Market Pulse: Theravance, Oracle, Wilan, CarMax, Idenix, Spreadtrum

Sharing Economy International

21/06/2013 16:34

(For more market insights, including options activity, click on STXNEWS/US ; for the Day Ahead newsletter http://link.reuters.com/mex49s; for the Morning News Call newsletter, http://link.reuters.com/saw98t) June 21 (Reuters) - Some U.S. stocks on the move on Friday: DOW, S&P TURN FLAT; NASDAQ AT SESSION LOWS The Dow and S&P 500 turned flat, erasing earlier gains while the Nasdaq dropped to a session low. The Dow Jones industrial average  .DJI  was up 0.08 percent, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index  .SPX  up 0.03 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC  was down 0.40 percent.  .N  ** IDENIX PHARMACEUTICALS INC  IDIX.O , $3.39, down 34 pct (0930 ET) Idenix Pharmaceuticals said it expects a delay in human trials of one of its experimental hepatitis C drugs after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked for additional safety data.  ID:nL3N0EW44U  ** SPREADTRUM COMMUNICATIONS INC  SPRD.O , $25.80, up 16 pct (0931 ET) The Chinese cellphone chip designer said it received a $1.38 billion buyout proposal from a unit of government-owned Tsinghua Holdings Co Ltd. The offer of $28.50 per American depository share represents a premium of 28 percent to Spreadtrum's Thursday closing price.  ID:nL3N0EX2HC  ** WILAN INC  WILN.O   WIN.TO , $4.62, up 12 pct (0954 ET) The Canadian patent licensing company said on Thursday it renewed a wireless products license with Samsung Electronics Co 005930.KS .  ID:nMKW780a  ** FACEBOOK INC  FB.O , $24.55, up 2.7 pct (0931 ET) UBS upgraded the social network's stock to "buy" from "neutral", according to theflyonthewall.com. Facebook introduced video for its popular photo-sharing application Instagram on Thursday in an attempt to take on rival Twitter.  ID:nL2N0EW18Y  ** CARMAX INC  KMX.N , Thursday close $44.57, up 9 pct premarket The largest U.S. used-car retailer reported strong quarterly results as a better supply and an improving consumer sentiment helped it sell more vehicles at higher prices.  ID:nL3N0EX2LE  ** MECHEL OAO  MTL.N , $2.89, up 6.6 pct (1013 ET) The debt-laden Russian coal company has been allowed to push back development plans for its key Elga coal asset by 3.5-5 years, a source familiar with the mining license told Reuters on Friday.  ID:nL5N0EX28K  ** THERAVANCE INC  THRX.O , $36.63, up 7 pct (1025 ET) The Daily Mail's market report on Friday cited "industry gossip" that GlaxoSmithKline  GSK.L  is lining up a $55 per share bid for Theravance, in which the British drug giant already has a stake. (http://r.reuters.com/sew98t) ** ORACLE CORP  ORCL.O , $30.50, down 8 pct (1024 ET) The technology giant missed expectations for software sales and subscriptions for the second straight quarter. ID:nL2N0EW1SJ  Evercore Partners, Canaccord Genuity, BMO Capital Markets, Oppenheimer and Susquehanna Financial Group cut their price targets on the stock. ** PHARMERICA CORP  PMC.N , $14.12, down 10 pct (1024 ET) The pharmacy services provider said hospital operator Kindred Healthcare Inc  KND.N  will not renew Pharmerica's contract for skilled nursing pharmacy services next year. Pharmerica will continue to provides pharmacy management services to Kindred's hospitals through 2014 under another contract. (http://r.reuters.com/zuv98t) ** ORAMED PHARMACEUTICALS INC  ORMP.O , $6.90, up 27 pct (1012 ET) The Israeli company said it has withdrawn the proposed public offering of its common stock due to adverse market conditions. The stock has dropped 36 percent in the last four days until Thursday.  ID:nPn6215958   ** MONEYGRAM INTERNATIONAL INC  MGI.O , $21.50, up 5.5 pct (1002 ET) Private-equity firm GTCR has joined the suitors in pursuit of the payment transfer company, the New York Post said, citing a source close to the situation. Bloomberg said MoneyGram has hired Bank of America Corp to explore a sale, citing a person familiar with the matter. The stock jumped 28 percent on Tuesday after Dealreporter said the company was actively exploring a sale.   ** MORGAN STANLEY  MS.N , $24.22, down 3.6 pct (1041 ET) ** CITIGROUP INC  C.N , $45.52, down 5 pct (1041 ET) Morgan Stanley said it will buy the rest of Citigroup Inc's retail brokerage holdings in the coming weeks for $4.7 billion after regulators signed off on the purchase.  ID:nL2N0EX0A2  ** IHS INC  IHS.N , $98.23, up 2 pct (1003 ET) The publisher of Jane's Defence Weekly has bought Washington-based consultants PFC Energy, the company said on Thursday, adding another firm to its expanding empire of oil, gas, and coal analysts.  ID:nL3N0EW3C2  ** TRANSGLOBE ENERGY  TGA.O , $5.87, down 4 pct (1017 ET) The Canadian oil and gas producer  TGL.TO  cut its full-year production outlook on Thursday, citing delays in getting government approvals in Egypt, and said it will take a $20 million impairment charge.  ID:nL3N0EW2QM  Credit Suisse and Salman Partners cut their price targets on the stock. ** ENZO BIOCHEM  ENZ.N , $2.10, down 7 pct (1026 ET) The company will be taken off the S&P Smallcap 600 Index on June 28.  ID:nPnNY36075  ** RACKSPACE HOSTING INC  RAX.N , $36.04, up 3 pct (1007 ET) Cowen and Co upgraded the web hosting company's stock  to "outperform" from "market perform". "It is more likely that we will first see an improvement within its (the company's) managed hosting segment than we will within its public cloud segment" analyst Colby Synesael said. **COMPANHIA PARANAENSE DE ENERGIA SA (COPEL)  ELP.N  < CPLE6.SA > Shares of Brazilian electric utility Copel  CPLE6.SA  plunged on concerns that the state of Parana, Copel's controlling shareholder, would attempt to prevent the company from raising rates.  ID:nL2N0EX0KE  ** ASHFORD HOSPITALITY TRUST INC  AHT.N , $11.68, down 6 pct (1023 ET) The real estate investment trust priced on Thursday its follow-on public offering of 11 million shares at $12.00 each, a discount of 3.5 percent to the stock's Thursday close. ID:nPNNY36096    ** SPRINT NEXTEL CORP  S.N , $6.94, down 2 pct (1021 ET) SoftBank Corp  9984.T  CEO Masayoshi Son said he was confident his company's acquisition of Sprint will be completed in early July after rival bidder Dish Network Corp  DISH.O  failed to make a counter move this week.  ID:nL3N0EX0LW  ** MICRON TECHNOLOGY INC  MU.O , $13.79, up 2 pct (1020 ET) Sanford C. Bernstein raised its target price on the chipmaker's stock to $20 from $14, saying the company's dynamic random access memory (DRAM) business should keep recovering in 2013 following the acquisition of Elpida. ** CLEANTECH SOLUTIONS INTERNATIONAL INC  CLNT.O , $4.9, down 9.2 pct (0954 ET) The company, which makes metal components for the clean energy industry, said it sold 428,398 shares at $4.50 each, a 17 percent discount to the stock's Thursday close of $5.40 on the Nasdaq.  ID:nPnCN36198  ** ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND CO  ADM.N , $33.32, up 2 pct (1020 ET) The U.S. agribusiness giant said on Thursday it is in talks to sell its cocoa business in a further sign that ADM is focusing on expanding its footprint in the burgeoning global grains sector.  ID:nL2N0EW267  ** ROCKWOOD HOLDINGS INC  ROC.N , $61.53, down 5 pct (1019 ET) Rockwood Holdings has canceled a combined auction of its titanium dioxide and performance additives units after failing to attract the offers it was hoping for, four people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.  ID:nL2N0EW29C  ** DARDEN RESTAURANTS INC  DRI.N , $49.58, down 3 pct (1106 ET) The restaurant chain operator said higher payroll taxes and gasoline prices hurt traffic at its restaurants. The company also forecast same-restaurant sales to remain flat or rise up to 2 percent for the year ending May 2014. Darden said it expects earnings to be 3-5 percent below the $3.13 per share it posted in fiscal 2013.  ID:nL3N0EX2H3  (Reporting By Kanika Sikka in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian) ((kanika.sikka@thomsonreuters.com)(within U.S. +1 646 223 8780, outside U.S. +91 80 6749 1130)(Reuters Messaging: kanika.sikka.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: MARKETS USA STOCKS/PULSE