Wall Street Ends Higher On Positive Data, Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) Slumps

US stocks finished higher on Friday as better-than-expected economic data boosted investor confidence.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 56.99 points, or 0.46%, to finish at 12,376.72. The S&P 500 climbed 6.58 points, or 0.50%, to close at 1,332.41. The Nasdaq Composite added 8.53 points, or 0.31%, to 2,789.60.

A release by Department of Labor on Friday showed that U.S. employers added 216,000 net jobs in March. Economists expected non-farm payrolls to rise 192,000 for the month. Unemployment rate dropped to 8.8% in March from 8.9% in the previous month. Economists expected jobless rate to rise to 9%.

The Institute for Supply Management said that its manufacturing index dropped to 61.2 in March, compared with the 61.4 reading that economists had expected.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department reported that construction spending fell by 1.4% in February, worse than the decline of 0.7% economists were looking for.

Shares of Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) slumped 46 cents, or 2.28%, to $19.72.

European stocks closed up. The UK FTSE rose 101.16 points, or 1.71% to 6,009.92. The German DAX and French CAC increased 1.97% and 1.64% respectively.

Asian stocks finished mixed. The Nikkei 225 fell 46.71 points or 0.48% to 9,708.39. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong jumped 274.38 points or 1.17% to 23,801.90.

Full Disclosure: None.

Today's Top Gainers: F, GM, LEI, SRX, HBAN

Shares of Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) rallied more than 3% on Friday after the automaker said that its March sales jumped 19% to 212,777.

General Motors (NYSE: GM) jumped more than 3% after it reported that its March sales rose 9.6% to 206,621 from 188,546 in March of 2010. 

Lucas Energy, Inc. (AMEX: LEI) soared more than 11% afer the company said that it has entered into a Joint Venture agreement with Marathon Oil (East Texas) LP, a subsidiary of Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO), for the development of the Eagle Ford and Buda formations in Wilson County, Texas. The Marathon affiliate has acquired 50% of the leasehold interest rights, representing approximately 1,000 net acres (below the base of the Austin Chalk formation) held by Lucas in a majority of Lucas' leases in Wilson County, Texas. Marathon Oil Corporation's subsidiary will be the operator of the joint venture, but Lucas will still own and operate rights above the Eagle Ford, primarily the Austin Chalk formation.

SRA International Inc. (NYSE: SRX) soared more than 9% after the company announced that it has agreed to be acquired by Providence Equity Partners for $1.88 billion in cash. Providence Equity Partners Inc. will pay $31.25 per share for SRA International, a 10 percent premium over SRA’s closing price Thursday. 

Huntington Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: HBAN) rose more than 3% after Jefferies Group upgraded its rating on the company to Buy from Hold.

Full Disclosure: None.

Tivo Climbs On Renewed Takeover Chatter

Shares of TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) climbed more than 1% Thursday on renewed speculation that the could be a takeover target. Last month, hedge fund company Citadel Investment Group disclosed a stake of more than 5 percent in the digital video recorder maker. On March 1, TiVo said its fiscal fourth-quarter net loss more than tripled after the company sold steeply discounted set-top boxes during the holiday season and racked up legal fees in a series of patent disputes. TiVo also forecast a larger-than-expected loss for the current quarterTiVo provides television technology and services that include digital video recorders in the United States and internationally. Stay tuned for more.

Full Disclosure: None.

Hot Stocks Of The Day: WYNN, AVII, OPTR, ALEX, ASTI

Below we highlight few companies whose shares are actively trading in Friday's session.

Shares of Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) after Macau government said that casino revenue in the world's biggest gaming market jumped 48 percent in March to 20.1 billion patacas ($2.51 billion).

AVI BioPharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVII) plunged more than 17% after the company announced that it has priced an underwritten public offering of 20,000,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $1.50 per share for gross proceeds of $30.0 million. The net proceeds from the sale of the shares, after deducting the underwriters' discounts and other estimated offering expenses payable by the Company, will be approximately $27.8 million. The Company has also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 15 percent of the shares of common stock offered in the public offering to cover over-allotments, if any, which would result in additional gross proceeds of $4.5 million if exercised in full.

