Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Monday, July 31, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: After last week`s hot rally, Wall Street cooled down on profit taking early today. Rising oil futures helped send the Dow down 30 points at the outset, while the NASDAQ fell nine points. The market remained locked in a narrow trading range in modestly lower ground for the rest of the day, on uncertainty over the Middle East conflict and the outlook for interest rates. The Dow Industrial Average closed off just over 34 points at 11,185.68. NASDAQ Composite down 2.67 at 2091.47. Standard & Poor`s 500 fell 1.89 ending at 1276.66. In the bond market, the 10-year note rose 2/32 to 101 2/32 putting the yield at 4.99 percent. Most active big board issue was Cendant issued (CD w) and traded 39 million shares. This particular security represents a spin off of Cendant`s real estate operations and the new company will be called Reality . It`ll start trading on the big board tomorrow under the symbol (H).
Pfizer (PFE), second in volume, going to get a new chairman as we reported last Friday, down $0.12 today.
And then the huge loser of the day, Scottish Re Group (SCT), an insurance company, losing 75 percent of its value, traded as low as $3.10. First the company warned it`s going to have a $130 million second quarter loss and then it sees third and fourth quarter results below its guidance. It`s suspending its $0.20 annual dividend as the president and chief executive officer resigned. Could there be any more bad news? Yes. Bear Stearns downgraded the stock from "peer perform" to "under perform."
Cendant (CD) itself down $0.06. That`s the regular common.
ExxonMobil (XOM) was up $0.74 on those higher oil prices.
AT&T (T) dropped $0.07.
$0.17 loss in Ford Motor Co (F).
Time Warner (TWX) moved up $0.17.
General Electric (GE) $0.33.
And Aetna (AET) was down $0.68, still under pressure from last week`s company forecast of a drop in memberships this year.
Phelps Dodge (PD) moving up $5.84 on speculation its buyout bid for Inco will fall through on news that Tech Cominco is sweetening its bid for Inco. Also, Groupo Mexico reportedly is interested in acquiring Phelps Dodge, all kinds of rumors around today.
Humana (HUM), a big health benefit company, big second quarter earnings, $0.53. The Street estimate was only $0.35. The company sees third quarter rising to $0.95 to $1 a share. Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock of Humana from "neutral" to "buy" today, good day all around.
Agco (AG) off $2.74. Second quarter earnings came in at $0.45, $0.10 below the Street estimate. Sales dropped nearly 8 percent and Agco says demand for farm equipment this year is likely to fall below last year`s level. Standard & Poor`s repeated a "sell" on the stock.
Avon Products (AVP) as we said earlier is falling, not calling today, off $3.82. Second quarter earnings lower, $0.33 versus $0.69 a year ago. That was $0.02 below the Wall Street estimate.
On the other hand, Playtex Products (PYX) stocks finding some support, up $1.17. Second quarter earnings, $0.16, $0.02 better than the Street expected and way up from $0.10 a year ago.
Nam Tai Electronics (NTE), Chinese firm, down $2.89. Second quarter earnings $0.42, way up from $0.14 last year, but the company sees third quarter earnings falling to only $0.28 to $0.30.
And then Atwood Oceanics (ATW), the offshore drilling outfit, third quarter earnings, $0.87, way up from $0.19 a year ago. Revenues up over 80 percent.
And Continental Airlines (CAL) down $2.12, all the airlines hurt by the higher oil prices today. Let`s have a look at some other in the second, the majors.
AMR (AMR) up $1.25.
US Airways Group (LCC) off $2.52.
Volume leader on NASDAQ, Apple Computer (AAPL) up $2.37. Bank America upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy" with a target price of $79 a share.
Google (GOOG) off $1.52.
$0.19 drop in Microsoft (MSFT).
Cisco Systems (CSCO) lost $0.20.
Intel (INTC) an $0.18 loss, fifth in dollar volume.
Then Sandisk (SNDK) off $0.48. However, Sandisk is going to buy M=Systems Flash (FLSH) for about $36 worth of Sandisk stock, up $4.21 there.
Dell Computer (DELL) down $0.54.
Amgen (AMGN) $0.64 gain.
And Oracle (ORCL) was down a dime a share, tenth in volume. Rambus (RMBS) up $1.98. BWS financial brokerage upgraded it from "hold" to a "buy" with a $22 a share price target for Rambus stock.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
