Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Monday, January 16, 2006"Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News"
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street opened modestly higher as investors shrugged off that sharp rise in the producer price index and focused instead on the small increase in the core rate. The smaller than expected rise in retail sales last month reinforced the case for the Federal Reserve to stop hiking interest rates. The Dow rose 20 points at the outset of trading, NASDAQ up one point. The early upturn was too tepid to gain much of a following, so sellers took control this afternoon amid caution ahead of the long weekend.
Dow industrial average closed down just 2 1/2 points at 10,959.87. This week, it rose twice, fell three times, still had a net gain of .56. The NASDAQ Composite rose a fraction to 2317.04 today. It fell only once and rose four times this week for an overall advance of 11.42 points. The Standard & Poor`s 500 index up 1 1/2 today, ending at 1287.61. In the bond market, the 10-year note rose 13/32 to 101 4/32, putting the yield at 4.36 percent.
Most active big board issue on 80 million shares, Lucent Technology (LU) losing $0.06 after the company lowered its 2006 revenue forecast because of lower than expected sales in the United States in China and that was in the first quarter.
Then we see Tyco International (TYC) down $3.19. That split into three publicly companies is supposed to enhance shareholder value, but as you heard Jeff, say the company downgraded first quarter guidance from $0.41 to $0.38. And on top of that, Citigroup downgraded Tyco shares from "buy" to just a "hold."
Nortel Networks (NT) off $0.15.
Time Warner (TWX) $0.21 loss.
Ford Motor Co (F) slipped just $0.01. That was fifth in volume.
Then the Gap (GPS) off $0.44.
Sprint Nextel (S) moved up $0.57.
Pfizer (PFE) a $0.09 gain.
General Motors (GM) down $0.59, even though the chairman thinks it`s going to be a better year ahead.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) off $1.22. Deutsche Securities downgraded it from "hold" to "sell," citing increased competition from Intel.
IBM (IBM), another Dow stock, off $0.40 today. The SEC is beefing up its investigation into the company`s accounting for stock option expensing.
And US Steel (X) did well today, edging up $0.58. CS First Boston upgraded it from "neutral" to "outperform" with a $57 a share price target.
Wellpoint (WLP) down $2.05. Goldman Sachs downgraded its rating on the managed care sector from "neutral" to "cautious" today. That affected some other stocks in that area.
Like Aetna (AET) off $1.53.
Cigna (CI) (UNH) losing just $0.78.
But Unitedhealth Group (UNH) down $1.59 on that downgrade.
RadioShack (RSH) moved up $1.41. Prudential Securities upgraded it from "neutral" to "over weight" and yesterday, RadioShack reported fourth quarter same store sales were up a respectable 4 percent.
A retailer on the downside, Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) losing $2.37 after Prudential downgraded it from "over weight" to just a "neutral" and did the same with Ann Taylor stock, which slipped $0.98 to $32.96.
Home builders were weak today. Lennar (LEN) losing $1.24. The Raymond James financial brokerage downgraded four of the housing stocks from "market perform" to "under perform." Lennar was one of them. Let`s have a look at the other three that were downgraded.
Pulte Homes (PHM) off just a fraction.
Same story with Ryland Group (RYL) and Standard Pacific (SPF), no big losses there.
But reinforcing the argument that housing is slowing down was the Toll Brothers (TOL) stock, off $0.47. Toll says that its new home orders are indeed slowing.
Google (GOOG) topped the NASDAQ active list, up $2.62.
Followed by Apple Computer (AAPL) with a gain of $1.30.
But Sandisk (SNDK) was down $4.39 after Bear Stearns brokerage downgraded it from "out perform" to just "peer perform."
Yahoo! (YHOO) lost $0.99.
Intel (INTC) an $0.18 loss. That was fifth in dollar volume.
Microsoft (MSFT) edged up a nickel.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.28 loss.
Applied Materials (AMAT)down $0.67.
Rambus (RMBS) moved up $0.53.
Tenth in volume Sun Microsystems (SUMW) a $0.31 gain.
Hansen Natural (HANS) up $12.16. The company makes natural sodas and fruit juices and Citigroup issued a "buy" recommendation on the stock and boosted its price target from $0.88 all the way up to $130 a share.
Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) up $1.89, over a 10 percent rise. There`s speculation that Pfizer may try to acquire the company, which has a product called Exubera, which is an inhalable insulin for diabetes.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
