US HOT STOCKS: Forest Oil, Lowe’s, Perrigo, Teppco -2-

Last Update: 8/18/2008 10:11:53 AM

Among the companies whose shares are actively trading in Monday’s session are
UnionBanCal Corp. (UB), First Marblehead Corp. (FMD) and Hershey Co. (HSY).

UnionBanCal ($73.24, $7.75, 11.83%) agreed to a sweetened offer from controlling
shareholder Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (8306.TO) to buy the 35% stake in
doesn’t own in the California bank for $3.5 billion, or 17% higher than the offer
MUFG, Japan’s biggest bank by assets, made public last week.

Hershey ($38.01, -$3.61, -8.67%) announced it was again raising wholesale prices,
pushing domestic prices up nearly 10% to offset rising raw-material and fuel
costs, prompting the company to be pessimistic near-term.

Student lender First Marblehead ($4.32, $1.32, 44%) said Goldman Sachs Group
Inc.’s (GS, $160.54, -$2.64, -1.62%) private-equity arm completed a $132.7 cash
investment in the company as co-founder Daniel Meyers will return to lead the
firm.

Barron’s sees a Treasury Department takeover of both Freddie Mac (FRE, $5.20,
-$0.65, -11.11%) and Fannie Mae (FNM, $7.11, -$0.80, -10.12%) as increasingly
likely in the coming months.

Dyax Corp. (DYAX, $5.20, $0.87, 20.09%) reported positive results from a second
phase III study of DX-88 for the treatment of hereditary angioedema, a rare blood
disorder. Dyax plans to apply for regulatory approval in the fourth quarter,
which if granted would result in a mid-2009 launch. But it may enter a
competitive marketplace as Lev Pharma (LEVP, $2.35, $0, 0%) has a product under
FDA review to treat the same condition.

Thomas Weisel cut its investment rating on CardioNet Inc.’s (BEAT, $31.41,
-$2.27, -6.74%) stock to market weight from overweight because of valuation. “We
believe the shares are fairly valued given recent strength, despite our positive
long-term view of CardioNet’s prospects,” analysts wrote in a note.

Focus Media Holding Ltd. (FMCN, $29.13, $2.88, 10.97%) reported a 4.2% decrease
in second-quarter net income as charges offset growth in revenue and at its
networks business. Excluding charges, the company’s profit exceeded expectations
and forecasts for third-quarter earnings were higher than Wall Street’s.

ShengdaTech Inc. (SDTH, $10.30, $0.78, 8.19%) reported a 66% jump in net income
as revenue surged 76% due to a higher selling prices and increased demand for its
chemical products.

Trina Solar Ltd.’s (TSL, $32.21, $1.23, 3.97%) second-quarter net income more
than doubled on shipment and margin gains as the company boosted its 2008 revenue
guidance while looking to maintain improvement on sales and lock in costs with
long term contracts.

Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS, $48.01, -$0.23, -0.48%) agreed to accept Take-Two
Interactive Software Inc.’s (TTWO, $23.80, -$1.04, -4.19%) offer to receive a
presentation from management, a first step that could lead to a friendly merger
of the videogame makers.

Stocks In Focus

BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP, $66.89, $1.67, 2.56%) posted its sixth consecutive record
fiscal-year net profit and offered an upbeat outlook while stressing that a
proposed acquisition of Rio Tinto PLC (RTP, $353.17, $6.41, 1.85%) makes more
sense than ever in light of intensifying cost pressures.

Brinker International Inc. (EAT, $20.64, -$0.15, -0.72%) agreed to sell an 80%
stake in Romano’s Macaroni Grill to an affiliate of San Francisco private-equity
firm Golden Gate Capital for $131.5 million. Brinker has been looking to sell the
226-restaurant chain for nearly a year and said two weeks ago that a deal to sell
a majority stake was near.

Ford Motor Co. (F, $4.97, -$0.14, -2.74%) will sell as much as $500 million of
its shares to buy back debt from its credit arm, a move designed to help shore up
its finances after a $2.1 billion write-down attributed to declining resale
values of trucks and sport-utility vehicles and a $8.7 billion loss in its
second-quarter.

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Forest Oil Corp. (FST, $53.19, $0.36, 0.68%) said it agreed to buy about 85,000
net acres in its core Greater Buffalo Wallow and East Texas/North Louisiana areas
from Cordillera Texas LP in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $892 million.

Amid a sharp downturn in automotive advertising on television, General Motors
Corp. (GM, $10.83, -$0.35, -3.15%) has pulled out of its longtime sponsorship of
the Academy Awards, one of the biggest annual events on broadcast television. The
auto maker has long been one of the biggest spenders on the star-studded program
shelling out $13.5 million this past February, - and over $110 million in the
past 11 years - according to TNS Media Intelligence.

Lowe’s Cos. (LOW, $24.35, -$0.15, -0.61%) posted a 7.9% drop in fiscal
second-quarter net income, beating projections and prompting the home-improvement
chain to slightly increase its fiscal-year earnings view, though it also sees
third quarter profits coming in below analysts’ expectations.

Perrigo Co. (PRGO, $36.05, $0.68, 1.92%) posted a 46% jump in fiscal
fourth-quarter net income as profits surged in its consumer-healthcare segment.
The drug and nutritional-supplement maker projected sales for the new year above
analysts’ expectations.

Teppco Partners LP (TPP, $30.35, $0.04, 0.14%), Enterprise Products Partners LP
(EPD, $28.65, $0.39, 1.38%) and Oiltanking Holding Americas Inc. have formed a
joint venture to build an offshore crude-oil port that would transport crude to
refiners on the upper Texas Gulf Coast. The estimated $1.8 billion effort is
intended to avoid potential bottlenecks from going to land-based ports and
offloading there.

-By Dow Jones Newswires; write to hotstocks@dowjones.com

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