Optimer Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: OPTR) jumped more than 11% after U.S. regulators said that its antibiotic pill works better than standard treatment in preventing relapses of potentially fatal intestinal infections often caught in hospitals.

Alexander & Baldwin Inc. (NYSE: ALEX) soared as much as 17% after Pershing Square Capital LP disclosed in a regulatory filing that it held a stake in the parent of transport company Matson Navigation.

Ascent Solar Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTI) plunged more than 18% on Friday, a day after the photovoltaic-cell maker said it would reduce its rooftop solar installations.

Full Disclosure: None.

Analyst Actions: JASO, BIDU, AMR, NOK, SNE, LCC

JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO): Macquarie this morning downgraded its rating to Neutral from Outperform. The firm lowered its price target to $8 from $11. 

Baidu.com (NASDAQ: BIDU): Mizuho on Friday downgraded its rating on the company to Hold from Buy.

AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR): JP Morgan on Friday lowered its rating on the company to Neutral from Overweight. The firm cut its price target on the stock to $8.50 from $11.

Nokia Corp. (MNYSE: NOK): Nomura cut its rating on the company to Reduce from Neutral.

Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE): Goldman Sachs downgraded its rating on Sony to Neutral from Buy, citing the impact from the Japanese earthquake and LCD TV demand. In a research note to clients, the firm wrote, "We see a relatively large direct impact and a surprisingly large indirect impact on Sony. Production bottlenecks may cause opportunity losses as Sony is very dependent on external sources for the semiconductors used in its LCD TVs and digital cameras."

US Airways (NYSE: LCC): JP Morgan upgraded its rating on the company to Overweight from Neutral. 

Full Disclosure: None.

Stocks In Focus: ODP, NYX, LOGI

Shares of Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP) dropped more than 10% in Friday's premarket trading, a day after the company said that it is restating full year 2010 financial results to a loss, from a profit. It said it is restating results because the Internal Revenue Service has, "denied its claim to carry back certain tax losses to prior tax years under economic stimulus-based tax legislation enacted in 2009, which claim was made after the company consulted with its tax advisors." Office Depot said that the decision, "reduces full-year tax benefits by about $80 million, changes net earnings for 2010 from $33 million to a net loss of $46 million and increases the net loss attributable to common shareholders from $2 million or $0.01 per share to $82 million or $0.30 per share. "

NASDAQ OMX (NASDAQ:NDAQ) and IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE) announced Friday that they have made a joint proposal to acquire NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) for $42.50 in cash and stock per NYSE Euronext share, or approximately $11.3 billion. The proposal represents a 19% premium over the price proposed by Deutsche Boerse AG, according to NASDAQ OMX and IntercontinentalExchange. Shares of NYSE Euronext surged more than 12% in pre-market trading.

Logitech International (NASDAQ: LOGI) on Friday announced that it has lowered its full-year outlook for Fiscal Year 2011, ending March 31, 2011. The company now expects FY 2011 sales in the range of $2.35 to $2.37 billion, down from the previous range of $2.4 to $2.42 billion. FY 2011 operating income is now expected to be in the range of $140 to $150 million, down from the previous range of $170 to $180 million.The projected shortfalls in both sales and profitability are primarily due to weakness in the company's EMEA retail sales region. Logitech has experienced lower than expected demand for its retail products in EMEA from both distribution partners and consumers

Full Disclosure: None.

US Stock Futures Advance On Upbeat Jobs Data, Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) Eyed

US stock-index futures climbed on Friday as better-than-expected nonfarm-payrolls data lifted investor sentiment.  

At 8:44 am ET, the S&P 500 futures rose 8.30 points to 1329.30. The Dow Jones Industrial average futures advanced 66 points to 12,318. The Nasdaq Composite futures climbed 15.25 points to 2,351.50.

A release by Department of Labor on Friday showed that U.S. employers added 216,000 net jobs in March. Economists expected non-farm payrolls to rise 192,000 for the month. Unemployment rate dropped to 8.8% in March from 8.9% in the previous month. Economists expected jobless rate to rise to 9%.

Shares of Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) rallied more than 2% after Stifel Nicolaus upgraded its rating on the company to Buy from Hold.

