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Closing Bell: The bull returns ahead of earnings (GE, WFC, FOLD, CIEN, VG)

Last week's sleeping bull market was brought back to a woken bull market. Despite warnings from Nouriel Roubini that things were up too much too fast, the services sector actually came in above the expansion line after 11 straight months of contraction. This caused most of the excitement for the day.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

DJIA
S&P500
NASDAQ

Today's top analyst upgrades and top analyst downgrades
Today's top day trader alerts
Today's top rumors

Continue reading Closing Bell: The bull returns ahead of earnings (GE, WFC, FOLD, CIEN, VG)

Analyst initiations 6-06-07: AW, RSG and WMI

MOST NOTEWORTHY: The environmental services sector, the machinery and capital goods sector and several bank holding companies were today's noteworthy initiations:
OTHER INITIATIONS:
  • Golfsmith International Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: GOLF) was initiated at Wedbush with a Buy rating and $8.75 target, as the firm believes the company is an attractive growth story and buyout candidate.
  • Pharmasset Inc (NASDAQ: VRUS) was initiated with a Buy rating and $12 target at Banc of America, as the firm believes Clevudine has the potential to be best in class for the treatment of the hepatitis B virus.
  • Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) was initiated with an Outperform rating and $40 target at Piper Jaffray.

Private equity shifts gears to technology

Private equity and investors in general are beginning to open up their pocketbooks for technology. Palm Inc (NASDAQ: PALM) announced a deal with Elevation Partners which agreed to invest $325 million for a 25 percent stake in Palm.

Also, Avaya Inc (NYSE: AV) is being picked up for a nice premium, $17.50 per share or $8.2 billion by Silver Lake Partners and TPG Capital.

Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) went to market and issued $450 million in convertible debt. And earlier this year, Sun Microsystems Inc (NASDAQ: SUNW) picked up cash from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in the form of a convertible stock.

Slowly but surely, private equity and investor interest in technology is picking up. This could be the very early stages of a big bull market run for tech stocks.

Ciena Corporation: Lightwaves are back in demand

Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) yesterday reported 17.2% sequential growth, topping guidance of 5% to 10% growth. EPS was a massive $0.26, for a company that has been flirting with the break-even level for years. Results seem to show a big breakthrough for this long-time tech turnaround story.

What drove the stock higher in after-hours trading is company guidance. Management guided to 10% operating margins, a 290 basis point increase, much stronger than expected. Also gross margins could revisit the mid-40% level.

Ciena also turned operating cash flow positive in the quarter, generating $38 million in cash, up from a $16.6 million cash drain in the previous quarter.

Ciena will be a massive cash flow generator as operating leverage kicks in. Pay up for this stock and hold it for the next 12 to 18 months.

Newspaper wrap-up 5-31-07: Morgan Stanley to buy Investa

MAJOR PAPERS:
OTHER PAPERS:

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA+30.6910,464.40
NASDAQ+6.872,176.05
S&P 500+4.981,110.63

Last updated: November 26, 2009: 08:25 AM

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