Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Thursday, July 26, 2007
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JEFF YASTINE: When it came to questions about the state of the corporate credit market today, many on Wall Street were selling first, and waiting for answers later. The Dow dropped more than 80 points at the open. Financial stocks like Citigroup were among the hardest hit in the early going while Exxon Mobil shares tumbled on disappointing results. By midday the Dow was off about 180, the NASDAQ down 40, and the selling accelerated from there. With an hour left, the Dow was off more than 400 points before some short covering activity and program trading cut the losses. So the Dow sinking 311 1/2 points or 2.3 percent to 13,473 1/2 and the NASDAQ falling 48.83 or almost 2 percent to 2599.34. The S&P tumbling 34.4 to 1482.66. And flight to safety was the order for the day in the bond market. The 10-year note jumping 27/32 to 97 24/32, the yield at 4.79 percent.
Ford Motor (F) rising $0.12, so posting its first profit in two years.
Then Citigroup (C) off $1.44, down as much as 5 percent or 26 1/2 before recovering a bit. The company also party to financing on the leveraged buyout of Chrysler and the (INAUDIBLE) on whether such financing deals will get done in the future under tightening credit conditions.
General Electric (GE) losing $0.89.
Pfizer (PFE) off $0.63.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) finished down $1.19. News reports say JPMorgan is one of the banks that cannot find buyers for a $10 billion loan package that allowed Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts (ph) to buy Alliance Foods (ph) in the UK.
Bank of America (BAC) losing $0.70.
And then ExxonMobil (XOM) down a little over $4.50, the Dow's big loser of the day. Second quarter profits were hurt by lower natural gas prices and oil production shortfalls. A stock buyback program helped boost per share earnings to $1.83 a share, but the overall results were $0.13 off analyst targets.
Now as you can see, some of the damage among the other Dow components, Alcoa (AA), American Intl Group (AIG), Boeing (BA), Caterpillar (CAT), IBM (IBM), all leading substantially to the downside.
And then AT&T (T) falling $0.53.
Advanced Micro (AMD) off $0.85.
EMC Corp (EMC) dropping a little over half a dollar.
Then 3M Co (MMM) rising $0.43. The only gainer on the Dow today, a strong showing from its healthcare operations lifting second quarter profits 4 percent.
Now on to some more bad news with the home builders, D.R. Horton (DH) falling $0.32, posting a big loss on a $1 billion charge to take care of falling values for the real estate that it still owns.
And then some of the other home builders also on the ropes, Beazer Homes (BZH) down $1.48. It also took a big write off on unsold properties.
Pulte Homes (PHM) falling $0.63, CEO refusing to give guidance.
And WCI Communities (WCI) tumbling $1.45. That company had trouble finding a buyer after turning down Carl Icahn at $22 a share earlier this year.
Now here we're looking at Kraft Foods (KFT) which registered a loss of $1.40. Reports say billionaire Warren Buffett has taken a stake in the company. It sees values in that company shares.
And then Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co (GT) deflating nearly $3. Cutbacks by domestic auto makers blamed for today's earnings miss there.
And then Zimmer Holdings (ZHM) off more than $7 after reporting a drop in sales of its (INAUDIBLE) knee replacements in the second quarter.
In the plus column, diesel engine maker Cummins (CM) bucking the trend, rising more than $6. The company delivering a blowout quarter. Management sees full year profits beating analyst targets in upcoming quarters.
Now onto the NASDAQ. There's some good news. Apple (AAPL) soared nearly $9 and it did not waver a bit despite the NASDAQ's big losses today.
Google (GOOG) down $1.76.
Microsoft (MSFT) losing $0.73.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) losing $0.24.
Baidu.com (BIDU) gaining more than $25. Like Apple, also impervious to today's NASDAQ downturn.
Then Intel (INTC) off half a dollar.
Research in Motion (RIMM) off $1.72.
Amazon.com (AMZN) down more than $2.
Qualcomm (QCOM) lost $0.37. It had net income of $0.47. Sales climbed $0.19. Both numbers topped estimates. It didn't help the stock.
Comcast (CMCSA) losing $1.33.
Now here's an IPO, Perfect World ADR (PWRD), it's a Chinese online gaming company. Two of its games are the most popular domestically produced online games in China last year.
And then finally, Akamai Technologies (AKAM) tumbling almost $9. Net income was up more than 90 percent. Revenues rose by more than half, but weaker gross margins and higher spending for upcoming quarters tanked the stock.
Those are our stocks in the news tonight.
