Briefing.com: Hourly In Play (R) – 22:00 ET

Feb 11, 2010 (Briefing.com via COMTEX) -- Hourly In Play (R)

Updated: 11-Feb-10 22:00 ET

18:43

Futures are higher after hours with S&P 500 futures 0.38 points above fair value of 1076.12 and Nasdaq 100 futures 1.35 points above value of 1774.40

18:42

WAC Walter Investment Mgmt reports in-line (14.09 +0.19)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.34 per share, in-line with the First Call consensus of $0.34.

18:28

ESV Ensco delays commencement of a new ultra-deepwater semisubmersible drilling rig and is currently projected to commence operations in Q3 of 2010, instead of Q2 (41.02 +1.42)

Co reported that ENSCO 8502, a new ultra-deepwater semisubmersible drilling rig, is currently projected to commence operations in Q3 of 2010. Commencement was previously scheduled for late-second quarter 2010 following shipyard delivery last month. The rig currently is in a shipyard in Singapore, where it is completing final preparations prior to mobilizing to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The delay in commencement of operations is a result of recent fire damage that was contained in a portion of the engine room. There were no injuries to personnel. Insurance claims relating to the damage and repairs will be filed under appropriate insurance policies. Delivery schedules for the remaining ENSCO 8500 Series(R) rigs remain unchanged.

18:25

CPST Capstone Turbine registers to sell 1.55 mln shares of common stock for shareholders in an S-3 (1.25 -0.02)

18:21

CRESY Cresud SA reports results for the first six months (12.16 +0.99)

Net income for the first six months of FY 2010 amounted to Ps. 141.8 mln compared to the Ps. 12.3 mln posted in the first half of the previous fiscal year. Operating income for the six-month period amounted to Ps. 280.5 mln, composed by a Ps. 285.6 mln profit from the consolidation of IRSA's segments and a Ps. 5.1 mln loss from CRESY's agribusiness segments. The agribusiness segments had posted a Ps. 17.8 mln operating loss in the same period of the previous fiscal year. Operating losses in agribusiness segments as of December 2009 are attributable to the seasonality patterns in the crop segment revenue recognition. Co said, "Results should improve as summer crops, which were allocated most of the area under production, get harvested. Sowing presents a high degree of progress and the perspectives for crop evolution look good. Cresud paid dividends for Ps. 60 mln and allocated 0.053 treasury shares per share held among its shareholders. The treasury shares had been purchased during fiscal year 2008-2009 in the context of domestic and international markets' turbulence. IRSA: The Consumer Finance Segment, 80% of which is to be sold to Banco Hipotecario, has experienced a recovery in results. The rental segments have shown a solid performance, with a recovery in the Shopping Centers' revenue growth rates as from Q2 of the fiscal year, and an option to purchase Parque Arauco's 29.6% stake in Alto Palermo for US$ 126 mln was agreed upon. Should this option be exercised, it will imply the consolidation of IRSA's position in the Argentine shopping center market."

18:07

ACL Alcon beats by $0.10, beats on revs; guides FY10 EPS in-line (158.10 +1.37)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.61 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.10 better than the First Call consensus of $1.51; revenues rose 14.5% year/year to $1.72 bln vs the $1.6 bln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $7.30-7.55 vs. $7.43 consensus; co expects full year 2010 organic sales growth to return to the mid-to-high single digits. The full year guidance assumes renewal of the U.S. Research and Experimentation tax credit in the second half of 2010 with retroactive application. This guidance also excludes any costs and/or reductions in sales associated with potential health care reform initiatives in the United States, as well as costs related to a potential change in control to and/or merger with Novartis.

17:57

BMA Banco Macro Bansud reports Q4 results (25.47 +0.37) -Update-

The Bank's net income totalled Ps.241.8 mln. This result was 31% higher than the Ps.184.1 mln posted for Q4 of 2008 ("4Q08") and 27% higher than the Ps.190.9 million earned in 3Q09. The annualized 4Q09 ROAE and ROAA were 30.2% and 3.8%, respectively. In 4Q09, the Bank's net financial income was Ps.585.1 million, increasing 3% year to year ("YoY"). In addition, BMA's operating income rose 33% YoY to Ps.316.5 mln from Ps. 237.8 mln. BMA's loans to private sector grew 2% quarter to quarter ("QoQ"), or Ps.186.9 million, with a recovery in consumer lending (credit card loans rose 12% and consumer loans grew 4%) and a 6% increase in discounted documents. Total deposits grew 17%, or Ps. 2,764.5 mln YoY, totalling Ps.18.6 bln and representing 79% of the Bank's total liabilities. Total deposits remained stable QoQ with a 3% increase in private sector deposits offset by a 11% decline in public sector deposits. BMA continued showing a strong solvency ratio, with an excess capital of Ps.2.4 bln (27.4% capitalization ratio) in 4Q09. In addition, the Bank's liquid assets remained at a high level, reaching 60.6% of its total deposits at December 31, 2009.

17:38

DCT DCT Industrial Trust reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; reaffirms FY10 FFO in-line (4.56 -0.11)

Reports Q4 (Dec) funds from operations of $0.11 per share, in-line with the First Call consensus of $0.11; revenues fell 4.6% year/year to $60.5 mln vs the $60.3 mln consensus. Co reaffirms guidance for FY10, sees FFO of $0.36-0.44 vs. $0.41 consensus.

17:35

DFG Delphi Fin misses by $0.02 (20.75 +0.10)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.86 per share, $0.02 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.88. Co says, "We will be furnishing guidance on our conference call regarding our expectations for operating earnings in 2010. While we expect the environment to remain challenging due to continued low interest rates, tightened credit spreads, and high unemployment levels, we continue to be optimistic about the growth prospects of our insurance businesses and our ability to capitalize on our leadership positions in our attractive niche markets."

17:13

NRP Natural Resource beats by $0.13, beats on revs (23.73 +0.82)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.39 per share, $0.13 better than the First Call consensus of $0.26; revenues rose 3.0% year/year to $65.9 mln vs the $61.6 mln consensus.

17:05

CNK Cinemark seeks to amend existing senior secured credit facilities (14.66 +0.12)

Co announced that it is seeking the consent of lenders to amend and extend its existing senior secured credit facilities to extend the maturities of the facilities, increase the interest rates on loans that have extended maturities and make certain other modifications. Pursuant to the terms of the proposed amendment, each lender must determine whether or not to extend the maturity of its individual loan or commitment. CNK expects to complete the amendment and extension in early March 2010.

17:01

BOCH Bank of Commerce Holdings announces filing of registration statement for the offering of $30 mln of common stock (5.25 0.00)

16:45

HTGC Hercules Tech announces renewed and increased $35 mln share repurchase program (10.11 +0.21) -Update-

16:39

KCP Kenneth Cole issues upside Q4 EPS guidance (10.48 +0.33)

Co issues upside guidance for Q4 (Dec), sees EPS of $0.21 vs. $0.09 First Call consensus; sees Q4 (Dec) revs of $110 mln vs. $110.92 mln consensus. The Company noted that the quality of its product and its inventory position improved versus the prior year resulting in better sell-through, less promotion and higher than expected gross margin during the quarter. The Company also noted that fourth quarter operating performance benefited from significantly lower expenses due to the Company's cost cutting programs.

16:35

CVO Cenveo acquires Clixx Direct Marketing Services; expects this acquisition to be accretive to earnings (7.03 +0.33)

Co announced that through one of its subsidiaries, has acquired the assets of Clixx Direct Marketing Services Inc. Clixx delivers a suite of direct mail, data management, variable imaging and fulfillment solutions. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Co states "We expect this acquisition to be accretive to earnings."

16:34

HS Healthspring announces that it has entered into a new $350 mln senior secured credit facility (17.82 +0.71)

16:33

STMP Stamps.com beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line; guides FY10 EPS in-line, revs in-line (9.08 +0.17)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.18 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the First Call consensus of $0.14; revenues fell 2.7% year/year to $21.7 mln vs the $21.6 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $0.50-0.70, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.60 consensus; sees FY10 revs of $80-90 mln vs. $86.02 mln consensus. During the fourth quarter, the Company repurchased a total of 0.1 million shares for a total cost of $1.2 million. PC Postage gross margin was 77.3%, PhotoStamps gross margin was 23.6% and total gross margin was 70.2%.

16:32

ATW Atwood Oceanics announces unplanned downtime; will negatively impact EPS by $0.15-$0.30, First Call consensus for March qtr is $1.02 (33.92 +0.41)

Co announces that the ATWOOD FALCON, owned and operated by our wholly-owned subsidiary, Atwood Oceanics Pacific, is currently incurring unplanned zero-rate downtime due to equipment repair issues. The company is expediting all repairs; however, the ATWOOD FALCON is expected to be at zero rate for two to five weeks, which will negatively impact diluted earnings per share for the quarter ending March 31, 2010 by $0.15 to $0.30. First Call consenus for March qtr is for EPS of $1.02.

16:31

SNWL SonicWALL beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs above consensus (7.76 +0.04)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.11 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the First Call consensus of $0.10; revenues fell 0.4% year/year to $54.1 mln vs the $52.2 mln consensus. Co issues in-line EPS guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.09-0.10, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.10 consensus; sees Q1 revs of $52-54 mln vs. $50.15 mln consensus.

16:30

OMX OfficeMax announces Sam Duncan, Chairman and CEO, will retire in 2011 (14.52 +0.48)

Co announced that Sam Duncan will retire from his position as chairman and ceo and as a member of the board on February 28, 2011. The board will begin a nationwide search for a new ceo and will consider both internal and external candidates.

16:29

PNSN Penson Worldwide misses by $0.02, beats on revs (7.87 -0.27)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.12 per share, $0.02 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.14; revenues rose 7.7% year/year to $74.4 mln, including $4.9 million in "other" revenue from the sale of LCH, vs the $71.3 mln consensus. Clearnet stock At December 31, 2009, Penson had 290 revenue-generating correspondents compared to 287 at the end of the September 2009 quarter. Securities clearing operations had 241 correspondents, compared to 244; due to Penson's emphasis on increasing the quality of the firms it serves, the impact on revenues from this reduction was immaterial. Penson GHCO futures operations served 49 introducing brokerage firms, compared to 43. Not reflected in the December 31, 2009 count is a "pipeline" of 27 new correspondents, similar to the end of the third quarter. "To that end, we have signed new correspondent agreements with fast growing firms such as TradeKing in the US, and Ord-Minnett and D2MX have become the first two correspondents of our new Australian subsidiary. The pending acquisition of approximately 100 Ridge correspondent contracts from Broadridge remains on track for closing in the second quarter of 2010. The closing is subject to regulatory approval, which is in line with original expectations."

16:29

AB AllianceBernstein announces January 31, 2010 assets under management (25.50 +0.20) -Update-

The co reports that during the month of January, preliminary assets under management decreased by approximately $16 billion, or 3.2%, to $480 billion at January 31, 2010 due to negative equity investment performance and modest net outflows, primarily in the Institutions channel.

16:25

RMKR Rainmaker Sys provides business updates; expects FY10 revenue of $40-$42 mln vs. $50.7 mln two analyst estimate (1.56 +0.01)

Co issues downside guidance for FY10, sees revenue of $40-$42 mln vs. $50.7 mln two analyst estimate. Co also announces that it has been notified by Oracle (ORCL) that some of the programs Rainmaker currently performs for Sun will continue, while others will not be continued past Feb 28, 2010. The programs ORCL will not continue are the contract sales programs. These programs accounted for approximately 13% of RMKR's fiscal 2009 annual revenue and 21% of its 4Q09 revenue. ORCL has indicated that they will be in-sourcing Sun's sales functions. RMKR expects that ORCL will remain a large client, with continuing marketing business currently valued at approx $2 mln in annual revenue and significant opportunities for additional growth. ORCL has requested a buyout of the Rainmaker contracts that they do not plan to continue beyond Feb. 28, 2010. The terms and advance notice provisions of these contracts provide that revenue continue for a minimum term measured through August 31, 2010. Rainmaker also announces that it has acquired privately held Optima, a business-to-business lead development provider that generated 2009 revenue of $2.9 mln, has been profitable for the last three years, and is cash flow positive.

16:25

THRX Theravance reports Q4 results of ($0.35) vs ($0.33) First Call consensus; revs fell 39% year/year to $3.82 mln vs $8.74 mln First Call consensus (10.05 -0.07)

16:25

MOT Motorola targets first quarter 2011 to separate into two publicly traded co's (6.88 +0.25)

Co announced that it is targeting the first quarter of 2011 for its planned separation. Motorola intends to separate into two independent, publicly traded companies. One will include the co's mobile devices and home businesses, and the other will include its enterprise mobility solutions and networks businesses.

16:22

CEPH Cephalon beats by $0.08, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS above consensus, revs in-line; guides FY10 EPS above consensus, raises revs above consensus (66.05 +0.54)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.62 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the First Call consensus of $1.58; revenues rose 6.5% year/year to $575.1 mln vs the $572.5 mln consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $1.60-1.70, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.51 consensus; sees Q1 revs of $575-595 mln vs. $576.53 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $6.80-7.00, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $6.28 consensus; co raises FY10 revs to $2.61-2.69 bln vs. $2.43 bln consensus, up from prior $2.325-2.4 bln. Co reports Provigil revs of $251.3 mln vs. $249 mln First Call Consensus; Treanda revs of $61.6 mln vs. $60 mln First Call Consensus.

16:21

BGC General Cable reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus (28.16 +0.38)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.24 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the First Call consensus of $0.24; revenues fell 24.5% year/year to $1.13 bln vs the $1.07 bln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.05-0.15, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.37 consensus. Capacity utilization and pricing remain difficult.

