARM), Boise, Inc. (NYSE: BZ), Carmike Cinemas Inc. (NASDAQ: CKEC), Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTIC), Conseco Inc. (NYSE: CNO), Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRE), Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI), La-Z-Boy Inc. (NYSE: LZB), Pier 1 Imports Inc. (NYSE: PIR), Power-One Inc. (NASDAQ: PWER), PMI Group Inc. (NYSE: PMI), Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS), and Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: VNDA).

And those are just some….. Check out the gains off the table below from the Russell 2,000:

There were many others which could have been included.

JON C. OGG

Top Day Trader Alerts (CSCO, CNAM, NBG, FSLR, JSDA, DRYS, FEED, BWEN, FMD)

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is trading up another 0.8% at $26.34 and challenging yesterday’s $26.36 52-week high.  At 8:26 AM EST we have seen over 900,000 shares trade hands ahead of the 11 AM announcement that will “forever change the internet.”

China Armco Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CNAM) is down 4% at $9.05 on 15,000 shares as of 8:30 AM EST.  This stock has been all over the place since last week and has recently seen a high of $11.10.

National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE: NBG) was not listed in our top ten analyst calls this morning but should have been.  Deutsche Bank has downgraded the Greek bank to Hold from Buy due to its finance woes due to the Greek situation.  At 8:25 AM EST we have shares down almost 3% at $4.22 on about 450,000 shares.  Average volume is now over 3 million shares versus what was not even a half-million as recently as November.

First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) is still rather thin in volume but shares are down about 4% at $104.45 as of 8:25 AM EST.  The stock was downgraded to Underweight at JPMorgan.

Jones Soda Co. (NASDAQ: JSDA) didn’t catch someone peeing in the drink mix but you wouldn’t know it if you saw the stock.  At 8:28 the shares are down 40% at $0.50 on only about 24,000 shares after a $0.84 close yesterday.  The 52-week range is $0.40 to $1.53.  Reed’s and Jones Soda are merging or at least have a letter of intent to merge; JSDA shareholders will receive 0.17 of a share of REED and will receive cash of $0.10 per JSDA share.  Reed’s closed at $1.58 yesterday so the merger price there would be almost $0.37.  Jones’ CEO will depart the company.  This is actually a “takeunder’ if it is even allowed.

DryShips, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) is trading down about 1% at $6.03 on 200,000 shares as of 8:32 AM EST.  This is after yesterday’s price/volume spike up on rumors which have all but been panned by market watchers as hearsay.

AgFeed Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: FEED) is trading up 17.5% at $5.30 on 281,773 shares as of 8:35 AM EST. The company posted record revenues and said production volumes increased by 66% in the company’s hog division and 56% in the animal nutrition division.  Total 2009 revenue was a record $173.2 million, an increase of over 20% from 2008.

Broadwind Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: BWEN) is up after JPMorgan started the stock with an Overweight rating and a $6.50 target.  Shares are up 3.7% at $5.30 on about 13,000 shares as of 8:35 AM EST.

First Marblehead Corp. (NYSE: FMD) is up 6% at $2.91 on about 15,000 shares as of 8:40 AM EST.  The OTS terminated a cease and desist order for its Union Federal unit which it is still evaluating alternatives.  This stock had originally indicated higher and above $3.00 after a $2.74 close.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

DryShips… Rumors of a Rumor (DRYS)

DryShips, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) has seen more than its fair share of trading today.  The afternoon chatter is ‘buyout rumors’ but these sound more like BS than real meat.  Briefing.com ran the buyout rumor piece today, and we have seen Indie Research cover the rumor and then Barron’s cover it in all but an outright dismissal.  The Barron’s note is calling it chatter at best.

With 30 minutes to close, DryShips is up 7.7% at $6.10 on over 55 million shares.  We have also seen more than 70,000 MAR-2010 CALLS trade hands today, which is another 7+ million shares of trading equivalent on a fully leveraged basis.

Anything in the world of M&A is possible, particularly if you can get management or large holders to go along with it.  But there are rumors, and then there are ‘rumors of a rumor’….. This sounds more like the latter, at best.

