Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: That rise in oil prices was significant and bad for stocks this morning as was profit taking in the tech sector. Another negative was a strong 1.1 percent rise in the January leading economic indicators which could influence the Fed to keep raising interest rates. At mid-day the Dow was off 50 points and NASDAQ was down 24.
That`s pretty much where things stayed right until the closing bell. Dow Industrial Average lost 46.26 ending at 11,069.06. The NASDAQ Composite was down 19.40, ending at 2262.96. Standard & Poor`s 500 down 4 1/4 points at 1283.04. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 12/32 to 99 14/32, putting the yield at 4.57 percent.
The most active New York exchange issue, Time Warner (TWX) on 22.7 million shares, down $0.14. The company boosted its stock buy back plan to $20 billion. That`s part of Carl Icahn`s agreement to drop his attempt to gain control of the firm. Then came Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) down $1.56. Last week`s rally in tech stocks gave way to profit taking today, no specific news on Hewlett that I saw. Lucent Technologies (LU) a $0.02 loss. Pfizer (PFE) down $0.18. Nortel Networks (NT) a $0.13 drop. That was fifth in big board volume. Then General Electric (GE) losing $0.25. EMC (EMC) moved up $0.15. ExxonMobil (XOM) on the higher oil prices, gained $0.21. Wal-Mart (WMT) stores, you heard the story there, down $0.51, outlook not what Wall Street would like to hear. And then I-Shares Japan (EWJ) edged up $0.03, tenth in volume. Endesa (ELE) this is the big European power company based in Madrid, Spain. The company got a $32.81 per share cash buyout bid from German utility E On. That beats a hostile buy out bid from Gas Natural (ph) by 30 percent, but Endesa thinks it`s still inadequate. Then a big loser and that was Tennant Company (TNC) which is in the commercial flooring business. Fourth quarter earnings higher, $0.70 versus $0.66, but well below the Street estimate of $0.85 to $0.86. The stock did trade as low as $46.20 today before it made a late comeback. Thomas Nelson (TNM), this is one of the largest publishers of Christian books and the company to be taken private for about $29.85 a share or $473 million. The buyer, a private investment group called InterMedia Partners VII LP. Then Carnival Corp. (CCL) the cruise ship stocks sank a bit today, off $1.72 there. CS First Boston downgraded it from "out perform" to "neutral," did the same for Royal Caribbean whose stock fell $0.90 to $45 a share even. TRW Automotive Holdings (TRW) up $1.01 Fourth quarter earnings higher, $0.40, up from $0.34 last year and $0.07 above the Street estimate. Sales up 3 percent. The company predicted first quarter will rise $0.55 to $0.70 when the Street estimate is only $0.49. That`s some pretty good news there. Grant Prideco (GRP) which makes oil drilling bits has set a $150 million stock buyback, boosted it nicely today. Longs Drug Store (LDG) up $2.48. The company boosted its fourth quarter earnings guidance from the range of $0.47 to $0.53 all the way up to $0.87 to $0.92, part of that due to a gain from the sale of its distribution facility. Then Robert Haft (RHI), the staffing company, down $1.53. Wachovia bank downgraded it from "out perform" to "under perform." And Baker Hughes (BHI), the oil service stock, up $4.32. Last Thursday as we reported, fourth quarter earnings were strong and today Morgan Stanley boosted its price target from $83 to $89 a share. Google (GOOG) topped NASDAQ`s most active, down $2.16. Apple Computer (AAPL) off $1.21. For the second time in a week, a worm is targeting Apple`s Mac computers. Intel (INTC) gained a penny. Microsoft (MSFT) down $0.16. Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.28 loss, fifth in dollar volume. Dell (DELL) was down $0.57. Amgen (AMGN) fell $0.36. Applied Materials (AMAT) $0.43 drop. Research in Motion (RIMM) moved up $1.92. There`s speculation by this summer the company may have its Blackberry product equipped with both a camera and an MP3 player. Qualcomm (QCOM) down $1.37, tenth in dollar volume. Able Energy (ABLE) up $2.57, big percentage gain. The company`s in a pact with TransMontaigne to distribute a new biodiesel fuel for home heating. And another good gainer, Vasco Data Security (VDSI) up $1.10. Fourth quarter earnings quadrupled over last year, $0.08 versus only $0.02 then and revenues soared 88 percent. Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
