A Stock Going to $500?

Morning News of Note:

• AAPL: Apple bolsters television offerings Apple added a number of television shows from NBC, Sci Fi, and USA to the iTunes Music Store early Tuesday morning. The new content is all available for $1.99 per episode or clip. Programming from NBC consists of select episodes and clips from Law & Order, The Office, Surface, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Alfred Hitchock Presents, Dragnet, Adam-12, and Knight Rider. (Full Story) Apple Insider
• TWX GOOG MSFT: Time Warner Nears Agreement With Microsoft in Online-Ad Deal Time Warner Inc. is closing in on an agreement with Microsoft Corp. to build an online-advertising service designed to compete with Google Inc., say people familiar with the negotiations. After months of on-again-off-again negotiations, the two companies are now focused on a deal that would combine advertising-related assets – with minimal, if any, money changing hands (Full Story) WSJ
• BSX GDT: Boston Scientific Vies for Guidant Offer of $25 Billion Trumps Johnson & Johnson's Deal; Bidding War May Erupt In a move aimed at creating the world's largest developer of heart devices, Boston Scientific Corp. launched a $25 billion bid for Guidant Corp. yesterday, threatening a lower-price agreement in place between Guidant and Johnson & Johnson. The price is a hefty one for Boston Scientific, which has a market capitalization of $22.4 billion. The Natick, Mass., company would have to shoulder $10.5 billion in new debt and issue significantly more shares to pay for Guidant, of Indianapolis. (Full Story) WSJ
• Productivity: U.S. Third-Quarter Productivity Probably Rose 4.5%, BN Survey The productivity of U.S. workers rose last quarter at the fastest pace in a year as businesses focused on improving efficiency in order to cut labor costs when fuel prices soared, economists forecast a report today will show. Productivity increased 4.5 percent at an annual rate from July through September, more than twice the pace of the previous quarter and faster than the Labor Department's initial estimate last month, according to the median estimate of 55 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. (Full Story) Bloomberg
• Mad Money Summary: Jim Cramer believes that now is the time to buy bank stocks as the Federal Reserve is almost finished raising interest rates. He sees J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM) as being the best opportunity to lower costs and said you can make money buying J.P. Morgan. Cramer commented on an article from the Washington Post that discussed the competition over two pipeline proposals in the Artic, the Alaska Gas Pipeline and the Mackenzie Pipeline. Cramer said that only one can be built, with Imperial Oil (IMO) and ConocoPhillips (COP) being the bidders; Cramer believes there is no point in gambling on who will win and to just buy ConocoPhillips so you can make money no matter which pipeline is built. Responding to a question, Cramer likes shares of Kinder Morgan (KMI), the parent company, over shares of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP). Cramer was positive on the Viacom (VIA.B) split up and recommends buying shares of both when they are issued. XM Satellite Radios (XMSR) chairman, Gary Parson, joined Cramer last night on his show by telephone. Parson said that contrary to Cramer, growth is not slowing and that XM Satellite should be able to beat Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI) to cash flow profitability. Cramer said I'm blessing them both between here and year-end and that there is room for both of the companies to grow

Market Comments: The market opens higher this morning, as oil and bond yields are lower. The NAR issued a report that showed home sales are still moderating, which should help ease concerns at the Fed about the overheated housing market.

Semis are bouncing the most so far, while biotechs are down in early trading. Retailers and healthcare are mixed.

Pac Crest upped their price target on GOOG to $500. And ELOS is breaking out to a new all-time high (I mentioned this set-up yesterday).

long ELOS, TWX