Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street's blue chips continued their winning ways today as those better-than-expected reports on housing starts, industrial production and consumer prices instilled bullish confidence. Coca-Cola's strong results also helped the Dow post a 63-point gain at noon, just three points below its record closing high. A sluggish NASDAQ market however undermined the blue ships, as did caution ahead of earnings from IBM, Intel and Yahoo, so stocks ended below the day's best levels. The Dow Industrial Average still closed up 52.58 at 12,773.04, 13.5 points below its February 20th record high. The NASDAQ lost 1.38 to 2,516.95. Standard & Poor's 500 was up 3.01 ending at 1,471.48. In the bond market, the 10-year note rose 12/32 to 99 17/32, putting the yield at 4.69 percent.
The most active New York exchange issue on 23 million shares was EMC Corp (EMC) moving up $0.46. First quarter earnings excluding one time items came in at $0.18 versus $0.16 a year ago and that was $0.05 better than the Street consensus.
General Electric (GE) in there with a $0.16 loss.
Pfizer (PFE) dropped $0.04.
But Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), a Dow stock, up $1.53. First quarter earnings excluding one-time items $1.16 a share, $0.11 above the Street estimate.
Halliburton (HAL) down $0.33.
Motorola (MOT), whose earnings are due out tomorrow, was up $0.13 today.
Time Warner (TWX) down $0.27.
Ford Motor Co (F) dropping $0.18.
Micron Tech (MU) $0.12 loss there.
ExxonMobil (XOM) moved up $0.23. However, there is talk Venezuela may take over or take control of certain Oronoco reserve oil projects in which Exxon has a stake, as do many other U.S. companies and the really big problem is there may be no compensation whatever.
Wells Fargo & Co (WFC), the big bank, down $0.26. First quarter earnings were higher, $0.66, up from $0.60 a year ago, a penny above the Street estimate. Revenues up 10 percent.
And then State Street Corp. (STT) up $0.79. First quarter earnings, $0.93, up from $0.87. That's $0.02 above the Street estimate. Revenues rose 11 percent.
And then Comerica (CMA) up $1.75. First quarter earnings $1.19, up from $1.16 a year ago, a penny above the Street consensus.
Dow Jones & Co (DJ) up $1.13. First quarter earnings excluding one- time items $0.24, up from $0.14 a year ago, $0.05 better than the Street was expecting.
BCE Inc (BCE), the big Canadian phone company, up $2.03. The company said it is in talks with a group of Canadian pension funds about going private.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BN) down $1.77. UBS Financial downgraded it from "buy" to "neutral" on a valuation basis.
Fair Isaac & Co (FIC), this is the credit scoring firm, cut its second quarter earnings estimate from $0.48 down to about $0.36 and also cut its full-year earnings estimates as well.
The home builders very strong today on that surprise increase in housing starts. Centex (CTX) and DR Horton (DHI), KB Home (KBH), Lennar (LEN) and Ryland Group (RYL) all in there with decent gains.
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list on NASDAQ, down $1.08.
And then came Intel (INTC) which closed up $0.29. First quarter earnings as you heard, $0.05 above the Street estimate at $0.27. In after hours trading, the stock was up about $0.50 from this level.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a $0.22 gain.
Google (GOOG) was down $1.47.
Microsoft (MSFT) a $0.12 gain.
Then we see Yahoo! (YHOO) with a $0.48 closing gain. After the close, Yahoo! reported first quarter earnings $0.10, down from $0.11 last year and a penny below the Street estimate. There was also disappointment over the compay's new ad system called Panama. After hours trading I saw that stock as low as $29.50.
Research in Motion (RIMM) down $1.28.
Amgen (AMGN) up $0.45.
Qualcomm (QCOM) $0.02 drop.
Same story with Dendreon (DNDN).
Td Ameritrade Holding (AMTD), the discount brokerage, down $1.56. Second quarter earnings fell to $0.23 versus $0.30 a year ago, a penny below the Street estimate.
And then a huge gain for Insweb (INSW). This is a firm that offers insurance online. First quarter earnings of $0.10 versus a loss of $0.41 last year. Revenues rose 6 percent, a big move in the stock.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
