Stockpickr: Accredited Home Lenders Reignites

Editor's Note: In this feature from Stockpickr, we highlight lists of stocks that have been upgraded by analysts or which are experiencing activist situations or some other market-moving events.

Rumors of the Day: Accredited Home Lenders(LEND Quote) is trading higher on news that Lone Star will amend its bid for the mortgage company. The investment firm is prepared to offer $8.50 a share, a price that represents a 35% premium over LEND's Thursday closing price but is also well below the $15.10-per-share offer it previously made. The revised offer raised investor hopes that a deal would actually get done and launched shares 40% higher at $8.86.

One questionable rumor making the rounds is raising some eyebrows on Wall Street: Is Microsoft(MSFT Quote) really looking to buy Research In Motion(RIMM Quote)? Greg Palmer, head of equity trading at Pacific Crest Securities, said in a Bloomberg report, "it doesn't make sense because they've already got a handheld product." Microsoft is up 1.4% at $28.84, while RIM is 2.5% higher at $84.95.

Today's Hit List: Dell(DELL Quote) reported second-quarter earnings of 32 cents a share, 2 cents better than the Wall Street estimate. Revenue was $14.8 billion vs. the $14.6 billion consensus estimate. However, shares of the computer maker did not react positively, dropping 10 cents to $28.36 in recent trading.