EchoStar (SATS) announced an agreement to acquire all of the outstanding equity of Hughes Communications (HUGH) in a transaction valued at approximately $2 billion. EchoStar overall option implied volatility of 29 is near its 26-week average of 31, according to Track Data, suggesting slightly lower price movement.

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice announced a definitive merger agreement under which an affiliate of CD&R will acquire EMSC for $64.00 in cash for each share of EMSC Class A common stock and Class B common stock and each LP Exchangeable Unit. Overall option implied volatility of 16 is below its 26-week average of 32, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Options Update: EchoStar Volatility Flat into $2B Acquisition of Hughes Communications originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Boeing (BA) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Alcoa (AA) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• BP (BP) to outperform from market perform at Raymond James.
• Office Depot (ODP) and Staples (SPLS) to buy from neutral at Janney Capital.
• ON Semiconductor (ONNN) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Kennametal (KMT) and Polyone (POL) to buy from hold at KeyBanc.
• Airgas (ARG) to outperform from market perform at William Blair.
• EchoStar (SATS) to neutral from underperform at Macquarie.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: AA, BA, BP, BSX, COH, GM, INTC, NSM, STJ, TIF, TSN, UA ...

Analyst Calls: AA, BA, BP, BSX, COH, GM, INTC, NSM, STJ, TIF, TSN, UA ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

A fairly obvious trade is presenting itself in shares of TiVo (TIVO). The company has been involved in patent infringement litigation with DISH Network (DISH) and Echostar (SATS) since 2004. At pretty much every step of the way, TiVo's claims have been upheld, including by the U.S. Patent Office this last October.

Currently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is conducting an en banc review of an earlier decision, which upheld a lower court's ruling in TiVo's favor with regard to the infringement of company patents by DISH and Echostar. The CEO of TiVo has said that he expects the litigation to be resolved by February or March of 2011.

Continue reading Risk/Reward in TiVo Is Extremely Compelling

Risk/Reward in TiVo Is Extremely Compelling originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Vivus (VVUS) to overweight from neutral.
• Citigroup upgraded Corn Products (CPO) to buy from hold.
• Maxim Integrated (MXIM) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• Cardinal Health (CAH) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Citigroup upgraded Monster Worldwide (MWW) and EchoStar (SATS) to buy from hold, as well as Las Vegas Sands (LVS) to buy from sell.
• BMO Capital upgraded Potash (POT) and Barrick Gold (ABX) to outperform from market perform.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: CAH, EXPE, FSLR, HOT, LVS, MWW, NUVA, POT ...

Analyst Calls: CAH, EXPE, FSLR, HOT, LVS, MWW, NUVA, POT ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading TiVo (TIVO) falls on court decision

TiVo (TIVO) falls on court decision originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Closing Bell: When complacency becomes concerning (AET, AIG, JBLU, TIVO, VLO)

Closing Bell: When complacency becomes concerning (AET, AIG, JBLU, TIVO, VLO) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO) closed at $6.98. The Federal district court for Eastern Texas upheld TIVO patents and said Echostar (NYSE: DISH) is infringing on them. TIVO June option implied volatility is at 87; July is at 81; verses its 26-week average of 88, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional near term price movement.

Moody's (NYSE: MCO) closed at $28.64. MCO is hosting an investor meeting on June 4. MCO June option implied volatility is at 57, July is at 55; below its 26-week average of 71, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Options Update: TiVo June volatility at 87 into court ruling win originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

DirecTV (NYSE: DTV) closed at $22.98. DTV is scheduled to report Q4 EPS on February 10. February option implied volatility is at 64; March is at 59; above its 26-week average of 53, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Echostar (NASDAQ: DISH) closed at $12.84. DISH is expected to report Q3 EPS in late February. March option implied volatility is at 83, June is at 74; above its 26-week average of 63, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Continue reading Options Update: Cable / satellite companies' volatility elevated into earnings

Options Update: Cable / satellite companies' volatility elevated into earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 05 Feb 2009 08:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

EchoStar (NASDAQ: DISH) closed at $26.70 Monday, near five-year low. DISH August option implied volatility of 57 is above its 26-week average of 45 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Financial Select Sector-XLF overall volatility at 43; 26-week average is 34

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Option Update: EchoStar August volatility elevated at 57 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Three years into its $35B takeover of Nextel, the Wall Street Journal reported that Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) is considering selling or spinning off the troubled unit. Few details were available and a deal is not imminent.
• The Wall Street Journal also reported that pressure is mounting on Citigroup Incorporated's (NYSE: C) CEO Vikram Pandit to show that he can turn around the troubled bank. Executives believe Pandit, who has been praised for his cautious and deliberate approach, has been taking "too long" to make crucial decisions.

