Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: Stock prices on Wall Street were pumped up this morning by those strong earnings from Morgan Stanley and FedEx. Investors also liked Best Buy`s plan to repurchase $1.5 billion of its stock. By mid-session, the Dow had surged to a 143 point gain. The NASDAQ Composite was up 40 points.
The rally stayed alive until the last hour when profit takers trimmed the gains a bit. Still the Dow industrial average closed up 104.62 points at 11,079.46. The NASDAQ Composite was up 34.14 at 2141.20. Standard & Poor`s 500 index gained 12 points exactly to 1252.20. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 1/32 to 99 24/32, putting the yield at 5.16 percent.
Big board volume leader on 23 1/2 million shares, Pfizer (PFE) losing $0.26.
Followed by General Electric (GE) with a $0.03 drop.
Ford Motor Co (F) moved up $0.03. The company said it`s still committed to making its auto business profitable by 2008 despite doubts among some analysts these days.
AT&T (T) down $0.25.
Sprint Nextel (S) dropped a nickel a share, fifth in big board volume.
ExxonMobil (XOM) one of the better gainers in the Dow, up $0.67. Many of the Dow up of course.
Motorola (MOT) was up $0.17.
And Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) edging up $0.88. That`s a positive reaction to the company`s realignment announcement yesterday which includes cutting 15,000 jobs. Let`s have a look at some of the other better gainers in the Dow. Boeing (BA), Caterpillar (CAT) and Dupont Co (DD) all decent gains helping that Dow achieve the 104 point closing gain.
Time Warner (TWX) $0.09 gain there.
And then EMC Corp (EMC) edged up $0.04 a share, tenth in volume.
FedEx (FDX) up $5.54. As you heard, those fourth quarter earnings up 27 percent, a nickel ahead per share on the estimate and Standard & Poor`s repeated a "strong buy" today.
Morgan Stanley (MS) up $2.46. Its second quarter earnings more than doubled as you heard and today Prudential brokerage upgraded it from "neutral" to "over weight."
Best Buy Co (BBY) fell $0.13 despite the board approving that $1.5 billion stock buyback. That`s 6 percent of the outstanding shares. The company in addition will boost its quarterly dividend from $0.08 to $0.10 a share and the chief operating officer is predicting staggering sales of flat panel televisions over the next three years.
Univision Communications (UVN) down $1.56. The company received only one valid buyout bid estimated around $35 a share. It came from U.S. billionaire Hine Sabin (ph) and his investment group. The question is, what happened to Televisa (ph) in the bidding?
Lindsay Manufacturing Co (LNN), which is an irrigation systems, reported earnings that were anything but watered down today. Third quarter, $0.55, up from $0.32 a year ago. Revenues jumped 34 percent.
And Glamis Gold Ltd (GLG) up $3.05. The company reported its proven gold reserves at its Panasquito project have risen 102 percent and probable silver reserves are up 86 percent and of course, it didn`t hurt today that New York August gold was up $10.50 an ounce, good day for that stock.
Koninklijke Philips Elect (PHG) up $1.80. The company`s going to cut its stake in its own semiconductor unit through an initial public offering in the second half of this year.
Life Time Fitness (LTM) up $3.64. Bank of America upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy."
And Darden Restaurants (DRI) gained $1.74. Fourth quarter earnings $0.60, a penny ahead of the Street estimate and up from $0.52 a year ago. Bank of America repeated a "buy" recommendation on Darden.
Google (GOOG) was the most active NASDAQ issue, up nearly $15. Microsoft (MSFT) was up $0.52.
And then Apple Computer (AAPL) a $0.39 gain.
But Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA) down $3.40. That`s a negative reaction to rival Merck`s price cutting of its Zocor cholesterol drug. That`s just ahead of Teva`s launch of a similar generic.
Intel (INTC) $0.25 gain there. That was fifth in volume.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) gained $0.34.
Oracle (ORCL) $0.28 rise.
Similar advance in Qualcomm (QCOM).
And Yahoo! (YHOO) up $0.46.
Tenth in volume was Dell (DELL) with a $0.41 gain.
Lifetime Brands
(LCUT) down $3.65. This company markets home ware like Farber ware Kitchen Aid products and the company sees a second quarter loss of $0.11 to $0.16 a share versus the Street estimate for only a $0.02 per share loss.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
