Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Driven by a continuing flow of strong corporate earnings and more merger activity, stocks on Wall Street moved higher at the opening today. At 11:00 a.m., the Dow rose above 13,600 for the first time ever with the NASDAQ up 10 points and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index at a record high. A warning from former Fed chief Alan Greenspan that the Chinese market was due for a sharp setback was widely blamed for a steep sell off this afternoon on Wall as the major indices ended lower. The Dow Industrial Average closed off 14.30 points at 13,525.65. The NASDAQ Composite lost 10.97 at 2577.05. Standard & Poor's 500 down 1.84 ending at 1522.28. In the bond market, the 10-year note fell 5/32 to 97 8/32, putting the yield up to 4.85 percent.
Once again topping the big board active list today on 16.6 million shares, General Electric (GE) moving up $0.26. Then Pfizer (PFE) with a $0.03 loss.
Sprint Nextel (S) gained $0.41.
Valero Energy (VLO) down $1.24.
And then Ford Motor Co (F) which was $0.08 per share.
EMC Corp (EMC) was up $0.23.
Time Warner (TWX) dropped $0.04.
RSC Holdings (RRR) this is a new issue. The company's a heavy equipment leasing firm, 20.8 million shares offered at $22, opened at $21.70, got as high as $71.75 and then took a belly flop during the late afternoon sell off.
Alcoa (AA) was up $1.42. Yesterday of course, Alcan rejected its buyout bid and Alcan is reportedly now in talks with BHP Billiton. Alcan stock today was up $4.86 at $85.89 a share.
ExxonMobil (XOM) was up $0.22 a share today.
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) edged up a nickel. The company won a seven-year NASA technology and services contract which is worth up to $5.6 billion.
Analog Devices (ADI) plunging $4.03. Second quarter earnings lower, $0.37, versus $0.39 a year ago. The company's profit margins also were lower than expected and Credit Suisse downgraded the stock from "out perform" to just a "neutral" rating.
Medtronic (MDT) moved up $2.18. After the close yesterday, fourth quarter earnings excluding one-time items came in at $0.66, up from $0.59 a year ago, $0.04 better than the Street expected. Revenues up a respectable 7 percent.
DaimlerChrysler AG (DCX) up $3.11. Morgan Stanley repeated an "over weight" rating on that stock.
Target (TGT) moved up $0.56. First quarter earnings $0.75, well above $0.63 last year and $0.04 better than the Street consensus.
Dillard's (DDS) however, down $2.60. It had lower first quarter earnings, $0.53, down from $0.77 a year ago, $0.20 below the Street estimates.
Men's Wearhouse (MW) up $4.44, nicely higher earnings first quarter, $0.75 up from $0.53 a year ago and sales up a respectable 14 percent.
Stride-Rite (SRR) the shoe company, up $4.76. Payless Shoe will acquire this firm for $800 million in cash. That works out to about $20.50 a share. Payless stock was up $3.24 at $35.14.
And then CSS Industries (CSS) plunging $6.21. The company's into greeting cards and gift wrappings and things like that, had a fourth quarter loss of $0.52, not as big as the $0.73 loss a year ago, but $0.06 worse than expected.
NASDAQ's most active down $0.65 was Apple (AAPL).
Then Amazon.com (AMZN) with a gain of $0.12.
Google (GOOG) was down $1.89.
Intel (INTC) $0.32 loss.
And Cisco Systems (CSCO) fell $0.40.
Microsoft (MSFT) down $0.11. The company said today it doesn't need to buy Yahoo! because it already has all the pieces to build a successful ad business.
Research in Motion (RIMM) down nearly $3.50.
Qualcomm (QCOM) off $1.54.
Amgen (AMGN) moved up $0.78.
And Yahoo! (YHOO) itself down $0.31 a share.
Cypress Biosciences (CYPB), look at that gain, 93 3/4 percent, up nearly $8. After the close yesterday, Cypress and its partner Forest (ph) Laboratories said phase III trials of their Milnacipran drug showed significant therapeutic effects on patients suffering from fibromyalgia syndrome, big, big move there.
And finally, Mesa Labs (MLAB) rose over $4 after reporting strong fourth quarter earnings, $0.44 per share, up from $0.27 a year ago on a 54 percent jump in revenues.
