Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: The Dow vaulted 50 points above the 12,000 level on a 100 point gain early on, due to a $5 jump in IBM stock and that tame inflation report. But disappointing tech earnings sent the NASDAQ lower, dragging down the blue chips. At noon, the Dow was up only 40 points, NASDAQ down three. The gains evaporated in mid-afternoon, but the Dow bounced back to end just shy of 12,000. It was up 42.66 points at a record high of 11,992.68. The NASDAQ Composite lost 7.80 to 2337.15, while the Standard & Poor`s 500 was up 1.91 at 1365.96. In the bond market, the 10-year noterose 3/32 to par and 29/32 putting the yield at 4.76 percent.
Big board volume leader on 31.4 million shares, Motorola (MOT) losing $1.21. After the close yesterday, as we reported, company had third quarter, lower third quarter earnings and sales below guidance.
IBM (IBM) the star of the blue chips today, up $2.87 on the close, but it traded as high as $92. After the close yesterday, third quarter earnings $1.45 or $0.10 above the Street estimate. Today, Goldman Sachs upgraded big blue from "neutral" to "buy." Standard & Poor`s repeated a "buy."
Time Warner (TWX) $0.21 gainer.
EMC Corp (EMC) down $0.52. Citigroup downgraded it from "buy" to "hold" on valuation.
General Electric (GE) showed no change. That was fifth in big board volume.
Then Pfizer (PFE) a $0.38 gain.
Followed by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) down $0.25. After the close, Advanced Micro Devices had third quarter earnings out, $0.27 versus $0.18 last year, but there was concern about narrowing profit margins and in after hours trading, AMD, I saw as low as $21.05 a share.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) $0.78 drop. Third quarter earnings were up 30 percent though. $0.92 versus $0.71, $0.06 better than the Street thought, but the company expressed caution about the outlook for the credit environment.
Nokia (NOK) was down a penny.
And then ExxonMobil (XOM) a $0.24 loss. That was tenth in volume.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) up $2.07. Yesterday it had very good earnings out and today Prudential upgraded it from "under weight" to "neutral" with a $70 a share target.
General Dynamics (GD) down $1.03 despite third quarter earnings higher at $1.08 versus $0.92 last year, but revenues were below company targets.That`s what the hurt the stock apparently.
Ivanhoe Mines (IVN), look at that percentage gain, up $2.16. Rio Tinto is going to buy a 10 percent stake for $300 million and form a partnership for a mining project in Mongolia.
Piper Jaffray Co (PJC) up $7.48. The banking, the investment banker had third quarter earnings excluding items, $0.50, down from $0.57 a year ago, but a nickel better than the Wall Street expected.
Siga Technology (SIGA) was up $2.57. That`s an over the counter stock, but it had a big move because the company`s drug to treat smallpox was 100 percent effective in tests on monkeys.
Then we see a couple of good new public offerings today, Stanley Inc (SXE), an infotech company that sells to the government, 6.3 million shares offered at 13, opened at 16 1/2, the high $16.60, backed down a little bit.
First Mercury Financial (FMR) had a new issue today, 9.7 million at $17 and did very well, up $2.50 on the day.
Then we see NASDAQ`s most active, Yahoo! (YHOO) down $1.16. Of course after the close yesterday, third quarter earnings were a bit lower.
And then Google (GOOG) $1.33 loss there.
Intel (INTC) moved up $0.21.
Apple Computer (AAPL) $0.24 gain. And then after the close, Apple out with earnings, $0.62, up from $0.50 last year, $0.11 better than the Street expected. In after hours trading, Apple`s stock was trading about $3.50 higher than this price.
Microsoft (MSFT) an $0.08 gainer. That was fifth in volume.
Apollo Group (APOL), the education company, down $11.13. The company`s fourth quarter earnings a bit lower, $0.54 versus $0.58 last year, $0.12 below the Street consensus and the company said it found irregularities in the granting of its stock options.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.30 loss.
Applied Materials (AMAT) down $0.86.
Research in Motion (RIMM) down $2.42. And then Qualcomm (QCOM) off $0.82.
Then Ebay (EBAY) was out after the close. We don`t have a chart on it, but earnings were $0.23, up from $0.18 last year and $0.02 better than expected. And in after hours trading, eBay stock was up 65 percent from its closing price of $28.49 a share.
And finally, the shares in Siga Technology (SIGA) surged over $2 after a government study showed its experimental drug was 100 percent effective in treating monkeys with smallpox.
