Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street opened lower amid investor caution over what the Fed would decide to do and a larger than expected 2.8 percent drop in May durable good orders was a negative. After 30 minutes of trading, the Dow was off 61 points and the NASDAQ composite down three points. An upturn in the tech sector helped the broader market trim its losses. And then Bear Stearns led a comeback in the financial stocks, which triggered a full- fledged rally, lifting the major averages to strong closing gains. The Dow Industrial Average ended up 90.07 points at 13,427.73. The NASDAQ Composite jumped 31.19 to 2,605.35. Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 13.45 points, ending at 1,506.34. In the bond market, the 10-year note was up 1/32 to 95 16/32, putting the yield at 5.09 percent. Volume leader on the New York exchange, trading 20.6 million shares, GE (GE) up $0.04. And then Ford Motor (F) a $0.32 gain.
Pfizer (PFE) was up $0.02.
Citigroup (C) gained $0.66.
Sprint Nextel (S) down $0.33.
ExxonMobil (XOM) on the higher oil prices gained $1.66.
Blackstone Group (BX) now well below last Friday's initial offering price of $31 with a loss of $0.83, down to $29.92.
AT&T (T) $0.69 gain.
Merck & Co (MRK) one of the strongest Dow stocks, up $1.21.
Then Micron Tech (MU) with a $0.21 gain.
A new issue today was the best percentage gainer, Spectra Energy Partners (SEP). It's a natural gas distribution firm, an IPO of 10 million common units priced at $22 each, opened at $26.50, the high of the day $29.15 and it closed near the high with a gain of 30 percent on its debut, very nice opening.
Best Buy (BBY) was up $1.68. The company buy back up to $5.5 billion of its own stock and it plans to boost its quarterly dividend by 30 percent. It'll go from $0.10 to $0.13 a share.
Nike Inc cl "B" (NKE) did well today, up $4.47. After the close yesterday, fourth quarter earnings came out. They were up 32 percent, $0.86 versus $0.64 a year ago, revenue up 9.4 percent. Goldman Sachs today rated the stock as a "buy."
Conagra Foods (CAG) did well, up $1.14. Fourth quarter operating earnings $0.38 a share. That was $0.07 better than the Street consensus.
McCormick & Co (MKC), there's a seasoned stock, up $2.88. Second quarter excluding restructuring charges came in at $0.35 a share, up from $0.32 a year ago, $0.02 better than the Wall Street consensus.
Chittenden Corp (CHZ) up $6.91. This is a northeastern banking firm and People's United Financial will acquire it in a deal worth about $37 a share. Fifty five percent will be cash and 45 percent will be People's United stock.
Unifirst Corp (UNF) which makes workplace uniforms had good first quarter earnings, $0.71, up from $0.57 a year ago. Revenues up 8 1/2 percent.
Then the specialty chemicals company HB Fuller Co (FUL) up $3.28. Second quarter earnings out, $0.44, up from $0.32 a year ago, $0.04 above the Street estimate.
ImpacMortgage Holdings (IMH), the big percentage loser today, dropping almost 22 percent on news the company will not pay a second quarter dividend because it's experiencing higher than expected loss levels in the liquidation of its real estate portfolio.
Then another loser was Park Electrochemical (PKE) down $3.53. First quarter earnings were lower, $0.37 versus $0.44 a year ago and a nickel below the Wall Street estimate.
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list on NASDAQ once again, up $2.24.
And then Google (GOOG) down $3.97.
Oracle (ORCL) after yesterday's after the bell good earnings, up $0.53.
Microsoft (MSFT) edged up $0.35.
Intel (INTC) a $0.41 gain there.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.12 rise.
Followed by Research in Motion (RIMM) which gained $0.17.
Biogen Idec (BIIB) up $1.21. The company preliminarily has said it will accept 56.4 million shares in its $53 per share Dutch tender offer.
Crocs (CROX), which makes those colorful clogs, down $2.21. This week's "Barron's" financial has some negative comments about the huge gains in the stock which is up 338 percent since its IPO last year.
Then Qualcomm (QCOM) topped out the active list with a $0.58 gain.
Guitar Center (GTRC) up $9.92. Bain Capital and its affiliates will acquire the company for $63 a share in cash.
And two more new issues, Data Domain Inc (DOUP) came out today. It makes products that back up computer data, 7.4 million shares offered at 15, had a pretty good day, up 66 percent.
And then Comscore Inc (SCOR), this is a company that measures Internet usage and patterns, 5.3 million offered at $16.50 a share, had a good opening day.
And finally shares of InterOil (IOC) continued their slide today losing another $4.31 after tumbling $13.61 yesterday. Today InterOil gave an update on its natural gas drilling project in Papua, New Guinea, saying drilling on the "Elk 2" site has not confirmed a commercial nat gas discovery.
