Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Thursday, September 07, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: Stocks opened moderately lower on those earnings warnings from KB Home and Beazer. Adding to the selling pressure, growing investor concern the market is overvalued in the short term. After an hour of trading, the Dow was down 60 points, NASDAQ off 16. An afternoon rally attempt failed after San Francisco Fed Bank President Janet Yellen suggested more rate hikes may be needed to curb inflation, so stocks ended broadly lower. Dow Industrial Average off 74.76 points at 11,331.44. The NASDAQ Composite was down 12.55 at 2,155.29. Standard & Poor`s 500 down 6.24 at 1,294.02. In the bond market, the 10-year note gained 2/32 to par and 21/32, putting the yield at 4.79 percent.
Most active New York exchange issue on 22 million shares, Lucent Tech (LU) moving down $0.02, although shareholders of both Lucent and Alcatel approved Alcatel`s $11 billion all-stock acquisition of Lucent. Alcatel incidentally dropped $0.24 to $11.77.
GE (GE) a $0.09 gain.
ExxonMobil (XOM) up $0.51.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) edged up $0.06. The story here, regulators approved the company`s acquisition of ATI Technologies.
Pfizer (PFE) down $0.27. That was fifth in volume.
Then Boston Scientific (BSX) losing $0.57. The company said new clinical data confirm an increased risk of blood clots with the company`s drug coated cardiac stent.
Motorola (MOT) a $0.33 gain.
Valero Energy (VLO) bouncing back $0.27 after a couple of days of losses.
Peabody Energy (BTU) down $2.21. The company says 2006 production of 230 million tons of coal is at the low end of its previous guidance and also, the company sees third quarter earnings results near the low end of its estimates.
Qwest Communications (Q) was up a penny, tenth in big board volume.
Procter & Gamble (PG) up $0.09. I believe that quote should be down $0.09 at $61.53,, but it did trade as high as $62.03 during the day after SunTrust Robinson Humphrey brokerage upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy" with a $72 a share target.
Then we see Newmont Mining (NEM) leading the gold group lower. December gold in New York was down $16 an ounce at $624.90 and on top of that, RBC Capital brokerage downgraded Newmont from "out perform" to just a "sector perform" rating.
Then Beazer Homes (BZH) down $1.04, traded as low as $35.96, but like many of the housing stocks, it snapped back from early weakness. The company cut its 2006 earnings from the range of $9.50 a share, all the way down to as low as $8, maybe $8.50 at best.
Spartech (SEH), which is in the plastic business, up $1.87. Third quarter earnings jumped to $0.46 from $0.30 a year ago and the company boosted its 2006 guidance by $0.12 a share.
Then the poultry producer Pilgrim`s Pride (PPC) up $1.30. BMO Capital brokerage upgraded it from "market perform" to "out perform" and has a $31 a share target for the stock.
Harvest Natural Resources (HNR), an independent oil company, down $1.16. The company`s Venezuelan unit has been ordered to pay $56 million in additional taxes down in Venezuela. Raymond James financial downgraded it to "under perform." Then came a new issue, New Oriental Education (EDU). It teaches foreign languages in China, 7.5 million American depositary shares offered at $15, opened at $22, high of the day $23.10. It had a good debut.
Apple Computer (AAPL) topped the active list, up $2.77. UBS financial boosted its 12-month price target from $80 to $92 a share.
Intel (INTC) a $0.09 loss.
Google (GOOG) down $1.60.
Microsoft (MSFT) a $0.19 loss.
But Oracle (ORCL) was up $0.39, fifth in volume.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) down $0.15.
Sandisk (SND) moved up $0.19.
ATI Technologies (ATYT), which is going to be taken over by Advanced Micro, a $0.05 loss.
And then Qualcomm (QCOM) down $1.07.
eBay (EBAY) fell $0.68 a share, tenth in volume.
Martek Biosciences (MATK) tumbling $7.08. After the close yesterday, the company slashed fourth quarter earnings estimates from the Street consensus of $0.17 down to about $0.10. Citigroup downgraded it from "buy" to "hold."
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
