Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street headed broadly lower this morning, plagued by worries about the economy brought on by that smaller than expected rise in durable goods orders and the surge in oil prices. At 11:00 a.m., the Dow was down 132 points and the NASDAQ down 17. Fed chief Bernanke's continuing concern over inflation and rising tensions with Iran kept stocks under pressure this afternoon, although they did end a bit above the day's lowest levels. The Dow Industrial Average closed off 96.93 points at 12,300.36. The NASDAQ Composite was down 20.33 ending at 2417.10. Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 11.38 to 1417.23. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 5/32 to par even, lifting the yield to 4.62 percent.
For the second straight session, CVS Caremark (CVS) topped the active list on the big board today, trading 18.6 million shares. The stock down $0.42. Followed by Ford Motor Co (F) which edged up $0.13.
General Electric (GE) a $0.24 loss.
Pfizer (PFE) down $0.31.
Motorola (MOT) a $0.04 loss there, fifth in volume.
Halliburton Co (HAL) gained $0.27.
But ExxonMobil (XOM) down $0.15.
Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) a $0.26 loss.
AT&T (T) down $0.49.
And Citigroup (C) was off $0.10, even though Bank America upgraded Citigroup from "neutral" to "buy."
Beazer Homes USA (BZH) tumbling $2.64 and it traded as low as $27.71. The company acknowledged it received the U.S. attorneys request for documents related to its mortgage business. But it said no allegations of wrongdoing included in that.
Then we see Altria Group (MO) up $1.13. I think that's in anticipation of the distribution of its remaining shares in Kraft to Altria stockholders and I believe that should be completed this Friday.
Bank of America (BAC) down $1.07, even though the company won Federal approval to acquire wealth management firm US Trust.
Then a gain of $0.91 in Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM). Citigroup issued a "buy" on the prospect of lower corn prices, because this company is a major buyer of corn used in its ethanol operations.
Accenture Ltd (ACN) up $1.37. Second quarter earnings jumped to $0.47 from only $0.11 last year and a nickel above the Street estimate. It also boosted its 2007 earnings guidance.
HB Fuller Co (FUL), the chemical company, up $2.87. The company posted first quarter earnings $0.34 versus $0.26 a year ago and that was a nickel better than the Street was looking for. The company also boosted its 2007 earnings guidance from $1.68 a share at best up to $1.75 at best.
Then NBTY (NTY) up $3.88. The company reportedly has hired Bear Stearns and Bank of America to explore the possible sale of the company.
And JM Smucker Co (SJM) up $2.06. Prudential upgraded it from "under weight" to a "neutral" rating.
And Suncor Energy (SU) rising $2.61. Deutsche Bank upgraded it from "hold" to "buy" on the positive outlook for the company's oil sands production.
And on the downside, we see Brady Corp (BRC), which is involved in identification products. The Thomas Weisel brokerage downgraded it from "over weight" to "market weight" and cut its price target from $44 to $36 a share.
NASDAQ's most active, Apple (AAPL) down $2.22.
Google (GOOG) $1.74 loss there.
Microsoft (MSFT) an $0.08 drop. "Wall Street Journal" reports Microsoft is considering a possible takeover of Doubleclick.
And then Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.23 loss there.
Amgen (AMGN) down $0.49, fifth in dollar volume.
$0,20 drop in Intel (INTC).
Research in Motion (RIMM) off $1.75.
Qualcomm (QCOM) fell $0.13.
Sun Micro (SUNW) a penny loss.
And then Oracle (ORCL), tenth in volume, down $0.32.
Industrial Services of America (IDSA) up $1.35. Fourth quarter earnings jumped to $0.20 from only $0.12 a year ago.
On the downside, Angiodynamics (ANGO) plunging $4.68. A jury found the company guilty of infringing on Diomed's laser treatment for varicose veins.
And finally shares in Gold Reserve (GRZ) soared over $2 after getting mining permits for its Brisas copper and gold project in Venezuela.
