Owner: www.247wallst.com URL:http://www.247walls.com Join Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2006 07:39:39 -0500 Rating:1 Site Description: Runs up to 40 stories a day on major stocks, companies and the stock market. Site statistics:Click here
Weekend Edition: Cramer Raised Google Target to $560 from $500 2006-10-22 20:42:00 Cramer touted his Google
(GOOG) call with it essentially up $35 after-hours. Cramer even raised his price target on GOOG from $500 to $560, based on $14 per share in forward earnings and a 40Earnings Multiple. He even came out wearing GOOG in black marker on his forehead and had a Google heart tattoo drawn on his arm.
GOOG holders and employees have to wonder if they love Cramer as much as they should.
Jon C. Ogg Read more:Weekend
, Edition
, Cramer
, Target
, Weekend Edition
Weekend Edition: Intel Declares Truce, Waits For AMD To Surrender 2006-10-22 18:34:00 Stocks: (AMD
)(INTC)
Part of Intel
's earnings reports was the news that its price war with AMD seemed to be over.
The problem with the statement is that Intel also said it was gaining back share from AMD, especially in the high end server markets where AMD had made considerable in-roads.
But, what if someone forgot to tell AMD.
AMD has gained share from Intel, especially in the server market In August, AMD even said that it would eventually have 40% of the market for server chips. It has just north of 20% now.
And, Intel's new Core 2 Duo has been well reviewed and may be beginning to beat back the advances made by AMD.
AMD may not have a lot of options to keep its market share growing. It is much smaller than Intel and if it does not protect its gains, Intel's new chipset may set AMD's growth back several years.
The market has become skeptical about whether AMD's gains are permanent. Its shares have dropped nearly 20% over the last six months while Intel's are up about 10%.
Read more:Weekend
, Edition
, Weekend Edition
, Truce
, Waits
, Surrender
Weekend Edtion: Cramer likes Southern Copper (PCU) 2006-10-22 14:56:00 Cramer discussed the NYTimes World Briefing about the leader of the Shinning Path in Peru will spend the rest of his life in prison.
He said this is actually good for Peru and he likes SouthernCopper
(PCU) the best, formerly Southern Peru Copper. He thinks Peru is a good Latin country that is still pro-capitalism. He thinks it is a real democracy, but the real reason to buy is the yield. It yields 8% from its dividend. It is also #4 on Fortunes 100 Fastest Growiing Companies. He said it has larger reserves than Phelps Dogdge (PD) and he said they can smelter copper cheaper than others. He also said a strike resolution was more favorable to the company. Cramer also said that the new non-hedging policy on copper prices will create an earnings explosion. Read more:Weekend
, Cramer
Weekend Edition: Could Apple Be Delisted? 2006-10-22 14:54:00 The Wall Street Journal listed 54 companies that are currently at risk for being delisted from the Nasdaq Stock Market due to late SEC filings caused by options backdating issues. Apple
is on that list. Three companies have already been kicked out and it is anyone's guess how many more may be.
The problem is not just one for the companies. Nasdaq charges large listing fees, so if a large number of companies get pushed to the pink sheets or bulletin board, the exchange could face falling revenue. It is, potentially, a conflict of interest for Nasdaq. The exchange can allow companies a grace period while they appeal their delisting notices, but the appeal process cannot go on forever or the Nasdaq will lose its moral authority to act in the best interests of shareholders.
Apple's problems are particularly vexing. It is on of the most prominent companies on Nasdaq. But, almost every week there are new revelations in the Apple options probe. At first the company indicated that the proble Read more:Weekend
, Edition
, Weekend Edition
Weekend Edition: Chrysler's Investory: Detroit's Problem 2006-10-22 14:53:00 Chrysler is having trouble selling its cars. Its bloated inventory is not shrinking as fast as management would like, and the company may be facing a rough fourth quarter. The company has already signalled it will lose $1.5 billion in Q3.
What is left unsaid is whether the same problem faces GM and Ford. Why not? Should they be immune from the same issues that face Chrysler?
While sales of the big three were about flat in September, Toyota's sales rose 25%. Share is still moving to the big Japanese car company as it tries to pass GM to become the top auto company in the world.
