Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: The government says drivers should expect to shell out about $3 a gallon for gasoline for the rest of the summer. The Federal Energy Information Administration says it doesn`t expect prices to drop until after Labor Day when demand drops. Supplies are already dropping. The EIA said today that gasoline stockpiles fell by 3.2 million barrels in the latest week, much more than expected. The news helped push oil prices higher in New York, with September light sweet crude closing up $0.19 at $73.94. Profit taking after two days of gains pushed stocks lower earlytoday.
Even General Motors` good news was overshadowed by disappointing results from Phelps Dodge and Norfolk Southern. After 90 minutes of trading, the Dow was off 41 points, NASDAQ down 18. The Federal Reserve`s beige book report helped the Dow jump to a 40-point gain this afternoon. But buyers backed away in the last hour and the markets ended little changed. The Dow Industrial Average closed down 1.20 at 11,102.51. The NASDAQ Composite off 3.44 at 2070.46. Standard & Poor`s 500 Index fell .48 ending at 1268.40. In the bond market, the 10-year note rose 8/32nds to par and 22/32, putting the yield at 5.04 percent.
Most active big board issue on 31.6 million shares, Corning (GLW) plunging $3.13. Second quarter earnings excluding one-time items came in at $0.26 a share. That was a penny above the Street estimate. But the company predicting third quarter earnings will fall to $0.22 to $0.26. The Street estimate was $0.28.
ExxonMobil (XOM) up $0.81. Its results due out tomorrow.
General Motors (GM) up $1.34 on that better than expected operating result you heard about.
AT&T (T) up $0.55. It had good earnings out this week.
And then Pfizer (PFE), fifth in volume, was up $0.15 a share.
Lucent Tech (LU) gained a penny, although third quarter earnings out only $0.02, down from $0.07 last year. Revenues fell 12 percent, but of course the company is being acquired by Alcatel.
Ford Motor Co (F) rising on GM`s bootstraps, up $0.16.
Halliburton Co (HAL) a $0.55 gain.
Motorola (MOT) up $0.25.
And Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) up $0.42. After the close yesterday, as we reported, HPQ is going to acquire Mercury Interactive for $4.5 billion or $52 a share in cash. Mercury Interactive stock was up $10.75 to close at $49.75 today.
Boeing Co (BA) down $3.85. Second quarter loss of $0.21 versus earnings of $0.70 last year. That loss was largely due to heavy charges to settle a Department of Justice probe into the company`s defense contracts. Actually the company boosted its 2007 earnings outlook.
Then we see ConocoPhilips (COP) up $1.15. Big second quarter earnings, $3.09, up from $2.21 a year ago. That was $0.30 above the Street estimate.
Norfolk Southern (NSC) down $3.85. Second quarter earnings fell to $0.89 from $1.04 last year despite an 11 percent rise in revenues and theDow transport index today plunged another 123 points on top of an 80-point loss yesterday.
Phelps Dodge (PD), the big copper company, up $1.61, down $1.61. Second quarter earnings were down $2.32, versus $3.38 last year and that was largely due to some copper hedging activity that didn`t work out as well as the company had hoped.
Aflac (AFL) big insurance company, down $1.76. Second quarter earnings $0.81, up from $0.66 last year, but the company said sales in Japan were disappointing and 70 percent of its revenues come from Japan.
Then we see Getty Images (GYI) plunging $10.08. Second quarter earnings fell to only $0.35 from $0.53 a year ago despite an 11 percent rise in revenue. Credit Suisse downgraded the stock from "out perform" to just a "neutral" rating.
Then a major loser, Choice Hotels (CHH) plunging $14.65. Despite second quarter earnings that were a bit higher, $0.36 versus $0.32 last year, but that was at the low end of the company guidance. It will buy back $5.1 million of its own shares, but Bear Stearns today downgraded the stock from "peer perform" to "under perform."
Plantronics (PLT) down $4.16. First quarter earnings $0.28, way down from $0.44 last year and a 31 percent rise in revenues.
General Cable (BGC) up $2.81. Second quarter earnings jumped to $0.80 from $0.27 a year ago. Revenues up 62 percent.
And Mylan Labs (MYL) did well, up $2.04. Earnings in the first quarter more than doubled, $0.35 versus $0.16 last year, $0.07 above the Street estimate.
Google (GOOG) topped the active list with a loss of $3.86.
Apple Computer (AAPL) moving up $1.94.
Amazon.com (AMZN) down $7.33. After the close yesterday, as we reported, Amazon`s earnings fell to only $0.05 a share, versus $0.12 a year ago.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.15 gain.
Intel (INTC) was down $0.04 and that was fifth in volume.
Amgen (AMGN) gained $1.78. Qualcomm (QCOM) a $0.70 rise.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) down $0.13.
Broadcom (BRCM) fell $0.98 a share.
And tenth in volume was Yahoo! (YHOO) gaining $0.13 a share.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
