Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Friday, December 01, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: Stocks headed broadly lower this morning as those reports of a weakening economy raised investor fears of a hard landing. After 90 minutes of trading, the Dow was off 75 points and the NASDAQ down 25. A mid-day rally attempt failed partly because of another drop in the dollar, so the Dow tumbled to a 110 point loss at 3 p.m. In the final hour though, bargain buyers cut the losses considerably. The Dow Industrial Average closed off only 27.80 at 12,194.13 today. This week it rose twice, fell three times, had a net decline of 86.04 points. The NASDAQ Composite fell 18.56 to 2413.21 today. It also rose twice and fell three times this week for an overall loss of 47.05 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 was down 3.92, ending at 1396.71 today. In the bond market, the 10-year note gained 7/32 to 101 16/32, pushing the yield down to an 11-month low of 4.44 percent.
Topping the most active list on the big board, trading a hefty 64.9 million shares was DirecTV (DTV) down a nickel. The high volume no doubt due to the fact that the stock was added to the Standard & Poor's 500 Index today, replacing Freescale Semiconductor, which was taken over.
Then second in volume came Home Depot (HD) closing up $1, but traded as high as $39.95 on speculation about being taken over by private equity firms.
Pfizer (PFE) was up $0.37. Yesterday the company boosted its 2006 earnings estimate by a nickel a share, up to $2.05.
ExxonMobil (XOM) moved up $0.39.
Then Ford Motor Co (F) down $0.09 on those dismal sales, down 10 percent for November. That was fifth in volume.
General Electric (GE) showed no change on the day.
Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) down $0.23.
EMC Corp (EMC) moved up $0.07.
And then General Motors (GM) a $0.46 gain. Bank of America today confirmed it bought 28 million shares yesterday, but declined to name the seller. I think we have a fair idea who it might be.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) down $0.88. The Department of Justice subpoenaed this company and Invidia regarding a probe into potential antitrust violations related to graphic processors and cards. Invidia stock on NASDAQ fell $1.45 to $35.54 a share.
Federated Dept Stores (FD) losing $1.49. Citigroup downgraded it from "buy" to "hold" because of disappointment over the performance of some May stores, which were converted into Macys stores.
H&R Block (HRB) down $0.25. Second quarter a $0.49 per share loss, almost double last year's loss of $0.25 a share. Revenues fell 6.9 percent in the period.
And then Live Nation (LYV), this company's an event promoter, puts on concerts and things like that. The stock up $1.61. Credit Suisse began covering the stock with an "outperform" rating and a $28 a share target price.
Then we see Claire's Stores (CLE) rising $1.45. The company has retained Goldman Sachs to explore alternatives to enhance shareholder value and that includes the possible sale of the company.
Kellwood Co (KWD), a clothing marketer, up $1.82. Third quarter earnings excluding one-time items came in at $0.68, up from $0.57 a year ago and $0.05 per share above the Street estimate.
Finally, Hershey Foods (HSY) losing $2.08. Prudential downgraded it from "neutral" to "under weight."
Volume leader on NASDAQ was Google (GOOG) down $4.01.
Apple Computer (AAPL) after a series of highs earlier in the week down $0.34.
Microsoft (MSFT) fell $0.24.
Then came Intel (INTC) with a loss of $0.47.
And Research in Motion (RIMM) which had a good gain yesterday, down $3.15, profit taking there.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.22 loss.
Amgen (AMGN) off $1.66.
Oracle (ORCL) was a $0.24 loser.
And then Broadcom (BRCM) down $0.49.
And Dell (DELL), the only winner in the active list of 10 was up just $0.03.
Omnivision Technologies (OVT) down $2.67. Second quarter earnings came in at $0.28 excluding one-time items and that was $0.02 below the Street estimate. The third quarter earnings estimate from the company no better than $0.12 a share, half of what they earned in this last quarter.
Then En Pointe Technologies (ENPT) rising $2.68. This is an information technology firm and a real turnaround in the fourth quarter, earnings of $0.21 versus a loss of $0.05 in the same period a year ago.
And finally NASDAQ stock market (NDAQ) down $2.83. Prudential downgraded it from "over weight" to "under weight" and cut its price target from $40 down to $35 a share.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
