Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street opened higher, as that decline in new home sales eased fears of any near term Federal Reserve rate boost. A drop in oil prices also helped the Dow gain 32 points at the outset of trading, while the NASDAQ Composite rose 10 points. The market fell into slightly negative ground by 11:00 a.m., after news that consumer confidence fell. But by midday, the Dow was back up 84 points on solid gains in Merck and Altria. Once again though, stocks lost support in the afternoon and fell into slightly lower ground at the final bell. The Dow Industrial Average closed off 14.39 at 13,337.66. The NASDAQ Composite down 2.92 at 2,574.16. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 4.85 points ending at 1,492.89. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note gained 1/32 to 95 17/32, putting the yield at 5.08 percent.
For the third straight trading session, Blackstone Group (BX) topped the active list on the big board today on 19.7 million shares and it finally fell below its offering price on the IPO last Friday, which was $31 a share, now $0.25 below that and it traded as low as $30.32 today.
Second in volume, GE (GE) moved down $0.19.
While Pfizer (PFE) gained that much.
And then Citigroup (C) a $0.54 drop.
ExxonMobil (XOM), you heard the news there, down $0.55.
Ford Motor (F) edged up or down $0.07.
Time Warner (TWX) down $0.24.
But AT&T (T) edged up $0.21.
Huntsman (HUN), the chemical company, up $5.31. Its Dutch rival Basell will acquire Huntsman for $9.6 billion and that includes debt and the price works out to about $25.25 a share for Huntsman shareholders.
Then Motorola (MOT) topped off the active list with a $0.03 loss.
Altria Group (MO) moving up $0.88. The company will be moving production of cigarettes for export from its North Carolina factory to Europe by the year 2010.
Merck & Co (MRK) was another firm Dow issue today, up $0.78, traded as high as $49.74 after the company said a study shows the combination therapy of its Januvia drug along with metformin resulted in improvement for Type II diabetics.
Target (TGT) down $1.25. The company sees June same store sales at the lower end of its three to five percent estimated gains. The stock down $1.25 on that news.
Energy East (EAS), this is a public utility holding company, up in the northeastern United States, up $3.71 on news that Spain's (INAUDIBLE) will acquire it for $28.50 a share in cash.
Steak n Shake (SNS) up $2.35. An investment group, including HBK Management said it owns a 9.5 percent stake. Raymond James financial brokerage said that that doesn't necessarily mean an imminent takeover is going to happen.
Then another good gainer today was Amcol Intl (ACO). The company's involved in the mineral and clay business and Sodati (ph) brokerage upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy."
Orbital Sciences (ORB) up $1.03. This company provides satellite services and Kaufman Brothers brokerage upgraded it from "hold" to a "buy."
Huge percentage loser today, W Holding Co (WHI), a Puerto Rican banking firm said one of its larger asset-based loans is impaired, not good news there.
Steelcase (SCS), which makes office furniture, down $1.23, even though its first quarter earnings are almost double, $0.23 versus $0.12 last year, $0.03 above the Street estimate, but the company said second quarter revenues will be flat and it sees earnings around $0.21 to $0.26 a share. That's below the $0.27 Street estimate.
Kroger (KR) fell $2. First quarter earnings, $0.47 up from $0.42 a year ago, but a penny below the Street estimate, although the company plans to buy back up to $1 billion of its own stock.
Apple (AAPL) topped the NASDAQ most active list, losing $2.69.
Followed by Google (GOOG) up $2.84.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a $0.12 gain.
Microsoft (MSFT) up $0.03.
Intel (INTC) dropped a dime per share.
Research in Motion (RIMM) down $2.49.
Oracle (ORCL) a $0.32 loss. After the close, Oracle reported fourth quarter earnings excluding one-time items, $0.37 a share, $0.02 above the Street estimate. In after hours trading I saw the stock as high as $19.37.
Qualcomm (QCOM) up $0.31.
Amazon com (AMZN) a little profit taking after recent gains, off $1.18.
And then Yahoo! (YHOO) a $0.07 advance in that stock.
Ventana Medical Sys (VMSI), look at that gain, 47 3/4 percent jump. The news, Roche of Switzerland is offering to buy the company for $75 a share in cash.
And over on the American exchange, InterOil (IOC) plunging $13.61. No news on any of the wires and the company did not return our phone call.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
