Pre-Market Stock News (January 28, 2008)

Alliance Data Systems (ADS) was informed by Blackstone that conditions likely won’t be satisfied to complete the merger; stock trading down close to 40%.
American Express (AXP) reports earnings today with estimates at $0.71 EPS.
Biogen Idec (BIIB) said that Carl Icahn has given notice that he wants to nominate 3 directors to the board.
Black & Decker (BDK) $1.06 EPS vs. $1.03 estimate; lowered guidance for 2008 to $5.40 to 5.90 vs. $6.10+ estimates.
Bluelinx (BXC) now sees wider losses than expected.
Corning (GLW) $0.40 EPS vs. $0.39 estimate; Revenue $1.58B vs. $1.55B est.
eBay (EBAY) announced that PayPal has agreed to acquire Fraud Sciences Ltd. in Israeli for roughly $169 million.
FPL Group (FPL) $0.71 EPS vs. $0.67 estimates.
Halliburton (HAL) $0.74 EPS vs. $0.69 estimates.
Matria Healthcare (MATR) is being acquired by Inverness Medical (IMA) for $39.00 per share, with a breakdown of $6.50 per share in cash and $32.50 per share in convertible preferred stock.
McDonalds (MCD) set to report earnings, estimate $0.71.
Napster (NAPS) announced the launch of the Napster Mobile music service with Ericsson phones at Telecom Italia through its mobile brand TIM.
Sallie Mae (SLM) received commitments for $31 Billion from a consortium of banks led by Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, and The Royal Bank of Scotland, and from UBS; new financing will replace the $30 billion interim financing put in place; will drop suit related to past failed merger.
Sears Holdings (SHLD) Aylwin Lewis is stepping down as CEO of Sears.
Stanley Works (SWK) $1.11 EPS vs. $1.10 estimate; reaffirmed 2008 EPS at $4.20 to $4.40 versus $4.37 estimate.
Superior Offshore (DEEP) announced E. Donald Terry will be Interim President/CEO effectively immediately.
Synta (SNTA) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced elesclomol for metastatic melanoma was granted orphan drug designation by FDA; SNTA trading up 17%.
Ultralife Batteries (ULBI) received $4.4 million in military battery orders from the U.S. Defense Department.
Verizon (VZ) $0.62 EPS vs $0.62 estimate; added 2 million total net wireless customers; now has over 1 million FiOS TV customers.

Jon C. Ogg
January 28, 2008