Volume Spike Investor

Borders Group shares rose more than 7% after the book seller’s loss narrowed to better than expectations.  The troubled book-seller also announced that it has trimmed down debt by $272 million.  Shares rose over 1% today but in after-hours trading we are seeing another 7% rise to $5.75 after earnings.  Considering the $3.87 to $16.62 trading range of the last 52-weeks, this is a win.  We have seen more than 54,000 shares trade since the earnings report.

JON OGG

August 26, 2008

Maybe things aren’t all that bad over at GT Solar International Inc. (NASDAQ: SOLR).  It posted net income of $5.1 million and earnings of $0.03 on revenues of $57.1 million.  These compare to a net loss of $5.0 million for the same quarter last year and a loss of -$0.04 EPS.  This was also a 272% revenue rise from the year before.  The newly public solar player also guided Fiscal March-2009 revenues $600 to $650 million and $0.70 to $0.75 EPS.   SEE FULL NOTES

As of 5:10 PM EST, we have seen a 6.6% gain to %15.00 on more than 470,000 shares traded since the 4:00 PM closing bell.

JON OGG

August 26, 2008

Thornburg Mortgage Inc. (NYSE: TMA) is seeing a massive flurry of pre-market trading this morning, and this is looking like the focal stock for day traders and low-priced stock traders.  The company managed a small profit and met its margin calls, yet some reports question its chances of survival over new margin calls.  Shares closed at $0.40 yesterday and are up at $0.48 pre-market on 2.767 million shares at 8:55 AM EST.  With a 52-week trading range of $0.17 to $14.20, you know this one is volatile and has been a credit crunch victim.

JON OGG
August 26, 2008

We are seeing some select chip stock downgrades affecting shares negatively this morning.  We have shown the downgrades attached and the pre-market reactions seen so far this morning.

• Marvell Technology (MRVL) was cut to Hold from Buy at Jefferies; shares down over 4% at $14.90 on more than 300,000 shares.
• Broadcom (BRCM) was cut to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer; shares down 1.9% at $25.67 on volume of only about 8,400 shares.
• Integrated Device Tech (IDTI) was cut to Perform from outperform at Oppenheimer; shares down 2.6% atr $10.76 on very thin volume.

8:44 AM EST

JON OGG
August 26, 2008

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE: AEO) posted earnings ahead of estimates at $0.29 EPS vs. $0.28 estimates, but the good news pretty much stops there.  The apparel retailer guided next quarter earnings to $0.31 to $0.36 EPS vs. $0.39 estimates.  Unfortunately its same store sales were down 9% in the quarter and so far are running down 6% for the month.  Shares are now firmly indicated lower with more than 70 minutes to the market open as shares have traded 42,000 shares and the last trade seen was down over 3.6% at $13.24.  Its 52-week trading range is $11.87 to $27.29.

JON OGG
August 26, 2008

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (CLNE) traded up as much as 7% last night because Jim Cramer called this one as having government backing since Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband invested $50,000 to $100,000 in this stock in 2007.  This is T. Boone Pickens’ natural gas for autos stock, which could win big from future legislation in 2009 and beyond.  Shares are still indicated up over 5% at $15.05 pre-market but no volume has yet been seen.

Basic Summary comments from last night…..

JON OGG

August 26, 2008

Anadarko Petroleum (APC) is indicated higher after the company said that it was going to buy back up to $5 Billion common stock, or 18% of the company, out to August 2011.  The company is also increasing its capital spending plan for 2009 and beyond.

Coach Inc. (COH) traded higher after announcing that it was going to buy back up to $1 Billion in common stock after its $1 Billion buyback plan from November 2007 has already been utilized.  Shares are indicated up 4% pre-market around $27.50, although this number may be higher or lower by the open as we have more than two hours before the market opens.

JON OGG

August 26, 2008

Shares of Gilat Satellite Netowrks (NASDAQ: GILT) are being pounded riight at the open.  Shares are down almost 10% at $7.81 right after the open and we have already seen more than two and a half times volume with over 530,000 shares after 10 minutes and the pre-market session.

The company missed earnings, and its merger partner is dropping the bid.  That’ll do it every time.  While this is a 52-week low under the prior range of $8.35 to $11.34, this is actually better than the lows of $7.00 seen in early pre-market trading.

JON OGG
August 25, 2008

Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) is seeing a very unusual options trading pattern today.  We have seen many call options trade hands as of 1:20 PM today, and it might actually be enough to get the watchers out who look for unusual options activity in battered tech stocks.  That is even more so the case when you consider how battered this tech stock has been.  These are in out of the money call options for current month runs as these are SEP08 CALLS:

OPTION/STRIKE  Volume   OpInt
SEP08 $25.00    21,517    11,866
SEP08 $30.00    8,643      7,440

We are even seeing some further out contracts trade:

OPTION/STRIKE  Volume  OpInt
OCT08 $25.00    4,956    1,793
OCT08 $30.00    1,851    16
NOV08 $35.00   1,760    8,576
JAN09 $30.00    1,358    2,446
JAN09 $35.00    1,437    4,186

This is exponential call option activity in the stock today and we still have more than 2 and a half hours to the close.  Shares are up almost 6.5% at $24.02 on almost 6 million shares (average daily volume 6.15 million).  The 52-week trading range is $21.54 to $41.45.

JON OGG
AUGUST 22, 2008

Lehman Brothers Holdings (NYSE: LEH) has already traded almost half of an average day’s volume, and it’s only 9:51 AM EST.  The brokerage firm is up 13% at $15.54 on over 25 million shares after reports that the Korean Development Bank is interested in acquiring the company.  Key financial analyst Dick Bove of Ladenberg Thalmann believes that a buyer could essentially finance the company for nearly free if they sold off the money management unit.  He also believes that a hostile takeover is likely and that CEO Dick Fuld is going to be under severe pressure as soon as next week to leave or to take action if nothing comes.  This may be a huge improvement from the lows of $12.02 seen recently, but shares were north of $67.00 over the last year.  We have already seen more than 1,000 contracts trade in call options the SEP08 strike prices of $15, $18, and $20…… stay tuned!  Sometimes hopes and prayers do actually come true.

JON OGG

August 22, 2008