Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
|
|
|
|
KANGAS: The better than expected earnings from Disney we told you about last night and solid earnings from Coca-Cola this morning lifted the Dow industrial average 20 points at the outset of trading. But that 50 percent cut in the dividend by GM and a lowered home sales outlook from Toll Brothers turned the market mixed by noon. The afternoon was marked by heavy profit taking in recently strong sectors like gold, silver and oil. And the result was a broadly lower close. The Dow Industrial Average ended down 48 1/2 points at 10,749.76. The NASDAQ Composite was off 13.84, ending at 2244.96. Standard & Poor`s 500 lost 10 1/4 points at 1254.78. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 6/32 to 99 14/32, putting the yield at 4.57 percent.
New York exchange volume leader on 27.8 million shares was Disney (DIS) with a nice gain of $1.74 or 7 percent. As we reported after the close yesterday, Disney in with first quarter earnings of $0.35, a nickel above the Street estimate and it`s merging its radio unit into Citadel broadcasting. Today, Standard & Poor`s repeated a "buy" and so did Deutsche Bank securities.
General Electric (GE) down $0.44.
Time Warner (TWX) a $0.22 loss. The Lazard investment house representing Carl Icahn unveiled his reorganization plan, which called for a break up of the company into four separate companies and also a $20 billion stock buy back.
Pfizer (PFE) was up $0.09. The company said it`s considering strategic alternatives for its consumer health care unit which includes the spin off or sale of the business. Officials are expected to elaborate on this initiative Friday when the company meets with analysts.
Motorola (MOT) a $0.47 gain. HSBC upgraded it from "neutral" to "overweight," also boosted its price target on Motorola from $20 to $25 a share.
ExxonMobil (XOM) down $1.42. March light crude contracts in New York trading today fell $2.02 a barrel, down to $63.09. The whole oil group was weak.
Micron Technology (MU) gained $0.35.
EMC Corp (EMC) a $0.06 loss.
AT&T (T) down $0.13.
And then Chesapeake Energy (CHK) in that weak group, down $2.07.
General Motors (GM) lost only $0.53. That dividend cut as you heard, 50 percent from $2 to $1 annually, was widely expected and some say it`s a good idea.
Coca-Cola Co (KO) was up $0.09. Fourth quarter earnings excluding one time items, $0.46 a share, a penny above the Street estimate. Revenues were up 7 percent.
Then came the home builders led by Toll Brothers (TOL) on the downside, off $1.73. The company`s predicting a 3 percent drop in its new home sales for all of this year and that was underscored by the National Association of Realtors which forecast a drop of 8 1/2 percent in new home sales this year overall.
Let`s have a look at some other stocks in the home building sector and they were all down significantly. Beazer Homes (BZM), Centex (CTX), Lennar (LEN) and Ryland Group (RYL) major casualties in the home building sector.
Newmont Mining (NEM), the golds were really weak today, heavy, heavy profit taking in these stocks, which have had a meteoric rise in recent weeks. New York April gold were down $19.50 an ounce, worst one day drop in history, now stands at $554.80 an ounce. Let`s have a look at some other stocks in the gold group.
Anglogold Ashanti (AU) down $4.66.
And significant losses in Barrick Gold (AGX), Gold Fields Ltd (GFI) and Glamis Gold (GLG) as well.
Central Vermont (CV) public services, well, that was a nice gain of $1.86. The company plans to buy back $50 million worth of its own stock. It`ll be a reverse tender auction and the price will be between $20.50 and $22.50 a share on the buy back.
Hillenbrand Industries (HB) up $3.30, good first quarter earnings, $0.79 versus $0.69 a year ago, $0.03 above the Street estimate.
And then Gardner Denver (GDI) which makes compressors and vacuum pumps, things like that, up $2.70. Big earnings fourth quarter, $0.96, up from $0.67 a year ago and revenues, listen to this, up 53 percent. Those earnings incidentally were $0.19 above the Street estimate.
Prestige Brands Holdings (PBH) which makes personal care products like Cutex nail polish remover, stuff like that, lower earnings, $0.19 third quarter, versus $0.20 a year ago.
And then we see Playtex Products (PYX) losing $1.62, a fourth quarter loss of $0.19 versus earnings last year. Sales dropped over 5 percent.
NASDAQ`s most active, Google (GOOG) tumbling $17.80.
Apple Computer (AAPL) up $0.30.
Intel (INTC) $0.06 gain.
Microsoft (MSFT) down $0.23.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) was up $1 from that level in after hours trading on the better expected earnings.
Yahoo! (YHOO) up a dime.
$0.37 gain in Dell (DELL).
Broadcom (BCOM) up $0.41.
Ebay (EBAY) down $0.84.
And then Applied Materials (AMAT) with a $0.42 gain.
Under Armour (UARM) which makes athletic apparel had sharply lower fourth quarter earnings, $0.08 versus $0.15 last year and is cautious about the outlook. That hurt the stock.
And sohu.com (SOHU), the Chinese Internet retailer rose over $3 on fourth quarter earnings of $0.23 versus $0.17 a year ago, 27 percent jump in revenues.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
