Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
|
|
|
|
PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street posted strong early gains as bullish confidence was buoyed by yesterday's market rebound and solid earnings we told you about from Apple and American Express. An hour into trading this morning, the Dow was up 65 points. The NASDAQ rose 23 points. The blue chips slumped during mid-session after cautious comments by Wal-Mart about its outlook, but a firm tech sector and falling oil prices revived the rally and the major indices all closed nicely higher. Dow Jones Industrial Average up 109.26 points at 13,676.23. The NASDAQ Composite jumped 45.33 to 2,799.26. Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 13.26 ending at to 1,519.59. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note held steady at 102 21/32, leaving the yield at 4.41 percent.
Big board volume leader today on 23.8 million shares was Texas Instruments (TXN) dropping $2.84. After the close yesterday as we reported, third quarter earnings were $0.54, $0.04 above the Street estimate, but the company's fourth quarter guidance was quite cautious. That hurt the stock today.
Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) losing $1.32, told analysts in its fiscal year 2008 it'll open fewer than 170 new stores, way down from 270 originally planned, so it's cutting back on expansion.
EMC Corp (EMC) $0.77 gain.
Then Citigroup (C) down $0.17.
Pfizer (PFE) a $0.03 rise.
General Electric (GE) was up $0.31.
And so was Ford Motor (F).
AT&T (T) $0.85 gainer there. AT&T in with third quarter earnings excluding the cost of acquiring Bell South, $0.71 a share in the third quarter, up from $0.63 last year and of course Apple's iPhone business accounted for a big boost in revenues for AT&T.
Schering-Plough (SGP) up $1.12, rebounding from over a $4 loss yesterday when the company reported higher earnings, but lower than the Street expected.
And then Coach (COH) down $4.87. First quarter earnings, $0.41 up from last year's $0.34, but the company notes its U.S. store traffic recently has been weak. The company sees second quarter earnings at $0.68, $0.02 below the Wall Street estimate.
New issue came to market today, CVR Energy (CVI), this is a refining company. Twenty million shares offered at $19. The stock opened at $21.05, the high, $21.28, backed off a little, but still had a positive debut.
American Express (AXP) up $1.79. After the close yesterday as we reported, third quarter earnings $0.90, up from $0.79, a nickel better than the Street expected. The stock reacted positively.
Merck & Co (MRK) up $1.72. Yesterday we reported third quarter earnings of $0.75, $0.06 above the Street estimate. Today, Goldman Sachs boosted its price target on Merck from $56 to $59 a share. Citigroup boosted its price target from $61 to $63 a share.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI), the big rail company, up $3.54. Third quarter earnings, $1.48, well above the $1.33 a year ago. Revenues up 2 1/2 percent. Those earnings $0.11 better than the Street was expecting.
Whirlpool (WHR) down $4.25. Third quarter operating earnings nicely higher, $2.20, up from $1.68 but the company's sales were flat. Standard & Poor's today cut its price target by $9 down to $106 a share.
Waters (WAT) up $6.08. Third quarter earnings jumped to $0.62 from $0.50 a year ago, 17 percent rise in sales. Standard & Poor's repeated a "buy" recommendation on that stock.
CNH Global NV (CNH), this is a construction equipment company, up $6.24. Third quarter earnings almost double to $0.51 from $0.26 last year. Revenues shot up 31 percent. The company boosted its full year estimate on top of all that.
PFF Bancorp (PFB), this is a California financial services company, dropping $2.49. Third quarter loss of $0.33 a share, versus earnings of $0.56 a year ago.
Lexmark Intl (LXK), which makes printers of course, down $3.14. Lower third quarter earnings $0.48 versus $0.85 a year ago. Revenues dropped 3 percent. Standard & Poor's downgraded the stock from "hold" to a "sell."
And then Unisys (UIS) dropping $1.33, big percentage loss. Third quarter loss of $0.09, not as bad as last year's loss of $0.23 a share, but still a loss and worse than expected.
NASDAQ's most active, Apple (AAPL) hitting another record high, up $11.80.
And Research in Motion (RIMM) up $11.15. I believe that's a regular or new record high. The company of course is launching its Blackberry product in China.
Google (GOOG) up $25, look at that stock go.
And then Amazon.com (AMZN) up $9.53. Third quarter earnings after the close, Amazon $0.19, up from $0.05 a year ago on a 41 percent jump in revenues, but in after hours trading, the stock actually plunged about $9 a share from that price.
Baidu.com (BIDU) was up $33.64.
Some big moves here, Intel (INTC) up $0.16.
Bea Systems (BEAS), there you see it, down $0.72, rejecting Oracle's buyout bid.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.17 rise.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.39 gain.
And then Yahoo! (YHOO) was up $0.79.
Elsewhere, Level 3 Communications (LVLT) dropped $1.04. Third quarter loss of $0.11 reported today, almost as bad as the loss of $0.12 a year ago.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
