Diamond Foods Inc. (DMND) shares are trading on an unusually high volume. The food company's stock registered a 12% gain this afternoon.

Viacom Inc. (VIA.B) stock is experiencing unusually low trading volume. Shares declined nearly 3% today.

"DMND" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?"VIA.B" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

Here are the stocks added to the Zacks #1 Rank ("strong buy") List today:

Amtrust Financial Services Inc (AFSI) Antares Pharma Inc (AIS) AsiaInfo Holdings Inc (ASIA) AtriCure Inc (ATRC) Bayer AG (BAYRY) CBIZ Inc (CBZ) Command Security Corp (MOC) Continucare Corp (CNU) CSG Systems International Inc (CSGS) Daimler AG (DAI) Dolby Laboratories Inc (DLB) Elbit Systems Ltd (ESLT) Helicos BioSciences Corp (HLCS) HMS Holdings Corp (HMSY) Human Genome Sciences (HGSI) I-Many Inc (IMNY) Ikanos Communications Inc (IKAN) Immunomedics Inc (IMMU) Incyte Corp (INCY) James Hardie Industries NV (JHX) Kirkland's Inc (KIRK) Landry's Restaurants Inc (LNY) MAKO Surgical Corp (MAKO) MAP Pharmaceuticals Inc (MAPP) Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (MTU) National Beverage Corp (FIZZ) NorthWestern Corp (NWE) Novartis AG (NVS) Novavax ...

Here are the stocks added to the Zacks #1 Rank ("strong buy") List today:

Alexza Pharmaceuticals Inc (ALXA) American River Bankshares (AMRB) Anesiva Inc (ANSV) Aon Corp (AOC) Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc (ARNA) Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc (ARIA) Array BioPharma Inc (ARRY) athenahealth Inc (ATHN) Barloworld Ltd (BRRAY) Bio-Reference Laboratories Inc (BRLI) British Airways plc (BAIRY) CARBO Ceramics Inc (CRR) Cell Therapeutics Inc (CTIC) Chemed Corp (CHE) Corinthian Colleges Inc (COCO) Danaos Corp (DAC) Dialysis Corporation of America (DCAI) Diamond Mgt & Technology Consultants In (DTPI) Discovery Communications Inc (DISCB) DXP Enterprises Inc (DXPE) EarthLink Inc (ELNK) eDiets.com Inc (DIET) Elbit Systems Ltd (ESLT) Endo Pharmaceuticals (ENDP) Enterprise GP Holdings LP (EPE) ev3 Inc (EVVV) FiberTower Corp (FTWR) Flanders Corp (FLDR) GTx Inc ...

Chicago-based news media stalwart Tribune Company today announced it is filing for bankruptcy protection, less than 2 years after billionaire real estate mogul Sam Zell took the company private. Geez...and here we thought Zell had the magic touch based on the fact that he sold Equity Office Partners at the peak of the market a couple years back.The Tribune is "America's largest employee-owned media company," according to the Tribune's website. It owns the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun and Orlando Sentinel newspapers, to name but a few, as well as television stations across the country. The Tribune is also the owner of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, which is reportedly not being included in the Chapter 11 filing.This news comes on a day when many of the financial institutions involved with the Tribune deal -- such as JP Morgan Chase & Co. (...

A full 7% of the Viacom, Inc. (VIA) workforce -- 850 jobs -- is to be terminated by the media conglomerate. And 500 more media industry workers' jobs will be cut at NBC Universal, the media wing of General Electric Company (GE), amounting to 3% of that company's workforce. This comes at a time of slowing box office sales for some film studio businesses, not to mention a pending Screen Actors Guild (SAG) strike. Who says the entertainment industry is recession-proof? While these hundreds of jobs lost do not match the thousands and tens of thousands being lost in other industries amid the broad U.S. economic downturn, they do illustrate that the economy is worsening for just about all facets of the American workforce -- even those formerly considered "safe" and far removed from the mortgage-led credit crisis that got this downhill ball rolling....

As the economy deteriorates, one of the first casualties will be corporate profits.  Earnings estimates have been falling very fast for 2009.  Recently estimate cuts for 2009 have been running at about 8x the number of estimate increases.  P/E-based valuations become tricky in such an environment -- you are shooting at a moving target.  One way around this is to focus on the low (or most pessimistic) estimate, rather than on the mean estimate.  Assume that everyone else will move to where the biggest pessimist is now. This is not to say that the most pessimistic analyst today can't be too optimistic, but at least he will be closer than most. On this basis, there are some very compelling values out there. 

Below we present a list of the cheapest S&P 500 companies based on 2009 low estimates.  Since I simply do not trust the numbers, I have excluded from

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South Korea Plans $10.8 billion Stimulus; KKR IPO Delayed Again; DryShips Posts 71% Profit Growth; Oil Slides Below $64; Manufacturing Hits 26-year Low; Viacom Profit Down 37%; Cars Sales Plummet

South Korea’s government announced plans for a 14 trillion won ($10.8 billion) economic stimulus aimed to create an extra 200,000 jobs, extend tax breaks for factory investments and increase infrastructure spending and development. Relief measures announced this year now total 33 trillion won, according to the finance ministry, Bloomberg reported. Initial public offering plans for buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. have again been delayed, this time because its Amsterdam-listed affiliate suffered big investment losses. With KKR’s delay, there hasn’t been a U.S. IPO in nearly three months, Reuters reported. DryShips ...

Maverick CapitalMaverick Capital Management Holdings AnalysisThis post is being written as part of HedgeFundBlogger.com's Investment Securities Tool which analyzes the holdings of hedge fund managers.Lee Ainslie started Maverick Capital back in 1993 with $38 million. Nowadays, the fund is worth $10 billion. Ainslie, like many of the other fund managers I've profiled, has a background rooted in learning from legendary great Julian Robertson at Tiger Management. So, due to the fact that these proteges learned from the best and have had great success running their own hedge funds, I continually try to find a reason not to follow these funds. And, needless to say I'm never successful. Some contacts over at Maverick have explained that their hedge fund strategy is straight up stock picking, both long and short. They made ...