Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: A higher opening on Wall Street suggested that home sales number relieved concerns about housing market, that it was about to roll over and then on top of that, a sharp 4.8 percent drop in April durable goods orders eased fears of an overheating economy. So by mid-morning, the Dow was up 43 points; NASDAQ had gained 12. Stocks became very volatile in afternoon trading, but the major indices still managed to close on the upside. Dow industrial average gained almost 19 points to 11,117.32. The NASDAQ Composite up 10.41 at 2,169.17, while the Standard & Poor`s 500 Index closed up nearly two points at 1,258.57. In the bond market, the 10- year note fell 6/32 to par and 21/32, putting the yield at 5.04 percent.
As you might expect, the most active big board issue, trading 26.1 million shares was Vonage Holdings (VG), the stock tumbling nearly 13 percent, down $2.15, traded as high as $17.25, but the low of the day was $14.50, not a very good debut as you heard.
General Electric (GE) moved up $0.26.
Then the star of the day, General Motors (GM) up $2.03, the best point gainer in the Dow. Merrill Lynch upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy" with a price target of $37 a share. GM`s gain added 16 points to the Dow Industrial Average.
Dynegy (DYN) a $0.02 gainer. The company priced a 35 million share public offering of its class A shares at $4.60 each.
Lucent Tech (LU) was up $0.02 as well. That was fifth in big board volume.
ExxonMobil (XOM) down $0.29 on the lower oil prices.
Pfizer (PFE) $0.15 loss.
Boston Scientific (BSX) up $0.53.
Time Warner (TWX) edged a penny lower.
And Citigroup (C), tenth in volume was up $0.13 a share.
Boeing (BA) was the big loser in the Dow of the day and I think what hurt it was the reaction, negative reaction to that 4.8 percent drop in April durable goods orders. That drop in Boeing stock cost the Dow 22 points, so it took away the General Motors gain.
Medtronic (MDT) up $2.22. The story here, after the close yesterday, fourth quarter earnings $0.62, way up from $0.16 last year. That was in line with Street estimates, but Morgan Stanley had a target price of $65 a share.
Payless Shoesource (PSS) up $3.77, big earnings, first quarter, $0.53, up from $0.45 last year, even though sales were flat. The company also said it`s acquired American Eagle brand footwear, didn`t disclose the amount that it paid however.
Enersys (ENS), which is in the battery and charger business, up $1.61. The company sees fourth quarter earnings coming in at $0.25 a share, $0.02 better than the Street estimate and up from $0.22 a year ago. It expects revenues to be up 24 percent.
Then First American Corp (FAF) up $2.12. The Keefe Bruyette investment house upgraded it from "market perform" to "out perform" after the company reached yesterday an agreement with the New York state attorney regarding a title insurance investigation.
Dreamworks Animation (DWA) up $1.51. Soleil securities upgraded it from "hold" to a "buy."
The golds were hard hit. Newmont Mining (NEM) down $1.64. The New York contract for June gold tumbled $36.20, down to $637.50 an ounce. Also jewelry demand for gold has dropped sharply because of the recent price surge in the precious yellow.
Then we see Borders Group (BGP), the book seller, down $1.23. First quarter loss of $0.29, $0.05 worse than the Street expected. The company sees second and third quarter earnings challenging.
Google (GOOG) topped the active list on NASDAQ, up $5.67.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.71 gain.
Apple Computer (AAPL) edged up $0.19.
Intel (INTC) lost $0.06.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a $0.12 gain. That was fifth in dollar volume.
Qualcomm (QCOM) up $0.33.
Yahoo! (YHOO) a $1.03 gainer.
Broadcom (BRCM) up $0.36.
A penny rise in Sandisk (SNDK).
And Dell (DELL) up $0.09 a share.
XM Satellite (XMSR) down $1.76. The company cut its subscriber growth forecast from nine million to 8 1/2 million by the end of this year.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
