Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: It was a big day for Wall Street. The Dow pushed higher and President Bush paid a visit for the first time since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The president spent part of the afternoon on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, bringing trading to a near halt. In a speech earlier in the day at Federal Hall, he praised the economy, saying it's quote, on a roll. Also on a roll, stocks on Wall Street. They were mixed this morning, with the blue chips bolstered by Boeing thanks to its strong earnings, while the tech sector was slightly lower. At noon, the Dow was up 31 points, NASDAQ down 3. But then at 2:15 p.m., when the Fed announced it would keep rates steady, the broad market took off and lifted the blue chips very close to a new record high. The Dow Industrial Average ended up 98.38 at 12,621.69. The NASDAQ up 15.29 at 2,463.93. Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 9.42 ending at 1,438.24. Over in the bond market, the 10- year note rose 16/32 to 98 18/32, putting the yield at 4.81 percent. Most active New York exchange issue on nearly 20 million shares, General Electric (GE) moving up $0.02.
Followed by Motorola (MOT) with a $0.27 gain.
Then Ford Motor Co (F) down $0.07.
AT&T (T) moved up $0.54.
And Pfizer (PFE) fifth in volume, gained $0.14 a share.
ExxonMobil (XOM) down $0.29.
Bristol Myers (BMY) up $0.76. Reportedly Bristol Myers has retained the Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup organizations to help field possible takeover bids.
Then came a new issue, Employers Holdings (EIG), this is a company specializing in workman's compensation, 26 3/4 million shares offered at $17, opened at $20, the high of the day, $20.20, backed off a little bit, not bad.
Time Warner (TWX) down $0.17. Fourth quarter earnings out today, excluding one-time items, $0.22 a share. That was about in line with Street estimates.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM), tenth in volume, moved up $0.75.
Altria Group (MO) down $0.15. The company today said it will spin off the rest of its Kraft unit on March 30th.
Then Boeing Co (BA) up $3.56. That helped the Dow a lot, traded as high as $90.34. Fourth quarter earnings $1.29, way up from $0.58 last year, $0.31 better than the Street expected. The company boosted 2007 earnings guidance to $4.75. That's about as expected.
Allstate (ALL) down $3.84. Fourth quarter earnings came in at $1.78, but that was $0.06 below the Street estimate.
Then we see Levitt (LEV), the home builder, up $3.28. BFC Financial will acquire it for $286 million in stock, 2.27 shares of BFC for each share of Levitt. That's a value today worth about $14.14 a share.
Estee Lauder Co (EL) $6.17 gain. Second quarter earnings jumped to $0.99 from $0.38 last year, Street estimate way down there at $0.76, a lot better.
Sierra Health Services (SIE) up $3.93. Fourth quarter earnings, $0.65 up from $0.44 last year. Revenues up 20 percent and Midwest Securities upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy."
On the downside, Celestica (CLS) tumbling $1.77. Fourth quarter earnings excluding one-time items came in at only $0.03 a share, down from $0.13 last year and the company predicting a first quarter loss anywhere from $0.04 to $0.15 a share. Bear Stearns brokerage downgraded it from "peer perform" to "under perform."
Then another new issue, Duncan Energy Partners (DEP), 13 million shares offered to the public at $21 and moved up $2.05 today, not a bad debut.
Google (GOOG) topped the active list, closed up $17 and then of course came those big earnings after the close, but the stock tumbled as low as $487 after that.
Apple (AAPL) $0.18 gain.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.38 rise there.
Comverse Technology (CMVT) down $0.45. The stock's going to be delisted by NASDAQ because it failed to file its financials on time due to the probe in stock option grants and also Standard & Poor's 500 is going to take it out of the 500 index.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a $0.37 gain, fifth in volume on a dollar basis.
Sandisk (SNDK) down $2.65. The story here, fourth quarter loss of $0.17 versus earnings of $0.68 last year.
Intel (INTC) a $0.03 gain.
Research in Motion (RIMM) did well, up $4.29.
But CH Robinson WW (CHRW) a $9.44 gain. Fourth quarter earnings $0.41, up from $0.33 and $0.02 better than the Street expected.
And then Nutrisystem (NTRI) shares plunged $8.00 on a disappointing first quarter outlook.