16:21

Energy Income and Growth Fund (FEN) has commenced a public offering of 700,000 common shares of beneficial interest (22.56 -0.14)

16:21

EVR Evercore Partners and Trilantic Capital Partners announce strategic relationship (30.09 +0.35)

Evercore Partners and Trilantic Capital Partners announce the formation of partnership to pursue private equity investment opportunities for Trilantic's current fund and to collaborate on the future growth of Trilantic's business. Trilantic currently manages two institutional private equity funds with an aggregate capital commitment of approximately $3.9 bln.

16:20

EHTH eHealth beats by $0.04, misses on revs; guides FY10 EPS in-line, revs in-line (17.89 +0.13)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.20 per share, $0.04 better than the First Call consensus of $0.16; revenues rose 16.6% year/year to $34.4 mln vs the $35.4 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $0.63-0.73, excluding investment of just over $3 million to support co's Medicare initiative in 2010, which will impact co's GAAP net income per diluted share for 2010 by approximately $0.08, vs. $0.67 consensus; sees FY10 revs of $148-155 mln vs. $154.02 mln consensus.

16:18

CHH Choice Hotels beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus; guides FY10 EPS in-line (31.69 +0.23)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.43 per share, $0.02 better than the First Call consensus of $0.41; revenues fell 8.9% year/year to $140.7 mln vs the $138.9 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.25 vs. $0.27 consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $1.65-1.70 vs. $1.67 consensus. EBITDA for full-year 2010 are expected to be between $166 million and $170 million. The company expects net domestic unit growth of approximately 2% in 2010; RevPAR is expected to decline approximately 12% for first quarter of 2010 and decline between 2% and 4% for full-year 2010. Co says the uncertainty around the current economic environment and credit market conditions and their impact on travel patterns and hotel development activities makes it difficult to predict future results, particularly as they relate to underlying assumptions for RevPAR, new hotel franchise and relicensing sales and interest and investment income and expense.

16:18

SCOR ComScore releases January 2010 U.S. search engine rankings; Google Sites led the U.S. core search market in January with 65.4% (14.84 +1.82)

Co announces its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace. In January 2010, Americans conducted 15.2 bln core searches. Google Sites led the U.S. core search market in January with 65.4%, down -0.3% from 65.7%, of the searches conducted, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 17.0%, down 0.3% from 17.3%, and Microsoft Sites with 11.3%, up 0.6% from 10.7%. Ask Network captured 3.8%, up 0.1% from 3.7% of the search market, followed by AOL LLC with 2.5%, down 0.1% from 2.6%.

16:17

PNRA Panera Bread reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS above consensus; raises FY10 EPS, still below consensus (72.91 +0.54)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.95 per share, in-line with the First Call consensus of $0.95; revenues rose 2.5% year/year to $367 mln vs the $365.3 mln consensus. Company-owned comparable bakery-cafe sales increased 7.4% on a calendar basis versus the comparable period in fiscal 2008; system-wide comparable bakery-cafe sales in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 increased 6.8% vs the +4.8% consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.74-0.76 vs. $0.73 consensus. First quarter of fiscal 2010 Company-owned comparable bakery-cafe sales growth is targeted at 8.0% to 9.0% versus the comparable period in fiscal 2009. The assumptions underlying this comparable bakery-cafe sales growth target for the first quarter are transaction growth of 3.25% to 3.75% and average check growth of approximately 4.75% to 5.25%, with average check growth consisting of approximately 1.75% price and 3.0% to 3.5% mix impact on average check. The Company announced today Company-owned comparable bakery-cafe sales in the first six weeks of fiscal 2010 were up approximately 8.4% versus the comparable period in fiscal 2009, while franchise-operated comparable bakery-cafe sales were up approximately 9.0% during the same period. In the first quarter of fiscal 2010, the co is targeting approximately 150 to 200 basis points of improvement in operating margin. Co raises guidance, still below consensus for FY10, sees EPS of $3.26-3.34 vs. $3.38 consensus, up from $3.05-3.15 previously. The co's fiscal 2010 target assumes Company-owned comparable bakery-cafe sales growth of 4.5% to 6.5% versus the comparable period in fiscal 2009. This target assumes transaction growth between 1.5% and 2.5% and average check growth of 3.0% to 4.0%. The Company is anticipating that it will take modest price increases during fiscal 2010 to cover inflation in non-food costs. In terms of operating margin expansion, the Company is targeting 75 to 125 basis points of improvement in operating profit as a percent of total revenues in fiscal 2010.

16:16

IIVI II-VI signs $40 mln multi year supply agreement for sapphire windows on the Joint Strike Fighter /F-35 Lightning II (27.05 +0.72)

announced an agreement between its subsidiary Exotic Electro-Optics and Lockheed Martin missiles and fire control for the purchase of sapphire windows for the Joint Strike Fighter/F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter's Electro-Optical Targeting System.

16:16

CAKE Cheesecake Factory beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line (22.66 +0.46)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.28 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the First Call consensus of $0.24; revenues were unchanged from the year-ago period at $400.6 mln. Comparable restaurant sales decreased 0.9% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 from the fourth quarter of the prior year. By concept, comparable restaurant sales decreased 0.7% and 3.9% at The Cheesecake Factory and Grand Lux Cafe, respectively, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 from the fourth quarter of the previous year.

16:15

PRO Pros Holdings beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (8.32 +0.45)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.09 per share, $0.02 better than the First Call consensus of $0.07; revenues fell 14.2% year/year to $16.9 mln vs the $16.9 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.05-0.06 vs. $0.08 consensus; sees Q1 revs of $16.9-17.3 mln vs. $17.33 mln consensus.

16:15

EPIC Epicor Software beats by $0.05, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line (7.56 +0.23)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.19 per share, $0.05 better than the First Call consensus of $0.14; revenues fell 8.2% year/year to $111.9 mln vs the $104.7 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of 0.10 to $0.11 vs. $0.10 consensus; sees Q1 revs of $98 mln to $100 mln vs. $99.31 mln consensus. Epicor Chairman, President and CEO George Klaus commented, "We executed well throughout 2009 against our guidance, coming in at or above guidance on all key metrics. We are encouraged by economic data points that may drive more IT spending by our prospective customers, as well as initial signs of a return to growth in many of the industries we address. These positive metrics are being reflected in our pipelines, which continue to strengthen over last year. We currently expect to experience modest growth across all of our lines of business in 2010 -- excluding hardware -- and we expect to drive an even higher rate of bottom line improvement. We will continue to take a prudently conservative approach to our financial expectations and we plan to continue to build on our track record of executing to our guidance."

16:14

HTGC Hercules Tech announces 4Q09 EPS of $0.26 vs. $0.26 First Call consensus; revenue decreased 24% y/y to $16.7 mln vs $16.3 mln consensus (10.11 +0.21)

Net investment income before taxes during the quarter was $9.4 mln, compared to $11.0 mln in 4Q08. Net investment income before taxes during the quarter was $9.4 mln, compared to $11.0 mln in 4Q08. Total investment assets of $370.4 mln as of December 31, 2009 compared to $581.3 mln as of December 31, 2008, representing a decrease of 36.3% as we added liquidity to our balance sheet. Debt and equity fundings in the quarter totaled approximately $17.0 mln and approximately $800,000, respectively. The co also announced that its board has declared a Q1 cash dividend of $0.20/share.

16:14

RSG Republic Services reports EPS in-line, misses on revs; guides FY10 EPS in-line, revs below consensus (26.22 +0.33)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.33 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the First Call consensus of $0.33; revenues rose 60.6% year/year to $2 bln vs the $2.05 bln consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $1.63-1.67 vs. $1.67 consensus; sees FY10 revs of $8.03-8.16 bln vs. $8.36 bln consensus.

16:13

BWLD Buffalo Wild Wings misses by $0.05, misses on revs; guides FY10 EPS below consensus (48.40 +0.79)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.46 per share, $0.05 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.51; revenues rose 19.6% year/year to $145 mln vs the $148.8 mln consensus. Co says they are confident they can achieve their new annual goals of 13% to 15% unit growth; and 20% net earnings growth in 2010, which calculates to EPS of roughly $2.02 (vs. $2.14 consensus).

16:12

ACAP American Phys beats by $0.11 (27.49 +0.30)

Co reports Q4 EPS of $0.94, $0.11 better than the $0.83 First Call consensus. Direct premiums written were $24.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2009, down $2.9 million or 10.6% from the same period a year ago. Throughout 2009 we continued to experience better than expected loss trends. As a result, we recognized $9.4 million of favorable loss reserve development in the fourth quarter and $36.6 million during the 2009 calendar year. Favorable development in 2009 increased slightly, $0.2 million for the quarter and $4.4 million for the year, from the same periods in 2008.

16:12

DDSS Labopharm announces that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of up to US$20,000,000 of units, with each unit to be comprised of one common share and a warrant to purchase a portion of a common share (2.01 -0.02)

16:11

ROVI Rovi beats by $0.05, beats on revs; reaffirms prior guidance for FY10 (28.30 +0.33)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.50 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the First Call consensus of $0.45; revenues rose 16.8% year/year to $138.0 mln vs the $132.3 mln consensus. Co reaffirms prior guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $1.80-2.00, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.88 consensus; sees FY10 revs of $505-535 mln vs. $529.4 mln consensus.

16:11

MFE McAfee reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line; announces stock buyback and planned retirement of CFO (37.89 +0.55)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.64 per share, in-line with the First Call consensus of $0.64; revenues rose 24.0% year/year to $525.7 mln vs the $514.8 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.60-0.64 vs. $0.63 consensus; sees Q1 revs of $500-520 vs. $507.34 mln consensus. Currency fluctuations had a positive impact on revenue of $23 mln year-over-year and $9 mln quarter-over-quarter. Currency fluctuations had a positive impact of $9 mln on deferred revenue year-over-year and a negative impact of $9 million quarter-over-quarter. Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program of up to $500 mln through December 2011. McAfee also announces today that Rocky Pimentel, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), will be retiring later this year. In anticipation of this upcoming transition, McAfee has initiated an external search for a new CFO and plans to complete this process later this year. Pimentel plans to remain in his role to ease the transition.

16:10

CGNX Cognex beats by $0.06, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs above consensus (17.26 +0.10)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.08 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 better than the First Call consensus of $0.02; revenues fell 1.0% year/year to $51.3 mln vs the $43.3 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs growth of 5% on a sequential basis, which equates to ~$53.9 mln vs. $44.00 mln consensus. Co said, "CGNX expects that revenue in Q1-10 will be higher than in Q4-09, which is not the co's typical experience. Revenue is expected to increase by up to 5% on a sequential basis due to higher revenue from the Factory Automation and SEMI markets. Earnings are also expected to increase over the prior quarter due to the higher than anticipated revenue and significantly lower stock option expense.

16:09

USTR United Stationers beats by $0.05, beats on revs (53.15 -0.15)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.98 per share, $0.05 better than the First Call consensus of $0.93; revenues rose 3.3% year/year to $1.18 bln vs the $1.15 bln consensus. Co also says "Business conditions remain mixed as evidenced by continued high U.S. unemployment, recovering industrial production trends and an improving GDP. As a result, we remain cautious as we enter 2010. First quarter revenues to date are up approximately 5%, reflecting easier comparisons and progress on growth initiatives. However, we do not yet see evidence of an improved product mix." Margins are expected to be reduced by low product cost inflation, especially when compared with high inflation in the first quarter of 2009. Cost containment and operating leverage will remain a primary focus for 2010, helping to offset the reversal of approximately $20 million in compensation and other short-term cost reduction actions taken in 2009. Investments in key growth strategies and innovative services will continue. Capital spending for 2010 is expected to total approximately $30 million.

16:09

TRGT Targacept reports Q4 EPS of ($0.96) vs ($0.34) First Call consensus; revs $3.4 mln vs $4.06 mln First Call consensus (20.69 -0.11)

Based on current operating plans, including expectations related to Targacept's two collaborations with AstraZeneca and its alliance with GlaxoSmithKline, Targacept expects net operating revenues for the year ending December 31, 2010 to be in the range of $80 million to $90 million vs $80.58 mln First Call consensus, operating expenses for the year ending December 31, 2010 to also be in the range of $80 million to $90 million, and to have a balance of at least $230 million in cash, cash equivalents and investments at December 31, 2010. This financial guidance includes both cash and non-cash revenue and expense items. In addition, Targacept expects that its current cash resources will be sufficient to meet its operating requirements at least through the end of 2013.

16:09

AB AllianceBernstein beats by $0.09, beats on revs (25.50 +0.20)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.62 per share, $0.09 better than the First Call consensus of $0.53; revenues rose 34.6% year/year to $782 mln vs the $752.2 mln consensus. Total assets under management as of December 31, 2009 were $496 billion, down $2 billion from the third quarter of 2009, as net outflows of $16.8 billion were largely offset by positive investment performance. In the Institutions channel, net outflows increased to $15.6 billion from $10.0 billion in the third quarter of 2009. However, our pipeline of won but unfunded Institutional mandates increased by 6% sequentially to $3.6 billion. Net outflows in our other channels decreased sequentially, from $1.9 billion to $400 million in Retail and from $1.0 billion to $800 million in Private Client.... Comments on Spreads: "While spreads in the credit markets have contracted significantly from the high levels reached in 2009, the opportunity for out-performance of non-government sectors still looks attractive in the global fixed income marketplace. Spreads in nearly all markets, with the exception of agency mortgage backed securities, are still above historical averages and, if as we expect, the economic recovery continues, there will be opportunity for excess returns. While interest rates on government securities are expected to normalize, the record steepness in most yield curves should help to cushion the impact of rising rates on returns.

