Volume Spike Investor » Dell

Odds-Making: Is Brocade Really Bait For Dell? (BRCD, DELL, CSCO, HPQ)

247admin — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:17:09 +0000

Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD) is seeing a price and volume spike this morning after an analyst named Paul Mansky at Canaccord Genuity noted that Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) should acquire the company. Our own take is that Brocade should have already been acquired, but here it remains an independent company and Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) continue to pose threats.

The research causing the spike noted the following:

Dell has been busily assembling a full IT stack aimed at re-aligning the company away from secularly less attractive legacy businesses (e.g., PC) and incrementally toward future growth in the enterprise.
With Dell’s acquisitions of EqualLogic, Perot and Compellent (among others), Dell now has a beach head in three of the four primary layers of this stack – storage, servers and services.
Networking is the one crucial piece that is missing, but Dell has some limited networking technology in-house.
Dell has clearly been seeing success cross-selling Ethernet switching with servers and storage
The company has $7B of net cash on hand prior to any additional raise, equal to 23% of its market cap.

The most important note is, “Not owning this technology puts Dell at risk of simply hopping from one commoditized business into another.” Still, the analyst noted that he has no knowledge of any discussions between or around Dell and Brocade, nor does he suggest that there are any discussion he is unaware of.

The research call is driving Brocade today. At 11:10 AM EST shares are up 5.1% at $7.01 and shares hit a new 52-week high today at $7.20. We have seen about 225% of normal trading volume as there have already been about 23.1 million shares traded and the day is not even half-way done.

Normally we would not cover one research report in detail. The reason we do is that we have believed Brocade would be a target for many companies that want to stave off competition from Cisco, H-P, and a half-dozen other players.

If we had to make odds over any company which could or should acquire Brocade, Dell would be at the top of the list of companies which could benefit from such a deal.

JON C. OGG

Top Day Trader Alerts (APOL, BAC, CSIQ, CPST, DELL, FSLR, HUN, SII, WBMD)

247admin — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:55:25 +0000

These are this Friday’s top day trader alerts and active trader alerts we have seen on the move based upon events. We have an explanation and added color on each where applicable:

Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) is trading down sharply after providing preliminary guidance that is short of estimates for Q2. The company is boosting a share buyback by $500 million, but no one cares. At 8:37 AM EST we have seen over 260,000 shares trade hands and the stock is down 12% at $54.04. Keep in mind here that the 52-week trading range is $52.79 to $84.22 so it is close to a 52-week low.

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) has several issues to watch today. First is that the discount rate was raised. Late yesterday Meredith Whitney called it the “Least Worse” of big banks on the NYSE floor in a CNBC interview. Last night came reports that the government is reportedly going to sell its warrants. Shares are down 1.15% at $15.70 on 600,000 shares as of 8:30 AM EST.

Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) is getting clipped. The company now expects its gross margin to be in the mid-teens versus guidance that was initially put at the high-teens. Shares are down 10% at $22.22 on almost 100,000 shares as of 8:40 AM EST. This one is VERY volatile… the 52-week range is $3.00 to $33.68 and average volume is 2.1 million shares.

Capstone Turbine Corp. (NASDAQ: CPST) announced a proposed stock offering last night via Lazard. This had been telegraphed before in a recent filing to raise capital, but shares are down 11% at $ 1.10 on 55,000 shares as of 8:30 AM EST.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) saw its fiscal fourth quarter earnings fall 5% to $334 million and EPS dropped 6% to 17%. The company reported that sales rose 11% to $14.9 billion. Shares were down 3% last night and were down 5% at $13.70 on 1.4 million shares as of 8:40 AM EST.

First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) is getting drummed this morning, but it seems that the weakness is being used as a buying opportunity by some because shares are up $2.00 from last night’s and this morning’s lows. Shares are down over 7% at $117.00 on over 50,000 shares as f 8:31 AM EST.

