Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Monday, December 11, 2006
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street opened higher on optimism that the Fed will hold rates steady. Another positive was more merger and takeover activity. The Dow posted a 31 point gain after an hour of trading, while the NASDAQ Composite rose 14 points. In the absence of any major economic reports and a decline in the U.S. dollar against the euro after former Fed chief Greenspan said it could remain weak for several years, stocks eased this afternoon but still ended higher. The Dow Industrial Average closed up 20.99 at 12,328.48. NASDAQ Composite gained exactly 5.50 to close at 2442.86. Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 3.20 at 1413.04. In the bond market, the 10-year note rose 7/32 to par and 26/32, putting the yield at 4.52 percent.
For the fourth consecutive trading session, Ford Motor Co (F) topped the active list today on 27 million shares, moving up a penny.
While Pfizer (PFE) second in volume, was down a penny.
Then Time Warner (TWX) up $0.42. Prudential securities upgraded it from "neutral" to "over weight" and boosted its price target on Time Warner from $21 to $27 a share.
General Electric (GE) dropped a nickel a share.
And then came Citigroup (C) with a gain of $1.03. The "Heard on the Street" column in today's "Wall Street Journal" reports that shareholders have been agitating for an improvement in results and the story I just read you about the management change announced after the close might have been part of the reaction to that agitation.
ExxonMobil (XOM) down $0.14.
While Motorola (MOT) gained that much.
Bank of America (BAC) up $0.89. Reportedly, it's interested in acquiring Barclays bank. Barclay was up $2.46 on that rumor last Friday. Today, Barclays fell $1.18.
DirecTV (DTV) a $1.21 rise. Deutsche securities issued a "buy" in the belief that this company will become a part of Liberty Media.
Sprint Nextel (S), tenth in volume, was up $0.18 a share.
Dupont Co (DD) a $0.52 gain. The company boosted 2006 earnings guidance from $2.86 to $3.25 a share. It'll boost spending on plant genetics and biotechnology and then cut back on businesses and crop protection and nutrition. It's also going to cut 1500 jobs and take a $200 million fourth quarter charge, quite a restructuring going on.
Amrep (AXR) up $15.22. A week ago, that stock was in the high '80s. It's a real estate and publishing company. Last week, it reported second quarter earnings shot up to $2.42. That was more than triple a year ago and the stock continues to shoot up.
Sabre Holdings (TSG) up $2.11. As I mentioned earlier, this company owns Travelocity, the Internet travel service and the "New York Times" reports the company's in advance talks to be sold to a group of private equity firms and the price will be over $4 billion.
Continental Air (CAL) up $3.44 on speculation it may form a business combination with Northwest Airlines.
Then a low-priced issue a little higher today, Cryolife (CRY) gaining $0.48, traded as high as $7.43 after it said it received FDA approval for its ProPatch tissue repair device.
On the downside, electrical product maker Hubbell Inc (HUBb) plunging $6.71. It sees 2006 sales $40 million below its previous estimate because of weakness in some of its major market. The company makes switches and things like that.
And Claire's Stores (CLE) up $1.29. The Breen Murray brokerage upgraded it from "sell" to "hold" on takeover rumors making the rounds.
Microsoft (MSFT) topped the NASDAQ active list, up $0.14.
Followed by Apple Computer (AAPL) $0.49 gain.
An $0.18 drop in Google (GOOG).
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a $0.13 gain.
Research in Motion (RIMM) was down a half dollar. This week's "Barron's" financial suggests the stock is over priced.
Then we see Oracle (ORCL) a $0.27 gainer.
$0.02 rise in Intel (INTC).
Qualcomm (QCOM) was down $0.61.
Symantec (SYMC) up $0.48.
Tenth in volume, Sun Micro (SUNW) showing no change. Nuvelo (NUVO) or Nuvelo, however you want to pronounce it, down $15.50, almost an 80 percent drop. The company and its German partner buyer said late stage trials of their blood clot dissolver showed disappointing results. The trials have been halted. What a horrible drop in the stock.
Another bad casualty, Neopharm (NEOL) off $4.56. The company's brain cancer treatment was not effective in curbing the death rate of patients using the product.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
