Recent success at Salix Pharmaceuticals could have an unexpected consequence:  The Morrisville company is becoming a more attractive takeover target for bigger drug companies, one analyst said.

"It's always been thought that Salix had takeover potential," said Scott Henry, who follows the company for Roth Capital Partners in Newport Beach, Calif. "All this positive news lately makes them even more appealing."

Salix shares surged 51 percent Monday after the company reported positive clinical trial results for one of its treatments for a type of gastrointestinal disease called irritable bowel syndrome. That follows last week's regulatory approval for a new drug to treat a stomach ailment that afflicts diabetics.

Henry speculates that the stock jump Monday was at least partly a bet that the latest news will attract the interest of larger pharmaceutical companies seeking promising new products.

Talecris Biotherapeutics is preparing to move ahead with one of the largest initial public offerings of stock ever by a Triangle company.

The biotechnology company plans to sell 44.7 million shares at $18 to $20 each, according to a regulatory filing submitted late Thursday. At those terms, which could change before the final deal, the company would raise as much as $894 million before expenses.

By filing those details with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Talecris is taking is a crucial step to revive its long-delayed IPO. Company officials still must convince big Wall Street investors to buy its shares and receive SEC approval for the deal.

The IPO would be a financial boost for Talecris' owners, and any employees who hold stock options. The company employs about 4,700 worldwide, including more than 2,000 at its Research Triangle Park headquarters and at a massive Clayton plant that makes medicines from blood plasma.

Wall Street analysts are betting that two Triangle companies' stocks are due for a breather after recent rallies.

Highwoods Properties, the Raleigh real-estate trust, was downgraded by Wells Fargo Securities analyst Brendan Maiorana, to "underperform" from "market perform." And Cree, the Durham LED manufacturer, was cut to "hold" from "buy" by Theodore O'Neill of Kaufman Bros.

Both stocks fell today.

As Red Hat prepares to join the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, it's worth noting another milestone for the Raleigh company's stock.

It was 10 years ago next month that Red Hat made its dazzling Wall Street debut. In August 1999, at the height of the dot-com boom, the little Linux software company that could sold shares in an initial public offering.

And what an IPO it was: The 272 percent first-day gain (or "pop") still ranks among the best. The company and its CEO who favored a red fedora, Robert "Bob" Young, attracted international attention. By December of that year, the stock was trading above $100 a share.

But the dot-com bust wasn't kind. By the week of Sept. 11, 2001, Red Hat shares had dropped to around $3.

Since then, the company has gone through various changes: moving its headquarters to Raleigh, adding several new faces at CEO (Matthew Szulik and now Jim Whitehurst) and shifting its stock to the New York Stock Exchange from Nasdaq.

Late Friday, S&P announced that the stock will join its iconic list of 500 Wall Street powerhouses after the close of trading on July 24. Only one other Triangle company shares that distinction: Raleigh-based Progress Energy.