Huntsman Corp. (NYSE: HUN) is trading up this morning after the chemicals company managed to post $0.27 EPS rather than an expected loss, and revenues were roughly $2 billion versus $1.9 billion expected (Thomson Reuters estimates). At 8:34 AM ESt we have shares up 4.5% at $12.93 on 44,000 shares.

Smith International Inc. (NYSE: SII) is soaring on reports that Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) is talks to acquire the company. Shares were indicated up 20% earlier on the news, but the stock is up about 14% at $38.00 on 450,000 shares as of 8:35 AM EST.

WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ: WBMD) is soaring after earnings and after it was raised to Buy at Citigroup. Shares are up almost 7% at $42.00 on 45,000 shares as of 8:50 AM EST. This appears to be a 52-week high as the prior range is listed as $19.45 to $40.44.

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list to hear about top analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPOs and secondary offerings, ongoing day trader and options trader alerts, stock and market rumors, Buffett and guru investor news, M&A and more.

JON C. OGG
FEBRUARY 19, 2010

Top Day Trader Alerts (ADBE, ATHX, BIDU, CPST, DELL, HMC, MCZ, NBG, NTGR, S)

247admin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:51:41 +0000

We have many key movers, and many up by double-digit percentages. These are this morning’s top day trader and active trader alert stocks:

Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) is trading up 3.5% at $33.45 on about 76,000 shares after two different analyst upgrades.

Athersys, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHX) is trading up big after it received a U.S. patent covering adult stem cell composition & production. Shares are up over 30% at $3.76 on 400,000 shares.

Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) is surging over 8% and above the $470.25 mark at all-time highs. The company beat earnings and raised guidance.

Capstone Turbine Corp. (NASDAQ: CPST) is trading up 5% at $1.20 on almost 50,000 shares. A boutique called Northland upgraded the stock this morning. FULL ANALYST CALLS

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is up 2.66 at $13.91 but had been up over 3%. Only about 200,000 shares have traded. FULL ANALYST CALLS

Honda Motor Co. (NYSE: HMC) is down 1.95% at $33.85 on 381,000 shares pre-market. This is almost never a key price/volume alert, but it expanded a previous recall for 378,758 more vehicles in the U.S. related to driver-side airbag rupture issues.

Mad Catz Interactive (AMEX: MCZ) is a huge gainer this morning on video game peripheral sales. The company reported Q3 sales of $48.8 million and net income of $5.6 million. We are looking at gains of over 40% at $0.498 on about 90,000 shares.

National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE: NBG) is trading down this morning despite hope of an E.U. or German-led rescue of its debt issues. Shares are down 4.7% at $4.06 on over 100,000 shares. Yesterday was a record on volume seen in many years and the stock was one of Tuesday’s top gainers.

NETGEAR Inc. (NASDAQ: NTGR) beat earnings and put revenues for the coming quarter above estimates. Shares are up 13.5% at $24.70, but on fewer than 20,000 shares versus an average daily volume of 260,000 shares. Anything above $23.41 marks a new 52-week high.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) is trading down 3% at $3.54 on over 1.9 million shares after it posted a narrower loss on lower revenues and its subscriber loss shrank in the fourth quarter as well.

Timestamps around 8:45 AM EST

JON C. OGG
FEBRUARY 10, 2010

New Technical Levels on Dell (DELL)

247admin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:19:51 +0000

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is down, and you know why… disappointing earnings…. say no more. This traded over 8 million shares in the after-hours session last night and went out down 6.05% at $14.91 late in the after-hours session. But this morning at 8:12 AM EST it seems that the eager bearish traders are still asleep as we have only seen 458,000 shares trade hands at 8:13 AM EST. The last trade was down 8.4% at $14.53. Here are its key moving averages:

5-day $15.85… 10-day $15.61… 20-day $15.24… 50-day $15.52… 200-day $12.71…. If you go back to before the rally was over, it looks like areas a few cents around $14.90 and $14.25 had been prior pivot points as well.

Unfortunately Dell is entering into a technical no-man’s land and serious damage has been done if you look at its trend charts.