JON C. OGG

China Armco Staying Volatile (CNAM)

China Armco Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CNAM) is still seeing elevated stock trading.  Due to a recent bump up, its average share volume is 426,000 shares.  But that was lower before the volume and prices shot through the roof last week. And today we are still very active with a 4.6% gain to $10.04. Here are last week’s big moves:
DATE  Shares Traded Close
5-Mar  7,633,600. $9.60
4-Mar  7,119,800. $8.50
3-Mar  685,200… $5.30

The 52-week trading range was moved higher as shares hit a high of $11.10 on Friday.  Today’s intraday high was $10.75.  Because this stock is sometimes included in with the ‘rare earth’ stocks and is small cap and in China, we are not even going to try bothering to note that its high has not been violated nor that it might not hold.  With a $100 million market cap, any contract can greatly influence the shares.  That is what caused last week’s run.

JON C. OGG

Top Day Trader Alerts (AIG, CTIC, MDVN, SEED, SSTI, XRTX, ZANE)

These are this Monday’s top day trader and active trader alerts seen in pre-market trading.  We have included the news and some brief color where applicable on each.

American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG) is trading up 2% after its $15.5 billion Alico sale to MetLife (MET).  The deal is similar to last week’s Asian sale in that it is divided between cash and stock.  At 8:23 AM EST we have seen 375,000 shares trade hands and the stock is up 2.4% at $28.75.

Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTIC) rose on Friday and shares are up again on Monday after the FDA approved NerPharMa to manufacture Cell Therapeutics’ drug Pixantrone.  At 8:31 AM EST shares are up 15% more at $1.03 on almost 3 million shares.

Medivation, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDVN) is trading lower…. The beating will continue until morale improves.  There is trader speculation that the company should have known its recent drug failure was coming. Shares closed at $12.13 Friday and we have shared down another 3% at $11.75 on about 16,074 shares.

Origin Agritech Limited (NASDAQ: SEED) is up after it announced it has developed a strategic pesticide business unit for premium branded chemical products and it expects a premium branded glyphosate product to be marketed immediately into the domestic agricultural market for the 2010 selling season.  At 8:24 AM EST we have shares up 12.1% at $11.58 on 125,000 shares in the pre-market.

Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: SSTI) is trading lower after Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ: MCHP) entered into a second amendment to its February 2, 2010 definitive agreement to acquire SST and shareholders would be entitled to receive $3.05 per share in cash compared to $3.00 per share prior to the second amendment. This second amendment was in response to an offer made by another party to SST’s Strategic Committee on March 2, 2010.  SST shares are down almost 6% at $3.06 on 21,000 shares after closing at $3.25 on Friday.  There had been hopes of a higher buyout here.

Xyratex Ltd. (NASDAQ: XRTX) is trading higher on raised guidance: $313 to $318 million in revenue versus prior guidance of $245 to $285 million; GAAP earnings of $0.77 to $0.87 EPS versus prior $0.24 to $0.52 EPS guidance.  At 8:23 AM EST we have seen a 17.4% gain to $18.00 pre-market on about 24,000 shares of stock.

Zanett Inc. (NASDAQ: ZANE) was indicated lower this morning after Thursday and Friday’s exponential gains before the stock came way back down  This stock was up almost tenfold at one point but at 8:30 AM EST we have seen 20,000 shares trade hands and the stock is down 1.5% at $1.90.  This is not huge volume compared to teh 8M shares each day last Thursday and Friday but the action will be elevated all week here.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Apple: Using Options Rather Than Stock (AAPL)

Apple hit all-time highs on Friday of $219.70 on an intraday basis and the stock closed at $218.95.  What is interesting is that trader sare moving back into using the options as their way to get exposure to Apple ‘on the cheap.’

The stock traded over 32 million shares on Friday, which is close to 150% of normal trading volume.  The open interest was over 125,000 call option contracts which would have been another 12.5 million shares on a fully leveraged basis.  But if you look at yesterday’s call option trading activity alone it is far more.  These are the MARCH-2010 CALL strikes with volume and open interest, as well as with the last contract price:

CALL$    Volume    OpInt    LA$T
200.00    11,090    20,017    $19.35
210.00    33,169    40,865    $10.25
220.00    63,425    32,787    $3.75
230.00    49,538    20,731    $0.86
240.00    8,386    5,284    $0.23
250.00    2,442    6,571    $0.08

These March-2010 strike prices traded right about 168,000 contracts.  That comes to 16.8 million shares on a fully leveraged basis.   When it costs about $21,900.00 or so to buy 100 shares versus $375.00 to buy the right to buy at $220.00 for another two weeks as the stock is hitting all-time highs, you can see why traders and smaller investors are choosing to get exposure to the upside with speculative options rather than by buying the stock.

And yes, these too will expire as worthless if they are not ‘in-the-money.’

