Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Monday, May 07, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: That premium buyout bid Alcoa made for Alcan boosted bullish conviction on Wall Street today, as did growing confidence that the Federal Reserve would not raise rates at this week's policy meeting. At noon, the Dow posted a 40 point gain and the NASDAQ was up 4 points. About a $3 per share gain in Alcoa stock, which is a Dow component, kept the blue chip index buoyant for the rest of the session while the broader market turned mixed. The Dow Industrial Average closed up 48.35 points at 13,312.97, its fifth straight record closing high. The NASDAQ Composite actually fell 1.20, ending at 2570.95. Standard & Poor's 500 rose 3.86 points to 1509.48. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note rose 3/32 to 99 30/32, putting the yield at 4.63 percent.
Big board volume leader as you might expect, Alcoa (AA) on 22 1/2 million shares, moving up $2.97. That gain alone accounted for about half of the Dow's 48-point closing gain.
Then came Motorola (MOT), you heard the story about Carl Icahn there.
Pfizer (PFE) $0.30 gainer.
Time Warner (TWX) moved up $0.43.
And then Alcan (AL) itself up $21.08 or 34 1/2 percent. As you heard, Alcoa's bid is $58.60 a share in cash, so it's about .4 of a share of Alcoa. Today at the close of trading, that would be worth about $74.50 a share for Alcan.
General Electric (GE) a $0.09 gainer.
EMC Corp (EMC) $0.29 rise there.
ExxonMobil (XOM) up $0.28.
Micron Tech (MU) gained a nickel.
And then came AT&T (T) with a $0.12 closing gain.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) slipped $0.22 a share on news that trials for the company's CoStar two drug eluding coronary stent were not successful.
Then we see Armor Holdings (AH) up $4.45. BAE Systems will acquire Armor Holdings, which is the maker of armored vehicles and the price, $88 per share.
Wendy's Intl (WEN) up $1.52. Call option trading has been very active in the stock and two weeks ago, you might recall, the company formed a special committee to explore alternatives, including the possible sale of the entire company.
Darden Restaurants (DRI) moved up $2.29 on plans that it's going to sell its money-losing Smokey Bones restaurant operations, a positive reaction to that.
Cooper Tire & Rubber (CTB) up $1.53. Last Wednesday, the company reported a first quarter turn around, $0.33 in earnings versus a loss of $0.08 a year ago. The Street estimate was for earnings of only $0.14, so the stock continues higher.
Usec (USU) Incorporated up $1.79. This company is in the uranium enrichment business. First quarter earnings came in at $0.45, up from $0.40 a year ago and revenues were up a hefty 29 percent.
Chemed (CHE) which incidentally owns the Roto Rooter label, up $3.68. Last Tuesday's first quarter earnings reportedly sharply higher. Today Deutsche Bank Securities upgraded it from "hold" to a "buy."
And then American States Water Co (AWR) rising $1.36. AG Edwards upgraded it from "hold" to "buy" because of its reasonable valuation and also an improving regulatory situation in California.
Officemax (OMX) down $2.64. Last Thursday, the company reported flat earnings and Lehman has since cut its price target from $58 to $44 a share.
And then Tenaris Sa (TS), the Canadian steel pipe manufacturer, down $2.75. First quarter earnings a bit higher, $0.41 versus $0.36, but down 11 percent from the fourth quarter, so sequentially, not so good.
Apple (AAPL) topped the NASDAQ active list with a gain of $3.11.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.15 rise.
Google (GOOG) fell $3.85.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a dime loss.
Yahoo! (YHOO) was off $0.60 a share.
$2.41 drop in Amazon.com (AMZN).
Intel (INTC) a $0.06 gainer.
Research in Motion (RIMM) moved up $1.81.
Hansen Natural (HANS) up $1.10. Goldman Sachs made some positive comments on Hansen.
And Dendreon (DNDN) was down $1.47.
Ohio Casualty (OCAS) up $9.85 on news Liberty Mutual Group will acquire it for $44 a share in cash.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
