This morning as early as 7:40 AM EST we have shares up around $3.80 on more than 30,000 shares.  The average volume here is about 2.6 million shares.  The 52-week trading range is $2.12 to $3.75, so today is likely to also mark a 52-week high.

The takeaway from last night and this morning is a simple one.  Look for an exponential volume move today.  The low share price will attract many new investors looking for that extra juice from low-priced stocks.  The magnitude of the beat is going to likely drive very active stock trading today for what was a market cap of $837 million.

JON C. OGG

The NASDAQ after-hours session shows that as of 6:00 PM EST the shares are trading down 3.6% at $183.00 after a close of $189.81.  After-hours volume is also very high considering close to a $200 share price.

Chief Financial Officer Barry McCarthy is leaving the company.  The listed reason is that he “has expressed a desire to pursue broader executive opportunities outside the company.”

The change is effective December 10.  Netflix shares are up close to 300% from the 52-week lows and he holds roughly 51,563 shares as of the November 10 date.

JON C. OGG

The addition is fairly close by as well as the addition will be made after the close of trading on Monday, November 1.

Microsemi Corp. (NASD: MSCC) is acquiring Actel in a deal expected to be completed soon, pending final approvals and conditions.

Shares are up nearly 6% at $21.50 in the after-hours session and this marks a 52-week high if it holds.  The prior range was $8.75 to $20.68.  iGATE has traded only about 12,100 shares so far in the after-hours as of 5:55 PM EST.

JON C. OGG

Zoran sees its fourth quarter adjusted loss at -$0.39 to -$0.43 EPS and revenues of $60 to $65 million.  Those estimates were -$0.06 EPS and $95.17 million in revenues.

At 4:45 PM EST the stock is trading down over 21% at $5.90 after closing at $7.56.  There have been more than 100,000 shares in the after-hours session alone.  If tonight’s reaction gets any worse, Zoran will be close to challenging the lows of early 2009 when the world was close to an end.

JON C. OGG

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) beat muted earnings expectations and talked up demand for aluminum from 12% to 13%… Shares are now trading up 2.95 at $12.55 and there have been as much as 2.6 million shares since the 4PM closing bell.

Central Garden & Pet Company (CENTA) appears to be a mis-quote or mis-print or a trade error from an after-hours trader as the stock appears to be up 19.9% to $12.81 but only on 4,500 shares since the close.  The close was $10.83 and the bid-ask spread is a mile apart on this one.

CEPHEID (NASDAQ: CPHD) may be a head-fake as well as the stock looks like it is getting crushed after it announced that it will collaborate with Novartis (NVS) on chronic myelogenous leukemia.  Unfortunately it appears that this is an $8 million deal, which is not more than a line-item for a company that had a market cap of $1.16 billion before the news.  Shares are down about 47% at $10.22 on only about 15,000 shares after the 4PM closing bell.    The after-hours prints now appear to be coming in at $18.26 for a 6% loss rather than the after-hours crush originally seen.

Cytori Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CYTX) is getting hit after disclosing that it plans to have a secondary offering of its stock.  Shares are trading down 12% at $4.68 on 60,000 shares since the 4PM closing bell.

DragonWave Inc. (NASDAQ: DRWI) had a good day with a 5% gain and then came positive earnings news.  Shares are up another 6% at $7.07 on almost 30,000 shares since the 4PM close.

Genzyme Corporation (NASDAQ: GENZ) may be delusional since no one else is a buyer-apparent, but the company has formally rejected Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) and its $69 cash bid.  It now is exploring alternatives and will seek a formal sale process to other buyers.  Genzyme shares are up only 0.6% at $72.80 after the close and there have been about 750,000 shares traded since the 4PM close.

Kulicke & Soffa (NASDAQ: KLIC) may have been a deep a value screen stock this morning, but ‘all the bad news that should have been priced in” was not… Shares are down almost 9% at $5.91 on almost 100,000 shares since the 4PM close.

Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ONXX) is delaying its New Drug Application filing with the FDA for carfilzomib and shares are getting hacked by -8.5% at $25.15 on over 500,000 shares since the 4PM close.

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JON C. OGG

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) closed at $251.89 and shares are up 2.9% at $259.14 on more than 4.57 million shares as of 5:05 PM EST.  SUMMARY

BP plc (NYSE: BP) and Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA) are on the move in after-hours trading.  BP is selling $7 billion in assets in the U.S., Canada, and Egypt to Apache to help pay for the Gulf of Mexico clean-up.  Apache Corp To Advance $5B To BP On July 30.  At 5;10 PM EST BP is up 1.25% at $35.64 on 665,000 shares in the after-hours session; Apache is down 2.8% at $85.77 and has traded 265,000 shares in the after-hours session.

Cytec Industries Inc. (NYSE: CYT) rose after record earnings of $1.24 EPS vs. $0.67 from Thomson Reuters consensus; It also raised guidance to $3.20 to $3.50 EPS from a prior range of $1.90 to $2.40 EPS for 2010.  Shares are up over 12% at $48.20 on about 34,000 shares as of 5:05 PM EST.

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) is off lows after cutting its 2010 product sales guidance after earnings today.  Still, at 5:05 PM EST shares are down 3.03% at $32.00 on 375,000 shares since the close.

Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD) should be the “FAKE” after-hours alert.  There was either a clean-up trade that was not reported properly in time or a day traders and market maker have a beef over a print… Shares rose 4.5% to $64.80 in regular trading and a print of $60.95 for 8.685 shares at 4:51 PM EST has shares down by a mistaken amount considering the 5:05 PM EST bid-ask is much higher.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) closed at $15.20 before earnings and the reaction of light revenues has shares lower by 6.25% at $14.25 on more than 3.5 million shares as of 5:Z05 PM EST. SUMMARY

VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW) is running up after earnings and after raising 2010 guidance.  Shares are up 5.1% at $76.15 on over 600,000 shares as of 5:05 PM EST. SUMMARY

JON C. OGG

The issue that always comes up for debate is that Alcoa is often a coincidental indicator rather than a leading indicator stock.  It is rare that things would be great or improving for Alcoa without the rest of the biggest companies following suit, but the rest of the universe can still be strong or holding up even if Alcoa is not scoring large gains.

Here are the after-hours reactions from the key DJIA components which would be loosely tied:

• Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) up 0.7% at $64.34
• Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) up 0.5% at $64.61
• Century Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ: CENX) up 3.75% at $9.95
• Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) up 1% at $11.21
• General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) up 1%at $15.08
• Titanium Metals Corporation (NYSE: TIE) up 1.7% at $19.44
• United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) up 1.35% at $42.07

JON C. OGG

The new stake is higher than previously seen 15,038,100    shares or 11.13% as of March 31, 2010… which may have been raised between now and then as well.  The new stake is listed as 32,789,000 shares, which comes to a stake of 24.3% for the fund in AIG.

AIG closed down 0.9% at $35.57, but the stock is up almost 2% at $36.24 in after-hours.  Unfortunately, the after-hours trading has only seen 49,945 shares trade since the 4:00 PM EST Closing Bell.

JON C. OGG

The stock is up 4.2% at $6.70 in the after-hours session and the 52-week range is $3.19 to $10.92.  At 5:01 PM EST, we have seen only 28,613 shares trade since the 4:00 PM EST Closing Bell.

JON C. OGG

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Now shares are down 78% at $9.58 and we saw prints down even around $9.00.  That is close to $2 billion in market cap destroyed in the after-hours session. Mark that as a new 52-week low as the prior range was $10.48 to $49.46.

Ugly, and fugly for that matter, just took on a new name.  That name is InterMune.

JON C. OGG