Key Stocks That Should Rise on News on Friday (CF, FLR, KOG, LNKD, PCLN, SPRD, WWWW)

We won’t bother telling you that Thursday was just a giant flush out in the market.  Still, some stocks rise regardless of the market.  We have identified several stocks which are up enough in the after-hours session tonight on earnings and other news that they look like shoe-in winners for Friday unless we see worse than a repeat of today.  The stocks we see rising on news that should be among Friday’s winners are as follows: CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CF); Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR); Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp. (NYSE: KOG); LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD); priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN); Spreadtrum Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD); and Web.com Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: WWWW)

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CF) reported a key beat on its earnings expectations after the close as its profits literally tripled.  The company also said it is not selling an operation to Mosaic and it is multiplying its dividend rate.  CF shares closed down over 8% today and the stock is up about 6% at $150.00 in the after-hours session.

Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) is not your normal earnings gainer.  Shares were down more than 9% today but the engineering and design firm exceeded earnings estimates with a 5% profit gain as backlog rose over 30%.  Shares are indicated up 3.3% at $56.42 in the after-hours session against a 52-week trading range of $44.04 to $75.76.

Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp. (NYSE: KOG) reported in-line earnings and it beat on revenues with $0.04 EPS and revenues rose some 260% to $22.1 million (above $700K higher than estimates).  Shares are trading up 5.7% at $6.09 in the after-hours session against a 52-week range of $2.43 to $7.70.

LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) fell by over 9.5% today with the market, but the company now said it has over 120 million members as it posted not just a beat on earnings but positive earnings as sales more than doubled to $121 million.  Shares are now indicated up over 4% at $99.00 in the after-hours.

priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN) tanked by more than 7% ahead of earnings, but the online travel site is gaining back all of its losses and then some.  The company beat earnings as revenues rose 44%.  Bookings rose and even a trend of deceleration on growth did not upset William Shatner and friends.  Shares are up over 9.5% at $531.25 in the after-hours.

Spreadtrum Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD) was hit by more than 7% but the results have it way up.  Earnings were $0.10 above estimates at $0.65 EPS and revenue was up over 15% at $160.2 million vs. $155+ million expected.  It also raised guidance to $172 to $178 million versus almost $166 million expected.  Shares are up over 13% at $15.00 in the after-hours session.

Web.com Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: WWWW) had a solid day as one of the few great winners after it beat earnings and said it is making an accretive buyout of Network Solutions for some $560 million.  Shares were up 19% today to $10.37 and the stock is up 7% at $11.13 in the after-hours session because the CEO is supposed to speak to Jim Cramer.  Where this really ends up tonight is anyone’s guess, but this one is a winner from that deal.

It is possible that some of the gains will dry up if the panic continues.  After all, the NASDAQ: was down over 100 points and the DJIA fell more than 500 points today.  It happens, and we have the key unemployment non-farm payrolls data that could drive the markets even that much more in the morning.

JON C. OGG