Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. (NDAQ:ACOR) shares moved up $0.26, or 1.15%, to $22.87 today after Daniel Loeb's Third Point disclosed a 9.9% stake in the company and urged the board to consider putting the company up for sale in a Schedule 13D filing with the SEC. The activist hedge fund said that it strongly believes that Fampridine-SR would have the greatest value in the hands of a seasoned worldwide multiple sclerosis drug developer and marketer. Afterall, a more experienced company would be able to expedite Fampridine SR through the FDA and into the hands of patients more quickly and efficiently and quickly create value for shareholders.

Consequently, Third Point recommended that the Board of Directors immediately retain an investment bank and undergo a process to sell the company in its entirety, and forego the recently announced plan to partner Fampridine SR only in Europe. They believe that by marketing Fampridine SR alone in the USA would not only be a tremendous injustice not only to multiple sclerosis patients, who should receive such an effective drug in the most expeditious manner possible, but also to your public shareholders, who have supported Fampridine SR's development. Moreover, a European partnership would be a serious mistake, as it would drastically impair if not eliminate the level of interest from potential acquirers of ACOR. Based on their analysis, Third Point believes that there would be several potential interested buyers and that the acquisition price would be significantly in excess of the current market valuation.

Daniel Loeb is a seasoned activist investor who has successfully forced similar changes in other companies - a future sale of the company is definitely a possibility with nearly 10% of the company's outstanding shares in his hands. Acorda now has to decide whether they want to voluntarily comply with Third Point or attempt to fight the proposal, which could lead to an expensive proxy battle (which they hinted to at the end of their letter to the board). If Third Point is successful in forcing a sale of the company, it could mean significant share appreciation for investors. This makes ACOR a stock that is definitely worth keeping an eye on!

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SalesForce.com, Inc. (NDAQ:CRM) shares moved down $1.21, or 2.52% to $46.79 in choppy midday trading as investors attempt to digest the company's earnings announcement after the close yesterday. The company announced impressive numbers, but failed to wow some analysts who have extremely high expectations for the quickly growing company. Some of the most important factors to consider for companies like this are customer adoption and revenue ramp. CRM was able to surpass expectations in both of these areas after announcing impressive fourth quarter numbers. "The fourth quarter was remarkable for its strength across all business segments, products, and geographies, best demonstrated by our adding 90,000 net new subscribers, and 2,700 net new customers," said Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO of salesforce.com. "The fourth quarter also included our largest enterprise implementation, 25,000 subscribers—the largest on-demand CRM customer ever—demonstrating the enterprise-class scalability of our solution that is unrivaled in the industry today. In fact, we added more than a thousand net new subscribers a day during the quarter for a new grand total of approximately 646,000."

Many investors, however, were concerned with the company's guidance for next year. Specifically, they are concerned that there are no short term catalysts to drive revenue and subscriber growth in the near-term future. However, the company announced that it would be increasing its full year revenue outlook, expecting to take in approximately $720m - up from $710m reported in December. Meanwhile, some analysts have also expressed concern that the company may have to continue to increase their spending to remain competitive in the CRM marketplace, which may put a drag on profitability in the future. Regardless, this company is certainly one that is growing at a blistering pace, already up over 90% from its 2006 lows. This makes CRM a stock that is definitely worth watching!

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LESCO, Inc. (NDAQ:LSCO) shares edged up $0.08, or 0.56%, to $14.33 in early trading today after Hawkshaw Capital Management voiced its opposition to the Deere & Co. $14.50/share buyout offer in a Schedule 13D filing with the SEC. The hedge fund argued in an attached letter that while the current offer makes sense for Deere & Co., it fails to adequately compensate LESCO shareholders for a return to normal operating earnings (before their recent downturn) and the value creation from continued expansion of the company's profitable retail service center business. Hawkshaw also expressed concern that the company decided to sell at an inopportune time - that is, immediately following one of the worst years in the company's history. LESCO shares dropped around 50% in 2006 due to temporary, fixable issues. In fact, management has already articulated plans to rebuild their sales force, avoid the hedging losses seen in 2006, and build more capital service centers. Finally, Hawkshaw questioned whether or not the board had sufficiently executed its fudiciary duty to shareholders to maximize shareholder value. The current offer was accepted without any kind of open auction process in which other parties would have been given an opportunity to bid.