Things in Detroit
may be worse than the September numbers show, but October reports are just around the corner. Read more:Weekend
, Edition
, Weekend Edition
, Chrysler
, Problem
weekend Edition: Worst Analyst Call Of The Week; Salesforce (CRM) 2006-10-22 14:51:00 Banc of America Securities raised Salesforce
.com from "neutral" to "buy" last week. In December, B of A initiated the stock at "neutral".
Trouble is that in December the stock was trading around $32. It is now at $41. So, why not a "buy" rating late last year?
Maybe investors could have made some money. Read more:Edition
, Analyst
Whither Big Oil? (XOM)(COP)(CVX) 2006-10-23 11:17:00 Is the price of oil going up or down? Certainly OPEC wants it to rise. And, they are cutting production 1.2 million barrels a day to try to get it up. Apparently, if this cut doesn't work, some OPEC members are prepared for another one.So, far, however, talk of the OPEC cut, and even its announcement, have not sent oil prices back up. On Friday they traded at under $57.No one on Wall St expects the oil companies to do poorly when they announce Q3 earnings, but their profits may no longer be rising quarter over previous quarter. If oil prices stay below $60, Q3 may be the beginning of a disappointing series of financial results for the likes of Exxon, Conoco, and Chevron.The anxiety that oil prices could hurt big oil earnings is not really showing up in the stock prices of the big producers. But, that may mean that a tumble is still in their future. Exxon's stock is at $69.55, very near its 52-week high, and up from under $56 in December. Chevron's stock is also within a couple of
Media Digest 10/23/2006 Reuters, WSJ, NYT 2006-10-23 11:02:00 Stocks: (DCX)(HAL)(TRB)(GOOG)(CSCO)
According to Reuters
, DaimlerChrysler has narrowed partners to two for a joint venture to manufacture small cars. One of the companies in the talks is China car company Chery. Daimler may be reluctant to give a Chinese company a foothold in the US.
Reuters writes that Yahoo Japan's sales rose as its online stores brought in more revenue.
Reuters writes that earnings at Halliburton rose as large oil and gas companies turned to the company for its services.
The Wall Street Journal writes that private equity firms have expressed interest in assets of The Tribune Company. They may offer the best prices for pieces of the company as it tries to get it shareholders good prices for the company or its parts.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Cisco is entering the video conferencing business with a high end product that can cost several hundred thousand dollars.
The New York Times writes that as Google attracts more users on the web it has faced more and Read more:Digest
Asian Markets Mixed But Nikkei Up Softbank, Mizuho Trust Up, China Netcom Down 2006-10-23 10:44:00 Stocks: (CAJ)(FUJ)(HIT)(HMC)(NIPNY)(NTT)(DCM)(SNE)(TM)(CHL)(CN)(PCW)(HBC)
Asian
markets were mixed, but the Nikkei was up sharply.
The Nikkei was up .over .8% to 16,789. Bridgestone was down .2% to 2510. Canon was up 1.7% to 6600. Fuji Film was up 1.1% to 4460. Fujitsu was up 1.7% to 1012. Hitachi was up .1% to 692.Honda was up 1% to 4100. Kobe Steel was up 1.9% to 368. Mitsubishi Estate was up 3% to 2955. Mizuho Trust was up 4.2% to 274. NEC was up .6% to 681. NTT was up 1.3% to 630000. Docomo was up .5% to 188000. Sharp was up .5% to 2085. Softbank
was up 3.5% to 2685. Sony was up .4% to 4770. Toyota was up 1.2% to 6960.
The Hang Seng was down .2% to 18,077. Cathay Pacific was up 1% to 16.84. China
Mobile was flat at 5.91. China Netcom was down 1.6% to 13.54. HSBC was down .1% to 147.1. PCCW was down 1.1% to 4.66.
The KOSPI was up less than .1% to 1,365.
The Straits Times was up less than .1% to 2,687.
The Shanghai Composite was down 1.7% to 1,759.
