There is a big brouhaha in the rare earth metals sector. China, which produces 97% of these metals, has reportedly limited exports for 2011. Rare earth metals are necessary for everything from high powered wind turbines to iPhones.

As companies are scrambling to fill the gap, many have soared on the news. Here are some worldwide leaders, as reported by CNBC.com:

• U.S. Molycorp (MCP), which went public over the summer, is up 200%, and now trading at $49.90. Both Sumitomo (SMTOY) and Hitachi (HIT) have recently made deals with Molycorp. Molycorp plans to break ground on a new $500 million facility and expects to be extracting ore in late 2011.

Motorola (NYSE: MOT) closed at $4.66. On February 3 MOT is scheduled to report earnings, provide a financial outlook and discuss its cash position. MOT preannounced EPS on January 14. MOT February 5 straddle is priced at 79c. February option implied volatility is at 78; March is at 71; above its 26-week average of 67, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Hitachi Ltd (NYSE: HIT) closed at $33.95. HIT forecast a record $7.8 billion annual loss and says it may cut as many as 7,000 jobs. HIT March option implied volatility of 56 is above its 26-week average of 52, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

General Electric (NYSE: GE) closed at $20.35 Tuesday. GE November option implied volatility of 52 is above its 26-week average of 32 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Siemens (NYSE: SI) closed at $63.97 Tuesday. SI November option implied volatility of 86 is above its 26-week average of 37 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG) closed at $18.71 Tuesday. PHG November option implied volatility of 68 is above its 26-week average of 43.

United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) closed at $50.95 Tuesday. UTX November option implied volatility of 53 is above its 26-week average of 33.

Hitachi Ltd (NYSE: HIT) closed at $51.63 Tuesday. HIT November option implied volatility of 71 is above its 26-week average of 36 according to Track Data.

Honeywell (NYSE: HON) closed at $28.85 Tuesday. HON November option implied volatility of 66 is above its 26-week average of 37.

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

Hitachi (NYSE: HIT) made a bold move in 2002 when it purchased IBM (NYSE: IBM)'s hard drive business for $2 billion. At the time, the hard drive industry was in a profit funk and IBM was looking to exit the hardware business. It eventually sold its PC division to Chinese company Lenovo to complete its exit from hardware. Five years later, Hitachi probably wishes it had never gotten into hard drives.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, the division responsible for hard drive storage, has consistently lost money in the last two years as competitors Seagate Technology (NYSE: STX) and Western Digital (NYSE: WDC) have really taken advantage of home entertainment, laptop and TiVo-like devices that are infiltrating homes like stormtroopers. Sales have been very nice for both companies, which are profitable even after storage was considered a boring and dead field around the year 2000. Hitachi, though, has had no such luck. Instead of selling its hard drive division to a private equity firm, the Japanese conglomerate may be looking to Japanese competitors Toshiba and Fujitsu as partners to form a new hard drive company.

Silver Lake Partners, which helped take Seagate private in 2000 only to launch it as a public company a few years later, has reportedly been in talks with Hitachi. Nothing concrete was produced, and Hitachi even said it does not want to sell the division. If Hitachi is too steeped in Japanese culture to sell to outsiders, then it has to do something -- but its options may remain limited. And, Toshiba and Fujitsu -- both of which have small hard drive businesses -- may not want to take more risk in the storage business currently dominated by Seagate and Western Digital. Hitachi shareholders, hold no fear; most likely, some kind of decision will come before April 1 of this year.

The US government hopes that a large number of nuclear plants will be built in the US over the next 20 years to cut the country's need for oil. But GE (NYSE: GE) CEO Jeffrey Immelt says they will not be built without incentives from the Feds.

According to the FT, "Immelt said only five to 10 US nuclear power projects were likely to go ahead unless there was a carbon-pricing framework to create incentives for utilities to build more." That may be true, but GE should be quiet about championing aid for building those facilities. GE and Hitachi (NYSE: HIT) have a joint venture to build nuclear plants, and the parties would not want to be seen as sell-serving.

The comments raise a difficult issue. The government and utilities both know that the long-term future of cheap oil looks bad. But building nuclear plants take years, is expensive, and requires passing government safety standards. Over the next decade it may actually be cheaper to continue to use fossil fuels even it the price of oil stays high.

GE will make a lot of money on the move to nuclear fuel, but that does not mean that its call for government help is wrong.

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

As firms become increasingly dependent on efficient and secure access to enterprise data, the advantages of a unified architectural approach to database management become increasingly apparent. There is an outfit in Oceanport, New Jersey noted for the degree to which its systems employ that approach.

CommVault Systems (NASDAQ: CVLT) provides data management software and related services. Its unified suite of applications is used for enterprise-wide data migration, backup, archiving, data replication and disaster recovery. The firm serves customers in manufacturing, financial services, health care, transportation and the public sector. It has strategic partnerships with Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), Hitachi (NYSE: HIT), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Network Appliance (NASDAQ: NTAP), Novell (NASDAQ: NOVL) and Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL).

The firm pleased investors last week, when it announced fiscal Q4 EPS of 14 cents and revenues of $42.6 million. Analysts had been expecting 12 cents and $42.0 million. Management also guided FY08 EPS to 55-57 cents (56 cent consensus) and FY08 revenues to $191-$193 million ($191.19M consensus). In discussing the solid quarterly results and favorable outlook, the CEO noted that the company is seeing broader deployment of its full suite of products across a broader spectrum of deal sizes. CVLT shares popped on the news and subsequently moved into the initial stages of a bullish "flag" consolidation pattern. Prices frequently exit flags moving in the same direction they were traveling when they entered them. In this case, that would be to the upside.

