Stocks Opinions

Legg Mason Chairman and CFO Bill Miller spoke with FOX Business Network's (FBN) Liz Claman about being the second largest shareholder of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the bidding war between NASDAQ and Deutsche Boerse to gain control of the NYSE. Miller said “if it had to happen right now, clearly the NASDAQ deal” would be better for shareholders. He went on to praise Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett for the way he handled the David Sokol insider trading scandal saying “Warren has built up enough credibility over the past 50 years that something like this is certainly getting some difficult publicity but I don't think it alters anybody's sense of his reputation his ability his ethics.” Excerpts can be found below, courtesy of Fox Business Network. On the bidding war between NASDAQ and Deutsche Boerse for the New York Stock Exchange: “We have said publicly we thought the board should at least meet with NASDAQ to talk about this....

Shares of Oncothyreon (Nasdaq:ONTY) have been on the rise over the past month after a relative lull in news since the Phase III Stimuvax trials were restarted last year following a halt for what turned out to be unfounded safety concerns. Stimuvax is a cancer immunotherapy treatment, like Dendreon's Provenge, that is currently being developed with commercial partner Merck KGaA for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. While ONTY also has multiple PI-3 Kinase Inhibitors in Phase II trials, the Phase III Stimuvax is the closest product to market and provides the best short term potential to bear market-moving news. The monumental rise of Dendreon following the approval of Provenge for the treatment of prostate cancer last year makes all investments in the cancer vaccine sector an appetizing pick, and Stimuvax is one of the later-staged candidates of those being developed. The latest run could be related to the pending release of Stimuvax results, whether interim or additional long term follow-up, as there...

Some of the stocks that may grab investor focus today are: Wall Street expects Fastenal Company (NASDAQ: FAST) to report its Q1 EPS at $0.51 on revenue of $629.00 million. FAST shares dropped 0.04% to $67.47 in after-hours trading. Alcoa Inc (NYSE: AA) swung to a Q1 profit of $308 million, or $0.27 per share, from a loss of $201 million, or $0.20 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding special items, the company's earnings came in at $0.28 per share. The company's sales increased to $5.96 billion from $4.89 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.27 per share on sales of $6.2 billion. AA shares dipped 3.15% to $17.21 in the after-hours trading session. Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG) reported that its board lifted the quarterly dividend by 9% from 48.2 cents per share to 52.5 cents per share. PG shares fell 0.05% to $62.16 in after-hours trading. Analysts expect Mistras Group Inc (NYSE: MG) to report its Q3 earnings at...

I’ve reported on Zoran Corp (ZRAN) here, here and here. The short story is that an activist investor, Ramius, was agitating for change and Zoran management agreed to merge with CSR plc in an all-stock transaction. March was a busy month for the three companies so let’s dive into the updates. On March 8, ZRAN made an announcement that Ramius was successful in its proxy fight: Item 5.02. Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers. … Ramius Value and Opportunity Master Fund Ltd (“Ramius”) had delivered the requisite consents to elect three new independent directors to the Company’s Board of Directors in substitution for three of the Company’s current independent Board members. Chairman Uzia Galil and board members James D. Meindl and Philip M. Young, the three longest-serving Board members, have been replaced Jon S. Castor, Dale Fuller and Jeffrey C. Smith. Item 5.03. Amendments to Articles of Incorporation or Bylaws; Change in Fiscal Year. On March 3,...

Investors Title Company (ITIC) issues residential and commercial title insurance, which protects property buyers from title defects that could affect the ownership of the property (e.g. prior unsatisfied mortgages, tax liens, assessments, inaccurate legal descriptions). I am writing this on 3/22/11, and the shares closed yesterday at $31.25, which represents a Price to Book of 0.68x, and a Price to Earnings of 11.24. This compares to 0.9x and 14.22 for First American Financial Corporation (FAF) and 0.92x and 8.69 for Fidelity National Financial (FNF), both of which are also engaged in title insurance (though, not exclusively so). ITIC’s assets, like other insurers, are primarily liquid securities. The float provided by insurance premiums (Note: in title insurance, there is only the single premium paid up front, in relation to the value of the property) is invested by the company. Interestingly, in title insurance, the insurer’s risk of monetary loss is less than the total face value of policies written for two reasons. For...

On CNBC's Mad Money Lightning Round OT, Jim Cramer said that Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALXN) reminds him on Cephalon, Inc. (NASDAQ: CEPH), and Genzyme Corporation (NASDAQ: GENZ). It is the company that is doing a lot of good, and it is what this market wants. Cramer would stick with this stock. Cramer is a buyer of Evercore Partners Inc. (NYSE: EVR). He likes this stock as a M&A play. Evercore Partners Inc. (EVR) added 0.09%, and closed at $34.70. Cramer is not familiar with Oncolytics Biotech, Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ: ONCY), and he has to do some research, before he makes his call on this stock.