Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Friday, September 28, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Stocks on Wall Street opened with minor gains, as investors weighed today's mixed bag of economic reports. That strong consumer spending figure caused some doubt about the need for more near-term rate cuts, and that helped to push the Dow to a 22-point noontime loss with the NASDAQ off 7 points. Amid the cross currents of last minute, end-of-quarter portfolio shuffling, the market maintained a slightly negative bias for the rest of the session.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 17.31, at 13,895.63. This week it fell twice and rose three times for a net gain of 75.44 points. The NASDAQ Composite was down 8.09 to 2,701.50 today, and it, too, fell twice and rose three times this week, advancing 30.28 points overall. Standard & Poor's 500 fell 4.63, ending at 1,526.75 today, and it rose exactly 1 point for the week. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 6/32 to 101 7/32, putting the yield at 4.59 percent.
For the third straight day topping the active list was Ford Motor (F), down $0.14, traded 17.3 million shares.
Followed by Pfizer (PFE), a $0.32-loss there.
General Electric (GE) moved up a penny.
AT&T (T), a $0.52-drop.
And then Home Depot (HD) lost $0.32.
General Motors (GM) moving up $0.24 as the rank and file approved that new labor contract.
EMC (EMC), a $0.25-cent gain.
Duke Realty (DRE) down $0.59. But after the close today, that stock was added to the Standard & Poor's Midcap 400 Index. So it made the active list because of index fund buying.
Then the Brazilian conglomerate Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (RIO) down $0.05 a share.
NCR when issued (NCR_w) in there, 10th in volume, up $0.29.
Barrick Gold (ABX) up $1.10. Gold -- as of today, the spot gold was at $743.70. And in New York, the December contract, as you see, up $10.10 to $750. These are the highest gold has been in almost 30 years.
Let's have a look at some other stocks in the group:
Agnico Eagle (AEM) up $1.66.
A $0.90 gain in Goldcorp (GG).
And Randgold (GOLD) did well, up $1.58. Very strong group today.
Wesco International (WCC), this is the big electric supply firm, up $3.96 on news it plans to buy back up to $400 million of its own stock.
Accenture Limited (ACN), the consulting firm, up $2.23. The company reported fourth-quarter earnings of $0.50, down from $0.56 last year. But that was still $0.02 above the Street estimate. And the company is boosting its annual dividend 20 percent to $0.42 a share. And on top of that, Standard & Poor's repeated a strong buy on the stock today.
Harman International (HAR), the audio equipment-maker, up $3.47. Bear Stearns upgraded the stock from "peer perform" to "outperform."
And then another electrical manufacturer, Azz Incorporated (AZZ), up $1.48 on higher earnings second quarter, $0.66 versus $0.45 a year ago. Revenues jumped 30 percent and the company boosted its 2008 guidance.
Hartmarx Corp. (HMX) major loser percentage-wise, off a $1.48 today. Third-quarter earnings were up 11 percent from last year. But sales fell 1.8 percent and the company sees full-year 2007 earnings at only $0.22 to $0.27 versus its previous guidance of $0.50 to $0.56. The Street estimate is $0.52. So a major loss in that stock.
Par Pharmaceutical (PRX) down $3.12. The company warned several of its products will be hurt by competition in the second half of the year. It now sees 2007 adjusted earnings of $1.05 to $1.20 versus $1.56 Street estimate. But the company said it will buy back up to $75 million of its own stock.
New issue today, Duff & Phelps (DUF), a financial services company, 8.3 million shares offered at $16. Opened at $17. And the high of the day, $18.90. It retained most of the that gain to the close.
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list on NASDAQ, down $1.03. The company said if the iPhone is hacked, it will be disabled.
Research In Motion (RIMM) down $1.31.
Google (GOOG) fell $0.23.
Microsoft (MSFT), a $0.03-loss there.
Intel (INTC) managed to gain $0.10 a share.
Baidu.com (BIDU) down $2.32 on some profit-taking.
Cisco (CSCO), a dime loss.
Wynn Resorts (WYNN) off $9.42. Profit-taking after sharp recent gains. And Wynn also plans to offer 3.75 million of its common shares at $158 each. The proceeds will go toward new projects.
Comcast A (CMCSA), a $0.07-loss.
And First Solar (FSLR) up $7.71. The board of directors has approved expansion plans into Malaysia.
Silverstar Holdings (SSTR), look at that percentage gain, almost 105 percent. This is a company that publishes interactive video game software. Fourth-quarter turned around earnings of $0.25 a share versus a loss of $0.10 last year. And the company boosted its earnings guidance.
TravelZoo (TZOO) up $3.06. That is takeover speculation by priceline.com (PCLN).
And those are the "Stocks in the News" tonight.
