Monster Worldwide Inc. (MWW) is just that, let it BeKnown

Posted on Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW) shares rose 10.6% to $15.01, a day after the company announced the launch of BeKnown, a networking app designed to allow Facebook users to establish a professional network and find career opportunities. Volume for the stock was 4.6 million shares, outdistancing a daily average of 3.1 million.

The company, based in Maynard, Massachusetts, put out a press release Monday saying that with BeKnown, users can seamlessly identify and connect with friends and professional contacts from multiple sources and grow their professional network, enhance their online professional identity and discover enriching career opportunities.

BeKnown is now available for download at http://apps.facebook.com/beknown in 19 different languages, and is accessible by any Facebook user.

Monster Worldwide’s Chief Information Officer Darko Dejanovic was quoted in the same release as saying, “BeKnown answers the need and challenge in the marketplace for people to build their professional networks on Facebook while keeping personal and work-related contacts and content completely separate.

Dejanovic continued, “An estimated 700 million people globally live their lives through Facebook and 97% of the Fortune 500 companies turn to Monster to find talent. BeKnown now gives people and companies the ability to utilize that vast network for professional gain by tapping into the power of Monster and Facebook.”

Monster Worldwide, Inc., parent company of Monster®, the premier global online employment solution for more than a decade, strives to bring people together to advance their lives.

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Posted in Consumer Discretionary Stocks, Technology Stocks by Glenn | No Comments »


Nike Inc. (NKE) just does it, tops earnings guesses, stock rockets

Posted on Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) shares rose 6.9% to $87.27 a day after the athletic-shoe seller reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat estimates. Volume for the stock was 4.7 million shares, topping an all-day average of 2.7 million.

This morning, an article from the Associated Press stated that the sports gear maker said net income for its fiscal fourth quarter, ended May 31, rose 14% to $594 million, or $1.24 a share. Net income for the year ago period was $522 million, or $1.06 a share.

Nike was expected to earn $1.16 a share, according to the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue for the quarter rose to $5.8 billion from $5.08-billion. Excluding currency movements, it increased 11%

Analysts expected $5.528 billion of revenue for the period.

The AP story quotes Matt Arnold, an analyst at Edward Jones as saying, “The best way to offset higher costs is to generate strong demand growth and Nike was able to do that.”

Futures orders, a closely watched measure of demand in coming months, came in ahead of Wall Street estimates. Orders for June through November jumped 15% to $10.3-billion. Excluding currency effects, orders rose 12%, Nike said.

Barclays Capital analyst Robert Drbul expected futures orders to be up 8 per cent to 10 per cent in constant dollars. Arnold was expecting future orders to be up at least 8%. Strong futures orders suggest Nike will be able to raise prices later this year, Arnold added.

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Posted in Consumer Discretionary Stocks by Glenn | No Comments »


Payday lender Ezcorp Inc. (EZPW) rises on stock upgrade

Posted on Monday, June 27th, 2011

Pawn-shop operator and payday-loan chain Ezcorp Inc. (Nasdaq: EZPW) shares rose 7.1% late Monday to $34.33, after Sterne Agee analysts raised the stock to buy from neutral. Volume for the stock of 802,000 more than doubled its daily average.

According to a story Monday on Forbes.com, Sterne Agee Analyst Henry J. Coffey Jr. raised his rating on Ezcorp to “Buy” from “Neutral,” and boosted his forecast for the company’s 2012 earnings per share to $3 from $2.75. He also estimates Ezcorp will post earnings of $3.55 per share in 2013.

The site goes on to say that, despite the heightened scrutiny on payday lending, Ezcorp has seen continued growth in the U.S. and elsewhere, Coffey wrote in a research note Monday.

In March, the company announced a joint venture with Cash Converters that will push loans, pawn lending and other services in several international markets. In April, Ezcorp acquired the Canadian Cash Converters franchise. It also plans to reposition its Cash Max stores as Cash Converters and build out about 20 Cash Converter stores per year.

Based in Austin, Texas, EZCORP is a leading provider of specialty consumer financial services. It provides collateralized non-recourse loans, commonly known as pawn loans, and a variety of short-term consumer loans, including payday loans, installment loans and auto title loans, or fee-based credit services to customers seeking loans. At its pawn stores, the company also sells merchandise, primarily collateral forfeited from its pawn lending operations.

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Posted in Financial Stocks by Glenn | No Comments »


Icagen Inc. (ICGN) takes flight on hint of Pfizer takeover

Posted on Monday, June 27th, 2011

Icagen Inc. (Nasdaq: ICGN) shares rocketed 113.8% to $5.13 after drug manufacturer Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) said in a regulatory filing late Friday that it was looking at a possible strategic alliance with the biopharmaceutical company. Volume for Icagen totaled 1.8 million shares in the early trading hours of Monday, compared to an all-day average of 71,000.

A news release was issued soon after the market closed on Friday, June 24. In the release, Icagen put out a statement in which it acknowledged that it is currently engaged in preliminary discussions with Pfizer regarding a potential strategic transaction, but, quote “no definitive agreement has been reached.

“There can be no assurance that any agreement will be reached,” the statement continued, “or that a transaction will be consummated. Icagen does not plan to make future announcements with respect to this matter unless and until its Board of Directors has approved a specific transaction or an extension or other modification of the existing collaboration agreement and it has entered into a definitive agreement or the current discussions have terminated.”

Icagen, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel orally-administered small molecule drugs that modulate ion channel targets. Utilizing its proprietary know-how and integrated scientific and drug development capabilities, Icagen has identified multiple drug candidates that modulate ion channels.

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Posted in Health Care Stocks by Glenn | No Comments »


Acura Pharmaceuticals (ACUR) rides FDA OK to stock surge

Posted on Monday, June 20th, 2011

Acura Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ACUR) rose 19.4% to $4.62 on Monday, soon after the company said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved a pain treatment owned by Acura and Pfizer Inc. Volume for Acura stock topped 4.3 million, towering over a daily average of just below 168,000.

OXECTA is the first immediate-release oxycodone HCl medicine that applies technology designed to discourage common methods of tampering associated with opioid abuse and misuse. This AVERSION® Technology is a unique composition of commonly used pharmaceutical ingredients. Pfizer is licensing the technology in OXECTA from Acura.

Opioid medications are an important treatment option for patients with moderate to severe pain who are not adequately managed by other pain treatments. However, abuse and misuse of opioids is a serious public health issue that is the focus of a number of recent United States government initiatives.

In the June 20 press release trumpeting the approval from the federal body, interim Acura CEO Robert Jones said, “we are excited to be partnered with Pfizer to bring OXECTA to patients who need opioids to manage their pain. Acura is focused on developing technologies that are intended to potentially deter abuse and misuse.”

Based in Palatine, Ill., Acura Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in research, development and commercialization of product candidates intended potentially to deter abuse and misuse utilizing its proprietary AVERSION® and IMPEDE® technologies.

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Posted in pharmaceutical stocks by Glenn | No Comments »


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