16:08

QDEL Quidel beats by $0.20, beats on revs (13.10 +0.30)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.67 per share, $0.20 better than the First Call consensus of $0.47; revenues rose 98.8% year/year to $66.6 mln vs the $55.1 mln consensus. Co states that, "Global demand for our QuickVue Influenza products was sustained throughout the fourth quarter 2009, driving the near doubling of revenues for the period compared to 2008," said Douglas Bryant, president and CEO of Quidel Corporation. "We believe the results for the quarter reflect the impact of the pandemic combined with continued adoption and market penetration as physicians and hospitals continue to recognize the utility in diagnosing patients at the point-of-care with our rapid influenza products."

16:07

RNWK RealNetworks misses by $0.05, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs below consensus (4.57 +0.18)

Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.11 per share, $0.05 worse than the First Call consensus of ($0.06); revenues fell 4.7% year/year to $145.5 mln vs the $143.5 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, expects overall revenue to decline by up to 12% year-over-year and up to 15% sequentially -- equates to ~$123 mln vs. $137.11 mln consensus. The net loss for the fourth quarter of 2009 included impairment and restructuring charges of $(7.4) million, or $(0.05) per share. As a result of the decline in revenue, Real expects adjusted EBITDA excluding impairments for the first quarter of 2010 to be below the first quarter of 2009. Compared with the year-earlier quarter, the company expects first-quarter revenue for Music, Media Software and Services, Games and Technology Products and Solutions to decline. Sequentially, the company expects revenue to be flat in Games, and to decline in Music, Media Software and Services and Technology Products and Solutions, with the largest decline in Technology Products and Solutions, primarily as a result of fourth quarter business seasonality.

16:07

CSTR Coinstar reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides FY10 EPS in-line, revs in-line (27.93 +1.17)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.32 per share, excluding approximately ($0.14) per diluted share related to the non-cash goodwill impairment charge, in-line with the First Call consensus of $0.32; revenues rose 43.9% year/year to $328 mln vs the $328.1 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $1.50-1.65 vs. $1.56 consensus; sees FY10 revs of $1.465-1.565 bln vs. $1.5 bln consensus. "Surpassing $1 billion in revenue and generating significant cash flow and earnings in 2009 were remarkable accomplishments that reflect the strength of our core Coin and DVD businesses," said Paul Davis, chief executive officer of Coinstar, Inc. "In 2010, we will continue to engage our consumers and expand our retailer partnerships through innovative initiatives that position us for continued top and bottom line growth."

16:06

MFE McAfee board authorizes up to $500 mln stock repurchase program (37.41 -0.04) -Update-

16:06

ENOC EnerNOC beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus; guides FY10 EPS in-line, revs in-line (33.67 +1.47)

Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.64 per share, $0.01 better than the First Call consensus of ($0.65); revenues rose 35.5% year/year to $26.7 mln vs the $24.7 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of ($0.70)-(0.76) vs. ($0.56) consensus; sees Q1 revs of $24-26 mln vs. $28.39 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $0.24-0.34 vs. $0.28 consensus; sees FY10 revs of $255-268 mln vs. $257.84 mln consensus.

16:06

SSRI Silver Standard announces public offering of common shares (18.30 +0.32)

Co announces it has filed a preliminary prospectus supplement to its amended and restated short form base shelf prospectus with the securities commissions in each of the provinces of Canada, other than Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island, and has made a similar filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with a public offering of its common shares to raise gross proceeds of approximately US$100 million

16:06

BEC Beckman Coulter beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides FY10 EPS in-line, revs above consensus (63.75 -0.10)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.29 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the First Call consensus of $1.26; revenues rose 22.0% year/year to $989.6 mln vs the $963.2 mln consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $4.40-4.55, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $4.50 consensus; sees FY10 revs of $3.8-3.9 bln vs. $3.78 bln consensus.

16:06

BJRI BJ Restaurants beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line (21.13 +0.17)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.12 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the First Call consensus of $0.11; revenues rose 13.4% year/year to $112.6 mln vs the $111.6 mln consensus. Co said, "While we do not expect consumer spending for restaurant occasions to significantly recover during 2010, we remain confident in BJ's ability to gain market share in the estimated $80 billion casual dining segment."

16:05

CML Compellent Technologies misses by $0.02, beats on revs (21.75 +0.28)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.07 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.09; revenues rose 34.5% year/year to $36.3 mln vs the $35.5 mln consensus. Co says it remains positive about the growing demand for its storage technology and it continues to build its presence in new markets, taking mind and market share from the competition.

16:05

SVR Syniverse Holdings beats by $0.10, beats on revs; guides FY10 revs below consensus (16.20 +0.28)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.46 per share, $0.10 better than the First Call consensus of $0.36; revenues rose 14.3% year/year to $143.9 mln vs the $134.5 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for FY10, sees FY10 revs of $590-$620 mln vs. $626.44 mln consensus.

16:05

MOH Molina Healthcare misses by $0.02, reports revs in-line; reaffirms FY10 EPS guidance, revs guidance (21.61 +0.24)

Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.18 per share, $0.02 worse than the First Call consensus of ($0.16); revenues rose 18.7% year/year to $964.2 mln vs the $961.1 mln consensus. Co reaffirms guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $1.50 vs. $1.55 consensus; sees FY10 revs of 3.9 bln vs. $4 bln consensus. Co states that, "Despite an extremely difficult environment in 2009, particularly in the fourth quarter, our company weathered the conditions and remained profitable," said J. Mario Molina, M.D., chief executive officer of Molina Healthcare, Inc. "Our strong growth in enrollment and premium revenues during the year, combined with our resolve and long-term view developed over thirty years of providing care to low-income populations, positions us well for greater success in 2010 and in the years ahead."

16:05

FFG FBL Financial reports Q4 (Dec) results (18.37 +1.05)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.10 per share, including gain, may not be comparable to the First Call consensus of $0.62. FFG's previously announced reinsurance transaction, effective October 1, 2009, resulted in a one-time after-tax gain of $7.2 million, or $0.24 per share. As of December 31, 2009, the book value per share of FBL Financial Group common stock totaled $28.49, an increase of 237% from $8.46 at December 31, 2008.

16:04

SNMX Senomyx announces propeosed public offering of common stock (3.15 -0.42)

Co announced today that it is offering to sell, subject to market and other conditions, $20 mln worth of shares of its common stock pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement in an underwritten public offering. Deutsche Bank is acting as sole book-running manager for the offering. Roth Capital Partners is acting as co-manager of the offering.

16:04

NILE Blue Nile misses by $0.03, misses on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs in-line (52.56 +1.65)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.35 per share, $0.03 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.38; revenues rose 19.9% year/year to $102.9 mln vs the $106.2 mln consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.14-0.16 vs. $0.20 consensus; sees Q1 revs of $71.5-75 mln vs. $74.70 mln consensus. "Blue Nile delivered excellent fourth quarter results with strong sales and earnings growth," said Diane Irvine, Chief Executive Officer. "Our brand and our value proposition are resonating with consumers both in the U.S. and in international markets. We are excited about the significant growth opportunities we see ahead and expect to further expand our market share in 2010 and beyond." On February 9, 2010, Blue Nile's Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to $100 million of the Company's common stock over 24 months.

16:03

CMG Chipotle Mexican Grill beats by $0.18, reports revs in-line (101.12 +1.61)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.99 per share, $0.18 better than the First Call consensus of $0.81; revenues rose 12.2% year/year to $387.5 mln vs the $388.2 mln consensus. The growth in revenue was the direct result of new restaurants not in the comparable base and a 2.0% increase in comparable restaurant sales. Comparable restaurant sales growth was driven by the impact of menu price increases taken in the 4th quarter of 2008. Restaurant level margins were 24.5% in the quarter, an increase of 340 basis points over prior year. The increase was primarily driven by the impact of menu price increases during 2008 and labor efficiencies. For 2010, management expects the following: 120-130 new restaurant openings; Flat comparable restaurant sales; An effective tax rate of approximately 38.5%.

16:02

PRAA Portfolio Recovery Assoc. beats by $0.08, beats on revs (44.42 +1.01)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.80 per share, $0.08 better than the First Call consensus of $0.72; revenues rose 9.4% year/year to $73.2 mln vs the $71.4 mln consensus.

16:01

ZGEN Zymogenetics beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides FY10 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (5.53 +0.39)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.19 per share, $0.01 better than the First Call consensus of $0.18; revenues rose 72.5% year/year to $62.1 mln vs the $59.7 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for FY10, sees EPS of ($0.41)-($0.23) vs. ($0.80) consensus; sees FY10 revs of $125-140 mln vs. $117.98 mln consensus.

15:58

SPY Trading volume analysis-- Exchange trading volume pacing better than yesterday's light totals, but looking below average -Technical-

Both NYSE & NASDAQ trading volume appear to be heading to the close on volume totals above yesterday's anemic levels, but final tally's may end below averages even as the indices hold mostly broad based gains signalling a potential lack of mutual fund & institutional participation today.

NYSE 60 min volume

NASDAQ 60 min volume

15:50

KOL Late day sector ETF view -Technical-

Actively Traded Leading Sector ETF Plays:

Coal- KOL +4.75%, Gold miners- GDX +4.0%, SPDRS metals & mining- XME +4.0%, Steel- SLX +3.75%, Base metals- DBB +3.25%, Global shippers- SEA +2.75%, Silver- SLV +2.75%, Solar power- TAN +2.50%, SPDRS homebuilders- XHB +2.50%, iShares Brazil- EWZ +2.25%, Emerging mkts- EEM +2.25%, China 25- FXI +2.25%, India- INP +2.0%, iShares S Korea- EWY +2.25%, Oil HLDRS- OIH +2.25%, Ag/chem- MOO +2.0%, Semis- SMH +2.0%, IGW +2.0%

Actively Traded Lagging Sector ETF Plays:

VIX vol index- VXX -2.0%, Regional banks- KRE -0.75%, RKH -0.25%, US bonds- TLT -0.50%, BND -0.25%, AGG -0.25%, Euro currency shares- FXE -0.50%, Livestock commods- COW -0.25%

15:17

FOLD Amicus Therapeutics Presents Positive Data Update From Phase 2 Extension Study of Amigal(TM) for Fabry Disease (3.91 +0.57)

Co announces additional positive preliminary data from its ongoing Phase 2 extension study of its investigational drug Amigal for Fabry disease at the Lysosomal Disease Network WORLD Symposium in Miami, Florida. The Company also presented encouraging data from preclinical studies evaluating the combination of pharmacological chaperones and enzyme replacement therapy for Fabry disease and Pompe disease as well as from preclinical studies examining the use of pharmacological chaperones for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

15:13

ABT Abbott Labs receives U.S. FDA approval for heat-stable Norvir (ritonavir) tablets (53.56 +0.30)

14:55

ATVI NASDAQ 100 (NDX) leaders & laggards moving into today's final hour of trading -Technical-

NDX 100 Best % Performers:

ATVI +9.50%, WYNN +6.50%, MRVL +5.25%, JOYG +5.0%, NVDA +5.0%, STLD +4.75%, FSLR +4.0%, NIHD +4.0%, LRCX +3.25%, VRTX +3.0%, YHOO +2.75%, ILMN +2.75%

NDX 100 Worst % Performers:

FLIR -7.5%, EXPE -5.75%, XRAY -2.75%, APOL -2.25%, URBN -0.50%, EXPD -0.50%, ADBE -0.25%, AMGN -0.25%

NASDAQ TRIN @ +.45

NASDAQ A/D @ +1095

14:53

COMDX NYMEX Energy Closing Prices

Crude oil finished higher by 76 cents to $75.28, natural gas gained 10.5 cents to close at $5.397, heating oil ended up 1.67 cents to $1.9636 and RBOB gasoline settled higher by 0.58 cents to $1.9348.

14:52

CAT Dow (INDU) leaders & laggards moving into today's final hour of trading -Technical-

INDU Best % Performers:

CAT +5.75%, AA +3.25%, INTC +2.0%, BA +1.75%, MMM +1.75%, CVX +1.50%, MRK +1.50%

INDU Worst % Performers:

UTX -0.25%, BAC -0.25%

NYSE TRIN @ +.90

NYSE A/D @ +1470

14:37

SPY Minor new high for S&P +10.3 and Nasdaq +29 but Dow +107 has not yet confirmed the move -Update- -Technical-

The fractional new high for the S&P has brought resistance in the 1080/1082 area into play.

14:30

SII Smith Intl agrees to acquire at Balance (32.13 +0.34)

Co announces it has agreed to acquire @Balance, B.V. from Shell Technology Ventures Fund 1 B.V. "We are excited about the managed pressure drilling growth opportunities and, specifically, the technologies and capabilities of At Balance to address this market," stated John Yearwood, CEO of Smith International. "Whether providing wellbore stability while drilling through depleted zones, managing high-pressure/high-temperature environments or providing the service as part of our drilling optimization offering, we believe that managed pressure drilling is yet another value enhancing technology that fits with our vision to provide top-quartile drilling performance for our customers. Today, At Balance's primary markets are outside of North America and in deepwater drilling applications, key markets of expected secular growth that are aligned with Smith's strategic objectives."

14:28

THQI THQ Inc and Syfy enter into strategic alliance to create and publish original content across all major media platforms (6.09 +0.20)

Syfy, television and online destination for imagination based entertainment, and THQ Inc. (THQI) announced that they have entered into a comprehensive strategic alliance through which the companies plan to create new concepts/intellectual property as well as develop some of the world's premier video game franchises into fully integrated multi-platform properties. The first property in the strategic alliance will be the critically acclaimed de Blob franchise.

