Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Monday, October 29, 2007
|
|
|
|
PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street posted solid opening gains with bullish conviction, buoyed by Friday's big rally and a growing confidence the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this week. The Dow rose 50 points early on, while the NASDAQ Composite was up 17 points. The market pulled back modestly over the mid-session hours as oil futures surged to record highs again, but buyers continued to hold the upper hand as stocks closed moderately higher. The Dow Industrial Average ended up 63.56 points at 13,870.26. NASDAQ Composite rose 13.25 points to 2817.44, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 5.70 ending at 1540.98. In the bond market, the 10-year note rose 4/32 to 102 28/32, putting the yield at 4.39 percent.
New York exchange volume leader on 15 million shares, EMC Corp (EMC) moving up $0.84.
Followed by Pfizer (PFE) a $0.20 gain, even though a German court revoked the active ingredient in the company's Lipitor product. The company will appeal that.
Citigroup (C) was a $0.06 gainer. The company received clearance from Japanese regulators to list its shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
General Electric (GE) $0.18 gain there.
And then Ford Motor Co (F) moving up a dime per share.
Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) up $0.60 per share.
Countrywide Financial (CFC) fell $0.47.
Co Vale do Rio (RIO) up $1.67.
And then Motorola (MOT) with a $0.29 loss.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) fell $0.65, tenth in volume.
Boeing (BA) up $0.97 a share. The company says it's going to buy back up to $7 billion of its own stock. That's 9 percent of the outstanding shares, didn't specify any time period over which it would do that.
Verizon Communications (VZ), another Dow stock, edging up $0.39. Third quarter earnings fell to $0.44 from $066 a year ago, but that wasn't as bad as expected, especially in view of the tough competition from AT&T with Apple's iPhone launch.
Office Depot (ODP) tumbling $2.86. The company's delaying its third quarter financial report which was scheduled for tomorrow, citing a review by an audit committee of its vendor program funds. Analysts as a result of this audit and review expect the company financial restatements and management changes.
Humana (HUM) closed down $1.81, but this morning it was trading as high as $81.44. Third quarter earnings out 90 percent higher than last year, $1.78 versus $0.95. Revenues up 12 percent and the company expects to add 200,000 members to its Medicare advantage plan over the next year. The stock really took a tumble on profit taking later in the day.
Weyerhaeuser Co (WY) up $5.51. This week's "Barron's" financial magazine notes the company may be starting an intensive restructuring which could lift the shares above $100 each.
Radioshack (RSH) up $0.80, traded as high as $21.81 this morning after announcing a third quarter turnaround. Third quarter earnings of $0.34 versus a loss of $0.12 last year. Standard & Poor's upgraded the stock "sell" to "hold."
Radian Group (RDN) up $1.11. This week's "Barron's" suggests the stock is a good value, even if the mortgage market worsens because the stock has already lost 83 percent just since February.
Mortons Restaurant Group (MRT), the steak house chain, did not have a well done third quarter, had a loss of $0.04 versus a loss of $0.01 last year and that's despite a 7 percent rise in same store sales.
American Axle & Manufacturing (AXL) up $2.85. Keybanc brokerage upgraded it from "buy" to "aggressive buy."
Microsoft (MSFT) topped the NASDAQ active list, down $0.46 after good gains last week.
Apple (AAPL) $0.39 rise.
Then Yahoo! (YHOO) losing $1.84. Standard & Poor's downgraded Yahoo! from "hold" to "sell" on a valuation basis.
Google (GOOG) up $4.63.
And Research in Motion (RIMM) doing well, also up $2.25.
$12.11 gain in Baidu.com (BIDU).
Intel (INTC) $0.32 rise.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) up $0.51.
Dell (DELL) gained $0.49.
And then came Comcast "A" (CMCSA) with a $0.31 loss.
CTC Media (CTCM), this is a Russian entertainment company. The company had third quarter profits that doubled over last year. Stock up nicely, $4.14.
Then Schnitzer Steel Industries (SCHN) down $12.01. Fourth quarter earnings $1.28, down from $1.62 last year and $0.07 below the Wall Street estimate.
And over on the American exchange, Arizona Star Resource (AZS), which owns gold mining properties is going to be bought out at $18 a share Canadian by Barrick Gold.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
