Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Stocks headed higher right from the opening bell this morning, extending yesterday's big rally as investors became convinced the Fed's rate cuts would avoid a recession. That benign consumer price number eased inflation concerns, so just before noon, the Dow posted a 110-point gain and the NASDAQ Composite was up 28 points. The market lost some of its luster this afternoon on that record high in oil futures and caution ahead of an earnings report from Goldman Sachs tomorrow. The Dow Jones Industrial Average did close up 76.17 though at 13,815.56. The NASDAQ was up 14.82, ending at 2666.48. Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 9.25 points exactly at 1529.03. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 19/32 to 101 20/32, putting the yield up to 4.54 percent.
New York exchange volume leader trading 19 million shares, Pfizer (PFE) moving up $0.34.
Followed by General Electric (GE) with a $0.09 gain.
Then Citigroup (C) down $0.17.
Followed by Ford Motor Co (F) $0.02 drop there.
AT&T (T) moved up $0.75 on the big board.
EMC Corp (EMC) losing $0.17.
Countrywide Financial (CFC) up $0.69. After the close yesterday, the company's CEO said its deposits have recovered recently and Countrywide is now out of the sub-prime mortgage business.
Then the big South American mining and metals conglomerate Co Vale do Rio (RIO) that was up $0.21.
Followed by Time Warner (TWX) with a $0.16 loss.
And tenth in volume was ExxonMobil (XOM) edging up $0.36 on those record high oil futures.
Dupont (DD), a Dow stock, up $0.58. The company said it's spending a half a billion to boost its production of Kevlar. That's a bullet proof material. The company says demand for that will be increasing because of the need for more safety and security on a global basis.
RH Donnelley (RHD), the Yellow Pages publisher's stock down $2.83 after the firm said 2007 advertising sales growth will be flat to up only 1 percent. Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock from "buy" to "neutral."
Speaking of Goldman Sachs Group (GS), the stock up $4.93 on optimism that tomorrow's third quarter results will be better than expected. We'll see in the morning.
General Mills (GS) edged up $0.18. First quarter earnings rose 8.2 percent over last year to $0.81 a share. That was about a penny above the Street estimate.
Kellwood Co (KWD) up $3.97. This is a consumer soft goods marketer and it received an unsolicited $21 a share buyout bid from Sun Capital Securities Group. The company said it'll study the offer.
Robbins & Myers (RBN) up $7.76. This is a manufacturer of industrial machinery and the Robert Baird brokerage upgraded the stock from "neutral" to "out perform."
The mortgage insurance stocks were quite strong today after Lehman Brothers said the worst of the credit correction is beyond us. MGIC Investment (MTS), as did PMI Group (PMI), Radian Group (RDN) and a particularly good gain in Triad Guaranty (TBIC), up $4.11 a share.
Brady Corp (BRC) up $1.07. It's going to buy back up to $1 billion of its own shares.
Another buy back here, Choice Hotels Intl (CHH) up $2.51, says it's going to add a three million share buyback to its already one million share buyback plan.
Carmax Inc (KMX) losing $3.77. Second quarter earnings came in higher, $0.29, up from $0.25 last year, but the company cut its fiscal 2008 guidance from a high of $1.14 a share to $0.98 a share at best.
Then AAR Corp (AIR), which is in the aerospace business, down $3.24. The company's first quarter earnings higher, $0.36 versus $0.30 last year, but that was $0.03 below the Street estimate.
Once again, Apple (AAPL) topped the NASDAQ active actives, losing $0.15.
Baidu.com (BIDU) up $7.16. Monday, RBC Capital boosted its price target from $302 to $333 a share.
Google (GOOG) up $11.58.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.26 loss.
And Intel (INTC) $0.27 gain.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a nickel gain.
Comcast "A" (CMCSA) lost $0.68.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up $1.45.
Oracle (ORCL) gained $0.11.
And then came Dell (DELL) a $0.64 advance there.
Accredited Home Lenders (LEND) up $1.78. The company's agreed to be acquired by private equity group Lone Star for $11.75 a share, well down from Lone Star's earlier bid of $15.10 a share.
And finally, Silicom Ltd (SILC) fell $3.49 as the WR Hambrecht brokerage downgraded the stock from "buy" to "hold."
