By TechCrunch:

By Josh Constine

Online content, portal and front-end technology solution Synacor filed its amended S-1 today for an IPO looking to raise $75 million. The filing revealed that this month Synacor acquired Carbyn, an HTML5 operating system that lets users put their files, applications and more in the cloud and access them from any device’s browser. It paid $1.1 million in total for the company, with $600,000 paid up front with $500,000 to be delivered in April 2013, and it hired 7 Carbyn employees.

The companies are a great fit, a veritable match made in the cloud. Synacor helps telecom and cable service providers set up websites on its managed, hosted platform where their customers can access ”e-mail, security, online games, music and authentication of TV Everywhere.” That means Synacor already handles all your web-based, and TV services, but is missing what lives on your OS. Carbyn’s OS, that can

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By Stephen Simpson:

Investors should always be a little leery of seeing too much love and praise for their holdings; having a few skeptics left to convince leaves some upside. Although Hologic (HOLX) shares have come up nicely in the past quarter, there is still a lot of growth potential in the earnings and in the stock.

Beat, Raise, Rinse, Repeat

Hologic has established a decent track record of slightly outperforming expectations and this fiscal first quarter continued that trend. Revenue rose a little more than 9% this quarter, slightly topping the average guess, as the company logged 10% or better sales growth in its breast health, diagnostics, and skeletal businesses. GYN Surgical was the laggard, with less than 4% growth over last year.

Profits were a little more mixed. Gross margin was up a bit (about 50 basis points), but the company’s expected increase in SG&A spending to support the tomo rollout

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By Scott Matusow:

MannKind Corporation (MNKD) is a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the discovery, development and commercialization of therapeutic products for diabetes and cancer in the United States, Europe and Asia. Its lead product candidate, AFREZZA Inhalation Powder, an ultra rapid-acting insulin that is in Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of diabetes for the control of hyperglycemia. The company also develops MKC1106-MT, an investigational cancer immunotherapy product, which is in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of adults with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, and MKC204, which is in preclinical development stage for the treatment of malignancies and inflammatory diseases.

In addition, its products include MKC253 (GLP-1), a Phase I clinical trials product for the treatment of type 2 diabetes; MKC1106-PP, a Phase I clinical trials product for diverse tumor types, metastatic disease, and/or progressive and refractory disease; and MKC180, an obesity compound and MKC1106-NS, a cancer immunotherapy

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By Troy Racki:

After spending 38 months adrift in the turbulent waters of bankruptcy court, the prospect of a new Washington Mutual (WAMUQ.PK) is now rapidly steaming “all ahead”. Confirmation of the company’s third plan of reorganization is set for February 16th and finally has the blessing of the company’s equity committee after months of mediation over insider trading charges against four hedge funds which hold positions in the company’s debt securities. The charges, considered “colorable” by the bankruptcy court, have been agreed to be dropped in exchange for a $75 million cash infusion into the reorganized company. The agreement also includes wide releases of any possible wrongdoing by multiple parties involved in the case, including JP Morgan (JPM) and the FDIC.

While the $75 million is not WaMu’s only asset, it is certainly the most easily valued. The new WaMu will also have at least $6 billion in net operating losses attributable

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By Troy Racki:

After spending 38 months adrift in the turbulent waters of bankruptcy court, the prospect of a new Washington Mutual (WAMUQ.PK) is now rapidly steaming “all ahead”. Confirmation of the company’s third plan of reorganization is set for February 16th and finally has the blessing of the company’s equity committee after months of mediation over insider trading charges against four hedge funds which hold positions in the company’s debt securities. The charges, considered “colorable” by the bankruptcy court, have been agreed to be dropped in exchange for a $75 million cash infusion into the reorganized company. The agreement also includes wide releases of any possible wrongdoing by multiple parties involved in the case, including JP Morgan (JPM) and the FDIC.

While the $75 million is not WaMu’s only asset, it is certainly the most easily valued. The new WaMu will also have at least $6 billion in net operating losses attributable

Complete Story »

By Stephen Simpson:

By Stephen D. Simpson, CFA

Although I’m quite willing to bemoan the lack of good growth stories in med-tech today, the reality is that it’s not so much a lack of good growth stories as a lack of good undervalued growth stories that is the problem. Align Technology (ALGN) is a good case in point. While this company has a lot of things going for it – including market share, under-penetrated markets, and good profits – valuation has caught up with the shares and company guidance is denting some of its growth expectations.

A Good Quarter, But …

Align did what it needed to do for the fourth quarter, and then a little extra. Revenue was a bit ahead of expectations and grew 39% from the year-ago quarter (and more than 2% from the third quarter). This overstates things a bit because of the Cadent acquisition, but core Invisalign revenue

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By TechCrunch:

By Eric Eldon

The drip-drop of financial news about Facebook‘s impending initial public offering is starting to turn into a downpour. The company is planning to file its initial prospectus on Wednesday morning, Reuters is reporting, with the intention of raising a conservative $5 billion.

The report, through Reuters subsidiary International Financing Review, also answers the question of which bank will lead – Morgan Stanley (MS). The others will include Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC), Barclays Capital (BCS), JPMorgan (JPM) and Goldman Sachs (GS), which had appeared to be in the lead position last year after it helped Facebook raise a $1.5 billion late-stage round. However, issues around that funding may have contributed to Morgan Stanley getting the top spot.

If everything goes as planned with the SEC’s review, Facebook will likely go public in May.

Complete Story »

By TechCrunch:

By Eric Eldon

The drip-drop of financial news about Facebook‘s impending initial public offering is starting to turn into a downpour. The company is planning to file its initial prospectus on Wednesday morning, Reuters is reporting, with the intention of raising a conservative $5 billion.

The report, through Reuters subsidiary International Financing Review, also answers the question of which bank will lead – Morgan Stanley (MS). The others will include Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC), Barclays Capital (BCS), JPMorgan (JPM) and Goldman Sachs (GS), which had appeared to be in the lead position last year after it helped Facebook raise a $1.5 billion late-stage round. However, issues around that funding may have contributed to Morgan Stanley getting the top spot.

If everything goes as planned with the SEC’s review, Facebook will likely go public in May.

Complete Story »

Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (AMG)

Q4 2011 Earnings Call

January 31, 2012; 11:00am ET

Executives

Sean Healey – Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Nate Dalton – President & Chief Operating Officer

Jay Horgen – Chief Financial Officer

Alexandra Lynn – Vice President of Corporate Strategy & Investor Relations

Analysts

Bill Katz – Citigroup

Robert Lee – KBW

Michael Kim – Sandler O’Neill

Daniel Fannon – Jefferies & Co.

Craig Siegenthaler – Credit Suisse Group

Cynthia Mayer – Bank of America

Presentation

Operator

Greetings and welcome to the Affiliated Managers Group, fourth quarter 2011 earnings call. At this time all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. (Operator Instructions).

It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Alexandra Lynn, Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations for Affiliated Managers Group. Thank you. Ms. Lynn, you

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Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. (WDR)

Q4 2011 Earnings Conference Call

January 31, 2012, 10:00 a.m. ET

Executi
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