Compuware Corporation (NASDAQ: CPWR) provides software designed to enhance the performance of business computer systems. Products include program suites that test system performance, manage enterprise files and focus application development. Compuware also offers consulting, systems integration, custom programming, maintenance and support services. Ninety percent of the Fortune 100 companies are clients. CA Inc (NYSE: CA) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) are competitors.

The company pleased investors last week, when it guided Q4 EPS to 23 cents and revenues to $337 million. Analysts had been looking for 19 cents and $319.84 million.

CPWR shares popped on the news and have since been consolidating the gain in a bullish "flag" pattern. Equities frequently exit flags moving in the same direction they were traveling on entry. In this case, that would be to the upside.

Brokers recommend the issue with one "buy" and two "holds". Analysts see a 12% growth rate, through the next year. The stock's P/E ratio (16.68), Price to Sales ratio (1.77), Price to Book ratio (2.21), Price to Cash Flow ratio (10.81) and Price to Free Cash Flow ratio (11.15) compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages. Institutional investors hold about 79% of the outstanding shares. The stock is one of those used to calculate the S&P 500 Index. Over the past 52 weeks, it has traded between $6.10 and $12.56. A stop-loss of $6.80 looks good here. Note that the firm is expected to release Q4 results in mid-May.

Larry Schutts is a contributing editor for Theflyonthewall.com and the Vice-President of Stockwinners.com. He does not hold positions in any of the stocks mentioned above.

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• DJIA 12,368.01 (+65.95; +0.54%)
• S&P500 1,335.00 (+6.68; +0.50%)
• NASDAQ 2,286.04 (+10.22; +0.45%)
• 10YR-TBond 3.57% (+0.067%)
• Full Pre-Market analyst calls.
• Big list of 52-week lows today.

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Concur Technologies (NASDAQ: CNQR) provides software applications that automate corporate travel and expense management. Its flagship program provides the process and information for management to reduce manual checking, improve internal controls, increase business policy compliance, speed up reimbursement, and increase expense report accuracy. The software features Web-based modules for tracking, submitting, and processing reports. Other offerings manage employee requests for vendor payments, manage the planning of corporate meetings and group travel, and search for fraud. Customers include Chubb (NYSE: CB), J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) and Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN). Compuware (NASDAQ: CPWR) and Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) are competitors.

The company pleased investors last week, when it reported fiscal Q4 EPS of 15 cents (ex-items) and revenues of $35.75 million. Analysts had been expecting 9 cents and $34.29 million. Management also guided Q1 EPS to 13 cents (8 cent consensus), Q1 revenues to $46.0 million ($43.3M consensus), FY08 EPS to 70 cents (62 cent consensus) and FY08 revenues to $200.0 million ($194.5M consensus). Canaccord Adams and Broadpoint Capital subsequently declared the stock a "buy" and established $40 price targets.

Altogether, brokers now recommend the shares with three "strong buys", five "buys", five "holds" and a "sell". Analysts see a 33% growth rate, through the next year. The CNQR Sales Growth rate (30.03%) and EPS Growth rate (275.00%) compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages. Institutional investors hold about 95% of the outstanding shares. The stock is one of these used to calculate the S&P 600 SmallCap Index. Over the past 52 weeks, it has traded between $14.38 and $36.90. A stop-loss of $29.40 looks good here.

Larry Schutts is a contributing editor for Theflyonthewall.com and the Vice-President of Stockwinners.com.

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Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) volatility at nine-year highs on chatter of potential spin-offs:

Investor unhappiness with Citigroup's recent sell off has resulted in a larger chorus for Citigroup to consider spin-off options. Citigroup's Smith Barney unit has been frequently mentioned as a potential spin-off. Telegraph.co.uk said "banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), HSBC Holdings plc (ADR) (NYSE: HBC), and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) are being touted as possible buyers if Citigroup's management decides to offload assets." Citigroup was recently up 15 cents to $33.03. Citigroup call option volume of 135,047 contracts compares to put volume of 101,613 contracts. Citigroup November 32.5 straddle is priced at $2.55. Citigroup December option implied volatility of 56 is above its 26-week average of 29 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price risks.

