Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Thursday, January 11, 2007
|
|
|
|
PAUL KANGAS: Buyers took command on Wall Street this morning, cheered by a larger than expected drop in weekly jobless benefit claims, some bottom fishing in the oil sector and last night's strong earnings from Genentech. At mid-day the Dow was up 93 points. The NASDAQ posted a 30 point gain. That steep drop in oil futures caused oil stocks to fade this afternoon, but it helped the broader market hold most of its gains, so the Dow Industrial Average closed up 72.82 at a record high 12,514.98. The NASDAQ Composite was up 25.52 ending at 2484.85. Standard & Poor's 500 gained 8.97 ending at 1423.82. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 13/32 to 99 3/32, putting the yield at 4.74 percent.
Big board volume leader on 18.1 million shares, ConocoPhillips (COP) dropping $2.71. An analyst at AG Edwards voiced concern about the company's organic growth prospects.
Then came ExxonMobil (XOM) closing down one penny, but this morning on that bottom fishing in the oil sector which didn't last too long, Exxon's stock was as high as $72.85.
Then came General Electric (GE) with a $0.36 gain.
Motorola (MOT) $0.04 rise there.
Sprint Nextel (S) down $0.41, fifth in big board volume.
Ford Motor Co (F) gained $0.04.
While Halliburton co (HAL) dropped $0.09.
Pfizer (PFE) $0.26 gain there.
Corning (GLW) $0.46 rise.
Same case with AT&T (T), tenth in volume.
Genentech (DNA) up $3.67. After the close yesterday, fourth quarter earnings came in 75 percent higher than last year, $0.55, versus only $0.31 then and the company is upbeat on this - the outlook for 2007. Standard & Poor's repeated a "buy" recommendation today on Genentech.
Deere & Co (DE) moved up $2.87. Morgan Stanley began covering this stock with an overweight rating.
Then the auto parts makers were getting some bottom fishing today. Lear Corp (LEA) up $4.02. The company sees its profit margins and free cash flow improving this year and sales should be up at least 3 percent, perhaps a little bit more.
Borgwarner (BWA) another auto parts maker, up $6.28. The company forecast 7 to 9 percent sales growth this year.
Then we have a look at another weak energy stock, Hornbeck Offshore Services (HOS) tumbling $7.37. The company sees lower than expected fourth quarter earnings of $0.61 to $0.63. Standard & Poor's downgraded it from "buy" to just a "hold" and Goldman Sachs issued a "sell" recommendation on Hornbeck.
Amdocs Ltd (DOX), this is the big software firm, lowered its 2007 revenue forecast and also JPMorgan downgraded it to just a "neutral" rating today.
Arbitron (ARB) moved up $2.43. Bear Stearns upgraded the stock from "peer perform" on growing industry acceptance of the company's new radio rating systems.
Bemis Company (BMS), which is in packaging materials, up $1.55. Bank America upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy."
On the downside, California Water Service Group (CWT) lost $4.11 after the Janey Montgomery Scott brokerage downgraded it from "buy" to "neutral" and the Green (ph) Murray brokerage downgraded it from "buy" to just a "hold."
Another loser today was Allied Capital (ALD) down $2.18. A former executive of one of the company's subsidiaries had been indicted on charges that he defrauded the small business administration out of $77 million in guaranteed loans.
NASDAQ's top activity stock was Apple Computer (AAPL) down $1.20. You heard about the little spat going on.
Google (GOOG) up $10.26. Goldman Sachs boosted fourth quarter earnings estimate and its price target to $595 by the end of this year.
Microsoft (MSFT) up $1.04.
$0.40 gain in Intel (INTC).
And then Cisco Systems (CSCO) edged up a penny.
Research in Motion (RIMM) down $1.15.
Followed by Oracle (ORCL) $0.38 drop there.
$1.90 loss in Sandisk (SNDK).
Yahoo! (YHOO) moved up $0.50.
And Qualcomm (QCOM) was up $0.93.
Cogent Communications (CCOI) up $2.80. The company confirmed it achieved positive cash flow in its fourth fiscal quarter.
Hittite Microwave (HITT) up $2.32. Lehman Brothers upgraded it from "equal weight" to "over weight."
And then finally VCG Holding (PTT) which owns adult nightclubs boosted its earnings forecast for not only this year, next year, but 2009 as well.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
