Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Monday, August 07, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: Stocks opened just modestly lower, despite that sharp rise in oil prices triggered by the Alaskan pipeline shutdown. The Dow fell 18 points at the outset of trading while the NASDAQ lost 10. Growing nervousness over tomorrow`s Fed meeting sent the Dow to a 50 point loss at mid-day and the NASDAQ Index was off 17. Despite all the uncertainty, the market did trim its losses a bit this afternoon, but still ended lower. The Dow Industrial Average closed off 20.97 at 11,219.38. The NASDAQ Composite was down 12.55 ending at 2072.50. Standard & Poor`s 500 Index fell 3.59 at 1275.77. In the bond market, the 10-year note fell 7/32 to 101 17/32, putting the yield at 4.93 percent. The most active issue on the New York exchange, trading 18.4 million shares was Sprint Nextel (S) down $0.60. The company had sharply lower earnings out last week and today, UBS Financial cut its price target from $33 to $24 a share and JPMorgan removed the stock from its focus list.
Pfizer (PFE) a $0.07 gain.
Lucent Tech (LU) down a penny.
Cendant (CD) lost $0.22.
ExxonMobil (XOM) on those higher oil prices, up $0.54. Fifth in volume, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) gained $0.02.
And Ford Motor Co (F) edged $0.04 higher.
Motorola (MOT) showed no change.
Mylan Labs (MYL) down $3.09. Mylan had the only generic version of Johnson & Johnson`s Duragesic pain patch on the market, but today, the FDA approved a Lavapharm (ph) Corporation`s generic version, so competition for Mylan.
And then General Electric (GE) down $0.11, tenth in volume.
The AES Corp (AES), this is an electric utility holding company, up $1.82. Second quarter earnings excluding items, $0.29, that`s well above the $0.17 Street estimate and the company boosted its 2006 guidance from $0.96 to $1.05 per share, nice move in the stock.
Big move on the downside here, TNS (TNS) which is in data communications services, off $3.90, traded as low as $12.55 after reporting a second quarter loss of $0.04 versus earnings of a penny last year and management also concluded it`s in the best interest of the company and shareholders not to pursue a $20 a share buyout bid from a third party.
Then Kindred Healthcare (KND) up $1.94. The company and Amerisource Bergen are going to combine their institutional pharmacy operations into a new public company. Amerisource Bergen and Kindred shareholders would each own 50 percent. ABC stock was up $0.46 a share incidentally. That had a little move.
Devry (DV), the higher educational company, up $1.9 -- .67 I should say. Lehman Brothers upgraded it from "under weight" to "equal weight" because Lehman likes the new management team.
Then Mercury General (MCY), the insurance holding company, down $5.37. Second quarter earnings excluding items, $0.64, way below the Wall Street estimate of $1.23.
Marvel Entertainment (MVL), there you see it, up $1.26. Second quarter earnings came in at $0.19, $0.08 above the Street consensus and the company boosted its 2006 guidance from about $0.50 to $0.60 a share, a good day for the stock.
Public Service Enterprise Group (PEG) up $2.01. The company and Exelon will continue negotiating with New Jersey regulators to win approval for their long-delayed merger. And finally we see Nike (NKE) down $0.75. Prudential cut its price target from $92 to $85 a share.
Volume leader on NASDAQ, Apple Computer (AAPL) down $1.09. Lingering concern apparently over the company`s stock option irregularities.
Google (GOOG) was up $4.10. The company and News Corp.`s Fox interactive media signed a multi-year search and advertising deal.
Hansen Natural (HANS), this is a four for one split stock, down $10.40. Second quarter earnings $0.28, up from $0.16 a year ago, but a penny shy of estimates, no room for disappointment.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.07 loss.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) was up $0.17, fifth in volume.
Intel (INTC) $0.17 loss.
Oracle (ORCL) no change.
$0.71 drop in Qualcomm (QCOM).
Amgen (AMGN) down $0.92.
Starbucks (SBUX) up $0.19.
Andrew Corp (ANDW) up $1.67. CommScope has offered to acquire it for $9.50 a share in cash.
And Opinion Research (ORCI), look at that gain. InfoUSA will acquire this company for $12 a share cash.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
