Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Stocks on Wall Street opened lower on profit taking after last week's string of gains. The Dow fell 42 points by the end of the first hour of trading, while the NASDAQ lost nine points. Wal-Mart's better than expected earnings -- which we'll detail shortly -- and more merger activity helped the market turn higher by midday. The tech sector led a choppy afternoon advance, which again lifted the blue chips to a record closing high. Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 19.07 points at 12,786.64, a new record high of course. And then the NASDAQ was up 16.73 ending at 2513.04. Standard & Poor's Index 500 gained 4.14 at 1459.68. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note rose 3/32 to 99 18/32, putting the yield at 4.68 percent.
Topping the active list on the big board was Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) on 17.7 million shares, up $1.78 on those earnings in the fourth quarter, $0.03 above the Street estimate. Incidentally, that gain of $1.78 helped the Dow move higher by 14 1/4 points.
Then came Pfizer (PFE) showing no change.
General Electric (GE) $0.24 gain.
Ford Motor Co (F) up $0.12.
Time Warner (TWX) gained a dime a share, fifth in big board volume.
AT&T (T) was down $0.12.
ExxonMobil (XOM) fell $0.42.
Sprint Nextel (S) $0.15 gain.
Advanced Micro (AMD) $0.02 lower.
And Home Depot (HD) itself down $0.10 on those lower fourth quarter earnings of $0.50, down from $0.60 a year ago and the company also was rather cautious on the outlook. That didn't help the stock. Kraft Foods (KFT) up $1.09. Excluding restructuring charges, the company sees 2007 earnings overall at $1.75 to $1.80 a share. That's well below the Street estimate of $1.92 a share. Hence the loss on the stock.
Harley-Davidson (HOG) moved up $1.77. The company's in a tentative labor pact with the machinists and aerospace union which will end the strike which had 2800 workers out of work.
Alltel (AT) moving up $1.97. Fourth quarter operating earnings $0.63, $0.04 above the Street estimate and revenues up a respectable 14 percent in the period.
KBW (KBW), this investment house, used to be called Keefe Bruyette and Woods, up $4.55. Fourth quarter earnings soared to $0.87 versus only $0.26 a share a year ago.
Florida Rock Industries (FRK) up $19.58, almost a 42 gain. Vulcan Materials will acquire this company for cash or stock worth $67 a share, nice gain there, that's for sure.
Smart & Final (SMF), this is a wholesale grocery chain, up $2.54. Apollo Management is going to acquire it for $813 million. That works out to $22 a share.
And Scotts Miracle Gro (SMG) up $3.64. The board has declared a one time cash dividend of $8 a share.
Westlake Chemical (WLK) dropped $4.11. Fourth quarter earnings dropped to only $0.22, $0.13 below the Street estimate and way down from $1.13 a share a year ago.
Build a Bear Workshop (BBW) had the stuffing knocked out of it, off $2.62. Fourth quarter earnings $0.75, up from $0.52, but sales were a little lower than expected and the company sees first quarter earnings dropping to only $0.35 to $0.41, rather sizable drop in the stock.
Boyd Gaming (BYD) however, up $3.10. Fourth quarter operating earnings came in at $0.63, way up from $0.28 a year ago. That was $0.24 better than the Street was expecting.
NASDAQ's most active, Google (GOOG) up $2.16.
Followed by Apple (AAPL) with $1.07 gain. Microsoft (MSFT) edged $0.09 higher.
There you see XM Satellite Radio (XMSR) up $1.43 on that potential merger news.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up $2.80. That was fifth in dollar volume.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) up $0.14.
And Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI) itself up $0.22 on the merger rumors.
Intel (INTC) a nickel loss.
And Amgen (AMGN) a $0.38 drop.
Qualcomm (QCOM), tenth in volume, fell $0.19 a share.
Lesco (LSCO) up $3.87. The company's involved in turf care products and Deere & Company will acquire the firm for $14.50 a share in cash.
Then TB Woods (TBWC) up $7.67. This is a manufacturer of power transmission products. Altra Holdings will acquire it for $24.80 per share.
And over on the American exchange, Aerocentury (ACY), which leases aircraft, had big fourth quarter earnings of $0.35, versus only $0.04 a share a year ago, nice rise in the stock, really taking off so to speak.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