JON C. OGG

Top Day Trader Alerts (AAPL, ITMN, SOLF, CNXT, ZANE, RCNI, TIVO)

These are this morning’s top day trader and active trader alerts seen in early pre-market trading.  We have offered the moves, a news summary, and brief color on each for trading references where applicable.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is up 2.1% at $215.10 after saying the iPad will be available on April 3m, 2010 in the U.S. but not for about another month in most international markets.

InterMune, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITMN) is soaring on positive drug data.  The company said that the FDA panel will review its lung drug, but the FDA staff has said some questioning remarks as well.  This stock has been very volatile on mixed drug data in recent months and there has been a lot of options trading around this one. At 8:47 AM EST we have seen 2.4 million shares trade hands and the stock is up 83% at $26.74 after a $14.61 close and versus a prior 52-week trading range of $10.48 to $18.14.

Solarfun Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: SOLF) is trading lower after mixed results.  Its Q4 EPS was $0.25 vs. $0.24 estimates from Thomson Reuters; while revenue rose over 10% to $184 million versus $185 million expected.  Shares were down 3% at $7.30 on 131,000 shares as of 8:47 AM EST.

Conexant Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CNXT) is down sharply after it priced a public secondary offering of 14 million shares of its common stock at a price of $4.00 per share versus a $4.39 close and versus a $0.33 to $5.17 trading range of the last year.  At 8:48 AM EST we have seen 1.25 million shares and the stock is down 5.7% at $4.14.

Zanett Inc. (NASDAQ: ZANE) saw exponential gains yesterday.  The company is seeing profit taking and a reality check today.  At 8:51 AM ESt we have shares down 16% at $1.77 on about 45,000 shares.  Average volume is now listed as about 150,000 shares but that is because the figures were skewed by 8 million shares as the stock rose from $0.31 to $2.12 and hitting a high of $2.50.

RCN Corp. (NASDAQ: RCNI) is soaring.  The regional cable TV and internet provider is up 27% at $15.60 after the company agreed to be acquired by ABRY Partners for about $1.2 billion.

TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) is soaring again after yesterday’s gains.  Shares closed at $16.53 and shares are up 8% at $17.86 on about 1.6 million shares as of 8:53 AM EST.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Massive Volume Spike in TiVo (TIVO)

TiVo Inc. is soaring.  Not just by some but by a major amount.  The company announced just a few minutes ago that the U.S. Court of Appeals release a decision/ruling in the company’s lawsuit against EchoStar.  The company noted:

• “We are pleased that the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit fully affirmed the district court’s finding of contempt against EchoStar, including both the disablement and infringement provisions. Additionally, this ruling paves the way for TiVo to receive the approximately $300M in damages and contempt sanctions awarded to us for EchoStar’s continued infringement through July 1, 2009. We will also seek further damages and contempt sanctions for the period of continued infringement thereafter. We will continue our efforts to protect our intellectual property from further infringement.”

TiVo has seen its stock spike by about 50% to $15.40 and at 11:51 AM EST we have seen a whopping 25 million shares trade hands.  Average volume is 1.75 million and the stock appears to have hit new 52-week highs.

JON C. OGG

Top Day Trader Alerts (ZUMZ, CNAM, PETM, MDVN, FSYS, STP, URBN, CIEN)

These are this morning’s top day trader and active trader alerts seen in early pre-market trading.  We have offered the moves, a news summary, and brief color on each for trading references where applicable.

Zumiez, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZUMZ) shares are surging as a winner in cold weather themes after it said February same-store sales rose by more than 11%.  Shares are indicated up almost 12% at $17.90 on only about 8,000 shares as of 8:30 AM EST.

China Armco Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CNAM) is surging to new highs this morning after it entered into a scrap steel supply contract with a major China Steel producer.  The deal is valued up to $100 million this year.  Its market cap was only about $53 million before the news-pop.   Shares closed at $5.30 yesterday and at 8:30 AM EST we have shares up 41% at $7.51 on 55,000 shares.  Average volume is only about 109,000 and the old 52-week range (3-month only) was $3.00 to $5.90.

Petsmart Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM) is hitting new 52-week highs after the pet retail destination beat earnings and gave a strong outlook.  The old 52-week trading range was $16.17 to $28.10 and the shares are up 10.6% at $30.65 on about 50,000 shares as of 8:31 AM EST.