International Business Machines Corp (NYSE: IBM) volatility elevated after Sharp two-day sell off after Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) outlook:

IBM was recently down $4.83 to $101.27. IBM call option volume of 20,665 contracts compared to put volume of 25,200 contracts. IBM November 100 straddle was priced at $4.90. IBM December option implied volatility of 33 was above its 26-week average of 24 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price risk.

Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

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If you have ever been in charge of reviewing expense accounts, you known that uniformity and good organization are factors that can make the job go a lot easier. There is an outfit in Redmond, Washington that has help for the weary executive along that line. It has the whole business reduced to a science ... a computer science.

Concur Technologies (NASDAQ: CNQR) provides software applications that automate corporate travel and expense management. Its flagship program provides the process and information for management to reduce manual processing, improve internal controls, increase business policy compliance, speed up reimbursement, and increase expense report accuracy. The software features Web-based modules for tracking, submitting, and processing reports. Other offerings manage employee requests for vendor payments, manage the planning of group travel, and search for fraud. Customers include Chubb (NYSE: CB), J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) and Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN). Compuware (NASDAQ: CPWR) and Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) are competitors.

The company pleased investors last week when it reported fiscal Q3 EPS of 15 cents and revenues of $33.3 million. Analysts had been expecting 8 cents and $31.9 million. Management also guided Q4 EPS to 13 cents (8 cent consensus) and Q4 revenues to $33.6 million ($33.46M consensus). Cantor Fitzgerald, RBC Capital Markets and McAdams, Wright, Ragen subsequently reiterated "buy" ratings on the issue. The share price popped on the news and has since been consolidating the gain in a bullish "flag" pattern. Prices frequently exit flags moving in the same direction they were traveling when they entered them. In this case, that would be to the upside.

Brokers recommend the shares with three "strong buys," four "buys" and four "holds." Analysts see a 30% growth rate through the next year. The CNQR Sales Growth rate (23.93%), EPS Growth rate (87.50%), Net Profit Margin (30.50%), Return on Assets (21.59%), Return on Investment (27.59%) and Return on Equity (34.28%) compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages. Institutional investors hold about 95% of the outstanding shares. The stock is one of those used to calculate the S&P 600 SmallCap Index. Over the past 52 weeks, it has traded between $14.20 and $28.18. A stop-loss of $22.35 looks good here.

Larry Schutts is a contributing editor for Theflyonthewall.com and the Vice-President of Stockwinners.com.

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The markets saw mild gains Wednesday, taking back some of yesterday's losses. The NYSE had volume of 2.6 billion shares with 1,783 shares advancing while 1,490 declined for a gain of 61.12 points to close at 10,014.69. On the NASDAQ, 1.9 billion shares traded, 1,629 advanced and 1,400 declined for a gain of 12.63 to 2,651.79.

Compuware (NASDAQ: CPWR) crashed $2.47 (-20%) to $9.70 after falling on earnings. Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) rose $1.61 (5%) to $34.41. Rock-Tenn Company (NYSE: RKT) rose $4.02 (12%) to $36.60. InterContinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE) rose $11.34 (7%) to $167.07.

Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX) saw very heavy volume on the July 75 calls (FCXGO) with over 347,000. This unusual volume is likely dividend arbitrage as FCX pays a 31 cent dividend tomorrow. Mirant (NYSE: MIR) saw heavy volume on the January 45 calls (LGVAI) with over 75,000 options trading. This looks like a long term heavy bet that the stock is going to continue to rise. Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFMI) saw heavy volume on the July 40 calls (FMQGH) with over 29,000 options trading. In options, there were 4.3 million puts and 5.4 million calls traded for a put/call open interest ratio of 0.79


Kevin Kersten is an Options Analyst with InvestorsObserver.com. Do you have any deadwood in your portfolio? Check out the 18 Warning Signs That Tell You To Dump A Stock. Disclosure note: Mr. Kersten owns and or controls a diversified portfolio of long and short positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about.

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The dot-com bust may finally be over. Tech company Compuware Corporation (NASDAQ: CPWR) posted 4Q 2007 earnings and FY 2007 earnings, both of which were good. 4Q 2007 revenues totaled $313 million, with net income of $67.5 million. Diluted EPS was $0.21. Revenues break down into just over $73 million for software license fees, $118 million for maintenance fees, and $122 million for service fees.