14:27

SAFM Sanderson Farms moves to all-time highs, trading above the 2008 peak @ 50.45 as price breaks out from 50.00 weekly resistance (50.58 +.96) -Update- -Technical-

SAFM has outperformed the broad markets this month on a relative strength basis with shares closing higher on all but two days thus far this month.

HoD now @ 50.65.

13:35

COMDX COMEX Metals Closing Prices

April gold finished higher by $18.90 to $1095.20, March silver ended up 29 cents to $15.59, and March copper rallied for 14.45 cents to settle at $3.1335.

13:29

XLF Sector Relative Strength -Update- -Technical-

Sectors that are outperforming the S&P on the latest push to new highs include: Finance XLF / RKH, Energy XLE / OIH, Semi SMH, Materials XLB, Ag/Chem MOO, Utility UTIL, Shipping SEA, Gold Miners GDX, Steel SLX, Rail.

13:23

SPY Stock indices edging back toward session highs -- Dow +101, S&P +9, Nasdaq +27 -Update- -Technical-

The S&P high for the week is at 1079 with a resistance zone just above in the 1080/1082 area.

13:10

TECHX 30 yr yield -TYX- probes/pauses near its eight month close high from Jan at 4.72 -- session high 4.71 -Update- -Technical-

Higher yields (new high in the TYX) has thus far had little impact on the Dollar Index (minor upticks) with stock indices range trading not far from the midday/session highs.

13:02

EW Edwards Lifesciences board approves new $500 mln share repurchase program (86.31 +0.57) -Update-

Co announced that its board has authorized a new share repurchase program to acquire up to an additional $500 mln of the company's outstanding common shares. Co expects to complete its current $250 mln share repurchase program, which was authorized in July 2008, during the current quarter.

12:50

KOL Midday sector ETF view -Technical-

Actively Traded Leading Sector ETF Plays:

Coal- KOL +4.25%, SPDRS metals & mining- XME +3.50%, Gold miners- GDX +3.25%, Steel- SLX +3.0%, Base metals- DBB +3.0%, Silver- SLV +2.50%, SPDRS homebuilders- XHB +2.50%, China 25- FXI +2.25%, India- INP +2.25%, Emerging mkts- EEM +2.0%, iShares Brazil- EWZ +2.0%, Semis- SMH +2.0%, IGW +2.0%, Gold- GLD +2.0%

Actively Traded Lagging Sector ETF Plays:

VIX vol. index- VXX -1.50%, US bonds- TLT -0.50%, BND -0.25%, Euro currecny shares- FXE -0.50%, REgional banks- KRE -0.25%, RKH -0.25%, Livestock commods- COW -0.25%

12:48

AET Aetna: Moody's reviews Aetna's ratings (A3 senior debt) for possible downgrade (28.80 +0.15)

Moody's Investors Service placed Aetna's ratings under review for possible downgrade following the company's earnings release for fourth quarter 2009 and initial 2010 earnings guidance. Commenting on the review for possible downgrade, Moody's said that while Aetna's business profile remains strong with a strong national brand, diverse membership base and limited exposure to government products (Medicare Advantage and Medicaid), there are concerns that the lower earnings results reported in 2009 and projected for 2010 would continue beyond the next year. The net after-tax margin for 2009 was 3.7% and is projected to be lower in 2010, compared to an average net after-tax margin of over 6% for the five years prior. A similar analysis of the company's combined medical loss ratio (MLR) shows an MLR above 85% for 2009 with the guidance for 2010 implying an MLR at the same level, compared to the historical average of below 80%. The rating agency stated that given the uncertainties regarding the economic climate and the future path of healthcare reform, Aetna's multi-year re-pricing strategy to restore underwriting margins closer to historical levels presents a number of risks as regulatory changes and/or an unexpected increase in medical cost trend could undermine Aetna's efforts.

12:39

SPY Trading volume analysis-- Exchange trading volume diverges here at midday with NYSE pacing heavier than yesterday while NASDAQ lags-- See volume charts -Technical-

Here @ midday, trading volume remains rather subdued as the indices hold firm gains well off 1st hour lows. Yesterday witnessed some of the lightest trading volume totals YTD as the inclement weather along the Eastern seaboard was mostly to blame. Today, NYSE volume is tracking higher than yesterday's midday total while NASDAQ actually comes in a bit under yesterday's even as the index (COMPQ, & NDX 100) display the relative strength versus the INDU & broader measure SPX.

As of 12:30ET, nearly 452M have change hands on NYSE vs. 428M yesterday, while over on NASDAQ, 1B shares have traded vs. 1.02B yesterday.

NYSE 60 min volume

NASDAQ 60 min volume

12:33

AGNC Volume Alert -- American Capital Agency drops to fresh lows on a pick up in volume, decling over $0.70 during past 6 mins as it breaks below its Jan-Feb range low (25.23 -1.19) -Technical-

Stock currently coming into its Oct-Nov range low of 25.00, with the 200-day ema below at 24.70.

12:18

UUP Dollar Index intraday retreat from resistance helps to underpin -Update- -Technical-

Noted in the 10:55 update that the Dollar Index was probing resistance at the high for the week at 80.53 (session high 80.50). It stalled at this barrier and rolled over which as the 5 min chart highlights, was followed by a strong intraday run in the stock indices.

11:51

HPQ Hewlett-Packard notches new high of 48.82, probing high for the week at 48.84 (48.78 +0.76) -Update- -Technical-

Last week's high, which marks the high for the month, is slightly above at 48.89.

11:48

Rumor Round Up

Today marketed the first extremely busy rumor morning we have seen in a long while. At the open Jazz Pharma (JAZZ 9.32 +0.10) saw a spike in price and volume following takeover rumors, with the rumored acquirer being Teva Pharma (TEVA 58.33 +1.46). AMAG Pharma (AMAG 37.55 +0.80) shares spiked following an Amgen (AMGN 58.27 +0.79) for AMAG rumor. AMAG has been having trouble trading through the $37.60 area, and has been trading sideways since. Novatel Wireless (NVTL 7.24 +0.11) saw a spike in price and volume following a rumor that AT&T (T 25.27 +0.15) could be interested in the co. As mentioned before, while many rumors circulate during the day, and the validity of the source of these rumors can be questionable the speculation may increase volatility in the near term.

11:47

IYR Relative sector strength as the indices run to fresh highs -- Dow +87, S&P +7.9, Nasdaq +20 -Technical-

Outperforming the S&P on the rally include Energy XLE / OIH, Commodity Index, Materials XLB, Steel SLX, Ag/Chem MOO, Gold Miners (Dollar Index pulling back off highs) along with REITs IYR, Shipping SEA, Solar TAN.

11:36

SPY Stock indices jump to new session highs, S&P +3.6 thus far fails to confirm breach of yesterday's peak -- Dow +49, Nasdaq +13 -Update- -Technical-

The S&P held above intraday support at 1062 noted in the 10:27 update and has run higher but it has thus far not been able to breach yesterday's peak at 1073

11:30

QQQQ NASDAQ 100 Trust leads the recent surge as large cap tech. stocks are firm along with some technical action on the intraday chart (43.40 +.38) -Update- -Technical-

AAPL, AMZN, BIDU, GOOG, & RIMM all into positive territory here as the NQ e~mini futures & corresponding QQQQ ETF break a sloping trendline that has defined the intra-week trend/direction.

11:28

SWM 200-Day Alert -- Schweitzer-Mauduit continues to aggressively slip lower as it sinks down for a test of its 200-day ema at 53.11 (53.60 -16.53) -Update- -Technical-

Would note that the stock has not tested this specific moving average since April of last year.

11:24

COMDX Gold trades to fresh highs at $1089.20; now higher by $12.40 to $1088.70

Silver and gold are also moving higher, but are not trading at their best levels. Silver is currently higher by 14 cents to $15.44 while crude oil is off 2 cents to $74.50.

11:17

BABY Creekridge Capital signs agreement with Natus Medical to provide leasing (13.00 -0.25)

Co announces that Creekridge Capital LLC, a nationwide independent healthcare and technology vendor leasing company, has signed an agreement with Natus Medical to provide financing for the complete line of Natus products.

11:17

SMH Semiconductors Hldrs Trust testing session high and early week peak at 25.60/25.62 (25.60 +0.26) -Technical-

11:14

QQQQ Market averages attempting to lift, Nasdaq Comp +1.7 sets minor new rebound high -- Dow +5, S&P -0.5 -Technical-

11:02

MA MasterCard edges above yesterday's peak at 227.86, this week's high and its five day range top is at 228.65 (228.12 +1.22) -Update- -Technical-

10:57

SWM Schweitzer-Mauduit sinks to fresh gap down lows as it nears a test of the 60.00 area (60.74 -9.50) -Technical-

10:55

UUP Dollar Index pushes to new session high -Technical-

The Dollar Index continues to work higher this morning with it recently probing the high for the week at 80.52 (session high 80.50). The Feb/seven month intraday comes into play at 80.68.

10:52

COMDX Crude oil moves to fresh lows at $73.72; now lower by 73 cents to $73.79

10:47

OPK Opko Health announces development of blood test for Alzheimer's disease (2.03 +0.29)

Co announced the development of a simple diagnostic blood test for Alzheimer's disease. The test, designed to detect elevated levels of antibodies unique to Alzheimer's disease, was approximately 95% accurate in initial testing.

10:37

XLF Financial Select Sector SPDR not participating thus far (13.83 -0.08) -Update- -Technical-

The sector has not participated in the overall markets recovery attempt with the XLF pulling back near support at its early low of 13.79 in recent trade -- JPM -0.8%, WFC -1.3%, GS -0.6%, MS -1%, BAC -0.35, BK -0.7%, STT -0.9%, USB -1.1%.

10:35

KOL 1st hour sector ETF view -Technical-

Actively Traded Leading Sector ETF Plays:

Coal- KOL +2.50%, SPDRS metals & mining- XME +2.0%, Gold miners- GDX +1.25%, iShares transports- IYT +1.25%, Steel- SLX +1.25%, SPDRS homebuilders- XHB +1.25%, China 25- FXI +1.0%, Nat gas- UNG +1.0%, India- INP +0.75% iShares basic materials- IYM +0.50%, VIX vol. index- VXX +1.25%

Actively Traded Lagging Sector ETF Plays:

Regional banks- KRE -1.0%, RKH -1.0%, Wind energy- FAN -1.0%, iShares REITS- ICF -1.0%, Euro currency shares- FXE -0.75%, Livestock commods- COW -0.75%, RBOB gas- UGA -0.75%, Insurers- KIE -0.75%, Financials- XLF -0.50%, IYF -0.50%

10:33

XHB SPDR Homebuilders set new high for the week (15.58 +0.19) -Update- -Technical-

Noted relative strength on the early bounce in the XHB with the recent extension breaking above this week's trading range top at 15.51 (session high 15.61). Intraday supports are at the recent range top and the 15.42/15.35 area. Resistances above are at 15.66 and the 15.89/15.93 zone (congestion/Feb high) -- MTH +1.5%, LEN +7%, MDC +1.7%, PHM +2.4%, SPF +2.7%, TOL +2.1%, HOV +1.9%, KBH +2.2%, DHI +1.9%.

10:33

PLX Protalix BioTherapeutics announces data from the Phase III trial demonstrates that taliglucerase alfa is well tolerated and clinically effective in treating Gaucher disease (7.55 +0.36)

Co announces that additional data from the Company's pivotal Phase III clinical trial of taliglucerase alfa in patients with Gaucher disease was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Lysosomal Disease Network: WORLD Symposium 2010 in Miami, Florida, during an oral session titled, "Novel Enzyme Replacement Therapy for Gaucher Disease: Phase III Pivotal Clinical Trial with Plant Cell Expressed Recombinant Glucocerebrosidase - taliglucerase alfa." The oral presentation was made by Hanna Rosenbaum M.D., Director of Hematology Day Care Unit, RAMBAM Medical Center, Haifa, Israel, and study investigator. "I believe the data from the Phase III trial demonstrates that taliglucerase alfa is well tolerated and clinically effective in treating Gaucher disease," said Dr. Hanna Rosenbaum. Taliglucerase alfa significantly reduced mean spleen volume after nine months compared with baseline in both treatment groups. The 60 U/kg group demonstrated a statistically significant mean reduction in spleen volume of 38.0% and the 30 U/kg group demonstrated a significant mean reduction in spleen volume of 26.9%. In addition, the primary endpoint was achieved in both treatment groups after only 6 months of therapy.

10:28

ATVI NASDAQ 100 (NDX) leaders & laggards moving through today's 1st hour of trading -Technical-

NDX 100 Best % Performers:

ATVI +7.5%, NVDA +3.75%, STLD +3.0%, FSLR +3.0%, WYNN +2.5%, MRVL +2.25%, JOYG +2.0%, TEVA +1.75%, NRG +1.5%

NDX 100 Worst % Performers:

FLIR -7.0%, EXPE -6.75%, APOL -3.25%, XRAY -2.0%, LOGI -1.75%, FWLT -1.50%, URBN -1.25%, INTU -1.0%, SRCL -0.75%

NASDAQ TRIN @ +.55

NASDAQ A/D @ -260

10:27

SPY S&P 500 tests/pauses at intraday resistance -Update- -Technical-

The index staged a solid intraday rebound near support but has paused near resistance noted in the 09:37 update at 1068. A posture above 1065 and 1062 during this pause will keep the door open to intraday follow through. Next short term resistance of interest is at 1074/1075.

