Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) is recently up $1.82 to $98.10 in pre-open trading.

• RIMM is expected to report EPS after the close tonight.
  
• Thomas Weisel says: "The stock is very near our target price and will be looking at guidance to review the target."
  
• RIMM October option implied volatility is at 82, November is at 61 and December is at 57; above its 26-week average of 44 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

Overstock (NASDAQ: OSTK), an online community of auction buyers and sellers, closed at $32.73 (near a 22-month high).

• OSTK has a market cap of $776 million. OSTK had June 2007 quarterly total revenue of $148.9 million.
  
• OSTK overall option implied volatility of 53 is above its 26-week average of 46 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price risk.

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

Age-old telecom company and brand AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) is launching a new advertising campaign to convince younger customers that the company is hip. Naturally, the new ads will be edgier and flashier, which apparently everyone in the 18-34 age bracket responds to according to most marketing mavens. But can a company just put some pizazz in their marketing and instantly gain younger customers, or are those customers smarter than these companies realize? Maybe a little of both, right?

Truth is that marketing is what makes most economies go 'round, and AT&T glitzing it up in this department is a testament to that claim. AT&T's purchase of the Cingular brand (and company, heh) earlier in 2007 meant that the company sees the future coming from wireless services and other areas instead of landline telephones and older technology that 10 years from now younger customers won't even know existed.

In a move back to the power of the Cingular brand (which AT&T dumped unceremoniously), the color orange will also be used as the company's primary corporate color instead of blue. The blue AT&T 'world swirl' logo has been around for decades in one form or another, and in addition to changing the color, will AT&T change the corporate logo as well? Maybe it is time to make this move, since many youngsters connect the current AT&T logo with the Death Star from Star Wars. That's not a good thing to have in mind when you're buying a phone.

Freescale Semiconductor was bought by a private equity group in December 2006. Quarterly results since then have been disappointing. Although recently released 2Q 2007 results are up from 1Q 2007, results are still way behind comparable quarters before the company was taken private. There are numerous reasons for the last two quarters' worth of disappointing results. The first is that there continue to be many expenses related to the company's acquisition. The company also took on a heavy debt load in its acquisition. Most importantly, the wireless market overall is in a period of contraction, so sales are in decline. This is particularly true of Freescale's largest customer, the automotive industry. Freescale CEO Michael Mayer offered no prediction as to when the wireless market might become more active.

Net sales have been essentially flat in 1Q and 2Q 2007, at $1.36 billion and $1.38 billion respectively. Each of the three operating segments within Freescale lost money in 2Q 2007 when compared to a comparable quarter in 2006. The Transportation and Standard Products segment lost $92 million from 2Q 2006, posting earnings of $159 million. The Networking and Computer Solutions segment posted earnings of $328 million, down $42 million from 2Q 2006. The biggest loser by far was the Wireless and Mobile Solutions segment, which posted earnings of $353 million, down $161 million from 2Q 2006 earnings. With results like this it is no wonder Freescale has now turned to layoffs in order to cut costs, but ended up with a $38 million charge against earnings for severance costs. Losses continue to mount. Net losses for 2Q 2007 amounted to $288 million, while operating losses amounted to $268 million. If this rate of loss continues, look for Freescale to be resold or perhaps even taken public again.