Morning Movers 11/23: ABIO, SEED, FIF, FNET, DDRX, JOBS Higher; BBI, CGA, BOFL, CEPH Lower

November 23, 2009 10:03 AM EST

ARCA Biopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: ABIO) 47.6% HIGHER; today announced that the U.S. FDA has designated as a Fast Track development program the investigation of Gencaro, the Company's investigational, pharmacologically unique beta-blocker and mild vasodilator, for the reduction of cardiovascular mortality and cardiovascular hospitalizations in a genotype-defined heart failure population. The Company intends to submit a study protocol for review under the FDA's Special Protocol Assessment process for the design of a clinical trial to assess the safety and efficacy of Gencaro in approximately 3,000 patients with chronic heart failure who have the genotype that appears to respond most favorably to Gencaro.

Origin Agritech Limited (NASDAQ: SEED) 42.8% HIGHER; Saturday announced it has received the Bio-safety Certificate from the Ministry of Agriculture as a final approval for commercial approval of the world's first genetically modified phytase corn.

Financial Federal Corporation (NYSE: FIF) 35.5% HIGHER; People's United Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ: PBCT), the holding company for People's United Bank, announced today a definitive agreement to acquire Financial Federal in a stock and cash transaction valued at approximately $738 million.

FortuNet, Inc. (NASDAQ: FNET) 29.7% HIGHER; The Yuri Itkis Gaming Trust of 1993 announced today that it intends to make a tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of FortuNet Common Stock of not already owned by the Trust for $1.70 per share in cash.

Diedrich Coffee, Inc. (NASDAQ: DDRX) 25.6% HIGHER; Peet's Coffee & Tea, Inc. (NASDAQ: PEET) announced today that it delivered to the board of directors of Diedrich on Sunday, November 22, 2009 a proposal to enhance its previously announced offer to acquire Diedrich. Peet's revised proposal is a cash-and-stock offer valued at $32.00 per share, or a total value of approximately $265 million, based on Peet's closing stock price of $38.00 on Friday, November 20, 2009. Click here for the full report.

51job Inc. (NASDAQ: JOBS) 17.1% HIGHER; reports Q3 EPS of $0.19, 9 cents better than the analyst estimate of $0.10. Revenue for the quarter was $32.17 million, which compares to the estimate of $29.9 million. Sees Q409 revs of $31.5 - $33 million and non-GAAP EPS of $0.17 - $0.20. Consensus sees $29.70 million and $0.09, respectively.

Zions Bancorporation (Nasdaq: ZION) 12% HIGHER; Soleil Securites upgrades from Hold to Buy. Price target $17.50. Click here for more color.

LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) 11.4% HIGHER; reports Q3 earnings of $0.27 per share, well above the consensus of a $0.10 loss. Revenues came in at $281.9 million, versus the consensus of $277.2 million. LDK sees Q4 revenues of $280-$310 million, versus the consensus of $258.72 million. The company seees wafer shipments between 320 MW to 340 MW and module shipments between 20 MW to 30 MW.

Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ: TSEM) 11% HIGHER; subsidiary, TowerJazz today announced the signing of a definitive agreement with an Asian entity, in furtherance of the company's corporate strategy to penetrate the Asian markets and to leverage its manufacturing know-how and assets to expand its business in this region. Under the agreement, TowerJazz will arrange for the required manufacturing know-how and certain equipment required for successful capacity ramp-up. The deal will realize TowerJazz revenue of approximately $130 million, largely during the first contract year of 2010.

Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI) 9.5% LOWER; today announced its Board of Directors has authorized a combination of its shares of Class A Common Stock and Class B Common Stock into a single class of shares of common stock. Click here for the full report.

China Green Agriculture, Inc. (Amex: CGA) 9.3% LOWER; has entered into definitive agreements to sell 1,282,052 shares of its common stock at a price per share of $15.60 pursuant to a registered direct offering to several select institutional investors, representing gross proceeds of approximately $20 million

Rigel Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: RIGL) 8.9% HIGHER; RBC upgrades the stock from Sector Perform to Outperform. Price target increased from $9 to $11.

Bank of Florida (Nasdaq: BOFL) 8.8% LOWER; continuing lower today following Thursday's news that the company has postponed the marketing of its public offering. The stock has fallen 50% over the last 3 trading sessions.

Cephalon Inc. (Nasdaq: CEPH) 8% LOWER; Ception Therapeutics, Inc. and Cephalon today announced results from a Phase IIb/III clinical trial for CINQUIL(TM) (reslizumab) as a treatment for pediatric eosinophilic esophagitis. Click here for the full report.

To get this report daily, visit http://www.streetinsider.com/entities/Morning+Movers.

Related Categories

Special Reports

Stocks Mentioned

Related Entities

• Soleil Securities
• StreetInsider.com Morning Movers

Add Your Comment

Name

Subject

Body

Verification can't see the text?
click here to refresh the image.
what's this?