Compuware has been busy these past several quarters. In 4Q it completed the acquisition of Proxima Technology, and also launched a bundle of software testing services called Compuware Test Factory. It will partner with IT service company Atos Origin to provide outsourced software testing services worldwide. Domestically, Compuware partnered with health care management giant CIGNA (NYSE: CI) to provide the structure for health care information exchange between medical providers and insurance companies. Compuware also introduced applications designed to provide additional security for mainframe data storage. It also expanded the availability of Compuware Unifaec 9.1, designed to work across Web, Windows, Unix, or mainframe platforms.

These initiatives contributed to Compuware's good FY 2007 numbers, the first full-year revenue growth since 2000. FY revenues were $1.2 billion with net income of $158 million, an increase of 10%. FY diluted EPS is $0.45, a 21% increase. FY revenue breakdown is $283.4 million for software license fees, $457.6 million for maintenance fees, and service fees of $472 million. Already more than 90% of Fortune 100 companies use Compuware to increase efficiency, control costs, and improve productivity. The stock recently closed at $11.20, down $0.02.

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China closed down about 4.5% over night leading to a lower open in the US equities market. Strong earnings from companies like Merrill Lynch and Merck helped lift the indexes into only a mildly down day.

The NYSE had volume of 2.9 billion shares with 1,151 shares advancing while 2,075 declined for a loss of 33.18 points to close at 9,601.69. On the NASDAQ, 2.1 billion shares traded, 1,087 advanced and 1,919 declined for a loss of 5.15 to 2,505.35.

Marriott International (NYSE: MAR) dropped $3.88 (-7%) to $47.99 on weaker outlook. Compuware Corporation (NASDAQ: CPWR) fell $0.61 (-6%) to $9.64 on a downgrade. AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR) lost $1.90 (-6%) to $30.06 on concerns of travel weakness.

In options, there were 5.3 million puts and 6.8 million calls traded for a put/call open interest ratio of 0.77. Stock options give the option holder the right to buy or sell a stock a designated price. The options of Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) saw heavy volume on the April 190 calls (GPYDR) with 36,000 options trading. The April 195 calls (GPYDS) moved 60,000 contracts and the April 200 calls (GPYDT) moved 105,000 options trading. This extra option volume is likely the result of dividend arbitrage. Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) saw heavy volume on the January 32.50 calls (WBMAZ) with over 34,000 options trading while the January 30 calls (WBMAF) moved 33,000 contracts. Motorola (NYSE: MOT) saw heavy volume on the May 18 puts (MOTQS) with over 63,000 options trading.

Kevin Kersten is an Options Analyst with InvestorsObserver.com. Do you have any deadwood in your portfolio? Check out the 18 Warning Signs That Tell You To Dump A Stock.

Disclosure note: Mr. Kersten owns and or controls a diversified portfolios of long and short positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about.

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MOST NOTEWORTHY

• First Albany cut Netflix Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX) to Neutral from Buy to reflect weak industry subscriber additions.

• Blockbuster Inc (NYSE: BBI) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Soleil.

• Citigroup cut The Mosaic Company (NYSE: MOS) to Sell from Hold on expectations for a sharp DAP price decline and valuation.

• Domino's Pizza Inc (NYSE: DPZ) was downgraded to Peer Perform from Outperform at Bear Stearns, citing valuation.

• Merrill Lynch downgrade BP Plc (NYSE: BP) to Neutral from Buy on valuation.

• Smith Micro Software, Inc (NASDAQ: SMSI) was cut to Hold from Buy with a $21 target.

• Pacific Crest downgraded Linear Technology Corp (NASDAQ: LLTC) to Sector Perform from Outperform based on secular headwinds and an increase in DOI to 82 days.

• Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd (NYSE: TNP) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Citigroup on valuation.

• Piper Jaffray downgraded Compuware Corp (NASDAQ: CPWR) to Market Perform from Outperform following the disappointing Q4 guidance.

• Brean Murray downgraded Komag, Inc (NASDAQ: KOMG) to Hold from Buy.

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