S&P Slashes RBS Rating; Dendreon’s Big Boost; Eli Lilly Comes Out Ahead on ImClone; AgFeed’s Hungry For Its Own Shares; Bank of America Surprises with Loss; Paulson Taps Another Goldman Exec.

Eli Outbids Bristol; Carmax Crashes; IBM Could Miss Estimates; Micron’s Loss; Cereal’s Sugar High; Canada Drives Toyota

Home Prices Still Dropping; Chrysler Chases GM; Oil Slides Back; Lennar Loss Beats Estimates; Kullman to Helm DuPont; ImClone Plays Hard to Get; France and Britain Nuclear Match?

Oil Continues Slide; FDA Blocks Ranbaxy, Best Buy Profit Declines; Bristol-Myers Bid Uncertain; Pandit’s Reassuring Memo; GM Showcases the Volt; Adobe Beats the Street; Constellation Plunges on Debt Worries

There has been a lot of strong recommendations around biotech lately on Contrarian Profits.

Phase 1 Investor editor Rob Fannon recently wrote that biotech was one of the few market sectors to show positive returns as  many other stocks were getting hammered. He sees great values in the sector.

There’s a good reason for this strength. A struggling economy won’t hurt biotech and medical as much as, say, an automaker, retailer, or restaurant chain… And biotech is one of the few industries showing solid sales growth.

As investors plowed into financial and housing stocks in the last few years, they forgot about the pharmaceutical industry, says Jim Nelson in Penny Sleuth.

But now that the party is over, biotech stocks are coming back in a big way. According to mutual-fund research firm Lipper, two biotech funds were amongst the top five best-performing vehicles in July – a dramatic reversal from June when commodities funds were leading the charge.

Big Pharma is buying up promising biotech companies in an effort to boost profit margins. This creates great opportunities for investors, and it’ only just the beginning…

Bristol Myers Moves for ImClone; Kodak Earnings Fade; Diana Shipping Doubles Earnings; Crude Stumbles Again; Google to Start VC Fund; Primetime Ad Drama; MasterCard Slumps on Less Spending; S&P Says U.S. Car Companies are “Junk”

• Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) yesterday (Thursday) offered $4.5 billion in cash for biotechnology company ImClone Systems Inc. (IMCL), the Associated Press reported. ImClone’s board has yet to comment on the proposal, which offers its stockholders $60 per share, a 30% premium to its Wednesday closing price of $46.44. Bristol-Myers already owns about 17% of ImClone.

• Eastman Kodak Co. (EK) said yesterday (Thursday) that second-quarter profit fell, as traditional film-based revenue slumped 14% to $847 million. Sales climbed 1% from $2.47 billion to $2.49 billion, and revenue from digital businesses rose 10%…

Last May, shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN), a billion-dollar biotech, slid 35% in just 30 days. The company had no press releases, no earnings reports, nothing.

Carl Icahn is adding to his reputation as a boardroom bully. In a letter to Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) Chairman Roy Bostock, the billionaire investor threatened to seek control of the board and resuscitate takeover talks with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT).