According to court documents, Southwest Securities sued after SunGard began negotiating a business opportunity with two employees of a company that Southwest later merged with.

"I still feel good about the company,"said Kathleen Oher, an analyst at Southwest Securities in Dallas, who follows the Fort Worth-based company and is still recommending the stock.

Another analyst, John Gerdes of Southwest Securities, downgraded Anadarko.

Nevertheless, his mother encouraged him to pursue a career in finance leading him to first study municipal bonds at Southwest Securities in Dallas.

"On the surface, the patent looks quite sweeping and quite meaningful," said Arvind Bhatia, an analyst for Southwest Securities, a Dallas-based financial services firm.

At Southwest Securities, in Dallas, Richard Edelman, the director of research, cast his vote for Michaels Stores, listed on the American Stock Exchange.

Southwest Securities.

Her father was a founder of Southwest Securities there.

"It used to be that you could just put a store on a busy corner and you'd be O.K.," said R. Christopher Case, an analyst at Southwest Securities in Dallas.

Southwest Securities Inc.