Data from Reuters
Douglas A. McInt Read more:Markets
, Mixed
Starbucks: The Coffee House Becomes An Office (SBUX) 2006-10-23 10:41:00 The Seattle Times floated an interesting theory. People use coffee shops and bookstores as offices. No overhead. Easy access to a cup of Joe and a sandwich. WiFi, too, for that matter.And, what better place to meet a customer? Especially if you don't have an impressive office. "Let's just have coffee"
A lot of theories floated in the press are full of steam and latte. But, this one may account for part of the success of Starbucks
and the shops it has in bookstores like Borders.
Keeping an office can easily cost $1,000 a month, if not more. Phone, rent, reception. Heat. Big money.
With a subscription to T-Mobile and a cellphone, Starbucks provides a bathroom, a clean setting, and, some people simply think it is too cool. The fact that the company raised the price of a cub of coffee by $.05 notwithstanding.
Starbucks probably does not even know how many people use the company's stores as "offices" and spend the better part of the day there.. But, it's a good bet that the Read more:Coffee
, House
Microsoft Mobile Should Give Up The Ghost (MSFT)(SNE) 2006-10-23 10:35:00 Microsoft said its goal is to double the number of mobile phones that runs Windows. At the end of 2005, that number was six million, so they may hit 12 million. Among the competitors is RIMM and its Blackberry. That company has six million users and wants to double that number each year.In other words, everyone wants their business to double. Nice work if you can find it.The problem with all of this is that there will be over 970 million cell phones sold this year.That represents a growth rate of about 20% over 2005. But, that growth may slow next year.Why Microsoft would want to be in a one billion unit business with a 12 million unit presence is somewhere beyond easy comprehension. The company's operating system runs on 90% of PCs, so it is a market that makes tremendous sense. The company's Xbox business has significant share and some hope of eventually passing the Playstation from Sony as that company's fortunes flag further each day.One of the beefs about Microsoft is that i Read more:Microsoft
, Mobile
, Ghost
Maybe Sandisk Won't Compete With iPod 2006-10-23 10:25:00 Stocks: (SBDK)(AAPL)(RNWK)(BBY)Sandisk
's stock dropped 20% on Friday, all the way down to $49.15. It has traded as high as $79.80 over the last year.Sandisk makes NAND flash memory which is used to store data on MP3 players and cell phones. But, according to the company, pricing in this segment of the tech industry is very soft, which could mean that Sandisk's ability to make money could be severely undermined.The problems at the company reopen the issue of whether Sandisk can effectively compete with Apple's iPod
. A few weeks ago, Sandisk, RealNetworks and Best Buy said they were going to make a major push into Apple's territory.But, two things have changed. One is that Sandisk's core business of making NAND flash memory is faltering. The other is that Apple is doing better than most investors thought it wouldApple's iPod shipments in the last quarter were up 32% over the same period a year ago and hit 8.1 million units.If Sandisk is so troubled, and it is, maybe it shoul Read more:Maybe
, Compete
Wafer Production Also Likely to Build Glut 2006-10-23 10:23:00 By William Trent, CFA of Stock Market Beat
We have long written about excess semiconductor manufacturing capacity. We also noted, however, that one segment of the market - the production of actual wafers - remained tight due to competing demand from both semiconductor and solar cell makers. However, as is often the case when profits are near - more capacity is being build and indicates an increasing likelihood that the sunny outlook will cloud somewhat.SAS expands silicon wafer capacity
Sino-American Silicon Products (SAS) has completed the second phase expansion for its silicon wafer capacity ahead of schedule, and the fresh capacity should start contributing to the company's revenues starting this quarter, according to a Chinese-language Central News Agency (CNA) report.
SAS currently houses 38 furnaces for silicon wafer production, up from 26. The number of silicon wafer slicing equipment units was also expanded from 10 to 14, the report detailed.
