Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Friday, June 01, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: The employment report dispelled many concerns about a weak economy and inflation, sending the Dow nearly 50 points higher at the outset of trading and giving the NASDAQ Index an 18 point gain. That early upturn attracted some mid-session profit taking, but the bulls came back nicely, encouraged by Wal-Mart's plan to buy back $15 billion of its own stock and Dell's better than expected earnings were positive. So stocks closed higher across the board. The Dow Industrial Average rose 40.47 points to a record high, 13,668.11. In this shortened week, the Dow fell once and rose three times for a net gain of 160.83 points. The NASDAQ ended up 9.40 at 2613.92 today and it was higher in all of this week’s four sessions, rising 56.73 points overall. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index closed up 5.72 at another record high of 1536.34 today. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 16/32 to 96 14/32, lifting the yield to 4.96 percent.
The most active New York exchange issue on 21.2 million shares was Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) moving up nicely, $1.87 gainer. As you heard, the company’s going to buy back a lot of its stock, $15 billion worth. It also plans to slow growth in the super centers in the U.S. and in addition to that, it’s going to cut its capital expenditures.
Then came Micron Tech (MU) moving up $0.42. There’s a lot of heavy option activity in that stock today and recently and keep in mind the stock or the company has been viewed as a possible takeover target before.
General Electric (GE) $0.13 loss.
And then Pfizer (PFE) moving up $0.19.
LDK Solar Co (LDK), this is a Chinese solar panel manufacturer, went public today, 17.4 million American Depository shares, 27 was the price, opened at 28, the high of the day $30.14 and then went almost back to its offering price of 27.
Time Warner (TWX) dropped $0.06.
And so did EMC Corp (EMC).
Ford Motor Co (F) gaining a penny.
AT&T (T) an $0.81 loss.
And then LSI Corp (LSI) active but up $0.27.
Dow Jones & Co (DJ), there you see it, up $7.89 and that controlling Bancroft family now wants to talk with News Corp. about its $60 a share buyout bid as you heard.
And then LandAmerica Financial Group (LFG) up $10.53, traded as high as $106.22. The real estate services company is 7.9 percent owned by Viking Global Performance and that firm wants to put the company up for sale, wants the company to go on the market.
J. Crew Group (JCG), the apparel retailer, up $5.21. First quarter earnings, $0.39, way up from $0.12 a year ago and $0.09 above the Street consensus.
Brinker Intl (EAT) the big restaurant chain up $1.33. The company boosted its stock buyback program by $300 million.
Newfield Exploration (NFX) up $4.57. The company started production at its Abu oil field in Malaysia after a six-month delay.
Then we see Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV), the home builder, down $1.15. After the close yesterday, the company posted a second quarter loss of $28.1 million and said the housing slump continues.
Emulex (ELX) down $1.67. Caris brokerage downgraded it from "above average" to just "average."
And then Esterline Technologies (ESL) up $2.23. Second quarter earnings, $0.76, up from last year’s $0.68 and that was $0.11 better than the Street was expecting.
Apple (AAPL) topped the NASDAQ active list, down $2.79.
Followed by Google (GOOG) up $2.49.
Dell (DELL) on those better than expected results out yesterday, gained $0.39.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a $0.06 drop.
Microsoft (MSFT) dropped $0.10.
Intel (INTC) an $0.18 gainer.
Amgen (AMGN) moved up $0.49.
Qualcomm (QCOM) $0.18 loss.
Research in Motion (RIMM) off $1.01.
And then Applied Materials (AMAT) edging up $0.24 a share.
CKX Inc (CKXE), this is the company that owns the rights to Elvis Presley’s name and image and other celebrities. The company’s chairman and several of the officers want to take the company private at $13.75 a share in cash plus one share of a privately held firm I believe called FX Luxury. It’s in the real estate business.
Those are some of the stocks in the news tonight.
