Each weekend we review the issues of the week before and look to the calendar ahead to see which issues are going to stand out with news or events.  We have identified many such companies with non-earnings news for the week ahead.  This weekend we have some great expectations on moves and issues continuing in shares of Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), Bio-Reference Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: BRLI), Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTICD), Cheniere Energy, Inc. (AMEX: LNG), Express Scripts Inc. (NASDAQ: ESRX), Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE: NEM), Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE: ABX), Goldcorp, Inc. (NYSE: GG), iShares MSCI Italy Index (NYSE: EWI), LinkedIn Corporation (NASDAQ: LNKD), Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU), Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP), Portugal Telecom SGPS SA (NYSE: PT), Ryanair Holdings plc (NASDAQ: RYAAY), STEC, Inc. (NASDAQ: STEC), and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO).

Each of these either had big news that will carry into next week or they are expected to have events on deck this week.  We have also given color and some expectations on each, if applicable.  A full earnings calendar is available here with detailed previews for the sector-moving key stocks set to release earnings.  You can also review Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, as well as see our own Top 7 Analyst Calls of the Week to see the research notes that offer significant insight into equity issues.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) had a great Friday after getting a $1 billion or so buyout offer from Liberty Media.  Shares rose 29.9% to $18.33, above the $17 offer from John Malone.  Tuesday is when its eReader is supposed to launch.  With shares above the buyout offer price, investors will be hopping for more.  B&N’s 52-week trading range is $8.45 to $20.45 and this was a $40+ stock within the last five years.

Bio-Reference Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: BRLI) was given a very cautious article in Barron’s over the weekend called “There Will Be Blood.”  Barron’s cites the clinical-testing company as having spent much of its early history with rogue bankers and brokers and questions whether or not it can overcome its past.  It also questions its earnings quality and new products.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) hosts its annual investor meeting on Tuesday (May 24) and it would seem as though shareholders would have plenty to be angry about with all of the delays and problems it has had.  Still, with shares only down 4% from the 52-week high it may be hard for those holders to have too much bad to say.

Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTICD) rose by 23.8% to $2.08 on Friday after announcing that it will meet with the FDA’s Office of Oncology Drug Products in early June  to discuss the re-submission of its new drug application for pixantrone’s accelerated approval as a treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.  Shares were up another 26% at $2.63 in the after-hours with almost an additional 200,000 shares traded after the closing bell.

Cheniere Energy, Inc. (AMEX: LNG) is going to remain in focus this coming week and shares should have some volatility a bit higher since the stock rallied over 30% on news that it was approved to begin LNG exports from its terminal.  Shares were up 30.5% at $10.04 on Friday, and it traded over 13 million shares.

Express Scripts Inc. (NASDAQ: ESRX) was given a very positive article in Barron’s called “A Prescription For Success” as the PBM is poised to capitalize on a coming surge in demand for generic drugs bringing a strong second-half of 2011. Be advised, at $59.98 its 52-week range is $41.55 to $60.79 and its Thomson Reuters estimates of $3.20 and $3.93 give it forward earnings multiples of 18.7-times 2011 earnings and about 15.25-times 2012 earnings.

Gold miners in them that hills… Barron’s wrote a piece called “For Gold Miners, Big Nuggets of Hope” and it talked up shares of Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE: NEM), Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE: ABX), and Goldcorp, Inc. (NYSE: GG).  These are different picks than Tom Winmill gave us from the Midas Fund in our exclusive interview on Friday, but the thesis is much the same.

iShares MSCI Italy Index (NYSE: EWI) trade on average about 450,000 shares a day and at $18.11 the 52-week range is $13.21 to $20.15.  It is unlikely that this warning out of Standard & Poor’s on Italy with a negative outlook will be viewed as a good thing, even if the call is probably yet just another late sovereign call.

LinkedIn Corporation (NASDAQ: LNKD) is expected to see the start of trading this coming of its stock options, so investors will have another means of placing speculative bets on a stock with such a small float. Andrew Bary in Barron’s wrote a piece called “Is LinkedIn Already Tapped Out? over the weekend.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) was again named as the #1 position chart in the IBD 100 in Investor’s Business Daily over the weekend after only a 1% gain for the week.  Other IBD stocks #2-FOSL, #3-AGP, #4-NFLX, #5-PCLN, #6-RVBD, #7-APKT.

Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP) has sold off since our piece “Rare Earths, the New Meth and Crack for Wall Street” discussed the bubble forming here.  Molycorp stock had hit $72.80, but now the stock is down to $59.36 and the WSJ has a report that will likely keep some pressure present. The WSJ reported China’s exports of “rare-earths” rose 33% in the first 4-months of 2011 to 18,614 metric tons while Beijing was ordering cuts of its material exports.  This was from customs data supplied by Hong Kong-based Economic Information & Agency showed Saturday and the WSJ surmised that China’s “reach on reducing actual exports may be more limited.”

Portugal Telecom SGPS SA (NYSE: PT) “could” be one to watch on Monday.  The IMF is moving on from a sex scandal and has approved a $36.8 billion (U.S. Dollars) loan to Portugal along with the European Union to halt Portugal’s sovereign debt crisis.  Telecom companies have not suffered as much as banks or real estate, so the gains would likely not be a strong.

Ryanair Holdings plc (NASDAQ: RYAAY) will be one to watch this week in case the Iceland volcano eruptions become the same sort of mess for air travel in Europe as in 2010.  Ryanair was hit hard during all of the flight groundings of 2010 as air traffic was disrupted and grounded.  So far the word is that 2011 is not expected to be a repeat, but who knows for sure. This did shut much airspace in Iceland.

STEC, Inc. (NASDAQ: STEC) is one that will be closely watched this week.  Shares were up 11.5% at $16.42 on news that insiders had spent several million dollars buying more STEC shares.  The market cap is now $844 million and the 52-week range is $10.63 to $25.44.  The company makes enterprise flash solid-state drives for use in storage and server systems, and flash drives are supposed the next big thing.  Here is what matters: SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) just last Monday signed an agreement to acquire Pliant Technology, a developer of enterprise solid state drives, for $327 million.  STEC is the company we feel that will come under attraction by other drive makers or other enterprise tech giants.  Stay tuned here.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) hosts an investor day on Wednesday (May 25) and it is almost certain that some pretty angered tones will be there over the latest shenanigans took place over Alibaba.  Yahoo! shares were at $18.65 only two weeks ago, and now the stock is down to $16.30.

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JON C. OGG

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