Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), General Motors Company (NYSE:GM), Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F), Cardiovascular Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSII), Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)
Cardiovascular Systems Confirms U.S. Information Request (1) (BusinessWeek)
Cardiovascular Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSII), a medical-device maker that a news report said is part of a probe of corporate insider investment vehicles, said it got requests for information from the U.S. government and is complying. The vehicles, known as 10b5-1 plans, let corporate insiders with access to nonpublic information trade in securities under predetermined arrangements. CSI said in a statement that it’s “readily providing” information requested by the government. Other companies receiving subpoenas included Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and investment firms Valor Equity Partners LP and ABS Capital Partners, according to the Journal. Tesla Board Antonio J. Gracias, Valor’s chief executive officer, sits on the board of Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), the luxury battery-car company run by billionaire Elon Musk. Shanna Hendriks, a spokeswoman for Palo Alto, California- based Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), declined to comment on the report. A spokeswoman for ABS, Stephanie Carter, didn’t immediately return a call for comment.
Analyst Upgrades: Groupon Inc, Tesla Motors Inc, and Pfizer Inc. (SchaeffersResearch)
Analysts are weighing in today on daily deals website Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN), electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), and pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE). Here’s a quick roundup of today’s bullish brokerage notes. …Up more than 59% year-to-date to hover at $53.99, TSLA saw its price target lifted to $62 from $45 at Baird in pre-market activity. The stock has also bested the broader S&P 500 Index (SPX) by almost 42 percentage points during the past two months, yet the short-term options crowd is decidedly bearish toward Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA). The equity’s Schaeffer’s put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) sits at 1.26, with puts outpacing calls among options expiring in the next three months. This ratio is just 4 percentage points shy of a yearly acme, meaning near-term options players have rarely been more put-heavy toward TSLA during the past 12 months.
GM wants tough punishment in hybrid secrets theft (BostonHerald)
General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) wants a long prison sentence next week for a former employee and her husband who were convicted of stealing hybrid vehicle technology for potential use by competitors in China. Trade secrets were found on at least seven computers owned by ex-GM engineer Shanshan Du and Yu Qin, according to prosecutors. The government doesn’t believe the information made it to China, although Qin had claimed to have made contact with General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) competitors overseas. “There is a clear and well-recognized need for the United States government, including its courts, to take aggressive steps to deter others from stealing the type of vital technology at issue in this matter,” said John Calabrese, General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) vice president for global vehicle engineering.
Edward Niedermeyer: Welcome to General Tso’s Motors (WSJ)
After decades of slogans like “See the USA in Your Chevrolet” and “Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet,” General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) -0.71% has retreated from its overtly patriotic marketing approach since emerging from government-funded bankruptcy. Maybe that was a wise move, given that American taxpayers paid for the $50 billion bailout of “Government Motors” and not all of them were happy about it. …GM’s most recent round of investments vividly demonstrates the change. At last week’s Shanghai Auto Show, GM announced it would spend $11 billion on new production facilities in China by 2016, creating some 6,000 new jobs there. By contrast, General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) has invested only $8.5 billion in U.S. operations since its 2009 bankruptcy, and since 2005 the number of workers it employs in North America has fallen by 76,000, according to the industry publication Automotive News.
Ford says truck sales growing three times US industry (ET)
Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) said on Wednesday that the pickup truck segment was growing at almost three times the rate of the overall U.S. auto industry this year, as the US housing sector gains strength. In April, the small car segment made up a slightly smaller piece of the overall U.S. auto market compared to April 2012. The second-largest U.S. automaker also projected that the industry’s annual U.S. auto sales rate in April was in the mid-15 million range, including medium and heavy trucks.
Ford’s Former ‘Bolshevik’ Praises Tesla (WSJ)
“I was a Bolshevik, for sure,” William Clay Ford Jr. jokingly told an audience at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday. When he joined the board of Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) in 1979, he joked that he was told “to stop associating with any known or suspected environmentalists.” But that was not to be. Mr. Ford, grandson of company founder Henry Ford and current executive chairman of the company, spoke with Guggenheim Partners Senior Managing Director John Casesa about his drive to make environmentally friendly cars and how he led his company through the recent financial downturn without a government bailout.
Longboard Asset Management also released a presentation comparing Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) with tech giant Apple, which isn’t a comparison you see everyday.
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