Wintry Weather Blamed for Walmart's Earnings Drop

Steven Senne/AP NEW YORK -- Walmart's first-quarter net income fell 5 percent as the world's largest retailer was hurt by bad winter weather and continues to see its low-income customers struggle in the U.S. and around the globe. The company's performance missed Wall Street's expectations, and it gave a weak second-quarter earnings forecast. Walmart's (WMT) stock fell nearly 3 percent in premarket trading Thursday. The results underscore the big challenges facing Walmart's new CEO, Doug McMillon, who took over the top role on Feb. 1. The retailer is considered an economic bellwether, with the company accounting for nearly 10 percent of nonautomotive retail spending in the U.S. Walmart's latest performance appears to show that many people are having a hard time stretching their money between paychecks. For the period ended April 30, the Bentonville, Arkansas, company earned $3.59 billion, or $1.11 a share. That compares with $3.78 billion, or $1.14 a share, a year ago. Walmart Stores said that bad weather hurt earnings by about 3 cents a share. Its performance was also dinged by a higher-than-expected tax rate. Income from continuing operations was $1.10 a share. Analysts, on average, expected earnings of $1.15 a share, according to a FactSet survey. "Like other retailers in the United States, the unseasonably cold and disruptive weather negatively impacted U.S. sales and drove operating expenses higher than expected," President and CEO Doug McMillon said in a statement. But Walmart has been suffering from weak sales in the U.S. for some time. Sales at U.S. stores open at least a year slipped 0.2 percent in the quarter, the fifth consecutive quarter of decline the metric, considered a key gauge of a retailer's financial performance. Analysts had been expecting the measure to be flat. In the U.S., while jobs are easier to get and the housing market is gaining momentum, these improvements haven't been enough to get Americans to spend. On top of that, the Nov. 1 expiration of a temporary boost in food stamps is hurting its shoppers' ability to spend. Total revenue rose 1 percent to $114.96 billion. Wall Street was calling for higher revenue of $116.43 billion. Revenues Rise McMillon said in a prerecorded call that U.S. sales rose during the second half of the quarter, but that Sam's Club had lower-than-expected sales. While membership income climbed, McMillon said it was mostly because of a fee increase started last year. Total U.S. revenue rose 2 percent to $67.85 billion. Walmart International's sales rose 3.4 percent in the quarter, on a constant currency basis. Walmart, which has 10,994 stores in 27 countries, is facing stiff completion from dollar chains and online king Amazon.com (AMZN). Walmart has been sharpening its focus on everyday low prices at U.S. stores and further pushing that strategy abroad. Walmart also said earlier in the year that it will speed up growth plans for its smaller Neighborhood Markets and Walmart Express stores that cater to shoppers looking for more convenience with fresh produce and meat and household and beauty products. In a call with the media, Walmart executives said super centers are getting bigger purchases on each trip from people stocking up on bulk items, but traffic has been weaker, particularly in the bottom performing 10 percent of its stores. At Neighborhood Markets, on the other hand, traffic is up 4 percent as people buy fill-in items at the smaller stores. For the second quarter, Walmart anticipates earnings from continuing operations in a range of $1.15 to $1.25 a share. Analysts predict earnings of $1.28 a share. The company's shares fell $2.41, or 3.1 percent, to $76.33 in premarket trading just before the market opened.

What ‘Fargo’s’ Debut Ratings Mean for FX’s Future

While FX's (a subsidiary of Fox (NASDAQ: FOXA  ) ) new limited-run series Fargo got a very warm reception from critics, the reaction from audiences was a little more mixed. The drama, starring Martin Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton, pulled in respectable numbers with its premiere, but not the Earth-shattering ones many may have hoped for ... at least not yet.

Ratings

("Fargo." Credit: FX)

Based on the 1996 Oscar-winning film by the Coen Brothers, Fargo kicked off its 10-week run Tuesday night with 2.7 million viewers tuning in, pulling a 0.8 rating in the all-important 18-49 demographic. That might not look like much, but after adding in the two replays, that number ballooned to 4.1 million viewers and a much stronger 1.4 demo rating. And delayed viewing -- people recording then watching during the ensuing week on their own terms -- is having an ever increasing effect.

