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Abraxis BioScience (NasdaqGS:ABBI - News) shares rose 4% after the company reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $46.7 million, or 29 cents a share, up from a year-ago equivalent profit of $14.8 million, or 9 cents a share. Revenue rose in the latest three months to $257.1 million from $145.6 million in the same period a year earlier.
Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW - News) shares surged 3.5% following a report from a British tabloid that the company may receive a leveraged buyout offer from a consortium of private equity firms worth up to $54 billion.
GulfMark Offshore Inc. (NasdaqGS:GMRK - News) shares gained 5.7% after the company said its fourth-quarter net income jumped to $30.6 million, or $1.42 a share, from $8.2 million, or 39 cents a share, a year earlier. The firm, which provides marine transportation for the oil and gas industry, said revenue for the quarter rose 34% to $69 million, largely due to higher rates and the addition of new vessels. The firm said profit also benefited by around 17 cents a share from a previously announced sale. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had been expecting earnings of 90 cents a share on revenue of $62 million. The company also said it expects demand for vessel services to remain strong throughout all of its markets in 2007.
Hub International Ltd. (NYSE:HBG - News) shares jumped 15% after the company agreed to be acquired private-equity firm Apax Partners and Morgan Stanley Principal Investments in a deal valued at roughly $1.8 billion.
Jakks Pacific Inc. (NasdaqGS:JAKK - News) shares leapt 17% after the company said its fourth-quarter net income rose to $23.2 million, or 73 cents a share, from $9.0 million, or 30 cents a share, a year ago. On an adjusted basis, net income totaled 84 cents a share. Analysts had been expecting the designer and marketer of toys to report earnings of 67 cents a share, according to data compiled by Thomson Financial. Sales rose to $238.3 million, from $166.3 million last year. The company said that it's expecting 2007 sales to reach at least $800 million, with net income of $75.8 million, or $2.39 a share. First quarter net sales are forecast in a range of $114 million to $120 million, while earnings are expected in a range of 7 to 10 cents a share.
GTX Inc. (NasdaqGM:GTXI - News) shares surged 8.8% after analysts at Lazard Research maintained their buy rating on the company, citing the company's recent release of positive data for its treatment Acapodene, a treatment for negative side effects associated with a leading prostate cancer therapy called ADT. The analysts also raised their price target for the stock to $25 from $21.
Mace Security International Inc. (NasdaqGM:MACE - News) shares rose after the company said it has rejected a $3-per-share indication of interest from Kelly Capital. Mount Laurel, N.J.-based Mace, a maker of electronic surveillance and personal defense products, also said that it has decided to enter into talks with Kelly Capital regarding the possibility of Kelly paying more than $3 per share. Kelly Capital has signed a confidentiality agreement with Mace and is currently conducting due diligence, Mace said.
Temple-Inland (NYSE:TIN - News) shares jumped 13% after the company moved to spin off its financial-services and real-estate units and sell a portion of its timberland holdings to concentrate on packaging and building products.
TXU Corp. (NYSE:TXU - News) shares gained 13% after the company said its board has agreed to a deal to be taken private by an investor group led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Texas Pacific Group and Goldman Sachs.
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Labels: ABBI, DOW, GMRK, GTXI, HBG, JAKK, MACE, TIN, TXU

Aegean Marine Petroleum Network (NYSE:ANW - News) shares surged Friday in the company's stock market debut.
Allegiant Travel (NASDAQ:ALGT - News) shares jumped in the company's initial public offering.
Arena Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARNA - News) priced a public offering of 11.5 million common shares at $13.21 each, the stock's closing price on Thursday. The deal includes an over-allotment option for the sale of an additional 1.725 million shares. San Diego-based Arena said CIBC World Markets served as the sole book-running manager in the offering.
Atwood Oceanics Inc. (NYSE:ATW - News) reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $23.2 million, or 74 cents a share, compared with $6.66 million, or 21 cents a share, in the same period last year, as revenue jumped.
Cascade Corp. (NYSE:CAE - News) said third-quarter net income rose, as revenue gained, to $12.3 million, or 94 cents a share, from $10.8 million, or 84 cents a share, during the same period in the prior year. Also, the company is increasing its revolver to $125 million from $25 million to fund potential acquisitions and to provide short-term funding for the share repurchase program.
Shares of Citigroup (NYSE:C - News) traded at their highest level since April 2004 on Friday. In a research note, analysts at Lehman Bros. said they expect the company's management to provide an outlook for positive operating leverage and improving net interest margins in 2007 when it holds an investor presentation next weeks. The analysts said they do not expect the company to announce any plans to break it up.
