Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Thursday, August 30, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street had an opening sell-off as investors feared that strong GDP report might lessen the chance of a Fed funds rate cut. The Dow fell 62 points at the outset of trading, while the NASDAQ lost only two points thanks to a firm tech sector. The resilience in the tech stocks made a comeback generally and it lifted the Dow to a 12 point gain just before noon with the NASDAQ up 22 points. The market stair-stepped its way lower for the rest of the session amid great caution ahead of Fed chief Bernanke's speech tomorrow, which we'll detail next. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed off 50.56 points at 13,238.73. The NASDAQ Composite managed to salvage a gain of 2.14 at 2565.30 while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 6.12 ending at 1457.64 Over in the bond market, the 10-year note rose 14/32 to 101 29/32, lowering the yield to 4.51 percent.
For the second day running, Pfizer (PFE) topped the active list today on nearly 13 million shares, the stock down $0.12. Then Home Depot (HD) with a $0.49 gain. The company will proceed with a Dutch tender offer for up to 250 million of its shares. It'll pay between $37 and $42 each.
Citigroup (C) down $0.72.
Advanced Micro (AMD) moved up $0.12. The company's servers got high marks in a study by Neal Nelson & Associates.
There you see Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) down $0.87. Merrill Lynch downgraded it from "neutral" to "sell," citing the prospect of declining operating margins for Wal-Mart.
Motorola (MOT) moved up $0.28. Lehman Brothers upgraded it from "equal weight" to "over weight," citing the company's improved third quarter outlook.
Then General Electric (GE) $0.31 drop.
Ford Motor Co (F) fell a nickel.
ExxonMobil (XOM) edging up $0.17.
And Time Warner (TWX) was down $0.20 a share.
Bear Stearns (BSC), Goldman Sachs (GS), Merrill Lynch (MER) and Morgan Stanley (MS) all on the downside, but improved from their lows of the day, but this morning, Lehman Brothers cut earnings estimates for all of these four for the second half of this year and all of next year. Lehman Brothers itself was down $0.66.
Freddie Mac (FRE) down $3.18. Second quarter earnings fell to $1.02 a share, versus $1.93 last year and that was largely due to an increase in loan loss provisions.
Then Zale (ZLC), the jewelry company, up $1.81, a turnaround. Fourth quarter earnings of $0.03 versus a loss of $0.57 a year ago.
Genesco (GCO), the footwear company, plunging $5.15, traded as low as $41 today. Second quarter loss reported of $0.19, versus earnings of $0.24 a year ago and the Finish Line Corporation, which has proposed to acquire Genesco, is not happy about the results, might be rethinking its bid.
International Rectifier (IRF), a $3.52 drop there. The company's chief exec is going on a paid leave of absence pending the outcome of an audit committee investigation into the company.
Collective Brands (PSS), now this company used to be called Payless Shoe Source, you can see the symbol stayed the same, PSS, up there in the right hand corner. The second quarter earnings however dropped to $0.38 from $0.48 a year ago and the Keybanc brokerage downgraded it from an "aggressive buy" to just a "hold" recommendation.
And VimpelCom ADS (VIP) up $1.57. Keep in mind this chart does not take into account the recent five for one split, but the company had second quarter earnings of $0.35, way up from $0.19 a year ago and revenues shot up 53 percent.
Apple (AAPL) topping the active list again on NASDAQ, up $2.17. The company is expected to introduce a new iPod next week in San Francisco.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up $1.05, vague rumors about takeover rumors from Microsoft.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.43 gain there.
Intel (INTC) $0.19 rise.
Google (GOOG) fell $1.48 today.
And then Microsoft (MSFT) itself down $0.14. Seven attorneys generals said that the decree settling the antitrust case against Microsoft fails to reduce the company's monopoly.
Dell (DELL) closed up $0.60. You heard about those better than expected earnings. The stock after hours moved up about $0.20 from here.
Oracle (ORCL) edged up $0.08.
Sun Micro (SUNW) an $0.08 gain.
And baidu.com (BIDU) $0.87 loss.
Coldwater Creek (CWTR) down $4.51. The women's apparel retailer had a drop in second quarter earnings to only $0.09 from $0.13 a year ago. Same store sales fell 6 percent. Those earnings incidentally, $0.03 below the Street estimate.
And over on the American exchange, look at the percentage drop on this one, 61 percent, Palatin Technologies (PTN) down $1.05. The company and King Pharmaceuticals have delayed trials of their erectile dysfunction treatment because of FDA safety concerns.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