Adding in those who got around to watching within three days of the original helped offset initially disappointing numbers for other recent shows. The Americans' second season opener the other month earned 1.9 million viewers live, but when (the now more accepted) +3-day time-shifted viewing data came in, that number vaulted to 3.3 million. Similarly last summer's rookie drama The Bridge ended up around 3 million viewers in its +3. So Fargo's numbers will improve once all the views of its 90-minute opener are counted.

Analysis

What the means is that Fargo basically got off to a so-so start, though it's hard to truly judge it without the full time-shifted picture. Looking at just the early ratings, the slightly lower than expected results could be a result of the longer run time or more likely audience aversion to the darker material audiences have come to expect from Joel and Ethan Coen.

 

Still you have to remember FX by nature is a darker network -- just look at The Shield and American Horror Story -- so this is a perfect home. The twist here is that in other cases audiences will usually tune into a new series and then base future viewing on that first episode; here there was already an established formula. While it was a benefit that audiences were aware of the world (and style) in which Fargo takes place, it also immediately turned off viewers who weren't fans of the movie and as a result had no desire to check it out (even though the film and series have different plots).

Long run

("The Bridge." Credit: FX)

Fargo isn't the network's only hope for new series success in 2014 ... it just happens to be the first. Even if its numbers disappointment, FX's dramatic series forecast is still very strong, despite the upcoming departures of Sons of Anarchy and Justified. This week the network gave a third season renewal to The Americans, which has kept up its critical buzz in its sophomore run and is making a strong case (again) for Emmy consideration. In addition, this summer FX will bow two more new series as well as the second season of last year's hit The Bridge, which stars Demian Bichir and Diane Kruger.

Those two new series in particular could prove to be game-changers as both are already beginning to make waves. First in June is Tyrant, which comes from the powerhouse team of Gideon Raff, Howard Gordon, and Craig Wright. Fans may recognize those names from Emmy-winning dramas such as Homeland and 24. The series follows the second son of a Middle Eastern dictator who returns home after a self-imposed exile, during which he's married an American and had two kids.

Following that a month later is The Strain, which comes from the equally well known king of dark fantasy Guillermo del Toro. The series is based on his literary trilogy of the same name that he co-wrote with Chuck Hogan (who will also be one of the show's producers). Starring House of Cards' Cory Stoll, the series follows a Centers for Disease Control team who must battle a mysterious viral outbreak in NYC that has hallmarks of an ancient and evil strain of vampirism.

These are high-profile series on two completely different ends of the spectrum. Tyrant is meant to be centered in reality while Strain is purely rooted in fiction, but that helps FX cast a wider net to hook viewers. The summer time may be the "off-season" for the major networks, but for cable it's open season. TNT, USA, and FX are just some of the many channels that value the same May-August time frame once discarded by short-sighted executives.

It's a time for networks to play around and see what its audiences respond best to without the constrictions of the typical programming year. Those lessons not only help set the tone for the rest of the year but allow networks to take fliers on shows like Fargo, which can be both polarizing and trendsetters.

Cable's dominance

Do you know how to profit off the success of FX and its cable rivals? There's $2.2 trillion out there to be had and currently cable networks own a big piece of it, but that won't last. Click here for the names of companies look to flip the script on traditional TV.

Barclays cuts 12,000 jobs, ups bonuses 10%

A previous version of this story misstated the number of people employed by Barclays.

LONDON — Britain's second-largest bank by assets Barclays is to cut 12,000 jobs, the firm's chief executive said on a conference call Tuesday.

Antony Jenkins confirmed the job losses as the bank said it had increased bonus payments by 10% in 2013 to $3.9 billion.

The job losses and bump in payments came on a day when Barclays announced that annual operating profit for 2013 at its key investment banking unit slumped 37% to $4.1 billion.

"We pay for performance and we pay competitively," Jenkins, 52, said in an interview with BBC radio. "It goes back to having the best talent across the world to serve our clients and customers."

Around half of the job losses, which are aimed at cutting costs as the bank continues to reshape its business, will be in Britain.

The company employs about 140,000 people around the world from Singapore to San Francisco.

Shares in Barclays declined around 2% in London-listed trading following the announcement.

J.C. Penney Shares Fall Below $5

The last time J.C. Penney Co.'s(JCP) stock price traded this low, the New York Mets were an expansion team.

