Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: It was a mixed opening on Wall Street, as the blue chips fell some 20 points at the outset on profit taking from yesterday's surge, while the tech-laden NASDAQ Index rose about 10 points. The firm tech sector helped the Dow rebound with a 30-point gain at noontime, but that $80 per barrel oil and a record low for the dollar against the euro blunted the rally attempt and in very choppy afternoon trading, the market ended narrowly mixed. The Dow Industrial Average closed down 16.74 at 13,291.65. The NASDAQ fell 5.40 points ending at 2,592.07. But the Standard & Poor's 500 Index managed to gain a small fraction, .07 putting it at 1,471.56. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 11/32 to 102 21/32, putting the yield at 4.42 percent.
New York exchange volume leader on nearly 16 million shares, General Electric (GE) moving up $0.40. Followed by Pfizer (PFE) which held steady.
Countrywide Financial (CFC) down $0.26. The company in the midst of a refinancing plan.
Then Citigroup (C) was down $0.25.
Ford Motor Co (F) an $0.08 loss there.
Time Warner (TWX) moved up $0.26.
ExxonMobil (XOM) as oil hit $80 a barrel, up $0.71.
EMC Corp (EMC) an $0.08 drop.
Home Depot (HD) up $0.22. We'll have more on that later.
Then Texas Instruments (TXN) down $0.60. After the close yesterday, Texas Instruments gave a rather tepid third quarter earnings forecast.
McDonald's (MCD) closed down $0.56, but just after the close, the company said it's boosting its annual dividend from $1 to $1.50, a 50 percent increase and in after hours trading, the stock was up a little over $1 from the price you see there.
Alcoa (AA) down $0.55. The company did sell its 7 percent stake in the Aluminum Corp of China for about $2 billion and that sent Aluminum Corp of China (ACH) stock down sharply today. It traded as low as $57.60, closed a little higher than the bottom of the day.
Las Vegas Sands (LVS), the big resort and casino, up $7.94. The Nevada Gaming Commission said gamblers lost $1.1 billion to Las Vegas casinos just in the month of July and that's up 10 percent from their losses a year ago.
And speaking of gambling, the slot machine maker, International Game Tech (IGT) gained $1.28. Wachovia gave an upgrade to the stock from "market perform" to "out perform."
Good percentage move by AmeriCredit (ACF) up $1.69 after Stiffel Nicholas brokerage repeated a "buy" recommendation.
Then General Cable (BGC) rising $3.82 on news it'll acquire the global wire cable business from Freeport McMoran Cooper & Gold for $735 million in cash plus stock. General Cable said that acquisition, once it's completed, will add $0.20 to $0.30 a share in earnings in the first year.
Skechers USA (SKX), the footwear maker, up $1.67. The company got an upgrade from "hold" to "buy" from BB&T Capital brokerage which has a $30 a share price target for the stock.
And Quicksilver Resources (KWK) up $2.71. The oil and gas producer is going to sell its properties in Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky for $750 million in cash.
And then we have a drop of $1.32 in Diana Shipping (DSX) on news it began its 10 million share public offering for its common stock, a little dilution there.
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list, up $1.36. UBS boosted its price target from $175 to $182 a share in anticipation of more new products from Apple over the next six months.
Google (GOOG) $1.32 gain.
Amgen (AMGN) up $1.76. Standard & Poor's repeated a "buy." UBS upgraded it from "sell" to "neutral" and boosted its price target from $50 to $61 a share.
Intel (INTC) a $0.20 loss.
Research in Motion (RIMM) was up $2.43.
Microsoft (MSFT) held steady today.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.38 drop.
Sun Micro (SUNW) fell a nickel.
Baidu.com (BIDU) gaining $3.08.
And Amazon.com (AMZN) was up $1.02.
And finally Life Partners Holdings (LPH) tumbled $7.90 a share on a disappointing forecast. The company sees second quarter earnings at $0.46 per share, $0.11 below one analyst estimate.