Medivation, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDVN) has been trading all over the place this morning after yesterday’s biotech implosion on its failed Phase III Alzheimer’s study.  We had seen a gain of almost 2% earlier but shares are down about 0.2% more at $13.07 at 8:28 AM EST on about 138,000 shares.

Fuel Systems Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSYS), a maker of alternative fuel components and systems, said Q4 earnings were $1.12 EPS vs. $0.98 expected; Revenue was $164 million vs. Thomson Reuters estimate of $158 million.  2010 guidance looks in-line to better as well.  Shares are up 5% at $29.69 on 75,000 shares as of 8:29 AM EST.

Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP) is up after it beat earnings estimates: Q4 earnings were $0.27 EPS vs. $0.11 expected; Revenue rose almost 40% to $584 million vs. $470 million or so expected.  Shares are up 6% at $14.50 on 250,00 shares as of 8:29 AM EST.

Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) is up after earnings rose by about 90% and after it exceeded analyst estimates; lower taxes helped, but it also had record sales and rising margins. Shares are up almost 5% at $34.99 on almost 30,000 shares as of 8:27 AM EST.

Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) is getting spanked on light earnings today after Q1 earnings fell short at -$0.12 EPS against Thomson Reuters estimates of -$0.06 EPS.  The telecom equipment player said revenue was up 5% to about $176 million, short of the $185+ million expected.  Shares are down 8.25% at $13.35 on almost 600,000 shares as of 8:28 AM EST.  Shares had been down under $13.00 earlier this morning.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Who Was That Monster Google Block Trade? (GOOG)

Chasing block trading volume of trades of more than 10,000 or 100,000 shares and higher on a single trade has become almost alchemy in the new world of online trading in equities.  Many funds and traders no longer have large block trades because via pools and exchanges they can get VWAP trades that generate the same trade result as a block and then it can be converted via the virtual weighted average price.  Seeing block trades of 750,000 shares has become quite rare.  But in Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG)??? Almost unheard of any longer.

At 15:28:02 today there was a trade of 750,000 shares of GOOG at $545.15 on the CSE rather than on NASDAQ.  The bid/ask at the time was approximately $545.20 / $545.53.  As with all actual trades, the actual trade time can differ from the reported trade time.  Many after-hours trades or pre-market trades are the evidence of that.  This one was close enough to the bid/ask spread that it was likely not too far off on the time.

But here is the issue.  Almost all trades listed on NASDAQ under GOOG are in 100 share lots to 500 share lots.  After all, 100 shares is $54,500 or so at that price.  The 750,000 share block was $408,862,500.00…..

Generally when you see trades this size, it is because someone wants to advertise their trade.  A big trade indeed.

JON C. OGG

Radio Shack Options More Impressive Than Stock (RSH)

Radio Shack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) is surging on ‘rumors’ today that we are skeptical of endorsing… Either way the stock saw 11.2 million shares trade as of 3:00 PM EST with the stock up around 5% and close to $21.00.

More important is the stock options trading, and it is also more impressive:

• March-2010 $20 and $22.50 Calls have seen over 23,000 options contracts trade between the two; while the open interest was only about 17,000 contracts.
• April-2010 $20 and $22.50 contracts combined have seen over 13,000 contracts versus barely 6,200 contracts in the open interest.

If you add up these call options you get some 36,000 contracts, which is 3.6 million shares worth of options on a fully leveraged basis that would be added to the volume.  The put option volume is paltry.

Caveat emptor!  Still, impressive volume.

JON C. OGG

Price/Volume Spike in Toyota (TM)

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM)  is spiking higher this morning.  Maybe it is the realization that many other car companies are having recalls too.  But traders are pouncing on the buy-buttons on the screens at the open.  Shares are gapping up 3% at $76.72 right after the open.  At 9:33 AM EST we have seen 200,000 shares that have traded hands versus 1.8 million shares on average.  This is actually the highest price in the ADR since Feb. 16….
-JON OGG

Top Day Trader Alerts (MDVN, PFE, NFLX, NOVL, COST, VISN)

These are this morning’s top day trader and active trader alerts seen moving on news and events.

Medivation, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDVN) is down almost 70% and at 52-week lows after its Dimebon failed in its Phase III trials to attack Alzheimer’s.  This is very active and will be the most active of all biotechs today with tens of millions of shares likely to trade.  At 8:42 AM EST we have seen 6.5 million shares and the last trade was $12.80.  The 52-week range was $13.36 to $40.49.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) is also indicated lower this morning as well as it was Medivation’s partner on Dimebon for the Alzheimer’s treatment. Pfizer is down 0.7% at $17.47 and it has seen 3.7 million shares as of 8:42 AM EST.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was doing so well…. Yet this morning we saw 3 downgrades from BofA/Merrill Lynch, Kaufman Bros, and Susquehanna.  At 8:42 AM EST we have seen 44,000 shares trade hands and shares are down 4% at $66.20. The 52-week range is $34.11 to $70.00.