Credence Systems (NASDAQ:CMOS - News) said the fourth-quarter net loss narrowed, as operating expenses fell, to $1.94 million, or 2 cents a share, from a net loss of $22.5 million, or 23 cents a share, during the same period in the prior year.
Esterline Technologies Corp. (NYSE:ESL - News) reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $18.4 million, or 71 cents a share, up 19% from $15.4 million, or 60 cents a share, during the year-ago period. The company also said it now expects fiscal 2007 per-earnings of $2.45 to $2.60, up from its previous outlook of $2.40 to $2.60, boosted by record backlogs and new products coming to market.
Shares of Forgent Networks (NASDAQ:FORG - News) soared after the Austin, Texas-based technology licensing company posted a profit for its fiscal first quarter due to a doubling of revenue. The company, which also provides office administration software, earned $2.7 million, or 11 cents a share, for the three months ended Oct. 31 on revenue of $9.1 million. In the same period a year earlier, Forgent lost $300,000, or a penny per share, on revenue of $4.4 million. Looking ahead, the company said it expects to continue to generate intellectual property licensing revenue in fiscal 2007.
Shares of Hansen Natural Corp. (NASDAQ:HANS - News) surged after the Corona, Calif., beverage company disclosed it's recorded more than $500 million in gross sales for its Monster Energy drinks since their launch on January 1. The company said it reached the milestone in November.
Harsco Corp. (NYSE:HSC - News) reaffirmed its outlook for earnings from continuing operations of $4.49 to $4.51 a share in 2006 on revenue of more than $3.3 billion. The company also forecast earnings from continuing operations of $5.05 to $5.15 a share in 2007 with sales projected to grow more than 7%. The current average estimates of analysts polled by Thomson First Call are for profits of $4.51 a share in 2006 and $5.06 a share in 2007.
Heelys Inc. (NASDAQ:HLYS - News) shares jumped in one of the top IPO performances of the year.
Ingersoll-Rand Co. (NYSE:IR - News) said it has authorized the buyback of up to $2 billion of its Class A shares.
Investment Technology Group (NYSE:ITG - News) said November average daily volume rose to 175 million shares from 119 million shares a year earlier, and up from 150 million shares in October. Total U.S. volume was 3.7 billion shares vs. last year's 2.5 billion shares and last month's 3.3 billion shares.
Mace Security International (NASDAQ:MACE - News) agreed to sell its Arizona car wash operations for $19.3 million cash. Mace, Mount Laurel, N.J., said the sale includes 12 car washes and represents about $10 million of Mace's total revenue of $68 million in 2005. Nine of the car washes are owned and three are leased.
Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:MLNM - News) said the Food and Drug Administration has granted full approval of Velcade for the treatment of patients with mantle cell lymphoma who have received at least one prior therapy. MCL is a form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma which has a U.S. prevalence of 10,000 patients. Cambridge, Mass.-based Millennium said the approval marks the first indication for Velcade in lymphoma, the most common blood cancer.
Nanometrics Inc. (NASDAQ:NANO - News) said it has received a favorable Markman decision in the patent infringement case brought by Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI - News).
Online Resources Corp. (NASDAQ:ORCC - News) said it sees a first-quarter 2007 per-share net loss of 33 to 35 cents on revenue of $30 million to $31.5 million. Pro forma, or "core net income," for the quarter is expected to range from a loss of a penny to a profit of a penny.
QMed (NASDAQ:QMED - News) shares rose after the Eatontown, N.J.-based provider of information management systems to health plans said it has reached an agreement with Alere Medical Inc. to settle their litigation and arbitration. Financial terms of the settlement were not disclosed, although QMed said the agreement calls for Alere to pay a "low seven-figure dollar amount," which is to be received by Dec. 13.
Shares of PriceSmart Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT - News) advanced after the San Diego, Calif., warehouse club retailer said its same-store sales jumped 18.5% in November. Total sales for November rose 22.9% to $69.7 million from $56.7 million in the same period a year earlier.
Verifone Holdings Inc. (NYSE:PAY - News) reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $13.9 million, or 20 cents a share, compared with $12.1 million, or 18 cents a share, in the same period last year, on the back of strong revenue from international business.
By Michael Baron of MarketWatch

Labels: ALGT, ANW, ARNA, ATW, C, CAE, CMOS, ESL, FORG, HANS, HLYS, Hot Stocks, HSC, IR, MACE, MLNM, NANO, PAY