Stocks to Watch Tomorrow 12/29

Another completely dead day in the market.

We just heard that Bush will make January 2nd a federal holiday to honor President Ford. We haven't heard any word on whether the market will be opened or closed on Tuesday. The talking heads on TV said they may do a half a day.

The IPO we've been writing about recently, Fuwei Films Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq: FFHL), continues to find fans. The stock jumped nearly 35% today to $17.50. Not bad considering it was brought the the market at $8.28.

Apple Computer (Nasdaq: AAPL) gave the dip buyers another chance today after the FT rehashed the options scandal stuff (slow news day). Yeah, if Jobs is forced to leave the company the stock could drop $10-$15, but the chances of that happening are about 5%.

Microcap Point.360 (Nasdaq: PTSX) jumped 49% today and no it wasn't manipulated higher. The stock actually had legitimate news. Larger rival DG FastChannel (Nasdaq: DGIT) bought up 11.4% of the company from a hedge fund, paying up $3.25 per share in a negotiated deal dated 12/22 when the stock was at $2.40 in the open market that day. In a disclosure, DG FastChannel noted they entered a nondisclosure agreement with PTSX in August. This looks like a possible hostile takeover situation. One could speculate that DGIT and PTSX held talks but they couldn't come up with an agreement and now DGIT is trying to go around them. This may be hard. Chairman and CEO Haig Bagerdjian owns 27% of the company and Julia Stefanko, the ex-wife of former CEO Luke Stefanko, owns 17%.

Say it at so! Northfield Laboratories Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLD) finally had a up day after its blow-up last week. Has is hit a bottom? What about Sally Beauty (NYSE: SBH)? - up 2.6% today after a steady decline since negative news on the L'Oreal rights.

Encysive Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: ENCY) announced mid-day that the FDA finally said they will review the New Drug Application (NDA) for THELIN. Sounds like good new right? Wrong - the FDA gives the review a Class 2 resubmission status instead of the hoped for Class 1 resubmission and sets a PDUFA date of June 15. The stock drops 23.6% on the news. OUCH.

Stocks to Watch Tomorrow 12/21

Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) will be reporting after the close tomorrow. Expect the stock to be volatile before and after the report. Many are expecting a strong quarter due to sales of the new BlackBerry Pearl. Competitor Palm reported yesterday, beating lowered Q2 results, but guiding below for Q3. Many think RIMM is stealing market share from PALM, but there are also a handful of new competitors making similar products which could stymie growth.

Micron Technology Inc. (NYSE: MU) and Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) are also on deck to report earnings after the close tomorrow and will be ones to watch.

Micro-caps Mamma.com Inc. (Nasdaq: MAMA) (+33.4%) and Escala Group Inc. (Nasdaq: ESCL) (+22%) continue to kill the shorts. Their runs will likely end soon, but they could continue higher in the near term on the squeeze.

SIGA Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: SIGA) jammed 82% higher in the final hours of trading after the company said it was given Orphan Drug for its smallpox drug, SIGA-246. Orphan Drug designation gives SIGA 7 years of marketing exclusivity in the US if the drug becomes the first of its kind to obtain marketing approval from the FDA.

The IPO for Artes Medical, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARTE) had a nice day, climbing 27.8% above the $6 pricing. The stock priced at the low end of the $6.00-$8.00 range, but originally was supposed to come to the market at $12-$14. The company markets an aesthetic injectable implant for the correction of facial wrinkles.

Northfield Laboratories Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLD) sunk 57% today after yesterday's 20% haircut following negative news on PolyHeme, its controversial red blood cell substitute. As old money calls it quits and moves on, some new money may be bottom fishing. This looks like a perfect situation for an activist fund to get involved with. Dan Loeb are you out there?

Sally Beauty Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SBH) was slammed to the tune of 13% today after losing L'Oreal rights. We may see bottom fishing in the name in the near term. Sally Beauty was spun-off from Alberto-Culver Co. (NYSE: ACV) in November.