Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: That delay in Microsoft`s Vista system pushed tech stocks lower early today, while the blue chips rallied on the General Motors/Delphi news as well as on better than expected earnings from Morgan Stanley and Nike. At noon, the Dow was sporting a 61 point gain, while NASDAQ was up just two points.
Afternoon brought further gains with the drug and financial sectors leading the way higher and then Ford (ph) nearly five-year highs for the blue chips. The Dow Industrial Average closed up almost 82 points at 11,317.43. The NASDAQ Composite was up a modest nine points to 2303.35. Standard & Poor`s 500 gained 7.81 ending at 1305.04. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note rose 5/32 to 98 13/32 putting the yield at 4.71 percent.
By far the most active big board issue on 28 1/2 million shares, Bristol Myers (BMV) up $2.41, big move there. The company and Sanofi Adventis have settled a patent infringement suit over Plavix. That`s the blood thinner. They settled this lawsuit with Appotex Corporation. Now some think the settlement opens Bristol Myers up as a takeover candidate. Sanofi stock was up $4.20 to $47.88 by the way.
Then Lucent Technology (LU) with a $0.02 gain.
Pfizer (PFE) moved up $0.09. Some see Pfizer as a possible suitor for Bristol Myers Squibb.
AT&T (T) gained $0.20.
ExxonMobil (XOM) a $0.33 rise, fifth in big board volume.
Hewlett-Packard (HWP) lost $0.18 in that weak high tech sector.
Ford Motor Co (F) up $0.10 probably on that GM news.
Time Warner (TWX) a $0.06 gain there.
General Electric (GE) was up $0.19.
And then Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) another weak tech sector, down $0.07.
Caterpillar (CAT) did well, helping the Dow, up $1.90. The company and Shanghai Diesel are in talks to forge a closer working relationship. Caterpillar however, denies speculation that it was interested in buying a truck manufacturer, said no way.
Morgan Stanley (MS) up $1.53. Those good earnings first quarter $1.54, up from last year`s $1.29. That was $0.34 better than the Wall Street consensus.
Transmontaigne (TMG), interestingly enough, the oil distribution firm is going to be bought out by Morgan Stanley which has offered to buy all the shares it doesn`t already own for $8.50 each. The stock higher than that now.
Nike (NKE) up $1.87. Third quarter earnings came in at $1.24, up from $1.01 last year and a 9 percent rise in sales. Those earnings $0.14 above the Street estimate. Both Standard & Poor`s and Bank of America repeated "buy" recommendations on Nike.
US Airways (LCC) rising $2.62. Goldman Sachs boosted its earnings estimate for US Airways as well as two other major airlines, namely American (AMR), up $1.14 and Continental Air (CAL), which gained $1.21.
Elsewhere, Fairfax Financial (FFH) tumbled almost $17 a share and traded as low as $102.50. This after the CEO received subpoenas from the SEC regarding the company`s loss mitigation products. On top of that, Moody`s downgraded the stock`s rating from "stable" to "negative," I should say the company`s rating.
Regis (RGS), which is in the hair salon business, down $3.93. It cut its third quarter earnings estimate of $0.56 to $0.60, down to $0.45 to $0.48, says that sales will be flat.
Worthington Industries (WOR) a metal processor, off $1.89. Third quarter earnings slumped to $0.21 from $0.37 a year ago. Sales dropped 9 percent.
And then Imperial Chemical (ICI) up $1.44, takeover speculation, some say Dupont is a possible suitor there.
Microsoft (MSFT) topped the active list on NASDAQ, down $0.59, traded as low as $26.80 on the delay over that Vista operating systems release.
Apple Computer (AAPL) off $0.14.
Google (GOOG) a $0.30 gain.
Intel (INTC) $0.20 rise.
Cephalon (CEPH) gained $1.45, fifth in dollar volume.
Then Oracle (ORCL) up $0.37.
$0.14 gain for Dell (DELL).
Broadcom (BRCM) fell $0.85.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a penny gain.
And then Yahoo! (YHOO), tenth in volume, up $0.64.
A new offering today, Nextest Systems (NEXT) which tests semiconductor chips, 5.4 million shares offered at $14. That`s where it opened. The high of the day $17.15, closed very close to high.
And Chaparral Steel (CHAP) up $8.16, big third quarter earnings, $2.06, way up from $0.62 last year and sales soared 45 percent.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