Hawkshaw currently holds a 13% stake in the company and said it would withhold its votes in opposition if the company failed to meet it demands. The hedge fund believes that other parties should be given the opportunity to place bids, and if none materialize, the company should remain independent. It will be interesting to see if other shareholders support this notion that the $14.50 bid is too low to justify, which could lead to an increased bid or termination of the merger agreement. While this is not all to likely at this point, LSCO is definitely a stock worth keeping on the radar!

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Luxury-Home Bulder Toll Brothers' (NYSE:TOL) Q1 profit is down 67%. Quarterly earnings declined to $54.3 million, or $0.33 per share, from $163.9 million, or $0.98 per share, during the same period a year ago. Revenue slipped 19% to $1.09 billion from $1.34 billion in the previous year, meeting Wall Street's expectations.

Microsoft Corp. (NDAQ:MSFT) must pay $1.52 billion in damages to telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent SA for violating two patents related to digital music, a federal jury ruled. Shares of Microsoft slipped $0.03 to close at $29.32 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Alcatel-Lucent's stock added $0.10 to end the day at $13.17 on the NYSE.  

Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE:NEM) and Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE:ABX),two of the world's largest gold miners, reported strong Q4 earnings due to higher selling prices. However, they predict that production will slow in the year ahead because of rising operating costs. Barrick Gold had Q4 earnings that more than doubled to $418 million, or $0.48 per share, from $175 million, or $0.32 per share, in the year-ago period. For the quarter ending Dec. 31, Newmont reported their net income of $223 million, or $0.49 per share, compared with $62 million, or $0.14 per share, in the prior-year quarter.

Safeway Inc.'s (NYSE:SWY) Q4 profit surged 77% to cap the grocer's best performance in five years, a comeback driven by contentious cost cutting and a recent makeover that has infused more elegance into its stores. The company earned $307.9 million, or $0.69 per share, in the three months ended Dec. 30. That compared with net income of $173.5 million, or$0.39 per share, at the same time in 2005.

J.C. Penney Co. (NYSE:JCP) said its Q4 profit fell 13%, partly due to higher taxes. The company predicts a weaker Q1 than Wall Street expects. Penney shares fell $2.96, or 3.4% to $83.39 in trading on the NYSE. In the fiscal year that just ended, Penney earned $1.15 billion, or $4.96 per share. That's up 6 percent from $1.09 billion, or $4.26 per share the year before. Revenue also grew 6%, to $19.90 billion from $18.78 billion.

Turbo Tax software maker Intuit (NDAQ:INTU) posted lower Q2 net income and cut its full-year forecast. The company also said unit sales through Feb. 17 of Turbo Tax, which generates about 25% of overall revenue, were up 1% from the previous year. The company's Q2 net income fell to $145 million, or $0.40 a share, from $183 million, or $0.50 per share, a year ago.

Analog Devices (NYSE:ADI) forecast that profit for its current quarter would be $0.37 to $0.42 a share on revenue of between $640 million to $670 million. Analysts had forecast Analog Devices would show a fiscal Q2 profit of $139.3 million, or $0.39 a share, on revenue of $655.1 million. Shares of Analog Devices leaped as investors responded to an optimistic outlook that the company announced along with earnings. The company said net profit in its first fiscal quarter ended Feb. 3 was $153.2 million, or $0.44 a share, compared with $120.6 million, or $0.32 a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 11% to $691.6 million, well above estimates of $652 million.

Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) plans to add two cruise ships to its existing lineup, in an effort to meet increasing demand and provide more trip destinations. Disney, which currently has two ships, said the new ocean liners will hit the waves in 2011 and 2012. Each ship will have 1,250 rooms.

Europe's biggest bank, HSBC Holdings (NYSE:HBC), has ousted the head of its North American operations, Bobby Mehta, in the wake of this month's shock profit warning from its troubled U.S. mortgage business. The bank also replaced the head of its New York-based retail banking operation, HSBC Bank USA. HSBC said Mehta stepped down as chief executive of HSBC Finance Corp. and as head of HSBC North America with effect from February 15. HSBC also appointed Paul Lawrence as president and CEO of HSBC Bank USA and HSBC USA Inc. with immediate effect, replacing Sandy Derickson, who is leaving the bank.

