Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: On Wall Street, early profit offset a drop in oil prices on that news of the Chevron oil discovery. The Dow fell 25 points at the outset of trading, while the NASDAQ lost six points. The blue chips bounced back with a 25 point noontime gain after St. Louis Fed Bank President William Poole said inflation seems to be under control. This afternoon, the market faded but ended mostly with modest gains. The Dow Industrial Average closed up 5.13 at 11,469.28. NASDAQ Composite was up 12.54 ending at 2205.70. Standard & Poor`s 500 rose 2.24 at 1313.25. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 16/32 to par and 23/32, putting the yield at 4.78 percent.
The most active New York exchange issue on 13.7 million shares, Lucent Technologies (LU) edging a penny higher.
Then Devon Energy (DVN) up $7.99. As you heard, the company is one of the three partners in that big Gulf of Mexico oil find that was announced by Chevron.
GE (GE) a $0.17 loss.
Viacom cl B (VIA) down $2.08 on news that Chief Executive Officer Tom Preston has resigned and Philippe Dauman will replace him.
ExxonMobil (XOM) $0.38 gain. That was fifth in volume.
Pfizer (PFE) dropped $0.12.
And Valero Energy (VLD), the refining company, off $2.02.
Time Warner (TWX) edged up $0.04.
EMC Corp (EMC) down $0.13.
And Chevron (CVX) itself had a good day on that oil discovery, rising $1.51 a share, tenth in volume.
Caterpillar (CAT) did well, up $2.41. Merrill Lynch upgraded the stock from "neutral" to "buy" because bigger and better than expected increases in its equipment suggest demand worldwide remains strong for Caterpillar`s products.
Then we see Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) up $1.56. The Thomas Weisel brokerage upgraded it from "peer perform" to "out perform."
And Deere & Co (DE) up $3.36. UBS financial brokerage upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy."
Another good gainer was Lehman Brothers Holdings (LEH) up $2.70. UBS financial upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy" on the company`s more favorable outlook and also the stock`s rather attractive valuation according to UBS.
Veritas DGC (VTS) up $7.89. The French oil field company Geophysique is going to acquire it for $75 a share. That works out to about $3.1 billion in cash and stock. Geophysique`s stock was down $1.66 today.
Medifast (MED) tumbling $2.02, a big percent loss. This week`s "Barron`s" financial notes heavy insider selling recently on the company`s credibility and the bears see the stock going as low as $8 a share.
Sierra Health Services (SIE) down $2.98. UBS financial downgraded it from "neutral" to a "reduce" rating.
And Pediatrix Medical (PDX) doing well, up $2.19. Wachovia brokerage upgraded it from "market perform" to "out perform" in the belief that earnings estimates for Pediatrix are too conservative.
Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) rose $2.25. The company received a $110 million, three-year contract from the state of Maryland`s Department of Human Resources.
And Phelps Dodge (PD) up $2.73. The company has agreed to drop its buyout bid for Inco. Inco stock fell $0.58 to $77.12 a share.
Apple Computer (AAPL) topped the active list on NASDAQ with a gain of $3.10.
Intel (INTC) an $0.11 gain there. After the close, Intel says it`s going to cut 10 percent of its workforce or 10,500 jobs by the middle of next year. It`ll save the company over $3 billion.
Google (GOOG) up $5.76.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) down $0.18.
Microsoft (MSFT) off $0.23. It said pricing for its new Vista operating system, which will be out by early 2007.
Oracle (ORCL) a $0.34 gain.
Followed by Qualcomm (QCOM) up $0.84.
Sandisk (SNDK) down $0.67.
Ebay (EBAY) a $0.53 rise.
And Applied Materials (AMAT), tenth in dollar volume, was down $0.03.
Adolor (ADLR), it`s a pharmaceutical, plunging $11.32. Late stage trials of its treatment for dysfunctional bowels, those trials were disappointing and down went the stock, huge loss.
And Click Commerce (CKCM), this is a software and consulting firm, up $4.59 on news Illinois Tool Works will acquire it for $22.75 a share in a cash tender offer.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
