Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street opened sharply higher with the Dow almost wiping out yesterday's 290 point tumble. The NASDAQ rebounded 51 points as investors reacted positively to the Fed's plan to alleviate the credit crunch. That surge in oil futures gradually cooled bullish fervor though and so did increased loss estimates on mortgage-backed securities held by Bank of America and Wachovia. At the final bell, stocks posted just modest gains. The Dow Industrial Average closed up 41.13 at 13,473.90. The NASDAQ Composite was up 18.79 ending at 2671.14. Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 8.94 at 1486.59. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 31/32 to 101 9/32, putting the yield at 4.09 percent.
New York exchange volume leader on nearly 46 million shares, Citigroup (C) losing $1.83. Morgan Stanley told its clients to sell Citigroup stock short, can't get much more negative than that.
Then came General Electric (GE) up $0.22.
Washington Mutual (WM) down $1.36. The company priced a larger than expected three million share offering of convertible preferred stock. That indicates larger than expected potential earnings dilution.
Bank of America (BAC) down $1.22. The company said its losses on the mortgage-backed securities it holds are larger than previously estimated. Wachovia and BNC (ph) Financial made similar announcements. Both those stocks lost ground as well.
AT&T (T) again bucked the trend, up $2.25. Yesterday it boosted its dividend by 13 percent. Today Deutsche Bank securities boosted its price target from $46 to $50 a share for AT&T.
Ford Motor Co (F) a $0.09 gain there.
Pfizer (PFE) fell $0.02.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) up $0.21.
Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) dropped a dime.
And then Sallie Mae Corporation (SLM), the student loan marketing firm, down $3.45. The company cut its fourth quarter earnings estimate to $0.52 to $0.57 from the Street estimate of $0.71 and also the company failed to renegotiate its takeover by privately held JC Flowers Group and of course Flowers Group had already backed away from the deal.0
3M Co (MMM) up $2.01. The company's predicting double digit revenue and earnings growth in 2008.
Boeing (BA) was down $1.78. Morgan Stanley downgraded it from "over weight" to "equal weight."
Another Dow stock United Technologies (UTX) moving up $0.36. Its Pratt & Whitney unit received a $420 million contract for jet engines to power U.S. Airways 153 new Airbus A-320 aircraft.
Cummins (CM), the big diesel engine maker, up $6.51. The company announced a two for one stock split and a $500 million stock buyback.
Morgan Stanley also downgraded three airline stocks and that included Delta Air Lines (DAL), Northwest Airlines (NWA) and US Airways Group (LCC), all substantial losses on the day as we see.
Schering-Plough (SGP) off $1.06. The "New York Times" reports a congressional committee is investigating how the company and Merck handled the critical trial of Vitorin, their blockbuster cholesterol lowering drug. Merck stock was off $0.68 a share today.
Manitowoc Co (MTW), the big crane and construction firm, up $4.31. The firm boosted its 2007 earnings guidance by $0.10 a share, up to $2.60. Standard & Poor's repeated a "strong buy" recommendation.
MacGuire Properties (MPG) moving up $2.94. The company's looking at strategic alternatives including its possible sale.
Then a new issue today, Xinyuan Real Estate Co Ltd (XIN). This is a Chinese real estate developer, 17.5 million American depository shares offered at $14, had a pretty good debut, up $2.80 on the day.
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list, up $2.32.
Google (GOOG) a $0.15 rise.
Baidu.com (BIDU) up $10.62.
Research in Motion (RIMM) was up $2.32.
And then Cisco Systems (CSCO) rose $0.78 a share.
Microsoft (MSFT) up $0.37.
Similar gain in Intel (INTC).
Comcast "A" (CMCSA) down $0.15.
Dell (DELL) down $0.36.
And First Solar (FSLR) was up $5.39 a share.
Biogen Idec (BIIB) closed at $0.49 in regular week trading, but after the close, the stock tumbled to about $55 a share after the company said it's no longer looking for a buyer, wants to stay independent.
And finally, NetManage (NETM) soared $3.01 a share on news a privately held firm called Rocket Software will acquire the company for $7.20 per share.
