Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Thursday, May 17, 2007
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JEFF YASTINE: Investors did take a step back today from the steady buying of recent weeks. The morning started with choppy trading in a narrow range, as investors weighed a Conference Board report pointing to slowing economic growth against a Philly Fed survey showing steady manufacturing growth. Despite that, the Dow did make it over the 13,500 mark for a few minutes before fading ahead of the closing bell. The Dow fell 10.81 to 13,476.72. The NASDAQ Composite dropping 8.04 points to 2,539.38 and the S&P 500 ending off 1.39 to 1,512.75. In the bond market, the 10-year note falling 11/32 to 97 31/32 and the yield at 4.76 percent.
Starting things off, Micron Tech (MU) losing $0.64. The flash memory products maker announced a $1.1 billion offering of convertible debt.
Motorola (MOT) rising $0.38.
Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) up $0.18.
Alliance Data Systems (ADS) bolted over $15 higher. The marketing company will be acquired by what else, a private equity firm the Blackstone Group for $7.8 billion or $81.75 a share in cash and that does include debt.
General Electric (GE) losing $0.30. The conglomerate preparing for contract talks with a number of its unions representing 20,000 GE workers. Executives hope to hash out a deal on health care when meetings begin on Monday.
AT&T (T) edging up $0.12.
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) giving back $0.35. Despite last night's healthy second quarter profits, there's been some talk about HP and its potential for buying BEA Systems, but other analysts call that wishful thinking today.
Halliburton Co (HAL) picking up $0.76 fueled by its pending dividend boost.
And then Pfizer (PFE) climbing just a fraction.
Then we have Goodyear Tire (GT) which rose $1.63. Investors not deterred by the tire maker's secondary offering of 22.7 million shares. Those are priced at $33 each.
And there's IBM (IBM) which fell $0.56 but big blue predicts profits will almost double within the next three years. Its CFO sees earnings reaching $11 a share by 2010 through stock buybacks, acquisitions and savings on retirement spending.
And then Caterpillar (CAT) taking a hit, falling $1.11 on the downgrade from Stifel Nicholas. The analyst believes the stock's impressive performance over the S&P 500 in the last seven months may be losing steam on worries of an economic downturn in the U.S.
Then JC Penney Co (JCP) rang up nearly $4. Earnings in the first quarter jumped 13 percent to $1.04. That was a penny above estimates. The retailer also boosting its earnings forecast. It sees with new designer apparel wear will be a hit among shoppers.
And then Gerber Scientific (GRB) climbing over $3. The company sees fourth quarter earnings topping earlier projections by at least $0.02 to $0.06 a share. And analysts at Sedoby (ph) believes the company's apparel line is selling well in China.
And then Salesforce.com (CRM) falling $2.27. Higher expenses hurt better than expected operating results for that company.
Then onto the NASDAQ, Apple (AAPL) gained more than $2. The iPhone has received certification from the SEC. The company says it's on schedule to ship to consumers in late June as planned.
Google (GOOG) down $1.65.
Intel (INTC) up a nickel.
Microsoft (MSFT) gaining $0.09.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) losing $0.20.
And then Starbucks (SBUX) picking up $0.27.
Dell (DELL) up $0.14.
Amazon.com (AMZN) down $1.05.
Amgen (AMGN) losing $0.65.
Yahoo! (YHOO) down by a similar amount.0
Dusa Pharmaceuticals (DUSA) rose nearly $2. Its therapy received orphan drug status from the FDA. That therapy used to treat damage to the esophagus and throat cancer and the orphan drug status gives Dusa seven years of exclusive marketing rights if the FDA approves the treatment.
Then Acxiom Corp (ACXM) jumped over $4. The company will be acquired by two private equity firms for $2.25 billion. ValueAct Capital and Silver Lake Partners are paying $27.10 a share for the data services firm. And then finally, Opnet Tech Inc (OPNT) sliding $1.31. Fourth quarter results came in below estimates while the company said that first quarter results also looked to be coming in below previous forecasts.
Those are our stocks in the news tonight.
