Special Reports

Top 10 News for 05/13 - 05/17: Tesla Can't be Stopped; Tepper Still Bullish; Sony Gets in Play May 17, 2013 04:01PM

1. Tesla Motors (Nasdaq: TSLA) had another crazy week following last week's earnings report. The company filed to raise funds via an equity and convertible debt offering. More, CEO Elon Musk committed an investment of $100 million of his personal funds, truly a sign of confidence by the lauded exec. For more on Tesla, click here.

2. On CNBC this week, hedge fund giant David Tepper of Appaloosa said he remains bullish although he does expect the Fed to taper down. Tepper said short sellers better have a shovel to dig themselves out. "There better be a true [Fed] taper or else you might be back into the last half of 1999," Tepper said. "So like guys that are short, they better have a shovel to get themselves out of the grave." He continued, "If the Fed doesn't taper back, we're going to get into this hyper-drive market. "It's a backwards argument. To keep the markets going up at a steady pace the Fed has to taper back."

3. Tech giant Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) saw some upside following quarterly results released on Wednesday night. Despite Q4 guidance coming in-line with views, many believe macro pressures prepped the Street for a worse outlook.

4. Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) popped earlier in the week after hedge fund manager Dan Loeb of Third Point LLC put the company in play. Loeb, a well-known activist investors, has accumulated a 6 percent stake and wants Sony to spin off its entertainment arm. In a letter personally delivered to Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai, Loeb said his hedge fund would put up another 200 billion yen (around $2 billion) to support an initial public offering of Sony entertainment.

5. Two notable IPOs on the week:

• Marketo (Nasdaq: MKTO) - priced 6.06 million shares at $13, but opened at $20. Click here for more color; and
  
  
• Tableau Software (NYSE: DATA) - priced 8.2 million shares at $31, but opened at $47 on Friday. For more on the company and offering, click here.

6. Data from the U.S. Department of Commerce this week showed an adjusted gain of 0.1 percent for the month to $419.0 billion. The number was up 3.7 percent over the same period last year. The Street was looking for consolidation of about 0.4 percent. Consumers spent 4.7 percent less at gas stations, the largest drop in the metric since December 2008. Data could be reflecting lower gas prices in the month.

7. NetApp (Nasdaq: NTAP) spiked in the middle of the week following reports that it might be a target of an activist hedge fund. Headlines had Elliott Management taking a stake of less than 5 percent, but planning to increase its position. The firm was said to be pressing for change in NetApp's board and studying options to boost shareholder value.

8. Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) was back in radars this week after its nominating committee sent a letter to Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management requesting more information on its recapitalization plans. Icahn sent a list of his Board nominees to Dell. Also, Dell reported Q1 EPS of 21 cents and revs of $14.07 billion, with EPS missing and revenue beating estimates.

9. Many hedge funds filed 13Fs for the quarter ended March 31, 2013. Some sold out of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) while others simply cut stakes. Buffett took a notable position in Chicago Bridge & Iron (NYSE: CBI), which helped move the stock higher. For more hedge fund related news, click here.

10. Industrial machinery giant Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) reported Q2 results on Wednesday. EPS came in at $2.76 on revs of $10.91 billion, versus consensus views calling for EPS of $2.72 and revs of $9.81 billion. Management also noted that Deere's near-term outlook was tampered due to macro pressures and some unfavorable weather patterns.

Notable 52-Week Highs and Lows of the Day 05/15: (RAD) (SCTY) (TSO) High; (SHZ) (AU) Low May 17, 2013 03:09PM

52-Week High:

• Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) $2.77. Rite Aid announced electing Bruce G. Bodaken to the Board, saying he would be appointed to the Nominating and Governance committee. He was former Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Blue Shield of California.
  
  
• SolarCity Corporation (Nasdaq: SCTY) $46.50. Solar City ripping on positive sentiment behind having Elon Musk as Chairman. Despite recent gains, both Raymond James and Goldman Sachs raised questions about the company. Click here for Goldman or here for Raymond James.
  
  
• Tesoro Corp. (NYSE: TSO) $62.66. Tesoro popping higher on reports that BP plc (NYSE: BP) might complete the sale of its Carson Refinery and Southwest U.S. retail assets to Tesoro by the end of the current quarter.
  
  
• General Motors (NYSE: GM) $33.68. General Motors nudged higher today as CLSA upgraded the stock two-notches from Underperform to Buy, while moving its price target from $31 to $40. Notably, peer Ford Motor (NYSE: F) is also at a 52-week high of $15.15 and was upgraded at Craig-Hallum to Buy on Thursday.

52-Week Low:

• China Shen Zhou Mining & Resources, Inc. (AMEX: SHZ) $0.12. Issues preliminary Q1 results earlier, seeing a loss of $1.51 million to $1.2 million. The company also said it was in ongoing talks with the U.S. SEC over accounting treatment for certain development costs incurred at the Company's mines.
  
  
• AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (NYSE: AU) $17.03. Gold miners hit again Friday as sentiment behind the metal has largely waned. This is the seventh session of a negative outcome for gold and follows a near-record one-day drop recorded in April.

Unusual 11 Mid-Day Movers 05/17: (RSOL) (SCTY) (VNDA) Higher; (ARUN) (UNXL) (COSI) Lower May 17, 2013 02:06PM

Real Goods Solar (Nasdaq: RSOL) 91.7% HIGHER; possibly moving higher on a bullish blog post today. Only 1.3 percent of float is being held short currently.

