The focus is more on long-term recovery now that some of the urgent demands of the spill are diminishing.

The French energy giant cited costs related to its U.S. nuclear ventures and the construction of its latest generation nuclear power plant in France, which will be delayed until 2014.

For decades, the oil industry, farming and lax oversight have contributed to a dead zone in the gulf.

The oil is clearing much faster than expected, but concern remains over the unseen effects.

An American oil spill consultant suggests the Chinese spill was larger than the government admits.

Filed under: Earnings Reports, Forecasts, Products and Services, Competitive Strategy, Allergan (AGN)

Drug manufacturer Allergan, Inc. (AGN) will be reporting its second quarter results on Monday, with analysts expecting to see an 8% earnings increase from the same period last year.

Analysts have forecast earnings of $0.81 for the quarter, versus $0.75 during the same period last year.

Continue reading Allergan Second Quarter Earnings Preview

Allergan Second Quarter Earnings Preview originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Allergan - BloggingStocks - Products and Services - United States - Food and Drug Administration

Filed under: Research in Motion (RIMM), Options

Research in Motion (RIMM) closed up $1.83 to $57.53. RIMM is expected to launch its Blackpad in November. August put option implied volatility is at 40, September at 51, December is at 46; versus its 26-week average of 43 according to Track Data, suggesting larger September price movement.

Rambus (RMBS) closed up 30 cents to $19.65. RMBS call option volume of 9K contracts compares to put volume of 1K contracts. August put option implied volatility is at 50, September is at 51, November is at 55, January is at 57; versus its 26-week average of 66 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Options Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Options Update: Research in Motion August Volatility at 40, September at 51 as New Device Announced originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Option - Research in Motion - Put option - Implied volatility - BloggingStocks

Filed under: Good news, From the Boards, BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), Oil

Two weeks ago, BP plc (BP) was able to stop oil from spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. The company announced today that it was time to being scaling back on the cleanup process.

Since the spill began back in April, there has been over eleven million feet of boom deployed in the Gulf, but these only last for a certain number of tide cycles, and in areas where the company feels that beaches are not in danger, the boom will be removed.

Continue reading BP to Begin Scaling Back Oil Cleanup

BP to Begin Scaling Back Oil Cleanup originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gulf of Mexico - BP - BloggingStocks - Business - Oil spill

Acme Packet (APKT) was a great example of a company that was Overvalued coming into earnings, so that anything less than absolutely outstanding results will pull the stock lower. Today, the communications equipment maker reported earnings and revenues that topped analysts’ expectations but rather than getting a boost shares are trading lower by 12% on Friday afternoon. Furthermore, the company raised sales guidance for the rest of the year to $214 million to $218 million, but that was considered weaker than the market hoped to see. As for profits, for the full-year Acme expects to earn between 72 and 74 cents per share, exceeding consensus estimates of 68 cents.

Excluding items, Acme Packet earned 18 cents per share in the second quarter, a penny ahead of expectations. Sales were up 62% to $53.3 million beating projections of $52.4 million. To see the company perform better than expected and raise guidance for the rest of the year is encouraging, but it is clear to us that the stock had already priced in plenty of growth already.

At Google (GOOG) I/O in May, the search giant indicated that they were about to take their commitment to location to the next level. Sure, Latitude had been around for a while, but everyone knew that Google could do more in the space. The announcement of some new location APIs seemed to a big part of the solution. And now comes the fun part.

Thursday on their Geo blog, Google announced that they’re beginning to open the Places API for business. The first developers getting access? Those working on check-in services.

This one's gonna sting. For the 2nd day in a row I did not check the schedule of earning reports due to a very busy schedule and, unlike Akamai Technologies (AKAM), I actually have some decent sized exposure to Acme Packet (APKT). The tiny silver lining is it's a good reminder of the reasons why I have been cutting back almost every position going into earnings. (Click to enlarge)

Going into the day I have a 9% unrealized gain in the stock which shall vanish and then some, I am sure. From there it will be exactly the same situation as Netflix (NFLX) and Akamai (this is starting to be a pattern)... if (when) it breaks the 50-day moving average ($28.50s) I have to cut it back sharply. And if it does not regain that level soon, we'll most likely cut bait and revisit it later in the year. But the prognosis for today is PAIN. Time for damage control. (Note to readers - never try to launch a mutual fund during earnings season.)

Rovi (ROVI) actually rallied in after hours after a quite large beat on EPS Thursday evening, but that does not make it correct to have held such a position going into earnings. If I had reviewed the earnings reports list yesterday this one would have been cut back just as any other stock and then we could get back in at much lower risk after the fact. Every so often you are going to have a stock run away from you by going this route, but at least you don't get Vistaprinted.

With that said, I will say I am happy I did not get hit with two bullets today but just one. I can tell this stock is completely off the radar of the momo crowd because no one (AP, Reuters) wrote a story about it, and a whopping two people had a comment on Yahoo message boards post earnings. I am good with that.

