Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Thursday, April 19, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street opened lower as steep downturns in Asian and European markets gave investors the jitters. The Dow, after making a record high yesterday was also vulnerable to profit taking and it fell almost 40 points at the outset of trading with the NASDAQ off 13 points. The blue chips bounced back on solid earnings from companies like Union Pacific. At mid- session the Dow was up 25 points. Then renewed profit taking whittled away the gains but the Dow still set a new record. The Dow Industrial Average closed up 4.79 at a record 12,808.63. NASDAQ Composite lost 5.15 points to 2505.35, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 1.77, ending at 1470.73. In the bond market, the 10-year note fell 4/32 to 99 21/32, putting the yield at 4.67 percent.
The volume leader was Metro PCS Comm (PCS) and it traded 24.7 million shares. You heard it came public at $23, opened at $25.10. The high of the day, $27.61, a very good debut indeed.
Pfizer (PFE) $0.29 gain there.
General Electric (GE) fell $0.13.
Advanced Micro (AMD) a $0.37 gain and of course, after the close, they noted that they lost $1.11 in the first quarter and in after hours trading, AMD stock I saw as low as $13.87.
Schering-Plough (SGP) up $2.45. First quarter earnings excluding one- time items $0.42, $0.13 above the Street estimate and we're going to have more on Schering-Plough very shortly.
Kraft Foods (KFT) gained $0.56.
Motorola (MOT) down $0.14.
Bank of America (BAC) a $0.91 loss even though first quarter earnings came in at $1.17, $0.02 better than the Street expected.
Ford Motor Co (F) an $0.08 loss there.
And CVS Caremark (CVS) was a $0.34 gainer.
Altria Group (MO) parent of Philip Morris, down $0.68. First quarter operating earnings came in at $1.03. That was up from $0.98 last year, but $0.02 below the Wall Street estimate.
Texas Instruments (TXN) moved up $0.54. The company is doubling its quarterly dividend from $0.04 to $0.08 a share.
Nokia (NOK) $0.78 gain. First quarter profits were down 7 percent, but the company had 36 percent of the cell phone market in the first quarter and that was up from 35 a year ago. Meanwhile, AG Edwards brokerage upgraded the target price on the stock from $26 to $28 a share.
Union Pacific (UNP) up $2.69, big earnings out on the first quarter, $1.41, up from $1.15 last year, $0.13 better than the Street was expecting.
Harley-Davidson (HOG) up $1.96. HOG came in with first quarter earnings of $0.74, down from $0.86 a year ago, but that does reflect the three week strike and those earnings were $0.02 above the Wall Street consensus incidentally.
Reliance Steel (RS) had a good day, up $5.06. First quarter earnings strong, $1.46, way up from $1.07 last year and $0.14 above the Street consensus.
American Standard (ASD) gained $1.27. The company boosted its 2007 earnings guidance from about $3.20 to around $3.35 a share.
Alliance Data Systems (ADS) losing $2.38. First quarter earnings $0.70, a penny more than last year. The Street was looking for $0.91, not $0.70.
Playtex Products (PYX) up $1.39. Positive reaction to the company's acquisition of Tiki Hut Holdings. They're the ones that own Hawaiian Tropic sun care products. The price of the buyout was $83 million.
Then SuperValu (SVU) up $3.02. Fourth quarter earnings jumped to $0.57 from $0.04 a year ago and that does reflect the acquisition of Albertsons.
Imation (IMN) down $5.09. Fourth quarter, first quarter earnings, $0.44, down from $0.55. The company cited lower prices for data storage products.
But a good gainer was Labor Ready (LRW) up $3.43. First quarter earnings were flat, $0.21, but $0.05 above the Street estimate and the company plans to buy back up to $100 million of its own stock.
Google (GOOG) closed down $4.36, but after hours, it traded as high as $485 a share.
Amgen (AMGN) up $2.31. The company's phase three study of its Aranesp anti-cancer product showed promise in lung cancer patients.
Linear Tech (LLTC) up $1.59.
Intel (INTC) $0.46 gain.
Ebay (EBAY) fell $1.26, despite good earnings after the bell yesterday.
Apple (AAPL) a $0.13 loss.
Yahoo! (YHOO) down $0.80.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.09 gain.
Medimmune (MEDI) up $1.10.
Gilead Sciences (GILD) was up $3.28.
And finally, Avici Systems (AVCI) down $3.89, bit percentage drop. The company has decided to exit the router business, negative reaction there.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