Shares of the struggling department-store chain dropped 14% on Tuesday and fell below $5, a level it hasn’t closed below on a split-adjusted basis since October 1962.

The latest decline comes after J.C. Penney reported a slim holiday sales gain, making only the barest progress in climbing out of its deep hole. J.C. Penney said comparable-store sales rose about 2% in the fourth quarter, the first time since the second quarter of 2011 that the company reported growth in the closely watched figure.

The quarterly sales gain “is a step in the right direction (but) the slope of the improvement continues to disappoint,’ said analysts at Sterne Agee, adding that Penney’s “sales trend need to improve materially better…and quickly.”

J.C. Penney shares have been mired in a steep downtrend for years. Shares traded above $40 two years ago and as high as $87 in 2007. The company, which was an original member of the S&P 500 going back to its start in 1957, was booted out of the index last year. It currently sports a market capitalization of about $1.5 billion, according to FactSet.

“J.C. Penney needs the improvement to be much better than currently tracking and it is becoming increasingly critical that the company starts to see meaningful improvement if it is to survive as currently constituted,” Sterne Agee says.

As an aside, the Mets finished that 1962 season with a woeful 120 losses. The team rebounded to win its first World Series seven years later.

If only J.C. Penney could stage such a turnaround.

–Kevin Kingsbury and Ben Fox Rubin contributed to this report.

It’s the Most Contrarian Time of the Year…For Stock Pickers

It’s that time of the year, the one where investors buy the year’s losers–like International Business Machines (IBM), BHP Billiton (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RIO)–on the expectation that they will pop once the new year begins.

Eva-Lotta Jansson/Bloomberg/Getty Images

While the strategy might work in January, don’t expect it to last, says Citigroup’s Robert Buckland and team in a report released last week. They write:

While simple contrarian strategies often perform very well at big macro turning points, they tend to underperform the rest of the time.

Contrarians were punished in 2013. An extension of a two-year 40% rally in global equities has made this one of the biggest momentum years since 1998.

But that won't stop the contrarians trying. Their big trade for 2014 will be to buy (again) the commodity-related stocks and Emerging Market countries…

While contrarian stock picking strategies are unsuccessful most years, they do tend to outperform in January.

How bad were contrarian picks in 2013? While Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) has gained 98% in 2013 after losing 45% in 2012, others caused heavy losses. Barrick Gold (ABX), for instance, has dropped another 51% this year after losing 25% in 2012, while Goldcorp (GG) has fallen 41% after dropping 19%. (Citigroup is picking the 10 worst performing stocks among the 250 largest companies in the MSCI All-Country World Index.)

Citigroup’s contrarian picks for 2014 include International Business Machines, which has dropped 4.4% this year, BHP Billiton, which has fallen 14%, and Rio Tinto, which is off 6% in 2013.

Shares of Hewlett-Packard have gained 0.4% to $28.28 today at 9:36 a.m., while Barrick Gold has risen 1.6% to $17.57, and Goldcorp has advanced 0.9% to $21.77. Shares of International Business Machines have gained 0.5% to $184.19, while BHP Billiton has fallen 0.3% to $66.88and Rio Tinto is little changed at $54.70.

Is Nucor’s Disappointment Good News for AK Steel and US Steel?

Nucor’s (NUE) side-bet on natural gas looks to be a loser, as the steel company called a halt to its natural-gas project with Encana (ECA) today.

Reuters

Bloomberg details impact of that decision:

The move will reduce Nucor's 2014 capital expenditure by about $400 million, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said in a statement today. In July it had forecast spending of $1.1 billion next year…

Nucor also said today it will earn 35 to 40 cents a share in the fourth quarter, compared with 43 cents a year earlier. The average of 18 estimates compiled by Bloomberg was for profit of 40 cents. Nucor's projection includes 6 cents per share of inventory expenses, compared with a 14-cent credit a year earlier, the company said.

The news has hit Nucor’s shares today. Its stock has dropped 1.4% to $51.30, even as U.S. Steel (X) has gained 0.3% to $27.20, AK Steel (AKS) has gained 1.2% to $6.10 and Steel Dynamics (STLD) has decline 0.1% to $18.95. Encana is little changes at $17.95.