Aruba Networks (Nasdaq: ARUN) 27.2% LOWER; getting crushed after issuing Q4 guidance with Q3 results. For more color, click here. Multiple analysts also downgraded the stock today.

SolarCity Corporation (Nasdq: SCTY) 26.6% HIGHER; continuing higher. As previously mentioned, Elon Musk is chairman of the company. Goldman Sachs issued cautious commentary on the company today. Click here for more color.

Vanda Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: VNDA) 22.1% HIGHER; Lazard Capital kept its Buy rating on Vanda today, raising its price target from $11 up to $17.

Uni-Pixel (Nasdaq: UNXL) 21.6% LOWER; Goldberg Capital took its stake down to 5.25 percent from 6.46 percent previously reported.

Corinthian Colleges Inc. (NYSE: COCO) 16.5% HIGHER; moving higher in relation to proposed changes to the interest rate on student loans. Yesterday House Republicans advanced a proposal that would link student loan interest rates to market conditions. Without change to the program, interest rates for new subsidized student loans would

National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE: NBG) 15.4% HIGHER; Fitch upgraded Greece's credit rating from CCC to B-, causing yields to soar as investors moved back in.

Cosi, Inc. (Nasdaq: COSI) 14.7% LOWER; reported Q1 EPS of ($0.15), $0.10 worse than the analyst estimate of ($0.05). Revenue for the quarter came in at $21.56 million versus the consensus estimate of $23.37 million. Comps fell 4.5 percent.

Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: ORMP) 14.7% HIGHER; announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the Company's Investigational New Drug application(IND) for ORMD-0801, its oral insulin capsule.

Eagle Bulk Shipping, Inc. (Nasdaq: EGLE) 11.1% LOWER; lower after a 54 percent jump on earnings Thursday.

Youku.com, Inc. (NYSE: YOKU) 10.3% LOWER; reported Q1 EPS of ($0.23), $0.04 worse than the analyst estimate of ($0.19). Estimates may not compare. Revenue for the quarter came in at $83.1 million versus the consensus estimate of $82 million.

To get this report daily visit http://www.streetinsider.com/entities/Unusual+11+Mid-Day+Movers.

Trading Radar for 05/20: Campbell Soup (CPB), TiVo (TIVO), Qihoo (QIHU), JA Solar (JASO) Report May 17, 2013 12:07PM

The Trading Radar highlights key earnings and economic announcements for tomorrow's trading session:

Before Markets Open

Earnings:

Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) - consensus EPS $0.56
JA Solar Holdings (Nasdaq: JASO) - consensus loss $1.20
Qihoo 360 Technology (Nasdaq: QIHU) - consensus EPS $0.14
hhgregg, Inc. (NYSE: HGG) - consensus EPS $0.30

Earnings:

TiVo, Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO) - consensus loss $0.15
ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq: ZIOP) - consensus loss $0.23

Check out our Earnings Insider for news and updates on earnings as they happen!

Notable Analyst Rating Changes 05/17: (RKUS) (GM) (SPF) Upgraded; (ARUN) (DIS) (DE) Downgraded May 17, 2013 10:53AM

UPGRADES
Goldman Sachs raises Ruckus Wireless (NYSE: RKUS) from Neutral to Buy with a price target of $19. Click Here for more color.

CLSA raises General Motors (NYSE: GM) from Underperform to Buy, moving its price target from $31 up to $40.

CRT Capital lifts Standard Pacific (NYSE: SPF) from Fairly Valued to Buy with a price target of $11.

Avondale Partners upgrades Southwest (NYSE: LUV) from Market Perform to Market Outperform.

For daily real-time Upgrades go to http://www.streetinsider.com/Upgrades

DOWNGRADES
Aruba Networks (NASDAQ: ARUN) received multiple downgrades following Q3 results and guidance:

• Wells Fargo from Outperform to Market Perform, moving its price target from $20-22 to $13-15. Click Here for more color;
  
  
• Oppenheimer from Outperform to Perform;
  
  
• Stephens from Overweight to Equal Weight, moving its price target from $25 down to $17;
  
  
• Janney Montgomery Scott from Buy to Neutral, moving its target from $25 to $16;
  
  
• JPMorgan from Neutral to Underweight, while adjusting its price target from $17.50 down to $13;
  
  
• Morgan Stanley from Overweight to Equalweight;
  
  
• Wedbush from Outperform to Neutral, lowering its target from $20 down to $15;
  
  
• Needham & Company from Buy to Hold. Click Here for more color.
  
  
• FBN Securities from Outperform to Sector Perform; and
  
  
• Stifel Nicolaus from Buy to Hold.

Atlantic Equities lowers Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) from Overweight to Neutral, adjusting its price target from $65 to $74.

Goldman Sachs cuts Deere (NYSE: DE) from Neutral to Sell and cut its price target from $98 to $85. Click Here for more color.

RBC Capital trims MeadWestvaco (NYSE: MWV) from Sector Perform to Underperform, lowering its price target from $35 to $30.

For daily real-time Downgrades go to http://www.streetinsider.com/downgrades

NEW COVERAGE
Topeka Capital starts Laredo Petroleum (NYSE: LPI) with a Buy rating and a price target of $23. Click Here for more color.

MKM Partners assumes Pandora (NYSE: P) at Sell and $10 target.

Barclays begins AT&T (NYSE: T) with an Equalweight and $39 target.

Barclays initiates Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) with an Overweight and price target of $59.

For daily real-time New Coverage go to http://www.streetinsider.com/New+Coverage

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