• According to a person close to Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG), Reuters reported that Google and Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) are still "hammering out the intricacies" of a potential advertising and search deal. The source said no final agreement has been reached yet.
• ABC News learned that if Rupert Murdoch does not testify in a lawsuit accusing one of his companies of "corporate espionage," it may cost News Corporation (NYSE: NWS) hundreds of millions of dollars, a federal judge overseeing the trial said. News Corp has denied any wrongdoing, and lawyers maintain Murdoch had no direct knowledge of the unit's alleged hacking into EchoStar Corporation's (NASDAQ: SATS)/DISH Network Corporation's (NASDAQ: DISH) security code and posting it on the Internet.

Newspaper wrap-up: Sprint may reverse course and cast off Nextel originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 06 May 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Is it EchoStar (NASDAQ: DISH) (Cramer's Take)? Or is it foreclosures? Is it DirecTV (NYSE: DTV) (Cramer's Take) or is it bills that are too high? Is it Verizon (NYSE: VZ) (Cramer's Take) or is it house poor fears?

We will debate the Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) (Cramer's Take) blowup -- it just cut its forecasts for 2007 sales, new subscribers and cash -- for a long time. Trying to figure out how a monopoly utility that we used to regard as a utility that could no more be shut off than Con Ed, has become a totally discretionary competitive item that needs to be sold and can't be pulled.

The implications either way show you the limits of this former wonder industry. For all of the years I have been in the business, investing in cable stocks worked. The companies always grew with consistent cash flow and that was enough. They were utilities that always talked about how dividends weren't tax-advantaged and instead focused on the broad expansion and cash flow growth.

Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Comcast's blowup cuts cable

Cramer on BloggingStocks: Comcast's blowup cuts cable originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

So, what does this mean in practice?

Continue reading What's next, Google TV?

What's next, Google TV? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The rumor mongers on Wall Street took the bait on the EchoStar Communications (NASDAQ: DISH) buyout by AT&T (NYSE: T). The satellite TV company's shares rallied from just above $39 on Friday to a high of $50.29 yesterday.

Never give a sucker an even break. After the close of the market, The Wall Street Journal said that it was all just speculation. The paper says, "one person close to AT&T says the two sides aren't even talking about an M&A deal."

Today, EchoStar shares may well go back below $40 and a lot of people will lose money. DISH traded close to 22 million shares yesterday.

The incident is a hard lesson in buying on rumors. The AT&T deal seemed to be such a clear "win" for both companies. Having a national TV play would make it easier for the telephone company to compete with cable. No one bothered to mention that a partnership between the two companies would probably work nearly as well as AT&T spending $25 billion to buy DISH.

Listen for some cries of pain at the open today.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

EchoStar (DISH) buyout rumors blown apart, shares fall originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 20 Nov 2007 04:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

EchoStar (NYSE: DISH) closed at $39.83 Friday.

• Smith Barney upgraded DISH from Hold to Buy on: "1) attractive valuation, and 2) our ongoing conviction that there's a 65% chance that AT&T (NYSE: T) acquires DISH over the next 12 months. We still view $52 as fair value for DISH shares. Maintain $52 target price DISH within 12-month."
  
• DISH announced on 9/26/07 the proposal to spin off its technology and infrastructure assets.
  
• DISH overall of 50 is above its 26-week average of 34 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price risk.

Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Option update 11-19-07: EchoStar (DISH) volatility elevated at 50 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• According to people familiar with the situation, the Wall Street Journal reported that Hurray! Holding Co Ltd (NASDAQ: HRAY) and Enlight Media have agreed to a merger valued at about $160M, that could be announced as early as Monday afternoon.
• The Financial Times reported that anti-corruption investigators are probing payments by Chevron Corporation's (NYSE: CVX) ChevronTexaco and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (NYSE: RDS.A) to a company owned by powerful Nigerian politician James Ibori, whom they suspect has laundered tens of millions of dollars in British banks, cars and property.
• The Financial Times also reported that Vodafone Group Plc (NYSE: VOD) is looking to increase its presence in China through a government-led restructuring of the country's telecommunications industry.
• According to Barron's "The Trader," there is speculation that the decline in the shares of Echostar Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) last week has reinvigorated AT&T Inc's (NYSE: T) interest in buying the company.

• Citigroup Incorporated (NYSE: C) is said to have "informally" approached The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc's (NYSE: RBS) CEO, Sir Fred Goodwin, the Telegraph reported.

Newspaper wrap-up: Citigroup 'informally' approaches Royal Bank of Scotland CEO originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has cut a deal with TV ratings service Nielsen that will give the search company access to demographic data for ad targeting. Reuters says that, "Google will combine the data it receives from television set top-boxes with information that Nielsen, the dominant TV ratings company in the United States, provides on viewers by gender and age."

Google hopes that the additional layer of targeting will make its TV advertising sales package even more effective at aiming marketing messages at people who are most likely to respond to them. Today the company has access to a relatively small part of the country's ad inventory, about 14 million homes, through a deal with Echostar (NASDAQ: DISH).

