Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Thursday, July 27, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street opened with a heated rally this morning inspired by those huge earnings from Exxon and a stronger than expected 3.1 percent rise in June durable good orders. At noon, the Dow was up 80 points and the NASDAQ rose nine. But it was steadily downhill for the rest of the day as tech stocks sold off, while oil prices and bond yields headed higher. At the final bell, the market was slightly lower across the board. The Dow Industrial Average closed off just over 2 points at 11,100.43. The NASDAQ fell just about 16 points to 2054.47. Standard & Poor`s 500 lost 5.20 points, ending at 1263.20. In the bond market, the 10-year note dipped 1/32 to par and 21/32, putting the yield at 5.04 percent.
Most active New York exchange issue on 22 million shares was Aetna (AET) tumbling $6.71, traded as low as $31.03. Second quarter results excluding one-time items, $0.64 a share, in line with estimates, but the health insurer sees a sizable drop in new memberships this year and it also experienced bigger than expected claims. On top of that, Bear Stearns downgraded the stock from "outperform" to "peer perform."
Dow Chemical (DOW) another blue chip on the downside, off $3.74. Second quarter earnings fell to $1.05 from $1.30 last year. The earnings were $0.08 below the Street estimate and the company said it will have difficulty in meeting its previous guidance. Standard & Poor`s downgraded the stock from "buy" to a "hold."
Then a gainer, Pfizer (PFE) up $0.54.
But Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) off $1.95. Second quarter earnings for BMY dropped to $0.34 from $0.50 a year ago and the Department of Justice is in a criminal investigation of the company regarding its proposed litigation settlement with a company called Apotex.
Lucent Tech (LU) a $0.03 drop there, fifth in volume. ExxonMobil (XOM) closing down $0.08 despite those huge earnings, but it did hit a new high during the day of $67.65.
AT&T (T) an $0.18 gain.
Halliburton (HAL) up $0.35.
Motorola (MOT) gained $0.26.
And tenth in volume, Time Warner (TWX) an $0.08 rise.
Newmont Mining (NEM), the big gold, down $2.50. Second quarter earnings came in at $0.44 a share, a nickel below the Wall Street consensus. Interestingly, that hurt the gold stocks, but August gold in New York trading was up $10.60 an ounce at $632.50.
Then we have a look at Franklin Resources (BEN), the big mutual fund firm, up $2.86. Third quarter earnings jumped to $1.41, well up from last year`s $1 a share.
Core Labs NV (CLB) up $9.07. Second quarter earnings up 85 percent at $0.70 a share and that was $0.07 above the Street estimate.
CDI Corp (CDI), a staffing company, down $8.60, huge drop, second quarter earnings $0.27, above (ph) 20 last year, but $0.04 below the Street estimate and the company is also being investigated regarding anti- competitive behavior in the United Kingdom.
Checkpoint Systems (CKP), another major casualty, off $4.73. Second quarter earnings only half of what the Street estimate was, $0.18 versus Street consensus of $0.36 and the company says 2006 revenues will be 7 to 9 percent below the previous year.
Omnicare (OCR) off $4.52. Second quarter earnings $0.67, up from last year`s $0.60, but that was $0.08 below the Street estimate.
And then another huge casualty, Navteq (NVT) which makes those digital maps for automobile navigation systems, second quarter earnings $0.25, down from $0.27 a year ago and $0.02 below the Street estimate. The company also cautious on the outlook.
Google (GOOG) topped the active list on NASDAQ, down $3.10.
Microsoft (MSFT) dropped a half a dollar.
Apple Computer (AAPL) losing $0.47. But Comcast "A" (CMCSA) up $1.50. Second quarter earnings for Comcast, $0.19, same as last year, but the company boosted its 2006 earnings outlook.
Intel (INTC) a $0.03 loss. That was fifth in dollar volume on NASDAQ.
Symantec (SYMC) up $1.44. First quarter earnings excluding one-time items $0.24, $0.03 above the Wall Street estimate.
And there you see Baidu.com (BIDU), the Chinese Internet stock, tumbling $19.19. Even though second quarter earnings were $0.25 a share, $0.07 above the Street consensus, but the company gave a disappointing outlook and down went the stock.
Amazon.com (AMZN) a $0.30 gain there.
And Yahoo! (YHOO) $0.30 loss.
Akamai Tech (AKAM), tenth in volume gained $6.83. Second quarter earnings excluding one-time items came in at $0.20 a share, $0.02 above the Street estimate.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
