Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Thursday, May 11, 2006
|
|
|
|
PAUL KANGAS: American consumers were in a spending mood last month, but most of the growth in April`s retail sales came from consumer spending at the gas pump. The Commerce Department says retail sales rose 0.5 percent last month, with gas station sales jumping 4.6 percent. If you factor out fuel, retail sales edged up just 0.10 percent. Economists say this could be the start of a negative impact of energy prices on spending and they say retail sales could taper off even more as we get further into the second quarter.
Those retail sales helped trigger a lot of stock sales on Wall Street this morning. So did those rising prices for oil and gold which rekindled inflation fears. By midday, the Dow was down 124 points and NASDAQ off 39. The sell-off accelerated this afternoon after an auction of 10-year U.S. Treasury notes got just a tepid demand and sent yields to fresh four-year highs. Stocks ended near their worst levels of the day. The Dow Industrial Average lost nearly 142 points to 11,500.73. The NASDAQ Composite tumbled 48 points to 2272.70, while the Standard & Poor`s 500 Index lost 16.93 to 1305.92. In the bond market, the 10-year note fell 7/32 to 95 lifting the yield to 5.16 percent.
New York exchange volume leader on 25.4 million shares, Nortel Networks (NT) dropping $0.215.
Then American Intl Group (AIG) off $3.39. First quarter operating earnings a bit higher than last year, $1.29 versus $1.23, but that was $0.07 below the Wall Street consensus. And Lehman Brothers today cut 2006 earnings estimates by $0.10 a share down to $5.70.
Lucent Tech (LU) down a dime.
And then Motorola (MOT) an $0.84 drop.
Pfizer (PFE) fell $0.23, fifth in volume.
Time Warner (TWX) a $0.07 gainer.
UnitedHealth Group (UNH) though down $1.80. As you heard, SEC is probing the company`s practices in granting stock options and it may have to restate its earnings lower for the last several years.
General Electric (GE) $0.19 drop.
News Corp (NWSa) up $0.58, in with third quarter earnings more than, just exactly double last year, $0.26 versus $0.13 then and the company`s also going to double its stock buyback plan to a total of $6 billion.
ExxonMobil (XOM) gave up $0.42 today, tenth in volume.
General Motors (GM) giving up $0.78 after several days of good gains, a little profit taking and some questions about the turnaround plan.
JC Penney Co (JCP) off $0.93, despite higher first quarter earnings, $0.89 versus $0.63 last year and that was a penny above the Street estimate.
And then a nice gain by World Fuel Services (INT) up $5.01. First quarter earnings jumped to $0.52 from $0.31 last year. Revenues up 43 percent and those earnings were $0.13 better than the Wall Street estimate, so a nice gain in the stock.
Koppers Holdings (KOP) up $2.52. Interestingly, the company deals in carbon materials and chemicals and the company had a nine fold increase in first quarter earnings over last year, $0.27 versus $0.03 and that was on 16, on 14 percent revenue increase and those earnings 16 percent above the Street estimate. That stock just went public incidentally in February at 14.
Office Depot (ODP) moving up $1.22. Citigroup upgraded it from "hold" to "buy."
And then Biovail (BVP) moving up $1.74. First quarter earnings jumped to $0.40 from only $0.07 last year. Revenues rose a very respectable 27 percent.
Agree Realty (ADC), a real estate investment trust, up $1.44. Compson Holdings is sweetening its buyout bid from $34.50 a share up to $38.75 a share.
And then the cigarette maker, Carolina Group (CG) down $2.55. Lowe`s Corp is going to sell 15 million shares of the stock in a public offering.
Big board volume leader, Google (GOOG) giving up nearly $16 a share to profit taking after recent gains.
Microsoft (MSFT) off $0.55.
Apple Computer (AAPL) down $2.45, caught in the downdraft of today`s high tech sell off, but also French lawmakers are pushing for access to Apple`s software codes that will convert files to a variety of formats for use with other music players besides iPod and Apple doesn`t like it one bit.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) down $0.70.
Intel (INTC) $0.22 loss, fifth in volume.
Qualcomm (QCOM) fell $2.26.
Baidu.com (BIDU) after sharp recent gains, down $2.47.
Broadcom (BRCM) also off $2.47.
And Hansen Natural (HANS), which has really taken off in the last several days, down $16.77 on profit taking.
Teva Pharmaceutical (TEVA) tenth in volume, was down $0.16.
The Movie Gallery (MOVI) up $1.62, 51 percent gain there, but big earnings, first quarter, $1.27 versus only $0.58 last year. The company said it would be open for a possible business combination with Blockbuster.
And finally we see Escala (ESCL) tumbling $2.21. That stock last Monday was at $32 a share. It`s a collectible auctioneering firm in Spain and its parent is being accused by Spanish authorities of investment fraud in the stamp business.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