The author may hold a position Read more:Wafer
, Production
, Build
Sector Rotation Essentials, Value In Portfolio Insurance (VIX) & The UK Market 2006-10-23 10:18:00 By Yaser Anwar, CSC of Equity Investment IdeasThis week I'd like to address the possible sector rotations among industries, finding value in portfolio insurance and a REIT that has been knocked down, and for our global take; looking at the UK market.Sector Rotation
sAs you know- My approach is a bottom-up view with a top-down macro perspective. It would be prudent to remain in large-cap stocks, as they have been outperforming. I believe the Materials, Capital Goods, and Transportation groups should be avoided in this stage of the business cycle, possibly even shorted.The market is preparing itself for an economic slowdown. This is evident by the laggards being cyclical stocks, partly from the slowdown in GDP & partly from the housing sector. The group that benefits from weakness in cyclical stocks is consumer staples.Even with the slowdown, I'm looking for earnings increase momentum (GOOG, AAPL), valuation factors (RYN), investor sentiment, and fundamentals, to develop a view that can Read more:Essentials
, Value
, Portfolio
, Market
Barron's Digest October 23, 2006 Issue 2006-10-23 12:37:00 Orcale is getting its second wind. Some Wall St. analysts believe that the stock will rise another 25% over the next year. The company might make more acquisitions looking at companies like Webex and BusinessObjects. This might slow share price growth near-term.Jones Apparel put itself on the block this year, but the $35 price was considered too high. If the company can revamp its aging brands, it may be worth even more. Federated Department Stores are 20% of Jones' sales. As Federated cuts underperforming stores, margins for Jones Apparel could rise.Agilent Techologies isn't one of the tech glamour companies, but its solid business and outlook make it attractive. With a strong hold in the electronics testing market, the stock could rise another 15% over the next year.Shares of Barnes & Noble have not done well recently. Wall St. is concerned about the company's growth opportunities. But, the chain has a strong market position and a lot of cash. This could make it attractive to a pr Read more:October
, Digest
, Barron
The Lesson Of Yahoo Japan (YHOO)(GOOG) 2006-10-23 11:57:00 Unlike its US counterpart, YahooJapan
is doing very well, thank you. But, there is one key similarity. Yahoo Japan is the most popular portal in the large Asian market, just as Yahoo! is in the US.The parallels appear to disappear there.Yahoo Japan's earnings for the last quarter rose 22% to $115 million.The Japanese portal has done right was Yahoo has done wrong. The company has build up a number of online stores and auction sites allowing it to draw a transactional audience like the one that Ebay has. Yahoo Japan has also beefed up its video section. Google is beginning to enter the Japanese market in earnest, and Yahoo Japan means to keep it foothold.Yahoo Japan has some of the same problems as Yahoo! as its struggles with ad revenue growth, but the company has more than made up with this using innovations like online shopping where its revenue grew 42% quarter over last year's quarter.After its earnings announcement, Yahoo Japan's share traded flat. Quite a contrast to the shar
Sales Slow At Sirius And XM With No Solution In Sight 2006-10-23 11:51:00 Stocks: (AAPL)(XMSR)(SIRI)According to an analyst report out of Banc of America Securities, retail sales for the two satellite radio companies fell 12% in September.B of A also said that its survey of retailers indicated that these retail figures could continue into the 4th quarter in the face of more demand for iPods. The report also said the XM has a better chance of doing well in the future because it depends less on the Big 3 automakers.Investors in the two satellite radio companies have been hoping against hope that share prices will recover and that competition from digital radio and iPods will not drag on the increase in subscriptions that made XMSR and SIRI darlings of Wall St. just a couple of years ago.After trading almost $8 in December, Sirius
now gets $3.95 on a good day. XMSR trades at about $11, down from $34 a little over a year ago. While over the last year, SIRI has outperformed XMSR that has changed. For the last 90 days both stocks are off an identical 5%. And, sinc Read more:Sales
, Solution
, Sight
Boston Scientific And The Heart Stent Problem (BSX)(JNJ) 2006-10-23 11:48:00 Sometimes the daily paper tells investors more about company prospects that all the mad scientists on Wall St. The New York Times recently made the point that doctors are shying away from using stents to treat people with heart illness.In 2002, a little over 1.2 million stents were sold. All of them were made with metal. The next year, the industry came out with "drug coated" stents. These contain chemicals that keep blood clots from forming around the device. In 2006, over 1.5 million stents will be sold and almost all will be drug coated. It is now a $6 billion business for companies like BostonScientific
and Johnson & Johnson.And, that is the problem. As the business got bigger, so did, apparently, the risk to patients. The FDA is now looking at issuing safety guidelines for stents, and the question has even been raised whether they are more effective that drugs that can be prescribed for patents with arterial problems.Doctors are now more and more concerned about using stents Read more:Heart
, Problem
Europe Market Report 10/23/2006 DaimlerChrysler Down, British Air Up 2006-10-23 11:34:00 Stocks: (BCS)(BP)(BAB)(BT)(GSK)(PUK)(RTRSY)(UN)(UL)(VOD)(DB)(DT)(DCX)(SI)(ALA)(AXA)(FTE)(V)
Europe
an markets were narrowly mixed at 5.35 AM New York time.
