Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Monday, November 20, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street's blue chips opened slightly lower on profit taking after rising in each of the last six trading sessions, but the tech sector was firm. An hour into the session, the Dow was down 12 points, while the tech- heavy NASDAQ was up three points. The general market remained narrowly mixed throughout the afternoon despite all that merger and takeover activity. So while the Dow closed off 26.02 at 12,316.54, the NASDAQ gained 6.86 points, ending at 2452.72. Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell .70 to 1400.50. In the bond market, the 10-year note rose 1/32 to par and 6/32, putting the yield at 4.60 percent.
Most active big board issue on 18 1/2 million shares, Lucent Tech (LU) showing no change on the day.
Then Equity Office (EOP) up $3.42. As you heard, Blackstone Partners going to acquire it on a per share breakdown. It's for $48.50 per share.
Then came Pfizer (PFE) down $0.16.
Same story with Qwest Communications (Q).
Time Warner (TWX), fifth in volume, was up $0.15.
Phelps Dodge (PD) itself up $25.45. The deal is worth $88 a share cash plus 2/3 of a share of Freeport and today that's worth about $125.30 a share for PD stock.
CVS Corp (CVS) $0.62 loss.
Freeport McMoran (FCX) itself down $1.77 because it's going to have to come up with $26 billion to acquire PD.
Nortel Networks (NT) a nickel loss.
And then Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) which dropped $0.06 a share.
Oregon Steel Mills (OS) up $4.81. As you heard, Russia's Evraz Group is going to acquire it for $63.25 a share in cash, nice move in the stock today.
Then Boston Properties (BXP) up $6.93. It's in a pact to sell its long-term lease hold interest in its 5 Times Square building. The price: $1.28 billion in cash.
Let's have a look at some of these other real estate investment stocks today. Avalonbay Communities (AVB), Essex Property Trust (ESS), Public Storage (PSA), SL Green Realty (SLG) and Vornado Realty Trust (VNO) all major gainers and they're already high-priced stocks, even higher priced now.
Then Allergan (AGN) up $8.82. The FDA has approved the company's Inamed silicone breast implants. Standard & Poor's repeated a "buy" on AGN stock today.
Mentor (MNT) up $5.20. The FDA approved its memory gel silicone breast implant. Standard & Poor's upgraded the stock from a "strong sell" now to a "hold."
OM Group (OMG) down $3.82. It's going to sell all of its nickel assets to Norilsk for $408 million in cash, disappointing reaction.
HCC Insurance Holdings (HCC) off $1.59. The company's audit committee concluded errors occurred in certain stock option grants going all the way back to 1995, right up to the present.
TD Banknorth Group (BNK) up $1.83. TD Bank Financial Group, which already owns 57 percent wants to acquire the rest of the stock for $32.33 a share in cash. NASDAQ's most active, Google (GOOG) down $3.74.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.49 gain.
Apple Computer (AAPL) up $0.62.
Intel (INTC) $0.17 rise there.
And Cisco Systems (CSCO) rose $0.18, fifth in dollar volume.
Research in Motion (RIMM) did well, rising $3.80. Merrill Lynch boosted its price target from $135 a share to $165 a share because of better than expected sales of its pearl smart phone.
Broadcom (BRCM) $2.01 gain there.
Marvell Technology Group (MRVL) up $1.81.
Yahoo! (YHOO) was down $0.19 although the company struck a deal with 176 newspapers to assist in selling help wanted ads in local markets.
Sandisk (SNDK) up $1.59, tenth in NASDAQ volume.
Cardica (CRDC) moved up $1.75, 33 percent gain today, on news the FDA has approved the company's improved device to attach blood vessels in coronary surgery.
And then over on the American exchange, a big loser, Jennifer Convertibles (JEN), which makes convertible sofa beds. Fourth quarter earnings dropped to $0.18 from $0.35 a year ago and it sees weakness continuing into the first quarter.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
