Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street opened higher in positive reaction to the Fed's auction and that $5 billion Chinese investment in Morgan Stanley. The Dow rose 50 points and the NASDAQ gained eight points early on. But stocks sold off sharply on the Standard & Poor's ratings move on the bond insurers and a jump in oil futures. The Dow was down 65 points at noontime. The market then turned mixed amid the cross currents of year-end portfolio adjusting and that's the way it closed, mixed. The Dow Industrial Average ended down 25.20 at 13,207.27. The NASDAQ Composite gained 4.98 to 2,601.01. Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 1.98 to 1,453 even. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note gained 23/32 to 101 24/32, putting the yield at 4.03 percent.
Once again topping the big board's active list today on 24 3/4 million shares, Citigroup (C) down $0.17. Then Pfizer (PFE) with a $0.10 loss.
Sprint Nextel (S) fell $0.32.
General Electric (GE) a $0.23 loss.
Advanced Micro (AMD) managed to buck that trend, up $0.30 a share.
SLM Corp (SLM), Sallie Mae, down $5.98. That's a negative reaction to the CEOs conference call where he talked about strategy which could include a dividend cut to bolster the balance sheet. Meanwhile, Standard & Poor's today repeated a "sell" recommendation on SLM.
AT&T (T) down $0.66.
Bank of America (BAC) edged up $0.09.
Ford Motor Co (F) a nickel loss.
Then Morgan Stanley (MS) up $2.01. As you heard, it's getting a $5 billion infusion of money from China, but it also reported a fourth quarter loss of $3.61 versus earnings of $1.87 a share a year ago.
Mastercard (MA) up $10.57. The European Commission ruled the company must drop the fees it charges for cross-border credit card purchases within six months or face fines. The company said it's going to appeal that and that helped the stock recover.
Union Pacific (UNP) down $4.82. The company cut its fourth quarter earnings guidance from the range of $1.90 to $2, down to $1.70 to $1.80 a share and that's mainly due to rising diesel fuel prices.
Major percentage loser of the day, Kingsway Financial (KFS) off $3.34. Standard & Poor's cut its credit ratings after the company boosted its fourth quarter and current claims estimate by $95 to $125 million.
Darden Restaurants (DR) down $7.74. The story here, the company reported lower second quarter earnings, $0.30, down from $0.41 a year ago as acquisition costs offset a 17 percent rise in sales. The company says 2008 earnings growth will only be 2 to 4 percent. This had a negative impact on other restaurant chains like Brinkers, which fell $1.07 and IHop, which was off $4.19 a share.
Carmax (KMX) off $1.52, lower earnings there, third quarter, $0.14 versus $0.21 last year, $0.03 below the Street estimate and the company sees 2008 sales up only 2 percent.
Aerospace components company, AAR Corp (AIR) up $2.70, higher second quarter earnings, $0.42, up from $0.33 a year ago, $0.02 above the Street estimate. Sales jumped 27 percent.
Lower earnings on Park Electrochemical (PKE) sent the stock down $3.13. Third quarter, $0.43 in earnings, down from $0.47. Sales fell almost 7 percent.
And then we see Barclays Plc (BCS) off $1.37. Goldman Sachs downgraded it from "neutral" to a "sell."
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list on NASDAQ, up $0.14.
Followed by Google (GOOG) with a $4.02 advance.
Research in Motion (RIMM) rising $1.44.
Microsoft (MSFT) gained a nickel.
Baidu.com (BIDU) up $2.01 a share.
Oracle (ORCL) closed down $0.49, but as you heard, second quarter earnings of $0.31, $0.04 above the Street estimate. In after hours trading, Oracle stock was about $1 higher than this price.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.04 gain.
Intel (INTC) $0.28 rise.
$0.88 rise in First Solar (FSLR).
And Dell (DELL) was up $0.34 a share.
New issue today, Orion Energy Systems (OESX), came public on 7.7 million shares at $13, opened at $17.49, high, $22.18, closed pretty close to the high today.
And finally, Macatawa Bank (MCBS) or Macatawa Bank, yes, that's out of Holland, Michigan I believe. The stock down $1.78. The Michigan bank raised its fourth quarter loan loss provision by $9 1/2 million and that will hurt earnings by $0.36 per share.
