Illumina (ILMN) Hits a New 52-Week High

Illumina (ILMN) hit a new 52-week high of $57.29 before closing at $57.27 yesterday (02013.04.10). I am of the belief that we're living in the Age of Genomics and Illumina is a genomics company. One month ago ILMN had a SIR (Short Interest Ratio) of 25.

Level 3 Communications (LVLT) Gets a Buy Recommendation

Level 3 Communications (LVLT) got a 'Buy' recommendation yesterday (02013.04.09) by Deutsche Bank. LVLT closed yesterday at $21.20, up 6% for the day. Volume was 4.08 million vs. 1.73 million. LVLT 52-week range: $16.36 - $25.99. I've placed a good-till-cancel order to sell some LVLT at 7 $Pi ($21.99).

[update::02013.04.11] I cancelled the LVLT sell order. Yesterday LVLT closed at $21.00 after hitting an intra-day high of $21.72. Today (02013.04.11), prior to the market opening, Level 3 Communications announced "Jeff K. Storey has been appointed by the Board of Directors to be the company's president and chief executive officer (CEO), effective immediately."

Yahoo! (YHOO) Keeps Climbing

Yahoo! (YHOO) hit a new 52-week high yesterday (02013.04.09) and it hit yet another new 52-week high this morning. YHOO closed yesterday at $23.83 and today it open at $24. YHOO hasn't been this high since approximately July 02008. I liked this headline from this morning: "Apple, Yahoo in Talks to Broaden Mobile Partnership".

GDT::Portfolio Didn't Like the 1st Week of April 02013

The stock market week that just ended on Friday, 5 April 02013, was a bad week for the GDT::Portfolio.

Altair Nanotechnologies (ALTI) lost 18.57% of its market value during the week. ALTI closed at $2.28 compared to $2.80 one week earlier.

Cray (CRAY) closed at $21.32 on 02013.04.05. CRAY is 10% below its most recent 52-week high hit on Monday, 02013.04.01.

Google (GOOG) is having a hard time staying above $800. GOOG closed on 02013.04.05 at $783.05.

Mace Security Intl. (MACE) fell ~17.14% on Friday, 02013.04.05, closing at $0.29. Volume was 123,240 vs. 14,474.

On the plus side...

Facebook (FB) ended the 1st week of April at $27.39, up ~7.1% for the week.

Bruker (BRKR) Enabling Sub-Nanometer Observations

Bruker (BRKR) is representative of the "investment in the future" strategy of the GDT::Portfolio. When it comes to the future, it's possible graphene is going to be a disruptive material; therefore, I liked the following Bruker press release from a couple of days ago (02013.04.02): UK National Graphene Institute Selects Bruker’s Dimension FastScan AFM.

"Bruker’s Dimension FastScan provides our team with the best available technology to support the complex demands for sub-nanometer observations of graphene." -- 02010 Nobel Prize in Physics winner Professor Kostya Novoselov.

BRKR closed yesterday (02013.04.03) at $18.57. 52-week range: $9.91 - $19.46.

Stewart Enterprises (STEI) Increases Its Dividend

Stewart Enterprises (STEI) announced that they are increasing their dividend from $0.16 to $0.18 (a 12.5% increase).

Thomas M. Kitchen, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "The Board's decision to increase the cash dividend reflects its continued confidence in our solid balance sheet, our ability to consistently generate strong cash flow, and the continued positive momentum in revenue growth. The Board last increased the dividend rate in March of 2012. This represents a 50% increase in our dividend rate in the last two years."

STEI closed yesterday (02013.04.02) at $9.24. 52-week range: $5.87 - $9.54.

Bought Some Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (KTOS)

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (KTOS) ended 1Q'13 at #25 in the GDT::Portfolio. I hope I wasn't being a fool, but today (02013.04.01; April Fools' Day) I bought some KTOS at $5.01. 52-week range: $4.08 - $6.19.

KTOS had some insider buying last month (March 14th [Pi Day] and March 17th) in the $4.47 - $4.77 range. In addition, on April 1st KTOS had a SIR (short interest ratio) of 14.4 and a PSR (price sales ratio) of a 0.29.