Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Monday, October 30, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: That disappointing Wal-mart news prompted an opening sell off on Wall Street, and sending the Dow off 30 points and the Nasdaq down eight after an hour of trading. Over a three percent drop in oil futures and strength in the tech sector gave stocks a late morning boost, lifting the Dow to a 13 point gain while Nasdaq was up 10 points.
Still, the markets ended with a mixed close, and that despite December light sweet crude falling $2.39 to $58.36 a barrel in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial average closed own 3.76 at 12,086.50. Nasdaq composite actually gained 13.15 to 2,363.77. The Standard and Poor's 500 up a fraction at 1,377.93. In the bond market, the 10-year note held steady at 101 and 18/32 leaving the yield at 4.68 percent.
Most active Big Board issue, on 17.2 million shares, Verizon Communications (VZ) down $1.19. Third-quarter earnings out, $0.68 versus $0.66 last year, and $0.02 above the Street consensus. But some of the company's equipment lines are not selling as good as expected. And don't forget, the stock is up 30 percent this year, making it quite vulnerable to profit taking.
Then came Pfizer (PFE), a $0.02 loss.
Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) -- you heard the story -- up $1.20.
Qwest Communications (Q) up $0.27.
No change in Lucent Technologies (LU), fifth in volume.
Then AT&T (T), with a loss of $0.30.
Exxon Mobil (XOM) on lower oil prices down $0.62.
Corning (GLW) moved up $0.11.
And then Sprint Nextel (S), $0.28 drop.
Tenth in volume was Ford Motor (F), with a $0.04 loss.
Humana (HUM) down $4.09. Third-quarter operating earnings, $0.95. That was $0.02 below the Street estimate. Although Standard & Poor's did boost 2007 earnings by $0.55, to $3.90 a share, but the stock still a casualty today.
Diebold (DBD) up $2.22. Third-quarter earnings came in at $0.45, $0.03 above the Street estimate, way up from $0.19 a year ago.
Lockheed Martin (LMT) up $2.42. It got an upgrade from Goldman Sachs from neutral to buy.
And then a real estate investment trust Trustreet Properties (TSY) up $4.46. GE Capital Solutions will acquire this company for $17.05 in cash.
Standard Motor Products (SMP) down $2.87. Third-quarter earnings came in at $0.14. That was $0.15 below the Street estimate, and down from $0.21 a year ago. Sales actually fell 9.2 percent.
Tenet Healthcare (THC), an $0.88 drop. Big percentage loss. The company sees third-quarter operating loss of up to $33 million. That would work out to minus $0.05 to $0.07 a share.
Arch Chemicals (ARJ) did well, up $2.59. Third-quarter earnings, $0.30 up from last year's $0.25, and $0.02 better than the Street was expecting.
On the downside, coal producer Alpha Natural Resources (ANR), losing $1.34. The company will cut its second half coal production this year by a million tons, down to 12 to 13 million.
And Carpenter Technology (CRS), up $3.44. That stock was off $13.5 last Thursday on lower-than-expected earnings, but today Bear Stearns upgraded it from peer perform to outperform, and that helped the stock.
Google (GOOG) up $1.37.
Then a nice gainer, American Power Conversion (APCC), up $6.26. Schneider Electric of France has made a $31 a share buyout bid, and the company has accepted it.
Apple Computer (AAPL) a penny loss -- or a penny gain there.
Microsoft (MSFT) up $0.19.
An $0.18 cent gain for Cisco (CSCO), which was fifth in volume.
Yahoo! (YHOO) edged up $0.61. Merrill Lynch upgraded Yahoo! from neutral to buy.
Research in Motion (RIMM) was up $1.97.
And Intel (INTC), $0.16 gain.
Qualcomm (QCOM) down $0.40.
And then Oracle (ORCL), tenth in volume, was up $0.42 a share.
Look at this stock. Sirna Therapeutics (RNAI) closed down a nickel, but after the close, it almost doubled, to $12.70 on Merck's $13 a share cash buyout bid for Sirna Therapeutics.
Emisphere Technologies (EMIS) losing $2.11. The company's insulin drug to treat type II diabetes had just mediocre results in trials.
And then over at the American Exchange, New England Realty Associates (NEN) got a letter from its largest shareholder urging it to convert into a real estate investment trust or just sell the firm.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