Novell, Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVL) is soaring after it got a buyout offer from a private equity group called Elliott and the price was at $5.75 per share in cash.  Shares were trading up above $6.00 last night after the news as many are likely betting that the company will say no or ask for more money.  This morning at 8:43 AM EST we have seen 20 million shares trade hands versus 4.7 million shares on average.  The stock is up 30% at $6.20.

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) had some light earnings on the surface.  Its most recent quarter was $0.70 EPS vs. $0.72 estimates. Revenue rose 11% to $18.7 billion vs. estimates of $18.5 billion.  The problem is valuation here at almost 20-times forward earnings.  At 8:44 AM EST shares are down 3.8% at $59.00 on 475,000 shares and the 52-week trading range is $38.17 to $62.12.  Average volume is 3.4 million shares.

VisionChina Media, Inc. (NASDAQ: VISN) is getting hit hard.  The stock closed at $8.20 yesterday and the shares are down 26% at $6.05 on 685,885 shares as of 8:48 AM EST.  The average volume here is only about 400,000 shares after its earnings report.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Top Day Trader Alerts (QCOM, CRZO, DNDN, TRA, CF, NTRI, SPLS, NUHC)

These are this morning’s top day trader and active trader alert stocks seen on the move with news events.  We have provided appropriate trading data and color on each where applicable.

QUALCOMM Corp. (NASDAQ: QCOM) has done something to try to halt what has been a share price freefall after 7 straight down days.  The CDMA chipset designer announced a new $3 billion buyback program and announced that it was raising its quarterly dividend to $0.19 from $0.17.  Even at 8:28 AM EST we have seen over 750,000 shares trade hands and the stock is up 3.3% at $36.75.

Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. (NASDAQ: CRZO) rose last night and is indicated higher again.  Jim Cramer interviewed the company CEO on CNBC’s Mad Money as a natural gas winner that still has room to improve. Volume is thin this morning so far but shares are indicated up 4% at $25.27.

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) is trading lower this morning.  TheStreet.com has highlighted an independent report claiming that the company’s PROVENGE is likely to be brought before an FDA panel.  The reason for the drop is that most expected this to go straight to the approval process which is due on or before May 1.  Shares are down almost 7% at $30.25 on over 500,000 at 8:30 AM EST.

Terra Industries Inc. (NYSE: TRA) is back in the spotlight as the target of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CF).  CF is offering $47.40 for the company.   This is likely to put a focus on other fertilizer and potash companies today despite poor earnings data from the group.  CF is down 7% at $100.20 on almost 300,000 shares and Terra is up 12% at $46.35 (a new 52-week high above $43.13) on over 7.5 million shares as of 8:25 AM EST.

NutriSystem Inc. (NASDAQ: NTRI) is trading down sharply after earnings.  The company posted positive earnings for its Q4 period but guidance for the coming quarter is proving to be a very weak Q1.  Shares were down 12% at $16.50 last night in active trading and this morning at 8:25 AM EST we have shares down 14.3% at $16.19 on 170,000 shares in the pre-market.  Average volume is about 1.05 million shares and the 52-week range is $11.58 to $33.54.

Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) is trading lower after earnings.  It posted $0.38 non-GAAP EPS vs. $0.39 estimate from Thomson Reuters and gave guidance for the coming quarter of $0.25 to $0.27 EPS versus estimates of $0.27.  At 8:25 AM EST we have seen 260,000 shares trade and the last print was down 6.2% at $24.25.  This was already very close to 52-week highs as its range of the last year is $14.35 to $26.00.

Nu Horizons Electronics Corp. (NASDAQ: NUHC) is usually thin volume.  But it and Xilinx are terminating a distribution pact.  Nu Horizons usually trades about 44,000 shares per day.  The market is not even open yet and at 8:33 AM EST we have seen 40,000 shares trade hands and the stock is down 28% at $3.14 to be the biggest percentage loser of the day.  The stock closed at $4.40 yesterday and the 52-week range is $1.45 to $4.68.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about top day trader and active trader alerts, dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG