Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Thursday, February 16, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street moved modestly higher this morning, led by tech stocks after Hewlett-Packard`s solid earnings we told you about yesterday. Strong housing starts, which we`ll detail shortly, also inspired the bulls. At midday, the Dow was up 24 points, NASDAQ Composite up 14. After a brief fade, the market headed back up again helped by solid earnings from J.C. Penny and Target. The Dow Industrial Average closed with a gain o 61 3/4 points at 11,120.68. The NASDAQ Composite up 18.20 at 2294.63, while the Standard & Poor`s 500 Index rose 9 1/3 points ending at 1289.38. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note gained 3/32 to 99 10/32. That put the yield at 4.59 percent.
Most active stock on the New York exchange, Hewlett-Packard (HWP) trading 31.4 million shares. That gain of $2.35 is responsible for 19 points of the Dow`s advance today. And of course yesterday, as we reported, first quarter earnings $0.48, $0.04 better thane expected. Today CS First Boston upgraded the stock from "neutral" to "out perform."
Boston Scientific (BSX) up $1.97. The company`s chief financial officer yesterday bought 200,000 shares for himself. He paid about $4 1/2 million. That`s kind of a confidence booster.
EMC Corp (EMC) up $0.26.
Time Warner (TWX) showed no change, but the "Wall Street Journal" late today reported billionaire Carl Icahn had scrapped plans to take over Time Warner after reaching a compromise which lets the dissident shareholder nominated five members to the board.
Pfizer (PFE), fifth in volume, was up $0.20 a share.
Then moving along, we see ExxonMobil (XOM) with a $0.49 gain.
Followed by General Electric (GE) down $0.11.
Lucent Tech (LU) was a $0.03 gainer.
United Micro Electronics (UMC) up $0.15. Yesterday, that company says it`s going to buy back up to $1 billion of its own shares. That`s about 5 percent of the float.
Qwest Communications (Q) gained $0.31. That was tenth in volume.
J.C. Penney (JCP) up $1.22, seven year high for the stock. Fourth quarter earnings up 65 percent over last year to $1.71. That was $0.08 better than estimates. The company`s boosting its annual dividend from $0.50 to $0.72 a share and it`s going to buy back up to $750 million of its own stock, good combination there today.
Target Corp (TGT) down $1.21. It did have higher fourth quarter earnings of $1.06, up from $0.91 last year, a penny above the Street estimate, but several analysts, including one at Goldman Sachs are concerned about the company`s gross profit margins.
Administaff Inc (ASF) up $5.88. Fourth quarter earnings more than double last year, $0.39, way up from $0.14. Revenues were up 23 percent over last year`s level.
Lamson & Sessions (LMS) big loser, down $6.60. The manufacturer of conduit and PVC piping had first quarter earnings jumping to $0.93 versus $0.09, but it said first quarter of the new year will be only about $0.42 and it expects flat sales and earnings in the second and third quarters.
Navigant Consulting Inc (NCI) fell $2.52. Fourth quarter earnings the same as last year, $0.22 and $0.03 lower than expected. Revenues were up 16 percent.
Then we see Libbey Inc (LBY), that`s the glassware manufacturer jarred by $1.40 loss in the stock today. The company had a fourth quarter loss of $1.50 a share, versus $0.11 in earnings last year, is cutting its quarterly dividend from $0.10 all the way down to $0.025 and it sees the outlook quite challenging, a lot of bad news there.
Cleveland Cliffs (CLF) down $6.74. Earnings in fourth quarter $2.36, well below the $2.75 Street estimate.
And finally we see Baker Hughes Inc (BHI) up $2.98. Good fourth quarter earnings, $0.75 versus $0.53 last year, $0.02 above the Street estimate.
Google (GOOG) rebounding after several days of profit taking, up over $24.
Apple Computer (AAPL) up $1.35.
No change in Intel (INTC).
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.07 loss.
Applied Materials (AMAT) was down $0.50 a share, fifth in dollar volume.
There you see Dell (DELL) up $0.19 on the regular way close, but it fell to around $31.65 after hours.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.04 gain.
Amgen (AMGN) up $1.
XM Satellite (XMSR) down $1.27. Fourth quarter loss of $1.22, $0.30 worse than expected and the director resigned. He said the company`s having trouble.
Qualcomm (QCOM) up $0.76.
Finally, Expedia (EXPE) down $4.43. Fourth quarter earnings excluding items, $0.20, down from last year`s $0.27, $0.05 below the Street estimate.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
