Monday's Winners & Losers: Bear Stearns

An increased bid for Bear Stearns (BSC) lifted financial stocks Monday as JPMorgan (JPM) upped its price for the firm to appease angry shareholders.

The original $2-a-share bid was pushed to $10 with the blessing of the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's $30 billion special financing initially linked to the transaction was altered so that JPMorgan will take on the first $1 billion of any losses suffered by Bear Stearns. Bear employees, who own almost a third of the company, vowed to fight the original $2 offer, and Morgan was hoping the new number might persuade them to vote for the deal.

Bear Stearns shares skyrocketed 90%, or $5.27, to $11.18, and JPMorgan ticked up 1.4% to $46.62.

Graphics chip maker Nvidia (NVDA) added $1.51, or 8.2%, to $20.03 after Barron's said the company is a "cheap play on the rise of visual computing".

Investor fears over the increasing competition the company faces and the impact of the economic slowdown are overblown, the article said.

Radio One (ROIAK) gained 58.6% to $1.76. The Lanham, Md., radio broadcasting company announced it would sell KRBV, its Los Angeles station, to Bonneville International for about $137.5 million. Radio One also said its board had authorized a buyback for up to $150 million of stock through 2009.

Shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIMM) were up $6.89, or 6.6%, to $111.83 after the T-Mobile announced it has started selling the BlackBerry 8820 smartphone nationwide.

The BlackBerry 8820 device has built-in GPS, support for T-Mobile's HotSpot service for Wi-fi calling and claims to be RIM's thinnest BlackBerry smartphone yet.

Elsewhere, Fitch Ratings said it plans to maintain its ratings on the world's largest bond insurer, MBIA (MBI), even though MBIA had requested that the rating be withdrawn and decided to withhold nonpublic information. Fitch is the only one of the three major U.S. credit rating agencies that still has the "AAA" rating of MBIA's insurance arm on review for downgrade. MBIA traded up 12% to $14.17.

Cambrex (CMB) disclosed the recall of one of its customers' products. While the company didn't disclose the name of the customer, a few analysts pointed to the recall of UCB's Parkinson's disease treatment patch, Neupro. It contains an ingredient called ritigotine, which Cambrex makes. Belgium-based UCB said the patch will not be available until at least May.

Canaccord Adams analyst Karl Keegan said it may take longer for the patch to return to market and lowered his Neupro sales estimate to $25 million from $100 million. First Analysis Securities downgraded Cambrex to equal weight from overweight. The stock traded down $1.31, or 16.4%, to $6.70 on Monday.

Neurogen (NRGN) tumbled after disclosing that its annual report includes a "going concern" qualification from the company's auditor. The qualification refers to auditors questioning Neurogen's ability to maintain its status as a functioning business. Shares edged down 31 cents, or 10%, to $2.77.

Synplicity (SYNP), a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based maker of software for the design and verification of semiconductors, rocketed up 47.6% to $7.85. On Thursday, Synplicity announced it was being acquired by Synopsys (SNPS) for $227 million, or $8 a share.

This article was written by a staff member of TheStreet.com Ratings.