Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Buyers took the upper hand on Wall Street this morning with bullish confidence boosted by Yum Brands' solid earnings late yesterday and a number of stock upgrades by analysts early today. At noon the Dow was up 37 points and the NASDAQ posted a seven point gain. The market turned flat for a while, but then rebounded after the Fed meeting minutes hinted more rate cuts could come. The rally gathered strong momentum, lifting several indices to record closing highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average for example ended up 120.80 points at a record 14,164.53. The NASDAQ Composite rose 16.54 points, ending at 2803.91 and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 12.57 points to a record high of 1565.15. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 5/32 to par and 24/32, putting the yield at 4.66 percent.
Big board volume leader on 13.6 million shares, EMC Corp (EMC) gaining $0.64. Then Citigroup (C) $0.18 loss.
Pfizer (PFE) gained $0.09.
Sprint Nextel (S) off $0.22. As we reported yesterday, CEO Gary Forsee is stepping down.
Then Ford Motor Co (F) with a $0.13 gain.
TXU (TXU) was up a penny.
Co Vale do Rio (RIO) up $1.08. Merrill Lynch upgraded the price target on this stock from $33, all the way up to $42 a share.
General Electric (GE) itself up $0.49.
Terra Industries (TRA) gained $1.88. After the close today, it was added to the Standard & Poor's madcap 400 index, replacing Expeditors.
Then Time Warner (TWX) a $0.02 gainer.
Coca-Cola Co (KO) edged up $0.08, even though Deutsche Bank downgraded it from "buy" to "hold" on valuation. Keep in mind the stock has appreciated 22 percent just since the last March.
Yum! Brands (YUM) up $1.82. After the close yesterday as we reported, $0.50 in third quarter earnings, up from $0.42 a year ago, a nickel above the Street estimate and the company increased 2007 estimates by $0.02, all the way up to $1.65 and it will also buy back up to $1.25 billion of its own stock, quite a combination.
LDK Solar Co (LDK) up $7.29. The company boosted its third quarter revenue guidance of $120 million, all the way up to $145 million.
Mosaic Co (MOS), a fertilizer maker, up $4.23. Big first quarter earnings, $0.69, up from $0.25 a year ago, $0.11 better than the Street expected. Sales soared 55 percent. This had a positive impact on other fertilizer stocks like Agrium (AGU), CF Industries (CF) and Potash (POT), which all were nicely higher.
US Airways Group (LCC) gaining almost $1, traded as high as $33.34 today after Goldman Sachs upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy," boosted its six month price target by $3 up to $36 a share.
Then Massey Energy (MEE) up $2.60. Stifel Nicholas brokerage upgraded it from "hold" to a "buy" rating.
And then Oxford Industries (OXM), the apparel company, down $7.85, reported sharply lower first quarter earnings, $0.27 versus $0.63 a year ago. Sales fell 16 percent. The company sees flat second quarter earnings with last year.
Tween Brands (TWB) up $2.98. There's a rumor that the company's Justice apparel chain may report negative same store sales.
And then Cooper Cos (COO) off $2.15. JPMorgan downgraded it from "neutral" to "under weight."
And then Thornburg Mortgage (TMA) off $1.17. The company boosted its estimate of losses from asset sales from $863 million to $1.1 billion. Standard & Poor's said sell the stock.
NASDAQ's most active, Apple (AAPL) coming down from a record high yesterday with a nickel loss.
But Google (GOOG) continued to set new highs with that gain of $5.57.
Research in Motion (RIMM) down $2.13.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.26 gain.
Baidu.com (BIDU) was off $0.67 a share.
Intel (INTC) an $0.18 gainer.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) up $0.37.
Expeditors (EXPO) up $1.95. As I touched on earlier, this stock was added to the Standard & Poor's 500 Index after the close of trading today.
Garmin Ltd (GRMN) up $3.24.
And then Dryships (DRYS) up another $10.52. The company owns about 30 cargo ships and demand for them is strong. That stock is up five fold just this year so far.
Altair Nanotech (ALTI) up $1.08, a positive reaction to the company's quick charging battery pack. Apparently, it's really fast.
And then Microchip Tech (MCHP) down $4.64. The company cut its second quarter earnings guidance.
And then over on the American exchange, Miramar Mining (MNG), a gold mining stock, up $1.23 on word that Newmont will acquire it for $6.25 a share Canadian.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