The FTSE was down .1% to 6,149. Barclays was up .5% to 716. BP was down .6% to 598.5. British
Air was up 2.1% to 458.5. BT was down .4% to 264. GlaxoSmithKline was up .2% to 1493. Prudential was up 1% to 644. Reuters was down .2% to 442.5. Unilever was up .2% to 1309. Vodafone was down .2% to 128.25.
The DAXX was up a fraction at 6,205. BMW was down .7% to 44.49. DeutscheBank was down .3% to 97.27. DaimlerChrysler
was down .9% to 41.05. Deutsche Telekom was up .2% to 12.79. Siemens was down .4% to 70.96.
The CAC 40 was down .1% to 5,471. Alcatel was down .6% to 9.51. AXA was down .5% to 30.35. France Telecom was down .1% to 18.88. ST Micro was down .7% to 13.52. Vivendi was up .3% to 29.11.
Data from Reuters.
Douglas A. McIntyre Read more:Market
If Delphi Goes To Private Equity, Is GM Next? (GM)(F) 2006-10-23 11:31:00 Late word comes from Detroit that big buyout firm Rippleword, may make an offer to buy bankrupt auto parts company Dehpli. The price is likely to be north of $10 billion, but the people at Ripplewood are no fools. They must believe that as Delphi
sheds expensive jobs in the US that it can return to profitability.A deep pocket owner might also help Delphi resist further product price erosion due to demands from its auto company clients. A Ford supplier, bankrupt Collins & Aikman, has recently refused to supply the car company parts that it believed were being sold too cheap. The move even shut down some Ford plants in Mexico.A hedge fund, Appaloosa, owns 9% of Delphi, and there are creditors and the UAW to deal with. But, the fact that a hedge fund and buyout firm are circling Delphi is a sure sign that it is viewed as undervalued.Investors and the press have to be asking themselves whether the rocket scientists at large private equity operations see similar value in Ford and GM. Both t Read more:Private
, Equity
, Private Equity
Ford's Earnings Forecast Blues 2006-10-23 11:30:00 The folks down on Wall St. don't just think that Ford's Q3 will be bad. They think things are going to get worse. Ford last 10 cents a share in the third quarter last year. The consensus for this year's third quarter is a loss of 62 cents with the early part of 2007 getting worse.It has been hard to say with any real conviction whether the problems at Ford stem from stupidity or bad luck, although stupidity tends to be ahead in most polls. No matter. Ford has said its US share should settle around 14%. But, if gas prices or poor product introductions make that goal unattainable, two things almost certainly happen. One is that Ford could run low on money. Analysts are starting to talk about that possibility, which naturally leads to talk about Chapter 11. The other action Ford is almost certain to undertake is further cuts. More white collar workers, More factories. More UAW workers. The UAW people may get to the point where they don't see cooperating as in their best interests. Read more:Earnings
, Forecast
, Blues
Pre-Market Stock News (Oct. 23, 2006) 2006-10-23 14:21:00 (A) Agilent Technologies could become more attractive according to Barron's articles.(ALDN) Aladdin Knowledge Systems $0.26 non-GAAP EPS vs $0.23e.(AMT) American Tower will refile an annual report to adjust for option grants.(ARBX) Arbinet forms a committee to evaluate strategic alternatives.(ASTE) Astec $0.46 EPS vs $0.42e.(BJCT) Bioject Medical Tech CEO is retiring.(BKS) Barnes & Noble may attract suitors according to Barron's.(BOH) Bank of Hawaii $0.93 EPS vs $0.92e.(DEO) Diagio positive on Cramer's MAD MONEY on Friday.(EAC) Encore Acquisition lowered gas production targets for the quarter.(ECIL) ECI Telecom plans an IPO for its Veraz Networks.(ESLT) Elbit Systems gets a $19 million pact from Boeing.(ETH) Ethan Allen $0.53 EPS vs $0.54e.(F) Ford put Q3 earnings at $262 million but its real net loss is -$3.08 EPS; will restate earnings from 2001 to 2006 for hedging and derivative activities.; stock trading down over 1%.(FLML) Flamel received FDA approval along with GlaxoSmithkline Read more:Market
, Stock
Oracle Buys MetaSolv for $4.10 Per Share 2006-10-23 14:15:00 Oracle announced that it has agreed to acquire MetaSolv Software, Inc. (MSLV), a leading provider of service fulfillment operations support system solutions for the communications and media industry, through a cash merger for $4.10 per share, or approximately $219.2 million.
