Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) was just rumored to be under the takeover auspices of European telecom giant Deutsche Telekom. DT has been rumored to be looking strongly at Sprint Nextel to bolster its T-Mobile USA brand in the U.S. But now, that deal appears unlikely according to Thomas Weisel analyst James Breen.

Suntech Power (NYSE: STP) is recently trading at $36.75 in pre-open trading, below its close of $45.89 (down 20%).

Thomas Weisel says: "First Glance at 4Q results and guidance; Weak guidance will likely pressure shares."

STP overall option implied volatility of 73 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

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

eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) is recently trading at $26.55 in pre-open trading, below its close of $28.33. EBAY is expected to report EPS of 41 cents on February 23, according to Thomson First Call. The Wall Street Journal reported CEO Meg Whitman plans to retire, according to sources. Thomas Weisel says, "All eyes on the 2008 pricing structure." EBAY February option implied volatility of 58 is above its 26-week average of 38 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

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

Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ: ZUMZ): a specialty retailer of action sports related apparel, footwear, equipment and accessories, this company was recently down $1.45 to $18.84. Thomas Weisel lowered its 12-month price target on ZUMZ from $32.54 to $22. ZUMZ will report December 2007 sales results on January 10th. ZUMZ January 17.5 puts have traded 52 times on transaction volume of 868 contracts, above its open interest of 189 contracts. ZUMZ January option implied volatility of 101 was above its 26-week average of 53 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

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

SLM (NYSE: SLM) is recently at $20 in pre-open trading below its close of $22.13.

SLM said it will sell $2.5 billion in stock and other securities to raise cash needed to settle contracts under which it effectively bet that its own stock would not decline by a large amount in price.

Thomas Weisel lowered its price target on SLM from $31 to $25.

SLM January option implied volatility is at 79; February is at 85; above its 26-week average of 47 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movements.

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

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) opened at $51.55. So far today the stock has hit a low of $51.50 and a high of $52.09. As of 10:35, C is trading at $52.00, up $0.59 (1.1%).

After hitting a one year high of $57.00 in December, the stock has dropped to support levels in the upper $40s before charging back, but the stock has dropped again over the last six weeks. Competitor SLM Corp (NYSE: SLM) is driving financial stocks up in the wake of some strong gains after a Thomas Weisel analyst stated that yesterday's sell-off should be viewed as a buying opportunity for SLM shares. C and most other financial sector stocks are rising behind SLM. Technical indicators for C are bearish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a very positive 5 STARS (out of 5) strong buy rating.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider an August bull-put credit spread below the $47.50 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk and leverage returns. For this particular trade, we will make an 8.7% return in less than 2 months as long as C is above $47.50 at August expiration. C would have to fall by more than 13.4% before we would start to lose money.

C hasn't been below $47.50 since last July and has shown support around $51.50 recently. This trade could be risky if the company's earnings (due out July 20) disappoint, but even if that happens, it looks like this position could be protected the strong support the stock found between $48 and $50.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer. DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls a position in SLM. He does control a long hedged position in C.

Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) named a new Chief Financial Officer this morning. Blake Jorgensen will assume the duties beginning in early June and report directly to Chief Executive Officer Terry Semel.

What is interesting is Jorgensen's background. He was a co-founder of San Francisco-based investment banking firm Thomas Weisel Partners. Why would Yahoo select the critical position of CFO from the investment banking world? It could signify that Yahoo is indeed for sale and an experienced investment banker knows exactly how to cross the T's and dot the I's and pretty up the baby for display.

The other possible reason to hire a CFO with an investment banking background is to establish solid and reliable communication with Wall Street. The analytical and portfolio management world love a CFO who communicates effectively surprises to the upside! With that appreciation, unforeseen events will tend to rock that stock less than if handled by a CFO the Street likes.

The CFO of any publicly traded company must effectively deliver the financial vision of his company. The CEO must deliver the business vision. A good CFO can compensate for a less-than-excellent CEO by managing the CEO internally within the company, and helping to absorb any body blows by the financial media.

Many investors have called for Semel's resignation because he hasn't delivered earnings to Wall Street's liking. Semel is indeed a visionary technologist, but is he an effective manager/CEO? The jury is still out.

With a strong CFO, investors may take comfort that the news out of Yahoo will be smoothed out over the ensuing quarters.

We shall see, but remember, investment bankers are deal makers.

Georges Yared is the CIO of Yared Investment Research where he explores more growth stock ideas.

Sun Microsystems Inc (NASDAQ: SUNW) held its annual investor's day with the investment community yesterday. Analysts seemed not to share Jonathan Schwartz's, CEO of Sun, enthusiasm for where the company is headed.

Here are some opinions from analyst reports which were posted on Barron's Tech Trader Daily:

Richard Gardner of Citigroup believes Schwartz continues to adopt the view that Sun's decision to open source its entire software stack will drive developers and users to its platform(s), eventually creating opportunities to monetize R&D investments. Gardner agrees with the premise that volume drives value, but how much value, for whom and over what time period is still unclear.

Thomas Weisel analyst Kevin Hunt still has concerns regarding the "lackluster" storage business (tape market and integration of StorageTek), and as a result, maintains a Market Weight rating on Sun's shares.

Deutsche Bank's Chris Whitmore believes that Schwartz and his team are driving operational and product line improvements, but that this is more than reflected in Sun's shares. Whitmore believes Sun's operating margin goal requires double digit revenue growth through F09, and maintains a Hold rating with a price target of $5.50.

Goldman Sachs's Laura Conigliaro said, "There are significant execution elements to be hurdled and timing could be lumpy."

While analysts reports are peppered with optimistic caveats, they are few and far between. Also, analysts and investors are still questioning the reasoning behind the convertible bond offering with KKR.

Sun's stock has had a massive rally recently, it might be time to take some profits.

Thomas Weisel downgraded Yahoo, Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) to peer perform from outperform.

Interestingly, they still believe "Yahoo as a business has a terrific future," but the company could have a problem with earnings. Call me dense, but I thought that Yahoo!'s warning indicated that very clearly already.

However, the timeline is important too. At Weisel they're talking medium-term problems in "achieving consensus earnings expectations" -- that is, making the Street's estimates -- which might mean that Weisel doesn't trust Yahoo! to roll Panama on time.

Weisel also said that increased competition and problems on the advertising side could have an adverse effect on Yahoo!'s ability to gain market share in display advertising.

Analysts consensus now calls for Yahoo!'s Q3 revenue to increase by 23% year-over-year to $1.15 billion. Earnings per share for the quarter is estimated to be 11 cents, down from 16 cents last year.

Last I checked, around 2:30 p.m., Yahoo! shares were up 18 cents, or 0.75% to$24.30 -- so presumably the downgrade isn't flushing out any additional sellers today.