With more than an hour left in the session, the stock is up 4.7 percent to $10.46, an all-time high. Monday's sales and marketing partnership deal with Solidcore boosted the stock, which had been trading sideways since hitting its previous high on June 18.
With a $1.1 billion market cap, OPSW has been alluring but I haven't put my toes in the water yet. With Marc Andreessen and a bunch of his former charges at Netscape still alongside, Opsware has an interesting chemistry and leadership that separates it from the average small or mid-cap. It's one of my favorite B+ rated stocks. Other B+ picks doing well today: Precision Castparts (PCP) is up 3.5 percent, Infosys (INFY) is up 3.4 percent and HDFC Bank (HDB) is up 3.5 percent after raising $698 million in American Depositary Shares.
Among Pupule's A- picks, RIMM continues to soar into the stratosphere, up 2 percent to $234.97. AAPL is also at a new high, trading at $140.21 with no bad news in sight and earnings less than a week away. Spartan Motors (SPAR) is also up, but I'm leaning toward pushing it to a B or B+ level. The fundamentals of the company haven't changed, but the market perception has. Short-term traders took SPAR to great heights in recent months before taking their gains.
At $16.51, it's a relative bargain, but probably not an A- stock until it can raise the bar and convince more investors to hold on for the long haul.
Baidu is still tumbling, now down to $194. A typical pullback for a small float, but earnings could spark another major run. BIDU has its own set of trading rules, re: giant Internet stocks of the late 1990s.
One of the B grade stocks, Seaspan Corp. (SSW), is up 5.6 percent after a healthy Q2 earnings report. In addition, Credit Suisse initiated coverage of Seaspan today.
Pupule Paul is a tiny bit long AAPL and BIDU.
