Companies featured in this edition of the newsletter: CVM, CHIP, GERS, IMUC, IWEB, NXOI, OMCM, ONEZ, SIHI
Volatile trade characterized much of last week as markets searched for direction in the wake of a multitude of earnings reports that left investors wondering as to the overall state of recovery and sent all of the major indices modestly into negative territory. All told, the Dow surrendered 23 points on the week, losing 0.2% to close at 9972, paring its yearly gains to 13.6%. The Nasdaq lost 0.1% on the week, closing at 2154, but still up 36.6% on the year, while the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 surrendered 0.7% and 2.5% respectively on the week, bringing their yearly gains to 19.5% and 20.3%.
Despite the considerable number of companies beating expectations last week, investors took pause and seemed to outweigh the fact that the majority of the beats from companies such as American Express, AT&T, Caterpillar and Yahoo, came as a result of cost cutting measures rather than significant growth in revenue. The emphasis on cost cutting appears to be wearing thin on investors hoping to see top line growth, which was evident by the seeming lack of enthusiasm that was displayed for this latest batch of results. As a result of the less than impressive revenue growth across the board, selling was broad based as only one sector of the S&P managed to finish in positive territory, with IT posting a gain of 1% on the strength of blowout results from Apple and Amazon.com.
Economic data on the week provided no clearer indication of the state of the overall recovery as initial jobless claims climbed to a three week high of 531,000 versus expectations for 515,000, and housing data came in decidedly mixed with Existing Home Sales for September beating consensus estimates but being offset by weaker than expected Starts and Building Permits.
What should investors look for this week? Earnings season continues; on Monday morning Verizon (NYSE: VZ) reports, followed on Tuesday morning by BP (NYSE: BP) and Valero (NYSE: VLO), with McKesson (NYSE: MCK) and Visa (NYSE: V) reporting after the close. On Wednesday before the bell, expect results from Coca-Cola Enterprises (NYSE: CCE), Conoco Phillips (NYSE: COP), General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), Hess (NYSE: HES), Qwest (NYSE: Q) and Wellpoint (NYSE: WLP), with First Solar (NYSE: FSLR) reporting after the bell. Thursday morning will be busy as, Aetna (NYSE: AET), AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN), Burger King (NYSE: BKC), Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL), Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK), Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), Motorola (NYSE: MOT), Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), Office Max (NYSE: OMX), Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS), and Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) all report before the bell followed by MetLife (NYSE: MET) after the close.
Economic releases for the week begin on Tuesday morning with Durable Goods Orders for September due out at 8:30am, followed at 9:00am by Consumer Confidence figures for October and the Case-Shiller Home Price Index for August. On Wednesday, look for New Home Sales for September at 10:00am followed by weekly crude inventories at 10:30am. Thursday will see Advance Q3 GDP and Chain Deflator released along with a slew of other data at 8:30am, including weekly initial jobless claims and continuing claims, Personal Income and Spending for September, and PCE and Core PCE, also for September. Chicago PMI for October is due out at 9:45am, followed by revised Michigan Sentiment for October at 9:55am and Q3 Employment Cost Index at 10:00am.
There are no conferences of note scheduled again this week due to earnings.
Verichip Corporation (NASDAQ: CHIP), a provider of radio frequency identification systems for healthcare and patient-related needs, which recently announced its intention to acquire identity security provider Steel Vault to form PositiveID Corp, a provider of identification technologies and tools for consumers and businesses, said last week that it had entered into a strategic partnership with the Diabetes Research Institute to combine efforts on the further development of the glucose-sensing radio frequency identification (RFID) microchip. The DRI is a recognized world leader in cure-focused research, and expects that the collaboration could potentially improve patient care and compliance among individuals with diabetes. In other news last week, the company hosted an event for the medical, patient and investor communities in New York to unveil details of their virus triage detection system for the H1N1 virus and Phase II development of an in vivo glucose-sensing RFID microchip. Shares lost ten cents on the week to close at $1.87.
CEL-SCI Corporation (AMEX: CVM), a developer of vaccines for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases and a late-stage oncology company, announced last week that it has presented new rheumatoid arthritis data at the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting in Philadelphia. The company said that its rheumatoid arthritis treatment vaccine CEL-2000 acts to prevent or retard the permanent tissue damage caused by rheumatoid arthritis in animals. The statistically significant results were demonstrated by the measurement of four different parameters, suggesting that CEL-2000 appears to block the immune response that causes the autoimmunity which leads to rheumatoid arthritis. The long term results obtained with fewer doses of CEL-2000 vaccine were comparable or better than those seen with Enbrel, a leading treatment for people with rheumatoid arthritis. Shares lost twenty one cents on the week to close at $1.31.
Volume Alert: Shares of SinoHub (AMEX: SIHI) a company providing world-class supply chain management services with transparent information access for participants in the electronic components supply chain in China, jumped 18% on almost 5 times average volume last week following their presentation the week prior at the Roth China Conference in Miami Beach. The move can also be attributed to the recent strong recovery in economic growth demonstrated by China in the form of significantly better than expected GDP growth of 8.9%, spurred in part by resumed growth in the manufacturing sector which SinoHub serves. Shares gained eighty two cents on the week to close at $5.25.
ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd. (OTCBB: IMUC), a clinical-stage biotechnology company that is developing immune based therapies for the treatment of brain and other cancers, announced last week that it has filed a provisional patent application with the US Patent Office seeking protection of intellectual property relating to novel glycosylated epitopes present in lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and colon cancer that are targeted by the company’s ICT-109 monoclonal antibody product candidate. The patent application seeks to extend the protection around ICT-109 to include proprietary targets that are uniquely expressed in cancerous cells, which allow ICT-109 to potentially differentiate between antigens present in normal benign tissue cells and those present in tumor cells, enabling the direct targeting of cancerous growths without harming healthy tissue. In other news last week, the company also announced that it has engaged Dr. Peter Brooks of the Maine Medical Center, a specialist in the mechanisms that regulate angiogenesis, tumor growth and metastasis, to explore novel targets and antibodies associated with targeting cancer stem cells (CSCs). The collaboration is designed to produce novel antibodies using the company’s proprietary CSCs isolated from glioblastoma patients to target epitopes primarily present on CSCs, potentially enabling more effective approaches for identifying and treating a wide range of malignant human tumors. Shares gained three cents on the week to close at $1.15.
Volume Alert: Shares of storage and cloud computing solutions provider IceWeb (OTCBB: IWEB), surged 77% on 11 times average volume last week, following the announcement that the company is working with Spot Image Corporation to build and market a turn-key appliance pre-bundled with Spot Image’s imagery served by Google Earth Enterprise. The appliance will be designed to offer a rapidly deployable service that delivers Spot Image’s imagery to customers as pre-built globes served by Google Earth Enterprise. In other news last week, the company announced that it has entered into a partnership whereby Utilipath LLC will provide Iplicity Storage Products and solutions to their nationwide customer base. Utilipath is a leading provider of engineering and construction services to the $20 billion utility infrastructure services segment, and expects that the new partnership will add significant value that they can deliver to their constituents by offering the IceWEB Iplicity solution set for their internal use. It was a busy week for IWEB, as the company also unveiled a new notebook at the GEOINT summit in San Antonio. The new Notebook, called “WorldBook,” has the industry’s largest disk capacity currently capable of storing more than 1.28TB of data. Additional features include optional GPS, 3G Wireless, smart card reader and sunlight readable display. Shares gained just under eight cents on the week to close at $0.177.
Next One Interactive (OTCBB: NXOI), an interactive media company specializing in Digital Media with a focus on Travel and Real Estate, announced last week that its full time programming Network, Resort and Residence TV, will launch as channel 354 on October 28, 2009 part of DirecTV’s basic package reaching over 18.3 million homes, and plans to add distribution on other cable and satellite systems in coming weeks. The initial launch will have a program line-up consisting of 15 distinct series with vacation travel, home improvement and real estate programming; its positioning between the Bloomberg News network and CNBC brings it a highly favorable audience that the company expects will attract the exact demographic group that will appreciate its distinctive programming. Shares lost ten cents on the week to close at $1.28.
OmniComm Systems, Inc. (OTCBB: OMCM), a leader in integrated electronic data capture solutions for clinical trials, announced last week that it ranked number 284 on Technology Fast 500(TM), Deloitte LLP’s ranking of 500 of the fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and clean technology companies in North America. Rankings are based on percentage of fiscal year revenue growth during the five-year period from 2004-2008. OmniComm grew 455% percent during this period. Shares remained unchanged at $0.20 on the week.
ONE Holdings (OTCBB: ONEZ), a green process manufacturer of high quality health supplements, organic fertilizers and pesticides, announced last week that it will be opening an office in Shanghai. The company plans to open the office within the next few months to consolidate treasury, operations, and sales of ONE Holdings operating units in the Asia Pacific region, giving ONE’s upper management better levels of efficiency and control. The company also announced the hiring of Wei-En Chen, who will be working out of ONE’s Miami headquarters. Wei-En joins with the responsibility of assisting the CFO, maintaining consolidated accounting records, and managing SEC filings. Ms. Chen will work closely with the new Shanghai office, giving the U.S. management team a clear view of its subsidiaries. Shares gained a penny on the week to close at $1.25.
Greenshift (OTCBB: GERS), a company that develops and commercializes clean technologies that facilitate the efficient use of natural resources, announced last week that it has been granted U.S. Patent No. 7,608,729, titledMethod of Freeing the Bound Oil Present in Whole Stillage and Thin Stillage. This latest patent approval builds off of the recently granted patent relating to the company’s core technology that was issued earlier this month, to enhance yield and optimize energy utilization. The issuance of both patents serves to validate the significant resources that the company has invested in the development of its extraction platform which is expected to significantly improve upon the 3.4 million tons of corn oil passed unrecovered through the U.S. ethanol industry during 2008 alone. Shares remained unchanged at less than a penny on the week.
