Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: A sharp drop in oil today also eased inflation concerns on Wall Street and sent stocks broadly higher this morning. Better than expected earnings from Goldman Sachs, which we`ll detail later, also helped the Dow gain 63 points by noon with the NASDAQ up 20 points. Stocks headed still higher this afternoon on a tech rally and a rally in the bond market. So the Dow Industrial Average surged to a 101 1/4 point closing gain at 11,498.09. The NASDAQ Composite soared 42.57 points -- that`s 1.9 percent - to close at 2215.82. Standard & Poor`s 500 Index rose 13.57 ending at 1313.11. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note rose 8/32 to par and 25/32, lowering the yield to 4.77 percent.
Most active big board issue on 16.4 million shares was Pfizer (PFE) moving up $0.37. The vice chairman told investors today the company`s on target to meet its goals for the next several years. Ford Motor Co (F) in there with a $0.35.
Then came Motorola (MOT) up $0.42. RBC Capital brokerage thinks Motorola`s strong sales of handset and set top boxes should enable the company to beat third quarter Wall Street earnings estimates.
Best Buy Co (BBY), a great gain of $4.37. Second quarter earnings came in at $0.47, $0.03 better than the Street expected, up from $0.37 a year ago and sales were up 3.7 percent on a same store basis.
Home Depot (HD) did well, up $1.60. There`s speculation that hedge fund manager Ed Lampert (ph) may be taking a position in the stock. Lampert, as you recall is known for turning Sears Roebuck around.
Then we go to ExxonMobil (XOM) in the weak energy group, off $0.24.
Texas Instruments (TXN) moved up $0.72.
Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY), you heard about the shake up in management, gaining $0.93.
Lucent Tech (LU) a $0.07 rise.
And tenth in volume, Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) rose $0.58 a share.
McDonald`s (MCD) did well, up $1.08. The company`s August same store sales were up 6 percent when the Street was expecting a rise of only 4.3 percent, so better than expected.
Boeing Co (BA) moved up $0.44. Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings has ordered 12 of the company`s 747 freighters and the total order is $3.4 billion worth of new business.
Continental Airlines (CAL) on those sharp drop in oil prices, up $2.63.
And let`s have a look at some other major airlines in the sector. AMR (AMR) did well, parent of American Airlines.
Southwest Air (LUV) edging up $0.55.
USAirways Group (LCC) up $4.13, nice move there.
Lone Star Technologies (LSS), this company makes steel piping for the oil business and Bear Stearns upgraded the stock from "peer perform" to "out perform" and a nice move upward.
Chiquita Brands (CQB) up $1.36. The company said its banana sales in Europe were up 11 percent in the July/August period and North American banana prices in that period are up about 10 percent.
Circuit City Stores (CC) rising $1.56, that obviously in sympathy with Best Buy`s strong second quarter earnings.
Then we have a look at the big percentage loser, Bally Total Fitness (BFT) off $0.47 or 17.5 percent. It was a turnaround in the wrong direction. Second quarter, a loss of $0.02 a share versus earnings of $0.05 a year ago.
And another loser was Triumph Group (TGI) which is involved in aircraft components. It`ll offer $175 million in convertible notes. That represents potential earnings dilution.
Kroger Co (KR), the big grocery chain, off $1.33. Second quarter earnings were higher, $0.29 versus $0.27 a year ago, but $0.02 below the Wall Street consensus.
And then Plum Creek Timberland (PCL) was down $0.79, traded as low as $31.30 however after Morgan Stanley downgraded it from "equal weight" to "under weight" with a $32 a share target.
Apple Computer (AAPL) topped the active list, up $0.13. The company unveiled a sleeker iPod with a longer battery price and it has an 80 gigabyte capacity and of course we mentioned the movie download thing.
Google (GOOG) up $7.81, doing well.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a $0.69 gain.
Microsoft (MSFT) up $0.02.
Intel (INTC), fifth in dollar volume, rose $0.35 a share.
Qualcomm (QCOM) gaining $0.84.
Oracle (ORCL) edged a penny higher.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up $2.58.
Sandisk (SNDK) up $1.42.
And Applied Materials (AMAT) up $1.01. Credit Suisse upgraded Applied Materials from "neutral" to "out perform."
Elsewhere on NASDAQ, Broadcom (BRCM) up $1.90. Pacific Growth brokerage upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy."
And Comverse Technology (CMVT) up $1.68. Second quarter revenues up 38 percent, but the company delayed earnings because it waited for the outcome of a stock option review.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
