As oil's price rises, oil sands company Suncor Energy Inc.'s (SU) prospects brighten, which is a major reason I'm reiterating my buy rating for the company's shares, first recommended on February 25, 2009, at a price of $18.35. If you bought Suncor in February 2009, you're up more than 100%.

Canada-based Suncor's oil sands production jumped 24% in Q3 to 305,000 barrels per day (bpd), stemming from the Petro-Canada merger and improved performance. For the full-year 2009, SU's oil sands production should increase an impressive 30-35%.

Suncor Energy (NYSE: SU) is expected to close on its purchase of Petro-Canada (NYSE: PCZ) in Q3 pending regulatory approvals. PCZ will receive 1.28 shares in the new company for each of their shares while SU holders will receive one share.

SU closed at $30.60. PCZ closed at $38.83. WTI Crude oil is recently down 0.21% to $71.34 according to Bloomberg. SU August option implied volatility of 53 is below its 26-week average of 60, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Petro-Canada August option implied volatility is at 54, below its 26-week average of 59, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

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

Petro-Canada (NYSE: PCZ) will be purchased by Suncor Energy (NYSE: SU), the world's second-largest oil-sands producer, for about $14 billion.

PCZ will receive 1.28 shares in the new company for each of its shares, while SU holders will receive one share. PCZ April option implied volatility closed at 64, below its 26-week average of 71, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

SU April call option implied volatility closed at 82, puts at 89, above its 26-week average of 80, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Apple (AAPL), large-cap semis, and CDC Corp (CHINA) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) was initiated with a Buy rating and $160 target at Banc of America, as the firm still sees a significant amount of upside in the stock from Mac share gains, strong iPod unit growth, and the iPhone, which they believe is being underestimated.

• Caris believes investors should focus on companies with strong product cycles that are gaining market share. They resumed coverage of Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), Texas Instruments (NASDAQ: TXN) and National Semiconductor (NASDAQ: NSM) with Above Average ratings, and resumed Advanced Micro (NYSE: AMD) with a Sell rating; Caris started Intel with a $26 target, Texas Instruments with a $41 target, National Semi with a $29 target, and AMD with a $10 target.

• CDC Corp (NASDAQ: CHINA) was initiated at Piper Jaffray with an Outperform rating and $11.50 target.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Banc of America started shares of Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: SUNW) and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) with Buy ratings and a $56 target, $6.25 target and $35 target, and shares of IBM Corp (NYSE: IBM) with a Neutral rating and $125 target.

• BMO Capital started shares of NuVasive (NASDAQ: NUVA) with an Outperform rating and $33 target.

• Raymond James initiated shares of Petro-Canada (NYSE: PCZ) with an Outperform rating.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).