Amylin Pharmaceuticals (AMLN) has really been on a tear these past two trading days. As a long term holder of AMLN this is a pleasant development. However, I have to ask why the sudden jump in the stock over the past two trading sessions? There are several reasons for the sudden rise of AMLN of which any one or a combination of could be causing the rise. Here are some of those causal factors:

• The stock was simply too oversold and short interest climbed too high
• With all of the negative news about Zetia from Schering Plough (SGP) and Lipitor from Pfizer (PFE) and other statins perhaps someone finally woke up to the fact that diabetes treatment is all that much more important and the big cap pharmaceutical companies may be forced to buy AMLN
• The decline of the inhaled insulin product lines gives AMLN approved and commercially available products – Byetta and Symlin - more credibility and sales potential.

I continue to believe that AMLN Byetta LAR long acting formulation will be approved and once that occurs we will see a huge jump in analysts estimates and future sales. That is at least a year out but well worth the wait as Byetta and Symlin sales continue to grow.

At the time of this Blog entry Scott Rothbort, his family and or clients of LakeView Asset Management, LLC were long shares of AMLN --- although positions can change at any time.

I have had my eye on Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD) for a few weeks. The company is growing at an annual rate of 20% for both sales and EPS. Many people know that I closely follow chickenomics and chicken wing prices may have finally peaked. I watched as the stock rallied dramatically from $20 to  $27.50 in 3 weeks time. There is clearly buying interest for BWLD but I expected a retreat in the stock price before taking any action. With the stock now around $24, I am prepared to step in soon and start a position. I will let you know when I do so and add it to The Finance Professor's Club holdings right here on TheFinanceProfessor.com

No positions to report 

Data generated from ComScore (SCOR) over the past quarter led investors to believe that ad-clicks for Google (GOOG) were weak. The GOOG shorts/bears were using the SCOR data as fuel for sending GOOG shares lower this whole year. All that changed yesterday after the close when GOOG reported stronger advertising revenues that helped to generate EPS of $4.84 versus analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.52. EPS grew at a rate of 31.5% versus the same period last year.

GOOG shareholders got some sweet revenge in after hours trading subsequent to the company's earnings report and conference call. GOOG shares were trading about 17% higher in after hours’ activity while shares of SCOR dropped just over 8%.

The morale of the story for students and investors is to never believe single data points when they are touted by companies with self-serving agendas. Examples of such companies are SCOR and ADP (ADP), the latter of which produces its own monthly labor estimates that have a lousy track record. In addition, ignore data points which a group of traders who are motivated for profit ram down your throats like some sort of new gospel in an attempt to create fear and panic as a means to manipulate stock prices.

At the time of this Blog entry Scott Rothbort, his family and or clients of LakeView Asset Management, LLC were long shares of GOOG and short shares of ADP --- although positions can change at any time.

As I promised in a previous blog entry on TheFinanceProfessor.com, I would alert our readers when I took action on Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD). Over the last few days I have accumulated shares of BWLD for my LakeView Asset Management client accounts as well as that of my family and my personal account.

 

BWLD reports its quarterly results on Tuesday April 29 when the company is expected to earn 36 cents on revenues of $96.53 million. While trading ahead of earnings reports can be a risky strategy, I am confident that BWLD will continue to grow at a 20% or greater rate. Thus my 2008 price target of $30 and a 2009 price target of $35 are well within reach given the current data now available to us and hence acting now is not as risky as one might otherwise believe. With BWLD now selling at around $24, the return to my price targets is inviting.

 

BWLD has been added to TheFinanceProfessor club’s portfolio which can be viewed in the Investment Club section of the site.

 

At the time of this Blog entry Scott Rothbort, his family and or clients of LakeView Asset Management, LLC were long shares of BWLD --- although positions can change at any time.

Maybe it is just me but I have to say that Microsoft (MSFT) is the most irrelevant mega cap company out there. At least General Electric (GE) moved markets and has some economic relevance. MSFT on the other hand, as we learned this week is just a big old cash cow that is losing market share. The company has managed to fiddle about in its old windows mentality while the likes of Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG) are doing to MSFT what MSFT did to the likes of IBM (IBM), Unisys (UIS) and their contemporaries two decades ago. MSFT has totally botched the Yahoo (YHOO) takeover. Why 30 plus analysts waste our time and their employers’ money on covering MSFT is beyond me. My recommendation to the MSFT board is to boost the company’s dividend to an annual rate of 3 to 4% and consider splitting the company to three parts – software, internet and entertainment. Once that occurs and only then will the company attract my interest.

At the time of this Blog entry Scott Rothbort, his family and or clients of LakeView Asset Management, LLC were long shares of AAPL and GOOG --- although positions can change at any time.