Earnings season may still be in force, but we are looking for the coming week’s top coming events that could have a large impact on shares on Monday and throughout the week.  What has been known as “The Unusual Suspects for the Week Ahead” is having a possible identity change in name but not in content.  We have created “The Coming Week’s 17 Must Watch Stock Issues” with key events that either started late on Friday or over the weekend or which have important non-earnings events that can’t be missed this week.

The coming week’s must see events for traders and investors alike in stocks is as follows: AnnTaylor Stores Corp. (NYSE: ANN), Audiovox Corporation (NASDAQ: VOXX), The Beckman Coulter Inc. (NYSE: BEC), Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY), Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE: SU), Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE: CNQ), DineEquity, Inc. (NYSE: DIN), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), Market Vectors Egypt Index ETF (NYSE: EGPT), Internet Capital Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ICGE), OpenText Corporation (NASDAQ: OTEX), JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ: JDSU), Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (NYSE: KMP), Kinder Morgan Management LLC (NYSE: KMR), KV Pharmaceutical Co. (NYSE: KV-A), Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU), Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU), NASDAQ OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ), Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: OREX), Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOR), and finally SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI).

We have outlined the issue underway or the event upcoming, offered color on each, and added in trading data on the shares if applicable.  Again, these are the non earnings events. A detailed earnings calendar with previews is available here.

AnnTaylor Stores Corp. (NYSE: ANN) was up 3.2% at $23.75 on Friday on 150% of normal volume with some 3.75 million shares traded.  What is interesting is that its options volume was off the chart and it was all one-sided call options trading.  It is possible that these were hedged calls, but the volume looked extreme for a sector that is inundated with consolidation.

Audiovox Corporation (NASDAQ: VOXX) turned in an impressive gain in the after-hours session after news that it will acquire Klipsch Group Inc. for $166 million.  Klipsch is a high-performance audio solutions company serving the residential, professional and personal listening markets.  Trading volume in Audiovox was 11,430 shares but the after-hours trading showed a gain of 7.8% to $8.30 versus a 52-week range of $6.17 to $9.74.  Here is where this gets interesting: Audiovox had a market cap at the close of trading of only $177 million.

The Beckman Coulter Inc. (NYSE: BEC) buyout process is nearing an end and we could have more details over its merger this coming week.  We argued before that the premium price should have been close to full value already.  Speculators will run shares higher and everyone hopes that private equity firms will over-pay.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) has an FDA panlel review on FEB. 9 where BMS is seeking initial approval for ipilimumab (Imclone’s Erbitux) for patients who have previously received treatment for melanoma. Recent data showed that survival rates were indeed higher and this could be another blockbuster opportunity for the firm if ultimately approved.  We have a formal approval decision date tentatively set for March 26.  The market cap is roughly $44 billion here.

Canada and oil sands for safe defensive oil… Barron’s highlighted Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE: SU) and Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE: CNQ) and others this weekend.  These are being touted as larger Canadian oil sands project companies that offer safer oil without political tensions and growth ahead.

DineEquity, Inc. (NYSE: DIN) could have Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) as a partner.  Reports late Friday showed that Goldman’s private equity arm is close to buying Applebees’ largest franchise holder.  Who would have known that mediocre chain food restaurants would have such an appeal to billionaires.

The Market Vectors Egypt Index ETF (NYSE: EGPT) is currently not acting at all like a real ETF.  It is acting more like a closed-end fund that trades on the mere supply and demand of the share buying rather than based on an index.  Egypt’s stock market has been closed for a week and thing were actually getting worse through the week rather than better as rioters and protesters started fighting amongst themselves.  Egypt’s economy is shut down and Van Eck announced on Monday that it would temporarily exercise its right to suspend creation orders for new shares that track the index.  This feels like a sham because the ETF is actually higher now than it had been the Friday before when the meltdown really started.  Mark Mobius is right about has mantra in emerging market investing: you want to invest when there is blood in the streets.

Internet Capital Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ICGE) is one of the old internet incubators.  Usually things are quiet here.  This last week its shares rose more than 10% and not on any major trading volume.  The gain came from one of its core equity companies called Metastorm Inc.  It just so happens that OpenText Corporation (NASDAQ: OTEX) is acquiring the business process management and analysis provider for $182 million in cash.  ICG’s share of the cash proceeds from the sale will be about $53 million, and ICG will record a gain of approximately $24 million.  Even after the gains this week, ICG’s market cap is $490 million and its cash at September 30 was over $90 million.  The incubator still trades at more than twice its tangible book value, but this was a welcomed event.

JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ: JDSU) has somehow and some way managed to crawl back to redemption.  Shares were partying like it was back in 1999 during the great dark-fiber days.  Shares hit the highest levels not seen since mid-2006 after revenues were ahead of expectations.  Shares closed up 26.9% at $22.76 on massive trading volume of 39.7 million shares versus about 4.8 million shares on average.  Shares are now up 200% from the year-low and the consensus analyst price target is still down under $16.50.

The Kinder Morgan plays… Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (NYSE: KMP) and Kinder Morgan Management LLC (NYSE: KMR) will be ones to watch this week for a Halo-effect trading pattern.  Kinder Morgan Inc. will be coming public this coming week (expected Friday IPO) and it is expected to be a rather hot IPO that is already indicated by IPO investors to have more demand for shares than what is being offered.  Terms were set and we showed why Kinder Morgan’s past will make its demand solid even if the sale is entirely from private equity backers cashing in some of their chips.

KV Pharmaceutical Co. (NYSE: KV-A) is back.  Wall Street has has had KV in the penalty box since late-2008 and unto 2009 when shares went from above $20.00 to very far under $5.00.  Yet on Friday its shares rose more than 140% to $3.68 on about 20-times normal volume of 15.6 million shares.  The company even has more debt than cash on its balance sheet. The news was that KV Pharmaceutical got an FDA approval on its drug called Makena ahead of an international trial as a drug to help cut down on premature baby delivery.  This is actually the first drug indicated for this benefit, giving the company an instant home run.  Even after the gain, the market cap is still listed as only $183 million.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) recaptured the pole position at Investors Business Daily with the #1 chart showing yet another breakout.  IBD 100 positions behind it as follows: #2 SVVS; #3 NFLX, #4 RVBD, and #5 APKT.  Shares closed up another 6.8% Friday at $76.96 and hit yet another 52-week high and all-time high of $77.35.  The market cap is now approaching $5.5 billion.

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) has its analyst day coming up this Friday.  We have not actually heard real hard numbers since its December 22 earnings report for Q1-2011 and investors are going to hope to see a slight improvement in the DRAM and NAND sales.  Last reported, those figures were DRAM sales down 19% sequentially on 23% lower A.S.P. and on a 5% unit volume growth; NAND was up slightly on a 20% gain in unit sales volume and on a 15% decline in A.S.P.  As we have seen a firming of both DRAM and flash memory market expectations, it is expected that Micron will be positive as the $11.05 price compares to a 52-week range of $6.36 to $11.40.  With a price of $8.02 to close out 2010, the company has to raise the bar.

NASDAQ OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) may have a new safety issue… Hack attacks.  Weekend reports from the WSJ and other outlets have reported about hacker network penetration on multiple occasions in the last year.  The only good news is that the infiltration is supposedly not inside the trading platform that executes trades.  Apparently this breach was in the area covering the communications between boards and companies. Whoops.

Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: OREX) died with its boots on this last week after the FDA told it that it must now submit new trial data before its new diet pill Contrave may be cleared for sale.  Orexigen does not appear to have enough capital to get through the process and this could now drag on well beyond 2012.  Our outlook.

Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOR) has been on fire as shares rose almost 300% from their year lows.  Barron’s is putting the hurt of caution on shares that could take out 3% or more from its share price on Monday.  Barron’s free summary noted, “Questcor has parlayed one drug and a clever strategy into good growth and profits. But a new law and doubts about new uses for its costly product pose big challenges.”

SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is not due with earnings until February 15.  Even though there are competitive fears over Pandora Radio and some new competitive fears from Harman International Industries (NYSE: HAR), its shares have broken back out and hit yet another new year high of $1.80 this last week with a close of $1.75.  The boost is coming from stronger than expected sales of cars and that retail spending held up better than expected despite the awful weather we saw.  Short selling in SIRIUS has been on the rise.  SIRIUS may need to take a breather after earnings, but go ahead and mark these words down… “SIRIUS XM IS HEADING TO $2.00 PER SHARE.”  Based upon the trading patterns and increased volume on the rise, it really seems that $2.00 is more likely than it is not.

Again, here is where you can find the full expanded calendar with detailed earnings previews and we also covered the top five analyst calls of the week for review.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, dividend trends, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.