Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Thursday, April 05, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street`s blue chips opened lower on some profit-taking after five straight days of gains. Also a negative: investor caution ahead of that employment report tomorrow. The Dow fell 22 points at the outset of trading, but a firm tech sector gave the NASDAQ Index a two-point gain. Buyers emerged this afternoon as oil prices eased and they lifted the market to a positive close. The Dow Industrial Average ended up 30.15 points at 12,560.20. It rose in all four of this day`s trading days for the net advance of 205.85 points. The NASDAQ Composite was up 12.65, ending at 2,471.34 today. It also advanced each day this week, for an overall gain of 49.70 points. Standard & Poor`s 500 Index gained 4.39 to 1,443.76 today. In the bond market, the 10-year note lost 7/32 to 99 17/32, putting the yield at 4.68 percent.
Most active New York exchange issue on 25 million shares, Micron Tech (MU) down $0.56. After the close yesterday, as we reported, second quarter loss of $0.07 a share versus earnings of $0.27 the previous year and today Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock from "neutral" to "sell."
Kraft Foods (KFT) up $0.86.
And then Time Warner (TWX) $0.43 gain.
Ford Motor (F) edged down $0.03.
And fifth in volume was General Electric (GE) with a $0.09 loss. Pfizer (PFE) edged $0.03 higher.
First Data Corp (FDC) up a penny.
Halliburton (HAL) a $0.10 gain.
Motorola (MOT) down $0.13.
And Corning (GLW)
slipped in there in tenth position with a $0.47 gain.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) edged up $0.26. A U.S. Federal court ruled that JNJ`s drug eluding stent does not infringe on Boston Scientific`s taxus stent. Boston Scientific stock nevertheless moved up $0.12 to $14.97 a share.
M&F Worldwide (MFW) a big gain of $11.58. The Department of Justice granted early termination to the waiting period for the company to merge with the John Harland Company. M&F Worldwide will acquire John Harland for $52.75 a share in cash. John Harland stock was up $1.22 at $52.35 today.
Then we see Cox Radio (CXR) moving up $1.14. Credit Suisse upgraded it from "under perform" to "neutral" on a valuation basis and then Bear Stearns came along, upgraded it from "peer perform" to "out perform."
Rockwell Automation (RCK) losing $3.46. Chief Financial Officer James Gelly has resigned. JPMorgan downgraded the stock today from "over weight" to just a "neutral" rating.
Shaw Group (SGR) off $1.57. The company will delay its second quarter results which could be cut by $0.05 to $0.09 a share because of higher than expected costs at a company`s petrochemical project. Meanwhile, Standard & Poor`s today downgraded the stock from "hold" to "sell."
And then Jarden Corp (JAH) up $2.21. The consumer products company with an upgrade from Goldman Sachs from "neutral" to "buy." Goldman also boosted its price target from $41 to $45 a share.
Potash (POT) up $1.72. UBS Financial upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy" and boosted its price target from $178 to $192 a share.
Google (GOOG) topped the NASDAQ active list, up $0.49.
Followed by Apple (AAPL) with a $0.41 gain.
Amgen (AMGN) up $1.65.
Dendreon (DNDN) which has a promising prostate treatment, up $2.97.
And then Qualcomm (QCOM) $0.35 loss. That was fifth in volume.
Microsoft (MSFT) edged a nickel higher.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) down $0.04.
Intel (INTC) $0.20 gainer.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up $3.24.
And Nvidia Corp (NVDA), tenth in volume, up $2.32.
Webmethods (WEBM) moving up $1.98, almost a 28 percent rise. Software AG, the big German firm, will acquire it for $9.15 a share in cash.
Biosite Inc (BSTR) up $8.81. Inverness Medical is prepared to offer $90 a share for the 95 percent of the stock it doesn`t already own. That beats out Beckman Coulter $85 a share bid. Inverness stock today was down $2.99. Beckman Coulter fell $1.80 a share.
And Cutera (CUTR), this company`s involved in hair removal lasers and it warned its first quarter profit will be lower than expected at around $0.11 to $0.13 versus previous estimate of $0.21 a share. The Street was looking for $0.29 a share.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