CSK Auto Corporation (NYSE:CAO) shares moved up $0.28, or 1.62%, to $17.54 today after Karsch Capital Management disclosed a 9.4% stake along with a letter in the company in a Schedule 13D/A filing with the SEC. The activist hedge fund said in a letter that it believes that the company's shares are undervalued at their current market level and believes that the company should actively pursue a sale once it has completed its pending restatement of certain of its past financial statements and becomes current with its SEC reporting obligations. Karsch had first insisted on hiring an investment banker back in October of last year and later attempted to add its own candidates to the company's upcoming proxy. However, CSK has since informed the SEC that it does not intend to voluntarily include Karsch Capital's stockholder proposal in its proxy materials for the next annual meeting of stockholders and has asked the SEC to confirm that it would take no action against the company if it does so.

Yesterday, the hedge fund sent another letter to the company asking when they would finish restating earnings to satisfy the SEC and asked that the company immediately put itself up for sale after the process was completed. According to their latest letter attached to their most recent Schedule 13D/A filing with the SEC:

Since our last letter to the Board dated October 23, 2006, we have received numerous inquiries about CSK Auto that lead us to believe that there is genuine interest from private equity firms in acquiring the Company and from investment banks in financing a transaction for a prospective buyer.  Now that the company has stated that it expects that it can file its financial statements no later than one month beyond the February 28, 2007 date set by the SEC, we have received numerous indications that potential acquirers would prefer to conduct their due diligence investigation of the Company now and thereby be in a position to make an acquisition proposal at or shortly after the date the Company files its financials.

Further, while we understand that the Board, for business reasons, may not wish to allow competitors and other potential strategic buyers access to sensitive business information, hiring a nationally-recognized investment bank to run an auction process appropriately mitigates such considerations and such considerations are not applicable to financial buyers.

The debt capital markets are very strong right now.  By putting the Company up for sale immediately, we believe the Board would increase the probability of a
transaction given these current robust capital markets.  We strongly feel that this would be the best course of action to maximize shareholder value.

Given the continued strength of the M&A market - particularly by private equity - along with the substantial discount that this company is trading at due to their restatements, a sale of CAO could come at a substantial premium to the current market price. If Karsch is not successful in convincing management to take this step on their own, they may be forced to attempt to take control via a proxy fight. While this process is somewhat uncertain and time consuming, CAO is definitely a stock that is worth watching over the next few months!

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JetBlue Airways Corporation (NDAQ:JBLU) shares moved up $0.43, or 3.33%, to $13.33 today after falling sharply at Tuesday's open. The company remains positive that it will be able to rebound from weather-related troubles that it had earlier this week that caused around 1,000 flights to be delayed. Founder and CEO Dave Neeleman has already estimated the damage at more than $30m in lost revenue and free flights, and unveiled a "passenger bill of rights" plan in an effort to lessen the brand damage. The $30m charge will affect the quarterly earnings - swinging them to a loss - but will have little impact on the full-year earnings forecast. Moreover, Neeleman said that the new compensation scheme – which promises a sliding scale of refunds and free flights depending on the severity of delays – would act as a marketing tool and "pay for itself". The way JetBlue handled this situation and got itself back on track today says a lot about their management ability. Moreover, the impressive growth that the company has experienced along with the recent upgrade make JBLU a stock that is definitely worth watching.

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Natural Health Trends Corp. (NDAQ:BHIP) shares moved down another 5% today after several shareholders expressed their dissatisfaction with the company's current management. The ~4% shareholders filed a Schedule 13D/A with the SEC, and outlined their complaints in the Purpose of Transaction section:

The Reporting Persons no longer have trust or confidence in the Issuer's President, Chief Executive Officer and board member, Ms. Stephanie Hayano, and intend to work towards securing her dismissal or resignation from those positions at the earliest possible moment. The Reporting Persons believe that the Issuer's current difficulties can be attributed, for the most part, to Ms. Hayano's lack of industry experience. The Reporting Persons are of the view that Ms. Hayano does not understand the Japanese and Mexican markets in which the Issuer does business and, therefore, is unable timely to resolve direct selling issues in those markets. These two factors, the Reporting Persons believe, have significantly contributed to the declining revenues in the Japanese and Mexican markets. The Reporting Persons are also of the opinion that Ms. Hayano's failure to provide adequate leadership and management during this critical juncture may lead to a substantial decrease in the number of the Issuer's active distributors. Finally, the Reporting Persons are concerned that Ms. Hayano intends to either pull money out of the Issuer's Chinese subsidiary, which may cause a deficiency in that entity's capitalization and ultimately force it to de-register in China, or sell the Issuer's Greater China business at a fraction of its value. Either move may, in the view of the Reporting Persons, destabilize the Issuer's entire global seamless network of independent distributors. The Reporting Persons fear that, because Ms. Hayano lacks industry experience, she does not understand the possible implications of either action.

