Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Monday, August 21, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: That disappointing outlook from Lowe`s helped send stock prices lower this morning, as did the rise in oil prices. Profit taking after last week`s sharp rally was another factor in sending the Dow to a 56 point loss at noon, while the NASDAQ Composite fell 23 points. Unusually light trading volume kept the sell-off from worsening, but the host of uncertainties in the business outlook kept buyers cautious so stocks ended the day moderately lower. The Dow Industrial Average closed off 36.42 at 11,345.05. The NASDAQ Composite lost 16.20 ending at 2147.75. Standard & Poor`s 500 Index fell 4.78 to 1297.52. Over in the bond market, the 10- year note rose 8/32 to par 15/32 putting the yield at 4.82 percent.
New York exchange volume leader on 24.8 million shares, Ford Motor Co (F) down $0.53, closing at the low of the day. Credit Suisse brokerage downgraded Ford from neutral to under perform. And of course Friday the company said it`s going to cut its North American production 21 percent from a year ago.
Pfizer (PFE) fell $0.41.
Lucent Tech (LU) a nickel loss.
ExxonMobil (XOM) on the higher oil prices, up $0.73.
Sprint Nextel (S) fifth in volume, was down $0.20 a share.
Merck & Co (MRK) got an upgrade to over weight from Lehman Brothers and moved up $0.13. Lowes Companies (LOW), there you see it, down $1.17. As you heard, second quarter earnings a penny below Street estimates at $0.60 and the company forecast third quarter earnings falling to $0.45 to $0.48. It did however announce that it`ll increase its stock buy back program by $2 billion.
EMC Corp (EMC) a $0.03 gain.
Home Depot (HD), that was in sympathy of course with Lowe`s, down $0.47 there.
And Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), tenth in volume, down $0.63.
Dollar General (DG) fell $1.35. Now the company sees second quarter earnings coming in at $0.14 to $0.15, down from its previous guidance of $0.18 to $0.22. Raymond James brokerage downgraded the stock to just market perform.
Then we see the golds doing very well, as did most of the metals. Newmont Mining (NEM) up $1.84. New York December gold up $13.50 an ounce. Let`s have a look at some of the other major gold stocks.
Anglogold Ashanti (AU) up $2.04. Barrick Gold (ABX) and Glamis Gold (GLG) and Gold Fields ltd (GFI) all very nice gains today.
Harvest Natural (HNR) up $1.94, one of the best percentage gainers. It`s going to add three of its oil fields to an existing joint venture with Venezuela`s oil company and that company will control 60 percent of the operation incidentally.
Acco Brands (ABD) up $1.70. Suntrust Robinson Humphrey brokerage upgraded it from neutral to buy with a 12-month target of $30 a share in the belief the company will fend off competition in the private label office supply business.
And then La-Z-Boy (LZB) closing up $0.85. It traded as high as $15.11. Last Wednesday, it had sharply lower quarterly earnings, but today Raymond James financial upgraded it from outperform to a strong buy rating. Patni Computer Systems (PTI), infotech stock, based in Mumbai, India, up $1.75. Jefferies and Company upgraded it from hold to buy, boosted its price target from $19 to $23 a share.
Koppers Holdings (KOP) up $1.05. UBS financial upgraded it from neutral to buy.
And then a very nice gain by Glenborough Realty (GLB), the REIT up $1.94. Morgan Stanley real estate will acquire it for $26 a share in cash.
And finally, money manager Cohen & Steers (CNS) off $1.77 on news the company filed to sell up to 20 million of its common shares periodically. Earnings dilution potential there.
Microsoft (MSFT) topped the active list, up $0.33.
But Google (GOOG) down $6.06. Comscore (ph) Networks Research shows that company share of Internet search market in the United States fell 1 percent in July, versus what it was in June.
Apple Computer (AAPL) down $1.35.
$0.15 drop in Intel (INTC).
Dell (DELL) fifth in volume, was off $0.54 a share. Cisco Systems (CSCO) a nickel gain.
Oracle (ORCL) was down $0.07.
Sandisk (SNDK) moved up $0.22.
Broadcom (BRCM) a $1.11 loss.
And then Ebay (EBAY), tenth in volume, fell $0.51.
Gold Kist (GKIS), look at that gain, up $6.09. Pilgrim`s Pride, another chicken producer, offered to acquire it for $26 a share cash. The company will consider it. Oralabs Holdings (OLAB) up $3.31, earned a percentage move. Second quarter earnings of $0.10 versus just break even last year.
And then CTI Industries (CTIB)
novelty items like balloons and packaging equipment, second quarter earnings $0.09, triple last year`s $0.03 and $0.03 above the Street estimate.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