10:24

MMM Dow (INDU) leaders & laggards moving through today's 1st hour of trading -Technical-

INDU Best % Performers:

MMM +1.0%, AA +1.0%, HPQ +0.50%, CAT +0.50%, INTC +0.50%

INDU Worst % Performers:

GE -0.75%, MSFT -0.50%, JPM -0.50%, T -0.50%, DIS -0.50%

NYSE TRIN @ +1.15

NYS A/D @ -15

10:22

OXGN OXiGENE announces restructuring to focus resources on key programs and provides business update (1.22 -0.09)

Co announces a restructuring plan designed to focus resources on the company's highest-value clinical assets and reduce its cash utilization. Key aspects of the restructuring and its effects on the Company's current clinical trials are as follows: OXiGENE will continue to advance its high-priority Phase 2 ZYBRESTAT trial in non-small cell lung cancer (FALCON study), with updated safety and efficacy results anticipated for presentation at the upcoming American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in June 2010. OXiGENE plans to stop further enrollment in the Phase 2/3 FACT clinical trial in anaplastic thyroid cancer, but will continue to treat and follow all patients who are currently enrolled. The OXi4503 Phase 1b trial in patients with hepatic tumors will continue with an interim analysis expected in mid-2010. The Phase 2 FAVOR study of ZYBRESTAT in polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV), a form of macular degeneration, will continue with an interim analysis expected in the first half of 2010. Future development decisions concerning the OXi4503 program and the ZYBRESTAT for ophthalmology program will be made following these analyses and additional review by OXiGENE's management and board of directors. In addition, the Company is reducing its workforce by 20 employees or approximately 49%. The co is offering severance benefits to the terminated employees, and anticipates recording a charge of approximately $600,000, primarily associated with personnel-related termination costs, which will be recognized in the first quarter of 2010. Substantially all of the charge is expected to represent cash expenditures. Beginning in the second quarter of 2010, the Company expects the reduction to generate annual expense savings of approximately $2.6 million.

10:20

EW Edwards Lifesciences: German Appellate Court affirms Edwards Lifesciences' transcatheter valve patent not infringed by CoreValve (85.64 -0.17)

Co announces that the Appellate Court of Dusseldorf, Germany, has affirmed a lower court decision that CoreValve does not infringe Edwards' German patent for its transcatheter heart valve technology. The ruling has no effect on sales of the Edwards SAPIEN transcatheter valve in Germany or any other country.

10:18

PM Philip Morris International beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides FY10 EPS in-line (48.06 +1.24)

As mentioned earlier co reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.81 per share, $0.02 better than the First Call consensus of $0.79; revenues rose 9.7% year/year to $6.72 bln vs the $6.49 bln consensus. Co also announces new $12 bln share repurchase program. Co issues in-line guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $3.75-3.85 vs. $3.82 consensus.

10:15

GDX Mkt Vctrs Gold Miners set new high of 43.02, hovering modestly under this week's peak and its 200 day sma at 43.11/43.28 (42.83 +0.48) -Technical-

ABX, NEM, AEM, AU, FCX, GFI, GG, HMY, KGC.

10:14

XHB Sector Watch -Update- -Technical-

Broad based bounce after probing support (see 10:12 for chart) with sector leadership coming from Housing XHB, Semi SMH, Energy XLE / OIH, Steel SLX, Gold Miners GDX, Casino, REITs IYR.

10:12

SPY S&P held near support and after a pause has pushed to a fresh rebound high -Update- -Technical-

The index held above important support noted in The Technical Take and has extended (Click for chart).

10:09

TLT iShares 20+ yr Treasuries ETF sinks to session & monthly lows with price breaking down to the 90.00 mark ahead of the 30-yr auction due @ 1:00ET (90.06 -.25) -Technical-

$16B in 30 years coming to market with yields at the highest levels since Jan. 14, now @ 4.655%.

TLT LoD now @ 90.02

10:04

CSX Rails provide some leadership -Technical-

Noted relative strength in Rails in an earlier update and have seen some upside extension in recent trade -- CSX +3.8%, UNP +2.2%, NSC +2.4%, KSU +3.3%.

09:56

AAPL Apple slides to new session low of 194.40 but thus far holding above yesterday's trough at 194.26 (194.97 -0.15) -Update- -Technical-

09:54

TECHX Sector relative strength on bounce as stock indices hold above yesterday lows -Update- -Technical-

Seeing relative strength (outperforming the S&P) on the bounce attempt in Rail, Airline, Shipping SEA, Casino, Solar TAN, Housing XHB.

09:53

CGC Capital Gold and Nayarit Gold enter into business combination agreement (3.50 -0.02)

The co and Nayarit Gold jointly announced that they have entered into an agreement with respect to a proposed business combination in an all-share transaction subject to the completion of satisfactory due diligence, receipt of Nayarit and Capital Gold shareholder approval, receipt by Nayarit of a fairness opinion, regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of certain other conditions. The transaction is expected to close in May 2010. Capital Gold is a gold production and exploration company with operations in Mexico. Nayarit is a Canadian mineral exploration company with a NI 43-101 resource estimate and a preliminary economic analysis on its flagship property in Nayarit, Mexico. Pursuant to the terms of the Agreement, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of all conditions, all of the Nayarit common shares issued and outstanding immediately prior to the consummation of the business combination shall become exchangeable into the common stock of Capital Gold on the basis of .134048 shares of Company common stock for each one (1) Nayarit Common Share.

09:51

AIG American Intl climbs higher off the open as it lifts up into yesterday's momentum high of 27.64 -- 50-day ema overhead near 28.05 (27.65 +0.61) -Update- -Technical-

09:47

SPY Stock indices slide to new session lows, holding thus far above yesterday's lows -- Dow -53, S&P =6.8, Nasdaq -12.6 -Update- -Technical-

09:45

TECHX Sector Pressure -Technical-

Sectors that are weighing on the early action are being led by: Networking -1.9%, Utility UTIL -1.5%, Defense -1.2%, Healthcare -1.1%, REITs IYR -1%, Housing XHB -1%, Telecom IYZ -0.9%, Reg Bank KRE -0.9%, Insurance KIE -0.9%, Auto Parts -0.9%.

09:43

PEP PepsiCo shares move higher on earnings with price probing both the underside of the 50-day SMA & the current Feb. high in place @ 61.40 (61.32 +.94) -Update- -Technical-

PEP HoD now @ 61.38 & + 1.4% vs. SPX -0.45%

09:37

SPY S&P 500 attempting to stabilize after short lived minor breach of 1064 support -- S&P -3, Dow -20, Nasdaq -5.2 -Update- -Technical-

Important intraday resistance to clear is at 1067/1068.

09:37

GRC Gorman-Rupp Company reports EPS in-line, misses on revs (23.26 -0.24)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.22 per share, in-line with the First Call consensus of $0.22; revenues fell 23.2% year/year to $62.2 mln vs the $64 mln consensus. Net sales during the quarter continued to be negatively impacted by the global recession. The decline in shipments for the quarter was across most of the markets the co serves, with the largest declines in the construction, industrial, municipal, fire protection and original equipment markets. Backlog of orders was $93.7 million at December 31, 2009 compared to $107.8 million the year before, with the largest decline coming from the original equipment market.

09:22

BSDM BSD Medical announces registered direct offering of common stock and warrants in aggregate amount of $2 million (1.91 )

Co announces that it entered into a securities purchase agreement with two institutional investors for the sale of 1,176,471 shares of its common stock in a registered direct offering at $1.70 per share. In addition, warrants to purchase 882,354 shares of common stock in the aggregate will be issued to the investors. The warrants are exercisable beginning six months and one day after closing, expire 5 years after becoming exercisable and have an exercise price of $2.04 per share. Gross proceeds of the offering, before deducting placement agent fees and other estimated offering expenses payable by BSD Medical Corporation, are expected to be approximately $2 million.

09:12

MFA MFA Mortgage: Earnings Color (6.99 ) -Update-

MFA reported Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.27 per share including impairment losses, and gains in line with the First Call consensus of $0.27 which according to First Call impairment charges have been included in estimates in the past. Net interest income increased 43.5% y/y to $75.2 mln. During 4Q09, MFA's portfolio spread, which is the difference between MFA's interest-earning asset portfolio (including cash balances) net yield of 5.23% and its 2.50% cost of funds, was 2.73%. During Q4, MFA's MBS net spread, which is the difference between MFA's MBS net yield of 5.57% and its cost of funds, was 3.07%. At Dec. 31, 2009, Agency MBS and related receivables totaled $7.7 bln, Non-Agency MBS and related receivables were $1.4 bln and cash and restricted cash was $721 mln. Our original earnings report has been removed.

09:12

SPY E~mini index futures tick to fresh GLOBEX/pre~mkt. lows in recent trade -Technical-

Seeing some selling pressure come into the market following the 8:57 comment & nearing the opening bell as ES -2.0, NQ -1.50, & YM -10 all trade in negative territory here.

Some of the selling pressure coming from GLD, GDX, USO, XLF, & IYF sectors.

09:11

On The Wires

China Green Material (CAGM) announces that the company was awarded a contract by Zhengzhou Synear Food to supply Synear with packaging containers for its frozen food products. Under the terms of the agreement, Synear will source up to US$6.0 mln of products from CAGM during 2010... Exeter Resource (XRA) has obtained an interim order from the British Columbia Supreme Court providing for a special meeting of shareholders required to approve the spin-out of its Argentine assets into a new company to be known as Extorre Gold Mines Limited.

09:08

EXPE Expedia beats by $0.01, beats on revs; announces inauguration of quarterly dividend; declares $0.07 quarterly dividend (22.24 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.30 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the First Call consensus of $0.29; revenues rose 12.4% year/year to $697.5 mln vs the $689.7 mln consensus. Co announces inauguration of a dividend policy, declares a quarterly dividend of $0.07. Revenue as a percentage of gross bookings (revenue margin) was 13.8% for the fourth quarter, a decrease of 163 basis points compared to the fourth quarter of 2008, primarily due to a reduction in traveler fees, partially offset by a favorable foreign currency impact. The year-over-year decrease in revenue margin in the fourth quarter was steeper than the decrease reported in the third quarter of 2009, primarily due to a lower decrease in average airfares, which affect gross bookings to a greater extent than revenue. Gross bookings increased 3% (5% excluding the estimated impact from foreign exchange) in 2009 compared with 2008, driven primarily by 18% growth in transactions, substantially offset by lower prices for airline tickets and hotel room nights. Domestic bookings increased 1% and international bookings increased 5% (11% excluding foreign exchange).

09:07

EMS Emergency Medical Services beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line; guides FY10 EPS above consensus (51.85 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.67 per share, excluding $0.08 benefit, $0.04 better than the First Call consensus of $0.63; revenues rose 10.2% year/year to $654.3 mln vs the $660.5 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $3.00-3.10 vs. $2.95 consensus.

09:03

API Advanced Photonix continues supplying custom products for Navy with $2.4 million follow-on order (0.57 )

Co announces that it has received a $2.4 million follow-on order from a major defense prime contractor to deliver products within a 26-month time frame beginning May 2010. The Company expects most of the revenue to be recognized evenly over the next two fiscal years.

09:03

THM International Tower Hill Mines receives share ownership top-up notice from AngloGold Ashanti (5.98 )

Co announces that AngloGold Ashanti Exploration Inc., a subsidiary of AngloGold Ashanti, has exercised its right to maintain its 13.2907% equity interest in the Company. AngloGold's equity interest had been diluted by virtue of the Company's issuance of shares since May 19, 2009, principally due to the exercise of incentive stock options, broker options and in connection with the purchase the interest of Redstar Gold in the Company's North Bullfrog project. As a consequence of AngloGold's election to exercise its "top-up" right, the Company will sell to AngloGold, on a private placement basis, an aggregate of 67,965 common shares at a price of CAD 5.38 per share for gross proceeds of CAD 365,899.54.

08:56

JAV Javelin Pharmaceutic says third party reexamination of its' Phase III trial data for Ereska yields statistically significant primary endpoint (1.19 )

Co announces that a reexamination conducted by a third party of pain score measurements from its Phase III study of Ereska showed that top line results for its primary endpoint were statistically significant. Previously, Javelin had reported that the top line results for its primary endpoint were not statistically significant. The previously disclosed top line results, based upon data captured by an external vendor, had inconsistencies whose presence was verified by a third party biostatistics company engaged by Javelin that thoroughly reexamined the trial's conduct and the initial primary analysis. The third party's correction of these inaccuracies yielded today's results. As previously disclosed, global patient satisfaction scores for Ereska were also statistically superior to placebo. All other secondary endpoints, while numerically superior to placebo, did not achieve statistical significance. Ereska, a nonopioid analgesic, was generally well tolerated in the trial. The Company plans to meet with the FDA to review the trial's results and discuss Ereska's registration program.

08:55

GLT Glatfelter Co beats by $0.12, beats on revs (13.11 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.33 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.12 better than the First Call consensus of $0.21; revenues rose 0.9% year/year to $301.1 mln vs the $296.1 mln consensus. For Specialty Papers, the company expects shipping volumes to increase approximately 4% in the first quarter of 2010 compared with the fourth quarter of 2009 and selling prices are expected to be stable to slightly higher in the same comparison. The company expects higher pulp and energy costs in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the fourth quarter of 2009 that will more than offset the impact of selling price increases. In the Composite Fibers business unit, the company anticipates shipping volumes in the first quarter of 2010 to be in line with the fourth quarter of 2009. Selling prices are expected to be slightly lower and input costs, primarily woodpulp, are expected to increase slightly compared with the fourth quarter of 2009.

08:52

ECL Ecolab misses by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS below consensus; guides FY10 EPS below consensus (43.78 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.55 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.56; revenues rose 5.5% year/year to $1.56 bln vs the $1.56 bln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.36-0.40, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.44 consensus, with modest sales growth (consensus calls for 7% YoY slaes growth). Co issues downside guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $2.17-2.25, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $2.26 consensus.