JON OGG

Dell Pre-Earnings Upgrade (DELL)

247admin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:35:41 +0000

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is running after Goldman Sachs re-started analyst coverage on Dell at a BUY rating and a $19.00 target. Generally speaking, these re-starts and reinitiations do not move the meter very much. But this is also ahead of this week’s earnings report. At 8:33 AM EST we have shares up 1.3% at $15.61 on about 35,000 shares. The old $20+ highs are now outside of the 52-week trading range of $7.84 to $17.26.

-JON OGG

Re-Rumor in Palm (PALM, DELL, NOK)

247admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:20:08 +0000

Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) is trading higher on those pesky takeover rumors all over again. Some say Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) and some say Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is a possible suitor. Frankly, both have long been buyers of the company IF you listen to the rumor mill. We question the rumor though not just because this is probably the 20th such rumor on this. We have only seen 4.5 million shares trade hands at 10:15 AM EST and the shares are up almost 4% at $11.89. We would note that there have been approximately 15,000 contracts that have traded hands at the same time in the NOV-2009 CALLS and there is some activity out in the JAN-2010 CALLS.

If a deal were to come, it seems that anything under a $15.00 share price would be laughed at and denied by holders in a vote. It might even take $20.00. The lows of $1.14 over the last year won’t be very relevant, but everyone under the sun will point to the $18.09 high.

As with all rumors, caveat emptor.

JON C. OGG

Perot Bought… Sell Sell Sell (PER, DELL)

247admin — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:49:26 +0000

Perot Systems Corp. (NYSE: PER) is being acquired for one hell of a premium… Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) has agreed to buy the information technology services company Perot Systems Corp. for about $3.6 to $3.9 billion depending on whether you include debt, but this $30.00 buyout price is at a whopping 68% premium This move out of the personal computer business will help it better compete against HP, but at a huge premium that Dell is going to be accused of wildly overpaying for when you go back and look at its history. Shares are up over 65% at $29.65 on over 8 million shares at 8:46 AM EST. This is a game called take your money and run….. JON OGG

Intel Drives Friends and Rivals (INTC, DELL, MSFT, AMD, NVDA, MU, RMBS)

247admin — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:40:24 +0000

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) guidance is driving the tech sector, despite Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) already giving a lift to the sector…..Right before the open at 9:28 AM EST Intel stock is up 4.5% at $20.35 on about 8 million shares. Look at peers and competitors:

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) is up over 5% at $4.30 on well over 1 million shares right before the open…
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) was up 2.2% at $25.22 on only about 600,000 shares.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) was up 2.4% at $14.35 on 52-week highs.
Micron Technology Inc. (NYSE: MU) is up 2% at $7.35 on volume, also on 52-week highs.
Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS) is up 1% at $19.40 on light volume, but keep an eye on $19.94 as that is the 52-week high level.

JON C. OGG

Dell Finds Some Love )DELL)

247admin — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:31:20 +0000

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) traded over 6 million shares and went out last night up 3% in after-hours after a 6% run right before the close after Dell accidentally released its earnings ahead of the closing bell. As of 8:25 AM EST we have Dell trading up 4.1% at $16.30 on almost 1 million shares in pre-market. Average volume here is 29 million shares, and technically the level that should be used as the pre-earnings level is $14.75. If we use that figure, Dell is actually up about 10% on its earnings. The 52-week range on this is $7.84 to $26.04… JON OGG

PREMARKET ALERT: Dell Inc. (DELL)

247admin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:19:05 +0000

Dell Inc. (Nasdaq: DELL) shares are down more than 3 percent to $12.55 in early premarket trade, and may see a volume spike lower today. The company said Monday night it expects a “modest” decline in its second-quarter gross margins due to higher computer component costs, price competition, and a demand shift toward cheaper computers. The company said it expects to report a slight revenue increase, roughly in line with analyst expectations of 1.6 percent growth. — Mike Tarsala