Citigroup’s Brian Yu explains that the earnings announcement is good news for AK Steel, U.S. Steel and Steel Dynamics:

As expected, the company noted improved profitability from their sheet unit, despite the three week planned outage at their Berkeley County mill, due to a series of price hikes. Bar and structural mills saw weaker performance in 4Q due to planned outages for upgrades at their SBQ mill in Norfolk and structural mill in Blytheville. NUE's comments and guidance have positive implications for sheet producers AKS and X as well as STLD.

Shares of Nucor have gained 19% this year, while US Steel is up 14%, AK Steel has risen 33% and Steel Dynamics has advanced 38%.

Can Sirius XM Radio Continue to Rise?

With shares of Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ:SIRI) trading around $4, is SIRI an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE, or STAY AWAY? Let's analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

T = Trends for a Stock's Movement

Sirius XM Radio broadcasts its music, sports, entertainment, comedy, talk, news, traffic, and weather channels in the United States on a subscription fee basis through its two satellite radio systems. Subscribers can also receive music and other channels over the Internet, including through applications for mobile devices. Audio entertainment has always pleased consumers and is a medium that is growing in popularity. Sirius XM Radio is looking to expand its audio entertainment channels to every audio medium possible, which will surely translate to rising profits.

Sirius XM Radio reported third-quarter earnings on Thursday morning after the opening bell, giving results and guidance that missed analyst expectations. Sirius's income was $62.89 million, down from $74.5 million a year ago, and although revenue grew 11 percent to $961.5 million, that figure fell short of estimates by over $10 million. Revenue per subscriber was also up to $12.29 from $12.14 last year, but again missed forecasts. Sirius said it expects to make $4 billion in revenue in 2014, a figure below Wall Street expectations.

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart Are Strong

Sirius XM Radio stock has established higher highs and higher lows in the last few years. The stock is currently trading slightly below highs for the year and looks set to continue. Analyzing the price trend and its strength can be done using key simple moving averages. What are the key moving averages? The 50-day (pink), 100-day (blue), and 200-day (yellow) simple moving averages. As seen in the daily price chart below, Sirius XM Radio is trading above its rising key averages, which signal neutral to bullish price action in the near-term.

(Source: Thinkorswim)

Taking a look at the implied volatility (red) and implied volatility skew levels of Sirius XM Radio options may help determine if investors are bullish, neutral, or bearish.

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
Sirius XM Radio Options	31.54%	0%	0%

What does this mean? This means that investors or traders are buying a very small amount of call and put options contracts as compared to the last 30 and 90 trading days.

	Put IV Skew	Call IV Skew
November Options	Flat	Average
December Options	Flat	Average

As of today, there is an average demand from call buyers or sellers and low demand by put buyers or high demand by put sellers, all neutral to bullish over the next two months. To summarize, investors are buying a very small amount of call and put option contracts and are leaning neutral to bullish over the next two months.

On the next page, let's take a look at the earnings and revenue growth rates and the conclusion.

E = Earnings Are Mixed Quarter-Over-Quarter

Rising stock prices are often strongly correlated with rising earnings and revenue growth rates. Also, the last four quarterly earnings announcement reactions help gauge investor sentiment on Sirius XM Radio's stock. What do the last four quarterly earnings and revenue growth (Y-O-Y) figures for Sirius XM Radio look like and more importantly, how did the markets like these numbers?

	2013 Q3	2013 Q2	2013 Q1	2012 Q4
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	0.00%	-95.83%	0.00%	104.80%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	11.00%	12.23%	11.52%	13.87%
Earnings Reaction	-3.82%*	2.71%	5.86%	1.26%

Sirius XM Radio has seen mixed earnings and rising revenue figures over the last four quarters. From these numbers, the markets have had conflicting feelings about Sirius XM Radio's recent earnings announcements.

* As of this writing

P = Weak Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has Sirius XM Radio stock done relative to its peers, Pandora (NYSE:P), CBS (NYSE:CBS), Cumulus Media (NASDAQ:CMLS), and sector?

	Sirius XM Radio	Pandora	CBS	Cumulus Media	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	36.51%	191.10%	56.86%	115.00%	98.76%

Sirius XM Radio has been a poor relative performer, year-to-date.