Expedia (EXPE)

Q2 2010 Earnings Call

July 29, 2010 5:00 pm ET

Monster Worldwide Inc. (MWW)

Q2 2010 Earnings Call Transcript

July 29, 2010 5:00 pm ET

Stamps.com Inc. (STMP)

Q2 2010 Earnings Call

July 29, 2010 5:00 pm ET

Microsoft’s operating chief Kevin Turner on Thursday set out to position the software giant as a cloud computing leader with a broad portfolio that rivals such as Google (GOOG), Salesforce.com (CRM), Amazon (AMZN) and VMware (VMW) can’t match.

Turner, speaking at Microsoft’s financial analyst meeting, spent a lot of time talking about the company’s Azure strategy. He dinged rivals and touted a broad portfolio of cloud services ranging from the Azure appliance to SharePoint, Office, CRM and other products in the cloud.

Google’s mobile ads are becoming more location-aware. Today, Google (GOOG) is introducing mobile display ads for both the iPhone and Android phones which can be geo-targeted. Advertisers will be able to check a “location extension for display” box and their ads will become geo-enabled when viewed in mobile browsers or apps. A little double-arrow will open up the ad and show the business pinned on map with two big blue buttons to get directions or call the business. Google will only charge for calls or clicks.

Yesterday was a very busy day so I did not catch up on which companies were reporting until late into the night. I tend to cull all positions going into earnings, but Akamai Technologies (AKAM) was only a 1.3% exposure so at that weighting I'm not sure I would have done much to the position.

Much like Netflix (NFLX), I found the Akamai report quite good, but with high valuation and a stock full of renters rather than owners. Expectations got too high and the stock was punished. In this case AKAM fell about 9% early in after hours trading last night but rallied later in the evening to fall 5%.

It used to be that everyone wanted to be like Google (Nasdaq: GOOG). Now everybody wants to be like Facebook – including Google.The online search supernova, stung by Facebook passing it by as the world’s premier online destination, has been grasping at straws in trying to maintain its relevance, with previous forays into the social media space like Google Buzz producing underwhelming results. Now it appears to be emerging with yet another social networking game plan – literally – to stop the bleeding and better target Internet users and the advertising dollars they attract.Google is apparently talking to some of the leading developers of social games, which have rapidly grown in popularity and helped fuel Facebook’s surge to more than 500 million members, as part of its plan to create a social game service dubbed “Google Me,” according to Amir Efrati of The Wall Street Journal. The Journal story follows a report by Michael Arrington of TechCrunch in early July that said Google had invested $100 million to $200 million in leading gamemaker Zynga and expects its games to be the cornerstone of a major challenge to Facebook. San Francisco-based Zynga, founded in July 2007, has attracted more than $500 million in investments and is valued at $4.5 billion, according to Miguel Helft of the New York Times. The privately-held company has grown to 1,000 employees and expects to generate $1 billion in revenue in 2011, according to Sam Gustin of Daily Finance. Google’s not alone in its interest in the U.S. social games market, which is expected to triple to $2 billion by 2012. Electronics Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS) bought Playfish, another game developer, for $400 million late last year. Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) on Tuesday snatched up Playdom, its second acquisition in less than a month, for more than $563 million in a deal that could exceed $750 million if certain incentives are met. The Journal said Google is talking with Electronic Arts, Playdom and others in developing the “Google Me” initiative.In early July, Disney bought Tapulous, which makes games for cell phones and other mobile devices. Disney had previously bought Club Penguin for about $300 million, according to CNET columnist Caroline McCarthy.Game retailer Gamestop (NYSE: GME), meanwhile, made its own play Tuesday for Kongregate, an online distributor of games. Terms were not disclosed. Google and Facebook aren’t the only companies working with Zynga. Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) made a splash in May when it announced a deal to host Zynga games on its site. The games are also available on MySpace and on Apple’s iPhone. As McCarthy points out, that just scratches the surface of companies that could end up investing in the space. Viacom (NYSE: VIA.B), News Corp. (Nasdaq: NWSA), IAC/Interactive Nasdaq: IACI) and several Asian companies with extensive gaming portfolios could join the fray. It’s also worth noting, says McCarthy, that both Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), and Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg are on Disney’s board. Jobs is actually Disney’s largest shareholder.It’s not just advertising dollars at stake here, either. Social gamers actually pay for virtual items that help them win games. FarmVille, Zynga’s most popular game, has almost 60 million monthly users on Facebook. It generates revenues by selling tractors, chickens, horses, fuel and other “items” to players, with Facebook taking a cut of 30% of those revenues. Zynga said its games are played by more than 230 million users each month. It has about four times as many users as the Electronics Arts/Playfish combo. Playdom is ranked third.Most of that activity is on Facebook, and the two companies announced a new five-year deal in May. But the Zynga-Facebook relationship has seen its share of tensions, and Zynga is clearly open to spreading its wings. Google could use the help. While it’s been a model of consistent earnings growth since coming public in 2004, its stock has floundered in recent years. It closed Wednesday at 484.35, down 22% for the year and 35% off its all-time high of 747.24 set in November 2007.

Disclosure: No positions.

I am working on a consulting basis with comScore, attempting to selectively build out comScore's penetration among hedge funds. I will include below a recommendation that I shared with a comScore client who had asked specifically about VistaPrint (VPRT).

This is a perfect example of how I always recommend that investors use comScore data NOT on a stand-alone basis, but IN THE CONTEXT of your pre-existing knowledge of the company/stock. In this case, I had my own opinions about the stock that I shared as well...