Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Monday, April 02, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street got an opening boost from those takeover deals with the Dow rising 20 points at the outset of trading. A slightly lower NASDAQ market however, kept buyers wary, as did higher oil prices. News of a slowdown in manufacturing in March pushed the Dow to a 20-point loss at 11:00 a.m. with the NASDAQ off five points. But then fresh second quarter investment demand and an easing in oil prices helped stocks end in the black. The Dow Industrial Average gained at 27.95 at 12,382.30. The NASDAQ Composite was up 0.62 at 2422.26, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 3.69 points, ending at 1424.55. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note was unchanged at 99 27/32, keeping the yield at 4.65 percent. Big board volume leader on a hefty 39.6 million shares was First Data (FDC) up $5.55. As you heard, Kohlberg Kravis is going to acquire it for $34 a share in cash.
Then Kraft Foods (KFT) losing $0.81. Altria did complete today the spin off of Altria and Altria shareholders will get .69 of a share of Kraft for each share of Altria that they own.
Ford Motor (F) $0.20 gain there.
EMC Corp (EMC) a $0.24 gain.
Pfizer (PFE) edged up $0.08, fifth in big board volume.
Motorola (MOT) down $0.11.
AT&T (T) was up $0.03. The company is taking a one-third stake in Olympia. Olympia controlled Telecom Italia and that stock on the big board was up $2.66 at $31.32 a share.
Time Warner (TWX) a $0.35 gain.
And Altria Group (MO) itself doing very well today on the completion of the Kraft spin off, up $2.32.
Wells Fargo (WFC), tenth in volume, was down $0.42 a share.
Merck & Co (MRK) edged up $0.84. The FDA has approved the company's Janumet treatment for diabetes Type II.
Then we see Fedex Corp (FDX) down $1.36. Citigroup downgraded it from "buy" to "hold" on concern about the slowing economy and UBS removed the stock from its strategic stock list, not a good day for FedEx.
Automatic Data Processing (ADP) $45.57, down $2.83. I think there might be a discrepancy in the net change on that, but in any case, ADP completed the spin off of its Broadridge Financial Solutions group, one share of Broadridge for each four shares of ADP. Broadridge under the symbol BR, trading on the big board today, down $0.19 at $19.51.
Deere & Co (DE) tumbled $4.16. The Stifel Nicolaus brokerage downgraded it from "buy" to "hold" on concern over the company's construction and forestry operations and of course that's due to the poor housing market these days.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) up $11.42. The company said its March daily volume was up 45 percent from a year ago to 7.7 million contracts daily.
Sonoco Products (SON) up $1.83. The story here, Bank America upgraded it from "neutral" to a "buy."
And Global Payments (GPN) up $1.82. It's in the same business as First Date which of course is being taken over so a little sympathetic move there as with the whole group.
M&T Bank Corp (MTB) tumbled $9.88. The company sees first quarter earnings $1.50 to $1.60 versus a Street estimate of $1.86. And the story here, the company's having some trouble in its residential mortgage business.
National City (NCC) down $1.23. AG Edwards downgraded it from "hold" to "sell" due to what AG Edwards says is an unfavorable risk reward profile.
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list, moving up $0.74. As you heard, it's in a new pact with EMI.
Google (GOOG) $0.37 gain.
Microsoft (MSFT) fell $0.13.
No change in Intel (INTC).
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.13 loss there, fifth in volume.
Qualcomm (QCOM) up $0.42.
And Dendreon Corp (DNDN) up another $1.37. Friday it soared $7.71 after the FDA said the company's Provenge treatment for prostate cancer appeared to be safe and effective.
Amgen (AMGN) $0.33 loss.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up $0.74.
Sun Microsystems (SUNW) down $0.21. Sanford Bernstein downgraded it from "market perform" to "under perform" in the belief third quarter earnings could be a bit disappointing.
Global Imaging Systems (GISX) up $9.14. As you heard, Xerox will acquire it for $29 a share.
And then Books-a-Million (BAMM) up $3.34. After the close Friday, fourth quarter earnings $0.90, up from $0.66 a share last year, $0.09 better than the Street estimate.
And over on the American exchange, Midwest Air Group (MEH) up nearly $1. Air Tran has sweetened its $11.25 takeover which is hostile, boosted it to $15 a share and that's $9 cash and the rest AAI stock. Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
