Buzz Stocks: Tekmira, Lululemon Athletica, SunEdison

Markets are signaling a rebound ahead of tonight's unofficial start to fourth-quarter earnings season. In company news, today's stocks to watch include biopharmaceutical firm Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NASDAQ:TKMR), yoga apparel maker Lululemon Athletica inc. (NASDAQ:LULU), and alternative energy issue Sunedison Inc (NYSE:SUNE).

• TKMR is eyeing a more than 53% pop out of the gate, following news the drugmaker has agreed to purchase Pennsylvania-based OnCore Biopharma Inc to boost the development of its hepatitis B treatments. TKMR has struggled over the past three months, shedding more than a third of its value, and settled Friday's session at $15.70 -- just shy of its 60-day moving average. Option traders have kept the faith, though, and at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), 6.78 long calls have been initiated for each put over the last 10 sessions. With 10.3% of Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation's float sold short, however, a portion of this activity could be at the hands of short sellers hedging against any unexpected upside.


• LULU is more than 6% higher in electronic trading, after the company upped its fourth-quarter sales and profit outlook. Adding to the bullish buzz is a pair of bullish brokerage notes from Sterne Agee, which raised its rating to "neutral" from "underperform," and Baird, which boosted its price target by $6 to $65. On the charts, LULU has had a strong start to the year -- something that hasn't gone unnoticed by analysts -- and has tacked on more than 5%. Should the shares extend this momentum, more upgrades and/or price-target hikes could be on the horizon. Currently, 59% of analysts covering Lululemon Athletica inc. maintain a "hold" or worse suggestion, while the consensus 12-month price target of $53.40 stands at a discount to Friday's close at $58.63.


• SUNE is also pointed higher ahead of the bell, on news the firm has entered into a $4 billion joint venture with India-based energy name Adani Enterprises Ltd to construct the country's largest solar photovoltaic manufacturing factory. Today's projected price movement is just more of the same for a stock that's rallied nearly 35% over the past 52 weeks, and more recently, took a sharp bounce off its rising 320-day moving average -- a trendline that has served as a springboard for SUNE during its last three pullbacks. The stock could be poised to get an extra lift, should skeptics start hitting the exits in the face of Sunedison Inc's uptrend. Not only have option traders been initiating long puts at a rapid-fire rate in recent months, but nearly 29% of the equity's float is sold short, representing more than six sessions' worth of pent-up buying demand, at average daily trading levels.