Temple-Inland, Inc. (NYSE:TIN) shares moved up $1.71, or 3.32%, to $53.16 today after Carl Icahn announced plans to nominate his own slate of directors at the company's next annual meeting. We first began covering this story back in January, when the activist shareholder stated that shareholders could benefit from a spin-off or divesture of some of the company's business units. According to Icahn's past Schedule 13D filing with the SEC:

"The Reporting Persons acquired their positions in the Shares in the belief that they were undervalued due to, among other things, the conglomerate structure of the Issuer in which various disparate and non-complementary businesses are combined under one corporate umbrella. The Reporting Persons believe that this structure obfuscates the true value of the Issuer's assets and note that various analysts have issued sum of the parts analyses that imply a value for the Shares that is significantly higher than their current market price. The Reporting Persons intend to seek to have conversations with members of the Issuer's management to discuss ideas that management and the Reporting Persons may have to enhance shareholder value, which may include, among other things, the divestiture or spin-off of one or more of the Issuer's component businesses (which may include Guaranty Bank, the corrugated packaging business, timberland holdings, the building products business and/or the real estate division). The Reporting Persons may consider engaging in a proxy contest to attempt to replace one or more members of the Issuer's staggered board of directors with persons nominated by the Reporting Persons, but have as yet made no definite decision to do so."

The decision to conduct a proxy contest to replace members of the company's board came in Friday's Schedule 13D filing with the SEC:

"On February  16,  2007,  the  Reporting  Persons  delivered a letter to the Issuer (the  "Notification  Letter"),  notifying  the Issuer that the  Reporting Persons   intend  to  appear  at  the  2007  annual   meeting  of  the  Issuer's stockholders,  in person or by proxy, to nominate and seek to elect  individuals as members of the board of directors of the Issuer.  A copy of the  Notification Letter is filed herewith as an exhibit and incorporated herein by reference, and any  descriptions  herein of the  Notification  Letter  are  qualified  in their entirety by reference to the Notification Letter."

Carl Icahn has an impressive track record with companies that he is involved with and many shareholders are betting that he can unlock million in value from Temple-Inland. This makes TIN a stock that is definitely worth watching over the next few months!

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Pogo Producing Company (NYSE:PPP) moved up $0.62, or 1.23%, to $51.20 in early trading today after Daniel Loeb's Third Point announced Friday that it would be seeking a seat on the company's board at the next annual shareholder's meeting. According to the Schedule 13D/A filing, the activist hedge fund said that while the company had hired Goldman Sachs and TD Securities to explore strategic alternatives, they have no faith in the current management to follow through with a sale process. Consequently, the 7.9% holder said that it would continue to seek the majority of the seats on the company's board.

The news comes after many investors, including Third Point, had expressed concerns about the company's valuation and mismanagement. The company announced its earnings on Friday, which included lower boepd (barrel of oil equivalent per day) output than expected along with steep increases in capital expenditures. Third Point insisted that while these numbers were sad, they still believe that the company's assets are undervalued and under-utilized. If the hedge fund is successful in taking over seats on the board, it would greatly increase the likelihood of a sale. Combined, these factors make PPP a stock that is definitely worth watching.

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Sirius Satellite Radio, Inc. (NDAQ:SIRI) and XM Satellite Radio Holdings, Inc. (NDAQ:XMSR) shares rose today after the companies announced plans to merge on Monday. The proposed $13 billion merger would include approximately $1.6 billion in debt and have a combined 14 million customers. Under the terms of the agreement, XM Radio investors would receive four shares of SIRI for each share of XM Radio that they own. The new company, which has yet to be named, would be run by Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin.

Despite the optimism seen in the stocks today, the merger is likely to face several hurdles including approvals from the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust division and the Federal Communications Commission. In January, the FCC chairman said that the agency's rules would not permit such an action. Currently, shares of SIRI are trading up around 2.5%, while shares of XMSR are trading up around 8%. This is definitely a stock to watch as the proposal seeks to gain approvals.

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