Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Thursday, June 29, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: Stock prices weren`t the only things heading higher today. Oil prices rose sharply as well. Light sweet crude for August delivery gained $1.33 to $73.52 a barrel. Gasoline futures were also on the move, climbing to their highest levels in nine months today on growing fears of a summer supply crisis. Last week, U.S. gas supplies fell by a million barrels and the nation is now heading into the July 4th holiday, which is traditionally a busy time in the summer driving season. Over the last two weeks, gasoline futures prices have risen 17 percent.
Despite high energy costs, the economy zipped ahead in the first quarter at its fastest pace in 2.5 years. The Commerce Department says a revision of gross domestic product shows the economy grew 5.6 percent from January to March. That`s up from the previous estimate of 5.3 percent. The stronger figure reflects an improvement in the trade deficit, which was less of a drag than previously expected. That GDP report was anything but a drag on stocks this morning, because investors concluded the upward revision would translate into solid corporate earnings. So, without hesitation, the Dow jumped 110 points by noon, with the NASDAQ Composite up 22. Then, after the Fed news came at 2:15, buyers sent stocks soaring to their best one-day gains in three years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average vaulted 217 1/4 points to 11,190.80. The NASDAQ Composite skyrocketed 62 1/2 points to 2,174.38. Standard & Poor`s 500 Index jumped 26.87 to 1,272.87. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note rose 13/32 to 99 14/32, putting the yield down to 5.20 percent.
The most active big board issue on 17.4 million shares, Nortel Networks (NT) gaining $0.12. Followed by Tenet Healthcare (THC) down $0.12. Tenet has reached a $900 million deal with the Federal government to settle with allegations that it bilked Medicare payments. Analysts thought that settlement would cost the company over $1 billion.
Ford Motor Co (F) moved up $0.04.
General Electric (GE) $0.34 gain.
EMC Corp (EMC) closed unchanged, but after the close, EMC said it`s going to acquire RSA Security Corp for $28 a share cash. RSA stock closed $22.88, up $3.52 regular way trading and then after the market closed on that news, it rose to $27 a share.
ExxonMobil (XOM) up $1.25 as oil prices rose.
And Home Depot (HD) $0.30 gain there.
Micron Tech (MU) down $0.84. The company did report a turnaround, third quarter earnings of $0.12 versus a loss of $0.20 last year, but the company doesn`t expect any real increase in fourth quarter revenues due to its acquisition of Lexar Media and third quarter revenues were actually below Street expectations.
Pfizer (PFE) was up $0.34. There you see it on that Zoloft news.
And Motorola (MOT), tenth in volume, was up $0.68.
Let`s have a look at some of the best Dow gainers today. United Tech (UTX) almost a $2 gainer.
A nice move by 3M co (MMM).
American Express (AXP), Caterpillar (CAT) and McDonalds (MCD) was up $1.59. The story on McDonald`s, Merrill Lynch upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy" because it sees a good sales outlook, especially in Europe for McDonald`s.
Monsanto (MON) up $6.71. Third quarter earnings $1.21, way up from $0.17 a year ago. Sales were up 15 percent and Standard & Poor`s repeated incidentally a "sell" recommendation.
Duke Energy (DUK) rising $1.31. It`ll spin off its gas businesses to Duke shareholders. Standard & Poor`s repeated a "strong buy" on Duke and Lehman Brothers upgraded it from "equal weight" to "over weight."
American Greetings (AM) down $3.06. First quarter earnings dropped $0.24 from $0.35 a year ago. Sales actually declined 7 1/2 percent and the company says higher expenses will continue to put pressure on second quarter earnings.
Another loser, Advanced Auto Parts (AAP) losing nearly $6 a share. The company cut its second quarter earnings guidance from the range of $0.65 to $0.68 a share, down to $0.57 to $0.59 a share.
And Circuit City Stores (CC) up $1.22. The company boosting quarterly dividends from $0.0175 to $0.04 per share. It also boosted its stock buyback plan by $400 million.
Manitowoc co (MTW) up $4.26. The company says second quarter earnings will be $0.10 above the Street estimate of $0.70 a share.
And then an ethanol company went public today, Aventine Renewable Energy Hldgs (AVR). It was priced at $43, 9.1 million shares and some analysts say that it was priced too higher, because it never got as high as the offering price. The low was $41.75 incidentally.
Google (GOOG) topped the active list, up $11.70. RBC Capital, impressed by the company`s new online payment system.
Microsoft (MSFT) a $0.31 gain.
And then Apple Computer (AAPL) up $2.95.
Intel (INTC) $0.66 rise.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) up $0.53 a share, fifth in dollar volume.
Qualcomm (QCOM) gained $1.07.
Oracle (ORCL) rising $0.16.
Amgen (AMGN) up $1.16.
Ebay (EBAY) up $0.51.
And Red Hat (RHAT) down $1.61. Red Hat had flat first quarter earnings, $0.07, same as last year.
Then finally a major loser, Neoware Systems (NWRE) off $8.41 after the company cut its fourth quarter revenue guidance.
Those are the stocks in the news.