Clearly the company is facing problems as it continues to move down and most of these problems can be traced back to the company's Chief Executive Officer. With a stock that is down roughly 80% since 2006 - after the company was subjected to a formal SEC investigation as well as related class action lawsuits - there may be support for their proposal to remove members of management. This makes BHIP a stock worth watching over the next few months.

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Wilshire Enterprises (AMEX:WOC) shares remained even in early trading today after Bulldog Investors disclosed a 14.87% stake in the company and announced their intent to nominate two of their own candidates to the company's board of directors. The activist hedge fund also said that it plans to propose that WOC's investment banker immediately conduct an auction to sell the company to the highest bidder. Bulldog believes that the company's shares are undervalued and hopes to unlock shareholder value through a sale process. The only major obstacle is a poison pill that the company has in place to prevent a takeover; however, Bulldog is likely hoping to get this removed by shareholder vote. Given their nearly 15% stake in the company, this might be possible.

The other major obstacle may be finding a buyer for the company. Wilshire owns and invests in multi-family, office rentals, and retail space real estate properties in Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia and New Jersey. The company also maintains investments in marketable securities, which are classified as available for sale. Given the strength of the commercial real estate market recently, this company could be in a good position to sell itself to unlock value. Whether or not this actually happens depends on whether or not the hedge fund can remove the company's poison pill and whether or not the investment bank is successful in locating a buyer. Either way, this is definitely a stock that is worth keeping an eye on!

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Oil prices settled above $60 a barrel for the first time this year after a pipeline and oil field shut down and threatened to cut into supply. Increasing tensions over Iran's uranium enrichment program also helped to boost prices.

JetBlue Airways Corp. (NYSE:JBLU) said it expects a wider Q1 loss and lower full-year profit, as it absorbs the effect of more than 1,000 cancellations caused by last week's winter blast in the Northeast. JetBlue expects to report a full-year profit of $0.44 a share, down from a prior projection of $0.64. Analysts overall are looking for $0.52 a share. Despite the lower guidance, JetBlue shares rose $0.29, or 2.3$, to close at $13.19 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, after earlier climbing as high as $13.56. The stock has traded between $8.93 and $17.02 over the past year.

Medco Health Solutions Inc. (NYSE:MHS), the biggest U.S. prescription-benefit manager, said its Q4 earnings soared 29% on higher overall revenue and improved results in its key specialty pharmacy business. The results beat Wall Street expectations, the company raised its profit forecast, its board authorized a bigger share buyback and shares set a new 52-week high. They rose $6.21, or just over 10%, to close at $67.80 on the NYSE.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) gave AT&T (NYSE:T) an award of a five-year, $1 billion global networking contract that will prepare the world's largest automaker for whatever electronic breakthroughs lie ahead. AT&T shares fell $0.15, or 0.4%, to close at $37.21 on the NYSE. GM shares fell $0.58, or 1.6%, to close at $35.37 on the NYSE.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) said that its Q4 earnings jumped 20%, powered by strong sales as the teen retailer continues to expand its Hollister line of stores. Analysts expect earnings of $2.14 a share on revenue of $1.1 billion. Abercrombie shares ended the day at $82, down $0.64. Shares fell $2.30 to $79.70 in trading after hours. Abercrombie shares have been trading near their record high of $83.82. The shares have been as low as $49.98 in the past year.

Analog Devices (NYSE:ADI) posted a higher quarterly profit as the maker of analog and digital signal processors benefited from strong sales of consumer products like flat-screen televisions and video game controllers. The company's profit jumped 27%, along with shares of Analog Devices that jumped more than 5% in after-hours trading. Analog Devices also forecast that profit for its current quarter would be $0.37 to $0.42 a share on revenue of between $640 million to $670 million.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) plans to open about 130 stores in the United States, Canada and China during its fiscal year beginning March 4. The top U.S. consumer electronics retail chain said it expects global retail square footage of about 46 million square feet, representing growth of around 10%, by the end of the year. In the United States, the company expects to open about 90 stores and to operate more than 900 by the end of the year.

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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