08:47

CHBT China-Biotics: Earnings color (13.25 )

Last night we reported that CHBT's Q3 EPS of $0.34 and compared to the $0.32 two analyst estimate, this was incorrect. The previous comment has been removed... The $0.34 two analyst estimate excludes non-cash gains from changes in the fair value of convertible bonds and embedded derivatives; excluding these items, CHBT reported Q3 EPS of $0.21 vs the $0.34 two estimate average. The $0.32 reported GAAP EPS compares to the $0.22 two est average. Revs rose 47% YoY to $23.3 mln vs the $20.6 mln two est avg. "Commercial production at our Qingpu production plant is scheduled to begin by the end of February and we continue to expect to reach approximately 50% capacity utilization by the end of calendar year 2010. With rising demand from the dairy and animal feed manufacturers, and movement by the government to encourage the use of probiotics, China continues to be a very favorable environment to grow our bulk and retail probiotics business in 2010 and beyond."

08:46

SPWRA Sunpower to acquire SunRay (19.11 )

Co announces that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire SunRay Renewable Energy. The total consideration for the acquisition is approximately $277 million, including $235 million in cash and $42 million in a letter of credit and promissory notes. SunPower has sufficient cash to close the transaction and does not intend to raise equity capital to finance the acquisition. The company will provide specific financial guidance regarding the positive impacts of the transaction during its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2009 earnings conference call in March. The parties anticipate closing the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, in the first half of 2010.

08:42

YRCW YRC Worldwide enters into note purchase agreement for $70 million in new capital (0.67 )

Co announces that it has entered into definitive agreements with investors who have agreed to purchase $70 million in new unsecured convertible notes in a private placement. The company will use the proceeds from the issuance of these new notes to satisfy its remaining 2010 note obligations, with any excess proceeds available to be used for general corporate purposes. The new notes have a term of four years with an interest rate of 6%, which is initially payable in shares of the company's common stock. The new notes will be convertible into shares of common stock at an initial conversion price of $0.43.

08:42

AKNS Akeena Solar misses by $0.02, misses on revs; sees in-line QoQ increase in revs (1.14 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.11 per share, $0.02 worse than the First Call consensus of ($0.09); revenues fell 35.8% year/year to $7 mln vs the $7.7 mln consensus. Management anticipates revenue levels in the first quarter of 2010 slightly above the fourth quarter of 2009 (consensus calls for a 5.8% QoQ increase) due to the negative impact of inclement weather on installations and seasonality of distribution sales, especially on the East Coast. Mgmt projects achieving quarterly EBITDA (excluding non-cash stock-based compensation) breakeven in the fourth quarter of 2010 at a revenue level of approximately $18 million with about a quarter of the revenue from distribution. Installations for the quarter amounted to approximately 856 kilowatts, compared to approximately 1,410 kilowatts in the same quarter last year and approximately 1,027 kilowatts in the third quarter of 2009. Backlog as of December 31, 2009 was $9.4 million.

08:37

MNTA Momenta Pharma beats by $0.02, beats on revs (14.68 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.34 per share, $0.02 better than the First Call consensus of ($0.36); revenues rose 93.1% year/year to $5.6 mln vs the $4.2 mln consensus.

08:37

BRK.B Berkshire Hath reports preliminary election results for the elections made by Burlington Northern Santa Fe (74.42 )

"According to data available to Wells Fargo Shareowner Services, the exchange agent, as of the election deadline, BNSF stockholders made cash elections with respect to 108,054,170, or 40.85%, shares, while stock elections were made with respect to 114,692,846, or 43.36%, shares. "No election" was made, or deemed to have been made, with respect to all other shares of BNSF. These results, which are being announced at the request of the NYSE, are extremely preliminary and are subject to final determination. These results are also subject to proration and reallocation so as to achieve as closely as practicable the 60/40 cash-stock split, as more fully described in the proxy statement/prospectus relating to the Merger. If the BNSF shareholders approve the Merger at the special meeting of BNSF shareholders to be held today, Berkshire and BNSF plan to close the Merger on Friday, Feb 12, 2010."

08:36

ARE Alexandria RE beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides FY10 FFO below consensus (57.34 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) funds from operations of $1.09 per share, $0.01 better than the First Call consensus of $1.08; revenues fell 8.1% year/year to $114.4 mln vs the $115.4 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for FY10, sees FFO of $4.42 vs. $4.46 consensus.

08:35

ICE IntercontinentalExchange gasoil futures contract surpasses 300,000 contracts (96.65 +0.97) -Update-

Co announced a new daily volume record for the ICE gasoil futures contract. On February 10, 343,672 gasoil futures contracts traded on ICE Futures Europe, representing the second consecutive daily volume record for gasoil futures, and the first in excess of 300,000 contracts. A gasoil open interest record of 670,822 contracts was established on February 8.

08:33

WWE World Wrestling misses by $0.03, misses on revs (16.26 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.15 per share, $0.03 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.18; revenues fell 6.5% year/year to $117.3 mln vs the $123.8 mln consensus. The WWE business outlook targets average annual earnings growth of 15% to 20% over the 2009-12 period.

08:31

SPY E~mini index futures see some uptick in price action, still holding modest gains following econ. data -Technical-

ES +5.25 or +0.50%

NQ +7.75 or +0.35%

08:31

PAAS Pan Am Silver announces proven and probable reserves increase to 234 mln ounces (21.70 +0.17)

Co announces result of its 2009 year end silver reserves and resources update. In 2009, the co's exploration programs added 36.8 mln contained ounces of proven and probable silver reserves at its operating mines. Co increased its proven and probable silver reserves by approximately 5% to 234 million ounces as at December 31, 2009. The largest reserve increase was at the La Colorada mine, where the co added over 16 mln ounces of silver from the discovery of an extension of the NC2 vein, the mine's main source of sulphide ore. At December 31, 2009, La Colorada's reserves had grown by 67% to 30.4 million ounces (net of 2009 production) from 18.2 million ounces at the end of 2008.

08:30

EZCH EZchip reports Q4 results (13.98 )

EZchip reported Q4 earnings of $0.58 per share, may not compare to the First Call consensus of $0.09; revs increased 34% year/year to $12.9 mln vs $11.35 mln First Call consensus.

08:29

SYNT Syntel beats by $0.21, beats on revs; guides FY10 EPS in-line, revs in-line (32.55 +0.09)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.86 per share, $0.21 better than the First Call consensus of $0.65; revenues rose 12.5% year/year to $117.8 mln vs the $106.4 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $2.15-$2.45 vs. $2.42 consensus; sees FY10 revs of $430-$460 mln vs. $444.77 mln consensus.

08:25

COMDX Gold and silver spike to their best levels of the morning; gold now higher by $10.50 to $1086.80 and silver is up 19 cents to $15.49

08:13

On The Wires

Ryder System (R) announces that it has signed a joint venture partnership with Cargo Services Far East Limited, an Asia-based logistics solutions provider specializing in export consolidation services... Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) announces tender offer for up to $400 mln of its outstanding debt... Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC) has been selected by General Dynamics Land Systems to supply LRS-2000 Rate Sensor Assembly units for the Stabilized Commander's Weapon Station on the U.S. Army M1A1 Abrams tank. The firm, fixed-price contract is valued at $18 mln.

08:13

ECONX Reminder: Initial Claims and Continuing Claims data due out in about 17 min at 8:30ET

08:12

IPCC Infinity Prpty & Casualty beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides FY10 EPS below consensus (39.21 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.01 per share, ex $1.52/share of favorable development on prior accident period loss and loss adjustment expense reserves, $0.01 better than the First Call consensus of $1.00; revenues rose 12.3% year/year to $224.8 mln vs the $219.9 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $2.35-$2.75 vs. $3.92 consensus. The guidance assumes gross premium growth between 5.0% and 7.5% as compared with the prior year, and an accident year combined ratio, which excludes favorable development on prior accident period loss and loss adjustment expense reserves, between 97.0% and 98.0%.

08:07

PEP PepsiCo misses by $0.01, reports revs in-line; reaffirms FY10 EPS guidance (60.38 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.90 per share, $0.01 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.91; revenues rose 4.5% year/year to $13.3 bln vs the $13.26 bln consensus. For fiscal 2010, the company is targeting an 11 to 13% growth rate for core constant currency EPS off of its fiscal 2009 core EPS of $3.71 (would peg FY10 EPS at $4.12-4.19 vs the $4.16 consensus, however, consensus includes currency). This guidance assumes the company will close the bottling transactions by the end of February. The earnings guidance also reflects roughly 8 to 9 percent growth from "base" PepsiCo, with additional growth coming from a combination of financial and accounting accretion from the bottling transaction plus year-one synergies (totaling about 5 points of growth) partially offset by strategic investment spending. As a result of its recent integration planning efforts, the company is now targeting pre-tax annualized synergies from the proposed bottler acquisitions of approximately $400 million once fully implemented by 2012, with one-time costs of about the same amount. Synergies to be realized in 2010 are expected to total approximately $125 to $150 million. The company is still in the process of completing its integration planning. The details of these and other efficiencies relating to the company's beverage business will be discussed at its analyst meeting scheduled for March 22 and 23, 2010

08:06

BWA Borg Warner beats by $0.20, beats on revs; guides FY10 EPS in-line, revs in-line (36.23 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.42 per share, $0.20 better than the First Call consensus of $0.22; revenues rose 28.6% year/year to $1.2 bln vs the $1.08 bln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $1.40-1.70 vs. $1.63 consensus; sees FY10 revs of $4.56 bln - $4.71 bln (15-19% growth y/y) vs. $4.78 bln consensus. "We are optimistic about 2010, but also cautious as we contemplate the range of possible outcomes around the world. The recovery that we have seen in North America over the last two quarters is the foundation of our optimism. Based on a number of indicators, we expect production rates reached in the second half of 2009 in North America to extend into 2010. Furthermore, we believe that there may be potential upside to that scenario. We are also excited about our Asian businesses where higher production levels and new program launches in China, India, Korea and Japan are expected to drive growth for our company. Our caution for 2010 is primarily related to Europe where visibility has improved from a year ago but is still limited due to uncertainty surrounding consumer demand, the impact of expiring government-sponsored incentive programs and other market dynamics."

08:04

JRN Journal Commun beats by $0.02, beats on revs (3.22 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.14 per share, $0.02 better than the First Call consensus of $0.12; revenues fell 16.5% year/year to $112.2 mln vs the $105.9 mln consensus. Steven J. Smith, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Journal Communications, commented that, " For the first quarter of 2010, while our visibility remains limited, we anticipate that publishing and printing services revenues will be down compared to the prior year period reflecting continued challenges with advertising revenue. Broadcasting revenues are expected to be up compared to the prior year period primarily due to Olympic and political television advertising."

08:01

ASF Administaff reports EPS in-line, revs in-line (22.85 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.15 per share, excluding $0.26 due to a higher than expected health care plan deficit, in-line with the First Call consensus of $0.15; revenues fell 7.1% year/year to $395.9 mln vs the $395.3 mln consensus. Separately, Administaff announced that its board of directors has authorized an expansion of its share repurchase program by an additional 1,000,000 shares.

08:01

GWW WW Grainger reports Jan sales; says daily sales increased 12% YoY (99.65 )

Co reports sales results for the month of January 2010. Daily sales increased 12% versus January 2009. Results for the month included a 5% point positive contribution from acquisitions, a 2 percentage point benefit from the timing of the New Years' holiday and a 2 percentage point contribution from foreign exchange. Excluding acquisitions, holiday timing and foreign exchange, daily sales for the company increased 3 percent. January 2010 had 20 selling days versus 21 in January 2009.

08:00

CVVT China Valves Tech signs letter of intent to acquire Shanghai Pudong Hanwei Valve Co (10.81 )

Co announces that that it has signed a letter of intent to purchase 100% equity ownership in Shanghai Pudong Hanwei Valve, a valve manufacturing enterprise with several patents for high-tech valve specifications in the petrochemical and bioengineering industries. Consideration for the acquisition is approximately RMB 137 million (approximately $20 mln). The Company expects to close the acquisition in the first quarter of 2010.

07:48

On The Wires

QIAGEN N.V. (QGEN) and Celera Corporation (CRA) announce an agreement under which QIAGEN will distribute a Celera molecular multiplex assay. The assay is the next generation version of QIAGEN's ResPlex II assay for detection of respiratory pathogens. Multiplex assays allow testing for a multiple number of different pathogens in a single run. Financial details were not disclosed. Under the terms of the agreement, QIAGEN has the exclusive worldwide rights to distribute this multiplex test kit, which will be manufactured by Celera... Chelsea Therapeutics International (CHTP) announces that a new investigator-led phase II clinical study of Droxidopa, an oral synthetic precursor of norepinephrine, in combination with carbidopa has been initiated in adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder... Alliance Data Systems (ADS) announces that it has signed multi-year renewal agreements with Budgetcar, Inc., a subsidiary of Avis Budget Group, Inc., as a national sponsor and reward supplier in Alliance Data's Canadian AIR MILES Reward Program.

07:47

ELOS Syneron Medical misses by $0.02, misses on revs (9.07 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.13 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 worse than the First Call consensus of ($0.11); revenues rose 1.4% year/year to $14.4 mln vs the $15.8 mln consensus. Gross margin of 70.6%, up from 54.7% in the fourth quarter 2008 and 67.0% in the third quarter 2009. Gross margin increased for the fourth consecutive quarter, driven by stable selling prices and increased sales from the Company's new higher margin consumable products. YoY average days sales outstanding reduced by 154 days to 97 days as of December 31, 2009.

