Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Friday, February 02, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street's blue chips opened lower with the Dow falling 23 points at the outset of trading on some profit taking after yesterday's new closing high, while the NASDAQ lost a fraction. The employment report caused little reaction. But a firming trend in the tech sector helped trim the weakness in the broader market as the day wore on. However, the usual pre-weekend caution precluded much of a rally, so stocks ended narrowly mixed. The Dow Industrial Average closed off 20.19 at 12,653.49. This week it rose in four out of the five sessions for a net gain of 166.47 points. The NASDAQ Composite rose exactly 7.50 points today to 2475.88. The index was up in all five sessions this week, gaining 40.39 points overall. The Standard & Poor's 500 climbed 2.45 ending at 1448.39 today. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note rose 4/32 to 98 14/32, putting the yield at 4.83 percent.
New York exchange volume leader on 14.2 million shares, Pfizer (PFE) moving up $0.18.
Followed by General Electric (GE) with a $0.04 gain.
AT&T (T) edging up $0.37.
Time Warner (TWX) a $0.13 rise there.
ExxonMobil (XOM) on today's higher oil prices, up $0.46 a share.
Ford Motor Co (F) down $0.06.
But Nabors Industries Ltd (NBR) up $1.35. The oil driller's earnings are due out next Tuesday and today there was some buyout speculation making the rounds about Nabors.
Equity Office (EOP) up $0.23, closer to that sweetened buyout bid of $56 by Vornado.
Motorola (MOT) lost a dime.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) down $0.28, tenth in volume.
NYSE Group (NYX) down $2.19 despite a huge jump in adjusted fourth quarter earnings to $0.45 versus only $0.03 last year, but that was $0.01 below the Wall Street estimate, apparently no room for disappointment at all. Of course, the stock's had quite a run up.
Raytheon Co (RTN) up $2.29. Citigroup upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy" and likes the outlook for the company's organic growth potential.
Then the home builders making a comeback here, Standard Pacific (SPF) up $1.95 despite a fourth quarter loss of $1.53 versus earnings of $2.22 last year, but the company's predicting 2007 earnings will be $1.75 and that's $0.12 above the Street estimate.
Let's have a look at some others in the sector. We see Brookfield Homes (BHS) doing well, up $3.59 and that's despite sharply lower earnings out today.
And Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV) up $1.81 after Bank America upgraded it from "neutral" to a "buy," so the homemakers on the build (ph) so to speak.
Millipore (MIL), this is a bioscience company, up $5.73. Fourth quarter earnings excluding one-time items, $0.90, up from $0.62 a year ago, $0.09 better than the Street expected. UBS boosted its price target on the stock from $80 to $85 a share.
Wendy's Intl (WEN) losing $0.73. Fourth quarter earnings excluding items, $0.06. That was $0.15 below the Wall Street estimate.
And Oshkosh Truck (OSK), the truck builder, down $0.37, but it was as low as $50.80 this morning after reporting first quarter earnings fell to $0.55 from $0.72 last year, $0.04 below the Street consensus.
And Griffon (GFF) down $1.90. First quarter earnings $0.27, up from $0.22 last year, but the Street was expecting $0.51 in earnings from the building products company.
Then we see Gannett Co (GCI) newspaper publisher, up $1.52. Fourth quarter earnings, $1.51, nicely above last year's $1.44 and $0.02 above the Street estimate.
Google (GOOG) topped the NASDAQ active list, down $0.25.
Apple (AAPL) a penny gain there.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.37 loss.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) moved up $0.55.
And Intel (INTC) a $0.12 gain, fifth in dollar volume.
Research in Motion (RIMM) did well, up $5.44.
Amazon.com (AMZN) losing $1.31. After the close yesterday, as we reported, Amazon's fourth quarter earnings dropped to $0.23 versus $0.47 a year ago and today, Bear Stearns downgraded it from "out perform" to "under perform."
Dell (DELL) down $0.28.
Electronic Arts (ERTS) edged up $0.59.
And Oracle (ORCL), tenth in volume, $0.37 gain.
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), look at that move, up $17.45. Better than expected fourth quarter earnings of $0.73. That was $0.22 better than the Street was expecting. Standard & Poor's repeated a "buy."
Over on the American exchange, American Technical Ceramics (AMK) up $2 - down $2.90. Second quarter earnings fell to $0.13 versus $0.22 last year and that's despite nearly a 5 percent rise in sales.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