Conclusion

Sirius XM Radio provides audio entertainment and information via subscription services to a growing listener base. A recent earnings release has the markets expecting more from the company. The stock has been trending higher in recent years and is currently near highs for the year. Over the last four quarters, earnings have been mixed while revenues have been rising which has produced conflicting feelings among investors. Relative to its peers and sector, Sirius XM Radio has been a weak year-to-date performer. Look for Sirius XM Radio to OUTPERFORM.

Amazon Shares Hit All-Time High as Analyst Upgrades

NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Amazon reached a new all-time high today as a UBS analyst raised the online retailer's rating and price target, saying it has a chance to speed up revenue growth heading into the holiday season.

The spark: Eric Sheridan of UBS lifted Amazon.com to "Buy" from "Neutral" and increased its price target to $385 from $305.

The analysis: Sheridan said in a client note that Amazon should be able to speed up its revenue growth in the fourth quarter and beyond in part because it should benefit from the rollout of new video games and gaming consoles, such as Sony Corp.'s Playstation 4 and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox One -- which are expected to launch in November.

The analyst said that Amazon is well-positioned going forward, as it has worked hard this year on bringing together its hardware and software through actions such as hardware launches, software improvements, streaming content additions and its Amazon Payments system.

Sheridan anticipates an in-line quarter for Amazon when it reports financial results on Thursday. He noted that the near-term may be volatile for online businesses, given eBay's comments this week about expectations for a sluggish holiday season for the U.S. online business and potential impact of the temporary government shutdown.

Share action: The stock climbed $14.18, or 4.6%, to $324.95 in midday trading. Earlier, it touched $325.64 -- a fresh all-time high. Many technology-oriented companies are trading higher Friday. Google's strong third-quarter results sent its stock past $1,000 per share for the first time since it went public nine years ago.

Growlife Unveils Plans to Grow Like a Weed (PHOT)

Most of the time when someone says "hindsight is 20/20", it's said with a hint of regret or lamentation - having access to more information would have been helpful, given the outcome. In the case of Growlife Inc. (OTCBB:PHOT), however, the fact that hindsight is a 20/20 affair confirms something exciting that was already being alluded to. That exciting something for PHOT and shareholders? The organization is on the verge of a major expansion.

Those familiar with PHOT will say the clues started to materialize back on July 18th when the company hired Randy Breitman to fill the newly-created position of Director of Business Development. The "new hire" theme was underscored yesterday when Growlife named John Genisi as the new CFO. Both gentlemen are tops in their respective arenas, and should provide the corporation with outstanding service. Those aren't the first glimmers of a serious expansion for the company, however.

No, the growth wave actually started way back on June 26th, when Growlife Inc. told us it was opening a new retail store in New Hampshire. With six hydroponic and growing equipment stores already up and running, the one in New Hampshire would be the seventh. It would be the first truly organically grown store that PHOT would open, however. The six existing ones were stores in place before the company M&A's itself into the company we know today. Much like a Lay's potato chip though, we probably should have known that "no one can eat just one" (or in the case of a retailer, no one can grow by just one - many more are apt to be on the way). Sure enough...

New Hampshire isn't the only new store opening on the radar. As it turns out, per today's announcement there are 29 more store openings on the long-term radar, with a dozen or so of them likely to be opened within the next year and a half. That should approximately triple the current annual sales figure of $8 million, to $24 million; Growlife's stores tend to generate just a little over a million in annual revenues.

Critics might be quick to suggest this is the "aha" moment for investors who had been faithful and optimistic up until now. This expansion - which will likely come through a combination of acquisitions and organic openings - will cost money, which is potentially dilutive to current shareholders. And truth be told, no matter how PHOT decides to raise those needed funds, it's going to work against the existing shareholder base. This is one of these cases, however, where the upside easily more than outweighs the drawbacks. The nationwide pro-marijuana movement is in place, and Growlife's Urban Garden, Rocky Mountain Hydroponics, and Evergreen Garden Center stores are big hits where they're currently located. Investors aren't going to have to wait long to get a nice return on that investment.

Bottom line: Hindsight is 20/20, but for PHOT, that's a very exciting view. It's going to be even more exciting when traders apply hindsight at this point in 2014, and look at just how much Growlife Inc. accomplished in the last half of 2013 and the first half of the coming year. The stock's very likely to reflect that growth too.

