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Sept 19 (Reuters) - Some U.S. stocks to watch on Thursday:
FUTURES CLIMB AFTER SURPRISE FED MOVE TO MAINTAIN STIMULUS
U.S. stock index futures rose on Thursday, a day after theFederal Reserve surprised investors and economists by keepingits stimulus measures intact. S&P 500 futures rose 5points, Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 58points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 8.25 points.
** RITE AID CORP, Wednesday close $3.71, up 17 pctpremarket
The third-largest U.S. drugstore chain raised its fiscal2014 profit forecast after reporting better-than-expectedquarterly results, boosted by sales of higher-margin genericdrugs.
** TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE INC, Wednesdayclose $17.20, up 17 pct after market
Brokerage Macquarie Equities Research raised its pricetarget on the stock to $25 from $23 after the video gamepublisher racked up $800 million in first-day sales of GrandTheft Auto V, the fifth installment of the lucrative franchisethat went on sale across the globe on Tuesday.
Macquarie analyst Ben Schachter in the opening line of hisnote said "Bottom Line - Wow! (and that is an understatement)."
** BIOMARIN PHARMACEUTICALS INC, Wednesday close$77.49, up 10 pct premarket
Roche Holding AG could buy the maker of drugs forrare diseases for about $95 to $105 per share in a deal valuedat about $15 billion, media reports said, quotingdealreporter.com. UBS AG will lend $5 billion to Rochefor the takeover, the reports quoted dealreporter.com as saying.
** JPMORGAN CHASE & CO, $53.41, up 1 pct premarket
The biggest U.S. bank will pay about $920 million inpenalties to regulators in two countries to settle some of itspotential liabilities from its $6.2 billion London Whalederivatives loss last year, according to terms made public onThursday.
** ORACLE CORP, Wednesday close $33.87, down 2 pctpremarket
The company forecast sales and profit for its second quarterthat fell short of expectations as it continues to battle softglobal IT demand and smaller rivals focused on providingsoftware over the Internet.
** FACEBOOK INC, Wednesday close $45.23
The social networking company is expanding a service thatlets a group of major marketers measure the effectiveness oftheir ads, in the company's latest move to prove thatadvertising on the world's largest social network leads to realworld sales.
** TRANSCEPT PHARMACEUTICALS INC, Wednesday close$3.59, up 9 pct after market
Drugmaker Retrophin Inc said it offered to buy therest of Transcept Pharmaceuticals shares it does not already ownfor $4 per share, valuing Transcept at about $75 million.Retrophin's offer represents an 11 percent premium toTranscept's closing share price of $3.59 on the Nasdaq onWednesday.
** VODAFONE GROUP , Wednesday close $34.17,down 1.8 pct premarket
The U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to stick with itseconomic stimulus programme causes traders to move out of stocksseen as "defensive" plays, such as Vodafone, and into "riskier"plays such as miners.
** GROUPON INC, Wednesday close $11.55, up 4 pctpremarket
Brokerage Stifel Nicolaus upgraded the online couponcompany's stock to "buy" from "hold" as it sees strength inGroupon's core business in the U.S, and stability in keyEuropean markets. Analyst Rohan Jordan believes continued shiftof usage toward app-based e-commerce should also work in thecompany's favor.
** TIME WARNER INC, Wednesday close $63.34, up 2 pctpremarket
Brokerage Morgan Stanley upgraded the entertainmentcompany's stock to "overweight" from "equal weight", accordingto theflyonthewall.com.
** KANDI TECHNOLOGIES GROUP INC, $5.85, up 6.6 pctpremarket
The maker of electric vehicles said the Chinese governmentunveiled a subsidy policy for pure electric vehicles, plug-inhybrid electric vehicles and fuel-cell battery vehicles. Thepolicy would be beneficial to a variety of Kandi's pure electricvehicle projects in the country, chief executive Xiaoming Husaid.
** STEELCASE INC, down 5.5 pct after market
The office furniture maker reported second-quarter resultsbelow analysts' expectations, mainly hurt by the economic crisisin Western Europe. The company said the Europe, Middle East, andAfrica (EMEA) region underperformed even as the Americas regioncontributed a strong operating margin.
** ISIS PHARMACEUTICALS, $31.80, up 4 pct premarket
The drugmaker said follow-up preliminary data from anearly-stage trial on its experimental drug to treat a raregenetic neuromuscular disease showed improvements in musclefunction tests in children.
Children with spinal muscular atrophy who received the twohighest doses of the drug (6 mg and 9 mg) continued to showimprovements in muscle function tests up to 14 months after asingle injection of the drug codenamed ISIS-SMNRx.
Children suffering from spinal muscular atrophy often neverachieve the simplest motor milestones like walking, crawling, orsitting up.
** WALT DISNEY CO, Wednesday close $67.11, down 1.5pct after market
A Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday denied a request byWalt Disney's ABC unit to stop Dish Network Corp fromselling devices that let viewers skip commercials when watchingprimetime broadcast shows.
** PACIFIC COAST OIL TRUST, Wednesday close $17.98,down 6 pct after market
The statutory trust formed by oil and gas producer PacificCoast Energy Co LP (PCEC) said on Wednesday it would offer 13.5million trust units in an underwritten public offering in PCEC'sbid to repay a portion of its debt.
** APOGEE ENTERPRISES INC, $29.49, down 5.7 pctafter market
The maker of glass products reported second-quarter earningslower than analysts' estimates. The company also raised itsfull-year earnings forecast to between 93 cents and $1 per sharefrom 90 cents to $1 per share. Analysts on average expectearnings of 96 cents per share, according to Thomson ReutersI/B/E/S.
** ARMOUR RESIDENTIAL REIT, Wednesday close $4.37,down 4 pct premarket
The real estate investment trust announced a monthly cashdividend of 5 cents per share for the October-December period,about 29 percent lower than the 7 cents per share it hadannounced for the July-September period.
** SS&C TECHNOLOGIES HOLDINGS INC, Wednesday close$39.45, down 3.7 pct after market
The company, which makes software for financial serviceproviders, said on Wednesday that investment funds affiliatedwith The Carlyle Group made a public offering of about 7.5million shares of SS&C's common stock.
** FIFTH STREET FINANCE CORP, Wednesday close$10.52, down 2.7 pct after market
The investment company said that it had started a publicoffering of 15 million shares of its common stock. Net proceedsfrom the offering would be used to repay debt, Fifth Streetsaid.
** JAVELIN MORTGAGE INVESTMENT CORP, Wednesday close$13.21, down 7 pct aftermarket
The mortgage company slashed its monthly cash dividend to 15cents per share from 23 cents per share for the fourth quarter.
** GT ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES INC, Wednesday close$7.55, up 4 pct premarket
Brokerage UBS Investment Research raised its rating on thesolar and LED equipment maker's stock to "buy" from "neutral",according to theflyonthewall.com.
** ACTIVISION BLIZZARD INC, Wednesday close $17.15
A U.S. court has handed down a preliminary decision to haltthe closing of Vivendi SA's $8.2 billion deal to sellmost of its stake in Activision Blizzard back to the U.S.company, the games publisher said on Wednesday.
(Compiled by Varun Aggarwal)
