Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Thursday, October 18, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Oil prices soared today on dollar weakness and increased geopolitical tensions. Light sweet crude for November delivery jumped $2.07 to settle at a record $89.47 a barrel in New York. That put Wall Street on the defensive and those Bank America numbers added to the selling. By midday the Dow was off 47 points, NASDAQ down 13. The NASDAQ edged into positive ground this afternoon, while the blue chips trimmed their losses. So it was a mixed close Dow Industrial Average ending off 3.58 at 13,888.96, while the NASDAQ gained 6.64 ending at 2799.31. Standard & Poor's 500 down 1.16 at 1540.08. In the bond market, the 10- year note rose 15/32 to 102, putting the yield down to exactly 4.50 percent.
For the fourth consecutive session, Citigroup (C) topped the active list today on 16.9 million shares. The stock down 83.
Followed by Bank of America (BAC) down $1.18. As you heard, third quarter earnings sharply lower.
General Electric (GE) a $0.21 loss.
And then Pfizer (PFE) dropped a penny. Pfizer in with third quarter earnings sharply lower, $0.11, versus $0.46 last year, but that did include the cost of taking its Exubera (ph) product off the market.
Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) down $0.77. Tuesday as we reported, third quarter earnings were slightly higher, but below Street estimates. The stock's been weak ever since.
Nokia (NOK) moved up $1.11. Third quarter profits jumped 85 percent over last year and the company says it has 39 percent of the global cell phone market.
Washington Mutual (WM), another weak financial, down $2.55. Third quarter earnings fell to $0.23 from $0.77 a year ago.
EMC Corp (EMC) a $0.03 gain.
Advanced Micro (AMD) closed up $0.44. After the close, AMD reported a third quarter loss of $0.71, versus earnings of $0.27 last year, but after hours trading the stock actually edged a bit higher to $14.70.
ExxonMobil (XOM), tenth in volume, was up $0.25.
NYSE Euronext (NYX), the big board, down $0.36. But after the close, Standard & Poor's announced the stock will be added to the Standard & Poor's 500 Index next Wednesday. In after hours trading, NYSE was up around $87 a share, quite a rally.
Union Pacific (UNP), the big railroad, up $6.95. Third quarter earnings jumped to $2 even from $1.54 last year. Revenues up 5 percent.
Then Baxter Intl (BAX) up $4.28. Third quarter earnings, higher, $0.61 versus $0.57 a year ago. Sales were up 7 1/2 percent. The company boosted 2007 earnings forecast from about $2.70 to as much as $2.77.
Then we see Fairchild Semiconductor (FCS), one of the best percentage gainers, up $2.16. Higher earnings third quarter, $0.27, versus $0.25 a year ago and that was $0.07 better than the Street was expecting.
Callaway Golf (ELY) up $1.83, nice move there. Company sees a better than expected 22 percent rise in third quarter sales over last year and earnings anywhere from $0.02 to $0.06 a share.
Consolidated Graphics (CGX) tumbling $7.50. The company cut its previous guidance for the second quarter which was around $1.01 to $1.07 down to $0.95 to $0.98 a share. The Street was expecting $1.05.
Novastar Financial (NFI) losing $1.43 or almost 20 percent. The New York exchange has notified the company that its common stock no longer meets listing requirements.
And then IMS Health (RX) plunging $6.44. Third quarter earnings a bit lower, $0.29 versus $0.34 last year despite a 12.6 percent rise in revenues. But today, Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock from "neutral" to "sell."
Google (GOOG) topped the active list on NASDAQ closing up $6.14. Then you heard about those big earnings after the close. The stock first dropped $5 and then rebounded all the way up to the $648 a share level in after hours.
Apple (APPL) $0.75 gain.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up $2.88.
baidu.com (BIDU) gained $3.80.
eBay (EBAY) down $2.50. After the close yesterday as we reported, third quarter loss of $0.69. Today Deutsche Bank downgraded it from "hold" to a "sell" recommendation.
Intel (INTC) $0.25 gain.
$0.08 rise in Microsoft (MSFT).
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.22 rise.
Yahoo! (YHOO) up $0.53.
And then Sandisk (SNDK) gained $1.24.
Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) plunging $1.41. This company was Pfizer's partner in the Exubera insulin drug and Pfizer as we note has discontinued it.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
