Option traders appear to be setting up for a bullish move on Cogent Inc. (COGT). Traders plowed into 1,571 new call option contracts -- 3.27 times the average volume -- on the stock on Friday. And we know that traders were eager to get into this trade because 99% of the trades came in on the ask price.

Recently, 3M Company (MMM) announced that it was going to acquire Cogent for $10.50 per share. The stock closed Friday at $11.01, up 19.53% during the past month.

Continue reading Cogent Calls and CB Richard Ellis Puts Heating Up

Cogent Calls and CB Richard Ellis Puts Heating Up originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

JC Penney (NYSE: JCP) is trading off almost 4% after cutting its holiday sales outlook.

InfoSpace (NASDAQ: INSP) is up 7% after announcing a special dividend.

Telestone Technologies (NASDAQ: TSTC) is trading up 26% on strong earnings.

Advanced Life Sciences (NASDAQ: ADLS) is up on news of a successful trial of one of its drugs.

Sina (NASDAQ: SINA) is down 10% on weak earnings.

NovaStar Financial (NYSE: NFI) is down 39% on poor earnings and the possibility that its shares could be de-listed.

Stocks trading in the pre-market may open at different prices in the regular session.

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

Big pre-market movers originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 Nov 2007 08:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Chase Norlin has spent over a decade in the online space. For example, he was a senior business development executive at ValueClick (NASDAQ: VCLK). He also served as an executive at InfoSpace (NASDAQ: INSP). Oh, and he also helped to create Sony's (NYSE: SNE) first online photo sharing service.

His latest gig: Pixsy. It's a fast-growing company in the online video space.

Well, this week, I had a chance to catch up with Chase.

Q: How are things at Pixsy?

A: Image and Video Search are the fastest growing consumer search verticals on the web. In fact, Image Search is 10% of Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) traffic and grows 100% every year. We said early on, "if image and video search are so popular, why doesn't every website have it?" And that's the driving growth behind our business. Pixsy is unique in that we can provide image and video search to a website, under their brand, with content tailored to that specific vertical, and enable that site to have their media searched or combined with the Pixsy index. All of this provides great value to publishers: new search traffic, users stay on the site longer, new content tailored to that site, and new ad inventory is created. Additionally, the service provides great value to content providers as they receive free, targeted traffic from users performing image and video search queries. We now have a backlog of 8,000 providers trying to get content into the Pixsy index as a result.

Continue reading CEO interview: Pixsy powers up

CEO interview: Pixsy powers up originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 15 Sep 2007 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Both Friedman Billings and Wachovia upgraded Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) to Market Perform from Underperform following the $2 billion investment by the Bank of America (BAC).

• JMP Securities upgraded Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) to Market Perform from Underperform and believes the worst news on housing is reflected and that fears over a disappearing jumbo loan market are overblown.

• Matrix upgraded United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) to Buy from Hold to reflect strong demand from overseas shipping.

• Wachovia raised OSI Pharma (NASDAQ: OSIP) to Market Perform from Underperform on valuation...

• UBS raised Joy Global (NASDAQ: JOYG) to Buy from Neutral.

• China Netcom (NYSE: CN) was raised to Neutral from Sell at UBS.

• Roth Capital upgraded IMAX Corp (NASDAQ: IMAX) to Buy from Hold.

• WedBush raised InfoSpace (NASDAQ: INSP) to Buy from Hold.

• Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) was upgraded to Hold from Sell.

Analyst upgrades 8-23-07: CFC, TOL, TSN and UPS originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 23 Aug 2007 10:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Baird upgraded Red Lion Hotels (NYSE: RLH) to Outperform from Neutral based on valuation, brand expansion progress and takeover potential.

• Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEP) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup based on higher cash flow expectations and valuation.

• JP Morgan upgraded Brinker (NYSE: EAT) to Overweight from Neutral, and sees potential upside from slower unit development and a possible Mac Grill sale.

• BMO Capital upgraded Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) to Outperform from Market Perform following a strong second quarter.

• Stanford upgraded InfoSpace (NASDAQ: INSP) to Hold from Sell on valuation; They consider the core online segments looks to be priced into the stock and downside support is given with tax credits and the cash balance...

• Citigroup raised Cox Radio (NYSE: CXR) to Hold from Sell.

• JP Morgan upgraded shares of PepsiAmericas (NYSE: PAS) to Neutral from Underweight.

• Friedman Billings upgraded shares of Emulex (NYSE: ELX) to Outperform from Market Perform.

• DirecTV (NYSE: DTV) was raised to Buy from Hold at Gabelli.

• Seagate (NYSE: STX) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.

Analysts upgrades: DTV, EAT, NVDA and STX originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 10 Aug 2007 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This week's rumor round-up: Is Packateer on the block? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 01 Jun 2007 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Morgan Stanley downgraded RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) to Underweight from Equal-Weight on concerns over the company's wireless fundamentals and top-line growth.

• Juniper Networks (NASDAQ: JNPR) was downgraded to Strong Sell from Buy at Matrix USA. The firm sees downside to the intrinsic value calculation of $12 given the company's deteriorating fundamentals.

• H.B. Fuller Co (NYSE: FUL) was cut to Sell from Hold at Gabelli following a meeting with management to reflect the recent management exists and the broker's expectation for a challenging first-half of 2007.

• Sepracor (NASDAQ: SEPR) was cut to Underperform from Market Perform at Friedman Billings, as the firm believes generic availability of Ambien may be a bigger challenge to Seprecor's Lunesta than investors expect.

• Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc (NYSE: JTX) was cut to Underweight from Market Weight at Thomas Wiesel as they believe the potential near-term competitive trends coupled with potential issues with rising financial product contribution will weigh on valuation.

• Bear Stearns cut Cerner Corp (NASDAQ: CERN) to Peer Perform from Outperform.

• Matrix USA downgraded InfoSpace, Inc (NASDAQ: INSP) to Hold from Buy on valuation.

• Prudential cut Unilever plc (NYSE: UL) to Neutral from Overweight.

• Breen Murray downgraded Century Casinos, Inc (NASDAQ: CNTY) to Hold from Buy.

• Cowen downgraded PeopleSupport, Inc (NASDAQ: PSPT) to Neutral from Outperform based on near-term visibility concerns.

Analyst downgrades 3-19-07: RadioShack cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 19 Mar 2007 11:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWOTHY: ConocoPhillips (COP), InfoSpace, Inc (INSP), Verizon Communications (VZ) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) were some of today's more notable downgrades:

• Goldman Sachs downgraded ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) to Neutral from Buy.

• Stanford cut InfoSpace Inc (NASDAQ: INSP) to Sell from Hold as the firm believes shares are overvalued since the company has no clear plans to reignite growth.

• Buckingham downgraded Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) to Neutral from Accumulate.

• Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) was cut to Hold from Strong Buy at Matrix as the firm believes growing competition is driving down selling prices and narrowing margins.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Goldman downgraded Anadarko Petroleum Corp (NYSE: APC) to Sell from Neutral.

• Merriman cut Fiberstars, Inc (NASDAQ: FBST) to Neutral from Buy.

• Bank of America downgraded Dollar General (NYSE: DG) to Neutral from Buy.

• Cantor cut AudioCodes Ltd (NASDAQ: AUDC) to Hold from Buy following the company's lowered Q1 outlook.

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

Analyst downgrades 3-15-07: COP, AMD, VZ and APC all downgraded today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 Mar 2007 11:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.