Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Friday, February 10, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: That record trade gap and Pfizer`s flat 2006 earnings and sales projections put Wall Street in a defensive mood this morning. Ninety minutes into the trading, the Dow was down 57 points, NASDAQ Composite was off 18 points. But then the market stair-stepped its way into higher ground this afternoon, thanks to easing oil prices and some bargain hunting. So the Dow Industrial Average gained 35.70 points ending at 10,919.05 today. This week it rose in four of the five days for a net advance of 125.43. The NASDAQ Composite up just over six points to 2261.88 today. It fell three times, rose twice this week for an overall loss of just under a point. Standard & Poor`s 500 was up 3.21 ending at 1266.99 today. In the bond market, the 10-year note fell 11/32 to 99 9/32, putting the yield at 4.59 percent.
And no surprise, Pfizer (PFE) was the volume leader on the big board again today, trading 34.8 million shares. The stock down $0.66 on that flat earnings sales projection.
Then came ExxonMobil (XOM) down $0.49 as oil prices receded a bit.
And that`s Valero Energy (VLO), a refining company, by $2.33.
General Electric (GE) up $0.36.
Nortel Networks (NT) a $0.02 gain, which was fifth in big board volume.
Time Warner (TWX) lost $0.03.
Followed by Chesapeake Energy (CHK) with a $0.79 drop.
Then a new issue, Magellan Midstream Holdings (MGG), this is an energy-related limited partnership, 22 million units offered to the public at $24.50 each, opened at $24.50, high of the day $24.56 and then it slumped to $0.50 below the offering price on the close.
Lucent Technology (LU) edged a penny higher.
Then AT&T (T), tenth in volume up $0.35.
Metlife (MET) up $1.10. Fourth quarter earnings $1.04, up from $0.88 a year ago and that was $0.03 better than the Wall Street consensus.
Another insurance company Aon (AOC) up $3.23, big fourth quarter earnings, $0.65, way above last year`s $0.24 a share.
McAfee (MFE), the Internet security firm, up $4.02. Fourth quarter earnings $0.27, up from last year`s $0.22. Standard & Poor`s repeated a "strong buy" and Deutsche Bank upgraded it from "hold" to a "buy" so good news for McAfee today.
Analog Devices (ADI) fell $1.65. First quarter earnings were higher, $0.32 versus $0.28 a year ago, but the company forecast second quarter revenue of around $642 million, well below the Wall Street estimate of $651 million. That hurt the stock.
Salesforce.com (CRM) losing $4.27. There is speculation and rumors around today the company lost a major software contract to Oracle, but neither company would comment on that rumor.
Phelps Dodge (PD), the big copper stock, down $10.32. Prudential downgraded it from "over weight" to "neutral" and downgraded the whole copper industry from "favorable" to "neutral," hurt a lot of the stocks in the group.
Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold (FCX) up or down $4.90. The Indonesian government says soaring mineral prices justify a revision of the company`s profit sharing pact with the Indonesian country.
Novastar Financial (NFI) losing $3.57. The company has postponed the release of its fourth quarter results as it seeks legal opinions on its tax positions. That should take two to four weeks.
Google (GOOG) topped the active list, rebounding $3.84 after a couple of days of profit taking.
Same story with Apple Computer (AAPL) which rose $2.36.
Then Intel (INTC) a $0.29 gainer.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) up $0.21, fifth in dollar volume on NASDAQ.
Microsoft (MSFT) edging $0.03 higher.
Sandisk (SNDK) up $0.16.
No change in Oracle (ORCL).
Broadcom (BCOM) down $0.86.
Yahoo! (YHOO) a penny gainer.
And then tenth in volume Dell (DELL) up $0.58.
OraSure Technology (OSUR), the company makes test kits and so forth, fourth quarter earnings a nickel, versus a loss last year, but the company very cautious about 2006 earnings outlook.
And then Quality Systems (QSII) tumbling $9.70. The company had higher earnings, $0.35 versus $0.32, but that was $0.10 below the Wall Street estimate.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
