The Unusual Suspects (BUD, AAPL, ARUN, CAL, UAUA, GENZ, SNDK, PAR, UNG)

The Unusual Suspects was a tad shorter than most editions due to the time of year and due to lower news flows.  We have no market-moving earnings this week.  The latest edition of the Unusual Suspects includes Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARUN), Continental Airlines, Inc. (NYSE: CAL), UAL Corp. (NASDAQ: UAUA), Genzyme Corporation (NASDAQ: GENZ), SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK); 3PAR, Inc. (NYSE: PAR), and United States Natural Gas (NYSE: UNG)

Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD) is going to be one to watch after Barron’s touted it this weekend.  “Big Gains Brewing at Anheuser-Busch InBev by CHRISTOPHER C. WILLIAMS Wall Street’s doubts about the beer behemoth are fast disappearing as the Belgian-based brewer cuts costs and crafts plans to boost growth in the U.S. and globally.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has a corporate event om September 1 with new iPod updates and potentially updates on the AppleTV initiative expected.

Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARUN) was listed as the #1 chart in the IBD 100 over the weekend.  At $18.39, the 52-week trading range is $7.44 to $18.69.

Continental Airlines and UAL Corp. (NASDAQ: UAUA) managed to secure DOJ approval despite the dominance that this merger will give the company over its competitors and over its customers.  Shares are likely to trade up marginally for Continental and UAL, although despite this merger being bad for America it was always expected to receive approval.

Genzyme Corporation (NASDAQ: GENZ) is indicated higher after Sanofi-Aventis confirmed a $69.00 bid to the company.  The problem is that Genzyme is not necessarily playing along.  Management seems stuck on the old $80+ high at a time that the company is still recovering from its virus and manufacturing issues.  If history is an example, we’d expect Genzyme to remain aloof.

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) is trading as though a worse warnings is coming from the company than what Intel forecast on Friday.  SanDisk shares fell 4.4% to $34.19 with more than double volume as it traded over 29 million shares.  This one we pegged for InvestorPlace.com over a week ago for a 200%+ option gain that we recommended then rolling down to a lower strike with a portion of the profits.  That may still happen.

3PAR, Inc. (NYSE: PAR) closed at $32.46 on Friday, $2.46 above the current H-P bid of $30.00 per share.  The premium is here as there is a bidding war and as investors feel that Dell will raise its offer as it has been doing so far.  3PAR was deemed an expensive buyout at $18 and then at $24, and now it is a praised deal.

United States Natural Gas (NYSE: UNG) saw an unbelievable amount of put activity in the Sept-2010 and OCT-2010 $6.00 PUTS…. more than its open interest of 44,000+ and 53,000+ contracts respectively.  Total volume in the $6.00 PUTS was over 61,000 contracts and over 75,000 respectively.  The ETF closed at $6.24, down over 3% on weak natural gas demand while oil rose steadily on Friday.  It looks like the bet is on that nat-gas is heading lower.

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JON C. OGG