07:45

TRAD TradeStation misses by $0.01, misses on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs in-line; guides FY10 EPS in-line, revs in-line (7.19 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.07 per share, $0.01 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.08; revenues fell 24.6% year/year to $31.2 mln vs the $31.8 mln consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.05-0.07 vs. $0.09 consensus; sees Q1 revs of $32-34 mln vs. $33.63 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $0.27-0.46 vs. $0.46 consensus; sees FY10 revs of $138-157 mln vs. $142.81 mln consensus. Q4 DARTs fell 35% YoY to 79,179. The primary reason for the year-over-year differences was lower brokerage commissions and fees caused mainly by lower daily average revenue trades (DARTs). Lower DARTs were caused, the company believes, primarily by reduced market volatility and market volumes in the 2009 fourth quarter as compared to the 2008 fourth quarter. Brokerage commissions and fees for the 2009 fourth quarter were $27.8 mln, as compared to 2008 fourth quarter brokerage commissions and fees of $37.1 mln. Brokerage commissions and fees are the largest component of the company's net revenues. In the 2009 fourth quarter, the company purchased 480,690 shares of its common stock pursuant to its stock buy-back plan for a total purchase price of $3.7 mln. Since buying under the plan began November 13, 2006, through December 31, 2009 the company has purchased 5,150,255 shares for a total purchase price of $46.9 mln.

07:40

QNST QuinStreet prices 10.0 mln share IPO at $15.00 per share, below the expected $17-19 range

07:39

NPO Enpro Industries reports Q4 (Dec) results, misses on revs (24.60 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.60 per share, may not be comparable to the First Call consensus of $0.51; revenues fell 7.6% year/year to $223.2 mln vs the $242.2 mln consensus. Steve Macadam, president and chief executive officer, commented that, "The pace of recovery in our markets is uncertain, but we believe modest growth is likely during the first half of the year,". "An increase in volume and the advantages of the cost reduction and efficiency programs we implemented last year should benefit our performance during that period and improve our results compared to the first half of 2009. The short cycles of most of our businesses make the second half of the year more difficult to foresee, but we are confident that we have positioned our operations to capture new opportunities as they arise throughout the year.

07:36

CATM Cardtronics beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides FY10 EPS in-line, revs in-line (12.12 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.17 per share, $0.02 better than the First Call consensus of $0.15; revenues rose 5.6% year/year to $124.8 mln vs the $121.6 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $0.75-$0.85 vs. $0.85 consensus; sees FY10 revs of $520-$530 mln vs. $522.62 mln consensus.

07:35

TRAD TradeStation reports monthly business metrics; DARTs decreased 18% y/y (7.19 )

Co reports business metrics for the month ended January 31, 2010. Year over year, TRAD's DARTs decreased 18%, total client assets increased 28%, average equities client credit balances increased 29%, and average equities client margin balances increased 60%.

07:34

FLIR FLIR Systems reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides FY10 EPS below consensus, revs in-line; Sr V.P. to replace retiring CFO (29.67 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.38 per share, in-line with the First Call consensus of $0.38; revenues rose 3.1% year/year to $311.6 mln vs the $303.7 mln consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $1.48-1.53 vs. $1.55 consensus; sees FY10 revs of $1.2-1.3 bln vs. $1.22 bln consensus. The backlog of firm orders for delivery within the next twelve months was approximately $563 mln at December 31, 2009, a decrease of $45 mln during the quarter, and a decrease of $100 mln, or 15% compared with backlog at December 31, 2008. Backlog in the Government System's division was $433 mln, down $54 mln during the quarter, as U.S. procurement activity slowed due partly to late approval of government budgets. Backlog in the Commercial Vision Systems division was $103 mln, up $10 mln during the quarter due primarily to strong demand for its cores and components and security and surveillance product lines. Backlog in the Thermography division was $27 mln, down $1 mln during the quarter. FLIR announced today that Stephen M. Bailey, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, intends to retire at the end of May, 2010. Mr. Bailey has served in his present position since 2000, and effective June 1, 2010, will be succeeded by Anthony L. Trunzo, who has served as the Company's Senior Vice President for Corporate Strategy and Development since 2003.

07:33

PGN Progress Energy reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides FY10 EPS in-line (37.93 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.50 per share, in-line with the First Call consensus of $0.50; revenues rose 6.8% year/year to $2.31 bln vs the $2.08 bln consensus. Co issues reaffirms guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $2.85-$3.05 vs. $3.00 consensus. Co states, "The still-sluggish economy will make 2010 another challenging year, and the recent regulatory decision in Florida exacerbates that challenge. But we are working in a focused, constructive way to meet our short-term priorities while also creating long-term value for our customers and shareholders..."

07:31

SCG SCANA Corp misses by $0.01, misses on revs; guides FY10 EPS in-line (34.63 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.62 per share, $0.01 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.63; revenues fell 15.9% year/year to $1.09 bln vs the $1.56 bln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $2.85-3.05 vs. $2.96 consensus.

07:30

CADX Cadence Pharma receives Complete Response Letter from FDA for Intravenous Acetaminophen NDA (10.28 )

The co announces that the FDA has issued a Complete Response letter to its New Drug Application (NDA) for intravenous (IV) acetaminophen. In the Complete Response letter, the FDA only indicated that deficiencies were observed during the FDA's facility inspection of Cadence's third party manufacturer, which was completed on February 5, 2010. The FDA did not cite any safety or efficacy issues, nor did it request any additional studies to be conducted prior to approval. The Company's third party manufacturer intends to respond promptly to the observations, and Cadence plans to request a meeting with the FDA to ensure that the deficiencies have been adequately addressed to meet the requirements for NDA approval.

07:30

GRM Graham Packaging prices 16.67 mln share IPO at $10.00 per share, with-in the $10-11 expected range

07:27

GNRC Generac prices 18.75 mln share IPO at $13.00 per share, previous terms called for 20.3 mln shares to be priced at a range of $15-17 per share

07:26

U.S. foreclosure activity decreases 10% in January according to RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report

RealtyTrac released its January 2010 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows foreclosure filings -- default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions -- were reported on 315,716 U.S. properties during the month, a decrease of nearly 10% from the previous month but still 15% above the level reported in January 2009. The report also shows one in every 409 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing in January. REO activity nationwide was down 5% from the previous month but still up 31% from January 2009; default notices were down 12% from the previous month but still up 4% from January 2009; and scheduled foreclosure auctions were down 11% from the previous month but still up 15% from January 2009. "January foreclosure numbers are exhibiting a pattern very similar to a year ago: a double-digit percentage jump in December foreclosure activity followed by a 10% drop in January," said James Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. "If history repeats itself we will see a surge in the numbers over the next few months as lenders foreclose on delinquent loans where neither the existing loan modification programs or the new short sale and deed-in-lieu of foreclosure alternatives works."

07:14

ALXA Alexza Pharma announces AZ-004 (Staccato Loxapine) PDUFA goal date of October 11, 2010 (2.62 )

Co announces it has accepted the AZ-004 NDA for filing and has indicated a Prescription Drug User Fee Act goal date of October 11, 2010. Alexza filed the AZ-004 NDA on December 11, 2009 and is seeking marketing approval for the rapid treatment of agitation in patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

07:13

FE FirstEnergy reports 4Q09 results; reaffirms FY10 guidance

FirstEnergy reports 4Q09 earnings of $0.77 vs $0.73 First Call consensus; revs decreased 6% year/year to $3 bln vs $3.67 bln First Call consensus; Co reaffirms guidance for FY10 sees EPS of $3.50 to $3.70 vs $3.71.

07:13

WATG Wonder Auto Tech beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs above consensus (9.60 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.23 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the First Call consensus of $0.22; revenues rose 82.8% year/year to $62.4 mln vs the $59.9 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $58 mln vs. $56.66 mln consensus.

07:13

IDXX IDEXX Labs announces its Board has authorized the repurchase by the co of up to an additional 4 mln shares of its common stock under its ongoing share repurchase program (50.41 )

07:10

PTEN Patterson-UTI beats by $0.02, misses on revs (16.52 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.06 per share, excluding pretax charges of $10.5 million ($7.0 million after tax, or $0.05 per share) from drilling assets retirements and $2.1 million (or $0.01 per share) from discontinued operations related to our drilling and completion fluids service business, $0.02 better than the First Call consensus of ($0.08); revenues fell 59.8% year/year to $213.6 mln vs the $216.4 mln consensus. "Average revenue per operating day for the fourth quarter of 2009 was $16,770, compared to average revenue per operating day of $16,800 for the three months ended September 30, 2009. Average direct operating costs per operating day for the fourth quarter of 2009 were $10,870, compared to $10,630 for the three months ended September 30, 2009. As a result, average margin per operating day in the fourth quarter of 2009 was $5,900, compared to $6,170 for the third quarter of 2009."

07:10

LH Laboratory Corp beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides FY10 EPS in-line, revs in-line; announced $250 mln share buyback (70.97 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.16 per share, $0.01 better than the First Call consensus of $1.15; revenues rose 4.1% year/year to $1.17 bln vs the $1.17 bln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $5.35-$5.55 vs. $5.43 consensus; sees FY10 revs growing approx 2.5%-4.5% YoY, which calculates to roughly $4.81-$4.91 bln (vs. $4.93 bln consensus). Co also announced a $250 mln share buyback.

07:09

JASO JA Solar beats by $0.03, beats on revs; raises FY10 shipment forecast (4.66 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.14 per share, $0.03 better than the First Call consensus of $0.11; revenues rose 23.5% year/year to $238.4 mln vs the $213.5 mln consensus. Fourth quarter shipments of 231MW, above the company's revised guidance of 210MW, representing an increase of 30.5% sequentially and 278.7% year-over-year Gross margin was 20.5% in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared with 16.7% in the third quarter of 2009 and 1.0% in the fourth quarter of 2008. Based on robust customer demand for JA Solar's products and additional customer wins, the co is raising its outlook for the full year of 2010. The co currently expects shipments to exceed 900MW for 2010, compared with prior guidance in the range of 750MW to 800MW. Shipments in the first quarter of 2010 are expected to be in the range of 215MW to 225MW. "We continue to see strong demand from our existing customers as well as from new customers, and expect strong shipments for full year 2010 based on robust orders from a diversified customer base across multiple geographies.

07:09

GPI Group 1 Auto misses by $0.01, beats on revs (30.26 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.43 per share, $0.01 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.44; revenues rose 1.5% year/year to $1.15 bln vs the $1.12 bln consensus.

07:08

SKYW SkyWest misses by $0.07, reports revs in-line (14.40 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.34 per share, $0.07 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.41; revenues fell 18.7% year/year to $604.4 mln vs the $608.1 mln consensus.

07:07

VIA.B Viacom beats by $0.22, misses on revs (28.55 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.09 per share, $0.22 better than the First Call consensus of $0.87; revenues fell 3.4% year/year to $4.1 bln vs the $4.22 bln consensus. Co says, "Viacom's results over the past year have been extraordinary and illustrate the value of a well planned strategy and execution. Despite the economic challenges, we performed extremely well across our media networks and motion picture operations. As a result of the quality of our operations and wealth of creative talent throughout the Company, we are well positioned for success not only today but long into the future."

07:07

AN AutoNation beats by $0.02, beats on revs (18.23 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.29 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the First Call consensus of $0.27; revenues rose 8.4% year/year to $2.82 bln vs the $2.67 bln consensus.

07:05

VFC V.F. Corp beats by $0.15, reports revs in-line; guides FY10 EPS in-line, revs below consensus (72.44 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.62 per share, excluding $1.02 in impairments, $0.15 better than the First Call consensus of $1.47; revenues rose 0.2% year/year to $1.92 bln vs the $1.9 bln consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $5.60-5.70 vs. $5.69 consensus, with revs up 2-3% YoY, we calculate this to be FY10 revs of $7.29-7.36 bln vs the $7.48 bln consensus. Outdoor & Action Sports: Fourth quarter revenues in our Outdoor & Action Sports coalition grew 8%, with operating income and margins each reaching record levels for the period. Global revenues of The North Face and Vans brands grew 7% and 14%, respectively. Total coalition revenues in our Americas businesses rose 4%, while international revenues were up 9% in constant dollars, led by exceptionally strong growth in Asia. Total direct-to-consumer revenues for our Outdoor & Action Sports coalition rose 21% in the quarter. VF's gross margins expanded by 380 basis points to a record 46.3% in the quarter.

07:05

CBB Cincinnati Bell misses by $0.01, beats on revs; guides FY10 revs in-line (2.80 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.10 per share, $0.01 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.11; revenues fell 3.3% year/year to $345.2 mln vs the $333.2 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY10, sees FY10 revs of $1.3 bln vs. $1.32 bln consensus. Commenting on Cincinnati Bell's outlook for 2010, chief financial officer Gary Wojtaszek said, "In 2010, we will be very focused on growing our data center business and further capitalizing on the successful organic growth the company has experienced over the past few years and plan to bring our products and services to other Fortune 500 customers around the country. We believe investment in this industry provides the highest rate of return for our shareholders and enables the company to expand its geographic and competitive footprint beyond the Cincinnati area."

