Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Thursday, June 28, 2007
|
|
|
|
PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street opened narrowly mixed as investors did not want to make strong commitments ahead of the Fed's rate decision. The Dow fell 14 points at the outset of trading, while the NASDAQ rose five points. Stocks slowly overcame concerns about a surge in oil futures to the $70 per barrel level, thanks to a growing optimism that the Fed would hold rates steady. After it did, the Dow posted a 35 point gain at 3:00 p.m. However those Fed's concern about inflation you just heard about sent the market to a narrowly mixed close. The Dow Industrial Averge lost 5.45 points to 13,422.28. The NASDAQ Composite managed to gain 3.02 ending at 2608.37, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell .63 to 1505.71. In the bond market, the 10-year note fell 6/32 to 95 10/32, lifting the yield at 5.11 percent.
Most active New York exchange issue, Ford Motor (F) on 20.5 million shares, moving up $0.21 and that's on optimism that the talk with the UAW will yield labor concessions.
GE (GE) was up $0.06.
LSI Corp (LSI) dropped nearly $1, big percentage drop. The chip maker will cut 900 jobs or 13 percent of its workforce and the company's predicting a second quarter loss of $0.03 per share.
Pfizer (PFE) was up $0.02 a share.
Micron Tech (MU) closed down $0.25. After the close, Micron had a third quarter loss of $0.29 a share, $0.04 worse than expected, but the stock actually edged up a little bit in after hours trading.
AT&T (T) was a $0.76 gainer.
Sprint Nextel (S) down $0.50. Citigroup downgraded it from "buy" to a "hold."
Citigroup (C) itself showed no change.
General Motors (GM) moving up $0.74 also on that optimism that the UAW talks will go well. Also GM is going to sell its Allison transmission business to Carlyle Group and Onyx Corp. for about $5.6 billion.
ExxonMobil (XOM) topped off the active list with a $0.12 gain.
Monsanto (MON) edge up $0.68, traded as high as $67.99. Third quarter earnings out this morning, $1.03 versus only $0.60 last year. That was $0.03 above the Street estimate. The company said the agriculture market is very strong.
Dominion Resources (D) up $2.48. The company will buy back 16 percent of its outstanding shares. That'll cost it about $4.7 billion. It will be in the form of a Dutch tender offer in the month of July.
Beazer Homes (BZH) down $2.73. The company has fired its chief accountant for attempting to destroy company documents. In the meantime today Citigroup downgraded the stock from "buy" to just a "hold" rating.
Another home builder on the downside, KB Home (KBH) off $0.54. The company in with a second quarter loss of $1.93. The Street was looking for earnings of $0.07 a share. Last year in the period, that company earned $2.45 a share.
AMR Corp (AMR) in a strong airline group, a $0.85 rise. JPMorgan upgraded AMR from "neutral" to "overweight" and also upgraded some others by the same upgrade.
Contl Airlines B (CAL), UAL Corp (UAUA) and US Airways Group (LCC) all on the upside thanks to the JPMorgan upgrade.
Build a Bear Workshop (BBW), one of the best percentage gainers, rising $3.19. The company has hired Lehman Brothers to help review options to enhance long-term shareholder value.
Hartmarx Corp (HMX) moved up $1.12. Second quarter earnings of $0.15 versus only $0.10 a year ago and that was $0.03 above the Street consensus.
Meridian Gold (MDG) a $3.15 gain there. The company says Yamana Gold and Northern Orion resources plan to make a buyout offer for 100 percent of its outstanding shares, but no definitive price has been arrived at yet. Meanwhile, Yamana stock was down $1.01 closing at $11.13 today.
Dillards (DDS) the big department store chain down or up $2.76. Barrington Capital Group, which already owns 3.2 percent is seeking a meeting with management and some investors hope something good will come out of that.
CKE Restaurants (CKR) down $1.20. First quarter earnings flat, $0.23, same as last year and a nickel below the Wall Street estimate.
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list down $1.33.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a $0.58 gain. Merrill Lynch upgraded Cisco from "neutral" to a "buy."
Google (GOOG) $1.28 loss.
And look at Research in Motion (RIMM) up $2.14. After the close, Research in Motion had a first quarter earnings statement saying $1.20, that's $0.14 above the Street estimate and it also set a three for one stock split. In after hours trading, it was up $192.25, a 16 percent rise from this price and Research in Motion said it welcomes competition from the iPhone.
Microsoft (MSFT) a $0.04 loss today.
Then Intel (INTC) a $0.13 gain. Lehman Brothers upgraded it from "equal weight" to "over weight."
Oracle (ORCL) up $0.16.
Dell (DELL) hit a new $0.52 week high, up $0.49.
Starbucks (SBUX) $0.32 gain.
And Amazon.com (AMZN) a $0.75 gain.
Look at the percentage gain in this stock, CryoCor Inc. (CRYO) up 89 percent. The company received preliminary FDA panel approval for its device to treat atrial heart flutter.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