Brokers recommend the issue with three "strong buys," four "buys" and two "holds." Analysts see a 27% growth rate, through the next year. The CVLT Sales Growth rate (31.48%), Return on Assets (18.77%) and Return on Investment (55.11%) compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages.

Institutional investors hold about 73% of the outstanding shares. Since going public last September, the stock has traded between $14.74 and $20.85. A stop-loss of $14.80 looks good here.

Larry Schutts is a contributing editor for Theflyonthewall.com and the Vice-President of Stockwinners.com.

If necessary, most of us could probably find a place to rent a T.V. If our needs ran more toward aerial lifts, industrial hoists and excavators, though, what then? Well, there is a firm headquartered in Baton Rouge that has them shined up and waiting.

H&E Equipment Services Inc. (NASDAQ: HEES) is a heavy equipment services company, operating 48 facilities throughout the United States. The firm rents out aerial platform equipment, cranes, earthmoving vehicles and industrial lift trucks. It also sells new and used equipment and provides maintenance services. Customers include industrial concerns, construction contractors, public utilities and municipalities. H&E deals with equipment from numerous manufacturers, including Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), Ford (NYSE: F), Deere (NYSE: DE) and Hitachi (NYSE: HIT).

The company had good news for investors last week, when it reported Q1 EPS of 32 cents and revenues of $209.7 million. Analysts had been expecting 29 cents and $205.6 million. Management also guided FY07 EPS to $1.63-$1.85 ($1.82 consensus) and FY07 revenues to $900-$920 million ($901.22M consensus). Banc of America Securities subsequently reiterated its "buy" recommendation on the issue and raised its price target to $30.

Semiconductor IPOs have been hit-or-miss over the years, but that's not stopping AuthenTec, which recently filed to go public.

The company develops mixed-signal semiconductors that allow for fingerprint authentication sensors. The company has shipped over 15 million sensors and is integrated in over 150 laptops, desktops and peripherals. There are even 6 million mobile phones with AuthenTec chips.

The company has more than 100 customers, including biggies like Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), Hitachi Ltd. (NYSE:HIT), LG Electronics and Toshiba.

AuthenTec also has great timing. In light of recent security breaches, the company's technologies should be a big help.

And, the company is growing like a weed. Revenues increased from $19.2 million in 2005 to $33.2 million in 2006.

That should get the attention of investors.

The lead underwriter is Lehman Brothers and the proposed ticker symbol is "AUTH." You can find the filing at the SEC website.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Financial Times (subscription required) reported that General Motors Corporation's (NYSE: GM) CEO Rick Wagoner expressed caution about the possibility of General Motors adding new brands or US manufacturing plants to its portfolio, remarks that are likely to quash expectations of an imminent GM bid for cross-town rival DaimlerChrysler AG (NYSE: DCX).
• According to the Financial Times, Nikko Cordial's largest investor has rejected Citigroup Inc's (NYSE: C) $11B takeover bid.
• Also in the Financial Times, 3M Corporation (NYSE: MMM) has filed infringement lawsuits against Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE) and Lenovo (LNVGY), and others, including Hitachi Ltd ADR (NYSE: HIT), CDW Corporation (NASDAQ: CDWC) and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd (NYSE: MC).

OTHER PAPERS:

• India's Economic Times reported that Wipro Ltd ADS (NYSE: WIT) is said to be close to acquiring an unnamed U.S. aerospace services company for about $90M.
• According to the U.K. Times, Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG) has said it is willing to team up with private equity firms to pursue deals.

Companies start to believe their own PR hype. Investors push a stock past logical limits. A company seems about to break down or break out. These are just a few things that can signal a stock with attitude. And... that attitude can be good or bad for the stock price, since attitude always catches up with reality. At least on Wall Street, that is.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) was up $1.46 (+2.45%) Friday to close at $61.09 on more than twice the normal volume. Investors bought up the stock on news that the company had a modest earnings rise in the latest quarter and management stuck by its full-year forecast, relieving investors who thought the company might trim its view. The technicals for the stock were looking bad for most of last year but have popped up lately and CAT has a cautious S&P 3 STAR hold rating. Out of the 13 other analysts who cover the stock, four give it a strong buy, two a moderate buy, six a hold rating, and one a strong sell.

Caterpillar's stock has been on a slow downward trend since the stock hit a high of $82.03 on May 10, 2006 and hit a 52-week low of $57.98 last week, on January 23rd. Last Friday's $61.09 closing price represents only a 5.4% rise from its 52-week low but that's not a bad pop in three days. Wall Street seems to believe in CAT's management team and its plan to increase sales while cutting costs.

Other big equipment companies like Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE), Hitachi Ltd. (NYSE: HIT), and Manitowoc Company Inc. (NYSE:MTW) just don't have the same size advantage and broad product offerings to beat CAT. Stock prices of HIT and MTW were down while Deere's price was up 1.15% on lighter than normal trading. That said, this is a heavy, slow-moving business sector so a full recovery to CAT's 52-week high could take a while.

For a bullish-to-neutral conservative hedged play on CAT, I would consider an August covered call around the $60 level. There is even a small dividend on the stock with a 2.0% yield.

Vic Schiller is an analyst with attitude at Investors Observer.

DISCLOSURE NOTE: Mr. Schiller owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about.