Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Monday, June 11, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: An opening rally attempt on Wall Street was undermined by a further rise in bond yields and higher oil prices. So an hour into the trading session, the Dow was down 42 points, NASDAQ was off 7. In the absence of any major economic reports, there was little bullish or bearish conviction. But a number of stocks benefited from brokerage upgrades, helping the Dow achieve a 43-point mid-afternoon gain. However, a late round of selling turned stocks mixed by the closing bell. The Dow Industrial Average gained a mere .57 putting it at 13,424.96. The NASDAQ Composite was down 1.39 to 2572.15 while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 1.45 at 1509.12. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 12/32 to 94 30/32, putting the yield up to 5.16 percent.
Big board volume leader on 20.1 million shares, Qwest Communications (Q) moving down $0.81. That's an 8 percent drop. The news, Chief Executive Officer Richard Notebaert, who helped turn that company around, plans to step down as soon as the company finds a successor for him.
Avaya (AV) a $0.02 gain. Of course that company is being taken private by a private equity group for $17.50 a share.
Pfizer (PFE) was down $0.15.
General Electric (GE) moved up $0.14.
Time Warner (TWX) a $0.13 drop there.
Ford Motor Co (F) was up $0.16.
ExxonMobil (XOM) on those higher oil prices, gained $0.38.
AT&T (T) lost $0.14.
General Motors (GM) up $0.77 on continuing optimism a labor pact between Delphi and the UAW may be in the offing. That would enable Delphi to emerge from bankruptcy.
Sprint Nextel (S) in there with a $0.04 loss.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) closed up $7.44. Just as the market was closing today, the Department of Justice gave unconditional approval to the company's plan to acquire the Chicago Board of Trade. The board of trade stock closed up $3.04 at $201.54. Neither one of the stocks had a great deal of movement after the market closed.
Nucor (NUE) on a weak steel group, down $3.95. The company said second quarter earnings would come in around $1.05 to $1.15. That's well below the Wall Street estimate of $1.42 a share.
United States Steel (X) down $8.85 giving up most of what it gained last Friday, $9.25 then on speculation the German conglomerate Thyssenkrupe was in talks to acquire U.S. Steel, but Thyssenkrupe today said that is not so. There are no talks going on to that effect.
Corporate Express NV (CXP), this is a Dutch office supply firm, up $1.32 on news the British hedge fund Centaurus Capital has purchased a 5 percent stake.
Emcor Group (EME), this company's involved in construction services, it announced a two for one stock split and boosted the high end of its 2007 earnings estimate from $2.80 a share to $3 a share.
And Ust Inc (UST), this is the smokeless tobacco company, up $2.87. UBS brokerage upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy," partly in belief that it could be a takeover target.
H&R Block (HRB) moved up $1.06. UBS upgraded this one from "neutral" to "buy," boosted its price target from $24 to $28 a share on a higher chance now of a takeover possibility.
Wachovia (WB) edged up $0.62. The Friedman Billings brokerage upgraded it from "market perform" to "out perform" in the belief the recent sell off in the stock was unwarranted.
Cascade (CAE) up another $3.65 after gaining just over $8 last Friday on sharply higher first quarter earnings of $1.07, up from $0.84 last year.
And then Kroger Co (KR) up $0.35. Lehman Brothers boosted its price target from $30 to $34 a share in the belief the competition the company's getting from Wal-Mart is easing.
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list on NASDAQ, down $4.30. Apparently some disappointment that the company will allow third party developers to write applications for the iPhone.
Google (GOOG), you heard the news there, down $4.15.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.03 loss.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up $2.21.
Intel (INTC) gained a dime and was quite active.
Amazon.com (AMZN) down $2.07.
$0.48 drop in Qualcomm (QCOM).
Cisco Systems (CSCO) fell $0.16.
Crocs (CROX) up $4.41.
And Oracle (ORCL) a $0.15 gain there.
Medivation (MDVN) up $3.62. The news here, mid stage trials of the company's Alzheimer's drug showed patients stabilized rather nicely apparently. The stock up strongly.
And Back Yard Burger (BYB) cooked up a gain of $1.21 on news that BBAC, a limited partnership, will acquire it for $38 million in cash. That works out to $6.50 a share.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
