Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Ahead of the Fed's rate announcement, trading on Wall Street was predictably narrow and quiet this morning, with the Dow off single digits and the NASDAQ Composite averaging about an 11 point loss until noontime. The market's resilience in selling (ph) bolstered the bulls and the Dow rallied to a 30 point gain just before the Fed said it would keep rates unchanged. Then after a brief dip, the blue chips came on strong again and ended in record high ground. The Dow Industrial Average closed up 53.80 points at a record 13,362.87. The NASDAQ Composite gained 4.59 points to 2576.34, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 4.86, ending at 1512.58. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 13/32 to 98 21/32, putting the yield up to 4.67 percent.
The most active big board issue on 16.7 million shares, Texas Instruments (TXN) a nice move up $1.66. The company reportedly is raising its profit margin target from 50 to 55 percent.
Pfizer (PFE) was up $0.10.
General Electric (GE) an $0.18 gain.
Ford Motor Co (F) dropped $0.02.
Motorola (MOT) a $0.20 gainer.
Micron Tech (MU) was up a half dollar.
Halliburton (HAL) rose $0.78.
And CVS Caremark (CVS) gained $1.01. The company's board of directors approved a $5 billion stock buyback for CVS.
AT&T (T) a $0.20 gainer.
And Citigroup (C) rounding out the active list with a $0.40 rise.
IBM (IBM) did well, up $1.09 after Goldman Sachs upgraded it from "neutral" to a "buy" rating.
Then Rio Tinto Plc (RTP), the big international mining company, up $31.62. It traded as high as $305 a share today on a rumor that BHP Billiton approached the company about a takeover but Rio Tinto said it's not aware of any such approach. Billiton stock was up $2.43 at $50.33 a share.
Fluor (FLR) did well, up $2.36. The company received a $1 billion contract for a Saudi petrochemical complex over in Saudi Arabia.
And the Barnes Group (B) up $3.81. The company's in precision metal products and first quarter earnings jumped to $0.50 from $0.36 a year ago and that was $0.10 above the Street estimate. The company boosted 2007 guidance from $1.60 at best to up to $1.83 at best.
Efunds (EFD) rose $3.42. First quarter earnings down to $0.22 from $0.23 a year ago, but the company said it's been approached by certain parties about exploring strategic alternatives.
Barr Pharmaceuticals (BRL) up $2.36. First quarter earnings down to $0.78 from $0.84 last year, but that was $0.17 better than the Street was expecting.
SWS Group (SWS), I believe the old Southwest Securities was the name, down $3.13. The broker dealer reported lower third quarter earnings of $0.28, down from $0.32. The company cited higher operating expenses.
And Dow Jones & Co (DJ), there you see it, down $2.80 after Rupert Murdock said his bid of $60 a share is full and fair, certainly sounds like they are not going to sweeten it.
NASDAQ's most active, Cisco Systems (CSCO) down $1.85 despite better than expected earnings out after the close yesterday. But the company kept its outlook unchanged and a lot of investors were apparently hoping for something better than that.
Apple (AAPL) up $1.82.
Research in Motion (RIMM) jumping $8.07. UBS Securities upgraded its target on the stock from $170 to $180 a share.
Google (GOOG) was up $2.44.
Intel (INTC) $0.32 gain there.
And then moving along, Microsoft (MSFT) edged up $0.03.
Foster Wheeler (FWLT) did well, up $14.60, a real turnaround. First quarter earnings of $0.18 versus a loss of $1.25 a year ago.
And Dendreon (DNDN) really hard hit, down $11.41 on news the FDA is requesting additional information on the efficacy of the company's promising prostate cancer treatment called Provenge.
Yahoo! (YHOO) was down $0.19.
And Comcast "A" (CMCSA) a $0.17 loss there.
Whole Foods (WFM) after the close, announced that their earnings for the second quarter were a bit lower, $0.32 versus $0.36 last year, blamed it on new store openings but in after hours trading, Whole Foods shares tumbled over $4 when the company said staffers at the Federal Reserve or the Federal Trade Commission have expressed antitrust concerns about the natural food retailer's takeover of rival Wild Oats.
And finally, Trio-Tech International (TRT) soared over $5 a share. This company is in the semiconductor testing business. Third quarter earnings surged to $0.33 a share, up from just a nickel a year ago on a doubling of revenues.
