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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