MetaSolv offers communications service providers a comprehensive product set for OSS service fulfillment -- including provisioning, network inventory and activation. MetaSolv's standards-based solutions support all types of services including next-generation IMS, VoIP, IPTV, IP VPN, broadband and mobile services, as well as traditional voice and data services. This will help Oracle offer end-to-end productized solution that will help service providers streamline the 'campaign to cash' process, optimize asset lifecycles and accelerate time-to-market of new products and services.
The deal is subject to approval, but since the 52-week trading range on MSLV is $2.50 to $3.50 the $4.10 premium should suffice. It c Read more:Oracle
, Share
Select Analyst Calls (Oct. 23, 2006) 2006-10-23 14:09:00 ABG cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.AIV cut to Sell at B of A.AMD started as Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.ARB raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.BBY cut to Mkt Perform at Sanford Bernstein.BCH raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.CATY raised to Mkt Perform at FBR.CLS raised to Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.DJ raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.EQIX reitr Buy at Citigroup.ET raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.FL raised to Buy at UBS.FMER cut to Hold at AGEdwards.FR cut to Sell at B of A.GRMN raised to Buy at merrill Lynch.HLIT cut to Underperform at FBR.IFIN raised to Mkt Perform at Piper Jaffray.INTU cut to Sell at Merrill Lynch.KFS started as Mkt Perform at KBW.LUV started as Underperform at Credit Suisse.NXTM started as Neutral at JPMorgan.PAYX raised to Buy at UBS.PCLN started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.PL cut to Neutral at Merrill Lynch.PSUN raised to Buy at B of A.REP cut to Sell at B of A.SGP cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.TOL started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley.TRAD cut to Neutral at Goldman Read more:Select
, Analyst
Google Lawyers Up (GOOG)(AAPL)(MSFT) 2006-10-23 12:53:00 Google is learning the hard lesson that Apple and Microsoft had beat into them earlier. When you get big, you get lawyers.
The list of Micrsoft's big suits ranges from antitrust to patent violations. Its stuggles with the monopoly position of its software in Europe continue. It paid $750 million to settle antitrust issues with Time Warner over the Netscape browser's dismantling at the hands of Internet Explorer. It made a settlement of similar size with RealNetwork's over the monopoly position of the Windows Media Player. The list goes on, and on, and on.
Over at Apple, the company has just settled an antitrust claim over the iPod, paying Singapore-based Creative Technologies $100 million. The Apple 10-K lists 27 legal cases in which Apple is involved.
And, now Google faces suits as diverse as copywrite claims over its use of news material, the way the websites are ranked on Google pages, and trademark infringement. There is an article a day in the press about the issues that Google Read more:Google
, Lawyers
Backdoor Play on IPO of Veraz Networks: ECI Telecom 2006-10-23 15:43:00 We often look for backdoor plays in upcoming IPO's. ECI Telecom
(ECIL-NASDAQ/ADR) looks to be a partial backdoor play into an upcoming IPO called Veraz Networks.
Israel's ECO Telecom Ltd (ECIL-NASDAQ/ADR) announced that Veraz Networks, Inc. has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the SEC relating to the proposed initial public offering of its common stock. ECI will offer an undetermined number of shares of Veraz common stock as the selling stockholder in the proposed offering.
