Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Friday, April 28, 2006PAUL KANGAS: That strong GDP number pushed interest rates higher early today and that put stocks on the defensive as did Microsoft`s after the bell earnings shortfall we told you about last night. The Dow fell 20 points at the outset of trading. NASDAQ lost 21. The markets pretty much stayed in neutral for the rest of the day, with a rise in oil prices and pre-weekend caution putting a damper on traders late this afternoon. Dow Industrial Average closed off 15.37 at 11,367.14. That was today and this week it rose twice and fell three times, gaining 19.69 points overall. The NASDAQ Composite fell 22.38 points to 2311.57 today. It also rose twice and fell three times this week at a net loss of 20.29 points. The Standard & Poor`s 500 Index today was up .89 ending at 1310.61. In the bond market, the 10-year note rose 4/32 to 95 24/32, putting the yield at 5.06 percent.
Most active New York exchange issue on 28 million shares was Citigroup (C) moving $1.80 higher. That`s a 52-week high and a number of analysts now feel that some of the big bank stocks are undervalued and the strong economy we`re witnesses should improve their profitability.
That`s the reason why Bank of America (BAC) hit a new high also with an $0.88 gain.
Lucent Tech (LU) dropped a penny.
Then another big bank, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) up $1.43, new 52-week high.
Time Warner (TWX) a $0.04 gain there, fifth in volume.
Ford Motor co (F) was down $0.15.
But Pfizer (PFE) moved up $0.47.
General Electric (GE) a $0.16 gainer.
Sprint Nextel (S) rose $0.14.
And Aetna (AET) up $1.50. The company`s board of directors approved an additional $800 million stock buy back at Aetna and that brings the total buyback program to $2 billion.
Hartford Financial Services (HIG) rising $5.04. First quarter earnings, $2.34, up from $2.21 last year and the company boosted its 2006 guidance from about as much as $8.50 a share, all the way up to $9.10 per share.
Amerigroup (AGP) up $3.87, (INAUDIBLE) first quarter earnings $0.71, up from $0.39 last year. Sales up 21 percent during that period.
Then a major loser ProQuest Co (PQE) tumbling $6.02 or 27 percent. The company publishes information solutions for businesses and it expects an accounting review to result in earnings restatements going all the way back to the year 2000 through 2004 and the first three quarters of 2005. Standard & Poor`s issued a "strong sell" on ProQuest today.
Another big loser, Technip (TKP), this is a French oil engineering firm and it expects 2006 operating margins to fall because of higher raw material and equipment costs, major drop in the stock.
Commscope (CTV) on the upside by $4.72. This company makes communications cable systems and its first quarter earnings jumped to $0.19 from only $0.09 a year ago. Sales up 14 percent. The Baird brokerage upgraded it from "neutral" to "outperform."
And Dolby Labs (DLB) which has those digital sound systems, up $2.24, more than a doubling in second quarter earnings, $0.25 versus last year`s $0.10 and revenues were up 23 percent.
Snap-on Tools (SNA) up $4.03. First quarter earnings, $0.37, up from last year`s $0.31, 1.6 percent rise in sales.
And McAffee (MFE) up $1.51. Its first quarter earnings $0.37, a dime more than last year. Revenues rose 15 percent. Those earnings incidentally were $0.07 better than the Street was expecting.
And finally Western Digital (WDC) up $1.29. Third quarter earnings $0.45, comfortably above last year`s $0.32 and revenues were up 23 percent during that period.
Microsoft (MSFT) topped the active list down $3.10, big loss, 11.4 percent and of course that`s because of yesterday`s disappointing after the bell earnings outlook.
Google (GOOG) was down $2.09.
Apple Computer (AAPL) moved up $1.03.
Intel (INTC) a dime loss there.
Oracle (ORCL) off $0.34. That was fifth in dollar volume.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a $0.03 drop.
Comcast (CMCG A) which had good earnings out this week, up $0.50.
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) look at that move, up $23.83. First quarter earnings jumped to $0.38 from $0.25 last year. Revenues, listen to this, up 86 percent and those earnings were $0.18 better than the Street consensus.
Dell (DELL) up $0.26.
And Sandisk (SNDK) a $0.69 drop there.
OpenwaveSystems (OPWV) down $1.09. Third quarter earnings of $0.10 versus a loss of $0.04 last year, but RBC Capital downgraded the stock from "sector perform" to "under perform" and there was disappointment among analysts that the company did not announce a major contract that was widely expected by some analysts.
Ventana Medical Systems (VMSI) up $7.90. First quarter earnings, $0.14, up from $0.13 last year and $0.02 above the Street estimate.
And over on the American exchange, Blair Corp (BL) which markets fashion apparel for men and women had a first quarter loss of $1.23 versus earnings of $0.08 last year. Revenues actually dropped 4.6 percent.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
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