US HOT STOCKS: Dollar Thrifty, Netlist, PolyOne, XenoPort -2-

7th Jul 2010 18:20

China-Biotics Inc. (CHBT, $12.82, +$0.86, +7.19%), a developer, manufacturer and distributor of probiotics products in China, has approved a new share-repurchase program of up to $20 million of its common shares over the next 12 months. Cree Inc. (CREE, $63.96, +$3.00, +4.92%) and Philips Electronics NV (PHG, $31.09, +$0.44, +1.44%) said they have signed a patent cross-license agreement as part of a joint effort to accelerate the growth of light-emitting diodes. Building materials group CRH PLC (CRH, $20.46, -$1.00, -4.66%) said Wednesday it expects first-half earnings to fall 20% on a weaker economic outlook, worse than its forecast last May for a "high-teen percentage decline." Delta Petroleum Corp. (DPTR, $0.68, -$0.11, -13.97%) promoted Carl Lakey to chief executive of the heavily indebted company, which also announced the resignation of its president and terminated its effort to sell a $400 million stake in an oil-and-gas property to Opon International LLC. Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc. (DTG, $43.11, +$2.05, +5.00%) raised its 2010 earnings forecast due to upbeat second-quarter guidance and projections for lower fleet costs for the rest of the year, though the nation's third-largest rental firm reduced its vehicle rental revenue expectations. BMO Capital Markets downgraded heart-valve maker Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (EW, $55.03, -$1.57, -2.77%) to market perform from outperform, but stressed that this isn't a comment on an all-important U.S. trial for "Sapien" valves or chances to bring those devices to the U.S. market. "This is a valuation call, as the stock seems priced for perfection," BMO said. Global storage leader EMC Corp. (EMC, $18.79, +$0.63, +3.47%) said it had agreed to acquire Greenplum Inc., a privately held data-warehousing company that specializes in analyzing large amounts of information. The acquisition will give EMC, which also has majority ownership in virtualization-leader VMware Inc. (VMW, $68.51, +$3.70, +5.71%), a foothold in a fast-growing market for large data warehouses. Endwave Corp. (ENWV, $2.55, -$0.59, -18.85%) lowered its second-quarter revenue guidance as the provider of high-frequency radio-frequency solutions for mobile communications networks saw a bigger-than-expected demand drop for its key product line. Pritchard Capital Partners raised its stock investment rating on drilling contractor Helmerich & Payne Inc. (HP, $39.05, +$2.06, +5.57%) to trading buy from neutral, as the firm said it expects a beat this quarter. JA Solar Holdings Co. (JASO, $5.46, +$0.11, +2.06%) agreed to buy a solar-technology company for $29.3 million in cash from a company controlled by its chairman. The Chinese solar-cell maker said it would buy Shanghai Jinglong Solar Technology Co. from Ningjin Jinglong PV Investment Co., which is controlled by JA Solar Chairman Baofang Jin. Netlist Inc. (NLST, $2.77, +$0.47, +20.43%), a provider of memory subsystems, gained after Dell Inc. (DELL, $12.08, +$0.18, +1.51%) selected the company's data-recovery-and-retention system for inclusion on servers sold by the computer maker. Canada-based miner New Gold Inc. (NGD, $5.22, -$0.58, -9.93%) said a district court in Mexico denied the company's appeal over the cancelled environmental impact statement at its Cerro San Pedro Mine. New Gold said it hasn't received the full court decision, but plans to appeal following a full review of the documents. Nymox Pharmaceutical Corp. (NYMX, $2.78, -$0.04, -1.42%) said its injected investigational drug for prostate enlargement reduced patients' symptoms of urgency to urinate by 52% after three months compared with a placebo in a follow-up Phase 3 clinical trial. Sidoti & Co. raised its stock-investment rating on PolyOne Corp. (POL, $8.32, +$0.88, +11.83%), a producer and distributor of resin and other plastic additives, to buy from neutral, saying investors are ignoring the earnings recovery the firm contends is underway. Sirius XM Radio Inc. (SIRI, $0.99, +$0.05, +5.65%) expanded its subscriber base by 6% from a year ago to a record 19.5 million at the end of the second quarter, leading the company to raise its 2010 forecast for subscriber growth by nearly 50%. Synchronoss Technologies Inc. (SNCR, $18.91, +$0.70, +3.84%) has agreed to acquire privately held FusionOne Inc. for as much as $75 million in cash and stock as the deal will expand Synchronoss' presence in the field of content-sharing software for cellphones. Oppenheimer raised its stock-investment rating on VeriSign Inc. (VRSN, $27.00, +$1.06, +4.09%), a provider of Internet infrastructure services, to outperform from perform, citing solid trends, margin expansion and the potential large share buyback. Biopharmaceutical company XenoPort Inc. (XNPT, $6.55, -$2.32, -26.16%) and GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK, $34.23, +$0.10, +0.29%) said their drug GSK1838262/XP13512 didn't produce statistically significant improvement in treating migraine headaches than a placebo in a midstage trial did. The 30-week study included 526 patients at four dosing levels twice a day, and the study's failure could be due to an unexpectedly high placebo response, the companies said. -By Dow Jones Newswires; write to [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 07, 2010 13:20 ET (17:20 GMT)