Friday, December 10, 2010

Rumors swirl on Radware (RDWR)

We've heard this story before, but rumors are out there that Radware (RDWR) will be taken out very shortly.  The stock is up 4-5 points in the last three days, after holding 20% gains when these rumors first surfaced on Sept 14.

The stock is currently at $39.10  Rumored take out price is $47.

Today's Upgrades and Downgrades...

Airgas Inc. (NYSE: ARG) Raised to Outperform at Baird.


Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.

Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) Started as Neutral at Nomura; Raised to Positive at Susquehanna.

Calpine Corporation (NASDAQ: CPN) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.

Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.

CIT Group, Inc. (NYSE: CIT) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.

DryShips, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Started as Buy at Nomura.

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ: LULU) Raised to Hold at Jefferies.

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) Started as Neutral at Nomura.

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) Started as Neutral at Nomura.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) Started as Neutral at Nomura.

Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) Reiterated Outperform and target raised to $75 at Raymond James.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) Started as Reduce at Nomura.

Latest Short Interest - from Bloomberg

• Short Interest in the SP500 for the period ending Nov. 30th declined 3.51%.

The largest decreases came from Healthcare (dn. 7.68%) Consumer Discretionary (dn. 7.09%) and financials (dn. 6.35%)

3 sectors showed an increase in Short Interest, IT (+2.85%) Telecom (+2.11%) and Industrials (+0.19%)

• Largest Increases: KSS (+157.9%) RSG (+89.9%) INTC (+80.97%) AIZ (+72.21%) PWR (+63.79%) IR (+63.34%) COL (+62.87%) RF (+49.5%) HAR (+45.91%) MJN (42.81%)

• Largest Decreases: APA (dn. 64.08%) MYL (dn. 61.26%) PGR (dn. 34.95%) APC (dn. 30.2%) MHP (dn. 29.8%) MAT (dn. 29.17%) ED (dn. 28.88%) BTI (dn. 28.75%) NEE (dn. 28.48%) AEP (dn. 27.37%)

Green Mountain Coffee warns...

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR 31.98, -5.44, -14.54%)  declined 15% in the premarket. The Waterbury, Vt., coffee producer issued a softer profit forecast and withdrew its shipment guidance for its K-Cup coffee packs.

Earnings Next Week...

Corporate Events Calendar – Week of Mon Dec 13


• Mon Dec 13: analyst meetings (Air Liquide, BCR, EW); sales (GWW)

• Tues Dec 14: earnings before the open (BBY, FDS, SAFM); earnings after the close (HOV); analyst meetings (BMC, BRCM, CRL, FSLR, GE, KO, NVS, ONXX, PPG)

• Wed Dec 15: earnings before the open (JOYG); earnings after the close (NDSN); analyst meeting (AVT, CBR, DAL, DG, DGI, DHR, HON, LII)

• Thurs Dec 16: earnings before the open (ABC, ATU, DFS, FDX, GIS, PIR, RAD); earnings after the close (ACN, LUB, ORCL, RIMM, SMOD, TTWO, ZQK); analyst meetings (ATHN, CNC, IRDM, PG)

• Fri Dec 17: analyst meetings (CCE, ITT, PNR)

Latest Fund Flows

Fund Flows – from JPMorgan’s E Beinstein - For the week ending 12/8/10, all fund categories experienced inflows; HY, Equity, and Money Markets significant ones. HG had inflows of $400mn this week vs an inflow of $56mn last week. The last outflow was during the week of 11/3/10 of -$258mm. HY funds had inflows of $1bn this week vs an outflow of - $1.2bn last week. Equity funds had inflows of $8bn this week (3rd largest inflow this year) vs an outflow of -$1.6bn last week. Money markets had an inflow of $25bn this week (largest this year) vs an outflow of -$2.8bn last week.

Stocks to Watch

• Apple Inc. (AAPL). The component suppliers for the PC maker’s iPad are gearing up for a new round of production in the first quarter, sources said on Friday, with one saying the product will be a revamp of the popular tablet computer including front- and back-mounted cameras.

• Bank of America Corp. (BAC). The bank and financial holding company restarted about 16,000 home foreclosure cases across the United States on Monday, the Wall Street Journal said.

• Borders Group Inc. (BGP). The bookseller said on Thursday it is trying to obtain new financing to avoid violating the terms of its credit agreements early next year.

• Cablevision Systems Corp. (CVC), F5 Networks Inc (FFIV), Netflix Inc (NFLX) and Newfield Exploration Co (NFX). The four companies will join the benchmark S&P 500 index after the closing bell on Dec. 17, S&P said in a statement on Thursday. Netflix, F5 Networks and Newfield Exploration will replace Office Depot Inc (ODP), The New York Times Co (NYT) and Eastman Kodak Co (EK) in the S&P 500. Cablevision Systems will replace King Pharmaceuticals Inc (KG) as King Pharma's takeover by Pfizer Inc (PFE) is expected to be completed soon, S&P said.

• Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO). The network equipment maker company’s CEO John Chambers on thursday said, the company would likely gain share in the overall market, including the public sector, where it suffered a fall in orders last quarter.

• Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR). The coffee company gave a weak first-quarter profit outlook due to higher marketing costs and an expected volatility in coffee costs, becoming the latest coffee company to take a hit due to soaring prices. The company, which raised coffee prices in October in response to rising coffee costs, expects a first-quarter adjusted profit of 14-18 cents a share.

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM). The bank is hiring 100 corporate bankers outside the United States, in a bet that loan demand in the rest of the world will grow faster than in the bank's home base.

• Microsoft Corp. (MSFT). The world's largest software company said November month was the best on record for xbox sales, helped by Kinect. 1.37 million of xbox consoles were sold, the company said. Separately, Microsoft, Adobe (ADBE) and other U.S. software manufacturers are pressing the Obama administration for a deal with China next week that could spur billions of dollars of additional U.S. software exports, an industry official said on Thursday.

• Sony Corp. (SNE). The electronic equipment maker on Friday said it shipped more than 5.5 million copies of Gran Turismo 5, the latest version of its motor-racing game franchise, in its first 12 days on sale.

• United Technologies Corp. (UTX). The diversified manufacturer set a wide 2011 profit target range, warning that a fluctuating euro and uncertain global economic recovery could hamper it from hitting its long-term earnings growth target of 10 percent or more. The company expected a profit of $5.05 to $5.35 per share in 2011.