Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Thursday, September 27, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street's blue chips gained 30 points on the Dow at the outset of trading as investors seemed satisfied with today's final report showing second quarter GDP growth of 3.8 percent, even though it was revised down 0.2 percent. A drop of 15,000 in new weekly jobless claims also suggested a still healthy economy. That seven-year low in new home sales did cause a mid-session downturn in stocks, but the market rebounded with the help of end of quarter buying from institutions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 34.79 points at 13,912.94. The NASDAQ Composite rose 10.56 ending at 2709.59. Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 5.96 points to 1531.38. In the bond market, the 10-year note rose 14/32 to 101 14/32, putting the yield down to 4.57 percent.
Second day running, Ford Motor Co (F) topped the big board active list today on 17.6 million shares. The stock down $0.25.
Pfizer (PFE) moved up $0.17.
Then a new issue came to market, Babcock & Brown (FLY). This is an Irish aircraft leasing company, 18.7 million American depository shares offered to the public at $23. That's where they opened, got as high as $23.34 and then slumped on the day.
General Electric (GE) up $0.12.
Micron Tech (MU) moved up $0.61. Lazard says Micron will report a smaller than expected fourth quarter loss than the Street estimate of $0.23 a share.
Rite Aid (RAD) down $0.21. The company reported a larger second quarter loss than last year, minus $0.10 versus $0.02 then. The company cited costs of its acquisition of Brooks Eckert (ph) stores.
EMC Corp (EMC) down $0.11.
General Motors (GM) off $1.18, a little profit taking there. The stock was up over $3 a share on yesterday's strike settlement.
AT&T (T) showed no change.
And then Co vale do Rio (RIO) down, up $1 a share, tenth in volume.
SLM Corp (SLM) Sallie Mae, up $4.11. The fact is that a group of private equity investors is seeking to renegotiate a $60 a share buyout bid probably trying to go lower, but above the price of today's close of SLM.
Stone Energy (SGY) up $3.22. The company plans to buy back up to $100 million of its own stock.
Then came Gamestop (GME), losing $1.99, traded as low as $55.07 today. UBS financial brokerage downgraded it from "buy" to "neutral" on valuation. If you look at that chart, the stock has doubled and then some just this year alone.
Aircastle (AYR), this is another aircraft leasing company and it began a public offering of 10 million of its common shares and another 10 million are being offered by certain funds managed by Fortress Investment Group.
Tesoro (TSO) down another $2.56. Yesterday it fell $1.31 after Credit Suisse downgraded it from "out perform" to "neutral," a continuation of the selling.
Emerson Electric (EMR) moving up $1.80. The Goldman Sachs brokerage upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy" and boosted its price target from $52 to $58 a share because of the company's rather positive earnings outlook.
Duke Realty (DRE) up $1.02. This stock will be added to the Standard & Poor's midcap 400 index after the close tomorrow, replacing AG Edwards, which of course is being acquired by Wachovia.
Then Getty Images (GYI) up $1.53. This stock will be added to the Standard & Poor's madcap 400 index on a date to be announced.
And then another change, Boston Beer (SAM) up $3.72. This stock is going to be added to the Standard & Poor's small cap 600 index after the close tomorrow, replacing Playtex Corporation.
NASDAQ's most active, Apple (AAPL) as it has been so often recently, up $1.73.
Then Research in Motion (RIMM) $0.86 gain.
Baidu.com (BIDU) did well, up $4.04.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a $0.24 gain there.
And Intel (INTC) a $0.15 drop. The company says however it's regaining market share from Advanced Micro Devices.
Microsoft (MSFT) down a penny, although its Halo 3 video game is selling very well.
Google (GOOG) $0.66 drop.
Wynn Resorts (WYNN) doing well, up $9.71.
Starbucks (SBUX), there you see it, down $0.72. Bank America downgraded it from "neutral" to "sell" because of what Bank America sees as slower growth outlook.
And First Solar (FSLR), tenth in volume, was down $4.37.
Echostar Comm (DISH) moving up $2.51. Oppenheimer upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy" on the belief the company may sell its pay TV unit to AT&T.
And then over on the American Exchange, a big loser, Jaclyn (JLN), which is in the women's apparel business. It traded as low as $5.85 today after reporting 2007 fiscal year earnings dropped to $0.28 from $0.60 last year. However, accounting for a good part of that was a one-time pre-tax charge of about $3 million from the pension plan termination and settlement.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