Adding the Nielsen data to its current ad target system, which is used primarily on the internet, is likely to make network TV executives and sales organizations a bit tense. If the system works well, it could take the marketing and the pricing of inventory out of the hands that traditionally hold it. In other words, Google could destroy a system for selling TV ads that has been in place for decades.

It may not matter that networks and cable systems do not want Google to take away their roles as middlemen. If the new systems works, they are out of luck, and time.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor of 247wallst.com.

Google pushes further into TV originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 24 Oct 2007 10:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Looking at some of the 52-week highs from a week in the market is often indicative of its direction.

Last week Echostar (NASDAQ: DISH) was moving over $52. Its 52-week low is $33.55. The high signals a couple of critical points. The first is that strategic M&A is far from dead. There were a number of rumors and analyst reports that said AT&T (NYSE: T) would be a buyer of the satellite TV company to allow the telco to more effectively compete with cable in the television market. The other reason Echostar has been moving up is that it has been able to add HDTV channels at a more rapid rate than cable because it does not have the bandwidth constraints that cable does. Satellite TV was viewed as dying just a year ago. HDTV demand has changed that. And, while private equity buying may be moribund, a critical technology and customer base is still attractive to another corporate buyer.

Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) hit a 52-week high last week at $59.75, and it hit it Friday and the market collapsed. But, when investors get nervous, a big global company with a strong balance sheet becomes a haven. Coke has more than a billion in cash and little debt. Its earnings were good. And, perhaps most important, it has a worldwide customer base for inexpensive products. Not the kind of things people will cut out in a tight economy.

Continue reading The week's 52-week highs and the broader market

The week's 52-week highs and the broader market originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 21 Oct 2007 12:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reported that the SEC is investigating Countrywide Financial Corporation (NYSE: CFC) CEO Angelo Mozilo for selling $130.6M in stock in the first half of the year.
• While all eyes have been on a possible AT&T (NYSE: T) play for EchoStar Communications (NASDAQ: DISH), the Wall Street Journal's "Deal Journal" says AT&T may go after DirecTV Group (NYSE: DTV), and may be more likely, and could be a better deal for AT&T.

• The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs has decided to sharply limit the use of GlaxoSmithKline's (NYSE: GSK) once-popular drug for Type 2 diabetes, Avandia. The decision is likely to further reduce revenue from Avandia, whose sales have dropped in the U.S. by an estimated 60% in the last five months, reported the New York Times.
• Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) said it would pay $172M for a majority stake in Indian metal castings maker Sigma Electricals and its affiliated companies, reported the Business Standard.
• A molecular diagnostic test for HPV developed by Digene, which is now part of Qiagen (NASDAQ: QGEN), has been found to be almost 40% more accurate than traditional cytology in identifying women with advanced cervical disease, according to a report published today in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Newspaper wrap-up: AT&T to pursue DirecTV? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 18 Oct 2007 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

EchoStar (NASDAQ: DISH) is recently up .64 to $48.82 on unconfirmed chatter the DISH really might be purchased by AT&T (NYSE:T). DISH & T have been frequently chattered over the last seven years as possible transaction partners. DISH announced on 9/26/07 the proposal to spin off its technology and infrastructure assets. DISH October 50 straddle is priced at $3.15. October option implied volatility of 50 is above its 26-week average of 32 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price fluctuations.

Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Option update: DISH straddle suggests movement on T buyout chatter originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Rochdale upgraded shares of Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) to Buy from Hold citing improved outlook for margins and ROIC.
• CIBC World Markets resumed coverage and upgraded shares of Magna International (NYSE: MGA) to Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer as they believe higher multiples are warranted due to the company's improving earnings power and cash flow generation.
  
• Oppenheimer upgraded shares of EchoStar Communications (NASDAQ: DISH) to Buy from Neutral as they believe recent events add $4-$6 per share to their valuation analysis.
  
• Westell Technologies (NASDAQ: WSTL) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird. The firm believes Westell is taking the right steps to improve its market position and financial performance.
  
• Credit Suisse upgraded SiRF Technology Holdings (NASDAQ: SIRF) to Outperform from Neutral, expecting the stock to benefit from a strong holiday season at electronic retailers.

• Goldman upgraded Campbell Soup Company (NYSE: CPB) to Neutral from Sell and Emerson Electric (NYSE: EMR) to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Oriental Financial Group (NYSE: OFG) to Outperform from Market Perform.
  
• Prudential plc (NYSE: PUK) was raised to Outperform from Peer Perform.
  
• Wachovia upgraded Kindred Healthcare Inc (NYSE: KND) to Market Perform from Underperform.

Analyst upgrades: WMT, MGA, DISH, WSTL and SIRF originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 27 Sep 2007 10:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.