Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Monday, May 01, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: Those strong figures on consumer spending and income along with a record gain in March construction spending boosted Wall Street`s confidence in the health of the economy and sent stocks higher at the outset of trading with the Dow rising 50 points and the NASDAQ gaining eight. The upturn lost momentum as the day wore on. All that robust economic data pushed interest rates higher. That and a surge in oil prices sent stocks to a lower close. Dow Industrial Average ended down 23.85 points at 11,343.29. NASDAQ Composite lost 17.78 to 2304.79. Standard & Poor`s 500 Index down 5.42 points ending at 1305.19. Bonds were weak across the board. The 10-year note fell 21/32 to 95 3/32 lifting the yield to a near four-year high at 5.14 percent.
The most active New York exchange issue on 19.6 million shares, Aramark (RMK) jumping $5.79. The food services business company has gotten a bid from an investor group led by the company`s chairman that proposed to take the firm private at a price of $32 a share.
Lucent Tech (LU) second in volume showed no change.
Pfizer (PFE) down $0.21.
Nortel Networks (NT) a nickel drop.
Motorola (MOT) down $0.19 even though the company`s boosting its quarterly dividend from $0.04 to $0.05 a share.
Bank of America (BAC) down $0.74.
Time Warner (TWX) a $0.06 drop.
Citigroup (C) fell $0.49.
Ford Motor Co (F) a $0.04 loss.
And Qwest Communications Intl (Q) up $0.26, tenth in volume.
Aetna (AET) up $1.25. The CEO said that the earnings report released by the company last week needed clarification because of confusion over the firm`s medical cost guidance to which he said, Wall Street over reacted negatively and it looks like he clarified things today judging by the rise in the stock.
Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) up $0.90. Preliminary April same store sales rose 6.8 percent says the company and that beat its own estimate of plus 4 to 6 percent.
Humana (HUM) down $0.22. It traded as low as $43.29 after reporting first quarter earnings of $0.39 a share. That was about a nickel below the Street consensus.
Aviall (AVL), there you see it, up $9.26 on that news that Boeing will acquire it for $48 per share cash money on the barrelhead.
Agco (AG) up $2.64. First quarter earnings lower, $0.19 versus $0.24 a year ago but that was $0.08 ahead of the Street estimate. The stock went up nicely.
Then CBOT Holdings (BOT), Chicago Board of Trade, down $9.20. The April derivatives trading volume of the firm were flat with March and down about 3 percent from a year ago.
Then Sea Containers "A" (SCRa) down $1.76 or 25 percent. The company has delayed filing its 2005 annual report. It expects its auditors to raise substantial doubt about the company`s ability to survive as a going concern.
Then we see Proquest Co (PQE) dropping another $3.39. It tumbled over $6 Friday on news the company will restate its financials from the year 2000 into early 2005 and today it said that those restatements will be largely than expected.
William Lyon Homes (WLS) up $8.85. General William Lyon will boost his buyout bid from $100 to $109 a share. He started at $93.
Atwood Oceanics (ATW) down $1.60. Friday the company had strong second quarter earnings, but today both CS First Boston and Jefferies lowered their ratings from "buy" to "hold." Look at the rise in the stock, a little valuation there.
Microsoft (MSFT) topped the active list on NASDAQ, up $0.14.
But Google (GOOG) tumbled just over $19. This week`s "Barron`s" financial says almost half of the big money managers think Google is the most highly overvalued stock.
Apple Computer (AAPL) down $0.79.
Intel (INTC) $0.49 drop.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) gained a penny. That was fifth in volume.
Then Dell (DELL) down $0.55.
Research in Motion (RIMM) off $3.60. Visto Corp. has filed a patent infringement suit against Research in Motion.
Yahoo! (YHOO) down $0.70.
A penny loss in Oracle (ORCL).
And Qualcomm (QCOM) down $0.69, tenth in volume.
Dawson Geophysical (DWSN) up $4.09. Second quarter earnings, $0.57, $0.20 better than last year. Revenues shot up 51 percent.
And then Laserscope (LSCP) tumbling $3.05. First quarter earnings came in at $0.14, down from $0.22 last year and $0.03 below the Street estimate.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