07:03

NTZ Industrie Natuzzi, S.p.A announces 2010 goals; total net sales of approximately EUR 600 mln (3.40 )

Co announces that the Board has approved the Company's 2010 strategic and financial plan. The Company's 2010 goals are as follows: Total Net Sales of approximately EUR 600 million; Return to a positive EBIT margin Natuzzi's Board of Directors has approved the 2010 Budget, which reflects the current financial and economic uncertainty, but also incorporates the improvement in total net sales and order flow during the last few months. This new 2010 budget will substitute the previous 3-Year Business Plan which was approved at the end of 2008. The target 2010 forecast of Total Net Sales of approximately EUR 600 million, (a 17% increase as compared to 2009) and a return to a positive EBIT margin, is expected to be achieved through the Company's Brands:

07:01

NOVA Novamed reports EPS in-line, beats on revs (3.75 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.08 per share, in-line with the First Call consensus of $0.08; revenues rose 10.1% year/year to $39.8 mln vs the $39 mln consensus. Co said, $25.5 million in cash flow from operations in 2009 and capital expenditures of $3.7 million, this left us with just over $21.8 million of free cash flow. With this free cash flow we reduced our long-term debt by over $20 million. In 2010 we plan to seek out attractive acquisition candidates and will continue to use our free cash flow to delever in the meantime."

07:01

AXG Atlas Acquisition announces entry into agreements relating to securing stockholder approval of business combination with select staffing (9.85 )

Co announces that it had been advised that, as of 5:00 p.m. (EST) on Wednesday, February 10, 2010, James N. Hauslein and Gaurav V. Burman, founding Atlas stockholders, and the Sorensen Family Trust, the principal beneficial owner of Koosharem, LLC, a California limited liability company that does business as "Select Staffing," had entered into agreements providing for their transfer of an aggregate of approximately 360,000 shares of Atlas common stock and the counterparties' agreement to vote an aggregate of approximately 1,800,000 shares of Atlas common stock in favor of the proposed Select Staffing business combination and all related proposals.

07:01

AYE FirstEnergy and Allegheny Energy to merge in stock-for-stock transaction; AYE shareholders to receive $27.65/share (21.02 )

FirstEnergy (FE 41.46) and co announce that both companies' boards of directors have unanimously approved a definitive agreement in which the companies would combine in a stock-for-stock transaction. Under the terms of the agreement, Allegheny shareholders would receive 0.667 shares of FirstEnergy common stock in exchange for each share of Allegheny they own. Based on the closing stock prices for both companies on February 10, 2010, Allegheny shareholders would receive a value of $27.65 per share, or $4.7 bln in the aggregate. FirstEnergy will also assume approx $3.8 bln in Allegheny net debt. The transaction is anticipated to be accretive to FirstEnergy earnings in the first year following the close. The companies expect to complete the transaction within 12-14 months.

07:00

CLB Core Labs proposes 2-for-1 stock split, pending shareholder approval on May 13 (120.59 )

06:59

TDC Teradata beats by $0.08, beats on revs; guides FY10 above consensus (28.61 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.45 per share, $0.08 better than the First Call consensus of $0.37; revenues rose 0.6% year/year to $496 mln vs the $478.2 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $1.54-1.64 vs. $1.48 consensus. Teradata expects revenue to increase approximately 7-9% vs consensus of 6.96%.

06:55

SLW Silver Wheaton acquires life of mine silver and gold production from Augusta's Rosemont Project

Co announces that it has agreed to acquire an amount equal to 100% of the life of mine silver and gold production from Augusta Resource Corporation's (AZC) Rosemont Copper Project located in Pima County, Arizona. Rosemont is forecast to be a low-cost, long-life and large-scale copper-molybdenum-silver project that could account for approximately 10% of US copper output once in production, projected by 2012. Silver Wheaton will pay Augusta upfront cash payments totaling US$230 mln to acquire an amount equal to 100% of all payable silver and gold produced from Rosemont, for the lesser of US$3.90 per ounce of silver and US$450 per ounce of gold or the prevailing market price per ounce of silver and gold delivered. The upfront payments will be made on an installment basis to partially fund construction of the mine and will commence once certain milestones are achieved, including the receipt of key permits and securing the necessary financing to complete construction of Rosemont. Augusta anticipates that key operating permits will be received in the fourth quarter of 2010 allowing mine construction to commence shortly thereafter.

06:51

EEP Enbridge Energy Partners to further expand East Texas Gas Gathering System into Haynesville Shale (48.48 )

Co announces plans to expand its East Texas Gas Gathering System by constructing three lateral pipelines into Haynesville Shale producing areas in East Texas together with an additional large diameter lateral from Shelby County to Carthage, Texas. The Haynesville Shale expansion is expected to increase the Partnership's takeaway capacity from Shelby, Nacogdoches and San Augustine counties to 900 million cubic feet per day. The project, to be constructed at an estimated cost of $141.8 mln, includes approximately 50 miles of 16-inch to 24-inch diameter pipe, all in Shelby, Nacogdoches and San Augustine counties, as well as an additional 38-mile, 24-inch lateral from Shelby County to Carthage. The project may also include a treating facility and additional compressor units to boost capacity out of the area.

06:48

VICL Vical reports Q4 results (2.87 )

Vical reports Q4 earnings of ($0.14) vs ($0.13) First Call consensus; revs fell 3% year/year to $2.56 mln vs $3.45 mln First Call consensus

06:44

MAR Marriott beats by $0.06, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides FY10 EPS in-line, revs in-line (26.40 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.32 per share, $0.06 better than the First Call consensus of $0.26; revenues fell 12.1% year/year to $3.38 bln vs the $3.21 bln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.15 to $0.21 vs. $0.18 consensus; sees Q1 revs of $2.35 bln to $2.45 bln vs. $2.46 bln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $0.82 to $0.94 vs. $0.89 consensus; sees FY10 revs of $10.8 bln to $11.2 bln vs. $10.86 bln consensus.For the first quarter, the company assumes worldwide comparable systemwide hotel REVPAR declines 5 to 7 percent on a constant dollar basis. For North American comparable systemwide hotels, the company assumes REVPAR declines of 7 to 8 percent and for comparable systemwide hotels outside North America, REVPAR could decline 2 to 3 percent on a constant dollar basis. For full year 2010, the company expects hotel occupancies to improve, although the pace of such improvement is difficult to predict. The company continues to expect that both domestic and international comparable systemwide REVPAR comparisons to the prior year will turn positive sometime in 2010. For worldwide comparable systemwide hotels, the company assumes full year 2010 REVPAR will be down 2 percent to up 2 percent on a constant dollar basis with performance strengthening over the year. North American comparable systemwide REVPAR could be flat to down 3 percent in 2010, while REVPAR at comparable systemwide hotels outside North America could be flat to up 5 percent.

06:42

S&P futures vs fair value: -1.00. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -1.30.

06:42

Asian Markets

Nikkei...Holiday......... Hang Seng...20290.69...+368.50...+1.90%.

06:42

European Markets

FTSE...5166.72...+34.90...+0.70%. DAX...5533.50...-2.90...-0.10%.

06:41

LF Leapfrog beats by $0.22, beats on revs; guides FY10 revs in-line (3.73 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.46 per share, $0.22 better than the First Call consensus of $0.24; revenues rose 36.9% year/year to $188.6 mln vs the $167.9 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY10, sees FY10 revs to increase 10% to 20% compared to 2009 which calculates to ~$417.78-455.76 vs. $426.22 mln consensus. Co says "We expect significant sales and earnings growth to continue in 2010 and beyond. Our products are being very well received by consumers, our cost of doing business is dramatically lower, and our Learning Path and product portfolio strategy are producing sales results with substantially lower marketing outlays. We have three million connected customers today and expect to have six to seven million after the 2010 holiday season. Through the Learning Path we are able to communicate with and engage LeapFrog product users with customized play experiences and market to them in a personalized manner. We're already seeing results of sales from product 'graduation' initiatives launched from the Learning Path, more software-based content sales due to our Learning Path recommendation engine, and higher tie ratios of software to hardware sales," Co also expects 2010 Gross margin to be roughly flat compared to the gross margin of 42% that was achieved in 2009; Leveraging of operating expenses, which are expected to grow at a rate significantly less than the rate of net sales growth; and to achieve positive operating income and net income. For the first quarter of 2010, they expect net sales to be significantly above the full year growth rate of 2010 since they are entering the year with very lean retailer inventory.

06:33

CRZO Carrizo Oil & Gas provides operations update, achieves record production and updates guidance (22.28 )

Co announces total production for the fourth quarter of 2009 was a better than expected 8.7 Bcfe or an average of 94.4 MMcfe/day, representing the highest quarterly rate in the company's history. This rate is a 20% increase over the same period in 2008 and a 6% increase over the third quarter of 2009 rate of 89.2 MMcfe/day. A shorter lag between well completion and connection to pipelines was largely responsible for the higher than expected production. During the fourth quarter, the company drilled 9.2 net Barnett Shale wells, frac'd 15.9 net wells, and put 7.8 net wells on production. Carrizo finished the year with a backlog of 32.7 net horizontal Barnett Shale wells drilled but waiting on completion or pipeline connection. As of the date of this release, Carrizo has drilled three of the five vertical wells scheduled to be drilled on its West Virginia Marcellus Shale leasehold, with the fourth currently drilling and the fifth waiting on permitting. These evaluation wells have been logged and cased for future completion. Carrizo also provided an update to its capital expenditure and production guidance for 2010. The company currently plans to invest approx $170 mln in capital expenditures during the course of the year. The 2010 capital expenditure plan is currently comprised as follows: $130 mln dedicated to Barnett Shale drilling and completion activities, $31 mln to be spent on the Marcellus Shale, including the drilling of nine horizontal wells, and the remaining $9 mln to be invested in activities in other areas.

06:33

STRA Strayer Education beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS below consensus (210.09 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $2.32 per share, $0.02 better than the First Call consensus of $2.30; revenues rose 28.8% year/year to $147.2 mln vs the $146.7 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $2.56-2.58 vs. $2.62 consensus. Total enrollment at Strayer University for the 2010 winter term increased 21% to 55,106 students compared to 45,697 students for the same term in 2009. Across the Strayer University campus network, new student enrollments increased 16% and continuing student enrollments increased 22%. Global (out of area) online students increased 39%, while students taking 100% of their classes online (including campus based students) increased 19%. The total number of students taking any courses online (including students at brick and mortar campuses taking at least one online course) in the 2010 winter term increased 20% to 39,448. The Company announced today that it will open four new campuses for the 2010 spring term, two of which are in new markets. The four new campuses are located in New Orleans, Louisiana; Austin, Texas; and two in Miami, Florida, representing the Company's second and third campuses in the Greater Miami area. Including the three new campuses successfully opened for the 2010 winter term in Lawrenceville and New Brunswick, New Jersey and in Little Rock, Arkansas, the Company has now opened seven of the 13 new campuses planned for 2010. For 4Q09 , bad debt expense as a percentage of revenues was 4.3% compared to 3.8% for the same period in 2008. Days sales outstanding, adjusted to exclude tuition receivable related to future quarters, was 14 days at the end of the fourth quarter of 2009, unchanged from 2008.

06:17

On The Wires

ReneSola Ltd (SOL) announces that it has signed an OEM agreement to provide 600 megawatts of solar modules to a major global solar company over a period of three years. According to the terms of the contract, ReneSola will provide 200 MW of solar modules annually for three years commencing in 2010... Destination Maternity Corporation (DEST), announces that Standard & Poor's Ratings Services raised both its corporate credit rating on Destination Maternity to 'B' from 'B-', and its issue level rating on the Company's Term Loan to 'BB-' from 'B'. Also, S&P attached an outlook of "stable" to its credit rating of the Company... Netlist (NLST) announces that it has amended its September 2009 patent infringement suit against Inphi Corporation to include recently issued U.S. Patent Nos. 7,636,274 and 7,619,912 in addition to Netlist's U.S. Patent No. 7,532,537, which was asserted in Netlist's original complaint.

06:14

HOS Hornbeck Offshore misses by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides FY10 EPS below consensus (20.22 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.32 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.33; revenues fell 27.0% year/year to $88.3 mln vs the $88.4 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $0.81-1.73 vs. $2.48 consensus. Co expects total EBITDA for FY10 of $160.0-200.0 mln. Contract backlog for new generation OSV vessel-days at 56% for 2010, up from 40% as of 3Q09.

06:12

MAC Macerich misses by $0.01 (30.57 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) funds from operations of $0.90 per share, $0.01 worse than, the First Call consensus of $0.91; revenues fell 17.2% year/year to $201.2 mln vs the $200 mln consensus.

06:06

MOS Mosaic announces sale of minority interest in Fosfertil S.A. (57.42 )

Co announces it has granted an option to purchase its minority stake in Fertilizantes Fosfatados and Fertifos Administracao e Participacao S.A. to a subsidiary of Vale S.A. Mosaic also granted an option to purchase its Cubatao operations in Brazil to Vale (VALE). The purchase price for Mosaic's approx 20% minority stake and the Cubatao operations is in excess of $1 billion. The sale is subject to Vale closing its previously announced purchase of Bunge Group's fertilizer business in Brazil, including its interest in Fosfertil. The sale of the Cubatao operations is expected to follow the closing of the sale of Mosaic's stake in Fosfertil and Fertifos. Both transactions are subject to a number of additional conditions.

06:06

TKLC TEKELEC beats by $0.05, beats on revs; guides FY10 EPS above consensus, revs in-line (14.85 )

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.28 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the First Call consensus of $0.23; revenues rose 3.0% year/year to $123.5 mln vs the $111.5 mln consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $1.10-1.15, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.06 consensus; sees FY10 revs of $470-480 mln vs. $475.50 mln consensus. The Company had orders of $162.4 million for the quarter, up 1% from the fourth quarter of 2008, and the second consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth. As of December 31, 2009, backlog was $373.6 million compared to $336.7 million as of September 30, 2009 and $412.1 million as of December 31, 2008. Non-GAAP operating margins from continuing operations for the fourth quarter of 2009 were 25%, up from 21% for the fourth quarter of 2008.

06:02

PLNR Planar Systems selected to provide thin film electroluminescent technology to Dytecna Systems Engineering for military vehicle displays (2.64 )

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