ECI currently holds 41% of the current outstanding common stock of Veraz Networks and what appears to be about 33% of the company on a fully diluted basis. Veraz is a leading global provider of voice over IP (VoIP) softswitches, media gateways and digital compression products; and with recent strength in VoIP technology providers (not carriers, but tech providers) this is probably not all that unexpected.
The joint book-runners are Credit Suisse and Lehman; and co-managers are listed as Jefferies a Read more:Backdoor
Replidyne Feels FDA Pain in Non-Approvable Letter 2006-10-23 15:20:00 Replidyn (RDYN) is feeling the wrath of the FDA. It may be worse for the newer biotech sector as far as recent and near-future biotech IPO's, too. The reason it is worse than it sounds is because RDY is a fresh IPO and the street was expecting this to actually go through to at least an "Approvable" status if not an outright approval. At least its partnership with Forest Labs (FRX) doesn't look dead on arrival.
Replidyne (RDYN) and Forest Laboratories (FRX) reported that the FDA has issued a Non- Approvable letter for Replidyne's new drug application (NDA) for faropenem medoxomil. This is the company's novel oral, community antibiotic. Replidyne submitted the NDA in December 2005 for four different adult indications:
-acute bacterial sinusitis (ABS),-community-acquired pneumonia (CAP),-acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis (AECB),-and uncomplicated skin and skin structure infections (SSSI).
The NDA as filed was based on the results of eleven Phase III clinical trials for thes Read more:Feels
, Letter
The Shorts Dumb Bet On AT&T (T)(BLS) 2006-10-23 17:36:00 Short interest in AT&T was up 12.5 million shares to 122.4 million. That makes it the largest short position in any NYSE traded stock.Someone blundered.AT&T profits rose more than expected today. Profits rose 58% to $2.4 billion and the quarterly EPS of $.63 beat Wall St. estimates by a nickel a share.AT&T cut costs more than expected. But, the encouraging news was that wireless and broadband outperformed. Subscribers to high-speed internet were up 26% from the same period last year. Total broadband users hit 8.2 million.There has been some real anxiety about whether the phone companies would experience slowing demand for high-speed products because of competition from cable which is bundling VoIP, TV, and broadband into one service to the home.Apparently, at least for now, fears of the cable guy are unfounded.Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about. Read more:Shorts
Implications of the IBM Patent Suits Against Amazon.Com 2006-10-23 17:27:00 Before Amazon
.com (AMZN) shareholders go running for the hills, they need to remember one thing about legal battles: Anyone with about $600.00 and a lot of free time can sue you.
IBM
(IBM) has filed two suits against Amazon.com, with claims that the key aspects retailer's websites violate IBM patents. The claims cover 5 IBM-held patents. One patent covers how the site handles customer recommendations, another is on advertising, and another is data storage. This will NOT be the end of how Amazon.com operates.
Big Blue has claimed that hundreds of other companies licensed these patents, and that Amazon has refused to reach any licensing terms since 2002 on a repeated basis. Since Texas has been deemed a more patent-holder friendly state, both cases were filed in Texas.
Guess who holds the most patents in the world: IBM. Amazon owns the one-click checkout method and has gone after companies for the right to "click-to-buy," although that patent is seeminlgy under review because the c Read more:Implications
, Patent
, Suits
NYSE Short Interest, October 2006 2006-10-23 17:01:00 These are the highlights of the short interest of stocks list on the NYSE for the period ending October
13 compared to September 15.Largest ShortInterest
AT&T 122.4 milion shares up 12.5 millionFord 100.4 million shares down 2.6 millionLucent 94.7 million shares down .6 millionQwest 78.3 million shares up 10.2 millionSprint 68.0 million shares up 10.4 millionTime Warn 67.5 million shares up 17.1 millionGM 63.8 million shares down .8 millionMcDonalds 60.5 million shares up 47.5 millionGE 52.2 million shares up 13.0 millionExxon 49.0 million shares down .4 millionDisney 47.1 million shares down 5.0 millionHalliburton 46.1 million shares up .2 millionVerizon 44.4 million shares up 3.8 millionPfizer 44.1 milli
Recommend Site To A Friend
