Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Thursday, February 02, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: Those strong retail sales couldn`t prevent a broad sell off in stocks. Investors were concerned over a 3.5 percent rise in fourth quarter unit labor costs and disappointing productivity, which could foreshadow wage inflation and more interest rate hikes by the Fed. At noon, the Dow was off 100 points and the NASDAQ down 27. The market remained broadly lower for the rest of the session. So the Dow industrial average closed off nearly 102 at 10,851.98. The NASDAQ Composite tumbled almost 29 points, ending at 2281.57. Standard & Poor`s 500 down 11 2/3 points to 1270.84. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 1/32 to 99 16/32, putting the yield at 4.56 percent.
Now let`s look at the rest of our stocks in the news tonight.
Most active big board issue on 32.1 million shares, Tyco Intl (TYC) losing $1.30. First quarter earnings, excluding one-time items $0.39, up from last year`s $0.34 and a penny better than the Street expected, but the company`s second quarter earnings forecast was short of expectations by about $0.05 a share in earnings.
Time Warner (TWX), which had better than expected earnings out yesterday, moved up $0.02.
So did Lucent Technology (LU) $0.02 gain there.
General Electric (GE) down $0.24.
Citigroup (C) $0.66 drop, fifth in big board volume.
Pfizer (PFE) fell $0.27.
No change in ExxonMobil (XOM). Texas - incidentally Texas - getting back to ExxonMobil, a Federal judge gave preliminary approval for a $1 billion judgment between the company and service station dealers. The dealers sued ExxonMobil over a discount for a cash program a few years ago.
Texas Instruments (TXN) gained a penny. And then a $0.29 - lost a penny.
Then a $0.29 loss in Ford Motor Co (F).
Motorola (MOT) down $0.98, tenth in volume.
Altria Group (MO) down $1.47. The Oregon supreme court confirmed a $79 1/2 million punitive jury verdict against the company`s Philip Morris unit. The company wants the U.S. Supreme Court to review that award.
Intl Paper Co (IP) dropped $0.12, although its fourth quarter earnings, including items were $0.12, a nickel better than the Street expected. For the full year, the company earned $2.21 versus a loss the year before.
Whirlpool (WHR) doing well, up $5.89. Fourth quarter earnings $1.83, way up from expectations and that`s up from $1.44 last year. Sales were up 9 percent during the period.
And Clorox Co (CLX) up $3.12. Second quarter earnings were lower, $0.55 versus $0.72 last year, because last year there was a big one-time gain, not like, not this year. Actually, there was earnings of $0.55 or $0.08 better than the Street expected.
Then the electrical supply firm, Wesco International (WCC) up $6.05. Fourth quarter earnings came in at $0.80, almost $0.20 above the Street estimate, way up from $0.38 last year and sales rose 25 percent.
On the downside, Thomson (TMS), the big media company, down $3.42. The company had a disappointing rise of only .8 of a percent in its December sales.
And then New York & Co (NWY), the women`s apparel retailer, off $1.77. Its January same store sales were down 0.6 percent. The Street estimate was for a rise of 3.8 percent in sales.
Oshkosh Truck (OSK), the truck company, up $6.15. First quarter earnings $0.72, up from $0.56 last year and the company boosted this year`s earnings forecast.
Nice gain in M/I Homes (MHO), up $4.80. Fourth quarter earnings $2.84, up from $181.70 last year. Revenues jumped 30 - or 45 percent.
Finally, Phelps Dodge (PD) down $3.66, even though the board approved a two for one stock split and a special $4 per share dividend on the pre- split shares.
Google (GOOG) topped the active list, down $5.74 on NASDAQ.
Intel (INTC) $0.35 loss.
Apple Computer (AAPL) off $3.32.
Microsoft (MSFT) down $0.36.
And then Broadcom (BCOM) managed to buck the trend with an $0.89 gain.
Cephalon (CEPH) up $5.50. The company reached a settlement with Barr Pharmaceutical over a drug patent.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.21 loss.
Starbucks (SBUX), an eye opener, up $3.04. First quarter earnings $0.22, up from $0.17, $0.02 better than the Street expected.
Amgen (AMGN) was down $1.53.
And Dell Computer (DELL) a $0.76 drop.
And finally, we had a new issue come to market today, the Thomas Weisel investment bank, (TWPG), six million shares offered at $15, opened at $19, the high of the day $20.37, had a nice debut.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
