Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Monday, May 22, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: Broad declines in most foreign stock markets had Wall Street on the defensive today. Wheat, metals and energy stocks led the way lower. A steady sell-off sent the Dow to a 60 point midday loss while the NASDAQ Index was off 28 points, largely due to a drop in semiconductor stocks. A drop in interest rates and a dividend boost by American Express helped the market rally this afternoon, but the Dow Industrial Average still closed down 18 3/4 points at 11,125.33. The NASDAQ Composite was down 21 points at 2172.86. Standard & Poor`s 500 Index fell 4.96 ending at 1,262.07. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note rose 6/32 to par and 21/32, putting the yield at 5.04 percent.
New York exchange most active issue on 19.2 million shares, Lucent Technology (LU) losing $0.03 despite a UBS financial upgrade from "neutral" to "buy."
Then came Pfizer (PFE) losing a dime a share.
Followed by General Electric (GE) a $0.09 drop.
Citigroup (C) managed to buck the trend, up $0.04 there.
Ford Motor co (F) $0.13 drop, fifth in big board volume.
Then ExxonMobil (XOM) up $0.33 as oil prices recovered a bit this afternoon.
AT&T (T) down $0.04.
Ishares Japan (EWJ) fell $0.38.
Time Warner (TWX) a nickel loss.
And then Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) down $1.77. You might recall the stock ran up last week on news Dell is going to use some of its chips but today, the stock down after Karis (ph) & Company brokerage noted that Intel is coming out with a faster chip than the latest Advance Micro.
American Express (AXP) down $0.33, traded as low as $51.33. The company is boosting its quarterly dividend from $0.12 to $0.15 a share. That`s a 25 percent jump. It also plans to buy back up to 200 million shares of its own stock.
Then we see Lowes Companies (LOW) which we talked about earlier, down $2.82, despite a 44 percent jump in first quarter earnings to $1.06 versus only $0.73 last year, $0.12 above the Street estimate, but the stock down on the company`s cautious outlook for the second quarter of this year.
Campbell Soup (CPB) was hot today, up $1.10. Third quarter earnings up 14 percent to $0.40 from $0.35 a year ago and $0.05 above the Street estimate. The company cited strong demand for a wide range of its soups.
Corning (GLW) off $1.21. The company sees second quarter LCD glass volumes flat or down 5 percent from the first quarter. The company previously forecast flat to up 5 percent volume for the LCDs.
Dillard`s (DDS) department stores up $1.08. First quarter earnings jumped to $0.77 from only $0.46 a share a year ago. Same store sales were up 2 percent during that period.
Home builders weak today, especially Meritage Homes (MTH) losing $2.84. The Bank of America sees this stock facing a great downside risk because of its rather high valuation.
Phelps Dodge (PD) down $3.57, traded as low as $77.15, then recovered a bit, an example of the weak basic metals sector today.
And the steels were weak. Nucor (NUE) plunging $4.70, traded as low as $96.74 and incidentally, U.S. Steel was off $3.18 also in that weak sector.
Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical (SHI) losing $8.70. The company is denying reports that it`s going to go private. That hurt the stock today.
And then on the upside, Boykin Lodging (BOY) a REIT that owns hotels across the nation, up $1.52. Braveheart Holdings will acquire the firm for $11 a share in cash.
Volume leader on NASDAQ Google (GOOG) up $0.93.
Microsoft (MSFT) a $0.32 gain. Microsoft says a lawsuit by Symantec won`t delay the launch of its new Vista operating system.
Apple Computer (AAPL) down $1.13.
Intel (INTC) $0.35 drop there.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) fell $0.27, fifth in volume.
Then we see Yahoo! (YHOO) which the "Baron`s" had a report saying the stock is undervalued, up $0.93 today.
Broadcom (BRCM) down $2.86.
And Marvell Technology Group (MRVL) off $3.21. Both of those stocks were hurt by concern over the timing of stock option grants to management.
Sandisk (SNDK) was down $2.92.
And Amgen (AMGN) managed to gain a dime.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