Shares of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. (NYSE: KKD) fell more than 11% in Friday's pre-market trading after the company reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss of $1.5 million, or 2 cents a share, from a profit of $520,000, or 1 cent a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue increased to $91.6 million from $86.7 million. 

Allied Irish Banks PLC (NYSE: AIB) surged more than 17% after Ireland said it would restructure its banking sector, leaving Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE)   as the country’s two major banks.

On the economic front, ISM Index and construction spending data will be released at 10:00 am ET. March auto and truck sales are due throughout the afternoon.

European stocks advanced in afternoon trade. At 14:02 pm, the UK FTSE rose 68.97 points or 1.17% to 5,977.73. The German DAX and French CAC increased 1.49% and 0.94% respectively.

Asian stocks finished mixed. The Nikkei 225 fell 46.71 points or 0.48% to 9,708.39. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong jumped 274.38 points or 1.17% to 23,801.90.

Full Disclosure: None.

Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON): Q2 Earnings Preview 2011

Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON), the world's largest seed company, is scheduled to release fiscal second quarter earnings before the opening bell on Wednesday, April 6, 2011. Analysts, on average, expect the company to report earnings of $1.85 per share on revenue of $4.15 billion. In the year ago quarter, the company reported earnings of $1.70 per share on revenue of $3.89 billion.

Monsanto Company provides agricultural products for farmers in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Seeds and Genomics, and Agricultural Productivity. 

In the preceding fiscal first quarter, the St. Louis, Missouri-based company's netwas $6 million or $0.01 per share compared with a loss of $19 million or $0.03 per share a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 2 cents per share in the latest quarter. Revenue increased 8% to $1.83 billion in the quarter from $1.69 billion a year ago. Analysts, on average, expected the company to report earnings of 2 cents per share on revenue of $1.80 billion. 

At its last earnings call in January, Monsanto said that it expects fiscal 2011 earnings of $2.69 to $2.79 on a reported basis. The company also reaffirmed its adjusted earnings outlook range of $2.72 to $2.82 per share. The company expects that effectively all of its earnings will be in the second and third quarters with Q2 as its biggest quarter and Q3 pulling in the biggest year-over-year growth. Monsanto also reiterated free cash flow outlook for fiscal 2011 in the range of $800 million to $900 million, reflecting an investment of $600 million to $700 million in capital expenditures.

The company has been orchestrating a restructuring designed to move it away from its less profitable herbicide division and focus more on developing new strains of genetically engineered crops. Monsanto is creating a separate division for its struggling herbicide business to help stabilize and "better align spending and working capital needs" around the unit, which has been hurt by  generic competition and price pressure. The company now anticipates a steady-state gross profit contribution of $250 million to $300 million from the Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicide business.

The company is now trying to spur growth by focusing on its seeds-and-traits business, positioning it for mid-teens earnings growth going forward. Corn seeds and traits contributed approximately 40.6% of total revenues in fiscal 2010. Monsanto also intends to increase corn plantation in Argentina, the world’s second-largest corn exporter, to 52%. However, Monsanto is also facing stiff competition in biotech seed market as its chief rival DuPont (NYSE:DD) is fast grabbing market share by offering products with fewer traits and at better prices.  Monsanto also faces foreign currency risk since a significant portion of its income comes from outside the U.S.

Broadly speaking, the agricultural sector has remained strong for the past few quarters as a result of strong pricing and robust demand. Farmers had been stingy during the previous year due to struggling crop prices. However, a recent drought in Russia has hurt wheat supplies, helping grain and oilseed prices grow. Also, the growing use of ethanol as a fuel has caused corn prices to skyrocket to over $6 per bushel. These positive market conditions have once again enabled farmers to take the necessary steps to ensure they are receiving maximum crop yields.

Last month, the company said that it has acquired Divergence Inc., a privately-held St. Louis-based biotechnology research and development company. Divergence currently focus its work on parasitic nematodes, including developing biotechnology traits for nematode control and nematicides with novel modes of action and superior safety profiles.

The company's stock currently trades at a forward P/E (fye Aug 31, 2012) of 21.44 and PEG Ratio (5 yr expected) of 1.60. 

Full Disclosure: None.