Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Thursday, December 20, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Well, stocks opened higher on Wall Street, bolstered by stronger than expected growth in third quarter GDP and the solid earnings from Oracle we told you about last night. The Dow rose 35 points at the outset of trading and the NASDAQ gained 18 points. Sellers took command after the leading indicators showed a decline and MBIA stock plunged on more bad sub-prime news. At noon the Dow posted a 36-point loss. Stocks rebounded this afternoon on buying linked to tomorrow's quadruple witching. The Dow Industrial Average closed up 38.37 points at 13,245.64. The NASDAQ Composite rose 39.85 ending at 2640.86. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 7.12 to 1460.12. In the bond market, the 10-year note fell 6/32 to 101 18/32, putting the yield at 4.06 percent. For the seventh consecutive trading session, topping the active list was Citigroup (C) today of 30.3 million shares, down $0.28. That is a five-year closing low.
Then Rite Aid (RAD) was down $1.30. That's 31 percent of its value. Third quarter loss of $0.12 reported, bigger than the Street estimate of a loss of $0.07 and way worse than the penny loss a year ago. The company says consumers are becoming more cautious.
General Electric (GE) a $0.26 gain.
Then Lyondell Chemical (LYO) up $0.17 on news that it completed its merger with Basell Acquisition.
Then there you see it, MBIA (MBI) tumbling $7.07, huge percentage drop. You heard about the larger than expected exposure to sub-prime securities.
Moving along in the active list, Range Resources (RRC) very active on index funded buying. It replaced Tribune Company in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index today.
Pfizer (PFE) a nickel loss.
And then Bank of America (BAC) down $0.18.
Ford Motor Co (F) edged $0.03 higher.
Then came SprintNextel (S) with a $0.36 gain, tenth in big board volume.
Then a new issue today, Netsuite (N) went public. This is a company that -- a software firm controlled by Oracle's Larry Ellison, 6.2 million shares offered at $26, opened there, then got as high as $35.70 and closed right near the high of the day with a huge gain of $9.50 a share.
FedEx (FDX) lost $1. Second quarter earnings fell to $1.54 from $1.64 last year on higher fuel costs and slowing U.S. economy. The company sees third quarter earnings at $1.15 to $1.30, well below the Street estimate of $1.37 to $1.40 a share.
Nike (NKE) up $2.21. After the close yesterday, second quarter earnings out, $0.71, up from $0.64 a year ago and $0.05 better than the Street estimate. U.S. sales up 7 percent.
Accenture Ltd (ACN), the consulting company, up $2.28. First quarter earnings jumped to $0.60 from $0.46 a year ago. Revenues up 18 percent. The company said 2008 earnings will be better than its previous estimate by $0.15, could be as much as $2.41.
Pier 1 Imports (PIR) nice gain of $1.35. Third quarter earnings narrowed to - or I should say a loss narrowed to $0.11 from a loss of $0.83. Street was looking for a $0.24 loss, so a lot better than expected. Morgan Keegan brokerage upgraded it from "under perform" to a "market perform" rating.
Lindsay (LNN) in the irrigation business, up $13.70. First quarter earnings anything but watered down, $0.36 a share, well above $0.15 last year and that (INAUDIBLE) and sales jumped 47 percent.
American Greetings (AM) down $2.86. Second quarter earnings of $0.52, down from $0.83 last year. Revenues fell 12 percent during that period.
LDK Solar Co (LDK) plunging $18.26. Third quarter earnings $0.37, way up from $0.04 a year ago, but only in line with estimates and the company sees fourth quarter not much higher, $0.40 to $0.43. The Piper Jaffray brokerage downgraded it from "neutral" to "sell."
Another major loser, CPI Corp. (CPY), which is in the portrait studio business, third quarter earnings not an earnings. It was a third quarter loss of $1.57 versus a loss of only $0.15 a year ago.
Apple (AAPL) topped the NASDAQ active list on $4.09.
Followed by Research in Motion (RIMM) up $4.86. After the close, RIMM reported third quarter earnings more than doubled last year, $0.65 versus $0.31, $0.03 above the Street estimate. After hours trading, the stock was as high as $1.19 that I saw.
Google (GOOG) up $12.32.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.73 gain.
And then Oracle (ORCL) up $1.34. After the close yesterday as we reported, second quarter earnings $0.31, $0.04 above the Street estimate, nice gain today.
Celgene (CELG) $2.17 rise.
Baidu.com (BIDU) up $5.17.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.09 gain.
Intel (INTC) $0.22 rise.
And First Solar (FSLR), tenth in volume, down $2.38.
Electronic Clearing House (ECHO) up $8.69 on news that it'll be acquired by Intuit for $17 a share.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