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The Deal: U.K. Raises $5.1B Through Lloyds Selldown

LONDON (The Deal) -- The British government's UK Financial Investments Ltd. said Tuesday, Sept. 17, it had sold a 6% stake in Lloyds Banking Group (LYG) for just over over 3.2 billion pounds ($5.1 billion).

Monday's long-awaited accelerated bookbuilding exercise to institutional investors marked UKFI's first selldown of shares in Lloyds, which the previous Labour government had rescued in January 2009 after arranging for it to take over troubled peer HBOS.

Shares changed hands for 75 pence, above the "blended" 73.6 pence which the government is estimated to have paid for its stake, meaning the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government should be able to declare it has made a profit of about 60 million pounds on the transaction. The stock was priced at a 3.1% discount to Monday's close. Before Monday, Lloyds shares had risen about 25% in the past three months and are close to a five-year high.

The sale leaves UKFI, the vehicle which manages state banking holdings accrued during the credit crisis, with 32.7% of Lloyds. UKFI is bound by a 90-day lockup on its remaining shares but the restriction can be waived with the written consent of a majority of the investment banks selling the shares. The state is seen likely to offer a second tranche to a wider pool of investors early next year. "We regard the government's timing as impeccable, and it appears credible to suggest that it could yet be out in full by the election," noted Investec Bank analyst Ian Gordon. The national elections will take place in May 2015 and the coalition government had been eager to start the Lloyds selloff well before. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne called the sale "another step to repair what went so badly wrong in the economy" under the previous Labour government. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan Cazenove Ltd. and UBS handled the placing. Charlie Foreman and William Rucker of Lazard and Slaughter and May advised on the placing. Lloyds shares in early trading were down 1.56 pence at 75.80 pence. --Written by Laura Board

Take the Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Hint at Face Value (SPPI)

Eight months ago, Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPPI) was a train wreck. Shares had plunged from $12.43 to $7.79 on the heels of bad news, and SPPI wouldn't stop bleeding until it hit a low of $6.92 a few days after the big selloff. That bad news? A warning that its full-year sales (and particularly sales of its cancer drug Fusilev) would be well short of expectations.

As they say though, nothing lasts forever. Not only are Spectrum Pharmaceuticals no longer losing ground, they're making forward progress. Indeed, today's technical leap from SPPI has cleared a huge technical hurdle, leading traders to believe a big rally is inevitable... a rally all the way up from the current price of $9.08 back to the $12.00 area.

That technical hurdle is the 200-day moving average line (green). After a string of higher highs, higher lows, and a recent battle right at it, SPPI has finally made its way above that key long-term average line, signaling that the undertow has decidedly shifted towards bullishness. And as far as a target around $12.00 goes, that's where the upper end of March's gap range can be found. The market hates to leave gaps unfilled, to odds are good that traders will pressure Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. upward to fill in that span.

Of course, the odds of these technical clues panning out will at least partially be fueled by what the company is doing. Has Spectrum Pharmaceuticals actually become a much better stock than it was in March of this year? Yes, and no.

First and foremost, would-be investors should know that the current price of $9.09 for SPPI makes reasonable sense. The trailing P/S ratio is at 2.43, which is right in line with the market's norm. The trailing P/E ratio is 33.2, which is frothier than the market's average, but not an uncommon valuation within the biotech arena. And, it should be noted that these trailing valuation measures largely incorporate the waning revenue numbers. In other words, the March plunge "right-sized" the stock relative to earnings and revenue.

It's not just a right-sizing that removes the risk of owning Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. at its current price, however. What investors may want to factor in is the recent launch of Marqibo, for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. It's only approved for a small sliver of that market, mind you, but then again, SPPI is a small company. Winning market share in the ALL market could still be a relative windfall for the $537 million company. Zacks believes Marqibo could generate more than $100 million in annual revenue. Even though Spectrum must split some of that cash with the drug's licensor Hana Biosciences, there's still some revenue at hand, and it's not like Fusilev isn't selling at all. The recent announcement of a new trail - multiple myeloma drug Melphalan - should give the company and traders plenty of fodder to work with too.

Bottom line? This is a case where onlookers may want to trust the market's collective hint via the chart's move above the key 200-day moving average line. Traders are done testing the waters. Now they're starting to pile in, for good reasons.
 
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